Teddy Sinatra_Chains For Love Read online

His cell phone rang again. Damn, he thought. And there was no doubt about it: he was going to have to hire an assistant to field all of these fucking calls! No man should live like this! He was getting older by the hour! But who the fuck was he going to hire to field the kind of calls he received?

  He answered. And, sure enough, it was yet another disaster popping off. This time at the docks outside of Chadds Ford. A couple of workers got into a brawl. One knifed the other one.

  “Is he dead?” Teddy asked.

  “Not dead, no. But some asshole called the cops. They’re on their way,” his lieutenant added.

  “Shut it down,” Teddy ordered. “Make sure only liquor crates on top, you know the drill, in case those cops want to sniff around. And get a suit down there now. Our people have the right to an attorney and you tell the cops nobody’s talking until one gets there. We want to see a warrant before they search any of our shit. You know the drill. But you also know how some of those cops are. They may want to sniff before the suits can get there. So be prepared. If it doesn’t go according to plan, call me back.”

  “Okay, Boss. Will do.”

  “And fire both of those fuckers who caused this shit. But only after the cops leave.”

  “Got cha,” the lieutenant said, and ended the call.

  But just as that call was ending, Teddy’s cell phone was ringing again. He lifted it up and motioned as if he was going to throw it across the room in anger. He was just that tired.

  But he held onto it. A broken phone was only a broken phone in his line of work. He still would have to deal with whatever they needed him to deal with. Besides, it could be his father calling to tell him about that meeting tonight too.

  He, at least, looked at the Caller ID. But it wasn’t his father.

  It wasn’t Joey or even one of his lieutenants.

  It was Nikki.

  Teddy could feel a sudden tightness in his chest when he saw that name. When she called him a couple times last week, after he had stopped calling, he didn’t answer. He couldn’t pull himself to answer! She was better off without a joker like him: that was his main reason.

  But he also couldn’t see how in hell was he going to work a woman like Nikki into his off-the-charts busy schedule, a woman who didn’t deserve to take anybody’s back seat, when he couldn’t even work in a good night’s rest for himself. He couldn’t turn it off for himself, but he was going to turn it off for her? Teddy might be a romantic. That was something nobody knew about him. But he was a realist first.

  But when he realized Nikki wasn’t just calling him this time, but she was calling him just after six in the morning, which would be right around three am California time. He didn’t know her like that, but he knew that wasn’t like her at all. He quickly answered the call.

  “Nikki, hey.”

  “Hey, James Bond. Hope I’m not disturbing you.”

  Teddy actually smiled. James Bond. Her nickname for him after he first introduced himself to her, not just as Ted Sinatra, but as Ted. Ted Sinatra. He figured he sounded the way Bond said his name: Bond. James Bond. It was a silly, inside joke between the two of them that she never forgot. And it still made Teddy smile. “You okay?”

  There was a pause. Then a definitive “no.”

  Coming from a girl like Nikki, somebody who wasn’t the help-me type at all, was huge. “What’s wrong?” he asked her.

  “I have a situation that I don’t know how to handle.”

  “Okay.” Teddy was trained by his father never to ask too many questions up front. Get info first!

  And, sure enough, Nikki continued to provide it. “I think . . . I think I might have . . . This guy, you see, I think he’s . . .” Then she whispered into the phone a four-letter word Teddy knew too well: “Dead,” she said.

  His heart dropped. Coming from Joey, it would have sounded natural. Even coming from his kid sister, Gloria, it would have too. But coming from Nikki? “Who’s dead?” he asked. “Are you safe right now?”

  “Yes, I’m safe.”

  “Who’s dead?”

  Another pause from Nikki. “The Super in my building. I had to . . .” She whispered again: “Shoot him.”

  Teddy leaned up. “You had to?” He could only imagine the trauma she was experiencing! “What happened? And where are you right now, Nikki?”

  “I’m okay. I’m at this diner around the block from my place.”

  “Where’s the guy?”

  “At my place.”

  “And you’re sure he’s dead?”

