Chapter Thirty-Six
Michael
Anthony pushed his ledger to the side and reached for his computer’s mouse. After he shook it a few times, he looked up. “So, some wiseass put a video of the rap song on the YouTube,” he said with a laugh. “It counts how many people watch, you know.”
He didn’t sound upset, and I hoped he wasn’t too embarrassed. “It’ll let you relive the memory. It was a great moment.”
He peered over the top of the monitor. “A hundred thousand.”
I suspected he was making a monetary offer to have the video removed. Trace could do it in five minutes, and it wouldn’t cost a dime.
My eyes widened. “Excuse me?”
“People.” He shook his head. “A hundred thousand people watched the video.”
“What? Since Saturday?”
He nodded. “I’m a celebrity. Maybe it’s Terra. I don’t know.”
He pushed the mouse to the side and grinned. “I had a good time.”
“We all did. It was a wonderful celebration.”
“So, you leave Friday? For the honeymoon?”
“Leaving the hot weather to go somewhere that has warm weather.”
“Warm?”
“It’s about eighty degrees year-round.”
“It’s a hundred and fucking one outside,” he said. “It’s June. I hate this state in the summer.”
“So do I.”
“The Belize. It sounds nice.”
“It is.”
“I’ll have to go sometime,” he said. “I’d like to see it.”
“Words can’t describe it.”
He reached under the desk, and produced a box a little larger than a shoe box. Then, he pushed it across the desk. “The books are done on the gun deal. This is your cut.”
I opened the box. Twelve stacks of hundreds, a little over eight inches high, filled the box. Slightly shocked, I closed the lid and looked at him. “Seems a little heavy.”
He shrugged. “The family takes 15 percent of margin. The margin on that job was three million thanks to Cap. The machines? That was genius. That leaves $2,550,000. The capo gets paid out of the family’s cut. The rest? It’s yours. Your business, your money.”
I hadn’t given it much thought. The figures he explained were the same figures we used for anyone we provided protection to. Regardless how I looked at it, $2,550,000 was an ungodly amount of money, especially considering that I did nothing to put the deal together or implement the plan to manufacture the weapons.
I pushed the box to the side. “Can I pay Cap a bonus out of my cut?”
He shrugged. “You can do whatever you feel is necessary. Some business owners, they show their appreciation by paying the capo under the table. It’s allowed.”
I never thought I’d reach a point that money didn’t matter, but it seemed to matter much less after Terra and I were married. Anthony, much to my surprise, had given each of us a new car as a wedding gift. Me, a BMW, and Terra a new Mercedes-Benz. Many of the other gifts we’d received were money, and my safe was currently filled with so much cash that I was going to have to find another place to put the two and a half million dollars.
“I’ll take care of him, then. He did a great job on the transaction.”
“I agree.
“Tell me about the island,” he said. “Where you bought the land.”
I relaxed into the chair and thought of the parcel of land that I had purchased. It felt strange knowing that although I still intended to build a home there, that I would never actually live on the island.
It would simply be a place that we visited when we were able.
My dream of retiring wasn’t going to happen, as no one retired from the family. The oath of Omertà never expired, nor did the responsibilities of a family member.
“It’s one of the many remote islands a few miles from the main island. If there ever was a paradise, this is it. If you can imagine any of the pictures you’ve seen of Hawaii, it’s similar, only more remote, far more beautiful, and the water is as clear as drinking water. Although the temperature is only eighty, the sun will bake you to a golden brown in a matter of minutes. It’s a remarkable place.”
He smiled, and nodded.
“Maybe next year, we can go there on a vacation.”
“That would be nice,” I said. “I’m sure you’d love it.”
“I don’t take enough time for my wife.” He looked around the room, and then shook his head. “It’s never been easy for me to walk away from my work. Now? Now that I’ve spent the time in jail? I see things differently. I need to take the time for my wife. Our time. It’s limited. We don’t live forever.”
“We sure don’t.”
“Do you like the car? Have you driven it yet?”
“I’m driving it now.”
“They had to order the black. You ask me? Cars should come in one color. Black. So many people, they want the red, or the blue. I wonder. Why? Black is the best.”
“It’s gorgeous, thank you.”
He waved at me. “It’s a car. I hope you enjoy them.”
“Terra loves hers, that’s for sure.”
“Which one is faster?”
I shrugged. “I have no idea.”
“You should race them and see. The man at the Mercedes? He says the Mercedes. The man at the BMW? He says the BMW. You can’t trust the car salesman. If their mouth moves, a lie comes out.”
I let out a laugh. I felt the same way. “Agreed.”
“Race, and let me know. I need to buy my wife a new car. Not a Cadillac. Something fun. And black.”
“I’ll see if Terra’s up to it.”
He leaned forward, rested his forearms against the edge of the desk, and grinned. “So, in the car. The sex.”
My face went flush. I hoped it would never come up. I swallowed hard. “Yes, sir.”
“Are you ready for the children? Prepared to be a father?”
I hadn’t given it much thought, but really didn’t need to. In my mind, children would come, and when they did, I’d give everything I had to be the best father I could be. My time at work would diminish greatly, and my time with the children would be my primary focus. It probably wasn’t what Anthony wanted to hear, but it was what I felt was necessary to raise a child properly.
“I am. When that time comes, the hours I devote to work are going to diminish greatly.”
“They should,” he said. “When my children were young, I didn’t spend the time with them. I regret it now. But the clock, it doesn’t go backward.”
“It sure doesn’t.”
“We have one chance to raise them. And, we can’t go back and make changes once we’ve made the mistake. My only regret? The work. I wish I could do it over.”
Hearing him say it was comforting. I expected a speech on how I would be expected to provide for the family, regardless. I wondered if things were different in his mind now, as compared to before he spent the time in jail.
“So far, I don’t want to do anything over that’s happened in my life. I think all my experiences make me who I am. No regrets,” I said. “That’s been my mantra to date.”
“Wait till you have the children,” he said. “Raise them without spending time with them. You’ll have the regrets.”
I reached for the box of money and stood. I’d spent my entire adult life immersed in my profession, whatever it was. I could only hope that when the time came, I’d be able to separate myself from my work, and devote an adequate amount of time to my children.
“Let’s hope that day never comes,” I said.
“Let’s hope.”