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 think Frank is only a threat to people who are smaller than him. He’s a sniveling little coward around other men.”
“He’s going to sign?” I asked.
“Lawyer should have the paperwork done tomorrow,” Remo said, popping the champagne. “From there, it’s two to five days before shit goes official. Then six or so months until Frank takes a vacation somewhere tropical. With a hilariously inept police force. Couple months after that, it’s all fucking mine. And you, Miss London—”
“Langston,” Milo corrected.
“Right. And you, Miss Langston, will be set for life.”
“Wait. What? Me?”
“Well, your man here and I got to talking. And decided that you will be on salary.”
“For singing?” I asked, surprised at the rush of disappointment I felt.
I loved singing.
I didn’t think I’d ever not want to sing.
But singing at the lounge meant living in Atlantic City. And some silly, romantic part of me was kind of hoping to get to know this place called Navesink Bank.
“Well, you’re free to come sing anytime you want. But no. Just on salary. We can give you some bullshit title. Or a real one. Head of… entertainment or some shit. I don’t know. Whatever will look good for the law. Santino irons that shit out. You can work remote, if you want. Or you can just collect your check.”
“But if I’m not doing anything…”
“You did enough,” Remo said, clearly high on his success and not thinking clearly. “We settled on one-twenty a year. Seems fair for a fake job.”
One-twenty?
To do nothing?
When I’d been standing on a stage in icepick heels singing for six to eight hours straight for minimum wage?
“I mean, you won’t need the money. Way I hear it, Milo is one of the best earners back home. But I think everyone should always have a little something-something that is just theirs. It’s good for your peace of mind. Champagne?” he asked, waving around the bottle that cost more than I made in a shift.
“I probably shouldn’t. I had those pills this morning.”
“Oh, you’re fine,” Remo said as Milo finally set me down so I could accept the little plastic cup of champagne. “Let’s toast.”
“To what?” I asked.
“To taking over this fucking town,” Remo said. Then, looking at me and Milo, added, “and to you two meeting and falling in love and shit.”
He clinked his glass to ours.
And neither of us objected to his words.
“Cheers,” we chorused.
The champagne only lasted all of ten minutes. And Remo declared that he had to go get more so he could celebrate with his brothers.
Which meant Milo and I were perfectly alone again.
“You’re sure everything is settled?” I asked, moving to sit on his lap in the quiet aftermath of the celebration.
“As settled as it can be right now. Frank is holed up in a safe house under constant guard. Remo isn’t taking care of his debts until after the paperwork is all official and there’s no backing out.”
“And then… then Frank takes a nice vacation, right?” I asked, resting my head against Milo’s chest, listening to his steady heartbeat.
“Right.”
“Can you be sure that he takes this… vacation before he does something else horrible to another woman?”
Milo’s arm tightened around me.
“Don’t worry, baby, his days of using his power against women are over.”
“I still can’t believe I’m getting a salary. And Archie is getting a retirement. And the pit boss keeps her job. How can he afford to be so altruistic?”
“Remo won’t even notice that money being gone. Especially once he gets the casino renovated and run properly. Besides, he owes you. He was right, though. You won’t need it. You can invest it or sock it away in a secret account. If you come with me, that is.”
“To Navesink Bank,” I clarified, needing confirmation.
“Yeah. To my apartment. Temporarily.”
“Temporarily?” I asked, belly shrinking.
“I want to get rid of the apartment and get a house. Within the year.”
“You have all sorts of plans, huh?”
“Ton of ‘em.”
“Can you tell me some of them?” Did I sound a little small and needy? Yes. But if there was one person I felt comfortable being that way around, it was Milo.
“So, I plan to hire some movers sometime in the next few days.”
“Movers?”
“To pack up your place. I figure it can all fit in one of those boxes we can have shipped up to Navesink Bank. We can take out essentials if you want and leave the other stuff in the pod at the docks.”
“I don’t think everything I own would even fill up half of one of those boxes. I’m not sure I even want to bring it all. It was all kind of junk because that was all I could afford.”
“I can walk around and take videos if you want. Then you can tell me what you want to take or not.”
“I can’t come?”
“You probably could, but I just want to be careful. I get it if you’re going stir-crazy here. But if you can just give me one or two more days.”