  “No! That’s the thing, Teddy. I can’t be sure. I took off after it happened. I didn’t know what else to do.”

  Teddy could hear the stress in her voice. “Okay. That’s alright. Just . . .settle down. It’s going to be okay.”

  “I could go to prison for life, Teddy. If they don’t believe me, I could . . .”

  “It’s okay, Nikki,” Teddy said, getting up and out of the tub. “I handle shit like this every day. Don’t worry. But here’s what I need you to do. I need you to go back to your apartment.”

  “Go back?”

  He could hear the panic in her voice. “You have to go back. I hate it too, but you have to go back. If he’s not dead, you can’t let him leave until I get there.”

  “Until . . . What do you mean? Are you saying you’re coming to L.A.?”

  Somehow that went without saying to Teddy. Of course, he was coming to L.A.! Did she expect him to let her handle this alone?

  But then he realized she probably did. He was the one who stopped calling. He was the one who wouldn’t answer when she called him!

  “Yeah, I’m coming to L.A. I’m going to hop my old man’s plane and get there as quickly as I can get there. But I need you to get back to that apartment. I know it’s scary, babe,” he added, “and I hate with a passion to have to make you do this, but it’s vital he doesn’t leave that apartment, or call for help.”

  “I got you,” Nikki said, and Teddy could hear that she was up and walking. “I’ll go back.”

  “Where’s the gun?” Teddy asked. “You still have the gun?”

  “I’ve got it, yes.”

  “You be careful going in there. And make sure he’s in the exact same spot you left him in. If he’s not, get the hell out.” He probably already called the cops or somebody, Teddy thought, or was lying in wait for her, he wanted to add. But didn’t. Nikki could handle some information. Too much might spook her.

  “When you get there, and you see he’s in the exact same spot, then you check and see if that motherfucker is still breathing. If he is, you get to a safe distance, put that gun on him, and keep it on him until I get there. I should be there by . . .” Teddy, who was hurrying to the bedroom to put on some clothes, looked at his cell phone clock. “I should be there around noon, which will be nine this morning, your time.”

  “Okay.”

  Teddy knew some guys in L.A. he’d used in the past as security. But he couldn’t pull them in on something like this. They didn’t know Nikki like that. They might not feel any loyalty to keeping her secrets the way they knew they had to keep a Sinatra’s secrets. They might be willing to rat her out to get in good with the local cops, or some shit like that. He couldn’t take that chance. If this shit was going to be handled, he and Nikki were going to have to handle it. He hated to put her in this position, but she was in this position.

  “I’ll be there as fast as I can get there.”

  “Okay, Teddy. And Teddy?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Thanks. Thanks so much.”

  She was thanking him. He hadn’t done shit yet, but already she was thanking him. That was the kind of woman she was. That was the kind of woman he knew he didn’t deserve. “Call me when you get to that apartment,” he said, she agreed, and they ended the call.

  He had already reached the conclusion that she was better off without him in her life. And he still believed that was the right conclusion to reach.

  But not right now. Right now, he
thought as he called his father’s pilot and dressed as quickly as he could, he was the exact right man for the job.

  CHAPTER NINE

  His plane touched down and Teddy took a cab, not directly to Nikki’s flat, but three blocks away. And then he jogged there. He was dressed for the part: jeans. A pullover shirt tucked in. Jordans.

  When he didn’t see any cops around, or any other activity that would give him pause, he entered the apartment building and made his way upstairs, to her apartment. He knocked lightly. He’d already phoned to alert her he was in town. Within quick seconds, she opened the door.

  He entered quickly, closed it back, and locked it.

  And finally, after all those months, they were together again.

  He looked at Nikki. And as soon as he did, he knew exactly why he couldn’t get her off of his mind. It was that look: high cheekbones. Incredibly smooth dark skin. Eyes that carried a lot of pain, even when she laughed. Especially now. Teddy felt her pain.

