“I am,” Letty replied, her uncertainly revealed in her voice. “This is G,” Letty said as she brought her son closer to Miles. The child reached out his right arm to Miles. A faint smile crossed Miles’s face as G wrapped his tiny fingers around Miles’s rough hand. The child squeezed tightly. Miles was amazed at the small child’s strength.
“He’s strong! What does G stand for?” Miles asked as he took G from Letty’s arms.
Miles cradled the child, resting G’s legs on his tattooed arm as he waited for Letty to answer.
“Gabriel,” Letty said with a pause.
“Like the angel…” Miles said as he looked at the child.
“Gabriel John Alves,” Letty continued.
Miles raised an eyebrow.
“Not Juan, after your father? Did you say John?” Miles asked incredulously.
Letty had an embarrassed look on her face. “That’s right, John.”
“You know John is my middle name, right?” Miles asked with a smirk.
Letty smiled sheepishly as she nodded her head. “Yeah. I know.” A sly expression curled from her lips.
Miles stroked the child’s back softly as a dark look set in his eyes.
“Letty, there’s no husband or baby daddy that’s gonna pop out with a baseball bat, right?”
Letty laughed, throwing her head back in amusement. “Decidedly not. It’s just us.”
“Oh?” Miles asked as he caught the turmoil in Letty’s laugh. “Where is his father?”
Letty shrugged. “Oh, he’s much too busy being a local celebrity. He doesn’t bother with us.”
Miles’s upper lip snarled. “Scumbag. Who is he? Do I know him?”
Letty laughed darkly. “Oh, you know him all right.”
Miles looked at Letty for a moment. He didn’t like where this was going.
“Out with it, Letty. No secrets. Remember?”
“Look Miles, don’t judge me, okay?” Letty said as a vulnerable look crossed her face.
Miles gave Letty a serious look. “It’s not Knox, is it? Please tell me it’s not Knox.”
“It’s not Knox! No judging!” Letty barked.
Miles rolled his eyes. “I’m not judging you, baby. Just need to know whose ass I gotta kick.”
Letty sighed heavily as she stared into Miles’s eyes. Grabbing his hand, she prepared to let the truth be known.
“Miles, do you remember Richie Rizzolli?”
The second she said his name, Miles’s cool expression turned to animosity.
“Ruin?”
“Yeah. It was a one-night stand. Totally unexpected. A mistake…”
Quickly Miles covered G’s ears.
“Don’t say that in front of him.”
“He’s not the mistake…”
“I get that, but kids can easily misunderstand and that shit carries. You got G out of it. Shit happens… okay, go on.”
“Anyway, I know that you and Richie were tight. I fucked up,” Letty said as she turned her face away. There was pain in her eyes and it caused Miles’s stomach to wrench tightly.
“Letty…” Miles said as he turned her face back towards him. “I don’t care who you’ve been with. You’re human. We all have needs, and let’s face it, I was in no condition where I could help you. The thing that does bother me is that the bastard didn’t own up to his responsibility. You did.”
Letty was surprised at how understanding Miles was.
“I was in jail, Letty. I didn’t expect you to wait around. I just wanted to hear from you,” Miles explained. “And don’t you worry. Rizzolli will get his.”
“We’ve gotten three checks in two years.”
“Dirt bag… Nothing I hate more than a father who doesn’t do right by his kid. Good thing for G here, Miles don’t like letting anybody down. C’mon. Your momma’s gonna make us dinner.”
With a look of amazement on her face, Letty watched as Miles slung G’s diaper bag over his shoulder, picked up his car seat, and headed towards the front door. Turning around, Miles and G looked out at Letty with smiles.
“Are you comin’ or what?”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
“ANY CLUE WHAT THE FUCK that was about?” Knox asked Dustin as they walked into the parlor.
Knox’s nose had finally stopped bleeding, his red-stained handkerchief hanging from his hand. Dustin followed close behind Knox, shaking his head as he glared at the back of Knox’s head.
“Yeah, I got a pretty good idea,” Dustin said cryptically as a conflicted look stormed in his dark brown eyes.
The pair passed through the long corridors of the Capadonno compound. Not a sound could be heard except for the echoes of their foot falls and the rough sounds of their voices.
