They fit.
He was just a liar.
"Shame. You two worked well together. He would have been a good addition."
Except he wanted to take down you, your father, your brothers, and the entire organization.
"Plenty of other bartenders out there. But this time, I'll be the one interviewing."
"Pops know that?" Salvatore asked, smirking in a way that said he knew he didn't.
"Nope. But he will the next time I see him."
"Good luck with that," Salvatore said, saluting her with his water and going to take a seat at his father's back table.
The meeting usually didn't start until seven or eight, always being more of a late dinner. But Salvatore was always early and Vin was usually right behind him, the two sitting and talking shit over before any of the other guys showed up, wanting to show a united front on all the issues. Anthony would show up ten minutes late and already half-drunk. That was the usual.
What wasn't the usual was the door opening around eight-fifteen and a newly familiar, tall, handsome, dimple-sporting Puerto Rican man walked in.
She felt her blood go cold as her gaze shot to Daniel, accusing.
At seeing her reaction, Daniel's shoulders stiffened further.
And she knew he didn't know she knew about that.
She hadn't exactly been overly talkative about the whole situation. She had only said she had known, not that she knew everything.
The anger welled up again, strong, filling her belly until she felt like she was choking on it.
That was why he was there.
God, she was such an idiot.
A small, stupid, needy, pathetic part of her had been hoping he was there to apologize, to admit he was a dick, to try to make things right, to explain.
But, no. Of course not. He was there because he was still on the job. He was still planning to take down Vin. Losing his position didn't deter him in the least. And while maybe a small part of her admired his perseverance, that part was eclipsed entirely by another stab of disappointment and anger.
"Faith..." he said, lips parting a little helplessly as he slowly stood.
"Outside," she snapped, tossing her rag down on the counter just a mere three inches from a plate of chicken parmesan a bar goer had just started eating.
She stalked around the bar and through the restaurant to the front door. She didn't have to look to know he was following. Of course he was following.
"Baby, listen..."
"Don't fucking baby me, Daniel Harrison," she snapped, shoving a hand into his shoulder, feeling a sense of satisfaction when he went back a step. "You lost that right by fucking lying to me."
"If you would let me ex..."
"What the fuck is Max doing here?" she cut him off, not wanting bullshit words of explanation given not out of genuine regret but an effort to shut her up.
"Faith, I tried to have him pulled out," he said, everything in his tone sounding genuine even to her suspicious ears. "Believe me, I fucking tried. But if you think Vin is a stubborn boss," he said, his tone barely more than a whisper as he took a step closer, making sure no one could overhear, "then you have no idea what it is like to have the government to answer to. They didn't know if he was made so they decided to take the chance."
"The chance with his life? You're a lot of things, Daniel, but you're not stupid. You know that is what he would be paying with."
"Wasn't my call, Faith. That's why I'm here."
Yup.
That hurt a lot more than she thought it would, especially given that he was just telling her things she already knew.
"Hey," he said, as if seeing the pain cross her face. His hand rose and he shrank back at seeing her physically flinch away from his touch.
"He needs to get out of here. If you can't get him out of here, then you need to make sure he never comes back."
"Understood," he agreed, nodding a little. "Can we talk about this?"
"There's nothing to talk about," she said, trying to convince not only him, but herself.
And it was right about then that the gunshots rang out inside Lam.
FOURTEEN
Danny
He had a feeling she knew about Max.
That was why he was at Lam.
Or, more accurately, that was why he was telling himself he was at Lam.
It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that when he pulled the door open and stepped inside, his eyes immediately went to and stayed on Faith. It was clear she didn't want him there and he didn't blame her. Especially when she was wearing her feelings so clearly on her, something she never usually did. Her movements were tense, her actions borderline compulsive. She did and redid then overdid. At some point in the night, she actually put her hair up. She never did that at work. And it didn't escape him either that she didn't have makeup on, another thing that was not normal.