If they paid even one iota of attention, they’d realize Augustine didnotplay favorites, not with anyone, least of all his kids. If he did, he wouldn’t have sent me to do the job; he would have picked someone with more ambition. And if they thought he played favorites with his kin, they were even more stupid than I feared. If there was any one type of person that Augustine was the least likely to show any favoritism or gentleness to, it was his own children, bastard or not. Well, not that any non-bastards were roaming around. Augustine had never married, and considering my last check of the number of kids, listed and unlisted as his, Augustine also clearly didn’t believe in birth control or condoms.
“Umm...so,” Will began, and I looked at him. “Mr. Santos said he was going to stop in today.”
I blinked. “And when were you going to tell me that?”
“He mentioned it when he saw me earlier, but since I was coming here, I thought I’d...I should have just texted you or called,” he said with a wince.
“Your father’s second-hand man insists he’s going to speak to me? You tell me right away. If anybody on his unofficial council does the same, you tell me right away. Anyone else can be held off,” I said with a snort. “At least I hope no one else thinks their balls are big enough to come walking in here whenever they want.”
Hugo Santos was by far the biggest hindrance to getting anything done around the city. Before coming here, I would havesaid it would be difficult to name who would be most outraged by Augustine’s decision, but my first meeting with Senior’s inner circle slapped that label onto Hugo’s head like a giant neon sign.
“It’s been a couple of days since he last barged in here, so I should have expected it,” I said as I looked over the shipping lanes out of the city. Augustine liked variety in his methods, which meant if I was going to give law enforcement the idea that he was the one controlling things around here, I had to do the same. The problem was that the shipping lanes were heavily monitored, and the highway wasn’t exactly the best route, because we weren’t that far from the border.
So, how to balance it effectively? If I were sloppy, they would understand this wasn’t Augustine’s work. If I wanted to pull it off effectively, I needed to make sure it looked like Augustine’s orders at play, without beingtooeffective at what I was doing, at least not obviously. If things looked like they were shaping up nicely here, law enforcement might drag their attention toward me, making things even harder. If I played the balance just right, they would see there was still a steady operation, but not as good as under William Senior’s leadership. The plan was to have law enforcement think Augustine was so sure of himself he was willing to oversee everything on the western seaboard and to take direct control of everything north of California as well.
Tricky but doable, the feds already believed Augustine had become too complacent and arrogant as he went unopposed by other crime groups and by law enforcement. As far as they were concerned, it was just a matter of time before he got too bigheaded and made a mistake. That much I knew, and I suspected they were hoping their move on William Senior might push Augustine into something desperate.
As for how I knew what they thought of him... well, my father wasn’t the only one with connections he kept to himself.
At a loud voice, I looked up from my desk quietly, plucking the drive and card out. “And that would be my unexpected meeting, I’m guessing.”
“Sounds like Hugo,” Will muttered, shrinking in his chair.
“Don’t do that,” I told him. “Stand and sit up straight around him.”
“I don’t...have the courage or power that you do,” he told me sheepishly.
“And you think he doesn’t have power over me?” I scoffed as I heard Hugo getting closer. “Please. He was your father’s right-hand man for years; he holds more power in this city right now than I do. The only things I have over him are that Augustine sent me and put me in charge, and that I don’t back down easily. The first is something that can be subverted easily if he’s smart enough, and the second can be completely ignored if he’s determined. Ican’tshow fear or weakness, but youshouldn’t.”
“Right,” Will said, and I wondered what my father had been thinking by putting him with me. I watched as he got out of the chair and slunk over to the far corner of the office, where he could stand out of sight. Not exactly taking my advice to heart, but hell, I couldn’t blame him. Hugo was intimidating in the same way a raging bull was; it was just a stupid animal that anyone with a brain could trick
Don’t ignore what’s right in front of you; you know how dangerous that can be.
Ignore what?
The kid might be nervous, but he’s not stupid. Don’t be so cocky about being tougher than him, or feel so bad for him that you don’t pay attention.
Alright then, smart ass, what am I missing?
And with the lack of tact or decorum I would have expected, Hugo chose that moment to burst through the doors into my office. Surprise came over his face as he stopped and saw myexpectant look. Honestly, how could anyone havenotheard him coming? Perhaps I needed to consider putting sound-dampening in the hallways and rooms outside the office. As it was, my door had only been left open a crack, and the man’s big mouth had still been audible.
“Hugo,” I said, leaning back in my seat and staring at him, conveying barely held displeasure. “I see we’ve forgotten how things work around here.”
He blinked, his doughy, bulldog-esque face pulling into a scowl. “I have never?—”
“Had to knock or make an appointment, yes,” I said with a wiggle of my fingers, as if coaxing something gently but firmly to move away from me. “I, however, am not William Senior, and as with all changes, adjustments must be made...by everyone. I do believe it is past time that you make some of those adjustments yourself. I have things to deal with other than whatever it is you’ve burst in here over.”
Will twitched, but I ignored him, and Hugo was too fixated on me to see him. I could sense his mind screaming to know why I was provoking Hugo when the man was a major player in the local scene. Hugo already despised me; I could hardly make him hate me more... probably.
“Right,” Hugo said stiffly. “I’ll be sure to check with your secretary next time, like a good boy.”
He absolutely would not; he would continue to do as he pleased because the spiteful man enjoyed the idea of getting on my nerves.
“You never got back to me on what we discussed the other day,” Hugo said as he dropped into one of the seats hard enough to make it scrape across the floor. I needed to put a rug under those chairs before the noise drove me to murder.
“Mmm, but I did,” I said, cocking my head slightly. “As I recall, you tried to convince me to route resources to yournew idea. I pointed out that all resources are currently being directed to the business I have been placed in charge of as we recover from the recent devastating blow. You clearly don’t like that answer and are pretending part of the conversation never happened. So, consider this your reminder, because the answer hasn’t changed in the past forty-eight hours.”
“We need the money,” he pointed out with a frown.
