“You’re going to have to do more than that, I’m afraid,” said Oz. “You’re going to have to start firing people.”
“I know,” Gloria said as she sat down. “I’m working on it. But I can’t do a mass firing until I have people in place who have been trained to take over. Then I’ll make my move.”
“Including Shirley?” Oz asked.
“She’s a good manager, and they aren’t easy to find.” Then Gloria exhaled. “Time will tell.”
Oz stared at her. She looked so flustered to him. “I’ll tell you what,” he said.
Gloria looked at him.
“I’ll give one of our top managers a leave of absence from one of our restaurants inside The Drakos. The guy I have in mind has been in the business over twenty-five years. He’ll come over and conduct a top to bottom review. He’ll give you his recommendations, including staff recommendations.”
Gloria was shocked. “You’ll do that for me?” she asked him.
Oz frowned. “You know I’ll do that for you! You’re my lady now. That’s everything.”
“Thanks, Oz. I’m not going to lie. I need the help.” Then she smiled. “I’m surprised you didn’t say shut this tiny place down and come and work for you at The Drakos.”
“No,” Oz said firmly. “I would never do that. You keep your business. This is your independence. The last thing I will ever do to you is become your father. You don’t need another father. You need a man.” Then he looked her up and down. “In more ways than one,” he added, and laughed.
Gloria picked up a stress ball from her desk and threw it at him. He dodged the ball. Then the gaiety died down, and Oz’s look turned serious.
“Don’t you have a body shop to get to?” Gloria asked him.
“That I do,” said Oz. “But . . .”
Gloria was surprised. She’d never seen Oz at a loss for words. “But what?” she asked him.
Oz just stood there staring at her, and then he spoke. “I haven’t been entirely up front with you, Gloria,” he said.
Gloria’s heart dropped. “What is it? You’re married?”
“No,” Oz said, shaking his head. “It’s nothing like that.”
“Then what is it?”
Oz walked around her desk and leaned against the edge beside her. She could smell his fresh cologne. He always seemed so well put together. But he had stormy eyes. “When I was a younger man back in Greece, I worked for my father. Like yours, he was major mob too. And eventually, so was I. After a lot of hell, and after my father died, I came to America. I wanted my past to be my past. But my past wouldn’t cooperate.”
“I understand that, Oz,” Gloria said.
“The heads of some of the Greek families here in America decided to take over some west coast territory. Territory, they later believe, belongs to your father.”
“They took my father’s territories?” Gloria asked.
“They didn’t know it belonged to him at the time. But that may be the case,” Oz said. “Then there was a hit on one of the Greek families, killing the head of that family. So, they decided to unite and wanted me in charge. At least until they got out of the mess they got themselves into. Because all of them worked for me back in Greece at one time or another, I agreed to help them. Then there was a second hit on a family head. And I ordered them to retaliate.”
Gloria was scared for Oz. “You retaliated against my father?” she asked him.
“I didn’t know it at the time, and neither did the families. But it might have been against your father, yes.”
Gloria was upset. “Oh, Oz! Do you realize what you’ve done?”
“I know what I’ve done.”
“He’s not going to let you get away with that. He never lets anybody get away with anything. Except maybe Roz.”
Oz frowned. “Who’s Roz?”
“My stepmother. His wife.” Then Gloria had a thought. “Are you trying to tell me that it was my father’s men who tried to kill you last night? With me in the car? My daddy wouldn’t allow that!”
“I had a sense he wouldn’t,” Oz said, “but I don’t know him like that. His legend doesn’t include him showing mercy toward anybody. But I don’t think it was your father’s men.”
“Then who was it?”
“I believe it was my men.”
Gloria was shocked. “Your men? What are you saying, Oz?”
“I believe my own men tried to take me out last night. Or somebody they paid to do it.”
“Why would they do that?”
“A dead man doesn’t talk. You can blame all your woes on him. I would be a convenient scapegoat for them, should they need it.”
Gloria just sat there, staring at Oz. “Maybe I should set up a meeting between you and my father.”
But Oz was already shaking his head. “Don’t you dare,” he said. “I need more facts first. People may think I’m reckless, and they’re right, for the most part. But when it comes to life and death matters, there’s nothing reckless about me. I need more facts first.”
“What are we going to do until you get those facts?”
“Live our lives,” Oz said. “Enjoy ourselves.”
“You need a security detail around you, Oz, twenty-four-seven.”
“I have a security detail around me. And believe you me, my brother has a security detail around me too. And I have one around you.”
“Me?”
“Yes you. I set it up last night after that ambush. I have some guys on your tail at all times. And I’m sure your father hasn’t left you in the wilderness either.”
“I don’t know about that,” Gloria said. “My father’s pretty angry with me. Besides, if he has men watching out for me, where were they when we needed them last night?”
“They probably saw that we were handling it, and stayed out of sight. That’s what a good detail would do. They won’t blow their cover unless they absolutely have to.”
“Oh, Oz,” Gloria said and then she opened her arms to him.
He leaned down into her arms. Then he lifted her all the way up, and wrapped her into his arms.
He kissed her, and then he looked into her beautiful eyes. “Come to Pensacola with me,” he said to her.
