The Collection by Lance Charnes

Author:Lance Charnes [Charnes, Lance]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: art theft, mafia, milan, fraud, ex-convict, art gallery, painting
ISBN: 9780988690370
Publisher: Wombat Group Media via Indie Author Project
Published: 2016-11-10T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter 31

Shit. Rossi’s supposed to be some mid-level dude, somebody I can talk to without every cop in Italy watching.

On the other hand, if the ‘Ndrangheta has the hot art, Morrone’s gotta know where it is.

“I’m gonna kill that bastard,” Carson yells in my ear.

Oh, great. “That’s not the plan.”

“So what’s the plan?”

Good question. I remember something Carson said when I was wrestling with her on the dance floor: I don’t fit the picture. Gianna does. Go hook up with her.

And here she is. I still feel Gianna’s body pressing against me from a few minutes ago and I’d like a repeat. But I still need Carson to make sure I survive this. Also, do I want Gianna seeing me be even sleazier than I really am? Does she need to know who that nice Mr. Rossi really is?

But… if guns start pointing at me up there, will Carson be holding one of them?

Decide.

“Same as before,” I finally tell Carson. “We go talk to the man. ‘We’ means you and me.” I step back to Gianna without waiting for Carson to react. “Will you do something for me?”

Gianna tilts up her head and turns those bottomless dark eyes on me.

Marry me dances around the tip of my tongue. Instead, I pull a business card from my wallet and press it into her warm, soft hand. “You’ve met Rossi. Can you introduce us?”

Her eyebrows climb halfway up her forehead. She glances at the card, then the window, then me, then Carson, then me again. “I have the supper with you. Alone. Yes?”

No doubt to butter me up about the gallery loan, but at this point, I’m okay with anything she suggests. “Tomorrow night?”

Gianna gives me a quick kiss, then taps my chin with the card. “I go to Rossi. Please stay.”

Watching her climb the stairs in that dress is… inspirational. When Gianna’s halfway up the second flight, Carson steps next to me. She’s sucking her virtual lemon. “Why don’t you two just get a room?”

“Play nice. We still need her.”

“We need her, or you need her?”

“This girlfriend thing. It’s cover, right? You’re not jealous?”

She shoots me a “drop it” look.

We wait for either Gianna to come back, or a squad of security apes to haul us away. Belknap’s bald head sticks out of the crowd half the building’s length away. The way he moves tells me he’s dancing. Knowing him, it’s with some woman half his age. Fine. If he’s busy scamming her, he won’t bother me. I hope.

“Here she comes,” Carson says.

Two goons trail Gianna down the stairs. She’s moving on her own, so they’re not taking her out back to shoot her. The worrying thing is seeing Belknap watch her. I realize how exposed that second flight of stairs is. It’ll be like walking on the red carpet for the Oscars.

The goons stay behind on the broad landing above us while Gianna swings down the last steps straight to me. She sets her hands on my chest and goes up on tiptoes.

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