“We need to have a discussion…” Dustin said as Knox turned on his heels to face his brother.
“Not here…” Knox whispered through gritted teeth, darting his eyes around to make sure no one was within ear shot.
“Tia Marie’s. The Velvet Room.”
“When?”
“Now. It’s important.”
“I have a fuckin’ broken nose… and you want me to go to Tia Marie’s wit’ you.”
Dustin threw his head back as he rolled his eyes at Knox. Dustin griped, “Can you not act like such a pussy all your fucking life?”
“What’s going on?” Landon asked as he slinked around the corner of the hallway, emerging from his father’s office.
“Playin’ doctor,” Dustin said with a wicked smile growing on his face.
“Oh, no you ain’t!” Knox said as he backed up a few steps.
Dustin rolled his eyes as he closed the gap between himself and Knox. “Chicken shit. Now hold still,” Dustin said as he prepared to place his hands on Knox’s face.
“What the hell are you doing?” Knox begged to know as his younger brother grabbed his nose. “OWWW!”
“Shut up and hold still. I’m gonna set your nose,” Dustin said calmly.
“No! I’ll go to the ER,” Knox exclaimed, his eyes glaring at Dustin with a look of warning.
Dustin glanced back at Landon and laughed as he pointed a finger towards Knox.
“You believe this joker? The ER. Ha!” Dustin laughed facetiously, not backing off of Knox despite his protests.
Landon lifted his eyebrows and smirked. He knew what was coming next.
“Now hold still!” Dustin barked at Knox as he placed his hands on either side of Knox’s crooked nose.
“Count of three…” Landon said as he cringed. “One…two…”
Snap!
“Owwww! You mother humping son of a bitch!” Knox screamed, his tirade echoing through the house.
“There! Looks better, right?” Dustin asked happily to Landon.
Landon laughed. “Yeah… like a hundred bucks. Nothing his plastic surgeon can’t fix.”
“Shut up… I don’t have a plastic surgeon.”
“Might want to get one now,” Landon said with a smirk.
“Can we go now?” Dustin asked impatiently as he glanced at his watch.
“Go where?” Landon asked with a raised eyebrow.
“For a drink. Tia Marie’s,” Dustin explained. “You comin’?”
Knox sniffed, realizing that his nose felt a lot better since Dustin had reset it. Too bad it was as crooked as the best of Carrion’s politicians.
“Yup, I’m coming,” Landon said firmly as he grabbed his black leather jacket off a hook in the hallway. “Hey, where’d Miles go in such a hurry?”
“Somebody was messin’ with Letty,” Dustin explained.
“They’re just trying to bait him,” Landon said as he shook his head.
“They know that the way to get to Miles is to mess with his girl,” Knox explained.
“He’s nothing if not loyal,” Dustin said. “He can keep a secret close to his chest, but when it comes to Letty, he comes undone.”
“Let’s talk more at the bar,” Landon said as his eyes darted towards the stairs.
“Probably a good idea…” Knox said quietly. “Need a change of clothes though,” he mentioned as he looked down at his bloodstained shirt. Landon looked his brother up and down and laughed in a snarky tone.
“Follow me, my man… I’ll hook you up,” Dustin quipped.
“Oh, this should be classic…” Landon said with a laugh.
Knox, who was rarely seen in anything less formal that a three-piece suit, was about to be stylized by his brother, Dustin, who lived in t-shirts, designer jeans and the freshest pair of Air Force Ones he could put his hands on.
“You all realize that I do own casual clothing, right?” Knox asked in annoyance.
“Your kick-around threads consist of Dockers, a polo shirt and a pair of Ferragamo shoes,” Dustin remarked, his laughter exploding from his chest as he watched Knox’s reaction.
Knox, wearing a nonplussed look on his face, asked, “What’s your point?”
Shaking his head, Dustin turned on the heels of his sneakers and said, “C’mon. I’ll hook you up.”
Landon, watching his brothers depart down the hallway, shook his head, with a smile. When they had disappeared from sight, Landon darted back into his father’s office, swallowed by the darkness of the room.
CHAPTER TWENTY
MILES PUT CORINA in park in the driveway of Letty’s father’s house. Earning a look of warning from Letty, Miles stared back at her with a confused look on his face.
