Well, if I was going to be rational about it, chances were if you owned a business in the city, you were going to be paying someone who was extorting you. And you were going to deal with thieves or violent aggressors at some point.
If you had to pay someone, at least you could pay someone who seemed to have some morals about it.
“Okay,” I agreed.
“You don’t sound enthusiastic about it,” Lorenzo said, his dark brow raising.
“I can’t say I am thrilled about anyone getting extorted,” I admitted.
“If it’s not me, it will be the Russians. Or the Irish. Or the Albanians. The Triad. Babe, the list is fucking endless. Someone is going to be doing it sooner or later.”
“So I should choose the lesser of the evils,” I concluded, getting a smirk out of him.
“Yeah, that’s one way to put it,” he agreed. “If it makes you feel any better, you will be lumped in with the rest of them.”
“What?”
“You will be a business owner,” he clarified. “So, either you fall prey to one of the other organizations I mentioned, or you up-front agree to pay me.”
“How much?”
“Well, I can only charge you for the two restaurants in my area. You are going to need to discuss the one in The Bronx with the head of the Esposito Family. But he will be fair as well. Maybe even more fair.”
“But for the two businesses in your area?” I asked.
“Fifteen-hundred a piece per month.”
Considering what Eren was bringing home, that seemed fair.
Still, I didn’t think anyone was going to respect me in this world if I immediately bowed to their demands.
“Let me get this straight,” I said, forcing my voice to be even, some part of me confident that even if I pissed off this man, he wasn’t going to hurt me. Or if he tried, Brio would put a stop to it. “I am about to bring you, roughly, eighty to a hundred thousand more dollars in revenue per month by handing over the… other business, but I’m not getting a break on the fees for my business?”
To that, there was a terrifying moment of complete silence before Lorenzo let out a chuckle.
“Christ. That bastard didn’t know what an asset he had in you, did he?” he asked, sighing. “If you’d have handled the business, maybe we wouldn’t be in this mess.”
“And I’d still be trapped in a loveless marriage, getting beaten regularly,” I said, making the smile fall from his face, and a dark cloud to come over his eyes.
“Right,” he agreed. “That was tactless. Alright. Fine. I will shave the five-hundred off of each one, but I can’t speak for Primo Esposito.”
“Okay. I think that is fair. There’s just one problem. Well, two problems…”
“How to get the remaining Polat brothers out of your business.”
“Yes,” I agreed.
“Brio says they’re trying to gaslight you, so you give up your majority share.”
“Pretty much.”
“I’m not going to lie to you here, Ezmeray. If they become a problem, I might have to… make them less of a problem. Understand, that will have nothing to do with you. But it might bring some heat down on you.”
“Because I will be the only one benefitting from all three Polat brothers dying.”
“Exactly. The cops are going to have some questions. And I won’t lie, it isn’t going to be easy to lie to them.”
“I’ve done it before.”
“Yeah,” he agreed, nodding. “But you weren’t directly involved in that. Brio went rogue. You didn’t stand by knowingly while he carried it out.”
“That’s true,” I agreed.
“It’s harder to lie when you might feel some guilt.”
“I will work on it,” I said, shrugging.
“I’m sure Brio can help with that,” Lorenzo said. “He’s had to talk to the cops countless times in his life.”
“And you?” I asked.
“Oh, babe, I’ve been getting harassed by the cops since I was still biting ankles. Still never been charged with anything. If you practice and you’re smart, you won’t be either. After all, you didn’t do anything to anyone. You didn’t pay anyone to do anything to anyone. And no one is saying anything is for sure going to happen to anyone, so you can’t even claim you had prior knowledge of shit.
“All you know is that you have a business to run.”
“Right,” I agreed as the car pulled to a stop in front of a brownstone.
“This is my stop. I likely won’t be in touch again until everything is handled. But Brio can be the go-between if you have any questions or concerns.”
“Okay. And thank you,” I said, nodding.
With that, he was out of the car and making his way up the steps to his home, and Brio was pulling away from the curb again.
“You want to talk about it, or just be mad at me?” Brio asked glancing into the rearview.
“I’m not… mad,” I said, trying to find the right way to explain it. But it wasn’t anger. “I’m… confused, I guess.”