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“Please. Sit.” She gestures to a row of chairs in front of the desk.
Caleb eyes them before shifting his gaze back to her. “I think I’ll stand for now. Stretch my legs. You know how it is.”
“Very well.” Ava’s commanding voice is unwavering as she settles back in her chair. “Gabriel and I have been discussing our shared mutual interests.”
“And what would those be, exactly?”
“Your desire to cut all ties to the business, and my desire to take over your territories.”
All three men lose the battle to hold their steely expressions.
“Don’t you mean your father’s desire?” Merrick offers her an obnoxious smirk.
Her eyes narrow on the youngest Perri. “Of course, my father also has his sights set on your territories, as you well know by now. But I would prefer to operate independently from him and in a more professional manner.”
“There’s only one way that could happen,” Vince says, a hint of curiosity in his tone.
“Yes, gentlemen, there is. And I’m dealing with that issue presently. It should be resolved very soon.” She smiles sweetly.
It dawns on me. Ava Navarro is going to have her father killed.
Gabriel is right—she is a viper.
The men share a glance before looking to Gabriel for confirmation.
He shrugs in response. A noncommittal answer.
“Look, we all know I don’t need to negotiate with you. Every man on this property is loyal to me because I value their lives as my father does not. The warehouse Vlad Easton had destroyed is but one of many. I have a steady pipeline of product. I will distribute it in your territories and, sooner or later, your buyers will purchase from me. They’ll have no choice.” She casts a lazy hand toward the man by the door. “I could order Tony to shoot you where you stand. I have no interest in doing that.”
Merrick shifts his stance, and the armed men raise their guns a notch as if preparing for his sudden attack. The smirk he flashes is knowing and arrogant. “So then what do you have an interest in?”
Ava’s eyes glide over his muscular frame as blatantly as Caleb just ogled her. “Your help negotiating a peaceful transition between your networks and mine. Your buyers will become my buyers, your dealers will move my product.”
“That’ll be kind of hard, after your father turned that Mamba into a festive pig,” Vince says dryly.
“Those families will be compensated for that atrocity. I give you my word.”
“I don’t trust you,” Caleb announces, having quietly listened to the exchange. “And I don’t make deals with people I don’t trust.”
Ava leans back in her chair, toying with a pen as she regards him. “You have a shipment arriving today from Eduardo Velez.”
“So, Ivan did talk,” Gabriel murmurs from beside me, to no one in particular.
“Your man sang like a songbird with its wings on fire, from what I’ve heard. And now my father’s men are preparing to ambush the delivery and slaughter whoever’s there.”
Caleb and Gabriel exchange a wordless look—they were right to push back with their father.
“And did you know that about a week ago Vic Easton contacted my father through the operator? He was attempting to forge a business deal for his family, one that did not include your family. My father was intrigued, of course, so he took the call.”
A memory stirs in my mind, from that day in the shed, hanging from chains. Vic mentioned something about the sun setting and no one getting what he wanted. A punishment for not only Vlad but Gabriel and Caleb as well, from the sounds of it.
Caleb eases into the chair across from Ava’s desk. “Please, tell us more.”
Merrick and Vince fan out but stay on their feet, watching this unfold. Or maybe this is their covert attempt to move closer to the men with guns.
Tension slides down my spine with the fear that bullets might start flying any moment.
“Vic wanted to negotiate a deal with my father to buy supply from us instead of Eduardo. In exchange for that, he offered all kinds of information about you two, and about your father’s most valuable soldiers. He was a fool, of course, assuming my father was an honorable man. He has no interest in working with any Easton, but he used that information for his own gain.”
“Son of a bitch,” Gabriel mutters under his breath.
“Vic knew how much Mike meant to our business, and that Ivan and JJ would never work for him.” Caleb collects a small cube from Ava’s desk and tests its weight in his palm. “Why are you telling us this?”
“That’s what friends do. They help each other out. For example, I’m sure you don’t want to lose three million dollars today and be indebted to Eduardo for the same. He’s even more ruthless than my father and that is difficult.”
