I keep my hands busy. Wipe the counter. Align a stack of trays that do not need aligning.
“We’re slammed,” I say without looking at him. “If you want to eat, grab a menu and get in line.”
A couple customers snicker.
Varek just smiles wider.
“I’m not here for lunch.”
“Shame,” I say. “The shawarma’s life-changing.”
He leans one manicured hand against my counter like we’re old friends catching up over coffee.
Polite. Casual. Possessive.
The audacity of it spikes my blood pressure.
“I hear you run a very clean operation,” he says. “Cash flow steady. High volume. Loyal customer base. Minimal debt exposure.”
I look up at him then.
“Wow,” I say flatly. “It’s almost like you’re describing a business you don’t own.”
His eyes glitter.
“Yet.”
Mara shifts at the host stand. I feel her watching me. Ishaan’s voice drops in the kitchen. The whole place leans in without meaning to.
Varek lowers his voice just a hair.
“Alliance shipping credits are messy things. Hard to trace. Harder to regulate. Businesses like yours make excellent… buffers.”
I bark a laugh. Sharp. Loud.
It turns heads all the way to the back wall.
“Holy shit,” I say. “You really just walked into my restaurant and pitched me money laundering like it’s a fucking rewards program.”
The room goes quiet except for the sizzle of oil and the bass thudding through the front windows from a car outside.
Varek doesn’t blink.
“I prefer to think of it as a partnership.”
“I prefer to think of it as a felony.”
A guy at the counter mutters, “Oh damn.”
Varek keeps his voice soft. Reasonable. Like he’s trying to talk me down from buying a bad used car.
“Just numbers, Ms. Fierson. Just paperwork. No one gets hurt. You skim a fraction for your trouble. Life gets easier.”
I lean forward over the counter until we’re face to face.
I can smell his cologne now. Expensive. Synthetic. Too sweet.
“Let me explain something to you real slow,” I say. “So there’s no confusion. You are asking me to commit federal financial crimes inside the restaurant my dead parents built with their bare hands.”
