Page 50 of Vice

I really have to figure out what to do about her. She’s becoming more than I ever thought she’d become. More than I thought she could become. More suited for and savvy with this business than I thought she’d be, even in her ignorance of some of the finer aspects. Her lack of a big ego and needing grand and open and apparent shows of her power is a boon to her. Lets her hide in the shadows because she’s perfectly fine being there. It’s the real secret to longevity in this business. To live a long life into old age. To wield your power quietly. To be ambitious, but not get too greedy.

Dele’s got all the makings of going down as one of the greatest mafia bosses in history. But she likely won’t because she’s smart enough to know that going down in history and people knowing her name will mean she was defeated.

And then I had to go invite the fucking woman into my bed without noticing that.

Eileen told me I have to beat Dele at her own game. And her game is to watch, observe, hold her cards close to her chest until the perfect moment presents itself. Every time Dele has managed to one up me, it’s because she had a weapon or tool or angle and didn’t use it until people forgot she had it, and it would be the most use to her.

“What do you plan to do with me once this is all over?”

That’s what Dele asked me at that resort a few months ago. I didn’t have an answer. Not one that was true anyway. But knowing Dele, it was answer enough. It wouldn’t be a stretch to assume she’s been planning since then. Something tells me the answer to my problem is in that conversation…

“So I’m just… a fill-in for Phae. A good fuck on the way to the top, someone to try to exercise your sick need for control over, until you can get rid of me and get you a good, docile little girl who ignores the worst parts of you if she even knows they exist?”

She’s too useful and too dangerous to just throw away when I’m at the top. But she’s also more than those things. She’s…

Equal partners or not partners at all.

That’s it.

I call Eileen into the office.

“I know what to do about Dele.”

“That was quicker than I expected.”

I ignore the jab.

“I’m going to make her the biggest mafia queen in the west.”

Eileen frowns. “So you’re going to marry her when you take over?”

“No. She’s going to help me take Pray’s entire operation and business, and then I’m going to hand it to her. Part of it, anyway.”

“That’s… unprecedented.”

“Not really. Isabella Uccello runs everything in New York and in the northeast. And everyone knows it.”

“She also pissed off half her allies when she killed a bunch of mafia princes and heirs in her quest to marry her husband. Otherwise, she might have been able to stand against Pray on her own.”

“Which is why you and I are going to have to make sure Dele’s hands stay clean in all this. Make sure everyone sees me for the monster and nightmare that I am while she becomes their benevolent savior who keeps it all at bay and treats them fairly.”

“How poetic,” Eileen says dryly. She adds, “And idealistic. How exactly do you plan to pull this off and make all Pray’s people follow her when you’ve been planting the seeds for them to follow Adrian Blake or Viper?”

“Simple. We’re going to make her the CEO and owner of Pray Drinks. The legal business and the illegal business are so interconnected that to rule one is to rule the other. Anyone who doesn’t think that’s legitimate enough will have to deal with me. And knowing Dele, she’ll graciously save them from my wrath…”

“While demonstrating she’s the one that holds the leash to the attack dog.” Eileen contemplate before saying, “It could work… if you can find a way to make Dele the CEO.”

“That’s what lawyers are for.”

“Crooked lawyers.”

“All lawyers are crooked.”

“It takes a special crooked to forge legal documents.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Who said anything about forging them?”

Eileen doesn’t ask questions about that.

“And you’re just going to cede all this power over to her while you… go lay out somewhere on a beach with a drink and soak up the sun?”

“Of course not. I said I would give her part of it. But for the most part, I going to do what I do best.”

Eileen raises the eyebrow this time. “And what’s that?”

“Enforce.”

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