“Thank you for agreeing to meet with me, Fang.”
There was no condescension in his voice as he steepled his hands together on the table between us. I stared for a moment at his perfectly manicured fingers. The nails were square and clean.
Still a bit of a pompous asshole then, I grinned to myself. A man’s hands should be rough from a hard day's work. Not primped and polished like a woman’s.
“No worries.” I shrugged my shoulders non-committedly. I didn’t want to say too much before I knew what this meeting was really about. Hansel had said it was to clear the air and put our little feud to bed, but I wasn’t so sure.
The Family, even if it was under new leadership, rarely did things without an ulterior motive.
“Thank you for the scotch.” I raised my glass to him in salute but didn’t take a sip. I didn’t need to drink it to know it would slide down my throat like velvet. I was dying to taste it, but I also knew I had to keep my wits about me.
Gio’s eyes widened as he smiled. “You can take a bottle with you when you leave.”
He didn’t mention a word about me not drinking or how rude I was being for turning down his hospitality so openly.
Another point for the Italian.
“I need your help.”
I blinked at him in shock. A man that got straight to the point I respected. But I wasn’t about to tell him that. With men like Giovanni, it was always best to keep your cards close to your chest. “And why would I agree to that?” I didn’t wait for him to finish. “You deal in the slavery of women, two of my member’s old ladies have been on the receiving end of that particular business venture of yours.”
Anger flickered across his face, there and gone in the blink of an eye. “My father dealt in women. But we have had…” he chewed on his bottom lip as he thought about his next words, “an overhaul.” He smiled his dazzling, white smile at me. “We have no part in any of that now, and we’ve even called in someone to make amends.” His eyes left my face to dart over my shoulder to where Hansel was standing, guarding my back as always. “I think you might already know her, her name is Gre…”
He didn’t get to finish. Hansel launched himself at the younger man with a roar. And I couldn't say I blamed him. The thought of Gretal, even if she was his ex-wife, being anywhere near The Family filled me with dread as well.
“You leave her alone.” I kept my arm straight, stopping Hansel from full on attacking the man who had invited us.
“She is perfectly safe, I promise you. She is an advocate for women who have been trafficked. Did you know that?”
“Yeah, we know. With her past, she wanted to help others,” I said before Hansel could speak. I knew that if my vice president got his hand on the man in front of us, the meeting would go downhill fast. “If we find out...”
Gio raised his hand, and for the first time since I had sat down, I saw violence dancing in his eyes. He might not be bat-shit crazy and as evil as the rest of his family, but he had been brought up around it. It was there, simmering beneath the surface, barely contained.
“Gretal is helping us because we asked her. She is free to come and go as she pleases. I have had no contact with her apart from a few emails and a phone call, and my men have been told not to touch her. She is safe, but that is not what I wanted to talk to you about. I just wanted to let you know the changes that are happening in my organisation.”
I nodded slowly. “Then what is it you want to talk about?”
“A favour.”
“Why would we agree to do you a favour?”
“To show that all this silliness is behind us. A show of good faith if you will, but if that is not enough for you, then I will do you a favour in return. I have some information that might be of use to you.”
I contemplated his words. “Maybe you could start with telling me why your father wanted me dead in the first place.”
The smile Gio gave me was almost gleeful. “Oh, that was a total misunderstanding. My little sister, she is a bit of a wild one and might have let it slip that you and she were...” He searched his brain for the right word. “Let’s say...intimate.”
I frowned. “Your little sister? I’ve never even been in the same room as your sister. Never seen a photo...” I trailed off, confused.
“Well I know that, but my dad, he was...well, a little old fashioned when it came to her. Franny is, how can I put it? Mischievous. Especially when she is bored. She may have whispered in my father’s ear that you had taken her virginity.” He laughed again. It was obvious from his tone that he loved his sister and thought her antics were amusing.
Personally, I wasn’t amused. I had almost lost my life because some spoiled princess had said I had banged her? It would have been bad enough if it was true, but I had honestly never even seen the girl before.
“But she has been punished, you have nothing else to fear from that. Just a little female prank.”
A female prank that had cost me months of my life and almost got me killed. I continued to stare at him.
“So, what is it you want from the Sons?” I was suddenly tired. I wanted this meeting over so I could go home.
