Gloria stared back at him. Because it was the most honest thing she felt he had said since he sat down. She sipped from her wine.
“What’s your name?” Oz asked her.
“Gloria. What’s yours?”
“Odysseus.”
Gloria smiled. “O what see-us?”
Oz laughed. “It’s pronounced O-Des-see-us. But everybody calls me Oz. That better?”
Gloria nodded. “Much.”
“You’re from around here?”
“From Vegas? No. My girlfriends and I decided to treat ourselves to a weekend getaway. It’s back to business as usual on Monday.”
“Where?”
“Philly.”
“Ah. The city of brotherly love.”
“That’s right. Where are you from?”
“Greece, originally,” said Oz. “Florida at the moment.”
Florida, Gloria thought. One of her two business location options.
“Would you care to dance?” Oz asked her.
“With your little harem over there? No thank you.”
“Alone,” said Oz. “With me.”
Gloria smiled.
“What?”
“You make it sound as if dancing with the great Oz is some kind of grand prize.”
“Well isn’t it?” Oz asked with a grin even Gloria had to admit was charming.
Although he looked to be a man who was late into his thirties, when he grinned, he looked so boyish and innocent to Gloria. But then she had to catch herself. Was she calling a man like him innocent? Her eyes were playing tricks on her! “I’ll pass,” she said.
“But, really, you’ll enjoy yourself. I’ll see to it.”
“No.” Gloria was firm. No way was she fooling around with a guy like him. Not even for a one-night stand. “Thank you, but no.”
Oz wasn’t accustomed to any rejection of any kind. He was usually the one telling females yea or nay, not them telling him. And for some strange reason, her turn down hurt him. He even felt a little embarrassed. She was a beautiful girl in her twenties. In the prime of her life. Did he repulse her? Did she see him as some perverted old man or something? He realized he couldn’t handle rejection. He realized a taste of his own medicine tasted bad.
He stood up. “Sorry to have bothered you,” he said suddenly, and then promptly walked away.
Gloria, surprised by how easily he gave up on her, watched him head back to the comfort of his three female sycophants. And if she were to be honest with herself, she’d admit she was a tad disappointed. No man had ever fought for her. Not ever. It was as if, in her mind, she wasn’t worth the effort. Why would he see it any differently?
But as she watched him go back to having fun, without even bothering to glance her way again, she grabbed her clutch and made her way to the ladies’ room. When she realized nobody was in there, she placed both hands on the vanity and leaned forward. And she thought about her life and all the failures and mistakes she’d made, and how she always ended up alone. In love. Heartbroken. And then alone. That was the story of her life.
And now she was about to go out there in this cruel, mean world on her own, without the protection of her father’s nearness, something she’d come to rely on. And she was scared to death. She couldn’t lie to herself. She was scared. So scared that tears wanted to come. But she wouldn’t let them.
She, instead, stood up straight, exhaled, and forced herself to smile at that round, brown face staring back at her in that mirror. She was going to put her own self on that pedestal. She was going to make her own self happy.
But then she thought about her father, and how angry and disappointed he was going to be with her when he heard the news, and all of that courage tried to dissipate again.
“You’re a mess, Gloria Sinatra. You’re a mess!” she said out loud. And then she stood up straight again, exhaled again, and left the ladies room.
She left that club altogether.
CHAPTER THREE
Seven Weeks Later
The high-revved, bright red Porsche Taycan 4S flung into the parking space in front of Fotia, a Greek restaurant in downtown Apple Valley, and Oz stepped out. Dressed in Valentino head to toe with an open collar, tennis shoes, and sunglasses covering his partying-too-hard bloodshot eyes, he buttoned his suit coat and made his way across the sidewalk and into the restaurant.
“Odysseus!” Dody, the owner, said cheerfully from behind the bar. He raised his glass in a toast to the new arrival.
“I thought they said you had died and gone to Greek heaven, my man,” Oz said with a grin without breaking his stride.
“They said the same thing about you,” Dody replied. “Only they said it was Greek hell where you went.”
Oz and Dody, and a few bar customers laughed. “They’re back there?” Oz asked.
“They’re back there,” Dody said, and Oz disappeared behind a pair of hanging curtains.
He walked down the narrow hall and entered a back room where their meetings usually took place. Six of the ten heads of families were represented. All hailed from Greece. All, at one time or another when they were still in Greece, worked for Oz.
And as soon as Oz walked into that room, his entire demeanor changed. Gone was the happy-go-lucky lover laughing it up with Dody. He was now stern and hard: the boss in a room of bosses.
He leaned against the front of the desk and folded his arms and his legs at the ankles. “What was so important that it couldn’t wait?” he asked them. “I told each one of you that I wasn‘t to be contacted, unless it was life or death. Nothing less. Didn’t I say that?”
“That’s why we contacted you,” said Andreas, one of the bosses. “We had to meet. And yes, it is life or death.”
It was what Oz didn’t want to hear. “What’s happened?” he asked.
Andreas spoke for the group. “They took out Madinis,” he said.
Oz was shocked. “When?”
“Last night.”
“Who took him out?”
