The space was dominated by a large poker table with green felt and five men spaced around it. I recognized Dante sitting across from us, but didn’t know the others. Dante saw us and smiled, leaning back in his chair and gesturing with his cards.
“There’s the man I’ve been talking about,” he said, waving at Gavin. “Dr. Majors. Glad you could join. And you brought a surprise guest.”
I crossed my arms over my chest as Gavin stepped forward. “Dante, thank you for seeing us,” he said, his tone caught between confused and polite.
“Dr. Majors, this is Vincent Leone.” Dante gestured at the man to his right, a handsome man with black hair, dark eyes, and a trim beard. “That over there is Steven, and that man is named Hedeon, and that’s Luca. We’re having something of a reunion.”
Each man was large, intense, and handsome—and looked exactly like what I imagined a gangster would look. Except for the man named Hedeon, who pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and smiled. He looked more like a college professor than a full-on criminal.
“Nice to meet you all,” Gavin said. “What can I do for you tonight, Dante?”
“We’ve been talking about your situation,” Vincent said, dropping his cards down. “Hell of a thing. Cosimo’s a difficult guy, no doubt about that.”
“Very difficult,” Dante echoed, “but a good earner.”
“Very good earner.” Vincent frowned at Gavin. “Doc, I’ve got a proposal for you.”
“I’m listening.” Gavin stood straight, his hand clasped behind his back.
“I want to make this simple for you. I’d like you help you out, doc, but like I said, Cosimo’s difficult.”
“And he doesn’t like to follow orders,” Dante said. “Makes him hard to work with.”
“But, a good earner.” Vincent grinned and I got the feeling that this was something they rehearsed, or something they did all the time—trying to downplay the situation, make someone feel at ease before they got what they wanted. It was smart and it put me on edge.
“You offered your services the other day,” Dante said. “I did some digging on you, Dr. Majors. You’re very well respected, considered one of the best up-and-coming doctors in the city. Now, I couldn’t let Cosimo kill a guy like you, even though he says he very much would like to. That would be a waste, and it would bring way too much heat down on us, and we like to avoid that sort of thing.”
“Killing’s bad for business,” Vincent said.
“So here’s what we’re offering.” Dante leaned forward and flipped a poker chip up along his knuckles. “You agree to help us with any medical problems that arise for a very reduced rate for the five years, and you agree to pay off the debt this fine young woman owes to Cosimo, then we’ll call it even. How’s that sound?”
I stared at them then at Gavin, my mouth hanging open. I couldn’t believe what he had just said— five years was a very long time to be involved with the mafia, especially at a reduced rate. I could tell Gavin didn’t like it from the way he held his shoulders, how tense he seemed, and I wanted to speak up, to tell him not to do it, to tell him to walk away from this, but he unclasped his hands and held them in the air.
“I need to consider your offer,” he said. “I can’t commit myself to five years of this without giving it some thought.”
“You go ahead and think,” Dante said. “But you’d better think fast. While you’re thinking, Cosimo’s out there thinking, too.”
“And Cosimo likes to think by, you know, hurting shit.” Vincent laughed and there was a wicked gleam in his eye.
I knew what they were doing. They wanted to use Cosimo as a cudgel to force Gavin into working for them. It hit me like a hammer between the eyes. If these guys were the head of this crime family, there was no way they couldn’t control Cosimo. They’d be terrible at their jobs if they didn’t have control over their own people. They wanted to use the threat of Cosimo to force Gavin into a bad deal—and I knew Gavin would go for it, because it might mean that I’d survive.
I couldn’t let him do it. I couldn’t let him throw away five years and risk going to jail for this. There had to be some other way, some way to get Cosimo to back down without him ending up as a doctor for the freaking mafia, because it was so obvious to me that this wouldn’t be five years and done. They wouldn’t let him walk away after five years.
If he got involved with them, he’d be involved for life, or at least until he did something drastic to get away.
God, it was horrible, and it happened in slow motion right before my eyes.