Page 13 of The Lieutenant

That meant someone from our less than legitimate side of our operations had opened their mouth. Maybe more than one. Only twenty-five percent of our workforce had any access or information to our darker side. We had several legitimate businesses that employed hundreds of people. Narrowing down the traitors would be next to impossible.

Dimitrios waved his hand as if loathing the conversation. At this time in the morning I did as well. I’d spent half the fucking night fantasizing about the woman.

Her long legs.

Her bright smile.

Her sassy attitude.

And those breasts. Good Lord, they were the perfect size to fit into a man’s hands.

My hands.

I’d grown almost possessive overnight and I didn’t even know her name.

“I have it under good authority Bernardi ordered the hit on Carmine Coppola,” I told them.

Christos snorted. “The Sicilian Don’s son?”

“Yes.” I grinned and waited for Dimitrios’ response.

“Interesting, but not something we want to get in the middle of at this point. However, the meetings in both Paris and Milan are important, which means you’re going to need to handle something for me, Havros, so I can focus on the final arrangements.” Dimitrios suddenly altered his expression. Did I see a twinkle in his eyes?

“Oh, no. I can tell you have something up your sleeve.”

Christos laughed. “You know him too well.”

“You know about this?” I barked at my younger brother.

“Just enough to know you’re not going to like it.” Christos grinned savagely. “I have a conference call. I’ll leave the two of you alone. Don’t kill each other.”

As soon as he walked out, I jumped up from the chair, striding toward Dimitrios’ desk. “Out with it. What’s the favor?”

My older brother always tasked me with helping him out of a jam. He had a good heart, even if he often didn’t want anyone to discover just how soft it was. Only the lovely American girl Willow had awakened the entire depth of his kindness. I wasn’t certain whether to hate her or thank her.

“You’re going to take a meeting for me. Perhaps a series of meetings. I’d considered blowing it off even after I’d agreed, but with Theo’s actions, I think it’s best you handle it.”

“Handle what, exactly?”

“There’s a reporter coming here today to have a discussion, supposedly with me. An agent set it up and bugged the shit out of me for weeks. I agreed just the day before yesterday.”

“A reporter? Are you kidding me?”

“An award-winning journalist and no, I’m not kidding, but it could be used to our advantage.”

I rubbed my jaw and thought about what he was saying. “What’s the subject matter?”

“Organized crime. Other articles have been written about various syndicate families over the last couple of months. I’ve yet to read them. I heard they are a provocative but fair look into the life of crime syndicates without spilling any trade secrets. Perhaps you could put a spin on the information delivered.”

Fuck. My brother was a consummate businessman. He had a damn good point. “When is the meeting?”

Dimitrios looked at his watch. “Ten minutes.” His grin was evil. Damn the man.

“You’re committed to this?”

“Why not? You might enjoy the banter. If I know you, which I do, you’ll torment the reporter to the point of surrender. And in truth, at this point we need to turn the tables. I had a damn phone call from the police department sniffing around.”

When our father was the Boss, interaction with the police had been frequent. With most of the department either on our payroll or blackmailed, we’d had little interaction for years. Other than after the murder of our brother.

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