Mick Sinatra: Love and Shadows

by Mallory Monroe

  Joey decided to bring in backup. “What do you think, Glo?” he asked Gloria. “You know how Teddy is. He thinks he’s Dad because he’s his number two. But Dad never micromanaged shit the way Teddy does. He has to know everything! You know how he is.”

  But Gloria gave backup alright. To Teddy. “He’s only trying to make sure everybody’s on the same page,” she said to Joey. “That’s how it’s done.”

  But her back up of Teddy only fueled Joey’s increasing anger. “What do you know anyway?” he asked her. “Your ass just went from Human Resources Director to Dad’s aide again.”

  “Whatever, Joey,” Gloria said dismissively.

  “Who would want advice from your ass?” Joey added. Then he leaned against her, completely invading her personal space. “How’s that ass feeling these days, anyway?” he asked her, with a smirk on his face.

  But Gloria took offense to his offensive joke. “Get away from me!” she said, pushing him off of her.

  But, as if by domino effect, Joey took offense to Gloria’s offense and pushed her back. Only Joey pushed her so hard that she fell off of the sofa.

  When Mick saw what Joey had done, he jumped up from the sofa, leaped over the coffee table, and grabbed Joey by the catch of his oversized shirt. He flung Joey so violently across the room toward the wall, that Roz and Teddy both had risen and yelled for Mick to stop.

  Mick slammed Joey’s skinny body against the wall and totally invaded his personal space. He was about to beat the shit out of him, but Roz’s voice broke through. “Mick, no!” he heard Roz say. “He didn’t mean it!”

  And her voice spared Joey the beat down Mick felt he deserved. He continued to clutch his son’s shirt. He continued to stare in his son’s eyes. “Lay a hand on her again,” he said to Joey, “and your ass is mine. Understand?”

  Joey was nodding. “Yes, sir.”

  “She’s your sister,” Mick said as he slammed his back against the wall again. “You look out for her no matter what. Don’t you ever lay a hand on her again!”

  Joey was staring straight at his father. “Yes, sir,” he said. “I won’t ever lay hands on her again.”

  Mick continued to study his still very young son. “At some point, Joey,” he said, “it can’t be all my fault. That point has been reached.”

  Joey’s heart dropped. He knew what he meant. “Yes, sir,” he said.

  Mick saw that he understood, and released him from his grasp.

  But Joey still had a question. “But what about Teddy?” he asked. “What about the fact that he tries to treat me like he’s you. Like he’s my dad?”

  “I don’t give a fuck,” Mick said. “You’re two grown men. Work it out. Fight it out. Do whatever the fuck you have to do to figure it out. But keep your hands off of Gloria.”

  “Yes, sir,” Joey said. And Mick, now flustered in addition to being bone tired, headed to the back of the room, to his bar.

  Gloria, whom Teddy was helping get up from the floor, was shocked that Mick would defend her so aggressively. Especially after the way he beat her and demoted her. But she was the only one in the room with even a trace of surprise. Gloria might no longer believe it, but they all knew she was still Mick’s pride and joy. That was why she rose so high up the ranks at S.I. That was why he nearly beat down his own son, just for pushing her.

  Roz had a different take. The fact that Mick still held a soft spot for Gloria’s beautiful mother, helped Gloria, too.

  But Roz didn’t go to make sure Gloria was okay, she went to Joey. Because she knew how Mick felt about Gloria. She knew how Mick felt about Teddy. But somebody had to feel for Joey. He had to be somebody’s favorite on the face of this earth. His crazy mama was dead. His father was emotionally distant, to say the least. He had no other family but the one that was now before him. Somebody had to make Joey feel as if he was wanted and loved, too.

  Roz was no Pollyanna. She knew Joey was a hothead. She knew he was not a loveable individual most days of his life. But she went to him, not in spite of that fact, but because of it. Everybody loved the tough guy handsome hunk Teddy Sinatra, and the gorgeous nerd Gloria Sinatra. It wasn’t hard to love positive, smart, well-meaning people. But somebody had to love Joey unconditionally, too.

