Page 12

As soon as the door opened and Kimmie saw Jackie walking up the foyer, she ran to her. But Jackie began laughing and running away from her niece. Kimmie started laughing that innocent childhood laugh and began running behind her young aunt. First around the massive foyer, around the waterfall statue in the middle of the foyer, and then down the hall to the game room. It was how Jackie always welcomed her favorite relative, and her favorite relative just loved it.

But Duke, who had opened the door, shook his head. “Women,” he said. But when Teddy nor Nikki laughed the way they usually would have, he knew something more was at work than his half-brother and sister-in-law coming over to meet with Dad. “What’s with you two?”

“Is Pop at home?” Teddy asked as Duke closed the door. Teddy just wanted to get this over with.

“Yeah he’s home. We got back a few hours ago. What’s up?”

“Tough meeting ahead,” Nikki said.

“I figured that much when Pop cut our vacation short. Did you know he had this massive mansion on the French Riviera?” he asked Teddy.

But he didn’t wait for a response. “And then Big Daddy showed up. And then Uncle Frankie. I knew then something big was up.”

Although Frankie “The Monk” Paletti was kin to the Sinatras only by marriage, and was Teddy’s best friend, there was such an age gap between Teddy and his half-siblings that Duke and Jackie viewed Teddy more as a second dad than as a brother, and they viewed Monk more as their uncle than their cousin-in-law.

But Nikki was still trying to decipher what Duke had just said. “Monk Paletti’s here?” she asked him.

“He sure is. He showed up just after Big Daddy got here.”

Nikki looked at Teddy. “I knew Big Daddy would be here as a mediator. Roz already told me she was going to call him in. But why would Monk be here?”

“I asked him to come,” said Teddy. “We need somebody on our side. Big Daddy always takes Pop’s side in the end.”

“That’s not true and you know it. He takes the right side as he sees it. He gets on your father’s case all the time.”

“But I still felt we needed somebody who would understand our side of this situation. Somebody Pop and Big Daddy respects. That’s why I wanted him here too.”

Nikki felt as if this was getting out of hand. Because once again he was making decisions without bothering to so much as mention them to her until he had to. That had to change.

“Where are they?” Teddy asked Duke.

“In Daddy’s office,” Duke said.

But the way Duke said Daddy only demonstrated to Nikki the kind of intimate relationship he and Jackie had with Mick that Mick never accorded his older children like Teddy. She knew it was because all of Mick’s adult children had different mothers that never lived with Mick. Roz not only lived with him but managed against all odds to get him to put a ring on her finger. And on top of that, Roz was a tough broad who wasn’t going to let Mick neglect her two children the way he neglected his older children. That was the main reason. But Nikki knew the intimacy Mick had with Duke and that Teddy never experienced with Mick had to hurt.

Teddy looked at Nikki. “Ready?” he asked her. But his eyes showed doubt that he himself was ready.

But Nikki nodded her head. “I’m ready,” she said, and they made their down the corridor to Mick’s office.

When Teddy opened the door and they walked in, a somberness slapped them in the face like a sledgehammer. Mick was leaned against the front of the desk, his big arms folded, while Roz was seated on the front of the desk beside him. Teddy could tell they’d been fucking by the way Roz held her legs tightly shut. As if Mick had put another hurting on her. As if he had no clue how to finesse even that, and she was still feeling the sting. But over the years, it was always a tell-tell sign to Teddy that Roz had tried to de-stress Mick before their meeting. To make it easier all around. But from the look on his father’s face, it didn’t work.

Charles “Big Daddy” Sinatra, Mick’s big brother, was seated in a chair beside the desk: Already on Pop’s side, in Teddy’s estimation.

Frankie “The Monk” Paletti, who ran the Bonaducci crime family and elevated it to the third most powerful syndicate in the world behind Mick and Teddy’s outfit, and Sal Gabrini’s, was seated in one of the three chairs positioned to face the desk. Or to face the firing squad, if you asked Nikki. He wore his standard business suit and gentleman’s hat: always styled like a gangster straight from the Humphrey Bogart/Jimmy Cagney era. But that was Monk Paletti: One of a kind.

He left his busy schedule and came from Jersey to be there for them, and they appreciated that. But when they walked around and sat down in those other two chairs beside Monk, neither one of them bothered to speak or greet Monk or anybody else. The tension was just that heavy in the room.

Teddy waited for his father, or at least his uncle, to ask him questions, but he could tell they both were too pissed off to speak. They wanted him to tell it to them. Even his stepmother Roz seemed pissed. And rightly so: It was his bad decisions that forced Mick to cut their long overdue vacation short and return to Philly.

Teddy glanced at Nikki. Nikki’s eyes agreed that he should begin, and he did. “I gave the order for the ships to sail,” he started saying, but he was quickly cut off.

