Not being caught on camera was impossible, but I determined I could avoid all except the one positioned at the top of the entrance to the coffee shop. Fortunately it had a separate entrance from the outside and I didn’t have to walk through the crowded lobby. According to Phillips’ bank records, he purchased a coffee every weekday morning between 7:30 and 8:00. Dressed in a dark gray business suit with a metallic gray tie to blend in with the other suits, I got there early. I kept my sunglasses on as I ordered a coffee then found an unoccupied table near the register to sit and wait.
Special Agent Phillips didn’t disappoint and entered the coffee shop at 7:40 a.m. He was talking on his phone and completely oblivious to me sitting less than five feet away. It gave me the perfect opportunity to observe. Phillips continued his call while giving his order to the barista. He was one those annoying fucks who couldn’t bother hanging up his phone or stepping out of line until he was done talking. He set his laptop bag down between his polished loafers in order to pull his wallet out of his suit jacket pocket.
As soon as Phillips had his soy latte in hand, his conversation ended and he slipped his phone into a pocket. When he turned around to leave, I cleared my throat. Phillips paused mid-sip and his eyebrows rose when he saw me. Lowering his cup, he quickly looked around to see if I had come alone.
“Grabano, what are you doing here?”
“Just enjoying some coffee and taking in the sights.”
He didn’t say anything, but adjusted to a more defensive stance and just stared at me as if waiting for me to attack him. “Right, what are you really doing here?”
I smiled and kicked back in my chair, playing with the cardboard sleeve on my cup. “I wanted to wish Jacob good luck on his baseball game this afternoon. His team advances to the Little League playoffs if they win, right?”
“You son of a bitch!” he barked, his face turning bright red. A vein stuck out on the side of his temple and he squeezed his cup so card, the lid popped off.
“Have a good day, Doug.” I stood and collected my coffee, leaving a very rattled Special Agent behind. Based on his reaction, he liked having his family’s movements tracked just as much as I did. I crossed the street, nodding at Leo as I passed where he was waiting at a bus stop. He fell into step a few feet behind me and we both faded into the tourist traffic around Independence Hall.
Chapter 26
Natalie
Grant hissed when he lifted himself up out of the car, refusing assistance. He had been discharged three days after regaining consciousness in the hospital in New Jersey and didn’t need to be transferred. Miranda, Dante, Dominic, my mom and I all hovered nearby in case he experienced a sudden bout of weakness, but Grant only let that one sound escape. Had he not hissed and winced briefly, we all would have thought he wasn’t feeling any kind of discomfort. Typical guy, I thought to myself, trying to be all macho.
We followed him into the house, which smelled like a flower shop from all of the bouquets. A bunch of balloons had been tied to the bannister. They all bore messages like “Get Well!” and “Welcome Home!” I took a step back to let Miranda and my mom fuss over Grant as he got settled on the sofa. As soon as he was seated, he leaned his head back with his eyes closed and let out a deep breath. Close to two weeks-worth of facial hair blanketed his jawline and dark half-moons had taken up residence underneath his eyes even though he probably slept more in the past few days than he had in years. His injuries and the healing took a lot out of him. He yawned and opened his eyes, immediately searching for Miranda. She was standing next to the sofa and he smiled up at her.
“Come here, wife,” he said, patting the space next to him. She complied and curled up alongside him, resting her head on his shoulder. He kissed the top of her head before leaning back and closing his eyes again. “It’s good to be home,” he murmured. He swallowed and his Adam’s apple bobbed. It was more pronounced since he’d lost weight – at least ten pounds.
“Yes it is. Let’s not test any other vows for a while, huh?”
They seemed to have forgotten they weren’t alone and my throat tightened at their obvious love for each other. My mom laughed at Miranda’s comment.
“Grant, do you need anything?” she asked.
“I have everything I need, right here.” He pulled Miranda closer.
“Alright, you two, then I’ll get out of your hair.” She turned to face us. “You guys too. Let’s give them some time to settle in.” She ushered us out the door, but not before I caught her smiling wistfully at Grant and Miranda snuggling on the sofa.
