After My Heart Died, The Don Begged Crying at My Feet novel · Chapter 14 of 24

Chapter 14: Pier Nine

Pier Nine was a mile of dark warehouses with one lit window at the end.

Dominic stopped the car beside it and turned off the engine.

"Ten minutes," he said. "Then I'm coming in, whatever you told me."

"Twenty," I said.

"Fifteen."

I got out without agreeing to it.

Two of Pace's men stood at the warehouse door, and neither of them lifted a hand to search me.

That told me more than anything they could have said.

They knew who I was, and they weren't sure what they were allowed to do.

The long floor inside was empty except for pallets and a single table.

Bruno Pace sat at it with a pot of tea and two cups.

Beyond him, behind a wall of dirty office glass, Fitz sat in his wooden chair under the bare bulb.

He saw me, and he shook his head once, slowly.

"Don't sign anything," he mouthed.

"Mrs. Ventresca." Pace stood and pulled out a chair. "Thank you for coming. Sit. Tea?"

"No."

"You're upset. It's natural."

"Let him out."

"In a moment." He poured himself a cup. "First, I'd like you to understand that I take no pleasure in this. Your father and I did business for twenty years. I would not have chosen to meet his daughter this way."

"Then don't."

"The Coast needs a man. You're a baker, and a good one, I'm told. You've got a fine little shop and a husband who is, frankly, a disgrace." He slid a single sheet of paper across the table. "Sign the seat to me today. Fitz walks out of here tonight. You keep your bakery, your name, and whatever the Ventrescas pay you to go away."

I read the paper.

It was short and clean, and a lawyer had drawn it up.

At the bottom was a blank line with my name typed under it.

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