“When are they expected?” I asked, hovering over the club’s layout plan.
“An hour after Lou arrives. He wants to make sure everything is set and ready. Lou will have his men surrounding the building.” He pointed two fingers at the entrance. “He’ll have Buddy and Rich at the main entrance, fully armed.” His fingers traced down the back of the building where the parking lot was. “This is where two of Lou’s guys and I will be. My men here,” he nudged his head at both Liam and Eric in front of us, “will handle those two; they’ll be in custody before the bust begins.”
Vinnie straightened his position. “Obviously, Lou will have Gio with him for the exchange, but he’s also called in some backup. Lou made an agreement to have some of Rick Boyle’s men there.”
“What the fuck, Vinnie. How many are there?”
He crossed his arms and pinched his lips together, as if lost in thought or calculating in his head. “I’d say a total of ten, maybe twelve, men of Lou’s. Salvi agreed to bring the same amount, not to overpower Lou during the exchange, but if I know Salvi, I’m sure he’ll have a few men close by, just in case.”
“How many men do you have in your team for the bust? Are we outnumbered?”
“We have enough, Marky.”
“Bull fuckin’ shit!” Jimmie spat out, all heads turned in his direction. “You expect us to risk our lives out there with only a handful of your men who we don’t even fuckin’ know? Do you realize who you’re fuckin’ dealing with here? Lou Sorrento is not some fuckin’ Joe from down South, and Salvatore Lombardi? You’ve all lost your fuckin’ minds.”
Vinnie grew agitated. With his arms spread wide, he glared at Jimmie. “Maybe we have, but at least we are fuckin’ trying. If you ever want to do something in your life, do this, Jimmie. Think of your little girl.”
“Don’t you ever bring up my fuckin’ little girl, you fuckin’ bastard. I’ve been thinking about her since day fuckin’ one! We’re all signing our death warrants as we march into that fuckin’ club, and you know it, Vinnie!” Jimmie pointed, as he tried to catch his breath, his shoulders heaving up and down from his heavy breathing.
“So what? You want out? Just like that? Fine, be a fuckin’ coward. The one thing I never expected was a DeLuca brother backing down, especially you, Jimmie.”
“You shouldn’t set your expectations so fuckin’ high, Vinnie. People change all the damn time, especially when it involves possibly never seeing their loved ones again.”
Frustrated by the change of events, I spat out, “Okay, enough of this shit.” I stood from my chair, “We’re doing this, Vinnie.” I turned my head toward Jimmie, and his head snapped in my direction. “Yes, Jimmie, we’re doing this.”
Laughing once, Jimmie waved his arm exaggeratedly and bowed down to me. “Whatever you say, boss.”
“Come on, Jimmie. Don’t be like that. You said it yourself. We started this together, and we’re ending it together.”
Jimmie stared at me as he took in the words I threw back at him. He leaned back, crossed his arms, lifted one leg, and pressed his foot against the wall to keep balance. After a few minutes, he nodded at me and then at Vinnie to go on.
Vinnie let out a breath in relief and turned back to me. “Okay, you and Jimmie will be in this VIP room.” He pointed back to the plan on my desk. “That’s where the surveillance will be set up. You two will radio every detail of what’s going on: a play-by-play. Once you spot both Salvi and Lou in the same room—the moment Salvi arrives and Lou is there—you let us know and we move in.” Vinnie looked around the room at each and every one of us. “Do you all understand the plan?” We all nodded in response. “Good, let’s get going. I want you guys set up in the surveillance room before Lou’s men show up.”
Vinnie and his two men grabbed their things and walked out of the office. I stood up from my chair and adjusted my jacket before reaching into the drawer and removing two guns. I put one in the back of my pants underneath my shirt and the other in the front of my pants, adjusting it by my hip.”
I grabbed another two and walked over to Jimmie and handed them to him. “Are you sure you can do this? It’s not too late to stay here with Elle and Mom. I can handle this, Jimmie.”
He uncrossed his arms and straightened his shoulders. Grabbing the guns from my hand, he adjusted them on him as I did mine. “I’m with you all the way.”
Relieved in a way, I bowed my head. “Jimmie, I just want you to know the only reason why I want to go on with this is because of Dad.” I looked up at him as his brows pinched together in confusion. “Don’t you see? If we keep on going as he did, little by little we’ll break, and before we know it, we’ll end up like him. It just proves that there’s no easy way out, well, at least not without a fight.”
Jimmie’s expression relaxed, indicating that he had understood what I had said, and then he gently slapped the side of my face and nodded.
Not another word was spoken as we walked out of the house. We all hopped into the same car and drove off.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
MIA
All night, I couldn’t stop thinking of Marcus and the uneasiness I felt when we had left each other. I wasn’t able to take it anymore. I knew it was still early that Sunday, but I had to drive to his house and talk to him. During the entire drive, the past few months sprinted through my head. These last few weeks, we hadn’t spent much time together, but I knew it was because of our busy schedules.
I missed falling asleep in his arms and waking up next to him. Maybe waiting until the semester was over to move in with him was ridiculous. I could simply move my clothes over to his house, and everything else could wait. I felt guilty that I might have led him to believe that I didn’t love him enough to want to spend every possible minute together.
When Megan and I arrived back at my apartment the night before, Jeremy was there waiting for us. She was completely intoxicated from the tequila shots she’d thrown back. Jeremy guided her into his bedroom and came back out. Then, he filled me in on what happened between the two of them. Apparently, Megan said, “I love you,” and it scared Jeremy. He was thrown off by it and wasn’t sure how to handle it. Megan had gotten upset because he just froze and didn’t respond, which caused her to walk out the door. Jeremy said that, after we left, he took a walk around the neighborhood and that’s when it dawned on him that he did love her. When he came back, we were already gone. Needless to say, they were back to being Megan and Jeremy by the morning.