“We don’t know who’s leading it. They call themselves the Ghost Mafia. Shadowy as hell.”
“But why would they take out Madinis?”
“Because they want his territory,” said Morpheus, the head of the largest family. “They want all of our territories.”
“They’ve been taking your lands?”
“Yes! That’s why we called you. They’re claiming it was their land all the time. We need you, Odysseus. We have to join forces.”
“Join forces?”
“All of us Greeks must. All of our families must. And you, too, Oz. You have to join forces with us and lead us, or otherwise they will rip us to shreds, family by family.”
“They want territory commanded by Greeks only?” Oz asked.
“We don’t know if they’re bothering the Russians or any other group. But we know they’re after us. We have to join forces because separately we wield no power. We’re getting our heads crushed in by the Americans. Whenever we acquire territory, we have to fight tooth and nail to keep it. We are no more than foreigners to them, playing in their wheelhouse.”
“I’ve got a piece of the pie over here,” said Andreas. “Then this other family has a piece over there. Another family? A piece over there. And you’ve got your thing going. It’s not enough for us to continue to survive piece by piece like this.”
“What does any of this have to do with me?”
“We need you, Oz,” said Petrakis, another head of family. “We can’t do this without your leadership.”
But Oz was already shaking his head. “No way. Why are you bringing this here? I don’t want this shit in my backyard. I don’t want it anywhere near Florida. I told you that!”
“We already know that,” said Andreas. “They aren’t contesting us on the east coast. It’s the west coast they’re after. It’s every territory we own over there.”
Oz exhaled. “I don’t see every head of family at this meeting. Are all of them onboard?”
“Yes,”
said Morpheus.
“On one condition,” said Andreas.
Oz looked at him. “What’s the condition?”
“That you lead the group. They won’t form the coalition without you as the leader.”
But Oz was, again, shaking his head. “No way.”
“You led us in Greece.”
“This isn’t Greece!” Oz said firmly.
“But Odysseus, they won’t do it without you in charge,” pleaded Andreas.
“Then it won’t happen!” said Oz. “There’s no way I’m getting in that deep. Not in a land that is not even my home country!”
“But if we give in here, in America, on this foreign soil, they will go to Greece, to our soil, and take over there too. And that’s when your interests will collide with them too. We can’t give in, Odysseus! You can’t say no!”
Oz stared at the faces in front of him. All strong, powerful men. But they didn’t know what they were asking of him. He was attempting to slowly bury his mob ties, not highlight them! And his brother, who had no idea he was still knee deep in a syndicate he thought had been buried with their father, would kill him if he found out.
But he also knew Andreas was right. Saying no would be a death sentence, not just for them in America, but for their full force in Greece.
Oz leaned his head back. “Damn!” he said angrily.
CHAPTER FOUR
Teddy Sinatra drove slowly as Gloria, seated on the passenger seat, thumbed through the text messages on her phone. He kept glancing at her as he drove, seemingly worried about her, but said nothing until he stopped at a red light.
“Are you sure you want to do this, Glo?” he asked her.
“I’m sure,” Gloria replied without looking up.
“But why Florida of all places? There are always some crazy things going on down there. Ever hear those news stories about this Florida man or that Florida man doing all of that fucked-up shit? Like eating people’s faces and shit? And since when did you want to own a diner?”
Gloria smiled. “It wasn’t organic like that, Teddy. I didn’t wake up one morning and said, ‘oh, I think I’ll own a diner in Florida today.’”
“Then how on earth did you suddenly decide to own a diner in Florida today?” The light changed, and he continued driving.
“When me and Leyla and rest of the girls went to Vegas, and we stayed at The PaLargio, I went to see Uncle Reno. We started talking about my future and I told him my goal was to launch out on my own someday. Maybe own me a little shop in a small town somewhere. I told him I was searching for the right place. That’s when Uncle Reno said he knew this lady in Apple Valley that was looking to sell this successful diner she owned, and that he could put me in touch with her. It was shocking. I didn’t think I could get that kind of break, so I called her. She said she’d be pleased to negotiate the terms, so I hired a lawyer and a realtor to help me negotiate them, and now I’m about to fly to Florida for the Closing.”
“Dad pays you that much that you can just go out and buy a business like that?” Teddy asked her.
“I’ll have a mortgage,” Gloria responded.
Teddy shook his head. “Dad’s not going to like that either, sis,” he said.
Gloria knew it too. That was why she didn’t respond, but looked out of the window as they made their way toward the airport.
Teddy continued to glance at her. Her big, beautiful eyes kept darting around, as if she knew her decision would be fraught with problems. “When are you going to tell him?” he asked her.
She let out a harsh exhale. “After I close and have the keys in my possession, I’ll eventually go back to Philly and let him know. Right now, he thinks I’m on an extended vacation, a much-needed vacation, for the rest of the month.”
Teddy was shaking his head again. “A month-long vacation. He’s never given me that much time off.”
“He gave you and Nikki a lot of time off.”
“Not a whole month! But that’s how he is. He lets you get away with murder.”
Gloria smiled. “That is such a lie! He doesn’t let me get away with anything! I just happen to have that much time banked up. I had a right to take it.”
