Page 46 of Irish Reign

I make my voice soft, like a child asking Babbo Natale—Santa Claus—for a gift. “Could you come to the freeport? Meet me in my office there?”

“I am a very busy man, Giovanna. I do not have time to go to Delaware.”

“Please,” I say. “I’ll make it worth your while. I’ll set up an account for you. Give you a gallery in the warehouse. All the tax benefits of doing business through the freeport…”

His silence stretches out to nearly a minute, my first glimmer that this ploy might actually work.

“Don Antonio,” I say, drawing out the title he loves so much. “I’ll talk to my boss. He has a special group of investors… The richest men at the freeport. Braiden’s there, and Connor Boyle too, the Irish boss from New York. I’ll ask if you can join the Diamond Ring. For you, I’ll beg.”

Beg.

I use the word because I know Russo will love it.

But Braiden doesn’t. He’s reached the end of his tether. He calls from the window, as if he’s walking down the hall, “Samantha?”

I glare at him, but I try to turn his interruption to my advantage. “Don Antonio,” I whisper. “I have to go. Please sayyes. Say you’ll meet me at the freeport. Monday, Tuesday, any day next week.”

“Samantha!” Braiden calls again.

I raise a silent middle finger to him as I plead, “Don Antonio…”

“Fine,” Russo says, grudging. “Wednesday afternoon. I will come to your freeport then.”

“Thank you, Don Antonio. Thank you. You won’t regret it. I promise.”

“Be certain I do not.” He ends the call before I do.

I double-check that the connection is severed before I say to Braiden, “What the fuck was that?”

“I got you what you wanted, didn’t I?

“You almost scared him off.”

“That shitehawk doesn’t scare. Don’t forget that,piscín.”

I stare at Braiden levelly. “I’ll never forgetanythingabout Antonio Russo.”

He crosses the room faster than I think is possible, and his fingers close around my chin like he’s disciplining a naughty dog. “But you’ll beg for him?”

I toss my head, trying to break free, but Braiden only tightens his grip.

“Let me go!” My words slur because of the pressure of his fingers.

“Beg,” he orders, using the Captain’s voice that destroys me. “Begme.”

So I do. I beg with words. I beg with my fingers. I beg with my lips and then with my entire body. And whatever doubts Braiden has about the plan we’ve hatched, they don’t keep him from taking his slow, sweet revenge for my seducing Antonio Russo.

19

BRAIDEN

Samantha’s not accustomed to using evil criminals’ greed against their own self-interest. She offered Russo too much, too fast.

She flattered him with his feckin’ title. She fed him shite about me marrying Fiona. She said she’d bring him into the freeport, setting him up with all the tax dodges a criminal mastermind could desire.

She didn’t have to give him the Diamond Ring. If she’d held her ground, he would have come around without it.

But she’s had a lifetime of fearing Antonio Russo. I can’t blame her too much for sweetening the pot.

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