CHAPTER TEN

Had it been anybody else summoning him to Philly, Nikki knew Frankie "The Monk" Paletti wouldn't be there. She stood in front of the mammoth Sinatra Industries corporate headquarters building in downtown Philly and watched as the SUV stopped at the curb and his bodyguard hurried out and opened the back door for him. When Monk stepped out, Nikki could tell he was pissed, but he gave her a hug anyway.

"How's Ashley?" she asked as they hugged.

"A handful. How's Teddy?"

"A handful," Nikki said, and they laughed.

Monk considered her. She was a gorgeous girl with a full-figured body and a knack for handling a crisis. He wasn't so sure if making her underboss was a great idea given the level of alpha males in the Sinatra syndicate, but Nikki earned their respect. She earned Monk's respect too. "What bullshit you and Teddy got me involved with this time?"

"Don't put it on us," Nikki said with a smile. "This is all Pop's doing."

Monk looked up at the huge building in front of them. "I hate meeting with that man," he admitted. "Here I am the head of the third most powerful organization in the world and it still feels like going to the principal's office ten-x whenever I have to meet with him. I don't know how you and Teddy make it work on a regular."

"We don't make it work," Nikki said, "we just work and hope he'll be pleased."

Monk laughed. "I hear you, sister," he said, and they made their way into the nearly-deserted building.

Nikki really like Monk Paletti, mainly because he was quintessentially Monk all the time. He never changed. He still wore the same style of suit he wore years ago when she first met him. He still wore that hat that made him look like a fifties-style gangster from the movies. He got his nickname because he was different: a mobster with morals, as Teddy put it. A man who didn't chase tail like all those other gangsters did. A man who didn't believe in bloodshed over stupid stuff, like somebody arguing with him or stepping on his shoe or some of the other so-called disrespect "crimes" punishable by death in the mob world. When old man Bonaducci took the reins of power away from Monk's incompetent father and gave it to Monk, everything in that organization changed. And the reverberations, with the constant mutinies by some of his capos still loyal to his old man, were still being felt by Monk. Which, Nikki believed, was probably why her father-in-law felt it wasn't out of the realm of possibility that Monk's men could have tried to intercept Mick's cargo behind their boss's back.

Although they had to wait several minutes before Mick's secretary gave them the go-ahead, they entered his office just as Monk predicted they would: like two students going before the principal. Mick sat behind his desk, leaned back, staring at them.

Monk put on his best smile, although his heart was hammering, and reached over the desk with his hand extended. "How are you, Mick?" he asked him.

Mick shook his hand and then motioned for he and Nikki to have a seat in the chairs in front of his desk. And he didn't mince words. "Which one of your men attempted to intercept my cargo?"

"Like I told Nikki over the phone--"

"I don't care what you told Nikki over the phone," Mick interrupted him. "Answer my question."

Monk wouldn't take this bullcrap from any other man, but he knew he had to take it from the man seated in front of him. "Even though I knew I was wasting my time, I did look into it."

"And?" Mick asked.

"And every one of my guys deny any involvement. There was no evidence otherwise. And I did check."

"Who deposited four million dollars into Beppie's offshore account?"

That was news to Nikki. Monk too. "Why would you think it's my guys?"

"Who deposited that money?"

Monk hesitated. "I don't know anything about any money. I heard Beppie had come into some, but I didn't know how or what or why and didn't care to know."

"Who told you?"

"Some ex-con they call Blue Bear. He's a freelancer for small mob jobs around Jersey."

"How does he know Beppie?"

"They were cousins or something."

"What do you mean were?"

"He died. Gunshot to the forehead."

"When?"

"I don't know. But they found him this morning."

"Who did it?"

"Who knows? He did work for everybody. It could have been anybody." Then Monk gave Mick a hard look. "Why would you believe I could be involved in doing anything to sabotage my best friend's father?"

"Your best friend's father runs the most powerful syndicate in the world. Yours is third on that chain. I used to be in third place when I first started out too. I got tired of third place," Mick made clear.

"I'm not like you," Monk was bold enough to say. "I wouldn't do that to Teddy."

He had hit a sore spot Nikki could tell. Because Mick didn't like that response. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You were working for a guy and then you took over that guy's territory. That's what it means."

"You were working for your old man," Mick fired back, "and then you took over your old man's entire organization. That's what you mean?"

Monk stared at Mick. Monk's old man was an incompetent who was running the Bonaducci crime family into the ground and Mick knew that. But Monk also knew that there was no fighting with the guy. He did not fight fair. When everybody else went low, he went to hell. And would keep going down there until there was nobody left to oppose him. " Touche ," Monk said.

Then the door of Mick's office opened, and Teddy walked in. "What's this about, Pop?" he asked him, his hands palms up and open wide.

Mick looked angrily at Nikki. "Didn't I tell your ass not to discuss this with him?"

"I didn't discuss it."

"Why couldn't she discuss it with me, Pop? Am I or am I not in charge?"

"You're in charge of my syndicate. I'm in charge of all your asses."

"I understand that, but ordering another boss to town and not telling me about it?"

"You're in charge of my syndicate," Mick repeated himself. "You're not in charge of me."

"I understand that --"

"Then shut the fuck up," Mick said bluntly. "I told my underboss not to discuss this matter with you or anybody else."

"Stop accusing her. She didn't tell me anything," Teddy said.