“He’s really going to be okay, isn’t he?” she asked, surprising me by reaching for my hand and giving it a squeeze.
“Yes, Mom, he’s going to be better than okay.”
“I hate to leave tomorrow.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be here to take care of him and something tells me he’s going to be a pain in the ass patient.”
She chuckled at this, but her eyes misted when she looked over at Grant again. “What about you, Natalie? Who’s going to take care of you?”
“I can take care of myself. Now come on let’s give the newlyweds some space. We left their townhouse and I made sure the front door locked behind us.
***
The drive back from Grant’s follow up appointment with his surgeon was an uncomfortable one for many reasons. Not only was Grant tired, I could tell by the way he yawned every five minutes, but he also wasn’t allowed to drive since he was still on pain meds. Instead of taking a nap on the drive back to Philly from Jersey, Grant felt the need to criticize my driving. When I turned a corner and bumped the curb, you would have thought I killed someone based on his reaction.
“Watch what you’re doing!” he snapped.
“I had no choice, Grant, that asshole in the truck was crowding me.”
We had just exited the bridge and were hopping onto 95 South when he barked at me again for not merging with the traffic fast enough. I almost pulled over to physically remove him from the car.
Gripping the steering wheel tight, I managed to keep my mouth shut. I knew Grant was tired of being fussed over and from being basically benched from all duties. Having his little sister drive him around didn’t sit well with him either. As each day towards his recovery passed, Grumpy Grant became grumpier.
When Miranda sent a text that she was held up doing payroll at Crimson, Grant scowled and angrily dropped his phone in a cup holder. Add sexual frustration to the list. Miranda confided in me, not that this was information I wanted to know about my brother, but she refused to have sex with him until the doctored cleared him. Apparently Grant had received the go ahead at this appointment and couldn’t wait to get home. I had planned to vacate the house as soon as I dropped him off to give them some alone time.
“She doesn’t even need to work anymore,” he grumbled.
“Yeah, but she likes it. Miranda isn’t one to sit idle, you know this.”
“I know, but with the baby and me…” he trailed off as I turned the corner onto Bainbridge Street and fortunately I didn’t graze the curb that time.
“Payroll is something she needs to handle. She’ll be home soon and you can get your freak on. Trust me I will not be around to hear any of that.” I scrunched up my face at the idea and Grant chuckled.
With minimal criticism from my brother, I parallel parked and once inside the house, he went upstairs to shower. I could tell by the pallor of his skin that the pain meds were wearing off, but he refused to take another dose. I didn’t blame him though because I remembered switching to ibuprofen a few days after I was shot as the oxycodone was too strong and dulled my focus.
It was a humid, early June afternoon and my hair stuck to the back of my neck, so after pulling it up in a messy bun, I switched laundry over. As I was getting ready to grab another load, my phone buzzed in my back pocket.
“Hey Dom,” I answered, setting the laundry basket down on the floor.
“Are you and Grant at the house yet?
”
“Yeah we just got back. Why, what’s up?”
“Okay, I’m coming by. Someone’s visiting and wants to see you and Grant. We’ll be over soon.”
There was a voice in the background that sounded familiar, but it could have been anyone. We said goodbye and I continued on with the laundry.
I was in the kitchen getting a glass of ice water when Grant wandered in. He was just wearing mesh basketball shorts and I couldn’t help but look at his scars. The skin around each bullet hole was still an angry dark pink. When Grant lifted his arm to get a glass out of the cabinet, I saw the straight scar on the side of his rib cage from where a tube had been inserted to drain fluid from his lung. “You might want to throw on a shirt. We have visitors coming over,” I said.
“Who?”
“I don’t know. Dom wouldn’t say, but they’ll be here soon.”
Grant drained his glass of water after swallowing a couple of ibuprofen then disappeared back upstairs. He returned moments later wearing jeans and an old Crimson staff t-shirt. He yawned and looked at the clock on the microwave.
“Here,” I said, handing him a Monster Java from the refrigerator just as the doorbell rang. I turned to leave the kitchen, but he beat me to it and I followed him down the hallway to the front door.
