Page 21 of Glass Omega

Volkov pretended as if nothing mattered, not these meetings, nor the inner workings of our city. But if my sneaking suspicions were correct, the man was far more dangerous than he looked.

“Oh dear,” Amante said, glancing at his watch as I sat down in my seat and we finally reached the majority needed to actually hold this meeting. “Did I tell you the wrong time to show up?Apologies, Keane, I’ve been a little frazzled as I’m sureyoucan imagine.”

I ignored the jab, feigning ignorance. “I have no clue what you mean.”

Amante didn’t take the bait, but fortunately Ethan Chandler wasn’t as smart. It seemed his daughter’s intelligence wasn’t a genetic trait after all because the man slammed his fists on the table and pointed at me. “You stole my daughter, my baby!”

No one reacted to his little outburst. Despite his shaking voice and teary eyes, we could all see his act from a mile away. Chandler didn’t give a shit about his daughter or else he wouldn’t have sold her in the first place.

“You must realize that interrupting a wedding and stealing the bride does have consequences, Edison,” Amante said, using my first name to patronize me.

Unruffled, I held a hand up and Rhodes supplied the files that I’d brought along with me. I’d made enough copies of everything for everyone to get one. “I have a contract signed by one Ethan Chandler that upon my verygenerousdonation to his gubernatorial election campaign, that I would be offered the hand of his omega daughter once her doctors cleared her.”

The documents were signed and dated over six months ago and notarized on that same day. Chandler had come to me begging for a handout and he’d been the one to offer Perrie to me, not the other way around.

Cheng’s dark eyes skimmed the document. “This would never hold up in court as the United States Government doesn’t acknowledge betrothals, Keane.”

“It’s not the government that is making this decision. Do you have a similar contract, Alessandro?” I asked, using Amante’s same tactic.

Amante, who had also been reading the contract, glanced over at Chandler like he was a bug that he wished to squash. “I do.”

Holding my hands up in a genial gesture I offered him my best smile. “Then by all means, let’s see it. If yours is dated earlier than mine, then I will drop this and bring the omega back to you and you can marry her off to those weird little sons-in-law of yours—oh, wait—I guess they can’t really be considered that anymore can they?”

Amante’s grip on the paper tightened, crumpling it.

“You do have a contract, don’t you?” Saito asked, clearly hopping onto my side as he lifted a dark brow at the Italian mafioso.

One of Amante’s men stepped forward with a similar file folder and handed it to him. He passed it to Chandler first, who swallowed visibly as he handed it to Volkov who barely even looked at the thing before it got to me.

Amante’s contract was signed almost a month after mine.

“What do these contracts even matter? She is a better fit for my boys age-wise at least, what young girl wants to be tethered to a man fifteen years older than her?” Amante huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Alessandro, if I recall correctly, you and your late wife had a nearly twenty year age difference and she was one of ours.” Volkov’s thickly accented words were the first he’d spoken since I’d entered the room.

Trying not to show my shock over his sudden interjection, I schooled my expression and nodded. “Besides, Perrie and I have already reached an understanding and I have her consent, can you really say the same?”

Amante’s face began to turn purple as he glanced between me and Ethan Chandler who looked about two seconds from bolting from the room entirely.

“And what if she ends up the same way that all of the women in your family seem to end up? Half-crazy and stuck in a tower like some tragic fairytale princess?”

The Italian’s words hit like a brick and I reeled back in my seat as if he’d thrown a physical punch at me. Even the rest of the people in the room stiffened with shock as they all wheeled to face the man.

Any mention of Aine Keane was a taboo and all five heads knew it. My mother had been the living victim of the last turf war when the Serbians had kidnapped her and done unspeakable things because my father refused to sell them guns. While the Keane family wasn’t the only source of weapons in the city, we specialized in making the kinds of guns that would be completely untraceable to the authorities.

After the abduction and torture of my mother, the Serbians had been wiped out completely and six families became five. At this moment, looking at Amante, I was half-tempted to try and make it four.

“If you ever hope to purchase another Keane weapon,” I told him slowly, my voice low as I tried to contain my anger. “Then you have better shut your fucking mouth and never mention my mother again.”

Tension hung heavy in the air as Amante seemed to realize thefaux pasthat even the other three heads wouldn’t forgive him for. There was a largely unspoken rule that the women and children of the families were off-limits when it came to our disputes.

Honor among criminals was rare, but to keep this alliance together it was required on some level.

Pushing my chair back, I stood, gathering my file folder and handing it to Rhodes. “This meeting has been…ah…eventful to say the least. I’d invite you to my wedding, but I’m more of a private affair sort of man. Have a fantastic day.”

Turning on my heel I swept out of the office, my men falling into step behind me as I went.

“Are you all right?” Rhodes asked once we’d gotten on the elevator again.

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