Rock Chick 07 Regret (40 page)

Then I thought it might be
more
fun to sit in Hector’s hot tub with Hector.

Then I fell back to sleep.

* * * * *

The covers slid off my shoulder and I could feel the heat and soft touch of a hand taking them away.

“Sadie?” Hector called.

My eyes opened. “What?” I muttered.

“Wake up,
mamita
, the Zanos are here.”

I blinked in the darkness. Then I got up on an elbow, holding the covers over my chest.

I wasn’t thinking clearly. I was still half-asleep. I could have sworn he just told me the Zanos were there in the middle of the blooming, blooming
night
.

“What?” I asked.

“Get dressed, the Zanos are here,” he repeated. “We gotta talk.”

He
did
say the Zanos were there.

I sat up fully and held the covers against me with one hand, pulled my hair out of my face with the other. Hector had moved from sitting on the bed. He was bent over, gathering my clothes from the floor.

“What are the Zanos doing here?” I asked.

Hector handed me my clothes. “Just get dressed,
preciosa
. We’ll talk downstairs.”

The serious tone of his voice meant I should probably not take this as happy news.

Though what middle of the night visits were
ever
happy news? Except, of course Gloria and her girls’ bid for the hot tub, that wasn’t exactly happy (for Hector) but I found it humorous.

I decided to do as asked. First, he’d just called me “
preciosa
” something I liked (a lot) and even though I figured I knew what that meant, I still added a call to Jet on my Mental To-Do List for the morning to see where that ranked in Spanish endearments. Second, I wanted to find out what trauma was about to befall me now so I could deal with it and maybe get some sleep before the next one.

Hector moved across the room as I put on my camisole then fought the sheets and comforter as I put on my panties while in bed. Semi-decent, I got out of bed and pulled on my bottoms.

All of this effort was for nothing. Hector was rooting around in his closet and I’d rounded the bed by the time he found what he wanted.

He joined me at the foot of the bed and offered me a shadowy piece of clothing.

“Put that on,” he ordered.

I took it, saw it was a flannel shirt and shrugged it on. It was soft and it was warm and I hoped it wasn’t Hector’s favorite because I instantly decided it was going to find its way into my overnight bag.

We walked down the stairs. The lights were on and Ren was standing in the living room with his uncle, Vito Zano, and his cousin Dom.

What in
the heck
was going on?

I hesitated, not knowing what to do. Even my father’s incessant training in social niceties hadn’t prepared me for a middle of the night visit from the Zano Family. In fact, I was certain sure that kind of visit could not be found in
any
etiquette book.

Then as I had loads of practice at dealing with whatever weird situation came my way, I made a decision and walked to Vito.

“Mr. Zano,” I greeted, putting out my hand.

He took my hand and used it to pull me into his arms for a warm hug.

“None of that ‘Mr. Zano’ business now that Seth’s out of the way, little one. I’m your Uncle Vito now,” he told the top of my head.

Well, that was
just great
. Now I had an “Uncle Vito” to add to my growing list of friends I never knew I had.

Did
no one
remember my Ice Princess? Was
everyone
determined to make it harder for me to cut ties and disappear?

Darn it all to heck!

He let me go, I pushed aside my mental tantrum and I looked to Ren and Dom.

Ren looked good (as usual), wearing jeans and dark brown turtleneck.

Dom
Vincetti
, his cousin, was wearing a long-sleeved, thermal
henley
and jeans, looking rough in a way that was a lot like Hector (but Hector did it better, in my opinion).

Dom had always been the wild one. He was good-looking too and usually an outrageous flirt, sometimes not in a good way, in a way my father said was crass. Now, he wasn’t looking at me like he usually did (as if he was mentally undressing me) but in a different way, intense, and bizarrely at the same time, soft.

Just like Ren was looking at me.

This time, I let Blanca’s lesson take hold and instead of moving toward either of them (which might involve some form of touching which might make Hector mad, something I wished to avoid at all costs), I moved to Hector.

Hector’s arm slid along my shoulders as I said to Ren and Dom, “Hi guys.”

Dom blinked. Ren’s eyes flicked to Hector then back to me and he grinned.

Hector tucked me in his side.

No one spoke.

I waited.

Still, no one spoke.

Finally, when I could take it no more, I asked, “What’s up?”

Hector answered, “The Zanos got Ricky.”

My body went solid. Then relief dripped through me and I sagged into Hector.

Thank you, God
.

“Thank God,” I whispered.

“No Sadie,” Hector said softly and I looked up at him and saw his face was carefully blank but his eyes were glittery hard. He kept talking. “You don’t get it,
mamita
, they’ve got him but now you need to decide what they’re gonna do with him.”

My relaxed body went solid again.

“What?” I asked Hector.

Uncle Vito spoke. “You got two choices, little one,” he told me and my eyes turned to him. “The first, we take Balducci to the police.” He stopped talking, I nodded then he went on, “The second, Balducci disappears.”

My body jerked.

“Disappears?” I repeated, my voice breathy and disbelieving.

“Disappears,” Dom affirmed and my gaze moved to him. “Gone. No one ever sees him again, not you, not his brothers, no one.”

