“You’re late,” I grit, pushing off the wall and squaring my shoulders.
Nikita shrugs. “Traffic.”
“Hm.”
Nikita turns to Anthony and nods. “Anthony.”
Anthony returns it. “Thank you for meeting with us today.”
Nikita turns back to me and smirks. “Of course. Anything for my dear friends. By the way, how is Carmen doing? I saw her in passing the other day, and she’s as beautiful as ever.”
Carmen. She’s technically not related to me, but she’s basically my sister. My mother took her in when she was young.
“Yes, please, let’s get the subtle threats to the women in my life out of the way.” I inject as much sarcasm as I can into my tone. “Grow up, Nikita.”
“Carmen’s actually doing great,” Lorenzo says. I move my gaze to him. What the hell is he doing? “She’s dating a decent enough guy. With the way he looks at her, I’d guess he’ll propose soon, probably have a child shortly after. Speaking of, I heard you have a new niece. Congratulations, I imagine she’s gorgeous.” Lorenzo smiles then pretends to realize his mistake. “Well, I suppose that’s up to the biological parents. It’s a shame Sophie couldn’t pass down her genetics. She’d have made beautiful babies.”
Anthony’s eyes are saucers as he stares at Lorenzo, but mine are narrowed in a glare. The remark about Nikita’s sister, Sophie, is a slight to me as much as it is to Nikita. But I won’t go into that now.
“What the fuck did you just say to me?”
I turn back to Nikita, and his usual relaxed demeanor is long gone. His hands are balled into fists at his sides, and Ivan, Nikita’s right hand, squints at him confused.
Lorenzo raises a brow. “In a gist, I said Carmen is doing well and you have a beautiful family.”
Nikita’s eyes widen, and his nostrils flare. He looks like a bull, and Lorenzo’s holding a red cape.
“Enough,” I snap, bringing Nikita’s attention back to me. “We’re not here for this. We’re here because you laced our product and returned it to us, and now you’re going to pay the amount you owe.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yes, I’m sure. And I have no idea where the soldier you sent to me is.”
Nikita scoffs. “I couldn’t care less what you do to a soldier. Here,” he looks up toward the ceiling, “have another. There’s plenty here.”
I stare at Nikita for a few seconds, trying to figure out if he’s serious.
He is.
My lip curls. “You’re a pitiful leader.”
“Ah, but Iama leader. What are you?”
Anthony holds up his hands and sighs. “All right, that’s enough. We’ve all measured our dicks, now can we please get back to why we’re all here?”
Nikita’s snarl softens into a smirk. “Of course. You wanted this meeting to accuse me of something. Please, continue.”
I take a steadying breath.
You can’t kill him.
You can’t kill him.
You can’t kill him.
“I wanted this meeting so we can stop this endless feud, Nikita. I understand you hold resentment toward me. I get it. I’m not asking you to move on, and I don’t expect you to. But we both know if we can’t maintain a symbiotic relationship,bothof our families will be destroyed. We have an equal number of men, and while I’m beyond confident the familia would win in any war with you, we wouldn’t come out of it without great loss.”
I look for some indication on Nikita’s face that he agrees with me, but so far, I see nothing.