What do I have to show for that? Being scolded in front of the others I knew didn’t appreciate me either. I know exactly what they thought of me, but shit like that didn’t matter when there was work to be done. Braxton could grow his whole area tenfold if he stopped dicking around figuratively and literally. None of these men, except Atticus, put in the work they needed to for this kind of job. When you got to where we are in this world, it wasn’t the time to slow down and live it up. You never know when the next up-and-comer will try to take our place.
“Where would you like to start this debrief?” Astin asked, picking up her coffee and taking a sip.
While I might not see what the boss was thinking putting her in charge yet, at least she was easy on the eyes. Her full lips shouldn’t make drinking out of a China mug look so erotic. Astin seemed to have this flawless beauty about her, something that came from an inner confidence no one could teach. I watched as her emerald eyes scanned the table waiting for one of us to speak up first. Normally, I started things off, but that wasn’t going to happen today after what she’d said to me.
“I believe for someone to effectively run a business, no matter what kind it is, they need to know the flow of money,” Atticus spoke up. “Many don’t agree with that logic, but they’re also the people who file for bankruptcy two years after opening.”
The smirk on Astin’s face made me feel irrationally jealous of Atticus, something Ineverexpected to have happen.What was the brain doing that made her react like that?
“You make a valid point, Atticus. Let’s start with the financials then. While I have no doubt you’re aware of personal accounts as well as business, I like to stick strictly to business information at this moment,” she instructed, making her wishes known while acknowledging his value.
Normally, it took people some time to adjust to how best to interact with Atticus. The man took everything at face value—what you said is what you meant in his mind. Each of us struggled when we started to work together as it became apparent Atticus couldn’t read body language or subtle hints you could normally make to let someone know to change their behavior. The worst was when he was sharing information and abruptly stopped, telling the person he wasn’t permitted to speak more about it. During a few meetings with outside companies where I needed to have him along to go over their financial reports, it had ruffled some feathers in the wrong way. I’ll hand it to the guy, he learned fast once he understood there was a problem.
“If you could please set your rules and expectations for these meetings, it would be of great help to me,” Atticus informed Astin.
She cocked her head, slightly confused. “Could you please elaborate on that? I just want to make sure I’m giving you the answers you’re looking for.”
My jaw dropped at how smoothly she maneuvered around that question. Most would start to get frustrated or expect him to answer the original question asked.
“Certainly, Miss Astin,” he replied before pulling out his phone to read off a list he’d made. “These are just the major issues I was looking to have addressed.”
“Would you mind if I read over them quickly, some might be faster to cover than others,” she suggested, holding out her hand.
Atticus handed it over willingly which was even odder since he didn’t let anyone touch his phone. Always said it held too many secrets, even if they were encrypted.
“Okay, let’s start with the simple ones. If you need to go to the bathroom, please just let me know before you excuse yourself from the meeting. There are absolutely no issues with eating or drinking if we are in here for over an hour. Honestly, you wouldn’t need to wait that long. I feel after a half hour, snacks are needed. Hmm,” she hummed, glancing over the rest. “We already covered seating arrangements and that I prefer to be called Astin. At any time, if you need to grab files, laptops, or tablets, please do so just keep me in the loop if it’s not in the same space we are meeting in. Oh, this is a good one to bring up. When is it acceptable for us to summon you from your bedroom or wake you up?”
She handed the phone back before pulling out her own, and a message appeared on my screen.
Unknown Number:Astin— winky face emoji.
“Now you all have my number and obviously I have yours,” Astin shared. “This isn’t a normal job… we don’t work nine to five. The Caprioni Family business is running twenty-four-seven worldwide in many cases. If you have even the slightest inclination that I’m needed, you call me. If I don’t answer and it’s the middle of the night, wake my ass up out of bed. If you men, as my lieutenants, can’t handle something, then I step in. The boss is now my problem, and I’ll decide when he gets looped in on a situation. This will be new since you haven’t had an underboss to go to, but you do now.”
All of us nodded, knowing our acknowledgment was expected on such a matter.
“Delightful,” she said with a smile. “Now, let’s carry on. I know you all have important things to deal with, and this meeting will take longer than normal.”
There was no way this meeting wouldn’t last all day if she were starting with Atticus. He covered every single cent that went in and out of this operation. If he felt like he needed to prove himself, he’d give her everything he had.
“Excuse me while I grab the tablets so we can all follow along,” Atticus explained as he got up and collected the tech from their charging ports.
We should have grabbed them when we got in like we normally do, but I feel like all of us are a little off-kilter. Boss ran things on a tight schedule, but Astin didn’t seem to favor that side of her father. Or so I thought, but that opinion changed once we got into the meat of things. Two hours later, we’d gone over money, clubs and skin, gambling, and were almost finished with Luca’s import-export and distribution business.
“Let’s wait to see how things go after the announcement of my arrival and appointment have had time to circulate. I know there have been issues with the border crossing and stopping our ships before they make it into our country’s waters,” Astin said, looking over the log of the two ships stuck out in the ocean unable to pass through Aprian waters to get to us.
Luca nodded and sat back, setting down his pen. “That’s all I have for you unless there was something else you saw as we covered things.”
“I’m curious… what if we reached out to Wakesh to see if they would be interested in letting us build a harbor there? Yes, it will mean we have to truck the goods in and across Mansara, but we could avoid this whole issue. It’s a small fishing village, and right now, the economy isn’t supporting their needs. We could even offer to truck in their fish as well to sweeten the deal. Once word gets out there’s another port, and we don’t need to even get close to Aprian waters, it will be a win-win,” Astin shared, clearly having thought about this before today.
There’s no way she could handle all this material without having spent a massive amount of time catching up. Knowing the boss, my money was he’d been grooming his daughter for this job for far longer than we realized.When she told us at breakfast she knew everything already, it was obvious she wasn’t kidding.
Luca scratched his chin, mulling over her idea. “The people of Wakesh are remnants of the original people who lived in Mansara before the rest of the world started to colonize it. Many of them are wary when it comes to dealing with big city folk for a good reason. They’ve been fucked over one too many times.”
“All I ask is that you think about it, maybe send out a feeler or two. If it means going out to meet them and talking face to face, we’ll make that happen. Just do me the favor of giving the idea a chance before we toss it in the trash. You never know when people might surprise you,” Astin commented before turning her gaze to me. “Looks like you’re up, Gunny.”
I grimaced at the nickname but let it slide since I did have a matter to go over with her. “Currently, all our projects are right on schedule. The weather has been clear even though it’s spring, helping to keep things moving along. We have a few big clients that are in talks about creating an amusement park near the shoreline. There’s a massive stretch of land that’s been left abandoned, and they want to go for it.”
“I feel abutcoming,” Astin teased with a grin as she popped an M&M into her mouth.