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“Did you do everything I asked?”

He nods

“Then I knohat you did I don’t forget things Or people”

I see him s hard as he tears the receipt into tiny pieces and throws them into a trash can I hold outoff the urge to squeeze harder and give hiet on with ot some uncomfortable business to take care of, and I don’t like to put things off just because they're unpleasant

If I did, I’d never get anything done

He raises the shop door as I hop in the Suburban and start it up It rumbles under me, then the noise disappears completely as I shut the door—the stone silence of the interior is just what I requested

The first flash of lightning brightens the dark sky as I pull out of the garage and make my turn toward my former business partner’s office

My former office

But things change Even in my somewhat shady business, people draw lines and have their own lis I won’t do I’s that would rew up, and the truth is, my mother was proud of me

God rest her soul She passed away three years ago from complications of pneu fro dinner at a now closed business-friendly restaurant don

He was eating spaghetti witha bullet between the eyes the next The other guy got a bullet into the shooter, but it was too late for my father Our families have been friends and partners of one sort or another for three generations Salvatore and I grew up together, got in scrapes together, and always had each other’s back

Unfortunately, when Sal started to branch off into sex ith girls barely old enough to drive, I drewto part ways

I’ to take a financial hit to distance myself as quickly as possible fro a side of hi our business relationship

I’ll still e a lot of the weapons sales That’s been under e necessary toto persuade a buyer that you knohat you’re talking about, when all you really know is how to point a gun, is liable to get you killed