Page 64 of My Merciless Don

“I do?” I asked in some surprise.

“Yes, you do. We never closed the back door that we created when you were scamming him over that horse, and I think they never found it because it's still open.”

“For real?” I asked breathless with hope.

“Yeah, for real. We could offer them his money as compensation for stealing theirs.”

I grabbed Kylie and kissed her cheek hard. “You're a lifesaver. I love you so much.”

Kylie laughed nervously. “Yeah, okay calm down.” We weren't really big on showing affection, but I think the occasion warranted it.

“How do we do this? What's the best way?”

“Make it dramatic.” Kylie said. “Call a meeting of all the families and then, as you walk into it, I drop equal amounts of cash into all their accounts.”

I grimaced. “Do we really want to remind them that we had access to those?”

Kylie looked at me. “Good point. What do you suggest?”

I took a deep breath thinking about it, “I mean, I like the dramatic aspect of your plan, but how about we just withdraw the cash, put it in suitcases and walk into the room with the suitcases. Then as I am giving my presentation, you distribute suitcases to every family.”

“Oh my God, that is so dope. I could wear a black suit, Louboutins, slick my hair back…”

I grinned. “Exactly. We could match. Distract them with our theatrics, and then give them money. On top of Marco giving them Bratva territories, I don't see how they could insist on holding on to a grudge.”

Kylie laughed. “You're brilliant. I love it. Let's do it.” We high fived, and then I got Marco on the phone.

This was the hard part because I hated asking for shit from anyone. But it wasn't just my life on the line, it was also Kylie's, her fiancé’s and her sweet mother’s - who had no clue what her daughter actually did for a living.

“Hey you.” The affection in his voice killed me every time.

I cleared my throat. “Er, hi. Can you talk?”

“Yeah, I can talk. I'm just here with George going over some records that the council has asked for.”

I took a deep breath, “I have an ask. It's kind of a big one and I will not be mad if you say no.”

“What is it?” He sounded concerned.

“It’s about the Bratva territories.”

“What about them?”

“Would you consider…” I almost lost my nerve.

“Would I consider what?” he asked mildly.

“Would you consider divvying up the territories and distributing them among all the families?”

There was a small silence on the line. “To what end?”

“In exchange for my life.” I said quickly.

I expected him to spew some bullshit about how I shouldn't worry about that and he would take care of me but no, he didn't say anything for a long time.

“Marco?” I prompted tentatively.

“I'm here. I'm just trying to think how we can do this in the most advantageous way. Because they might agree to our deal but I know these people, they would hold it over our heads in one way or another. We have to do it in a way that they feel they got the better end of the deal.”

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