a bunch of girls and set the pledges on them. They had to fuck as many as they could as often as they could. Counted and timed.”
Nick gripped the arms of his chair and fought for cool. When he’d mastered his urge for violence, he said, “That went on, didn’t it? After Lia got out.”
“Yeah. They …” Donnie hesitated just long enough for Nick to open his mouth, ready to demand to be told. “They picked girls who looked like easy pickings. Naïve. Alone.”
Unable to keep his seat, Nick stood and walked to the bar. “You want a drink?”
“It’s nine-thirty.”
Nick turned and leveled a look at his second. The clock didn’t matter when he’d just learned that Lia had been targeted like the weakest gazelle at the watering hole—and that other girls had as well, girls who’d been left behind to that fate.
“Sure,” Donnie relented. “Thanks.”
Nick poured them each two fingers of Macallan and returned to his seat. “What’s the fallout?”
“Gwynn’s going to the college today, to talk to the chancellor. He’ll tell her he wants the frat closed, and he’s got a list of names for arrest.”
“I’ll call her as well, let her know that Gwynn speaks for me. And I want that list.”
“Already got it.” Donnie pulled a fold of paper from an inner pocket of his suitcoat.
Many things, the Paganos did digitally these days. They had several levels of state-of-the-art encryption, provided by their genius hacker, Calvin Trioli, and their genius cryptologist, Lara Pagano.
But some things needed to stay on paper. The things so hot they might spontaneously combust, for instance.
Nick took the paper and studied the names. He saw several of significance. Once, he’d have been able to remember every name with a single glance, but now, he’d need to take some time with this paper before he destroyed it. “You’ve got them?”
Donnie tapped his head. His memory was excellent. He was also twenty years younger.
“What else?” Nick asked as he folded the list and slid it into the pocket of his dress shirt. His suitcoat hung in the closet nearby.
The deep breath Donnie took had Nick’s hackles raised before he spoke.
“It’s Lia?”
“Hear me out, Nick. All the way.”
“Tell me, Donnie. Is she well?”
“Yes. She’s fine.”
“Then what?”
“Yesterday, she dropped out of her classes, as planned. Alex was on her all day, as planned. He took her home in the afternoon, checked in with the street team on the way up, all as planned. And then …”
Suddenly, Nick knew where this was going. He set his empty scotch glass down before he squeezed it so tightly he shattered it. “And then.”
“He didn’t come back out until past six. Greg pinged Alex and didn’t get a reply, so he pinged Tony, who looked into it. At first, everybody was just making sure something hadn’t gone bad and they needed help.”
“He fucked my daughter. This is what you’re telling me.”
Donnie nodded slowly. “Yeah. Tony checked the cameras and there’s not much there, but it was enough that I had him bring the kid in. Bluto’s on her today. Alex is here.”
“And is Tony?” Nick had an acute and immediate need for his chief enforcer.
Or maybe he didn’t. Maybe he would roll up his own sleeves and rip the cafone’s dick off himself.
“Yeah, Tone’s here, in his office.” Donnie leaned forward. “But Nick—I talked to the kid, and he was straight about it. He’s obviously scared, but he’s holding steady, and he didn’t hedge. That’s something. He says it’s real between them.”
That hardly made it better. Nick did not want his daughter tangled up with one of his associates. Not in the middle of a war, and not any time.
His chest felt tight, and he fought off the need to rub the place where scars had taken root.
“It was his job to protect her, not insinuate himself into her affection. Lia is … she’s too gentle, too impressionable. She believes in people too much.” She was so very much like her mother, in every respect. A bright, sweet sun in a dark, harsh world.
“Those aren’t faults, Nick.”
“In our world, they are. Which is why she has to stay away from it.”
“Can I speak only as your friend?”
That question meant Donnie thought Nick was being unreasonable. When he spoke to the don, he had to show respect to the position. When he spoke as Nick’s best friend, he could be more direct.
With criticism implied in its very framing, the question irritated Nick instantly—but he was aware that his circle had narrowed