Page 48 of Bound to Him

“I met with him last night. He said he wanted to do business with the Morettis.”

“Why wouldn’t he come to me, then?”

“Because he’s a sly cunt, trying to worm his way into every organization in this city.”

“What?”

“Hear me out.” I put my hands together, hoping to explain this in the most effective way. “I had no idea what I was walking into. All I knew was that he was a sleazy cartel man, and that Enzo had some kinda business deal with him, which included an arranged marriage to Olivia.”

Antonio nodded; he knew all of that too.

“I was at the Romano’s the other day and met him there. He asked me to meet him at his club in the city. I went because I was curious… because I wanted to know what kind of man he was.”

I could see the gears ticking away in Antonio’s mind; he knew there was something he was missing.

“Because I’ve fallen in love with Olivia.”

“What?” He raised his voice, and I urged him to keep it down with widened eyes. “Since fucking when? How did that even happen?”

“It just happened… I saw her, I wanted her, she wanted me. We didn’t know what would come of it… we didn’t know it would turn out to be so…”

“Life changing?”

I looked up; Antonio was watching me carefully.

“Yes. Life changing. But we knew it would never happen. In order to protect the alliance between our families, we had to keep quiet and go our separate ways. Of course, when Christian invited me out, I had to go. I wanted to know what Olivia’s husband would be like.”

“And?”

“Man…” I shook my head and sighed. “He’s bad fucking news. First, he tells me he wants to expand his cartel into our territory.” Antonio sat up straight, a thought coming to him. “That he can make us a lot of money. Next thing, he’s bringing out drugged-up, underage girls for me to choose from. He’s got a sex trafficking ring, Antonio! And he’s operating here, in our city! For all I know, I could have sent two drunk girls right into his den when I put them into a cab one of his guys called. I don’t know!” I started to lose my shit slightly while Antonio stood up and paced the room, his fingers rubbing his chin.

“Fuck.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “Fuck!”

“It must be him.”

“Setting up the drug dens? Yes, I think so too.”

“He’s seen that there's no competition on our turf. It’s fresh ground to him.” He looked out the window, speaking as much to himself as he was to me. “But why come to us when he’s already using our territory?”

“Maybe we’ve whacked one too many of his guys. He wants to make it a legit deal?”

“No… no.” He thought harder. “Ah, of course!” He clicked his fingers. “Merda!It’s all him! The commissioner, the True Workers company! It’s all fucking him!”

“Wait, what now?” I asked, but he was fucking right. “Holy shit!” I stood up as well, too riled up to sit still. “He doesn’t want to rent the land… he wants to take it from us.”

“Exactly. It all makes sense now. He gets dirt on the commissioner, forcing him to kick our workers out, with the help of a greedy union leader. This leaves our people hungry and losing trust in us. Then he marries into our allied family, getting a foot in the door, and posing as a friend. I don’t know if this business deal he proposed to you was legit or if he just wants to get us in a room, but when our people are angry enough, when he’s caused enough shit to create an uproar, he swoops in and promises them their jobs back. Of course, he’ll deliver it on a silver platter by merely dissolving his True Workers company and having the commissioner under his thumb.”

“Christ.” I ran a hand over my face. This was even bigger than I’d ever imagined.

“Yeah…” Antonio was flabbergasted, shaking his head as though he should have seen it.

“Listen, bro. You were on this from the start, you smelled him coming along. Well, here he is. He still thinks he has the upper hand. Here,” I pulled out the bag of cocaine, “he gave me this.”

“Good.” Antonio took it, weighing it in his hand as he thought. “We’ll find a way to kick this motherfucker in the ass before he even sniffs us in the air.”

“Should I get Vinnie?” I asked.

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