Page 140 of Dex

“Lovely hotel.You did it up real nice.”

“It’s won quite a few awards already,” he announces proudly.

“Rightly so, brother.”I’m already imagining candle-lit dinners there with Daniela.

“I don’t know if you noticed, but we have a rooftop sky garden, right at the top.Anytime you have a special occasion, let me know.I can get the whole thing set up just for you.”

“Thanks.I appreciate it.You going to buy every hotel in sight?”I ask.This man started off with bars and nightclubs.The Oasis is still going strong, but The Vault, the club in the basement is no longer there.Luke’s been slowly acquiring real estate and has now moved onto buying hotels and doing them up.

“Keeps me busy.”He grins.“Let me know if I can help, if you need another special date with your wife.”

“Thanks, brother.”

“Cool dude,” Rio comments when Luke walks away.He looks content, like he owns the world.I know him.He does.

“He’s a good guy.Family man.”

“Wife?”Rio asks.

I nod.“Still happily married.I think he has three, maybe four boys now.”

“Nice if you can find that kind of happiness.”

“What’s the deal with you and Raquel?”I ask.

“I have no fucking idea,” Rio replies.Just as I’m about to question him further, Matteo and Enzo stroll towards us.Matteo with that casual, laid back swagger that seems to be his trademark, and Enzo, cool and sophisticated.Like he’s on a runway, modelling for Tom Ford or Lora Piana.

Matteo whistles.“If this is some ambush, I swear to God—”

“It’s not,” Rio cuts in.“It’s important.”

“Important?Why are we meeting here?”he regards me with suspicion.

“Because they don’t want our father to know about it”, Enzo replies, ever the observer.

“We’re forming an alliance,” Rio says.

Matteo glances in my direction.“An alliance?Withhim?”

Rio doesn’t flinch.“Dex needs our help.”

“Since when do you two even talk?”Matteo asks.

Rio glances at me, then back at them.“We talk.We just don’t advertise it.Because if the old man ever knew we were working together, he’d do everything in his power to destroy it.”

They go quiet and the silence slices through the tensions.

“We’re family,” Rio continues, calm and clear.“We shouldn’t let the likes of our old man divide us.”

That seems to settle things.They sit down.Matteo rubs the back of his neck.Enzo just sits and waits.

A server comes and takes their order.

“Is this about Daniela?”Enzo asks.This guy?He’s a dark horse.He’s perceptive, and sharp.Observant, too.Moving like he’s always three steps ahead but never has to raise his voice or impress, to prove it.

“Let me explain,” I say, once the server has set their drinks on the table.I tell them what’s happened, about the contract, and Daniela’s father, and the old man taking the majority share in his company.A part of me feels bad that I’m not telling my own brothers first, but I can’t afford for Jett to go in guns blazing to sort this out.

I explain our strategy.“We’re not going to outright fight the old man.We’re going to do what he’s good at.We’re going to trick him into signing back the fifty-one percent without realizing it.”

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