And sitting across from them, looking diminished in a way that brings me deep satisfaction, is Governor Barret Fiore.
Persia's father looks like he has aged a decade in the weeks since I crashed his daughter's wedding. His round spectacles sit crooked on his nose, and his hands tremble slightly where they rest on the table in front of him. The arrogance that once defined his every movement has been replaced by something closer tofear, and I find myself wondering if he has any idea what his greed has cost him.
"Milano." Harlon's voice is smooth as aged whiskey, giving nothing away.
“Harlon. Men. Thank you for agreeing to see me on such short notice.”
Harlon inclines his head. “It’s my understanding the Governor was eager to resolve this matter. We are here to make negotiations easy."
“And with few to no bodies.” Santi shoots me a wink that says but he doesn’t mind a few if it’s called for.
I settle into the chair opposite Fiore and let the silence stretch between us, watching the older man squirm beneath the weight of my attention.
"The contract, please." I extend my hand toward Massimo without breaking eye contact with the man who sold his daughter like livestock. "Let us make this official and be done. I have a wife to get back to."
That shoots a blast of red into the Governor’s aging cheeks.
Massimo produces the documents Persia signed last night, and lays it on the table with the careful precision of a man who understands the gravity of what we are doing.
“The terms are straightforward. Persia belongs to me now, legal and binding in the eyes of the underworld, and in exchange I will keep the evidence of Barret Fiore's sins buried deep enough that they never see the light of day.”
Without a word Harlon picks up the contract and moves it toward Fiore.
“I have backup copies so if you try to rip this copy up, it won’t do anything but irritate me.”
Fiore reads through the contract with lips pressed into a thin line, his pen hovering over the signature space for a long moment before he finally scratches his name across the page.
"You have her," he says, his voice carrying a bitterness that makes my hands curl into fists beneath the table. "But you will have to deal with my friend.”
I turn to the man who owns Genesis. “Harlon. Would you like to address the issue with Magnus’ contract with Fiore?”
“Hm. Yes. About that.”
Harlon turns a hard look at the defeated Governor. “Did your daughter sign the contract with Magnus of her own free will?”
He stammers before answering, most likely because Fiore can’t find it in himself to think a woman would have the mind to do anything of her own free will. “She’s my daughter and I have control over everything she does. I have the sole right to marry her off as I see fit.”
“Actually, you don’t.”
Fiore’s face is a glowing ball of red. “I promised her to Magnus before you decided to interfere."
The laugh that escapes my throat is dark and utterly without humor. “Your friend is a pussy who starts fires in basements instead of facing his enemies like a man. Tell him if he lightsanother match in my building, I will burn his entire empire to ash in a single night."
Harlon shifts in his chair, and I feel the weight of his attention settle over me like a physical force. "If there is a problem between you and Sterling, we expect you to keep it civil. Too many people could get hurt if this escalates beyond reason."
I meet his gaze without flinching, letting him see the violence that lives just beneath the surface of my carefully constructed control. "I am not a man who seeks violence for its own sake, Constantine. But I protect what is mine with everything I have. I will pay whatever dues you require if blood spills, but I will not be controlled or told to hold back when someone threatens my family."
The room goes still, the air thick with tension and the particular silence that precedes either violence or understanding. Harlon studies me for a long moment, his dark eyes calculating odds and outcomes with the precision of a man who has survived in this world by knowing exactly when to push and when to yield.
"Understood," he says finally, and I hear the warning in the single word, accept it for what it is.
Harlon takes the contract and puts the Genesis seal on it.
It’s final. Persia is safe.
Fiore pushes back from the table, the contract now bearing both our signatures. "You have what you wanted. The contract and my daughter." His voice carries a coldness that makes my jaw clench with barely contained fury. "I expect not to hear from you again."
I rise to my feet slowly, letting the movement speak of the power I hold over this broken man. "I never took you for a cold, callous man, Governor. But if you truly never want to see your daughter again, that is fine by me. We are a package deal. She will never be in the same room with you again without protection."