  But when Roz went to him, Joey, as she knew he would, jerked away from any attempt she made to comfort him. He jerked away as if he wanted nothing to do with her. Mick’s back was to him when he made his jerking motion, because he was no fool. He knew Mick would drag him through that wall if he disrespected Roz in any way, shape, or form. But even with Mick’s back still turned to him, he stopped jerking away from Roz and moved closer to her like the kid he still was. He knew she was all he had. And she pulled him into her arms.

  But before Mick could make it around his bar counter to even see that she was holding his son, the intercom buzzed. He went behind the bar and pressed the button. It was his front gate security. “Yes?” Mick asked.

  “Miss Amelia Valtone is here to see you, sir,” the guard announced, and Mick dropped the glass in his hand. Teddy stood up and Roz and Joey stopped embracing. And Mick, Teddy, and Joey began a mad dash for the front door.

  “Secure the children!” Mick yelled to Roz, and she and Gloria hurried toward the Nursery to do just that.

  Mick, Teddy, and Joey ran out of the door, down the steps, and down the long driveway that led to the front gate.

  When the gate opened, Amelia Valtone was standing at the guard post. When Mick saw her, he stopped in his tracks, with his sons stopping behind him. She was a beautiful woman in the way that had to race men’s hearts. She was Mick’s half-sister, and she raced his. But what surprised him most wasn’t his attraction to her: any man would be attracted to her. What surprised him most was his affection for her. He was remarkably pleased to see her in one piece. For some reason, he felt as if she would have appeared to be in some kind of trauma. But she looked like the strong, determined woman he remembered. In a crazy, odd way, he was pleased she was okay.

  But Amelia didn’t share his odd pleasure. She walked up to him, in her long mink coat, her highest heels, and her mink hat; looking like the it girl she was. And she didn’t hesitate. She took her open hand and slapped the shit out of Mick the Tick. His sons, and even his men, were astounded.

  “Who the fuck do you think you are?” she angrily asked him.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Amelia Valtone crossed her legs, revealing a pair of flare-legged pants beneath her mink coat, as the Sinatra family sat with her. They were in one of the guest houses on the property, and Mick, Roz, Teddy, and Gloria were sitting in chairs arranged in front of her. She felt as if she was on a firing line. But that was okay. She’d been in tough situations all of her life.

  Joey handed her a glass of wine.

  “Thanks, baby,” she said. And Joey, inexplicably even to him, stood beside her as if he was standing guard.

  It all seemed surreal to all of them. The idea that Amelia Valtone, the women all the evidence suggested was behind the attack on Mick’s men and territory, was sitting in front of them as if nothing was wrong at all. But what was even more surreal to Mick’s children was that she had slapped their father, Mick the Tick himself, and got away with it.

  It was a slap that stopped everybody cold. They were at the front gate, and Amelia just reared back and slapped the fire out of Mick. The men at the guard post braced themselves. Teddy positioned himself in case he had to grab his father and stop him from killing her. And Joey just stood there, too shock to move.

  And Mick. He was shocked most of all. He stood there momentarily, looking deep into Amelia’s eyes, and then he slapped her back, knocking her to the ground. But he didn’t stomp on her. He didn’t pull out his gun and shoot her. He didn’t beat the shit out of her. To his children, and despite the fact that he had slapped her back, she got away with it.

  “What you say to me,” Mick said as he hovered over her at the gate, “will determine if more is required.”

/>   They all understood what that meant. He was willing to give her a chance, just as Big Daddy had urged him to. But she’d better have a damn good explanation.

  Then Mick looked at Teddy. “Frisk her,” he said, “take her phone and anything else she has on her person, then bring her in.” Mick glanced at her one more time. The only woman who ever slapped him and didn’t get slapped back was Rosalind. And even she wouldn’t be allowed to do it again. He headed back toward the house.

  Teddy did as he was ordered to do, and frisked his aunt thoroughly. He took her cell phone and her handbag. He even took her car keys. Then he motioned with his head. “Let’s go, Amelia,” he said.

