It didn’t take much to put in a pizza place and a sandwich shop in the building on the left. Everyone says restaurants are tough to keep in the black, but so far, they’re more than earning their keep. They serve dinner and stay open to accommodate the crowds looking for carbs before calling it a night.
The top floors are rented out as leases to small businesses that need office space.
The building on the right was a bit harder to fill, but we stuck a dry cleaners on the front, and the back is a crematorium. The licenses for that were significantly more complicated, but as it turns out, pet cremation is a hot venture in Boston, and we treat their pets with the utmost respect. We just occasionally toss a human into the incinerator here or there as an easy body-disposal method.
With a little work, I’ve managed to revitalize this entire area by bringing in jobs and foot traffic.
It basically runs itself, which is good. If it didn’t, I’d shut it all down without a second thought.
I can’t be in hundreds of places at once, but I make sure my security staff is trained well, especially in the club. They know all the family heads, and there’s a protocol in place for any time one pops up without warning.
By the time Vanessa and I make it downstairs, the club security has Grigoryan and his men surrounded in one of the areas with high-top tables. My personal team lingers nearby, watching, as always, but attempting to blend in with the crowd.
The club security team is supposed to attempt to funnel any family heads into the conference room that we use for staff meetings. They got him close to the hallway, but I’m sure he wanted to stick around in the club to make a scene.
Vanessa leans in close to my side, her arm bumping mine as we move.
The security team parts when they spot me, but I don’t enter his orbit.
“Stavros, if you’d like to follow me,” I say without stopping.
I nevercall Grigoryan by his first name, but I use it purposely to get under his skin. It’s strange that he has an Armenian last name when he actually runs the Greeks, but much like the Russians could never gain a solid foothold in Boston, the Armenians couldn’t either.
If I had to guess, I’d say his family was living pack life twenty years before the rest of Boston. I can’t think of another reason his father and several of his men would all take his mother’s last name, but from what I understand, his first name was his father’s last name prior to marriage.
It’s just one of those things. Packs vary in how they choose which surname to go by, so some children might not even be related to the parent whose name ended up being the pack last name.
Vanessa peeks over her shoulder, like she’s afraid to let Grigoryan out of her sight. My personal security team would have him flat on his back before he could aim.
We make it into the hallway, and the double doors that lead to the conference room are just down on the left.
“What fucking games are you playing at, Moretti?” Grigoryan asks from behind me. “I’m not following you anywhere. Turn and face me like a man.”
I chuckle, releasing Vanessa’s hand to wrap my arm around her middle.
I lift her, pulling her with me as I face the piece of shit. As a bonus, I get a lovely view of her tits jiggling under the silky material of her dress. The necklace falls perfectly between herbreasts, and I’m also glad it wasn’t damaged. I would have had to buy her an exact replacement. That necklace was made for her.
Her feet come to rest between mine, and she leans back against my chest as I steady her, keeping my palm on her stomach.
Vanessa brings her left hand up, resting it over mine, and I barely hold back the smirk that aches to tip my lips. She knows how to play the doting wife to perfection, and I love that she’s showing off her ring while simultaneously proving the point that she enjoys touching me.
“You sought me out. Not the other way around.” I quirk an eyebrow as the portly man comes to a stop several feet away.
His cheeks are red, and his hairline is sweaty. I can’t smell him—thank God for small miracles, but I really wanted no part of dealing with any additional problems tonight.
Two of his men frame his back.
My personal team of three follow them, blocking any more of his men from getting too close.
It’s unfortunate that I’m unarmed, but I took my holster off, along with my tie and jacket, while I was dealing with Stephen. His enforcers better not act rashly. There’s a club full of people only twenty feet away from the hallway. If they start shooting, we’ll all end up in prison, and it won’t be a short stint. At least not for me. I will personally end each and every one of them that puts my wife in danger.
“If you have something to say, say it,” I tell Grigoryan, trying to keep myself from acting prematurely.
“You know what you did,” he hisses, jabbing a meaty finger toward me. “Are you trying to start a war with me? Is that what you want? You’re too young to remember the chaos of the old days when Boston was like a war zone.”
Vanessa’s stomach bounces under my palm as she sucks in a sharp breath. Her pheromones are tinged with the scent of herstress, and my system wants me to demolish whatever is causing the reaction.
A good husband probably would have let her stay with Magnum and Hawk, but with what they’re about to get up to, it won’t be any less messy or traumatizing than this.
