“Anything for your family,” Nikos murmured to himself.
“No. Anything for your loved ones,” Honey corrected. “Some family members don’t deserve such sacrifices, but my son does.”
Honey stood up after placing her work down. “It’s my time to leave. I’ll see you tomorrow along with my extra pay.”
Nikos chuckled, keeping that in mind. “I definitely will pay you, and tell Kai I said hi.”
Honey looked like she didn’t want to do that, but she nodded anyway before leaving. Nikos was left by himself to soak in Honey’s words, realizing what he had to do. He grabbed his phone and called Christos.
***
It was just before close when Christos made it to his office. He stopped in front of his desk, waiting for his order in the way he used to do with Antonis. Usually, Nikos would tell himto relax to lighten the mood so Christos wouldn’t be so serious with him, and it could be like it had been before. But now Nikos realized how disrespectful that had been. Christos had placed his faith in him to carry on this new role while Antonis was out of commission, and Nikos hadn’t been doing a good job of it. It was time for him to be responsible for the role he had accepted.
“Give me an update,” Nikos said, getting to the point. If Christos was surprised by his serious demeanor, he didn’t say anything.
“Ricardo has taken control of two areas now because we’ve been short on people, and some people haven’t come through with their payments.”
Nikos stood from his uncle’s desk and looked through the ceiling-to-floor windows down at the club as he thought about what he would have to do to fix the chaos that had been happening ever since the news spread that his uncle was out of commission and his nephew was in charge.
People had been testing him, and it was time to show how things would run in his uncle’s stead while he was in charge. He wouldn’t do it for himself but for his family. They deserved that much of him as he thought about the demons his father and brothers shouldered to protect him and give him the life of ease he had so far.
“Send flowers and rewards to those who still paid on time in my uncle’s absence. For those who haven’t, add interest on their late payments. At least a thirty percent hike and tell them that it will only grow higher with each missed payment. On top of that, hand out firm threats on what they are most afraid of,” Nikos said as he turned back to Christos. “Make an example of Diamond first. You said he’s the most respected in the area, so if people see something happen to him first, they’ll all fall in line.”
“His family,” Christos offered, and Nikos shook his head, thinking back on the last time they had raided Diamond’s club. He hadn’t even cared about the threats to his own woman, so Nikos doubted that he would care about his family members. That didn’t bother him, but something else did.
“Take all of his money from the safes at his club. That’s what he’s most afraid of losing, but he still has to pay what he owes. That’s just punishment and payment for his disrespect to me and my uncle.”
“What about Ricardo?”
“For now, let him take those two territories. There’s no need to lose any more people. I want to fix the problems we have within our group first and bring back order, so we’ll stop looking weak. People have to realize we’re still strong even without my uncle here. Once we get everything in order, then we’ll focus on Ricardo.”
“Okay,” Christos accepted before he went to leave, but when he made it to the door, he paused. He gave him a nod of respect, and Nikos nodded back as he watched him go. Nikos glanced at his watch, wishing he could leave too, but he had one more thing to do before he went to sleep tonight.
***
At the late hour of the night, the club was closed, and only two people were left in the building. Nikos knocked on the ajar basement door where Georgios’s office was. Georgios jumped in his seat until he realized it was him. The slick-haired man sighed with relief.
“Looks like you’ve seen a ghost,” Nikos joked casually, noticing the lines of coke on Georgios’s desk.
“No shit, sherlock,” Georgios spat, annoyed. “What are you still doing here?”
Over the past few weeks, Georgios had made it abundantly clear that he was dissatisfied with the choice of leadership, and he had refused to help him, claiming that he would only help his uncle. Up until now, Nikos had let him get away with it. But disrespect couldn’t be tolerated any more if he were to save his uncle’s empire.
“I’m here to tell you that tomorrow you’ll work your shift properly in the way you had done when Antonis was here,” Nikos said, and Georgios snorted as if his words were bullshit.
“I told you I wouldn’t work for you, and I’m only working for—”
Georgios’s words came to halt when he felt the pressure of the cool steel behind his head.
“I don’t care who you are to Antonis. If you don’t get in line, I’ll take you out myself,” Nikos said as he pressed the barrel of the gun into Georgios’s head until his face was smashed against the desk, the lines of cocaine smeared against his cheek.
“But— But if—”
“Do you think it will be that hard getting rid of you without Antonis ever finding out, and even if he did find out, how do you think he would feel if he found out that his cousin has been taking an extra percentage off the girls’ cut for himself, especially his favorite girl?”
Georgios clenched his teeth.
“Okay, okay.”