Dom entered first, followed by Dante. They gave Grant bro hugs before stepping out of the way and I squealed when I saw who came in behind them.
“Drago?” I flung myself at that tall, tattooed man and he caught me up in a hug.
“How ya doing, Princess?” he said, setting me back down.
“Jimmy!”
“Hey!” He gave me a more conservative hug, but was smiling when I stepped away.
Victor Drago and Jimmy Pincatelli were two of the top enforcers for the L.A. mob and after it was discovered Dom’s Uncle Marco had a hit out on me, a deal was struck with Gio, the boss in L.A. and Victor was appointed my bodyguard of sorts. Since he was in my space all of the time, we eventually became friends. When Victor was shot and showed up on my doorstep bleeding, our friendship deepened. Jimmy, the strong, scarred and silent type even warmed up to me during that time.
“What are you guys doing here?” I asked.
Victor looked over my shoulder at Dominic with a questioning expression. “We have business to discuss,” Dom answered.
“I don’t want to know so I’ll make myself scarce.”
“Nat, can you grab us some grub?” Victor asked. “Me and Jimmy are starving.”
“Sure, I’ll be back in a bit.”
“Thanks babe,” Dom said placing an arm around my waist and turning me enough to kiss my cheek. Victor smirked and he raised an eyebrow at the interaction.
“Uh, yeah um, okay,” I stammered, quickly escaping to grab my bag. It wasn’t unusual for Dom to touch me like that, but it still made my pulse race, mouth go dry and other parts grow wet. We weren’t friends with benefits, but the lines of friendship weren’t clearly drawn either. Having Victor around reminded me that I wasn’t being honest with Dom or myself. One of the last pieces of advice he gave me before I left L.A. was to ask myself if I was leading Dom on. Victor and Jimmy both said that guys didn’t want to be friends with their ex-girlfriends. I knew if Victor got me alone, he’d call me out on it…again.
As I was closing the front door behind me, Miranda walked up. Her hair was styled in large, glossy barrel curls that framed her heart shaped face. Sunglasses were strategically placed on top of her head as to not disturb the curls. I noticed that since Grant was hospitalized, Miranda had stopped wearing her signature red lipstick and bold eyeliner that always reminded me of a 1940’s pin up model. Today her face was free of any make up and she could have passed as a high school student.
“Hey, I’m grabbing some food for your ‘business meeting’, do you want anything?”
“What are you getting?”
“I figured the L.A. boys need classic hoagies – you know, some Philly flavor.”
“Yes! I need to watch the deli meat because of listeria, but get me a tuna diablo with extra pepperoncini on the side.” Miranda rubbed her ever expanding baby bump. “Bambino likes things spicy.”
I laughed and said goodbye. Enjoying the heat of the late afternoon sun as it hit my face I walked the short block to South Street. Even though it was a Wednesday, it was early June and a nice day so tourists were out in full force. As I waited in line to place my order for six hoagies, I texted my friends from college who had stayed in the city to see what they were up to as I didn’t know how long the meeting was going to last and I knew Grant and Miranda needed some alone time.
With plans set to meet up for drinks at a new trendy place located near Rittenhouse Square, I returned to Grant and Miranda’s laden down with food.
“I’m meeting up with Jillian, Danny and Danny’s new boyfriend for drinks so I’ll be gone for several hours,” I said to Grant with a wink. He grinned before taking a monstrous bite out of his hoagie that sent oil and vinegar spilling out onto the waxed paper.
I left them to their meeting and quickly got ready. As the cab made its way through traffic, excitement grew. I was looking forward to a night out with my friends as most of my time back in Philly had been spent taking care of Grant. Even seeing one of Dom’s soldiers walk in shortly after me to sit down at the opposite end of the bar didn’t bother me. It was kind of sweet how Dom wanted to protect me. He didn’t know about the gun in my bag and that I was perfectly capable of protecting myself.
