Her sharp eyes shot up, swallowing my soul in their midnight intensity.
I smirked, though it came out crueler than my usual easy-going façade everyone fell for. “I’ll excuse it tonight since we haven’t met before. But going forward you should know I’m not a man that waits.”
Though her face remained blank, I could see a psychotic spark in her black, dough eyes that… Intrigued me.
She tilted her head, almost sinisterly, but her siren allure masked it into something more sensual. “But you’ve been such a good boy, waiting for me to make time for you.”
A cough came from behind me, clearly meant to cover a laugh of surprise, from one of my soldiers.
“Careful,” I murmured, my eyes never leaving hers.
Francesca raised her brows innocently, not once breaking eye contact as she pretended to make herself more comfortable in her seat.
Running my tongue over my teeth, I leaned back into the armchair, getting more comfortable too. And maybe enjoying myself a little too much.
Clasping my hands, I smiled and gave a nod of my chin. “When you’re ready.”
I saw her jaw clench at my fake authority of giving her permission to proceed. She looked up at the men around us. “Give us the room.”
My men glanced at me for assurance and waited for my nod before walking out with her bodyguards, leaving Francesca and I alone.
One didn’t get eyes like that without breaking something inside. Orsomeone.
“Your family’s shipments have moved through my ports since before you were born. What’s changed?”
She smiled. Not the kind that made people feel warm. The kind that made a man check his holster.
“I’m expanding.”
“You’reexpanding?”
She nodded once. “The East Coast isn’t enough anymore. Not for what I’m building. I’m opening routes all through to the West Coast. West Europe too. Eventually East.”
“That’s Camorra territory,” I said. “And Eastern European lines are choked with the Russians. You’d be walking into a meat grinder.”
Francesca’s smile widened just slightly. “I didn’t come to ask for a history lesson. I came to ask if your ports could handle the expansion. And if the Di’Ablo Cartel is still interested in being more than what it used to be.”
That got a reaction from me. A low laugh, quiet and sharp.
“You think just because I’m in this chair again that I’m hungry for more? I’m not my brother, Francesca. I’m not chasing power anymore.”
“No. But you understand it. Just as you understand that you will want to drop your other West Coast and European clients, and ”
I watched her carefully. The girl wasn’t bluffing. Or if she was, she had the kind of poker face that would make Vegas weep.
Goddamn, she reminded me of myself at that age. Cold. Calculated. Willing to lose something human to gain something untouchable.
And that scared the hell out of me.
“I’m not agreeing on anything without speaking to Gìovanni first,” I said flatly.
Francesca blinked. “He knows I’m here.”
“I don’t care.”
“Then I’ll just find another drug dealer to supply us. Either we shake on it now, or we’re done. For good.”
Now, blondie was getting on my nerves.
