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“Someone is trying to ruin you and your reputation. Do you know who?”

“Yes, and I know you’re not involved,” he tells me, as if that’s supposed to assuage me. I never knew he suspected me, but I should have.

My father went against Leo when he was contacted by the crazy fucking Albanian mafia leader of theAleksanyan family. He stupidly agreed to give him the when and where of a meeting we were having with the Carfanos as a get-to-know-you lunch with Katarina.

That shit ended with bullets flying into the restaurant after my father and I left, and then a bullet in my dad’s brain when it was discovered he was the rat.

I swallow my feelings on that matter to remain focused on the here and now. My dad was an asshole and he didn’t think it through when he went against Leo. Hovan was a crazy motherfucker, but all my dad had to do was tell Leo what was up, and we could have smoked him out and taken him out. Together.

I hate my father for that. I hate him for a lot of reasons, but that’s the one that’s still touching me from his grave.

If I didn’t stand up and pledge my innocence to Leo and assure him of my ignorance to my dad’s plan, I would’ve been killed right alongside him. It was the truth, too. I didn’t know about what my dad did and I never would’ve agreed to it if he had brought it up to me.

If Hovan chose to come for us, we’d have had the help of the Carfanos. But of course, my dad was blind to the notion that all the top Carfanos would be taken out in one go rather than seeing the whole picture. He was always consumed with the need to be on their level rather than handling our business and growing our portfolios.

He was a power-hungry bastard.

Working with the Carfanos would have achieved us a new level of power, but of course, that wouldn’t have been good enough for my father. Leo would have gladly worked with usto take that fucker out. Hell, he already wiped out the rest of his goddamn family, which is why Hovan was so hell-bent on destroying the Carfanos and anyone else who got in his way.

“I have no reason to want you or your family gone,” I tell Leo. “If you are, then my family, and the others, are all fucked. Every foreign and domestic organization will move in and fight us for what you’d leave behind.”

Leo gives me a curt nod. “We recently found out that it’s some cousin of Hovan and Diran that’s seeking revenge. He appears to have more stealth than his cousins by the way he’s been able to skirt our security and discover our routes, even though we alter them each time. He’s been picking off our trucks one by one over the past few months, and just a couple days ago, he targeted and took out another two in the same fucking day. The trucks, their contents, and our drivers. All gone. Every time.”

“You have a broken link in your chain.”

Anger flashes in Leo’s eyes while his face remains like stone. “I know. He was dealt with last night. But that doesn’t mean I don’t still have a problem that you can help me with.”

“You need my trucks.”

“Yes. Your business is doing well, but if you merge with us, then you’ll be flushed with fucking cash.”

The Antonuccis have operated a fleet of refrigerated food, beverage, and liquor trucks that make deliveries all over the tri-state area. Five years ago, though, my father expanded the business and aligned with the fucking Gulf Cartel to transport their drugs from shipping containers at Red Hook Terminal in Brooklyn disguised inside crates of coffee, to warehouses in the Bronx, Newark, Philly, and New Haven, where they cut and package it for distribution.

I never would have made that deal, but once again, my father was a greedy bastard that wanted to have as much power as the men sitting before me.

“I have conditions,” I tell Leo.

“I thought as much.”

“I want out of the deal my father made with the Gulf Cartel five years ago. We pick up their product from the port, then transport it to four cities. I don’t trust them and I hate dealing with them. You can have those trucks if you can help me sever ties.”

Leo is quiet for a minute, and it’s Luca who clears his throat before speaking. “We can give the business to the Melccionas. I know they just got a blow from the Jamaicans who took over their smaller drug smuggling operation. They’d love a new in to the game and the cash flow.”

“Alright, we’ll schedule a meeting with them,” Leo says, then cuts his eyes back to mine. “Done.”

“Not quite.”

Leo’s jaw flexes at my words. “What else?” This is fucking killing him to not be the one who has what someone else needs for once.

“I want the same deal as last time.”

“And what exactly was that?”

Is he playing dumb?

“I want a connection to your family so I know you won’t screw me over and muscle me out once the ink dries on the contract. You wouldn’t fuck me over if I was married to one of your women. It’d fuck you over right back, and who knows what I’d do if I were angry enough.”

The tension in the room skyrockets in a matter of milliseconds at my declaration. “If that’s how you view marriage and women, what makes you think I’d allow that?” Leoquestions, his emotions finally cracking through his mask of steel.

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