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“We’ll call it political,” I say quickly before Danil has a heart attack from the stress, although that wouldn’t be so bad. “But my nuptials aren’t the reason we’re here. I want to know why you came back to Phoenix and why you’re moving in on my territory.”
He frowns, crossing his arms. Danil looks like a tough bastard, which is very different from the shy, quiet boy I remember. He was a nerd back then, few friends, very academic, or as close to a dork as humanly possible. He was skinny with pale skin, always wore Slipknot t-shirts and listened to hardcore music and acted like he hated the world. This Danil is much more subdued, much more in control. Stronger, physically and emotionally. I wonder what he’s been through in the last decade to harden him so thoroughly, and I decide now to take him seriously.
“Your territory is almost all of the city,” Danil says with a dismissive wave. “If I am to move into the city at all, it means I am moving into your territory.”
“That’s not an answer, only a statement of my strength. Why are you here in Phoenix?”
“The situation for me has changed and I thought it was time to come home.” He blinks at me and turns suddenly to Olivia as if he’s surprised to find her still sitting there. “Do you remember Mr. Collins had a television in the corner of his room? Every day we’d come to class and he’d want us to write down whatever was on the screen. Do you remember if we ever once used that stuff? Any of it?”
Olivia sits there looking surprised and I stare between them, trying to understand what’s happening here. One second Danil acts like Olivia’s presence is painful for him, and the next he’s quizzing her about worthless minutiae from their past and ignoring our negotiation. If this is some kind of tactic, all it’s doing is pissing me off and making me want to shoot the guy in the face and be done with this. But unfortunately, my promise to Olivia is still fresh in my mind.
“I remember the TV and the notebooks, but you’re right, I don’t think we ever used it. They were like, little fun facts about science, but never related to the lesson.” She touches one fingernail to her lips and a thrill runs down my spine. I love her little gestures and can manage to find pleasure in her even now in the middle of an extremely tense moment.
“That’s how I feel about him.” Danil nods toward me. “He has this city, but he’s doing nothing with it. He and his people say the right things, they do busy work, they make it seem as though they’re worth keeping around, but when was the last time the Bruno Famiglia did anything good for the people of Phoenix?”
“You won’t hear any arguments from me,” Olivia says, suppressing a smile as she looks in my direction.
“I’m not a charity,” I say seriously, staring at Danil, and my anger runs cold through my veins. I regret giving Olivia my promise not to hurt this guy now. “This isn’t a game. We don’t sit around the fire and sing songs together and hug at the end of the night. I have soldiers to feed, money to make, a business to run, and I don’t have time for pet improvement projects. I get shit done, that’s all.”
Danil doesn’t look impressed. “You’re a drug dealer and a pimp. I’ve known men like you my whole life, petty little men that think they are big, but they are not.” He sits very straight and very still as he speaks, and my body rumbles with anger as I stare at him and take it. I’m inches from killing him, but the only thing holding me back is Olivia. “I have come back to Phoenix because ten years ago I lost something important to me and I want to get it back. My father was killed and our property was stolen, and I want to reclaim what was lost as my own. If you can give it to me, then we can call a truce on my expansion for the time being. But not before that.”
I take a long, deep breath and slowly release it. I can tell Olivia’s loving this—she’s probably not used to people talking to me like that, and if I’m being honest, I’m not either. There are very few people in this world that could speak those words and walk away alive, and Danil shouldn’t be one of them.
But I made a promise to my wife, and I will keep it.
For now, at least.
I lean forward so he can feel the weight of my stare.
“If you want to be in business together, you will learn the proper way to speak to me.”
