Page 70 of The Bratva's Christmas Bump
“Why?” Dad’s momentary confusion melts into a cold understanding. “You’re not still hung up on that, are you?”
“Hung upon your trying to kill my wife?” Anger licks at my gut.
“She’s hardly your wife. You’ve known her five minutes.”
“That’s longer than I’ve known the womanyouwanted me to marry. You think I will just forgive you at the drop of a hat?”
“You, of all people, should know why she’s dangerous,” Dad snaps, slamming his fist down onto his desk. “We’ve been over this!”
“You tried to kill her. There’s no excuse you can give that I’ll make peace with until you look her in the eye and apologize.”
Dad scoffs. “Out there in the real world, they all see you’ve married the daughter of an ex-police chief. How do you think that makes me look?”
“If you called me here to argue about this, then I’m leaving.”
“No, I called you here because of this.” Dad picks up a green folder and tosses it across the desk toward me. “We lost four shipments. Two were caught in the snow and stolen, the other two were stopped at a search and raided. The weather is fucking us up and we need a new plan.”
I pick up the folder and scan the reports, noting the cost of the drugs lost due to the weather and the cops. It’s an occupational hazard when it comes to traffic stops from the cops, but the weather is something else. “How behind does this put us?”
Dad sighs and takes his seat. “Given that those were to carry us through until the New Year, it’s a blow. When our clients can’t get what they want, who will they turn to?”
The Irish. My teeth sink into my lower lip as I set the folder down. “So we use the restaurants.”
“How?” Dad meets my gaze.
“Easy. We can use the city’s own shipments against them. You know how hard they work to ensure the soup kitchens are stocked at this time of year, and no one is going to interrupt a food delivery for the homeless. So we hijack a couple of their trucks, let the city do the work for us, and everyone wins.”
“You think it will work?”
I shrug, crossing my arms. “Make sure you use men who can keep their mouths shut, and we’re fine. I’ll have Rex look into distributors. Just make sure the drugs are ready to move.”
“Hmm.” Dad’s brow wrinkles and I see the appreciation in his eyes though he will never voice it. I had a good idea and only I will acknowledge that.
“Is that everything?”
Dad grunts and I turn to leave, but as I reach the door, he calls out to me. “Maxim.”
“What?”
“You…” He hesitates and for a moment, he looks pained. Rather than entertain him, I reach for the door and he speaks once more. “Do you not see the danger you’re in? What she could do to you?”
I pause, then turn to face him. “This isn’t the same.”
“Isn’t it?” He stands abruptly. “Your brother did the same thing you’re doing. He married an outsider. He cast away traditionand loyalty and married that bitch, and the next thing we know, he’s dead!”
“Dad… he was killed by a drunk driver. That’s not her fault. It’s notanyone’sfault.”
“If it wasn’t for her demanding to see her parents at Christmas, he would have been with us instead of on that road that night. Don’t you see? He wasn’t with the families, he wasn’t in the right place because of some outsider bitch getting her claws into him and taking him away from his family!”
My heart clenches like a fist is reaching up from my gut. “He was doing something kind for the woman he loved, and if I remember correctly, they were only going to her parents’ becauseyouinsisted that she couldn’t stay here. If you want to blame someone, then blame yourself.”
“That’s not true.” He moves around the desk. “She was welcome, just not that night. Family night. That was supposed to be just us.”
“But she was part of him and you couldn’t accept her.”
“Inviting an outsider into a dinner of the top Mafia leaders in the city? Youknowhow stupid that is. And he knew. He just wanted to make an exception, and exceptions get people killed!”
It’s an argument with no end, because we will never agree, but as our eyes meet, I see a flash of the real pain inside him. A father whose son was taken from him far too soon. My anger softens.
