Page 95 of Seek Him Like Shelter

“I am not a good man,” Dimitri admitted. “But I have never needed to force a woman to do anything. They come willingly, knowing this is what is on the other end,” he said, waving toward the women.

“So, you murder women, but draw the line at forcing them to do happy endings?” I asked, ignoring the hard look Renzo shot me.

“Business is business,” Dimitri said.

“And business would be easier without me and mine breathing down your neck,” Renzo said.

“What do you propose?” Dimitri asked.

“You get East New York.”

“East New York?” Dimitri asked, eyes narrowing.

“It’s a generous offer. One the crew who owns this restaurant would kill for. No strings. No kick-up. No questions about how you handle your business. But the offer ends the second I get up from this table.”

“It’s an insult,” Anna said to Dimitri.

“Hush,” he demanded, looking over at Renzo. “What about the crews who work for me now in other neighborhoods?”

“You take them with you, or you cut ties,” Renzo said.

“The parlor is in Bed-Stuy,” Anna reminded her boss. Or partner, whatever the fuck she was to Dimitri.

“And it will have to move,” Renzo said. “Bunch of old fucks who can’t get a handy on their own will take the twenty-minute drive. Or you can find new clientele. I don’t give a fuck. That’s your problem to figure out.”

“You let him speak to you like that?” Anna asked, looking at Dimitri.

“Enough with you,” he said, giving Anna a hard look. “How long would I have to move my organization?”

“Six months. Not a day longer. Shouldn’t be too hard. Real estate is cheaper there than where you are now.”

“And until then?”

“We show each other that we can be trusted at our words. If either side fucks up, the truce is off.”

To that, Dimitri nodded as he rose to his feet.

“We have a deal,” he said.

Then, without another word, he was gone, leaving the women to rush after him, heels clicking as they went.

It didn’t exactly escape me that the bottoms of those heels were red. Designer. Expensive.

Maybe it wasn’t such a bad deal they had going for themselves. If their stories were true.

“I feel like that was too easy,” Rico said, always on the lookout for shit that might go sideways.

“Six months, a year ago, he’d never had made that deal,” Renzo agreed, standing.

He didn’t need to elaborate.

The only thing that had changed in that timeframe was the fact that Renzo had secured another, more significant truce.

Between us and the other four members of the Five Families.

Before his marriage to Lore that made that truce possible, we would have needed to sacrifice a fuckuva lot more than just East New York to secure the safety of our people.

But no one wanted to fuck with all five of the New York families. That was too much smoke even for the most established organizations.

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