Page 4 of The Secrets We Keep

“You want a 50 percent stake in my own fucking company? The company I dragged out of the gutter with my blood, sweat, and tears? You can’t seriously expect me to make you an equal partner.”

Matteo shrugged. “A small price to pay when we could easily quadruple the value of Gallo Industries together.”

“And what if I don’t need your help to expand into Europe and Asia? I’ll take your plans and your ideas and make my own connections. Then I won’t need you at all.”

“If you could, you would have already,” Luca replied. “You need us and this deal if you want to branch out into global markets.”

“Don’t tell me what I need, boy,” Gallo snapped, and Luca gritted his teeth against the insult. “No one would want to make a deal with terms like that. And I don’t need your money.”

Slapping the folder closed, he shoved it across the table, face still beet red.

“Suit yourself,” Matteo said, scooping the folder off the table and dropping it in his lap. “I’m sure your competition will be much more agreeable to my offer.”

“Don’t threaten me, you little shit,” Gallo growled. “You may be Don of the Palermo territory, and you might have earned yourself some money through happenstance, but I’m not Romano or Varda. I’m not hurting for cash, and my empire isn’t falling down around my ears. My men are well paid and loyal.”

Matteo cocked his head. “Are you sure about that? Everyone has a weakness, Nero. Even you.” Matteo lazily sipped his latte. “Are you sure Antonetti won’t back out of your hastily thrown together marriage deal? No one likes to be second place.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“I know you were in talks with my father to have Dante marry Carina. Hoping to get your hands on her widow’s inheritance, no doubt. Or maybe you thought she had some kind of stake in the Romano strip clubs. Funny how you didn’t mind a Bianchi alliance a mere six months ago.”

“That’s different.” Gallo waved a hand between them, but Luca could tell Matteo had thrown him off with that bit of info. “That deal would have been between me and your father, with much better terms than the shit you’re offering me. You know nothing of what makes a good business deal.”

“Oh, I think we know enough.” Matteo shared a look with Luca.

“We know when you bet on the loser, you have to seek more powerful allies. Isn’t that right, Nero?” Luca said, enjoying the way the man squirmed in his seat. “Running guns to Varda while he was at war with us hardly did you any favors.”

Matteo held up the folder, drawing Gallo’s attention again. “This deal is less than what you deserve from me after that blatant show of disrespect. But I’m willing to overlook your…indiscretion in favor of a mutually beneficial agreement.”

“A controlling stake in our company is hardly mutually beneficial,” Stefano said. “I’m not interested in sharing the power to make every single decision with you for the rest of my life.”

“You could always buy us out in the future.”

Stefano snorted. “Right. Like my father sai—”

“I don’t need you to speak for me,” Gallo barked. “Last I checked, I’m still the head of this family, the Don of this territory, the CEO of this company. My company,” he added.

“Of course, Father. I only meant—”

“Shut up, Stefano.”

Stefano’s eyes sparked anger, but he held his tongue. There was a fracture forming there. Maybe one they could exploit.

“I don’t know what game you two think you’re playing,” Gallo said, looking between them. “Do you think I’m stupid?”

“I don’t recall making such an accusation.” Matteo looked at Luca. “Do you?”

“I don’t. No,” Luca replied, sipping his cappuccino. “Are you stupid, Nero?”

Gallo’s lip curled back over his teeth. “I’m smart enough to know when assholes dumber than me are jerking me around. You cannot take me down by force. I will not crumble like Romano and Varda before me. So I’m not going to fall for this pitiful fucking act you two have got going.”

“It’s not an act,” Luca assured him. “You can take this deal, accept our generous infusion of cash, and lean on my brother’s many connections throughout Europe—”

“And in the States,” Matteo interjected.

“And in the States. And you can do so in exchange for a 50 percent stake in Gallo Industries. Or we can get what we want somewhere else. Take it or leave it.”

Gallo rose from his chair and waited for his sons to do the same. Buttoning the top button on his suit jacket, he stared down his nose at them.

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