Page 145 of Sweet Dominion

Banks shrugged. “I had no idea that was there.”

Bullshit.

The pistol was carefully examined and unloaded before being set aside.

Finally, they discovered a knife strapped to Banks’ ankle. The blade was small but sharp and it had been expertly concealed.

When Banks sat down, I eyed him. “You thought you were going to kill me in the East?”

“Why would I want to kill you, Lei?” Banks pulled out a toothpick from his pocket and placed it between his lips. “A brother like me just wants to feel protected wherever he goes. You see the news lately? Brothers can’t go anywhere without motherfuckers coming for them.”

“Bring a gun to the East again and we’re going to have problems.”

“You’re scared of that? No way. That was just a little baby gun.” He gestured to it as Dima’s men took the weapon away. “The bullet would have just been a little scratch. Nothing serious.”

“I’m not the type of man you want to scratch.”

“No?” Banks pulled out the toothpick and leaned forward. “You don’t have any itches that need tending to?”

I curved my lips into a smile. “If I did have an itch,Moniwould be the one to take care of it.”

And then I leaned forward and licked my lips. “And. . .she’sreallygood at taking care of me.”

That got the exact reaction I wanted.

Marcelo’s calm left and was replaced by a tense, rigid posture as he formed his fingers into fists and his knuckles went white.

Dima’s men patted down Gunner and the big guy didn’t watch them. Instead, he narrowed his gaze at me and hunched up his shoulders like he was about to come over and fight.

But it was Banks that would give my favorite reaction. For his part, he tried his best to play it cool, but the way his eyes flicked towards the guards and then back to me suggesting he was waiting for the opportunity to launch over the table and choke the shit out of me.

Dima returned to stroking his cat like an evil lord in a comic book. “I will remind you all that there isnoviolence at Syndicatemeetings. Any initiator of the first attack will be sitting in my special dungeon in the North for the required time I see fit. That member’s particular gang will also get penalized.”

Dima did a big show of inhaling. “And with the way the food smells and the music sounds, wouldn’t that be a pity to miss this great event?”

None of them responded or glanced his way, those three just kept their eyes on me.

Come on, fellas. Let’s fucking go. Take the first step and I’ll finish it.

Banks made a move, but it wasn’t the one I wanted.

Instead, he let out a low chuckle, leaned back in his chair and placed that toothpick between his lips.

His face showed calm, yet the tension in his shoulders betrayed how pissed off he was.

Too bad.

I winked at him and leaned back too. “Maybe, next time.”

“Oh no, Lei.” Banks shifted the toothpick to the other side of his mouth. “Ain’t nomaybeabout it.”

Chen sat down on my left letting me know he had finished with being checked by Dima’s men. He leaned my way and whispered in my ear, “Einstein is with Moni and everyone else on the tour.”

The line of my jaw twitched.

“Apparently, Moni requested that he come.”

I was sure Banks and Marcelo heard that because they both grinned.

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