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“What time is Felix meeting us?” I look over at him.
“Fifteen minutes. Why? Have you got somewhere better to be?”
I don’t bother answering that. I’m here as his muscle, not to chit-chat.
“Jesus, Vice, you’re such a fucking dick,” he huffs, waiting for his guard, whose name I now know is Jim, to go ahead and scope the place out.
“Sorry, Dano, I didn’t realize we had time for chatting.” I don’t bother to hide the sarcasm. Though once he’s don, I’ll have to at least try to rein it in. Disrespect is not something our men would take lightly. But right now, Dano is just my brother, and both of us are on equal footing as underbosses.
All the other families have a single underboss, but my father wanted us both in the spot beneath him. Knowing the old bastardlike I do, it was probably so he could pit us against each other. He miscalculated, though, because I don’t care about proving myself to him.
Dano sighs as Jim gives us the all-clear and calls us inside. “Prison changes people, I guess,” he mutters, but loud enough for me and Jim to hear.
“I’m exactly who I’ve always been. The man you use to put people down. Be grateful that I’m loyal, brother,” I warn him, watching him flinch.
If anyone changed, it’s him. My brother has always been a pretentious little shit, but while I’ve been gone, he’s turned into someone I can barely stand to be around. There is something about him that I can’t put my finger on, but I know I’d never turn my back on the man.
Fuck him and fuck Nova for planting seeds that I’ve let take root.
I walk across the space and lean against one of the empty production lines, wondering why there is nobody working. I get that we’re meeting here right now, but we could have met anywhere. Shutting down production at one of our factories seems counterproductive.
Jim and Dano talk quietly to each other as I scan the room, keeping an eye out while the other two are distracted. I stand up when I hear a car pull up outside and whistle to my brother that it’s showtime.
Both of them look at me before they face the door. I pull my gun, as does Jim, while Dano fixes his suit jacket. Felix enters the building with his four goons and the swag of a fucking penguin. I bite back my smirk at the man who struts in wearing a shiny suit and white fucking shoes. I’m tempted to look around for a camerabecause he has to be punking us. Nobody dresses like this outside of B-rate gangster movies.
“Dano,” Felix calls, widening his arms as he approaches my brother and kisses his cheek. I keep my gun ready, waiting for the first sign of trouble.
Felix and his brother Ralph rule a slice of territory that separates Moretti from Fiore. Their family had been there long before the Cosa Nostra came in and took over. They have their own connections and often act as a go-between for the five ruling families.
“Felix, it’s good to see you again, my friend.” Dano smiles widely. The level of familiarity between these two suggests they have a closer relationship than I thought.
Felix looks over at me, his eyes moving over my body, before he looks away, but not before I catch a glimpse of wariness in his expression. Yeah, boy, cocky is one thing, but you need the balls to back it up.
“So, this is the brother, huh? Funny, I thought he’d be…” His voice drifts off as he steps closer to me, inspecting me like a bug, which is funny because I’m picturing myself squishing him under my shoe.
Dano jumps in when I say nothing. “He’s not much of a talker.” I don’t contradict him. I talk when I need to. This guy just doesn’t interest me in the slightest.
“Silent and deadly. I can appreciate that.”
Wonderful. I feel so fucking proud. Asshole.
“Shall we get down to business?” Dano asks, motioning for Felix to move a little farther away from me so most of what they say remains private.
Of the four guards accompanying him, one moves to standnext to Felix and Dano. Jim and the others move closer to me. Nothing unusual there, except they’re watching me and not their charge. If Dano had the balls, he could pull a knife and slit Felix’s throat before his guard would even get a shot off. Fucking idiots.
I keep one eye on Dano but make sure I pay attention to the rest of the players. I don’t care how friendly they are with my brother; I don’t trust any of them.
There is a whole lot of posturing before Dano and Felix turn to face me and move a little closer.
“So, as I mentioned, I’ve been looking at expanding our interests,” Dano starts, which is news to me.
I don’t say anything. My father would have had to approve the deal, so he was obviously green-lighted.
“Felix here is going to be getting the product for us, and we’ll take it off his hands and pass it on to the buyers.”
I sigh, wondering what I’m doing here. They don’t need me. I’m pretty sure Felix would suck Dano’s dick if he ordered him to.
“The problem I’m having is getting everyone on the same page. Times are changing, after all. We all just need to learn to adapt.”