I just stared at Dom not comprehending what he was saying or, more accurately, trying not to comprehend what he was saying.

Dom continued talking, “He fights the charges, you have to testify, you have to go through it again. Or you can choose for him to disappear and we take care of it. No trial, no testifying, it’s over, he’s certain to pay and you move on.”

Were they telling me they were going to
whack
Ricky Balducci for me?

Blooming
heck!

“I can’t ask you to –” I started.

“We wouldn’t do it,” Uncle Vito interrupted quickly, eyes on Hector then his gaze came back to me. “You ain’t the only one who hates Ricky. We put the word out he’s available, they’ll come out of the woodwork. We chose the one who’ll do the job right, we hand him over, we walk away. We don’t know what happens from there, you don’t, Chavez doesn’t neither does his brother or Nightingale. No one’s the wiser and it’ll be done.”

 
I realized my body was shaking.

“Sadie,” Hector called and I looked up at him. For some reason, he changed the subject and informed me. “That blood and the hairs they found on your furniture, some of it was Ricky’s.”

I didn’t know why he was telling me that but I nodded anyway.

He kept talking. “Harvey went before the judge yesterday, bail was set. Donny and Marty left him in jail. They didn’t post bond.”

I just kept staring at Hector, still not understanding why he was telling me all this.

Hector’s fingers squeezed my shoulder and he curled me closer to him. “
Mamita
, I’m givin’ you the information you need to make a decision. What I’m sayin’ is, the remaining free Balduccis aren’t
feelin
’ any brotherly love. They aren’t
takin
’ care of Harvey and if Ricky gets locked up, it’s likely they won’t bond him out either. That means, neither of those
two’ll
hit the streets anytime soon. That also means the other two are happy to jockey for position with Ricky and Harvey out of their way. And you got enough to get a guilty verdict if Ricky’s stupid enough to fight the rape charge.”

Finally I got it and I also had a good idea of which decision Hector wanted me to make.

So I said, “Okay.”

He curled me closer, his other hand went to my hip and his face dipped low. “No Sadie,” he said softly, reading my thoughts. “It’s your choice to make. I’m just givin’ you the full picture. It isn’t me who’ll have to sit on the witness stand and tell a room full of people what happened that night. It also isn’t me who’ll have to listen to whatever fucked up version of events
Ricky’ll
produce as his defense. You got the opportunity to avoid that; I’m not gonna take that away and no one in this room, or out of it, will judge. The Zanos are givin’ you a chance to decide what form your retribution will take. Only you can make it but you gotta make it now.”

I didn’t like this. At all.

On the one hand, I didn’t want to see Ricky again and even if all the evidence was stacked against him, he was crazy enough to fight it. That would stink.

It would also likely mean I couldn’t move to Crete or I’d have to come back.

On the other hand, everyone in that room knew what Vito meant by “disappear”. Which would mean if I picked choice number two, I was worse than Ricky Balducci. It would mean I truly was my father’s daughter. I wasn’t New Sadie. I’d never be a New Sadie of any kind. I would be Seth Townsend’s daughter and that’s who I’d stay, forever and ever.

I uncurled from Hector and my eyes turned to Vito.

“Please take him to the police,” I said.

Hector’s arm got tight around my shoulders.

Dom muttered a frustrated, “Fuck.”

Ren expelled a heavy breath.

Vito nodded.

“I knew she’d pick that,” Dom muttered. “We should have –”

Vito interrupted in a low, warning tone, saying, “Dominic,” but I was surprised Dom knew my choice even before I did.

Dom fell silent and Vito turned to Ren. “Make the call, tell the boys.”

Ren nodded to his uncle and walked to me. Regardless of Hector standing there, he leaned in, kissed my cheek, moved away, pulled his cell out of his pocket and left the house.

Dom, Vito and I looked at each other.

No one spoke.

I decided it was time to move on to a happier subject that didn’t involve the Balduccis, my rape or anyone getting whacked. My gaze focused on Dom.

“I hear Sissy’s pregnant,” I told him.

Sissy was his wife. They’d had some hard times and were separated for awhile but, word was, they’d got back together and were starting a family.

Dom stared at me, still angry at my decision then his face went soft and he muttered, “Yeah.”

“Congratulations,” I told him on a smile. I’d met Sissy a few times though I didn’t know her well she always struck me as being really nice.

“Life!” Vito exploded, making me jump. “Up and down, good and bad, birth and death, celebration and devastation. If you got any balls at all, you roll with the punches and get the fuck on with it, pardon my French.”

My eyes moved to Vito, he was watching me and I could swear (no kidding!) I saw admiration.

That’s when I realized he thought I had “balls”.

I felt another warm, happy glow starting when Vito clapped and then put his hands up in front of him.

“We’re through. I gotta get home. Angela worries.” He made a move and came to me. Hector let me go and Vito gave me another hug. When he moved away, he looked at me. “She told me to tell you she wants you to come to dinner. She’ll call. Bring Chavez and a big appetite. My wife, she cooks, it’s what she does,” he finished.

Oh my.

Dinner with Vito and Angela Zano.