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“I know where my loyalty stands, and it stands with the Hagi clan,” I persisted, attempting to sway him. “You can tell me anything.”
I heard a grunt of approval through the line.
“I’ll look like an idiot if it comes to nothing. When I have something concrete, you’ll be the first to know,” he said with finality.
I heard the obstinance in his tone and decided to back off.
“Alright then, I'll let you go,” he said, probably thinking it was best to get off the phone with me in case I continued to pester him.
On my side, I couldn’t get rid of him fast enough. The Lupu were impenetrable for an outsider like Grigore. I had no idea what dirt he could’ve gotten on them because I’d been around them for months. I’d watched them carefully, and they had things in hand.
Moving the mouthpiece of the phone away from me, I blew out a breath of relief. I was intent on speaking to my father about Tatum and advocating for us, but I certainly wasn’t going to give Grigore a chance at a preemptive strike.
We'd never been on opposing sides before, but this was looking to be a showdown. Grigore expected to continue in his position with me, as he had with my father. He’d proved his loyalty, yes, but I had every intention of installing Tatum as myconsilier when I took the throne. This would be a down and dirty brawl, and I was fighting to win.
I got off the phone with him and was in the middle of congratulating myself for having avoided any traps when my father called.
A smile spread over my face. I quickly picked up and said, “Hey, I miss you! How are you doing, Daddy?”
He chuckled. “Good, good. How’s my girl doing?”
I giggled, happy to hear his low baritone. “Things are well. I’m finally getting a handle on that accounting software. Luca spent hours teaching me how to use it. It’s not easy stuff, I’ve got to tell you. It was really kind of him to do that.”
“You’re a princess and the heir to the Hagi clan. Why wouldn’t he go out of his way to be nice to you?” he sniffed.
A pang of longing for my father struck me. I laughed again. “Oh, Daddy, you’re always so quick to take offense on my behalf.”
Sobering, I said, “I can finally admit that you were right. It was good for me to come to New York. Although I fought it, you were right.”
“I’m glad you’ve found your footing over there. A father always loves to hear he’s right. Of course, we miss you terribly, but it’s a good learning experience for you.”
Wasn’t that the truth? If he only knew what a learning experience it’d been for me. It was a steep learning curve, but when it came to sex, Tatum would say I was fast on the uptake.
“I’m not saying we should let the Lupu clan walk all over us, but I am much more comfortable negotiating with them now that I’ve lived among them and gotten more insight into the way they live and work. Despite what Grigore says, I agree we can’t turn them away without starting a large-scale war, which we don’t have the capacity to win, even with all the other clans behind us. It’s in our best interest to work with them as partners,” I concluded.
“As always, your analysis is spot on,” he praised me. “I made the right decision to groom you as our next sef. I suspected this from the beginning, but I needed you to see it for yourself. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t completely convinced. I was waiting for you to get to know them and then come to your own conclusion. And you have. I’m proud of you.”
A genuine smile broke out on my face, my heart doubling in size. My father wasn't one to give idle compliments, and I was touched by his approval.
“Thank you, Tata,” I murmured.
“One more thing. The Radu girl got pregnant by one of our soldiers, Marku, even though she’s engaged to the Ionescu boy,” he said casually. “Her father is infuriated and wants to toss her out of the house or force her to marry her fiancé tomorrow. But she’s insisting on Marku. What should we do about this?”
My smile widened, chest burning with fierce pride. He’d already told me he was going to send domestic issues my way if I proved myself in New York, and this was solid proof he trusted my counsel.
“Eh, Marku’s a good guy.” I nodded as I thought through the possibilities. After a moment, I decided, “Let her go with him. He may only be a solider and not of such a high-ranking family as the Ionescus, but he’s loyal. He’ll move up the ranks.” Thinking about Tatum’s childhood of being taunted for who he was, I concluded, “The Ionescus are too prideful to ever accept her child by another man. They would torture the child and the mother. We can’t let that happen. I will call her to confirm, of course, but my final judgment will be to sever the engagement and allow her to marry Marku.”
There was a pause, and I heard the unspoken thoughts in his head, heard the guilt in those thoughts, about his original resentment toward Adrian. But there lay the huge difference between my father and other mafie men. He was tough and rigid, but he had a heart. He could bend.
“The Ionescus won’t be happy,” he remarked.
“I’ll set up another engagement for their boy with an even more powerful family. That way, they won’t lose face.”
My father nodded his endorsement of my decision. “Good thinking.”
With the unspoken subject of Adrian shimmering in the air, I asked, “How's Adrian doing?”
“Doing well,” he replied. “As you can imagine, he’s improved tremendously in the past two months. He has a concert coming up at the Conservatory. See, you had nothing to worry about.”
