Page 53 of Time Served in New York
“Good. Fuck him.” Zach shrugged. “He helped make your life a living hell. I was at the meeting when Uncle Vincente and Uncle Antonio told him he was finished and stripped him of everything. If I’d have been thinking, I’d have taken a video of it just so you could’ve seen the look on his face.”
“I bet it was priceless.”
“I thought he was gonna have a fucking stroke. I had sympathy for him until he ordered his guards to shoot . . .”
“He didn’t!”
“Oh, he did. But then when his guards just stood there waiting for Antonio and Vincente to tell them what to do, his face just fell. He realized there was no one left in his corner.”
“I noticed he didn’t have a single guard at the candy store.”
“Not one. There were a few holdouts, but they don’t work for us anymore.”
I burst out laughing, and Zach smiled. “Is that what we’re going with?”
“Their employment was terminated.”
It broke my heart to think my little boy was cracking jokes about having people killed, but then again, I knew that in the life he’d chosen. it was either him or them. My vote would always be in my son’s favor. The rest of them could rot in hell, as far as I was concerned, including my own father.
“And you’re being careful?”
“Of course, Mom. I was born for this. I watched how my uncles did things and learned so much from my grandfathers. Watching those two old bastards taught me a lot, especially how they think.”
“Like what?”
“They didn’t have a single person they could rely on because they treated everyone like shit. There was no loyalty. If they had treated people better, they’d have been loyal, and it wouldn’t have been so easy for me or the guys to take over.”
“You’ve learned from their mistakes.”
“Damn right.”
“I worry because it’s just you in charge of the family now.”
“No, it’s not. Simmy, Cam, and Shy are in it with me. We’ve all got our strengths, and we play to them as we work together.”
“God, it’s crazy to imagine your cousins all grown up. Hell, it’s crazy thatyouare all grown up.”
“Next thing you know, you’ll be a grandma.”
I stood up and stared at him in shock. “Is there . . . You’ve got . . .”
“Whoa, hold up. I’m not sure if you’re gonna have a stroke or start swinging,” Zach said as he put his hands up as if I were trying to rob him. “I don’t mean soon. Maybe in 10 or 15 years.”
“You’re being careful then? And not just with family stuff.”
“I wrap my shit up like a Christmas gift every time.”
I suppressed a shudder at the thought of my baby boy having sex but nodded. “Good. Keep it up.”
“Oh, I don’t have a problem with that,” Zach teased.
I gagged and shook my head as I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths. “Puppies, kittens, unicorns, happy clouds with happy trees, chocolate . . .”
“What the hell?”
“I’m trying to think happy thoughts to erase what you just said out of my brain,” I snapped as I opened my eyes and glared at him. “Asshole.”
“But I’m your favorite asshole, right?” Zach asked, just as the oven timer buzzed.
