Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 77160 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77160 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
“I’m still out, though. I pay twenty-five, it is mortgaged to twenty-five. He spends twenty-five. I just pissed away that money.”
“True. That money would be gone. But you hold onto the extra fifteen mill.”
“It’s not enough to pay off the mortgage.”
“Again, true. But you’d have a fifty-percent stake in the company. I would put his take-home revenue at around fifteen?”
Christ, he was spending fifteen million a year? More, if he was still in debt. What kind of shitty-ass businessman was he?
“So you get seven-point-five. You take that seven-point-five. You invest it in the market. Roll everything for five years. You can, reasonably, if we’re smart, make a ten percent return.”
“Santino, you know I’m not the stocks guy. Plain language.”
“After five years of investing your income, you’re looking at a cool forty-two million. You could pay off the whole mortgage, keep your fifteen mill, declare Frank dead, and own it all, Scot-free.”
“Look, I know it’s five years. But five years are gonna pass anyway. And Frank will be outta the picture in under a year. You will be the only owner on paper.”
“And it won’t look shady as fuck that he’s missing and I profit from that?”
“Well, you play nice for a while. Ham it up. You’re the best of friends. Then he goes missing. And you’re worried at first. Then getting pissed. Making public pleas. Offer a reward for any information. All the PR shit.”
“Or,” I said, cutting in, “you shorten this by four years and just… have him crash his fancy car or a plane or a ship. Something that could be excused by being drunk. Or, hell, high. He now has it in his medical records that he overdosed on drugs. There’s no proof anywhere that you stabbed him with it.”
Remo looked to Santino for his opinion.
“It would be smartest to have more than just one incident of an overdose. But if you’re close to him, that wouldn’t be hard to make happen.”
“That could be done. But how do we crash his car, boat, or plane without hurting anyone else?”
“I’m sure someone in the family would know,” I said, shrugging it off. “Or he has a fall.”
“The thing is… we have to make sure the paperwork is ironclad.”
“Meaning?”
“There has to be a buy-sell agreement.”
“And that does what?”
“It says that if one partner dies, the other must buy out their stake. You would have it. With the fifteen, if you don’t renovate right away, plus your salary, you would have it. Only thing to watch out for is making sure you get a fucking shark of a lawyer to make sure that shit ironclad and airtight. So if Frank’s second cousin twice removed doesn’t come out of the woodwork and try to fight it.”
“Does Frank have extended family?”
“He’s got a great aunt that is old as dirt. He hasn’t paid a dime to her nursing home care. And there is a cousin out there that lives off-grid in the middle of nowhere Alaska. Doesn’t have a phone or mailing address. He’s paranoid that the elites are listening to him via drones. He’s a nut job. But not a threat.”
Remo sighed.
“Wouldn’t it just make sense to kill the bastard and buy the place at auction?”
“Five years ago, maybe. But investors are sniffing. Not for casinos. For more luxury real estate. Gentrification is making its way here, slowly but surely. It would be a nightmare of a bidding war. There’s no way we can afford it.”
“Do you really need the casino this much?” I asked. “It’s worth all this hassle?”
Remo raked a hand down his face.
“Yes.”
“To wash the money?” I asked.
“It’s a big part of it, yeah. Alright, say I do this, how am I approaching Frank?”
“Best chances? You do it soon. He’s gotta be scrambling and paranoid about Pat.”
“And looking for protection since he’s a sniveling little fuck,” Remo said. “Okay. Alright. Am I going in as who I am? Tell him I’ll take care of Pat the way I’m going to?”
“Be vague. He doesn’t need to know. He probably wouldn’t want to know.”
“Okay. You got names of lawyers who can draw this up quickly?”
“Well, we have our shortlist of lawyers we’ve been working on for the past year. You’re going to need to decide.”
“Alright. Let’s get this moving.”
“Do you want me to introduce you to Frank?” I asked, making Remo give me a blank look. “I played poker with him, remember?”
“Right. Yeah. That might be a good in. I hate to make you leave Roe, but it shouldn’t take more than a few hours. And I can have all my brothers here protecting her.”
“Just tell me when.”
“Tomorrow at the latest. But I’m hoping we can track him down today for the meeting. I’ll have someone grab your shit from the other hotel so you’re ready.”
“Sounds good.”
“Go spend some time with your girl. I’ll be in touch as soon as I know the next move.”