Free Mick Sinatra 4: If You Don't Know Me by Now by Mallory Monroe

lethal as Mick
Sinatra.   But he’s close.   I wouldn’t risk it if I were you.”   Then Gloria smiled.   “But what do I know?” she asked, and left the
outer office.
    Inside the
inner office, Mick’s office, were father and son.   Mick had made his way around his desk and was
standing behind the desk by the time Teddy barged in and headed toward
him.   He was surprised, but pleasantly
so.
    “What do you
think you’re doing?” Mick asked him.
    “I need to
see you,” Teddy said as he walked up to his desk. “Since I’m your son, I didn’t
think I needed an appointment to see my own father.”
    “Who gives a
fuck what you think?” Mick asked.   But
when he saw that look of doubt come into Teddy’s big, green eyes, and that look
of fear that all of his children showed towards him, he immediately regretted
it.   He had to remember to stop being so
hard on them!   He had to learn to show
some got damn affection.   He frowned.   “What do you want?” he asked.
    Teddy’s
heart was pounding, as it usually did whenever he was in his father’s presence,
but he was not about to back down.   “You
told me to meet with Mayor Wallace,” he said.   “I met with Mayor Wallace.”
    Mick stared
at him.   He hadn’t expected a result this
soon.   If there was a result.   “What did you find out?”
      “I found out he was a sleaze ball who had no
qualms about killing a man to win an election.”
    Mick studied
him.   Would this child, the one he needed
to take over someday, be tough enough?   “What else did you find out?”
    “I found out
that there’s an advantage in dealing with slime.   The price to pay is lower than usual.   The risks are lower too, given the nature of
the client.   And his power and position,
which is the point for even agreeing to help.”
    Good so far,
Mick thought.   “What did you get for us?”
    “We get rid
of his opponent in exchange for him allowing us, after he wins reelection, to
install one of our men as the new chief of police.”
    Mick stared
at him.   “You would kill a man just to
have a chief of police in your pocket?”
    “I wouldn’t,
no,” Teddy said.   “But one of our men
will.”
    Teddy could
tell he said something wrong.   Mick sat
down.   “What?” Teddy asked him.   “What did I say?”
    “If you
aren’t willing to do the dirty work yourself, you had better never make one of
my men do it for you.”   Mick’s anger was
showing.   “If it’s beneath you, it’s
beneath them.   That’s a leader!   If it’s wrong for you, it’s wrong for them.   My organization works from the top down, how
many times do I have to tell you that, Teddy?   They don’t run this shit, you run it!   They follow your lead!   But you’d
better never lead any one of my men where you will not go.”  
    Mick leaned
back in an attempt to control his sudden rage.   “Why is it offensive to you to kill a man just to have the chief of
police in your pocket?”
    Teddy was already
thrown by his father’s reaction.   He had
expected high praise.   Not this.   “Because I can’t just take a life like that,”
Teddy responded.   “It’s a life.   Who am I to just take it? I mean, what did
the mayor’s opponent ever do to me?”
    “Right!”
Mick said with emphasis.   “You hit the
nail on the head.   When you take somebody
out, it had better be personal.   And you,
not my men, but you had better take responsibility for that kill.   If it’s not personal, if you aren’t willing
to sign your name to that death warrant, you had better call the shit off.   We are not savages, son.   We are not kill for the fucking thrill.   We do to them when they do it to us, or
because they intend to do it to us.”
    Teddy looked
flustered.   “So what was I supposed to
ask for then?”
    “You don’t
ask for shit.   The mayor isn’t running
this, and he’s not going to be running you.    You dictate the terms.   Tell him
we’ll ensure