“Don’t you dare start at the end,” Big Daddy said. “Start at the beginning. What’s been going on at those docks that was apparently so insignificant that you didn’t think Mick needed to know, but then all this death and destruction happens?” He was looking from Teddy to Nikki and back to Teddy. “You got to explain that to me.”

Teddy still felt he needed to remind the family constantly that he, not Mick , was running the day-to-day operations of Mick’s syndicate, and that his power was supposed to be absolute. “Pop made me the undisputed boss of the Sinatra syndicate,” he began.

But Roz cut him off this time. “And Mick made himself the undisputed boss of you. And of you too Nikki. So don’t even go there. What the fuck happened, Teddy? Cut the bullshit and just tell us, from the beginning like Charles said, what happened.”

Teddy knew it was bad if Roz was going for the jugular too. She was usually an ally. She was usually the one that tempered Pop’s anger against him.

But Nikki saw Roz’s aggression differently. She believed Roz, and Big Daddy too, to a certain extent, were going hard at Teddy to try and prevent Mick from going after him as hard as he might have gone. They were running interference that would redound to Ted’s benefit in the end.

But Nikki kept taking peeps at her father-in-law. And based on what she was seeing there was no way anybody was going to stop Mick’s temper tonight. His arms were folded and one of his thumbs was stroking that cleft in his chin, which was usually his calm before the storm. It was taking all he had not to beat the shit out of both of them in that moment, Nikki could see it in his darting eyes. He was already in fight mode.

Monk Paletti didn’t like being in this position, but he understood why Teddy wanted him to be there. He could feel his best friend’s anxiety rising. Who wouldn’t be terrified if Mick the Tick had their ass on the grill? He wanted to look at Teddy and encourage him to tell it all and hold nothing back, no matter how horrific, but he dared not interfere just yet. The only reason he was allowed to be in that room at all was because Mick, Big Daddy, and Roz all knew him to be a straight shooter. He called it like he saw it. He was there to support Teddy and Nikki, there was no doubt about that, but they knew he wasn’t going to support even their bullshit.

And from what Monk knew of how Teddy handled the matter, even he was concerned that some serious mistakes were made.

But with all of them united against Teddy, or at least that was how it felt, Teddy decided to tell the whole truth. Which was going to make it worse, not better. Which was going to make Pop angrier, not calmer. But he knew he had to do it.

“We were having issues even before Pop went on vacation.”

“What issues?” asked Roz. “I thought some cargo went missing, which isn’t unusual.”

“But they were brazen about it. They usually would hit us on foreign soil or even out of town soil. They were hitting us in our own backyard.”

“So that’s why Mick ordered you and Nikki to have some security guys with you,” Roz said.

Teddy nodded. “Right. But then we started getting these text messages. They started like three weeks ago, but they seemed to be the usual nonsense about burning it all down and ships are made for destruction and a bunch of random threats that we, and every major shipping outfit, get all the time.”

“But there was an escalation?” asked Big Daddy.

“In tone, no. It was the same shit day in and day out. But then . . .” A distressed look appeared in Teddy’s eyes.

“But then what?” Roz asked, and Teddy and Nikki both saw Mick look at Teddy too.

“But then the suicides happened.”

Mick, Roz, and Big Daddy stared at Teddy. “Suicides?” Mick frowned. “What suicides?”

“Three of our capos were found dead at different locations. The cops ruled all three deaths as suicides and unrelated, but we checked out all three scenes. All three were staged as suicides, but they had enough mob-markers to let us know that suicide was the last thing that went on at those scenes. The cops couldn’t see it, but we could.”

Even Monk was staring at Teddy. He couldn’t believe he would have withheld that kind of information from his father. Then he looked at Mick. He could see his jaw tightening. He was a man who could control himself better than any man Monk knew. Until he couldn’t control himself at all.

“Name them,” Mick said to Teddy.

Teddy named their three deceased lieutenants. All three were made guys. All three were at the top of the chain. Mick could hardly believe he wasn’t notified as soon as it happened.

Big Daddy couldn’t believe Teddy withheld that kind of major information from Mick too. “You think those deaths had something to do with the threats you were getting?”

“We didn’t know, but I decided to treat it as if there was a relationship. Whoever did it wanted us to know they did it. They left that particular calling card, but didn’t bother to leave their name.”

“Which family do you suspect it was?” Big Daddy asked. He was a businessman. He was no gangster. But he could be more ruthless than any gangster alive if you crossed him. “What syndicate did you figure was involved?”

“We weren’t sure,” Nikki answered for Teddy. “We were leaning toward Jace Denardo’s gang, since he was the last crew we beefed with, but we weren’t certain. We had no concrete evidence.”