“What?”
“Let me do the talking…” Letty said sternly.
“You know I’m more a man of action, than a man of words…”
“Good. You can keep G company while I deal with my father.”
“Deal with him? What are you gonna do?” Miles said with a laugh. Letty sounded as if she was fixing to make Juan Alves a pair of cement shoes.
“I’m determined to find out why I haven’t received a stitch of mail from you in seventeen years.”
Not saying another word, Letty opened the passenger door and stepped out, looping her arms through the handle of the shopping bags. Miles cut the engine of the car and quickly stepped out. Opening up the back door, he proceeded to unstrap G from his car seat, at the same time that Letty had done the same from the opposite side of the vehicle.
Laughing sheepishly, Miles said, “Oh, go ahead…I’ll grab the bags…”
“No, no… You can. He likes you…. I’m just used to doing everything myself.”
“Yeah, well, those days are long gone,” Miles said with a smile. Letty, returning a happy gaze, held Miles’s eyes for a moment. As Miles pulled G from his car seat, holding him tightly in his grasp, Letty backed away smiling faintly as she shut her car door. Miles lifted G from the car and draped his diaper bag over his right shoulder. G slapped his hands happily against Miles’s arms.
“C’mon, little dude. Let’s go see Grandpa…”
G squealed happily at the sound of Juan’s name. “One? One?”
“Yeah, we’re going to see Papa Juan,” Letty said.
Miles laughed. “Did he said Juan or One?”
“Pretty sure he thinks his grandfather’s name is the number.” Letty laughed as she pinched her son’s cheek gently. “You just leave Papa Juan to me,” Letty said to G who laid his head against Miles’s chest. Following Letty to her father’s front door, he gulped slightly as her fingers grazed against the door. Juan didn’t answer on the first set of knocks, so Letty knocked even louder before sliding her key into the deadbolt.
“There you are!” Juan said with a start as the door swung open. “Thought something happened to you,” Juan began, looking happy to see Letty back again.
Letty’s father peered up at her as she crossed the threshold with her hands full of grocery bags. Letty gave her father a charged look. Juan peered up Letty as she crossed the threshold.
"Everything okay, Letty?" Juan asked his daughter, calling her by her nickname he gave her when she was just a little girl. Concern ran rampant in his voice as he stared up at her with eyes as round as saucers. “Did somethin’ happen?”
Letty, without saying a word, glared at her father as she stepped aside to let Miles into the house. Crowding the doorway with his solid six-feet-six-inch frame, Miles's boots stepped upon Juan Alves's hardwood floor with Gabriel hanging onto him tightly. Miles had an unreadable expression on his face as he stared at Letty's father. The pair had always had a prickly relationship. No one would ever be good enough for Juan Alves's little girl. It was a good thing Miles wasn't looking for any sort of approval from him. Holding G in his left arm, Miles waved with his free hand as Juan scowled at him.
"YOU!" Juan snapped as he climbed off of the couch in a hurry.
"ME?" Miles asked in an innocent voice as he pointed a finger towards his own chest. A smile grew from Miles's lips as he looked down at Juan with an amused look upon his face. Miles waved at Juan with his free hand as Juan scowled at him, his brow furrowing into folds like a bull dog.
"Yeah YOU! Get outta my house!" Juan screamed as he pointed towards the door which was still ajar.
Miles’s mouth creased in amusement as he watched Letty's feisty but pint-sized father scramble off of the couch. Slowly, Miles turned his neck, peering over at Letty. She had the look of the devil in her eyes as she arched her left eyebrow. After a moment she snapped her eyes from Miles's face to her father's. Her voice segued her father straight into the reality of the situation.
"Knock it off!" Letty snapped at her father, casting him a stern look.
Juan stopped, dead in his tracks, staring back at his daughter in confusion. Sliding his tongue over his lips, Juan stretched his neck in frustration as a crack popped from his knuckles. Pointing at Miles, Juan griped, “He’s a Capadonno, Letty!”
Juan continued to glare at Miles in deep hostility. “You know what they’re like!”
Letty rolled her eyes as her boots clicked against the hardwood floor.
“You’re right, Daddy…” Letty said as a shocked look crossed both Juan and Miles’s faces.