Gloria smiled. “In that bullet-ridden bucket of yours?”
Oz smiled too. “Why not?”
“How are we going to get home?”
Oz frowned. “Uber,” he said. “How else?”
Gloria laughed, kissed him again, and then gladly accepted. She had work to do. But right now, she felt, being with Oz took priority.
And their whirlwind affair was on. Moments together turned into days together. Days together turned into weeks together. They did everything together. Alex and Kari were shocked by Oz’s new interest in just one woman, even as they were horrified to know that the one woman he was interested in was a mobster’s daughter. But Oz was happy, and seemed to be risk-adverse for the first time in his life, although the reason was a risk in and of itself. But it still was a vast improvement for Oz. They were happy for him.
But Oz and Gloria kept even Alex and Kari at bay. They wanted to test the waters alone. They wanted to make sure they didn’t allow anybody else to interfere in anyway.
Apple Valley wasn’t concerned about who Gloria’s father was, either, but that was because they didn’t know who Mick Sinatra was. That made it easy for Oz and Gloria to thrive. The night of that shooting was well behind them. The Greek Dons were back in New Jersey living their lives. There wasn’t a peep of any retaliations from anywhere. Gloria felt as if they just might make it. They just might have dodged a big bullet. Until, nearly a month into their whirlwind affair, that big bullet, Mick Sinatra himself, walked into Lucinda’s Diner.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Pearl and Elsie were elbowing each other when the big man walked in. “He’s handsome!” Elsie said with a smile as Mick Sinatra walked up to the cashier counter where Shirley was standing.
“Hello, sir,” Shirley said
with a smile. “How may I assist you?”
“I’m here to see Gloria Sinatra,” Mick said.
“May I ask who wants to see her?”
Mick didn’t skip a beat. “Her father,” he said.
Shirley almost laughed. But there was such a thing as adoptions, she thought. “I’ll see if she’s available,” she said, and headed down the back hall.
Elsie and Pearl, who heard the conversation, looked at each other. “Her father?” Pearl asked. They were as unconvinced as Shirley. But when Mick, looking around, looked their way, they smiled. He turned away without so much as acknowledging their existence. Pearl gave him a serious side eye.
But in Gloria’s office, she was hard at work reviewing Oz’s man’s recommendations. Just as Oz had promised, he did send one of his top managers over. And his info was invaluable. Gloria already had an idea of what kind of revamping she needed to do. Oz’s man‘s recommendations confirmed that she was on the right track.
Then there was one knock on her door and the door was opened, something she consistently told Shirley not to do.
“What is it?” Gloria asked her.
“There’s a white man out here claiming to be your father,” Shirley said.
Gloria stared at Shirley. Was that some kind of joke? “Describe him,” she said.
“Tall. Good-looking in a mean kind of way. Well-dressed in a suit and tie. Black hair. A sleepy eye.”
It was him. It was her father! She could hardly believe it. What on earth was he doing in Apple Valley? Did he find out that Oz was involved in that turf battle? Was he there to retaliate against Oz?
Instead of telling Shirley to send him back, as she would have normally done, Gloria got up and made her way out of the office. Shirley found it odd, but said nothing. She was no fool. She and the other workers had seen that man, some efficiency expert from The Drakos, hanging around all month, sizing them up. They all were already looking for jobs. They all were certain that Gloria was going to fire them all, and hire the blacks.
When Gloria walked up that hall and saw her father standing at the cashier’s counter looking so out of place that it automatically made him the center of attention, she froze in place so quickly that Shirley, coming up behind her, bumped into her.
“What’s wrong?” Shirley, irritated, asked her.
“Nothing’s wrong,” Gloria said, although her face said differently. Then Mick looked over and saw her, and then she made her way over to him. Since she started working for him, she saw him every single day. Now, she hadn’t seen him in over a month. It felt strange.
It felt strange to Mick too. Her security detail kept him updated on a daily basis, but it wasn’t the same.
Gloria tried to smile as she approached her father. “Hi, Dad,” she said to him. She missed him. Although she knew he hated affection of any kind, she couldn’t help it. When she got to him, she hugged him.
She was right. Mick didn’t care for such a public display, but he’d missed her too. He touched her on the back as she stopped her embrace. “How are you?” he asked her.
“I’m good. How are you?”
“I’m here,” Mick said.
Gloria knew what that meant. “Come on back,” she said, and they made their way to her office, with all eyes on them.
Once in the office, Gloria closed the door as her father took a seat in front of her desk. It seemed surreal to her, and to Mick, too, that it had come to this. She was working in a business that he did not own. That had not been his plan for her life.
“So,” Gloria said once she took a seat behind her desk, “what brings you to Apple Valley?”
Mick, being Mick, got to his business in his own time. “I saw your mother,” he said.
“Really? Where?”
“In New York.”
“What was she talking about?”
“You.”
“Is that why you’re here? Because she’s worried about me?”
“She did not voice any worries about you. She supports your decision.”
“Oh. Yes, she’d told me.”
“Then why would she be worried about you?”
“No reason.”
“Should I be worried about you?” Mick asked.
