“Victory,” I blurted her name loud and my whole team turned to look at me. I took a breath. No one knew how important this contract was except me. They sat here joking while I reworked the damn numbers in my head and noted the different outcomes. This partnership solidified who was a king or queen in Chicago and who was a pawn. I glared at the woman who thought work was a game. “I don’t think we need to finish that sentence.”
Caden and Sebastian Armanelli strode in with Gloria. “Oh, I would love for Victory to finish her sentence,” Sebastian said, scanning the room, sizing us up, calculating the dynamics. “Victory, seems you’ve made Jett Stonewood a little perturbed. I heard your name through the door. Tell me, was the sentence that bad?”
He looked her up and down, his eyes scanning that bubblegum-pink dress like a damn kid on Christmas morning. He wanted to unwrap the present.
She smiled at his perusal and glanced at me. “I’m never bad.”
I mouthed, I fucking told you.
17
Vick
Jett triedeverything he could to rattle me, but I wouldn’t scare that easily. He’d invited me to this meeting just to show me I couldn’t handle it, that my positivity would die here because I was incapable of actual work. Jett didn’t know me though.
I had more drive in my pinkie finger than most people had in their entire body. Doctors had told me to take a year off from high school, that I could sit back a grade. Those days, I remember clinging to my mother’s words like a lifeline. “My daughter is seventeen and at the top of her class. Where she will stay. Because she’s a Blakely. I didn’t raise a daughter who couldn’t handle it.”
Handle it, we did. Even through late nights of throwing up from the chemo and emergency hospital visits and losing my hair along with my friends and my whole damn life, I’d stayed at the top of my class. I’d outdone everyone and gotten into every college I’d applied to.
Then my mother’s words got the best of me the day I’d told her I could go to school in California and conquer the world on my own. “You almost died, Victory. You can’t risk catching something and not being close to home. You have a compromised immune system. Your father and I can’t lose you. Not after we almost lost you before. Stay close, honey. You can live a great life here.”
The words propelled me now in the conference room. I was a Blakely, and I was living my life. Not stuck at home anymore. I finally took the step to leave and I would take another. I could handle this meeting and show I had a right to one of these seats as much as anyone else on the legal team.
I cleared my throat and stood to greet the two beautiful men along with their own legal team. Bastian and Cade had gone swimming in their Italian gene pool and come out soaked in the best of it. Their curled brown hair and dark eyes caught most women’s attention. Bastian wore those curls a bit longer, a tad unruly. Like he wouldn’t conform to the usual standards or rules. Cade followed behind his brother and held himself more rigidly. Rules must have applied to him.
“Just a joke between colleagues, Mr. Armanelli.” I nodded at him and went to shake his hand as Jett strode over to welcome them also.
Bastian looked at my hand like it was offensive. “Vick, you partied with me and that little dancer over there,” he gestured toward Brey who smiled wide. “One of the best nights I had in a long time. Don’t revert to professionalism now.”
Truth be told, a long time ago, before I knew they were mobsters, I partied with them because I thought they were celebrities hanging out with Jaydon. We drank way too much and danced way too hard. The memory of the night calmed some of my nerves. He wasn’tTheGodfather.
Him referring to our night out could have been awkward. I could have stumbled over my words and looked at my boss in trepidation.
But I didn’t do awkwardness well. I stepped into his open arms. I was scared by the idea of Katie dating him, but I had forgotten how unintimidating Bastian was. The news stories painted darker and darker pictures of these men, and their sweet demeanors got stained with the images depicted.
When I pulled back, Cade stood behind his brother, his eyes bouncing from Jett, to me, to Bastian. He shot his hand out for me to shake like he wanted no part in the prior hug exchange. I nodded at him as I slid my hand in his.
He mumbled something about it being a pleasure to see me again, but his gaze stayed on Jett.
Jett. The formidable man who sucked the life out of the room. The boss of it all.
The man I’d screwed the night before.
The man I could find in a room with my eyes closed because the scent of him lingered with me through the night, mixed with my dreams, and stole away my thoughts.
“So, it seems you’ve all met.” He finally spoke, staring at Bastian like the cards had been laid on the table and they both had an equal winning hand.
Bastian nodded. “Seems the Stonewood men keep marvelous company.”
Jett grunted, and instead of shaking their hands, he spun to go back to his seat. As he made his way there, everyone else followed suit.
Jett maneuvered a few pieces of paper around the table before leaning back in his chair. “Your father isn’t here.”
Cade jumped in no doubt ready to right the ship. “He wanted to be here but thought since your father stepped down, it was best for us to handle it. Sons to sons.”
“This isn’t a family reunion, Cade. I don’t sit at the kid table while the adults talk business. It isn’t son to son. It’s owner to owner. You own the business now?”
Cade’s eyes narrowed just like his brother’s did next to him. Bastian sucked on one of his teeth, making a squeaking noise. It was the only noise in the room as the tension shifted. Both Armanellis scanned their surroundings, and my stomach dropped. Suddenly, these men weren’t as approachable. Suddenly, I wondered if the news story about bodies being hidden was true.