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“Can’t send an underling to deal with something this important,” he said. “You understand.”
“Of course.” Dad gestured. “Please, sit.”
Dante gave Tanner a look then closed the door as the Don took a seat. I stared at Don Leone and tried to see him as the ruthless killer I knew he was, but I couldn’t get past the grandfatherly look in his eye. If the man really was a shark, he hid it very well.
“I’m glad you could all make it,” Tanner said. “I know this is a little cramped. Best I could do on short notice.”
“Never been in one of these before,” Dante said. “Lots of hipsters love this shit, right?”
“It’s nice,” Don Leone said. “Young people working hard. Can’t fault them for it.”
“Let’s get to business,” my dad said. He leaned forward on the table. “Tanner’s been playing lawyer for the last few days, and he says our most recent conversation is the best we’ll do. Is that true, Don Leone?”
“It’s true, Don Borghi.” Don Leone tilted his head and steepled his fingers. “I must say, though, you couldn’t have expected more.”
Dad grunted and leaned back. He crossed his arms and stared at Don Leone. Bigman’s face didn’t change. Baldy kept glaring around at everyone. Dante lingered near the door, looking uncomfortable and like he wanted to get the hell out of there.
Tanner beamed like he was in heaven.
“You’re giving me Eastwick,” Dad said. “Beyond that, I’m limited to a few blocks here, a few blocks there. Nothing big, nothing powerful.”
“That’s the idea,” Don Leone said.
“I wonder how you think I’m going to make money that way.” Dad glanced at Tanner. “Or maybe our go-between hasn’t been entirely honest.”
“I’m a Boy Scout,” Tanner said.
“He’s been honest,” Don Leone said. “But I held something back. I wanted to be sure you’d come to the table first before making a real offer.”
Dad raised an eyebrow. I saw a glimmer of surprise. “I’m listening then,” he said.
“We’ve been working closely with a cartel. They bring in the drugs, we sell, we do a nice little revenue split, we all profit. It’s a good business, one I’d like to expand, and so here is my offer. You come into the business with me, you take the same split I offer to everyone, you do your business here in the city. But you also do business in New York with your distribution lines there. In New York, you take a bigger cut, I get a much smaller percentage, we do business like that. On your home turf, you get more. On my home turf, I get more.”
Dad grunted once and shook his head. “I can’t see how that’d be fair,” he said.
“And why not?” Don Leone smiled like a patient old man.
“My business in New York is twice what you do here,” Dad said. “I’d get a pittance of the Philly cut, and even on a small percentage, you’d get a nice, big haul with zero of the risk from my crew in the big city. I want the same percentage on your overall Philly sales that you’d get on my New York work.”
Don Leone laughed. “I’m glad you noticed that,” he said. “Otherwise, I would’ve thought you were stupid.”
Dad’s smile is thin and menacing. “What do you say?”
Don Leone looked up at Baldy, who only shrugged. He looked back down at Dad and spread out his hands. “I think we can work with that,” he said.
“Good.” Dad seemed to relax a fraction of an inch. “Then we need to discuss my daughter.”
Don Leone looked at me for the first time, and I saw it, buried deep within his eyes.
There was the shark.
“Yes, the girl,” he said. “You’ve been very difficult to kill, you know. Lucky you, finding Tanner.”
“She’s very fortunate,” Tanner said.
“At least he has some small semblance of a conscience,” I said. “I didn’t know you were in the business of murdering innocent people.”
“You’re in the game, girl,” Don Leone said. “Not innocent. Not off limits.”
“I left the city to get away from my father, and now you sucked me back into all this.” I leaned toward Don Leone and stared into his eyes. “You’re getting off easy.”
“Careful,” Baldy said.
Don Leone just laughed. “I like you,” he said. “I understand why Tanner does, too.”
“She’s right though,” Tanner said. “You’re profiting in all this, and you don’t deserve it.”
“Tanner, I don’t want to hear you speak again,” Don Leone said. “You’ve been nothing but a pain in my ass and I’m very tired of you.”
Tanner laughed and spread out his hands. “I’m a delight. What can I say? I live to please, Don Leone.”
“We had a good relationship, once. Then you betrayed me, killed a contractor, and started a lot of shit. I can promise I’ll leave the girl along, but you? I can’t promise you’ll be okay.”