  But it was Joey who hurried to her and reached out his hand of support. Amelia took his hand, and made her way onto the property. Her anger was still there. She still had a major beef with that brother of hers. But she knew who she was dealing with. She knew she had crossed the line.

  They headed toward the house slowly, with Amelia rubbing any dirt off of her mink coat, and Joey walking stride for stride with her. Teddy walked behind them, careful to make sure she wasn’t up to any tricks, as they made their way to the guest house. Teddy handed Amelia’s phone and personal belongings to Carissa, who knew how to break into any phone, and check out all activity.

  Once inside the guest house, and after Amelia was handed a glass of wine, she looked at Mick. He was staring at her.

  “You’ve got yourself a lovely piece of property,” she said as she sipped. “I would say you have a lovely home, too, but I can’t go that far. I’m yet to be allowed inside of it.”

  “You’re a guest,” Teddy said. “Dad puts guests in his guest house.”

  “Interesting,” Amelia said. “The fact that I’m his guest, and his sister means little. Or nothing, perhaps?”

  “The question is,” Mick spoke up, “which side are you on?”

  Amelia looked at him. “Mine. And I don’t appreciate what you did to my men.”

  “What he did to your men?” Teddy asked. “You’ve got some nerve! Your men nearly killed us!”

  “Why were you at the Bottom?” Amelia asked Teddy. “Answer that, motherfucker. I thought your ass gave up the drug trade.”

  “I did.”

  “I thought Mick forbid you from sinking that low, as he called it.”

  “He did.”

  “So maybe, just maybe,” Amelia said, “my men smelled a set up and acted accordingly.”

  “Or maybe you’re full of shit,” Mick said, “and acted accordingly.”

  Amelia stared at Mick hard. Their relationship was nonexistent at this point, something she had hoped would have improved by now. But it had not. Mick had held similar hopes. But he’d never admit it.

  “What the fuck is going on, Amelia?” he asked her. “Why are you coming after me?”

  “I’m not coming after you.”

  “What about that hit at the docks?” Mick asked.

  Amelia hesitated. “What about it?”

  “You knew about it?”

  “I heard about it.”

  “Don’t play games with me,” Mick said. “Did you know about it?”

  Amelia hesitated again. “No.”

  “You didn’t order that hit?”

  “No. It had nothing to do with me.”

  “You thought Teddy was out of the drug trade,” Roz said. “We thought you were out of it, too.”

  “Yeah, well,” Amelia said, “a girl’s got to live. I have to do what I have to do.”

  “Word on the street,” Teddy said, “is that you’re trying to earn your living by taking what my father owns, as if you’re entitled to it. Does a girl have to do that, too?”

  “Man get the fuck out of here,” Amelia said dismissively. “I don’t steal another man’s pond. I build my own.”

  Mick stared at her. “Why are you coming after me?” he asked her again.

  “Why did you go after my men?” she asked him again.

  Mick stared at her. “Your people tried to kill me. What the fuck did you think I was going to do?”

  “You killed my men,” Amelia said.

  “Stop wagging the dog,” Roz said. “My husband didn’t, out of the blue, go for your men. They went for him. And they went for him after he was told you were coming for him. Were those people lying when they said you were coming for him?”

  Amelia smiled. “People cum too much, don’t you think?”

  Joey smiled. He liked Amelia.

  Mick didn’t find it amusing at all. “You didn’t answer my wife’s question,” he said. “Were those people lying?”

  “If they claim I had something to do with icing your men, or taking your territory, then yes. They’re lying.”

  Mick stared into her eyes. And for the first time he realized what he was looking at. Before, when he first saw her at the gate, he decided, because she was so well put together, that she had not been traumatized. But he was wrong. He saw it in her eyes. It might not have been trauma as much as it was terror. She was scared shitless. And he didn’t understand why.

  “If they weren’t working on orders from you,” Mick said, “then who?”

  Amelia leaned back. Roz saw it now. And Teddy did, too. “Who, Amelia?” Roz asked her.

  “The reason I haven’t been around,” she said, “is because I’ve been in hiding.”

  “In hiding?” Roz asked.

