Page 27 of Blood & Loyalties
He nodded, shutting the door with a click, leaving us to our solitude.
I took a seat at the head of the table and commanded, “What’s the run down?”
The boys sat next to me, one on each side, and began their spiels about production, shipping, and payment. For once, while I had been gone, it seemed like everything had stayed exactly the way it should, at least with that shit.
My number two, Diego, had been holding the operation together, exactly the way I liked. When I had left California, I had made sure everything was in place, even gave contingency plans in case of problems. Diego’s smart, but I ran the show. Everything went through me. Everyone went through me. It was the only way I could keep complete control and knowledge.
I didn’t get to be the boss’s right hand in an organization where my last name wasn’t the same as the founders by stroking my dick and not taking care of shit. I also didn’t kid myself into believing everything couldn’t change in an instant. It was why I kept any knowledge of my surroundings on point. What I didn’t plan on was the voluptuous, dark-haired raven asleep upstairs throwing me a curveball.
“Anything about Antonio?” I hated even saying that fucker’s name. After one night with Catarina, I wanted to rip him apart all over again. How could a man be so fucking stupid? His loss was my gain, though, and he had better stay the fuck away from her if he wanted to live.
“Nothing new since last night,” Dan stated.
“The big one, Zan; what do you have for me?” Dan and Brett were under strict instructions after my meeting with Vino and Sal to find out everything there was to know about my beloved uncle. Even though tabs were kept on him, he obviously had been getting away with too much.
“Zan’s in California.” Those words stopped me in my tracks. Why the fuck was he there when he had product to distribute here?
“Go on,” I commanded.
“Vinny was at the club, and Zan sidled up to him. From Vinny’s view, Zan asked him to join his operation as top ranking ten. Vinny told him to eat shit and leave.” I knew I liked that fucking kid.
Only five years younger than me, he’d had a rough life growing up, but he had kept proving his ass to me over and over again. As one of my enforcers, he had proven on countless occasions that he was a good man.
“So he went all the way to California to start recruiting my guys?” Anger boiled in my veins, but I kept a tight leash on it.
“That’s what it looks like,” Brett stated, clutching his hands into fists on the top of the table.
“I’ll deal with him.”
Dan and Brett didn’t say a word, but there were questions in their eyes, but I didn’t have to answer fucking shit. I needed to call Diego first thing and get men on Zan.
“Anything else?”
“We still on schedule to leave in a couple days?” Dan might be a fucking Hulk, as Catarina would put it, but he still knew his place, and the sheepishness in his voice with his question proved it.
“We’ll see.”
They nodded.
The thought of leaving Catarina didn’t sit right with me one bit, but not dealing with Zan was a bigger deal in the family business.
“When we talk, we talk in here, got it?” I pointed to the table so they understood nothing was to be said out of the rush. I didn’t need either Catarina or Kiera hearing about business.
“Sure thing, boss.”
I set off to slide back into heaven. I didn’t know how long I would have her, so I needed to soak up every damn second I could. Leaving would be a bitch.
Chapter Six
“IT’SABOUT TIME you roll your hussy ass out of bed,” Kiera teased as I turned the corner into the kitchen. I should feel a bit embarrassed about the way she found Jag and me earlier, but I can’t seem to find it.
I stretched my body like a content cat, feeling every muscle burn. It was a wonderful feeling. I hadn’t had this great a workout since my double kickboxing session that led to an hour of plain cardio. That had kicked my ass.
“Jealous much?” I winked, smiling at my best friend.
“Hell, yeah. I lost track of the number of screams and pleas coming from that side of the house.”
Remembering them sent chills down my spine, and the fact that she could hear me didn’t bother me as much as it probably should have.
