He Loved Me in Secret, Until I Became Someone He Could Never Have novel · Chapter 20 of 32
Chapter 20: House Calls
I fixed my strap with steady hands.
"How many have said yes?"
"Nobody's said yes," Ennio said. "Nobody's said no either. They're counting what they owe him."
"And what do they owe him?"
He told me.
The Annapolis Family owed the Venturis for a marina.
Wilmington owed them two trucking routes and a judge.
Philadelphia owed them almost two million dollars from a casino deal that went sideways in the spring.
"Tullio's buying the vote with their own debts," I said.
"With money that isn't his," Ennio said. "If the Ledger splits, the Venturis take the biggest share. He forgives a few million and walks away with forty."
Dario was leaning against the brick with his eyes closed.
"He'll have the votes by Christmas," he said.
"No," I said. "He won't."
On Monday morning, the fisherman lent me a blue plastic cooler with a cracked lid.
I took the Ledger out from behind the ricotta, wrapped it in my grandmother's tablecloth, and laid it inside.
The night guard drove.
We went to Annapolis first.
The Annapolis boss met us in his marina office with his raincoat still on.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–16 of He Loved Me in Secret, Until I Became Someone He Could Never Have are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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