Gloria immediately shook her head. “No. Not at all. I’m managing just fine.”
“With Oz Drakos?” Mick asked.
Gloria didn’t respond right away. She just stared at her father.
“Who’s Oz Drakos?” Mick asked.
Gloria sat erect. “My boyfriend,” she said.
“A boyfriend already?”
“Yes.”
“I thought this move and this diner acquisition was all about you gaining your independence from strong men like me.”
I wasn’t trying to become independent from men like you, Gloria wanted to say, but from you. “I am independent,” she said instead.
“I don’t think so,” Mick said. “He’s a strong man.”
Gloria knew what he meant by strong man, but she let it slide.
“And he’s your boyfriend?”
Didn’t she already answer that question, she thought. “Yes,” she said. “He’s my boyfriend.”
“Are you his girlfriend,” Mick asked, “or one of many ladies in his life?”
Now Gloria was worried. Her father usually knew everything. Was he trying to tell her something about Oz’s faithfulness to her? “What do you mean?” she asked him.
“I meant what I said,” Mick responded.
“We’re in a committed relationship,” Gloria said. “It’s a brand-new commitment, and we’re still learning more about each other, but we’re monogamous if that’s what you want to know.”
Mick continued to stare at Gloria, then he stood up. “I want to meet Oz Drakos,” he said.
“When?” Gloria asked, standing too.
Mick thought it was obvious. “Now,” he said. “He’s in town. Or did he tell you something different?”
“No.” Why would he tell her something different? If her father’s goal was to get her unsettled, once again, about Oz’s past as a player, he was succeeding.
“Then take me to him,” Mick said.
That’s my dad, Gloria thought as she grabbed her purse from the bottom drawer of her office desk. The universe had to do whatever he wanted first, whenever he walked in. Which meant, she knew, that she had to do it too.
She walked from behind her desk and began heading for the exit door. But as she was about to walk past Mick, he placed his hand on her back and then pulled her into his arms. He held her tightly, which stunned Gloria. When she looked up, into his eyes, and saw a softness there, a deep concern for her there, tears appeared in her eyes. And she wrapped her arms around him too.
For several seconds he held her, and then he leaned slightly back from her, looking down at her. She looked up at him. “How are you doing?” he asked her in a way that she knew was for real. He didn’t want any pet answer.
She nodded her head. “I’m doing good, Daddy,” Gloria said. “I’m finding myself. I’m finding my footing. I’m okay.”
“And this Oz Drakos,” Mick said. “Publicly, he spends time with you. That I know. But privately, and you’d better not lie to me or I’ll kick your ass, how does he treat you, Gloria?”
Gloria understood his concern. Oz had a reputation that she wasn’t going to deny. “He treats me wonderful,” she said. “I’ve never been treated better.”
Mick could have taken that as a dig against, not just all of her previous bad luck boyfriends, but against him too, and he did take it that way. But he was a God-fearing man, despite his legend, and he accepted truth. “Good,” he said to his daughter. “Never settle for less.”
Gloria smiled. “I won’t.”
Mick smiled at her, too, something he rarely ever did in her sight. And it pleased her so much that she hugged him again. He rubbed her soft hair, as they hugged.
When they stopped embracing, he was ready. “Take me to this Mist
er Wonderful,” he said.
Gloria smiled. “I wouldn’t go that far,” she said, causing Mick to smile, too, which shocked her again. Her father didn’t cease to amaze her that day. It was as if he was giving her something she’d been craving to get from him all of her adult life: respect. He seemed to respect her for getting out on her own, and charting her own path.
She led them out of her office, and the diner, even as Shirley and her other employees were gawking at both of them.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Jordan Drakos, the biological son of Kari Drakos and Alex’s adopted son, walked into his uncle’s office just as his uncle was on the phone explaining to yet another female, Jennifer this time, why he couldn’t spend any more time with her.
“I’m in a relationship now,” Oz was saying over the phone. He was leaned back, his expensive shoes propped up on his desk, his hands resting behind his head. And the call was on Speaker.
“What kind of relationship?” Jennifer asked.
“You know what kind.”
“With whom?”
“I’m not getting into that.”
“Is it with that black girl? That’s what I heard. You’re fooling around with that new girl in town. The one who owns Lucinda’s Diner now. Is it her?”
“What difference does it make?” Oz asked. “It’s not you, shouldn’t that be the point?”
“Fuck you, Oz Drakos!” Jennifer angrily replied.
“You did. That’s all we did, in fact. That’s why I don’t understand all of this emotion all of a sudden. We weren’t in any exclusive relationship and you know it.”
“I didn’t say we were. But you could have told me you were with somebody else! I shouldn’t have had to find out from gossip and rumors.”
“Okay, that’s fair. And I apologize for that.”
“Keep your apology,” she said, and abruptly ended the call.
Jordan smiled. “She’s angry at you, Uncle Oz,” he said as he began tossing the basketball he held in his hands in the air.
“I don’t know why,” Oz said.
“She wanted you to call her personally and let her know you had a new main squeeze.”
Oz Drakos: Loving Mick the Tick's Daughter Page 14