“And then I have this meeting with Jerry Cartelli,” said Teddy.

“With Bugs?” asked Mick. “What the fuck he got to do with this?”

“Most times he have good intel, Pop. He said we had the wrong syndicate. According to him, it wasn’t Denardo’s outfit.”

“Then whose outfit was it?”

“According to Bugs, it was Potter Rarsi’s outfit.”

For the first time, they all could see Mick disarmed. He even unfolded his arms. “ Rarsi ? Get the fuck out of here!”

“That’s the name he gave me.”

“Did you investigate it?”

“Of course I did Pop.”

“And?”

“And I found nothing yet. I just got the word from Bugs last night. But I’ve got a team on it trying to find any connection at all between Rarsi’s organization and the three capos that died.”

“And I added an additional team to make sure there were no connections between any of our other capos, either, and Rarsi,” said Nikki. “I didn’t want us to just focus on the ones that died.”

Mick nodded for the first time, as if he approved of her overreach. Nikki was Mick’s favorite no matter how much Nikki denied it. Teddy knew the truth.

And that was mainly why his jaw tightened when his father nodded his assent. Teddy would not have approved an additional team when he needed every available man to find out who was really behind those threats to their shipments, which he was convinced wasn’t going to be Rarsi. There was no way he was going to believe Rarsi was behind it. But anything was possible.

But to his surprise, Mick agreed with his assessment. “Rarsi isn’t behind this. Bugs is full of shit if that’s his intel. But somebody paid him to make that claim.”

“That’s why I have a detail on his ass too. But nothing so far on that end either.”

Nikki was surprised that both Mick and Teddy would be so dismissive of any involvement of Potter Rarsi. But she was getting used to being left out of the history. They let her in only when necessary. And they wondered why many of their men were still not accepting of a woman, and a non-Italian one at that , as their underboss.

Mick exhaled. “Why, if you didn’t know who were behind the threats, did you suddenly decide to launch those ships?”

Everybody looked at Teddy. Including Nikki and Monk. A pained look came over Teddy. “I decided it was long enough. We weren’t getting anywhere and we needed to get back on the seas. It was my call. I made the call.”

“And it backfired spectacularly,” said Mick.

“So I was damned if I let them go and damned if I let them stay,” said Teddy.

“Your ass was damned by letting them stay in the first place!” Mick nearly screamed it out. He was unleashed. “What’s wrong with you? My syndicate does not kowtow to anybody, you stupid fuck! As soon as that first threat came you should have launched. You should have got bomb experts in there to make sure it was free of explosives and then you hit the seas in a show of force that would have been the end of it!”

“I did get experts in.”

“But you stayed put even after they cleared the vessels? Why, Teddy?”

“Because his gut was telling him that explosives were on those ships and the experts were missing them,” said Nikki. “And guess what? His gut was right.”

“So what happened to his gut today? Why did he overlook his gut today if he was so right?”

Teddy leaned his head back. “I was tired. I made a decision when I was too tired.”

Everybody knew how hard Teddy worked. Mick knew it too. But that was no excuse to him. He worked his ass off too.

Then Teddy looked at his father. “It was the wrong decision, but you act like I did it on purpose. I had been thinking about launching for days. So I made the call. But I had been thinking about it all along. It wasn’t some impulse. I don’t operate like that and you know it. What do you take me for?”

“You’re a motherfucking fuck-up, that’s what I take your ass for!” Mick yelled at Teddy. “All those men dead. All of my top ships destroyed, including my biggest one. Thank goodness no pick-ups had occurred when it happened or my ass would have been in jail!”

“Mick, settle down,” Roz said.

But Mick wasn’t about to. “Leaving my ships dockside for an entire week like we’re scared of those motherfuckers! I don’t kowtow to anybody and your ass knows that. By my count, and I obviously don’t know the full extent of your shit yet, but by my count I’ve already lost a hundred million dollars from your refusing-to-sail bullshit decision alone. As if I would bend to anybody on the face of this earth! But your ass been bending all week! And you didn’t bother to consult me about this shit? Three of my top lieutenants dead and I’m a fucking afterthought to you? And you have the nerve to ask me what do I take you for ?”

“Okay Mick settle down,” Big Daddy intervened. “It’s done now. We can’t unbreak this shit, it’s broke. We need to find out what’s happening and how to put a stop to it before more happens. So stop with the personal attacks. Teddy don’t deserve that.”

“Fuck Teddy!” Mick yelled.

“Fuck you!” Teddy yelled back, nearly jumping up from his seat. “I work for you like I’m your got damn slave. Day in and day out, when I can hardly stand up, but I still work. Ten men can’t do what I’m doing, but I’m a fuck-up? You wanna work twenty hours a day running the largest syndicate in the world, then you be my guest. Knock yourself out.”

