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“This isn’t a game of chess, kid. You’re playing with fire. Big boys who don’t understand the rules get burned.”
“I know what I need to know.”
His dark eyes settle on me like sniper lasers. “Then you must be aware that I’m bringing the full force of the Citta Nostra against the Suvorov Bratva.”
“Is that so?”
“Don’t act stupid, kid. We both know you’re smarter than that. Why you would ever bother to fuck with me personally makes no sense.” He sips his drink, smacks his lips, and gazes inquisitively into the glass. “Probably those Bernadetti brats trying to trade with you, huh?”
A silent staring match ignites between us. I’m face to face with my enemy, hosting him in my office like he’s the fucking Dalai Lama. Yet I’m entirely unprepared for how this meeting is unfolding. It’s the most I’ve ever flailed.
And I hate it.
“You can avoid this whole thing, you know,” Cardona teases like a devil whispering in my ear. “All of this can be forgiven in the blink of an eye.”
“Is that so?”
He nods. “Cheap price, too.”
“You want me topayyou?”
“Only in the currency of blood, Pavel Sergeyevich. Fresh, warm blood.” He smiles. “Alive.”
I raise my right eyebrow. “Go on.”
“Give the Bernadetti children to me in the next two days, and I’ll see to it that this entire…accident… is scrubbed from history.” He taps the glass. “Poof. Gone. You won’t even have to answer to me in the future.”
“And I bet you think that’s the most generous thing you could ever do.”
He growls. “I’ve been patient with you for too long, kid. Itisa generous offer. It’s a helluva lot better than what you’d get later.”
“And what would that be?”
“I could knock off every last one of you fucking Russians with a wave of my hand.”
I shake my head. “Don’t you know we’re notoriously hard to kill?”
“I’ve been in this business for a long time, kid. You were in your father’s ball sack when I was making my climb to the top. By the time you learned how to wipe your own ass, I was wiping thefloorwith men like your father.”
“I highly doubt that.”
Red blotches appear on his face like he’s having an allergic reaction. “You might be an adult, but you’re still just a kid wearing his daddy’s suit. Your father wouldn’t have hesitated to deliver both kids to me. You ought to follow his lead.”
I tilt my face toward the ceiling while leaning back. All I want to do is hang this guy on a hook and toy with him. No deliberation. No deal. Just good old-fashioned torture.
Maybe Ishouldhave shot him when he walked in here.
I smile politely at him and say, “No.”
“No?”
“Jonas, maybe.” I scratch my chin thoughtfully. “But not Liya.”
His features darken. What little pleasantries were present when he walked in here are now a vast ocean of disappointment. Waves of irritation lap at the shore of his face, my eyes piercing him so deeply that I think I might strike oil if I stare long enough.
The ice in the glass clinks while he raises it to his lips. He gulps the whiskey down, stands up, and hands me the glass. “Both children, Pavel Sergeyevich. Or no deal.”
I pluck the glass from his hand. “Then you can fuck right off.”
