“I think the number you’re looking for is five,” Vincent counters.
“Fifteen.”
“Eight.”
“How about we round it to an even ten?”
“How about we keep it at eight,” he says, cold but with heat sparking in his hazel eyes.
“Eight it is,” I agree, since this was never about the money for me. “But I do have conditions.”
“Youhave conditions?” Giovanni barks out a laugh. “You’re lucky you’re still breathing after what you’ve done.”
I turn my attention to Giovanni, then Dominic, then back to Vincent.
“I’ve apologized for kidnapping your children. If you can’t move past that, then no amount of goodwill on my part will show you how much theBratvavalues its alliance with the Outfit.If that’s the case, tell me now and I’ll leave. And so does my business with me.”
“You’ve got a lot of nerve, boy,” Giovanni growls, obviously still pissed about his son.
“I’m no boy,” I say coolly. “And neither is Lucky. He stood his ground in Russia and protected his sister and my niece from harm—not that any harm was ever going to come to them.”
Gio’s eyes widen a fraction when he realizes why I singled Lucky out to him just now.
Because I’m not stupid.
I know he’s Lucky’s biological father.
And now?
He knows I know too.
“Also, may I remind you all that my niece is near and dear to my family and neither of my brothers has tried to come between her relationship with your son. If we can accept him as our own, then I’m sure you can find some humility to show us the same grace.”
Giovanni opens his mouth again, but Vincent raises a single hand, silencing whatever he was about to say.
Cute trick.
I’ve seen that trick a million times. Only in my case, it was usually my brother Misha cutting off whatever nonsense Sasha was about to blurt out.
Apparently, Vincent and Misha are more alike than either of them realizes.
“This is an olive branch, Giovanni. I will not turn a friend into a foe over one mistake.” He then levels a death glare at me. “But make no mistake, had my Stella died in the recovery of your niece, this would be an entirely different conversation.”
It would have been war, his eyes say.
“I would have expected nothing else,” I reply. “And I would have been the first to die for such a crime in repentance.”A crease instantly forms on Vincent’s temple, but I continue before he can linger on what I’ve just said. “My conditions are simple. I know you’ll want guarantees to ensure your money is protected, and that you’ll send someone to handle the day-to-day operations of the casino and work alongside me.”
“And you would be right,” Vincent nods. “You will work alongside Marcello. He will be my proxy.”
“Not Marcello,” I cut in. “I want Stella.”
This time, all three men glare at me with murder in their eyes.
“No,” Vincent snaps. “My daughter is not part of this syndicate.”
“But she will be. And soon, from what my intel tells me. She’s who I want.”
“You get Marcello, and that’s that.”
