Chapter 20: The Docks

Rocco's POV

I went to Mercy Hospital at six in the morning, and the charge nurse told me what I already knew.

Bianca had finished her shift at eleven.

A black car had been waiting at the staff door, and a man in a camel coat had opened the back.

"He kissed her on the cheek," the nurse said. "She went."

"Willingly?"

"She didn't scream." The nurse looked at the floor. "I don't think she thought she could."

My phone rang in the car park.

It was a number I did not know, and I answered it on the second ring.

"Rocco," Aldo said warmly. "I wanted you to hear it from me. My daughter is home, and she is perfectly well."

"Put her on."

"She's asleep. She had a long week." His voice went on, friendly.

"I'll see you tomorrow at my table. I look forward to the Brandolini signature."

"What signature?"

"Come now. You'll want to be generous."

He hung up.

I stood in the car park with the phone in my hand, and I understood what Aldo thought he was doing.

He believed he had a hostage.

He believed I would walk into Taylor Street on Sunday and bargain.

I called Sandro.

"The hall on Grand Avenue, at eleven," I said. "Every Don in the city."

"Tell them I have one thing to say, and I'll say it once."

The hall belongs to the old Sons of Italy lodge.

It has a low stage at one end and folding chairs, and on a Saturday it smells of floor wax.

By eleven there were forty men in it, heads of families from Cicero to the south side, with their sons standing behind them.

Keep reading free with an account. Start My Don Husband Wants Two Wives from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.