“I’ve been running my syndicate since before you were born, boy, who do you think you’re talking to? You fucked up! Three of my top men are dead because of your ass. You killed those men just as surely as you would have put a gun to their heads and fired! You killed them!”

When Mick said those words, Teddy couldn’t take it. And as Roz and Big Daddy and even Monk were telling Mick he was going too far, Teddy had jumped up from his seat and jumped on his father with such force, and with all the power of his big body, that they both flipped over the desk and landed on the backside.

Monk and Big Daddy and even Nikki hurried behind that desk to pull the two titans apart, but the fight was already on. They were back on their feet and wrestling each other for dominance as if their lives depended on it. They were knocking over cabinets and crashing into curio sets and shattering vases and everything else their two muscular bodies came into contact with. Big Daddy and Monk were doing everything they could to separate the two men, but there was no separation. It got so bad that Roz had to hurry over and pull Nikki away from the chaos. Even Monk got knocked down. It was just that epic.

And they fought and they wrestled all around that office. Teddy was holding his own. He was going toe-to-toe with Mick. Until both men flung each other against the closed office door so violently that the door snatched off of its hinges and broke loose. And they fell out into the corridor. And kept on fighting.

When Duke heard the commotion he ran downstairs to help Big Daddy and Monk separate the two men.

“Daddy stop!” Duke was crying. “ Daddy stop !”

It took the voice of his beloved youngest son, and the fact that he was actually battling with his beloved oldest living son, did Mick finally come back to himself and let up on Teddy. Duke and Big Daddy kept Mick back. Monk, who realized that was the real reason he needed to be there, kept Teddy back. Nikki hurried to Teddy’s side too. And it was finally a truce.

But Mick was still enraged. “You’re fired!” he yelled at Teddy. “You will never run my syndicate ever again. You’re fired!”

Roz, now concerned that they were going down a road they could not come back from, hurried over to Teddy. “Get out of here, Ted, and go now. Don’t say a word, just get out. Nikki, Frankie, get him out of here.”

Monk and Nikki began hurrying Teddy toward the front door before he could get into a verbal altercation with his angry father. Because he was still enraged himself. He snatched away from Monk and Nikki, but he didn’t say a word to his father. He glanced back at him, and Mick was staring at him, and Nikki and Monk could see the regret in their eyes. But they saw the defiance too, as if Mick meant every word he said and Teddy was going to hold him to those words.

Teddy left his father’s house with fire under his feet.

But Mick’s voice stopped Nikki from following after him. “We need to talk, Nicole!”

Roz looked at Nikki as Nikki turned and looked at Mick. He stood there as if he was more than willing to elevate her to boss and actually kick Teddy out. Many of their men didn’t want to accept her as underboss as it was, but he was going to make her boss? And over Teddy of all people, who wasn’t just her husband but who was the most respected boss, behind Mick and Sal Gabrini, in the world? That was insanity to her.

But she knew what Mick was doing. He was testing her. He wanted her to chose sides and chose them right smack in the heat of the battle. He was testing her meddle. Was she what he thought she was, and did she have what it took to command his organization? It was a test and she knew it. But he picked the wrong one to test. “I’ve got to check on my husband,” she said, to Roz’s delight, and then she hurried behind Teddy.

Roz looked at Mick. “Why did you even go there?”

But Mick knew what he was doing. Had Nikki stayed to talk with him, and left Teddy to lick his wounds alone, he never would have trusted her as far as he could throw her. He knew exactly what he was doing.

But as Nikki left out of that house to go to Teddy, she knew her husband, when he was enraged, never wanted to be bothered. He never made it easy for Nikki when he was in that zone. That was why she was not surprised at all when she made it outside and saw that he had already hopped into his Bugatti and was speeding away, leaving Monk, her, and their daughter , in the dust.

Nikki exhaled as she stood beside Monk in the chill of the night. “What is wrong with him?” she said with anger in her voice.

“He’s got to work off some steam,” Monk said as they watched Teddy leave. “He told me to take you and Kimmie home.”

Then he shook his head. “Mick and Teddy. I told him from the beginning it wasn’t a great idea to work for his old man. I worked for mine and that was a disaster too. But with Mick and Teddy? It was a disaster on steroids. There was always going to be heavy contention between those two.”

Nikki looked at Monk. “Why would you say that?”

Monk lifted his hat slightly, revealing that beautiful soft hair he had but rarely showed. “I’ve never met two people more hellbent on destroying each other before in my life,” he said, and Nikki looked at him as if he couldn’t be serious.

But it wasn’t as if she never thought the exact same thing.

Just that it felt jarring, and far more tragic, to hear it affirmed by somebody else.