  His heart squeezed so hard, and felt so strong, that he didn’t know whether to embrace her or run away from her. What the fuck was this about? He knew he was attracted to her. He knew he might even care about her. Why else would his slick ass be in L.A.? But this feeling he was feeling was as if he was looking at somebody so near and dear to him that he could hardly bear it.

  And before he could say a word to her, or ask her a single question, he had to hold her. He had to let her know that she wasn’t in this alone. He moved up to her, totally violating her personal space, and pulled her into his arms. The intensity caused him to shut his eyes tightly, as he felt her soft, perfumed body against his.

  Nikki felt that emotional release, too, when he first walked into her apartment. Their relationship was already unusual. They met in L.A. at the bar where she worked, and they met a few times while he was still in town. But his stepmother had been badly injured by a predator who had been still on the loose, and all of his time and energy were devoted to protecting her. Nikki rarely saw him. There was no sex. No promises. No commitments. When he left town, he said he’d call her, but she never expected to hear from him again. Not because she doubted his word, but because she knew her life. Not hearing from him again would have been more in line with the story of her life.

  But he actually did call her. And called her again and again. And her hope meter began to tick up. He was even promising to take some time away from his work and come and spend some serious time with her. That promise caused her hope meter to go a little haywire.

  But as soon as she got in that place called hope, and even began to dream a little dream, it all stopped. His regular phone calls became no phone calls at all. He didn’t even return hers. Her hope meter, like all those times before, crashed.

  But he came to L.A. at the moment of her greatest need. Her own father wouldn’t give her the time of day to even hear what distressed her. But Teddy came. That didn’t just say something to Nikki. Given how low she was regarded by everybody else in this world, and given how badly she needed him at this moment in her life, that said everything!

  And to be held in his big, powerful arms was new to Nikki, too. They might have embraced when he was leaving L.A. that first time, but it was more like a see ya kind of hug. This was anything but that! This was a serious embrace that caused Nikki to close her eyes, and nearly cry, because of the intensity alone. And how much she appreciated him being there.

  But Teddy knew he had to drop this emotional bullshit and put on that mask again. When they stopped embracing, he had to become her fixer, not her love interest, to make sure she got out of this situation unscathed.

  But as soon as they stopped embracing, and he looked into her eyes again, he was enchanted again. Those feelings were strong again. He had to suck it up.

  “Where is he?” he asked her.

  “In here,” Nikki said. She had to compartmentalize her feelings too. They had work to do!

  She escorted Teddy into her bloody kitchen. Expecting him to recoil a little on seeing this dead guy on her kitchen floor, Nikki looked hard at Teddy’s reaction. This would tell her a lot. Was he as gangster as she made him out to be, or was it all just an act?

  It was no act, she saw, when he looked at that body. He didn’t even flinch. He, instead, walked over to the unconscious intruder, knelt down beside the body and felt his pulse for himself, and then stood up again.

  “He was still breathing last time I checked,” Nikki said.

  “He’s still breathing,” Teddy agreed. “But barely.”

  “It’s amazing he’s still alive,” Nikki said. “I thought for sure, when I came back to this apartment, that I would find him . . .”

  Teddy looked at her. She looked so helpless to him at that moment that he wanted to hug her again. But he nodded instead. “Yep,” he said. He knew what she meant. Then he exhaled. He had to get to work. He reached his hand out to her. “Give me your gun.”

  Nikki quickly retrieved it, and she handed it to him.

  “Nobody heard the gunshot?”

  “They might have heard it,” Nikki said, “but there’s so many shootings around here, and even in this building, that it’s no big deal to anybody. Unless it’s excessive. Just one shot like what I fired? They turn over and go back to sleep.”

  “Damn,” Teddy said with a smile. “I thought that was only in Philly.”

  Nikki wanted to smile, but an injured body, and her part in that injury, stopped her.

  “Is it registered to you?” He was talking about the gun.

  He and Nikki looked into each other’s eyes. It was Teddy’s time to see just how gangster she was.

  “No,” she said. “I bought it from this guy I know.”

