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I wanted to wring his fucking neck for what he’d done, for nearly getting my baby killed. It was hard to sit in the same room withhim, even if we were only discussing business. “You don’t know that.”
His eyes came back to me. “In fact, we should prepare for retaliation.”
“The Colombians are going to come all the way over here to start shit?” Theo asked incredulously. “I find that unlikely.”
“You never heard of hit men?” Dante asked. “We should have just given them what they wanted.” His accusation turned back to me, potent and throbbing. “But you had to have a fucking ego?—”
“I’d rather have an ego than be a fucking liar and a fucking psychopath.”
Dante moved both of his arms to the armrests as he stared at me.
“She’ll see your true colors.” I relished the day he was no longer in our lives, either because he was dead or ostracized. “You’ll learn.”
“I sincerely hope not,” he said calmly. “Because you know what those consequences will be.”
I cocked my head. “Did you just threaten me?”
“I’m simply reminding you?—”
“Not to tell her how worthless you are. But I can’t control her figuring it out on her own, and with the way you’ve been conducting yourself, she’s going to figure that out real quick.”
Theo enjoyed his cigar as we went back and forth. “Gentlemen, let’s focus on business.” He held the cigar between his loose fingers as his arm rested over the back of the couch. “We need to arrange a meeting with the Colombians. I agree with Axelthat we shouldn’t make assumptions about the state of that relationship. Second to the US, we’re their biggest client. We need them as much as they need us.”
“Well,” Dante said. “They were prepared to kill us for that ten percent?—”
“They were prepared to hijack the business,” Axel said. “And you were stupid enough to give them that chance. That’s the second time you’ve dropped your guard and made yourself vulnerable to your enemies. And you say I’m the one with the ego…”
Dante brought his hands together and cracked his knuckles, like he wanted to punch me until I flew into the window behind me. “When was the first?”
“You really don’t remember?” Theo turned to me. “Definitely didn’t learn his lesson.”
When Dante understood, his eyes dropped for a nanosecond.
“Had you by the fucking balls.” I grabbed my own cigar and lit up because I needed something to soothe my anger. Only booze and cigars could do that…and my wife. “Their mission failed. They don’t have the business, and now they don’t have the client. They’re probably sitting on pallets of product they can’t sell. Their production has probably already slowed because they’ve lost the demand. We need to set up a meeting.”
“It’s a family-run business,” Dante said. “They aren’t going to dismiss what happened?—”
“Never assume anything,” I snapped. “If they want to kill us, I’m sure they’ll make that very clear.”
Shaking his head in annoyance, Dante looked away. “I’ve been working with these guys for twenty years—and then you show up and that goes to shit.”
“I’ve been in love with your daughter from the moment I saw her, and you’ve fucked that up every step of the way,” I said. “So it looks like we’re even.”
As if my declaration of affection made him uncomfortable, he shifted his gaze to Theo.
Theo stared at the fire as he let the tension settle. “Then we’ll set up a meeting and see where they stand. In the meantime, we need to find a backup supplier?—”
“There is no one,” Dante said coldly. “No one who can make a quality product and make it in such vast quantities. Trust me, I’m the expert on this?—”
“We can do business with several suppliers,” Theo said. “That can make up for the quantity.”
“But the customers won’t always get the same product,” Dante argued. “They’ll get one of three options—and customers want consistency.”
“We’ll make our own product if we must,” I said. “That’s probably something we should consider anyway.”
“That’s not possible,” Dante said. “We can’t fulfill that demand?—”
“You’re awfully pessimistic,” Theo snapped. “I’m not sure how you built this business in the first place with an attitude like that.”
