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ChapterThirteen
The meeting with Nelu was scheduled in neutral territory, a French restaurant in Tribeca owned by a Frenchman of Romanian descent. He owed both of us for helping get his business up and running, which meant he was Switzerland.
Nelu was seated at a table in a cramped backroom office of the restaurant, which was packed with families on a Sunday. Small glasses and a bottle of ?uica, traditional plum brandy, were waiting for Nicu, Tatum, and me on the wooden surface of the antique desk.
As always, Nelu was wearing a silk suit, which left him looking a little too shiny and a lot greasy. It certainly didn’t take away from making him look like a crocodile in a suit, but I supposed he’d never know better. Cristo sat on one side while his consilier, Simu, was at his other shoulder.
Checking on us nervously one last time, the Frenchman quickly closed the door behind him, drowning out the bustling noise from the kitchen outside the office door.
“Buna ziua,” Nelu greeted me, Nicu, and Tatum.
“Good afternoon,” I returned.
“I’m glad you were able to meet on such short notice,” he began in his heavily accented English, all too insincerely. Of course, I could respond in Romanian, the more polite option, but I didn’t want to give him the advantage of speaking in his mother tongue. I certainly wouldn’t have cut my time with Nina short to look at his ugly mug on my occasional day off. Whatever. This was a game of chess, and what better way to while away a Sunday afternoon, if not inside Nina, than to play psychological games with a vicious opponent.
“Of course,” I replied smoothly as I took a seat across from him.
Lifting the bottle of brandy, he poured the clear liquor into shot glasses.
“Noroc.” He said the traditional toast before throwing back the shot.
Every man repeated the toast of good luck and drank their shot. It was a gut-tearing drink I’d never much cared for, but that was the way of things. A negotiation didn’t begin without a drink of ?uica. If anything, I preferred the twice distilled palinca, another strong spirit from the old country, most popular in Transylvania. If I confided as much to Nelu, he’d mock me because my mother’s family came from there, even if Tata’s family originated in the capital. That kind of regional snobbery was to be expected from a bucure?tean, a native from the capital, Bucharest.
Slamming his shot glass down with a hard bang, Nelu eyed me and said, “So, the little bird has flown the coop. Is that not how the saying goes, my friend?”
“That is the saying, yes,” I confirmed, leaning back nonchalantly, as if I didn’t have a care in the world.
Here we go.
“And when were you going to tell me your sister has fled the marriage with my son?” he asked, his tone edged in shards of broken glass.
“When I felt it was necessary. That time had not yet arrived.”
“It’s been more than a week since she’s been gone, no?” he gritted out between his perfectly aligned teeth. They clenched so hard together that what he thought was a smile came off as an ugly grimace.
“True, it has, but I am close to finding her.” Lie number one. My shoulders slouched back against the wooden spindles of the chair as I pretended to inspect my nails.
He made a grunting noise of approval. “Good because, otherwise, I would have to go and track down the little minx myself.”
That got my attention, and my entire body tensed. Nicu stiffened behind me as well. Forcing myself to relax, I straightened slowly and languidly placed my forearms on the table. “She’s not yours,” I stated tightly.
“The contract was signed.”
“Perhaps, but that would be overreaching, and I could not allow for that. They are not married. There is no blood bond. Therefore, she is and remains 100 percent Lupu.”
He raised his hands in a gesture of acquiescence. “It would’ve been as a form of aid, to bring back the wayward child.”
“Nevertheless, unacceptable.”
He tsked softly. “But really, Alex, I don’t know what to make of you. You are the Lupul. You cannot control a small female such as her? It’s unbecoming of your family.”
“Perhaps, but it is what it is. Unfortunately, when I bring her back, there will need to be an adjustment made.”
Nelu’s entire body stilled, his ears almost pricking up in alert. His beady eyes narrowed as he went through the possible meanings behind my words. He should be the one with the advantage, yet I was suggesting he would be making a concession of some kind, in the near future.
“And what would that be, Alex?” he asked in a deadly cold tone. “I want the girl.”
“You may want her, but after what I’ve found out, I’m not sure that is in the best interest of my sister.” I shook my head, feigning disappointment. “It was after she found out about Cristo that she fled.” Now, it was my turn to tsk softly as I turned my attention to his son.