He’s going to be so pissed with you.”
“For what? For using my earned leave time?”
“You know what I mean. When he finds out what you’re really up to, he’s going to be upset, Glo.”
“Upset at me for living my own life? Something I’ll never be able to do under him because he won’t let me? He treats you like a man, Teddy. He treats me like a little kid. Like I’m Jackie’s age, not in my twenties.”
“He treats you that way because that’s exactly what you are. Under him, we all are little kids. We’re Mick Sinatra’s kids. In this world, because of who he is, it’s not just a title. It’s a freaking shackle around our necks that we’ll carry for the rest of our lives.”
Gloria looked at Teddy. She could hear the bitterness in his voice. As the underboss in their father’s elaborate crime syndicate, he especially had to bear that burden. But she didn’t. She was getting out.
“I’ll tell him when I come back from my monthlong vacation. He can be pissed all he wants. By then, my business will be up and running. It’ll be done by then.”
“If he wants to undo it, he’ll undo it,” Teddy said. “You know that, right?”
Gloria didn’t want to admit it, but she knew it was true. “My mother approves of what I’m doing,” she responded instead. “She says it’s about time I get from under his oppression, as she calls it. She’ll back me one hundred percent against him, she said.”
“Your mother is a fashion designer preparing for New York Fashion Week. She’ll tell you anything right about now to get you off her back. You know how your mother is. My mother is the same way. Joey’s mother was the same way. They talk a big talk and then cave when Dad comes around. Those are the kind of women Dad used to like before he met Roz.”
“What kind of women are you talking about?”
“Self-centered women,” said Teddy. “Women who put themselves, rather than their children, first. Women he had babies with and financially supported, but the money would keep rolling in only if they let him neglect the hell out of his kids and let him fuck other women any time he wanted. Our mothers allowed Dad to treat us that way. Hell, they let him treat them that way! Roz didn’t allow it, and guess what happened? He married her. The twins stand a chance because Roz put them first. Me, you, and Joey? No chance.”
“Your point is?”
“Take what your mother is saying with a grain of salt,” Teddy advised her. “If it ever comes down to Dad cutting off her money supply whenever she has a bad season, versus backing you, don’t count on her backing you.”
Gloria leaned her head back, her beautiful long lashes and perfect nose giving her a regal look to Teddy. “It is what it is,” she said in a defeated voice. “I’ll tell him in a month like I said, when my vacation is over.”
Teddy’s Corvette drove up to the passenger drop-off lane at the airport. He looked at his beautiful sister who nobody believed was his sister because she looked more like a straight-up black woman than a biracial woman. But they were siblings, thanks to their father, and very close.
“If you have to do this,” Teddy said as he stopped at the curb, “why don’t you take his plane? I can arrange it.”
“Are you joking?” Gloria asked. “You know how his people are. They’ll tell him before that plane leaves Philly, and he’ll want to know why I’m going to Apple Valley when I can go to Uncle Reno’s casino in Vegas.”
“Because you just came from Vegas.”
“He knew that was just a weekend getaway. But a month in Apple Valley will be all kinds of suspicious to him. “The only reason I won’t have bodyguards is because you drove me to the airport and my detail stayed back, assuming you would be my bodyguard. So, no, I don’t want to take Daddy’s plane. I’m flying commercial.”
Unbeknownst to her, Teddy
already arranged to have a security detail keeping an eye on her in Apple Valley. Once his father found out that she wasn’t only on vacation, but was relocating there, and if he allowed it to stand, Teddy knew his men could step back, and his father’s men would take over security. But he wasn’t telling Gloria that either way.
They stared at each other, and then Teddy pulled her into his arms. “Are you sure you wanna do this, sis?” he asked her again.
“I’m positive, Teddy,” she responded. “I have to do it. We all depend too much on Daddy. I want to depend on myself for a change.”
“Don’t fail,” Teddy said.
Gloria looked at him. “Why not?”
“Because if your little experiment of life without Pop fails, where does that leave Joey and me?”
Gloria smiled and hugged him again. She knew Teddy could get away from their father if he wanted to. He didn’t want to, she knew, was the reason he hadn’t.
They eventually stopped hugging, Teddy kissed her, and then got out and grabbed her overnight bag from out of his trunk. Gloria could see the concern all over his stern face, and in his sincere eyes, as she got out too. And she understood where he was coming from. She understood it clearly. She’d never done anything outside of her father’s influence, and it was a horrifying proposition that could go all kinds of wrong.
She was worried sick herself.
CHAPTER FIVE
He knew it was going to be bullshit. Because Oz knew bar behavior better than he knew any other kind. And he knew the kind of men in bars who didn’t like the fact that he’d won the attention of the best-looking chick in the whole damn joint. They had to put Oz in his place.
First, it was the mouthy one. Mouthing off as if he really knew Oz. Oz and his lady, Jennifer, ignored him. They were both at the bar, sipping their drinks and chatting up a storm. Oz’s main goal was to get her to go home with him and to ultimately get her in his bed. That was always his goal. But Mouth wouldn’t let up.
Oz Drakos: Loving Mick the Tick's Daughter Page 2