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“No, it doesn’t make sense,” Elise said. “I don’t have anything to do with my father. I walked away from all that, and now—”
I held up a hand and stared at her. She snapped her mouth shut and glared at me.
“Doesn’t matter,” I said. “None of that’s important. Whether you like it or not, you’re a tool to be used against your father.”
“Stick to the point, Tanner,” Dante said.
“Right.” I looked back at him. “If you kill the girl, her father’s just going to dig in and start a real war. He’s not going to back down, not after you murdered his daughter. If you want to avoid a long, protracted engagement, you need to spare her life and set up some kind of mutually beneficial arrangement.”
Dante stroked his chin. “And you think you can come up with some arrangement that works for everyone?” he asked.
“I think we can all come up with something,” I said. “I don’t know why the hell you’d think that would be all on me.”
Dante laughed. “Sorry for assuming you had something in mind.”
“You’re businessmen. Talk about business and stuff.”
“Business… and stuff. For someone who seems smart, you sure do sound like a moron sometimes.”
I grinned. “Come on, Dante. You know I’m right here. Kill this girl and you guarantee your family gets involved in another bloody and protracted engagement. But spare her life and maybe you can walk away from this with a deal that helps everyone out.”
“I hear you,” he said. “And I’ll be honest. It’s a tempting proposal and not without merit.”
“See, I really am smart,” I said.
“But you’re not her father,” Dante said. “You can’t make these arrangements for him. I don’t know if I can trust him.”
“He doesn’t know if he can trust you, either,” I said. “But you’ll work it out. Business depends on a little trust, right?”
“Sure,” Dante said. “How much does he know about this?”
“Not much,” I said. “He knows you’re coming after his daughter. Not much beyond that.”
“Can’t imagine he’ll want to deal then.”
“He will. His daughter wants nothing to do with him. So I’m betting he’d be willing to make a deal just to make her happy. Seems that he moved to town to be closer to her, which suggests he’s making business decisions based on rebuilding their relationship.”
“It’s really weird to hear you analyze my relationship with my father right in front of me,” Elise said.
“I bet it is, but you know I’m right.”
She shrugged and waved a hand. “I know what he wants. I’m not interested in it.”
“Still doesn’t change the fact that I bet he’d make a deal to save your life.” I shifted toward Dante. “So what do you say?”
Dante stroked his chin again then glanced to the left. I followed his gaze and saw Sergio standing in the kitchen doorway. He had graying hair, a medium-sized gut, and a plain white apron slung around his neck.
“I know what he’d say,” Dante said.
“What’s that?”
“He’d tell me to take it. Wars are expensive and lives are priceless. No reason to get involved in killing each other if there’s some other way.”
“Sergio’s a smart man.”
“Yeah, well, he’s not my Capo anymore. He walked away from the life and now he bakes bread every fucking day.”
“He looks good though,” I said. “Like he’s happy.”
“He looks fat and slovenly.” Dante turned to me. “I’ll think about it, all right?”
“You should do more than think,” I said.
“You’re lucky I’m not killing you here and now, Tanner.”
“You probably could,” I said. “But no way you’d walk away from this alive. So don’t make stupid threats you can’t back up.”
Dante glared at me and I smiled at him as sweetly as I could. I felt Elise tense next to me and I could tell this turn was making her uncomfortable.
But it was just mafia man bluster. These guys were all full of shit. They thought they could throw around a few threats and everyone would just roll over and do whatever they wanted.
Mostly it worked like that. But I happen to be one of the few men in the city that could see through their bluff and back up my words with action.
“It’s tempting,” Dante said. “I’ll admit it. But I don’t know if I can trust you in this. You turned your back on us. That’s a pretty big deal.”
“Oh, please. I dropped a contract. Fucking sue me.”
Dante laughed. “You more than dropped a contract. I heard you had a little run-in with Bennigan.”
I clenched my jaw. “Yeah, I did,” I said. “And it was shitty of you to send him.”
“I told you what I was going to do if you turned the contract down.”
“I thought you’d at least give me a day to reconsider.”
“No time for that shit,” Dante sad.
“I gather.”
“So look, I’ll think about your proposal. But I’m not going to back down. And anyway, Bennigan’s off his leash, and you know how he can be.”