  “Yeah. At the Palms Hotel in Baltimore mainly, under an alias. Porsha Randolph. I’ve been staying right there most of the time.”

  “Who were you hiding from?” Teddy asked her.

  Amelia leaned her head back, revealing a long, smooth neck. Then she looked at them. “My stepson.”

  “Your stepson?” Teddy asked. “Bulldog Valtone had a son?”

  Angus “Bulldog” Valtone was Amelia’s husband. A husband she killed in order to save Joey’s life. “He has many children,” she said. “And he wants revenge for what happened to his father. I’m on his kill list.”

  Roz touched her heart. “Good Lord,” she said.

  Mick was concerned, too. Why the fuck didn’t she come to him? “Is he in a position to carry it out?” he asked her.

  “Oh, goodness, yes,” she responded. “When Angus died, he took over his entire operation. And Angus had a substantial operation. That’s why my men did what he said. They know I’m small potatoes compared to Alessio. If they were gunning for you, it’s because of Lessi. They must have sold out.”

  “One of my old lieutenants, a guy we call Random, said he purchased drugs from you the night we showed up at the Bottom. That true?”

  Amelia shook her head. “No,” she said. “He’s lying. The Bottom would have been the main place Alessio would have staked out when he started looking for me.”

  “Tell me about this stepson,” Mick said. “I’ve never heard of him.”

  “Nobody knows him in the underworld,” Amelia said. “He makes certain of it. To the world writ large, he’s a shipping magnet from San Francisco who specializes in the restoration and sale of ships and shipping equipment. But I know what else he is. Among other things, he was the mastermind behind Joey’s kidnapping. And as you know, Joey is in charge of the docks.”

  Mick had already drawn that conclusion, too, and was inwardly wondering about it. Joey was outwardly wondering about it. “Hey, wait a minute, Pop,” he said. “Maybe that’s why all of our men are being iced at the docks. Not because of my incompetence, as Teddy would have you believe. But because her stepson knows his way around docks. And ships. She’s making sense!”

  “How did you find out he wanted you dead?” Mick asked her.

  “He told me. He sent me a long text message. Oh, he wants me to suffer! He wants me to duck and dodge and always know he’s on my trail. I don’t think he wants to catch me right away, as much as he wants to make me afraid of my own shadow. That’s how Lessi operates.”

  “And he wants you to suffer, too, Pop,” Teddy said, “because he blames you for what
led to his old man’s death. That’s probably why he’s targeting you.”

  Amelia nodded. “That’s right. Angus believed that you took me away from him. Alessio believes it too. That’s why he’s going after you. He figures the only thing you care about is territory and your operation. He’s trying to bring down both.”

  He didn’t know shit about Mick, Mick thought, if he thought that was all he cared about. But he didn’t go there. “Where can I find him?” he asked.

  “He’s ruthless, Mick,” Amelia said. “He doesn’t play fair. If you go after him, you have to go hard.”

  “That’s the only way I go,” Mick said. “Where can I find him?”

  “His father owns a five-hundred-acre ranch on the outskirts of Philly, a really remote place that I heard is where he took up residence after the old man died. I know the place like the back of my hand. I know it better than Alessio knows it.”

  Then he studied her. “When you found out you were on his kill list, why didn’t you come to me?”

  A sad expression came over Amelia’s face. “All those years Angus abused me and misused me, nobody ever came to my rescue. Nobody. I’m not used to expecting anything from anybody.”

  They all understood what she meant.

  “But don’t worry,” she said. “He might be ruthless, and he is, but I’ll go with you.”

  Anybody else and Mick would have been offended. But he understood what she meant.

  But Teddy was concerned. “Guy like that, who forces people to do what he wants by icing their family members, I don’t know. That sounds like a dangerous dude on a level even we aren’t accustomed to.”

  Mick already knew the level of danger they were dealing with. They all were so far behind Mick’s thinking that it irritated him that they didn’t realize it.

  “Who’s going with you, Pop?” Teddy asked.

  “I am,” Joey said.

  “You’re going to stay here,” Teddy said. “To man the home front. Somebody’s got to do it.”

  “Then why can’t you do it?” Joey asked.