A Plain-Dealing Villain Read Online Free Page B

worse.
    “So please, give Mr. Mancuso my regards and my thanks,” Nicky told the man, “but we’re doing just fine out here. You let him know I said that, okay?”
    He held out his hand. The Indian just gave him a stone-eyed glare. “A pleasure meeting you,” he replied, but his tone made it sound like a death threat.
    He walked past me, trailing power in his wake. For a moment, our eyes met. I could feel him reading me, brushing up against my psychic walls like I’d done to him, but his face was a blank slate. He left without another word.
    “Follow his ass,” Nicky snapped at Juliette and Justine, his voice low and hard. “Don’t let him out of your sight for a second, and make sure he gets on the next plane out of town. If he tries anything funny, leave him dead in a fucking ditch.”
    The twins stalked off, silent. Nicky turned to me and put on a big, friendly smile. I almost believed it.
    “New friend?” I asked.
    He waved his hand, playing it off. “Liquor distributor. Club business, no big deal. C’mon in back.”
    I followed him into his office. Between the cigarette-burned carpet, the cheap wood paneling, and the car calendar two years out of date, you’d never guess half the dirty business in Vegas was cooked up in that very room. Nicky dropped into the tall-backed chair behind his desk and gestured for me to take a seat.
    “Club business, huh?” I said.
    “Forget about it.” His gaze flicked away for one guilty second. “So how’s tricks? Hey, how’s Jennifer doing?”
    I sat down and tried not to roll my eyes at him.
    “Really? That’s your lead-in? Real subtle, Nicky.”
    “Then you know why I’m asking.”
    “Maybe yes, maybe no.” I shrugged. “Why don’t you tell me?”
    “The envelope was light this month, Dan.”
    Jennifer was family. Not blood, but blood didn’t matter to people like us. She was my sister where it counted. She was also one of the last members of Vegas’s occult underground still doing business with Nicky Agnelli. She didn’t have much of a choice, given that she was running her little narcotics empire on his turf.
    I figured he was going to ask me about her new deal with the Cinco Calles gang or the tenement by the airport she’d turned into an urban fortress. Apparently he didn’t know about that. Small favors.
    “The envelope,” I repeated flatly, playing dumb.
    “Look.” He rested his palms flat on his desk. “She knows the deal. She operates in my city, I get to dip my beak. Just a little. You know me, I’m not a demanding guy, but I do insist on dipping my beak. That’s not unreasonable.”
    “She pays you for protection, Nicky. Given Harmony Black is doing her best Elliot Ness impression and rattling cages all over town, I’m thinking Jennifer doesn’t feel too safe right now.”
    “I’m
handling
it.”
    “Says you.” I crossed my arms. “But seeing as Black just busted up my score and hauled me into an interrogation room, call me a skeptic.”
    “Hey, you’re the one who pissed her off, not me. I’m her job. You’re her hobby. Know what the difference is? People
care
about their hobbies.”
    I hated to admit it, but he had a point.
    “Was the envelope light?” I asked. “Or was it empty?”
    “Light. By one G.”
    “You have to try and see it her way. As far as you’re concerned, your cut is something you’re entitled to. As far as she’s concerned, she’s paying you for a service you aren’t rendering. She’s making a point. If the envelope was empty, that’d be a whole different deal.”
    “I can’t let anyone short me, Dan. I can’t have it. You know how many people in this town pay out to me? You know what would happen if they found out I let Jennifer get away with this?”
    “Which is why,” I said, unfolding my arms, “I guarantee she hasn’t said a word to anyone about it. You need to make things right with her. That’s what she’s telling you.”
    Nicky scowled. The whites of his eyes swirled behind