Clearing his throat, Juan smiled. Adjusting his shirt, he gave Miles a smug look. Juan quipped, “That was easy.”
Miles’s eyes went wide as he saw the look on Letty’s face morph into something else entirely. Stamping her heel against the floor, once, twice, three times, Miles began to laugh as Letty’s temper came unhinged.
“You didn’t let me finish!” Letty yelled, as she waved a finger sassily at her father. “I do know alllllll about the Capadonnos, Papi! I work for them!”
Oh, shit… here comes the crazy, Miles thought, trying to wipe the smile from his face.
A look of total mortification crossed Juan’s face. “Don’t say that! People are gonna think my daughter is mobbed up!”
A laugh ripped from Miles’s mouth as his eyes went wild. His eyes tearing up, Miles couldn’t control his amusement. Miles tried to wipe the smile from his face as Juan gave him a scathing look. Throwing her hands up in the air, Letty stormed through the living room as she berated her father.
“Seriously? No one in their right mind is gonna think I’m mobbed up!” Letty stamped her boot against the floor. “You love lumpin’ people together! That’s stereotypical. Just because one Capadonno likes to butcher people, you think EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. OF. THEM. ARE. ANIMALS!” Letty’s foot stamped against the floor with each word.
“Letty! The Capadonnos… They are the cause of all the problems that this town has. If it wasn’t for them, Carrion would be a quiet, peaceful town.”
Letty rolled her eyes as she circled around the living room, straightening up as she went.
“Miles is different. I told you that a million times, I’ll keep tellin’ ya ’til I’m blue in the face. Now you simma’ down, I’ve got a bone to pick with you…”
“Wit’ me? Why?” Juan asked as if the possibility that he did something wrong was absolutely ridiculous.
A frustrated scream flew out of Letty’s mouth as she glared at her father. Suddenly, the language th
at was rolling off of her tongue had changed from English to Spanish. Miles watched as Letty’s hands moved as quickly as her mouth did, the tempo of her tirade increasing with every syllable. Juan barked back, sounding as if he was on the defensive as they went back and forth, Miles understanding not a word of what it was that they were saying.
Jesus… Miles thought. Where the fuck are the subtitles when you need them.
G stared at his mother and grandfather seemingly unfazed. Clearly he was used to this sort of behavior. “One? Mama?” G called out. But Juan was too busy being terrorized by his daughter on the subject of the missing letters.
“C’mon, man… Let’s go in the kitchen and stay outta trouble,” Miles said to G as he picked up the grocery bags off the floor.
“Trouble. One’s in trouble!”
“He sure is! Your momma’s scary when she’s mad.”
“I know, haha!” G said as he slapped Miles on the arm. “Mile funny!”
“I am a hoot,” Miles admitted. “Let’s go get this dinner started. They’ll be along soon.”
Miles gave an amused look back at Letty as she followed her father up the stairway that led to the second floor.
“Papi! Las letres! ¿Cómo pudiste?”
As Letty chased her father up the stairs, demanding answers, Miles shook his head in amusement as he disappeared down the hallway.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“HOW MANY?” THE HOSTESS asked Landon as he walked through the front door of Tia Marie’s Ristorante. Landon smiled at the pretty blonde as his brothers followed him through the door. As Dustin and Knox crossed the threshold, there was a notable shift in the hostess’s demeanor.
“Mr. Capadonno,” the hostess said with eyes as big as saucers as she looked Knox’s way. “Dustin,” the hostess nodded at Dustin. Landon thought that the hostess looked scared.
“Lila,” Knox said in a heady voice as he dug his hands into the pockets of the jeans he borrowed from Dustin.
Dustin nodded his head at the hostess that he clearly knew well. Grabbing three leather folders that contained the full service menus for the Velvet Room, Lila led the way, Knox’s eyes maneuvering down the curve of her waist as she moved. Bypassing the dining room, Lila led the way up a spiral staircase that led to the second floor of the establishment. Winding down the intricately decorated hallways, Lila turned left stopping at a pair of handsome leather double doors. Giving Dustin a charged glance, Lila pushed the right panel of the door open, smiling seductively as she pushed upon the soft leather of the door.
Miles Away (Carrion #1) Page 13