Page 10 of Maldives & Mistletoe

SIX

Alessa and Adriano

ADRIANO

Out of the corner of his eye, Adriano watched Alessa breastfeed Lissa as he continued his phone call. He’d much rather climb in the bed with his wife amongst white pillows and soft sheets, but business never ended, and he needed to take care of this first before he could get on with the rest of his day.

A few feet away from the bed, Corrine slept happily in her portable playpen. Those things were a bitch to travel with, and yet, it had proved more than worth it to bring it along, too.

“You do understand, Mr. Conti, that should this not go as we had planned—”

“Then, what?” Adriano asked, trying to keep his tone cool and not too sharp. Not that the man on the other end of the call even proved he deserved Adriano’s respect at the moment, but he didn’t want this entire fucking thing to be a wasted trip just because someone decided to catch a goddamn attitude. “If things do not go as planned, and we can’t work out a deal on the cache of weapons, then I will tell you exactly what will happen, Mr. Torres.”

“And what is that, exactly?” the man asked gruffly.

“We will go our separate ways. We will find someone else to sell the weapons to, and you will find someone else to buy from. Of course, that means more time you go without the artillery you claim to need for your little … rebellion.”

Yes, that was a good way to put the fact that this man was working to overthrow his government with a large mass of people. That’s what the fucking media would call it when the uprising really got started.

“I thought we agreed—”

“Yes, yes. Not to talk about that.” Adriano sighed, scrubbed a hand down his face, and glanced at his wife again. Instead of focusing on little Lissa, the second—who everyone kept saying was too old for her to breastfeed now—Alessa was watching him. A line of worry creased her brow. That bothered him. She didn’t need to worry at all, but especially not about this trip. She probably couldn’t help it, though. So was their life. “Listen, you keep up your end, and we will keep up our end, Mr. Torres. You need something, and we have what you want. It’s as simple as that.”

The phone turned silent for a moment. Adriano almost wondered if the man had hung up the phone on him, but then the man’s voice filtered through again, proving that was not the case.

“And negotiations are possible on certain things?”

Adriano smiled a bit. “Negotiations are welcomed, but keep in mind, we aren’t here to support or help your cause. We are here to make money. If you believe appealing to our sympathetic sides about your cause will get those weapons into your hands at a cheaper cost, I can promise you will be wasting your breath.”

Another beat of silence passed before the man muttered, “Fine. I suppose the next time we speak will be face to face at the meeting, yes?”

“That is the plan, Mr. Torres.”

“I look forward to it, Mr. Conti.”

Adriano hung up the call, and immediately dialed another familiar number. Alessa shot him a look as if to ask, What are you doing now? He elected to ignore his wife for a second. Call him paranoid, but Adriano never liked it when people became too demanding. There was something about that which put him on edge.

The very last place he needed to be, honestly.

“Adriano?” Mikey asked when he picked up the call on the third ring. “What can I do for you? I thought you were supposed to be enjoying your vacation with the rest of them?”

“I am enjoying my vacation like everyone else is, thanks.”

“Well, what can I do for you?”

“Nothing too big, … just move the cache again. Say, to the other side of the city. They’re already packed in trucks, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to move them to a new location, should it?”

Mikey was quiet before he muttered, “That’s four trucks of guns, Adriano.”

Yeah, but part of their earlier deal with Mr. Torres was a sneak peek at the weapons. He’d sent a man into Chicago, and while they had done their best to hide where they were keeping the weapons stored, it was very possible that somehow, the man figured out an approximate area of their location.

He didn’t have any reason to think that was the case, or that the buyer might try to steal their cache instead of buying … but he kept going back to the fact that he didn’t like people who made demands, and paranoia was a bitch. Like fuck was he going to do all this work for someone to come along and steal the weapons just because they had a bright idea.

“Doesn’t matter,” Adriano countered, “move the cache.”

Mikey sighed hard. “Fine. You want an update when they reach the new point?”

“Of course.”