“Okay, counselor.” Black put down his fork and knife. “Since you already made the point that we’re making more money on the legit side of the house, go ahead and make your case.”

“For one thing, we used to need a bigger table to have these meetings.”

No one said a word.

No one had to.

Since she had everyone’s attention, Wanda continued to drive her point. She reached out and held Black’s hand. “It seems like we’re moving backwards instead of forward. I mean look at the two of you. Mike, you had left all this behind you. You and Cassandra made a life for yourselves in the Bahamas. You were out. Then you let her talk you into staying here. You lost your wife and Michelle lost her mother. Which one of you is gonna be next? I’ll be honest; I don’t want to go to anymore funerals for a long time. I don’t want to lose anymore friends. And the fact is we don’t have to live like that anymore.

“And Bobby, while Mike was gone, you were so busy being a faithful husband and a father to your children that I had to practically drag you out of the house.”

“True that,” Bobby had to admit.

“And look what happened when you did,” Wanda added.

“You had to go and throw that in.”

“Well, it’s the truth. And now Freeze is dead. Hasn’t this life cost us enough?”

Black looked at Wanda for awhile without speaking. She was right, as usual. Actually, he had been thinking the same thing lately. It was as if life had come full circle for him. He was back in New York, back running Cuisine. He was seeing a stripper or former stripper at this point, along with a few others. Everything was like it was before he met Cassandra.

He thought about Michelle.

“All right, now that you’ve killed my appetite, I have two questions,” Black said.

“What’s that?” Wanda asked.

“Since we are still making money on gambling and our other businesses, if you do get out, how do you plan on replacing that income?”