Gavino
Jeanie sits in front of Casso’s desk looking small.
I lean off to the side while Casso puffs on a cigar. I hate that damn habit. He picked it up in the last few years from hanging around country clubs and elite invite-only bars and restaurants. He thinks it makes him look sophisticated like the bankers and the hedge fund managers, but I think it makes him look like what he is—a jumped-up mafioso gangster.
“Do you understand the terms of this contract?” Casso asks, nodding at the thick stack of papers sitting on the desk in front of her. Jeanie hasn’t even read them, much less given the chance to understand them.
“Uh—” she says and looks at me.
“Just sign,” I say, shrugging. “Doesn’t matter what it fucking says, does it? You have to sign no matter what.”
“Seems unfair to me.”
“Go complain to a judge.”
She grinds her teeth. Casso glances at me, a little smile on his lips. I glare back. She’s not wrong—she should be given the chance to at least read the damn thing. But Casso insisted on doing this immediately.
“Fine,” she says and holds out her hand. “Pen.”
Casso deposits a pen on her palm, but doesn’t let it go right away. “Remember, there are really only two rules you need to know. First, you will never speak of anything you see or hear in this house to anyone beyond these walls. If you do, I will personally make sure one of my best men murders you in your bed. Maybe I’ll have Gavino do it as punishment.”
I grind my jaw at that and Casso immediately flinches, realizing his mistake. I don’t say anything, but he quickly stares down at his hands, going slightly pale. I think of Sonia and blood and her thin white neck.
Jeanie doesn’t look at me. “And rule number two?” she prompts.
Casso clears his throat. “Obey all members of this family. You’re a stranger. An outsider. You’re not one of us. The only reason I’m allowing this is because Gavino wants you to stay here. He says it’s for your safety. I think it’s for his own amusement, but we’ll see.”
Now she’s blushing. I grin like a wolf at my brother and he glances at me. There’s the barest hint of a smile on his face. He’s having fun with this, the cheeky bastard, although I know he’s feeling bad about that killing comment.
But I’m glad he’s warming up to her, at least a little bit. Casso’s been too stuffy lately and this is the sort of shit he lives for—laying down the law and messing with a poor, defenseless outsider.
Jeanie swallows, nods to herself, and flips to the end of the contract. She signs in a quick, neat script, dates it, and shoves it away. “There. Done.”
“Did you tell her how much she’s making now?” Casso asks casually, gathering the papers. “That was an employment agreement too, by the way.”
She looks back at me, narrowing her eyes. “He didn’t say. I’m guessing it’s minimum wage. Or wait, no, you’re saying I’m working in one of your restaurants and you’re paying me a tip wage?”
“You’re getting two hundred thousand per year,” I say with a shrug. Her jaw drops and I love it. “With bonuses for good performance, although you’ll have to work very hard to earn those.”
“Are you joking?”
“I wish he was,” Casso says, sounding annoyed as he files the contract. “All right, we’re done here. You’ve got health insurance and dental. Believe it or not, we are a real, legal entity.” He shoots me a look. “And we like to keep it that way.”
“That’s right, Don Casso. Sorry, I mean, CEO Casso.”
“Fuck off.”
I motion for Jeanie to follow as I head to the door. She scrambles up and we step out into the hallway together. I close the door with a quiet click and she turns on me, hands balled into fists, cheeks red, looking pissed as hell. “What was that in there?”
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
“Two hundred thousand dollars? Are you insane?” She comes toward me, practically blowing steam from her ears, it’s so fucking cartoonish and adorable. “You didn’t have to do that. You only did because of what I told you.”
“It’s a standard agreement.”
“I shouldn’t have told you about my mother. I don’t need your fucking pity.”
“I’m not paying you because you grew up poor. You think I give a shit about that? I’m paying you because that’s how much I pay my top people.”