I faced him again. “I understand plenty.”
“Do you?”
“I understand that the people you work for gave me five days because even they know Bite Me can make the money if this week goes right. Summer vacation just started. I’ve got a full patio, a kitchen that smells like God loves carbs, and a drinkmenu designed to separate tourists from their dignity in a legally cheerful way.”
Nico rested his forearms on the bar. His watch flashed under the string lights. “That’s your plan?”
“That’s the polite version.”
“I’m listening for the impolite one.”
“You sit down, order food, watch me work, and stop breathing foreclosure energy on my mozzarella.”
His expression tightened a little, but he still looked amused. “Foreclosure energy.”
“Yes. It clashes with the neon.”
“Nella,” Shay said quietly.
Hearing my name pulled me half a step back from the edge. Shay stood by the service well, not scared, exactly, but ready. Taryn had moved the waiting party away from the bar without making it obvious. Mari watched from the kitchen pass with a ladle in one hand and murder in her eyes.
My people were watching, this was my bar, and I was the one standing between them and the man in linen.
I lifted my chin. “You’re not doing this in front of my staff.”
He went still. When he spoke, his voice was more careful. “I didn’t come here to embarrass you.”
“No, you came here to collect.”
“Yes.”
“At least we’re being honest.”
“The honest part is the debt.”
“The business is honest too, and it’s mine. I built this place out of loans, bad sleep, family guilt, secondhand equipment, and the kind of optimism only available to women who should know better.”
I reached for a calamari cone from the pass, wrapped the paper tighter, and set it in front of him.
Nico studied it. “Is this part of the negotiation?”
“This is part of being in my bar. You want to sit here and talk about what I owe? That’s fine. You do it while eating something I made possible.”
“You didn’t fry this.”
“No, Mari fried it because Mari is a professional and I respect the chain of command.”
Mari pointed the ladle at him from the pass. “If you insult my calamari, insult it loud enough for me to hear.”
Nico picked up one piece and ate it.
The entire staff developed sudden reasons to look busy nearby.
He chewed slowly.
I waited.
He swallowed. “That’s good.”