  Teddy nodded. Gangster enough, he thought. “Good,” he said. “It won’t trace back to you. Now do me a favor.”

  Here we go, Nikki thought. Was he about to concoct some “punishment” for her in exchange for his help? Like a demand for sex? Like a demand that she perform some freakiness in the bedroom? Then she caught herself. Sex with Teddy Sinatra would probably be a lot of things. Punishment wouldn’t be one of them! Besides, he came all this way. She felt she owed him. “Okay,” she said.

  “I want you to go into your bathroom, and then bring me a glass of water.”

  At first Nikki thought nothing of it. The man was thirsty after his flight and maybe he didn’t like the idea of drinking water from a room where a shooting had taken place. But she saw that look in his eyes. He was thirsty alright. But it wasn’t for water. “One glass of bathroom water coming up,” she said, and left the room.

  As soon as she left, Teddy pulled out a silencer, placed it on the barrel of her pistol, and looked at the man on the floor. He was a stranger to him. But an enemy of Nikki’s, from here on out, was his enemy. He knelt down and shot the barely breathing building Superintendent straight through the eye at close range, ending it once and for all.

  What he didn’t know: Nikki had doubled back and was standing at the kitchen entrance looking at him. Teddy already knew she was there. He’d seen her reflection in the refrigerator. He stood up, and he turned to her.

  “Why in the eye?” she asked him. “I mean, I knew we had to finish him off. But why shoot him in the eye?”

  “That’s how mobsters do it,” Teddy said.

  “But the police might try to link this killing to you if they think it’s mob-related.”

  She figured him to be a mobster. That was surprising to Teddy. But he nodded. “I want them to think mob, rather than you. So that would be exactly what I want them to do. I can take the heat. They’ve tried to link many crimes to me and my family. We have world-class suits, I mean lawyers, and tons of inside guys, to shake off heat on us. I just don’t want them to link it to you.”

  Teddy would never know how wonderful that sounded to Nikki. But why would he place himself in jeopardy for her? She studied him. “Why are you doing this for me?” she asked him.

  Teddy was looking down at the dead body
now. “Honestly,” he said, “I don’t know.” He looked at her. “It just seems like the natural thing to do. You called. You were in trouble. I came. It’s what I do for certain people. My family. Myself. And for some reason, now you’re on that list.”

  Nikki wanted to feel hopeful again. But she’d been burned once by him already. “I’ll get that water.”

  Teddy smiled. “Your ass knew I didn’t want any water, that’s why you never left. And I still don’t want any water.”

  Nikki smiled too. Then she thought of something. “Oh,” she said. “I meant to tell you. I argued with Louie, that’s the guy down there on my floor, just before this happened. A few hours before. He was on my case about rent I owe.”

  “He was in this apartment?”

  “We argued in the hallway. People might have heard us is why it might matter.”

  Teddy nodded. “That’s okay. If it comes up, we’ll deal with that, too. He’s a Super. People argue with him about rent all the time. That’s nothing new.”

  Nikki loved how he said we’ll deal with it. It made her feel a little less alone. “So where do we go from here?”

  Teddy exhaled. “We’ve got to dispose of the body, and then clean up this apartment.”

  “Dispose of it?”

  “He lives alone, or with other people?”

  “No. Alone. His wife died, from what a couple of the residents told me, a few years back when they were on vacation in Lake Tahoe. A death, by the way, the cops questioned him about.”

  Teddy liked the sound of that! “He was a suspect in his wife’s death?”

  Nikki nodded. “He was, yeah. At least from what I heard.”

  “Good,” Teddy said. “That’s good.”

  “Why would that matter?”

  “Because it means the cops will already see him as dirty. He’s no good little innocent here. It won’t take a leap to connect him to the mob. One thing about cops: bad guys killing bad guys are never high on their priority-to-solve list.”

  Nikki understood that. “Makes sense,” she said.

  “I’ve got to get him back into his own apartment,” Teddy said, “and stage it so it appears he died there. Then we’ll clean up this place.”