“He sent me to help you. He’s worried,” Max replied, crossing one leg over the other and leaning against the mirror as the lift carried us up to the penthouse. I rolled my eyes.
“I’m handling it.”
“Are you? Because from where I’m standing, your little stunt at the hospital fundraiser only fuelled more animosity between you and Piero.”
The doors opened, and I huffed, taking a moment to disable all my alarms before kicking off my boots and following Max as he strolled into the kitchen like he owned the place. He opened the fridge, tossed me a beer, and took one forhimself.
“Piero’s throwing a tantrum. He’ll end up turning the wealthy against him by enforcing his new regulations on tax investigations and compliance reviews. The public will turn on him when their favourite places and businesses start getting shut down, and the city’s finances fall into disarray. He’s making it too easy for me.”
“No,” Max said, setting his beer on my kitchen counter and placing his hands on the surface. “He’s making people want this to be over quicker. He’s putting pressure where it matters.”
“It doesn’tmatter. Without any evidence, he has nothing on me.”
Max inhaled, his green eyes sharpening with something that made me freeze.
“He does have something on me?”
“More like someone.”
“The traitor,” I sneered through my teeth. Max nodded. There was one man we couldn’t get released from police custody quickly enough. Simone Doria. He was one of our warehouse managers at the docks, overseeing the shipments.
“It’s still not enough. Doria barely knew anything except when the shipments would leave and on which boat. He didn’t know what they contained, nor who they belonged to. There were four middlemen between him and me for there to be any connection, and none of them would talk if they wanted to keep breathing. I’m not worried.”
“Are you sure? If they’ve placed him in witness protection, he must know something important.”
“I already have my men on it. They’ll find him before he can open his mouth.”
“And what of the daughter?”
I looked out the window at the city, avoiding my cousin’s gaze because he could always see through a lie. He was so intuitive it drove me mad, but that’s why he was so good at his job. He used to be underboss before I took over his role, but whenMammawanted to retire as consigliere, it felt only natural that he stepped into the position. He was the levelheaded one in our family.
“Working on that too.”
“How exactly?”
I smiled, lifting my beer to my lips. “Don’t you worry about that. The plan’s already in motion.”
“Sani,” the warning tone reminded me of the times he scolded me when I was a teenager, and he’d realised I’d stolen one of his bikes, revving it across the lawns. “You have that look about you. And it sets me on edge.”
I shrugged innocently. “What look?”
“The one you get when you have a crazy, reckless plan that you’re adamant will succeed without thinking about the consequences if it doesn’t.”
“When have any of my crazy ideas not gone to plan?”
He lifted his hand to count on his fingers, and I dipped my head to my chest, nodding along as he launched into his rant. “And then there was the time you snuck out to visit Vinny’s grave when we were at war with the Americans and nearly got yourself and Raya captured.”
“Nearly,” I said, pointing my bottle at him. “And it was the anniversary ofPapi’sdeath. Don’t give a shit who we’re at war with, I’ll never miss letting him know I still think of him.”
“Yes, but you nearly got yourself and your sister killed to do it.”
“Again, nearly. But that all worked out fine, didn’t it? I was sixteen, and I still managed to kill the fuckers and carry Raya home, even with a knife wound to my thigh.”
“Crazy,” he repeated, shaking his head. “Another one, when you smashed a bottle of whiskey over the French investor’s head and then used the broken glass to threaten to slit his throat until he apologised for making a joke during a negotiation meeting.”
“He insultedMamma. When I explained one of her notes on the contract, he said that’s why guns are better than women. Because we can put a silencer on them.”
“Yeah, he was a prick, but most men in our circles are. He withdrew from the negotiations, and we lost a massive deal. My point is you are too impulsive, and you act on emotions.”
