The Gambler Read Free Page B

he was even now stressing about not having her next to him. The last time he'd held something that precious , it had been taken from him. He'd steeled his heart against such a thing ever happening again. He didn't do emotions; he knew what needed to be done and did it. But he'd be damned if he was ever going to let himself be gutted like that ever again. And then that soft sweet voice had called him Angel and decimated all of his boundaries, demolished every safeguard.
    "Boy, are you listening to me?" He tuned back into his grandfather's harassed voice.
    "No but I am now." The old man shook his head with a wry, if somewhat indulgent look on his face. His deceased son could not have meant more than this young man had come to mean to him. He'd poured all the love he'd had for his only son into his son's son, when his boy had been struck down only two years after getting married and having a kid. A drunk driver had been going the wrong way on the freeway of all places, and had slammed into Anthony head on, killing him instantly.

 
    Of course the other driver had gotten away with a few scrapes and bruises, but other than that he was fine, for the next three months anyway. It had been the old man's longest three months, waiting for enough time to pass. In the end the decision hadn't been too hard.
    After having the man followed to see if he'd learned the error of his ways , or at the very least shown some remorse for the life he'd taken, and finding that there was none, it had been easy to set him up for a one vehicle accident. Things had gone off without a hitch, since his blood alcohol level had been almost twice the limit, but that was then and this was now. In the intervening years, he'd seen his young daughter in law meet and fall in love with someone else, someone he'd had vetted inside and out to make sure he was good enough for them.
    The doc was good people , a little too much of a tree hugger, but other than that he was cool. Patakis had almost had a coronary though when they'd changed the kid's name, he was the last of the line after all. After him there will be no more.
    He'd learned to live with it , and over the years he'd built a strong binding relationship with the only blood he had left. Now here they were and his grandson was once again trying to send him to an early grave. So head strong, stubborn, and worst of all, entirely too much like him. He pretty much knew how this little show was going to play out, but thought for the sake of argument, he'd at least try.
    "So we've decided that it's a given that the Bonatas are going to come after you. They have no choice, they have to save face; but we might me able to salvage something if we return the girl now. It's only been one night and we can play it off. I'm already collecting the names of the men who were there to do damage control , to keep the young lady's name from being sullied of course." Patakis was nothing if not hopeful, miracles do happen everyday after all.
    Andros just looked at his grandfather , letting the older man have his say out of the great respect he had for him, but they both knew what the outcome would be.
    "Stefan , you know we have to deal with this right now, we can't let this thing sit for too long. Now your grandfather already told us your stand and I understand jumping into a situation like that. We can even use that to our advantage, seeing as how we have witnesses that saw that asshole strike the girl down. But if you turn this into something else, there's no way to salvage this mess."
    Old man Seals sat back in his seat when it looked like the young hothead wasn't even going to dignify him with an answer. His old friend had told him that the chances of his grandson backing down were nil to none , but he thought they could at least try. The Bonata clan was a bloodthirsty bunch who should be avoided at all cause, but the kid didn't seem too worried. In fact, he seemed rather relaxed for someone who'd just pulled the tiger's