Luck of the Dragon

drawers and stuff them in a suitcase, then run outside barefoot, only to circle back looking lost and confused. It had taken Lucy several frightening episodes of watching her leave, lugging a bag bigger than herself, before she could believe that their Mom was coming back and not abandoning them. Lucy would help her refold her clothes and put them away in the drawers, every damn time, over and over.

Gino waited for her to reach him and ushered her inside the restaurant. The darkness of the room was momentarily blinding. When her eyes adjusted, she saw the thick-armed guy from earlier and two other muscle- types leaning against the wall. Four against two, counting Gino. Those were bad odds even in Joey’s head. The air seemed to leave the room, but she did not flinch or step back. She’d survived bullies before and knew better than to cower.

Lucy sat beside Joey and Gino at a square four-top table and rested her napkin on her lap. A candle flickered inside a red glass globe on the table, making Gino look even more snakelike, coiled and ready to strike.

“Get us three porterhouses and milks,” Gino told a plump waitress whose cleavage hung out of her black uniform.

“I’ll take a Jack and Coke,” Joey called after her, but the woman did not stop.

“I call the shots here,” Gino said. “And I say you’ll have what I’m having.”

“But I don’t like milk.” Joey sounded like a whiny kid.

Gino picked up a steak knife and stabbed the table between Joey’s fingers. “You’ll have what I say you’ll have.”

Lucy pushed back from the table in surprise, almost flipping her chair. One of the burly dudes cleared his throat behind her and scooted her back to the table. Too close.

She couldn’t breathe.

“What was that for?” Joey held his hands together at his chest, looking offended.

“You eat what I offer you or next time, I take off a finger.”

“I told you, I’m in.”

The enforcer turned toward Lucy. “I hear your brother here making noises, but I hear nothing from you. I think you still need some convincing.”

She was trapped against the table, trapped in this deal with Gino. Cold sweat broke out on her brow, and she saw her reflection in the metal napkin holder, pale, drawn, shaky. Her confidence drained away with the blood in her face.

“Joey and I are amateurs. You don’t want us in on this.” Her voice sounded weak to her ears.

“Lucy!” Joey kicked her under the table.

Lucy winced and moved her legs away from him. “We’ll only mess things up.” She tried to give Gino her most beseeching look.

The waitress returned with three full glasses of milk and set them on the table.

“True.” Gino took a gulp of his milk. In the red candlelight, his teeth looked fluorescent white. “But nobody gets alone with Alec Gerald, his men are always hovering around, and in you waltz, testa rossa bellissima…I say you’re gonna get this done for me.”

“No,” Lucy whispered.

Gino pounded the table, making the candle flame flicker. “All those jewels—they belong to me! That whole casino belongs to me! I’m taking it, and you’re gonna help me.”

Lucy shook her head, staring at the rough weave of the tablecloth for courage.

“Tell you what.” Gino leaned back, and she thought maybe he was considering her argument. “You do this, or I kill Joey here.” Gino clapped Joey on the shoulder, all friendly-like.

Lucy’s heart jumped in her chest.

Joey frowned. “That’s not necessary, Gino, just give her some time to get used to the plan. She’ll come around.”

“Your daddy would be ashamed of you, girl.” Gino squeezed Joey’s shoulder.

Joey’s frown deepened, and he fought a wince. Gino cranked his palm into Joey’s arm joint until he cried out in pain and fell off the chair. The waitress returned with three plates loaded with steak and baked potatoes with all the fixin’s. The room was quiet while the waitress put the plates on the table, except for Joey’s whimpering from the floor.

“Get off the floor, you mamaluke.” Gino cut a generous hunk of raw steak away from the bone and chewed it slowly. Blood oozed onto the plate, making a splotchy canvas of pink grease. “Eat, before it gets cold.”

Joey regained his seat, kept his gaze down, and dove into his plate like he had never had a meal before.

Lucy’s throat tightened and she swallowed hard. How was this going to end? Would Gino let them leave? Would he really kill Joey? She pushed food around her plate while the two men ate and talked shop as if it were Friday night dinner at Mazzio’s.

“Eddie Falcone has a pawn shop that needs protection… A couple of slot machines need a regular pick-up guy. Someone in the linen business might need some talking to…” The words floated over Lucy’s head like so much bad air. She had to get out of there. Get back to her house. Behind her gate. Lock the doors and pack.

Gino swallowed his last bite and used his napkin to wipe his face. “Okay. It’s done then. You’ll get the print. There’ll be a drop in the casino bathroom, same as before.”

Lucy shook her head, exasperated and terrified.

In a flash, Gino embedded the steak knife in the back of Joey’s hand. Joey’s screams filled her ears.

“Stop!” Lucy tried to get up but the burly thug held her chair snug to the table.

Gino smiled, and Lucy knew his snake’s fangs had just sunk deep into her jugular. “Stop being a finocchio, Joe…or I’ll give you something to really cry about.” The three muscle-guys laughed heartily at the scene.

Joey’s muffled cries turned into bottled-up moans that pulled at her heart with tortuous fingers. She all but felt the knife piercing her own hand.

“Let him go.” She was surprised by how steady her voice sounded.

“It’s up to you, testa rossa.” Gino twisted the knife a quarter turn. Joey cried out before squeezing his hand over his mouth and closing his eyes. “All I need to hear are the words, ‘Yes Mr. Narcisco, I’ll get you that print.’”

“This is never going to end, is it?” Even as she asked the question, she knew it was true. “I do this for you, and next month you have another job. Right?”

Gino pulled the steak knife out of Joey and wiped the blood on a white cloth napkin. “If it’s money you’re after, we could come to an arrangement.”

Joey wrapped his bleeding hand in his own napkin, his eyes wide and shell-shocked. “Luce, quit playing around,” he whispered. “Do what he wants.”

Lucy’s gaze ping-ponged between Gino-the-snake and Joey-the-bait. There was no way out of this. She and Joey would definitely have to leave Vegas for good when this was done. She had not really accepted it as truth until now. She had built something here, a reputation, a home, a life. Sadness swamped her along with crushing hopelessness.

“Okay.” She placed her hands flat on the table, leaving a sweat mark. “I’ll do it. But I want your word that Joey is in the clear, and I’m not doing any more favors for you.”

Gino smiled and reached his blood-smeared hand across the table. He picked up her hand and kissed it. “Sounds good to me, testa rossa.”

He was lying. She knew it. He knew it. But there was nothing she could do about it. Gino saw her weak underbelly now in Joey, and she was at his mercy. Her stomach twisted in knots. Don’t think about it now. She would find a way out of this mess.

First, they had to get out of the bingo hall alive and with all their fingers.

Lucy stood, trying to appear agreeable instead of defiant. She inched her chair back. This time, the burly dude let it slide. She nodded once at Joey. “Let’s go.”

Joey stood, cradling his bleeding hand to his chest.

Gino stayed seated. “Bruno here will escort you home, go over the details with you, and take you to the casino tomorrow. Make sure you don’t get confused or nothing.”