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We spend the next half hour going over his terms and conditions, and I give mine, and we end up with an outline for an agreeable contract.

“My lawyer will draw this up and will send you a copy to review before we meet to sign. Then we can set up a meeting with Javi and have everything laid out for him so there’s no delay in the transferring of hands.”

“Sounds good. I’m glad we came. I wasn’t sure what proposition you were going to lay out for me, but it’s better than I could’ve hoped for.”

“Good. I’ll be in touch within the next day or two.”

The three men leave the conference room with the same two men leading them out and down to the lobby again.

“That went just as you said it would.”

“Did you not believe it would?” Leo asks, raising a brow.

“I did. It must be nice to get what you want all the time.”

He smirks. “It is.”

My brothers snicker and so do Nico and Luca.

“Did he say uncle?” I finally ask, not able to hold back any longer. I didn’t want to look stupid in the meeting by asking in the middle of it.

“He did, but he’s not my uncle. My mother’s maiden name is Melcciona and Lou is her cousin. He likes to say he’s my uncle to make it seem like he’s somehow closer related to me than he is. I’ve never known him or thought of him as family, and don’t plan on it in my lifetime.”

“Interesting,” is all I say, and Leo’s eyes narrow.

“It’s really not. Now, I want you to contact whoever you deal with from the Gulf Cartel and set up a meeting for the end of the week, preferably. We should have all the paperwork finalized by then.”

I pull out my phone and scroll until I find the number I need. I put it on speaker phone so I don’t have to relay the conversation afterwards, and it rings twice before the familiar raspy voice, thick with accent answers, “Hola, Santino.Como estas?”

“I’m good, Javi. You?”

“Bueno, bueno. What do you need?”

“We need to meet, Javi. This week, if that’s possible for you. I have something I need to discuss with you that’s important.”

I have to be careful with how I word things. Javi can be a friendly man, but he’s in charge of the shipments and transportation logistics in the Northeast for a reason.

“Sí, this week is good,” he says. “Thursday night at the warehouse. Ten o’clock.”

“That works. See you then.”

I hang up and look to Leo who says, “I can have a surveillance team set up and waiting a few hours beforehand to ensure we’re covered. I want this handled properly.”

“You think I can’t handle it properly?”

“I’m not saying you’re incapable, Santino. I’m saying my family’s business is relying on everything going according to plan. I need to have control over the situation so there aren’t any ambushes. I take safety and planned precautions very seriously.”

Of course he does. Especially after his father and uncle were gunned down on the street unexpectedly, and then with what happened at Giorgio’s last year. “Fine, but a tip for you would be to not go at Javi aggressively or controlling like you’re used to. He doesn’t trust anyone. The fact that I asked to meet him about something important probably already has him thinking the worst and has his trigger finger twitching.”

“Exactly,” Leo says. “I am him. We’ll get along just fine. You asked me for my help in getting rid of them from your life, so let me do that.”

I scratch my chin and look out the windows for a brief moment. If I could punch Leo in the face, I’d relieve a lot of stress and pent-up aggravation I have right now.

My father, the bastard that he was, taught me to always keep a level head if I was going to be a leader and continue to have the respect of those around me. A hot-head can be feared for the unknown of what they’ll do in any situation, but behind their back, their men don’t respect them.

Fear and respect can go hand in hand if there’s a balance.

I give Leo a curt nod. “As long as the deal gets done and we’re all alive afterwards, we’ll do things your way.”

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