"I phoned Ted after I got the call from Nikki," Monk said. "I wanted answers. I figured he'd know more than Nikki knew. But he didn't know nothing either."

Teddy was still pissed with his father. "You ordered Frankie to come over from Jersey to meet with you and you don't bother to clue me in on it? You know Frankie wouldn't do that shit or order his men to do it either.But why would you believe he could be involved with that intercept? Not his men, because if it was just his men then you would have ordered me to Jersey to look into that shit myself. But you think it's Frankie. That's the part that don't sit right with me, Pop. I can't trust any mobster in this world. But I trust The Monk. Why do you think he would do something like this?"

Mick stared at his son. What he loved about him was his ability to cut through the bullshit. He was a worthy successor. "I have my reasons," Mick said.

But that didn't sit right with anybody in that room. Especially Monk and Teddy. They were ripping into Mick, demanding details. But Mick wasn't telling and then his phone rang that particular tone that let him know who was phoning him. He looked at his watch. It was after ten at night in Philly, which meant it was after four in the morning in Paris. He answered the call. "Yep?"

It was, as he knew it would be, Bella. "They chased me, Mick."

"Who chased you?"

She sounded out of breath. "It was awful. I was within inches."

"Inches of what?"

"Dying. They nearly killed me, Mick!"

Mick stood up from his chair. Which surprised everybody in the room.

"They're gonna kill me, Mick," Bella continued bellowing. "I told you so. They won't stop until I'm dead. They won't stop, Mick. I tell you they won't!"

"Where are you now?"

"I'm home. I made it home."

"Stay put. I'll get some men over there."

"You're coming?"

Mick didn't want to, but he knew he had to. "Yes," he said, and ended the call. Then he placed a call to his security chief in Europe to get a crew over to Fame, which was his code name for Bella. When she was a stripper back in the day, her coworkers called her Bella Fame instead of Bella Caine. He remembered that.

When he ended that call, he began walking around his desk. Everybody rose to their feet.

"Who's in trouble, Pop?" Teddy asked him.

But Mick didn't answer him. He, instead, stopped parallel to Monk. "You're treading in dangerous waters," he said to Monk. "Get out while you can."

"I'm not in," said Monk, "so I have no reason to get out."

"Pop, what are you accusing Frankie of? Him being involved in that intercept is off the table."

"It's still on the table until facts take it off," said Mick.

"What are you accusing him of?"

Mick was still staring at Monk. "Hubris," he said. "Of being tired of playing second fiddle to me and Sal. And you too, Teddy," Mick added, looking at his son. "So watch your back."

Then he gave Monk that chillingly all-knowing look, and began heading for the exit.

"Where are you going, Pop?" Teddy's voice was loaded with frustration. He just told him that his best friend might be planning to stab him in the back, and he gave no details? That was his father! "Where are you going?" he asked him again.

"Paris," Mick said, and left the office.

Teddy and Nikki exchanged a glance. They knew what that meant.

But Monk was clueless. "Who's in Paris?" he asked.

Teddy exhaled and opened his suit coat. "I'll give you one good guess."

Monk had no clue. But he knew the backstory. He took that guess. "Bella Caine?"

Teddy was staring at that office door as if his father was still there. "Bingo," he said.

But Nikki had a different thought on her mind. Mick rushing to the aid of Bella Caine was nothing new to her. But Mick accusing Frankie Paletti of some sort of betrayal was a different matter altogether. Especially since she, Teddy, and even Monk himself knew that Mick the Tick never lied. "What did he mean, Frankie?" Nikki asked Monk.

Teddy looked at him too. He was his best friend, a man he knew he could trust. But he had absolute power over the Bonaducci Crime Family now. Money might change ordinary people, but it was power that changed mobsters.

"I haven't the foggiest idea what he's talking about," Monk said.

But Teddy could tell Nikki wasn't convinced. "What is it, Nikki?"

"The problem I'm having is that Pop don't pop off like that without a reason."

"He thinks my guys did an intercept attempt on his shipments," said Monk. "That's the reason."

But even Teddy, who might have had blinders on when it came to Monk, knew that wasn't true. "Pop don't accuse without having more than just what one of our capos said. He's got something else, Frankie. He has to have something else."

Monk looked exasperatingly at his best friend. "What are you saying, Teddy T? You're saying I'm betraying you? You're saying I'm sabotaging your shipments? You think I'd do something like that to you?"

Because Teddy and Nikki knew how highly Mick respected Monk, and how he wouldn't play games like that, they didn't speak up.

"I wouldn't do that to you," Monk said dispassionately, although inwardly he was infuriated.

Teddy knew he was infuriated too, but in Monk's big, expressive eyes beneath that big hat he wore, Teddy saw some guilt there. Some regret. It might have been because of Teddy's lack of confidence in his denial. Or it could have been Monk's realization that Mick Sinatra, a man you did not toy with, had found out something that Monk very much didn't want him to ever know.

Whatever the reason, Monk stared at Teddy a few moments longer, his expression turning to sadness, and then he walked out of Mick's office.

Teddy frowned and ran his hands wildly through his hair.

"It's not possible," a puzzled Nikki said and then looked at her husband. "Is it?"

But Teddy was still unable to even grasp it. "But it's Pop who's saying something's wrong," he said. "Pop don't say that unless it's true."

And Nikki knew it too.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Teddy yelled out.