My dad chewed, nodding his head probably to the taste. I had a live-in maid, cook, and gardener that came three days a week, and then, there was Martha, who’d been with me since I was a child.
Her cooking was the only way I had been able to force vegetables down my throat.
“I don’t know what he thought of our family, but he came here a few weeks ago to form an alliance.”
I snorted and crossed my arms where I was seated on the couch. “He must have been joking.”
“Yes, well, even if he had been joking, I still turned him down. The Petrenkos will never sully themselves with human trafficking. Some bridges aren’t even worth crossing.”
I nodded, thinking back. “He’s the reason Alessandro left here seeing red.”
My father paused to look at me, his beautiful eyes sparkling. “Triev caused him lose forty million dollars today after one of his cargo ships was sunk.”
“Do you think Maxim will try to make an alliance with the Sorvinos?”
He helped himself to more soup and bread, chewing for a short while. “They will, it’s new territory. They might be rabid and disloyal, but they won’t run around like mad dogs unless they’ve been turned down by everybody worth anything. Making new ground is always the most dangerous time for any mafia family, they know they are surrounded, and they fight brutally. The stake is high for them, and they become very desperate. You know what they say about a desperate man.”
“He will eat his own legs for food,” I said even though it hadn’t been a question.
“Yes, but only after he has eaten the legs of everything around him. Turning him down means he won’t consider us allies again. There won’t be any need for him to go easy. If everything until now has been child’s play, it will get a whole lot worse.”
“They will come for us.” Brutally and with the intent to kill.
My father nodded, finishing up the simple lunch I’d packed. A perfect choice on my part. He’d practically wolfed it down. You’d have thought a rich man like him would know to eat more.
“If you keep skipping meals, you’ll lose weight,” I warned with a keen eye as he opened the brandy. Half a glass of water to put down the whole meal, but I knew that he would drink that brandy until it was empty.
“Or I’ll get fat like a baby because you keep bringing me food.”
I didn’t like the lines on his face, the glaring reminder that he was aging. Even more, I didn’t like that he was skipping meals more frequently. He’d barely resisted it when I’d plopped my basket on his desk.
Usually, he argued like they were medicine.
That I was only just learning of Maxim Triev bothered me the most. My father must have been busy handling all the troubles, which concerned me.
“He won’t be getting his hands on anything of ours,” I said aloud, a reassurance to us both.
My father started to shake his head and tut at me. “There you go again, talking like that. I am still the head of this family, Katya, I am the one who is responsible for everything, you should not worry yourself with it.”
“I am the only heir you have, papachka. What use would I have if I could not keep the business from falling into the hands of a mad man?”
My father looked at me for a while. “I don’t think I’d be able to remain rational if things went sideways with you involved.”
I stood and went around the desk to pack the dishes back into the basket.
“That works out well then,” I said, “I don’t plan on having things go sideways.”
My father gave a small, amused smile. “Of course not, my little baby.”
Chapter 7 - Alessandro
By the following day, I was resigned. My ship was truly gone now, but my temper had lessened and calmed enough, so I didn't want to shoot everybody.
That didn’t mean I wasn't still going to flay that fucker when I caught him. It just meant that everybody else could breathe easier now.
The phone on my desk rang just as Frankie's signature firm knocks thudded against my door. It must have been my secretary, because Frankie had the power to be a ghost even though he was the biggest of us all. It was talent, something I sometimes envied.
Dom came five minutes after, rubbing at a lipstick stain on the corner of his mouth.