Page 84 of Tommy
“I just saw what was on your desk. I didn’t do more than glance at them.”
“How did you get them open? They were locked in my office drawer, along with the cash. How did you figure out my combination?”
I shake my head. “They were just on the desk. I didn’t open anything.Carltook the money. I didn’t even touch it.”
“But you touched the books,” Vinny says casually, holding me to that one point as fear seeps into my mind.
“Yes,” I confess.
“When I gave Tommy the job, I told him there was a thief in the club. We all thought it was Carl because he was the obvious choice. Despite that, money kept going missing. We didn’t know who till Danny added a few extra cameras without anyone knowing. Not even Tommy. Guess it worked in our favor, huh?” Vinny says pleasantly, but there’s something off about the way he speaks. All calm and steady, which just makes my fear more palpable. It seems to be worse knowing a man—the head of the Mafia, no less—is so carefree about this while his brothers are not. It’s a front. A false security.
“I didn’t take anything.”
“Right. Just like your parents didn’t,” Danny snarks, and I turn my head the other way to glare at him.
“They didn’t.”
“And yet there lies the evidence.” He points to the file on the table with the hand wrapped around the glass tumbler.
“All that explains is that they worked for you. There’s nothing in there that says they stole. Just like I know the tapes didn’t show me taking any money or opening any desk drawers. I looked. I did. I was curious, but I didn’t understand the numbers. My parents were in finance, not me. I danced. I didn’t and still don’t get numbers. Tommy,” I look back at him and reach for his hand. But he steps back, out of reach, and tears gather in my eyes. I don’t want to be alone again, but the universe is cruel and likes to play games. This is just another joke.
“You know me,” I plead to him, and only him. We had a connection. We were more than just what people saw. There were feelings involved. I know he had them for me. He still has to. You can’t just stop caring about a person.
And I know I care for him. More than care.
I love him.
I love everything about him. I don’t care about what his family is tied up in; I love him regardless.
I don’t know if his family killed mine, and I’m still processing the implications that Danny is suggesting. It makes sense and doesn’t all at once. I’m confused and hurt. I just need time to think and understand. But I don’t think I’ll get either.
“I’ve known you for less than two months. Your family has been stealing from mine for years.”
Tommy’s monotone voice cuts deep. I shake my head, and the tears finally fall.
“And it ends today.”
Chapter 31—Tommy
The ticking of the grandfather clock echoes in my head. A time bomb waiting to go off. Once again, I am the stupid brother. I’ve done this twice now.
First in Russia. Now this. Falling for a woman who stole from us. Notlettingit happen, but being blinded by her and not seeing her as a potential threat. I should have known better.
But fuck, I’m just as stupid as I was back then. Before Russia, I was charmed by women all the time. In Russia, I was charmed by the adventure and the glory of the fight. Stupid, really. I learned nothing. Nothing at all. Because now I’ve been fucked once more.
Even if I was the one doing the fucking.
What else about her was a lie?
I keep replaying what happened in my head. My brothers’ words, the evidence they gave me. I acted because I was mad. At being lied to, at being the fuckup. I told her we were done, and Danny had her removed. Taken to another room, somewhere away from me.
And she went.
Her eyes begged me to take my words back. To let her speak, to explain her side of it, but she never voiced it. I wouldn’t let her. The second Vinny told Danny to move her, I turned my back on her. I couldn’t watch her go. I barely held myself back from hitting Danny for touching her.
Everything felt wrong. My skin itched as if it wanted to jump away from me. I could be making the biggest mistake of my life. I just don’t know if it was letting her go or believing my brothers.
Everything could have been a manipulation. I’ve had women in my life do it before. I thought I knew better, but what if I fell for it again? She could have heard about what happened to me in Russia. That my confidence was shot. It wouldn’t be that hard to learn that I felt like an idiot. That I’d secluded myself from half the world and fled the other half. That I was a shell of myself. Even I could see what I was back then. Maybe she thought the vulnerable angle would work. No one has ever played that type before, and adding in what I lost, my sense of invisibility, it may have worked.