Chapter 27
DOMINIC
After Natalie left, we finished eating and a few minutes later my dad, Uncle Al and Joey D. arrived. That’s when we got down to business. Miranda made sure her curtains were closed before Victor placed a plain black duffle bag on the coffee table and unzipped it, revealing golden brown bricks of heroin stacked inside.
“Twenty keys, just like you ordered,” Victor said. “Want to sample?”
I nodded at Dante and he leaned forward to cut a tiny slit in one of the plastic bags. Dipping his finger into the dense powder, Dante snorted a small amount then leaned back, closing his eyes. I could see his jaw flex as the little bit hit bloodstream.
“Yeah, it’s good shit,” he said after a few seconds.
Grant left the room and returned moments later with a bag of cash containing over fifty grand. While we were paying $2,600.00 per kilo, the mark up on the street would net us over 2.5 million dollars and this was just a one month shipment.
Dante verified the amount while Dante confirmed the number of kilos. Once the transaction was complete, Grant grabbed the duffle bag and left the room again. I knew he was putting the heroin in the safe that was installed in the back wall of their pantry. He came back a few minutes later and tossed the empty bag to Jimmy who placed the cash inside.
We all stood up and shook hands. “Gotta say, I was surprised Gio sent you and Jimmy,” I said.
“Yeah, the boss wanted to make sure everything is copasetic on your end considering recent events. Plus, this is the first shipment from our new supplier, G wanted to make sure nothing shady happened mid-transport.”
“That makes sense. We’re all good here, man. Grant’s healing fast and almost back to 100%. The Feds are dogging us, but our LEOs we have on payroll are helping us out.”
“Good, I’ll let the boss know. And Natalie, how’s she doing with all of this?”
I hesitated before answering and crossed my arms, standing a little straighter. Natalie practically threw herself into Victor’s arms when he arrived and I tried not to read too much into it, but his question just shifted the conversation from business to personal.
Victor must have sensed the tension as he held his hands up and laughed. “Hey man, Nat and I are just friends. I thought she’d be a pain in the ass to watch over for you, but she’s cool and she really helped me out when I was in a bad way.”
“What are you talking about? Was she hurt?”
He shook his head, looking between me a
nd Grant. “Shit, she didn’t tell you, I take it?”
“Tell us what?” Grant interjected.
Victor sat back down on the sofa and gestured with a tattoo covered arm for us to do the same. Joey D. and Jimmy stood guard on opposite ends of the archway that led to the hallway, a habit of conditioned sentries.
“I was shot while out on a job and Natalie’s apartment was the closest. I was bleeding pretty bad and couldn’t go to the hospital.”
I nodded in understanding since showing up at a hospital with a gunshot wound led to police. “Anyway, I was kinda out of it, but apparently coherent enough to have Nat call Gio. She somehow managed to drag me into her apartment and called him for help. From what G told me, she helped the doc attend to my injury. I then had to crash out at her place for a couple of days.”
“Holy shit, she never said anything to me. Not you either, Grant?” I asked.
“Nope. Jesus Christ, why didn’t she say anything?”
“Oh there’s more. That Jason guy showed up while Natalie was cleaning up blood and he freaked. Gio wanted him silenced, but Nat assured him she’d take care of it. They broke up a few weeks later and he hasn’t said shit, so whatever she did must have been enough to keep him quiet.”
“Shit.” I knew Natalie had been keeping something from me. I sat with my elbows on my knees, my hands supporting my chin as I thought about what had gone down. Sitting up straight, I took a deep breath and ran a hand through my hair. Ordinarily Jason would be considered a liability and taken out to keep quiet. Natalie would know this and had taken on a huge risk assuring Gio of Jason’s cooperation. “So Jason hasn’t said anything and they’re definitely not together anymore?”
“Oh they’re done, bro. He even quit bartending at Dirty. ”
“I’m surprised he’s still alive,” Dante said.
“Gio likes Natalie too and he owed her for taking care of me, but don’t worry, we got eyes on him and if surfer boy slips up, he’s fucking toast.”
Endings & Beginnings (New Mafia Trilogy #3) Page 19