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“I get it,” Ava replies.
“The real name is Jacques, but I hate the word,” he continues. “It’s too...French. I blame my Francophile parents for that.”
He’s got the rich, deep voice of a man totally in control. I can tell he loves to hold a room hostage to his verbal outpourings. I don’t like him at all, but I deeply respect him.
I have only seen Handsome Jack in the flesh once before. A few years ago. He is just as he was back then. Nothing’s changed in his appearance. He’s the son of one of the most powerful mafia families on the Eastern Seaboard – the Contes. His father was shot down by a rival just five years ago in a similar situation as my godfather, and Handsome Jack took over the running of his operations. He is known in our world to be a wily commander. A deeply intelligent strategist. Everything in this business has gone his way thus far. No man has been able to stand between Handsome Jack and his goals. He’s wiped out his competition.
But those were other men. Weaker men. Men before Damon Penmayne.
I don’t know exactly what he might want with me and what he has called me in for this meeting about, but I can take a few guesses. I can certainly fire off a few shots in the dark as to what Handsome Jack is looking for in this meeting between rivals.
He has been wanting us to meet with a level of urgency that is very alarming.
I’ve got to be careful with what I say, and so does he. This could very easily turn into a war by just the words we exchange with each other.
I don’t want to go into conflict with this man, but I will protect my empire if it comes to that. I am prepared to flip this cold war into a hot one.
“I must say that it’s a strange sight seeing a man like Damon Penmayne sitting in the middle of my operations,” Handsome Jack says with all the calmness of a man addressing a lifelong close friend.
“I simply came for the art,” I reply wryly.
“Ah, anartist,” he says, practically licking his lips with satisfaction. “Do you like the opening downstairs? All that glitz and glamor? I must admit I hate art, but it is a good front for my business. You can move a lot of money around in the art world without any scrutiny from international authorities. It works wonders.”
“Maybe I should open an art gallery across the street,” I remark. “Move my own money around. Bring in some culture to this city.”
Handsome Jack chuckles at that. “Maybe you should. I enjoy eating up the competition. I will need to head down soon and join my guests. There are a lot of movie stars’ hands to shake, as you might expect. A lot of powerful men to schmooze.”
“I thought you were above name-dropping,” I say.
Handsome Jack sits down at the head of the table facing us, taking his sweet time to lower his ass in his chair.
“I’ve been wanting to meet up with you for some time, Damon, but you’ve not answered until now. Why?”
I glance at Ava. She’s breathing quickly. Her chest rises and falls. Under the table, I take her hand.
“I’ve been busy,” I say to the man.
Ava is scared, I can tell, and she has every right to be. The man sitting opposite us could well be as dangerous a man as I am. But she wanted to see me conduct business. Well, here she is. She’s getting a pretty strong taste of it now.
“Let me cut the bullshit,” Handsome Jack says quickly.
“Please do,” I reply. “I’m starting to get bored.”
The man is unfazed by that comment.
“Let me tell you what I want,” he says quietly.
“Go ahead,” I say.
“I want New York,” he says.
Ah.
“New York is no one’s to own,” I reply instantly.
Handsome Jack sighs.
“Don’t patronize me, Mr. Penmayne. We both know you’ve slowly turned out the other families to own a majority share of this city. You own casinos, bars, hotels, nightclubs. Everything except this art gallery, apparently. But there’s a new power in town.Me. I want this city. I want you to give it to me.”
