Page 9 of Hidden Ties

She looked up at the officer dumbly, and if she didn’t know better, she’d think she saw a bit of fear in his eyes.

Valerie practically laughed at the thought. “Who? My neighbor Sal?”

The officer looked around to make sure they were alone. “Salvatore Lastra isn’t a name you should be laughing at, nor a man you want to fuck with, do you understand?”

Her humor quickly faded, seeing that it was fear held in the big man’s eyes. But now the question was: Why was a man like Officer Daniels so frightened of a man like Sal?

Shaking her head, she just couldn’t grasp it. “I don’t underst—”

Taking her arm, he finally began leading her toward the precinct with his tone going even lower. “All you need to know is: pray you don’t get out of here anytime soon.”

“No.” She looked back up at him, still in disbelief. “I don’t understand why you’re telling me this.”

“Well …” He began loosening his grip on her. “I figured if you’re dumb enough to not know who Salvatore Lastra is, there’s no way you’re smart enough to do what they say you did.”

Valerie’s eyes widened as her throat went dry. She licked her lips, and her blood ran cold. “And ifI am?”

“Then I’d say”—Officer Daniels gave her a sympathetic glance—“whoever framed you did a pretty damn good job.”

FIVE

THE NEW BOSS

Cracking his neck as he listened to Dante and Lucca instead of throwing himself from the high rise, he tried tuning out Lucca telling his father not to smoke in his office. Sal couldn’t blame him; he was the head of the family since Dante had stepped down to his firstborn son. So, this office did technically belong to Lucca now, as he sat in the big chair behind the desk while his father sat on the opposing side for once.

And Dante’s cigar smoke did in fact reek and would stink up the office long after Dante returned to his home.

“You know Nadia won’t let me smoke in our house,” Dante gruffed out, sucking the sweet cigar between his gruff lips like it was going to be his last.

A lot of changes had been made recently within the family. Dante had moved out of the Caruso family home to live with Nadia. And hell, they even had facial hair. Before, only Lucca was allowed to defy his father by having a beard, but not only did Sal let his grow in, Dante was fashioning his own. However, some things never changed.

Lucca pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his pockets and placed a stick in his mouth in a desperate attempt to mask the cigar smell.

Sal couldn’t help but laugh.

Over the years he’d spent with the Caruso family, he had grown used to the smell of cigarettes, considering Lucca had picked up the bad habit at a young age. Being best friends, he really didn’t have a choice but to get used to it. The cigars, though, he never could. They just smelled, well, old.

“Have you tried smoking outside?” Lucca asked ironically as he burned the end of the cigarette after flipping open his Zippo.

It was safe to say those words went down like a sinking ship …

Thinking of something cheerful while father and son continued their arguing match, he thought back to last night. Was it bad of him to have enjoyed seeing Valerie getting arrested?

He sniggered internally.

Probably.

But who cares? He sure didn’t.

His lips twitched at the memory of her cursing him out. He couldn’t think of a better comeuppance than seeing the embarrassment on her face as she walked handcuffed toward the car. The joy he felt was so extreme he was thinking of going to confession when he got off work.

A frustrated Lucca put out the bud of his cigarette, ready to leave. “If you’ve just come to smoke, then I don’t understand why I have to be in here.”

That was the exact question Sal himself had all morning since his glorious weekend had been cut short when he was called early into work, and he was about to get his answer.

“I just wanted to talk about what happened over at the Horseshoe and make sure nothing like that could happen here at the Casino Hotel.”

Dante’s gaze had moved to Sal as he spoke, but it was Lucca who answered.