Chapter 16
Delucas don’t have shortfalls
Marco
It’s done.
That was all the two-word text said and all I needed it to say, prompting me to get in the car and finally pay Robert Lyons an overdue visit.
“Call me when you’re ready, sir,” my driver said as he pulled up outside the skyscraper in Hudson Yards that housed Lyons Enterprises.
I looked at my watch before slipping from the car, not a wrinkle to be found on my black slacks or white dress shirt. “I won’t be long,” I warned. I had it on good authority he was in the office today, which was a pleasing thing given the news he was about to get.
Lyons Enterprises had recently announced a new technology that was intended to alter the software development game, but unfortunately for them, all the press they were getting was quickly going to shift from good to bad when the narrative changed. As it would. Soon. Very, very soon.
Walking up to the gatekeeper outside Robert’s floor, I tapped on the cheap cherry wood desk.
“Good morning, Sandra,” I said, reading a paper that sat on her desk with her name on it.
Hoping to soften her up, I tacked on, “Love your hair. It really accentuates your eyes.” There was just something about a woman wearing a tight as sin bun atop her head that really drew the eye to…
well…her eyes. Probably because it tugged so tightly on the skin around her face, especially the forehead, that her eyes became more prominent.
At least that was true in Sandra’s case.
“Thank you,” Sandra said, a hand going to her hair, a sincere smile on her face. “Marco Deluca, right?” Her tone was as sweet as sugar.
I nodded, enjoying myself and the fact that I still had that same boyish charm with the ladies I’d always had.
Many things might’ve changed in my life.
Hell, I might’ve changed. Grown up, really.
But that charm was something I knew I’d always be able to count on when I needed to.
Had since I was in high school and first worked my charms on an older, more mature woman.
A fashion designer. I couldn’t remember her name now if I wanted to, but I could still picture her.
Red hair cut into a short, sharp bob, soft features, but a rigidity that made her lips appear stiff, which was quite the contrast to the rest of her.
Shaking my head, I pushed the memory back where it came from in the deep recesses of my brain.
I shifted and leaned casually against her desk, remembering why I was here.
“Does Robert have some time? I was hoping to talk to him about an important matter he has associated with Deluca Industries.” And her name was Brooklyn Briggs.
Sandra looked down at her desk, turning to an old school date book before looking up at her computer screen. “He doesn’t have any meetings, so why don’t you go on in?”
“Thank you.” I tapped on her desk again, turning up the corners of my lips as I pushed off the desk. “You have a nice day, Sandra.”
Standing, she waved at me, a bright crimson color creeping up her neck that rivaled the orange in her dress. “You too, Mr. Deluca.”
I let myself into Robert’s office like I owned the ugly place, and when he looked up, I smirked. “Robert, good seeing you. Your assistant said I could come in.”
With a stern expression on his face, he didn’t move to greet me, only muted the erotic sounds coming from his computer. “I’m busy, Deluca. What do you want?”
If he defined busy as watching porn, then yes, I supposed he was busy. Too bad I didn’t share in his definition of the word. “This won’t take long.” I sat down in a chair opposite his desk, much to his obvious displeasure. “Just wanted to offer my congratulations.” You goddamn sex fiend.
With pinched brows, Robert finally looked at me, and I had to wonder exactly what Brooklyn saw in the guy.
He was clearly well past his prime in more ways than one if he’d been relegated to an office to just act as a figurehead while his adult son ran the show.
“I assume you’re talking about the new tech we announced,” he said, the arrogance in his voice not to be missed.
Although, it wouldn’t be that way for long.
I shook my head. “You’d assume wrong.”
“That’s right,” he said, leaning toward his desk, his arms resting on the top. “Delucas never acknowledge their shortfalls. And not thinking of it yourself is a shortfall.”
This asswipe was as dull as a butter knife.
Sad state of affairs to be sitting across from someone who was sorely lacking.
People didn’t just jump into the tech game for no reason.
Deluca Industries had no reason to. We had our hands full with a thriving company that touched a number of more suitable divisions than technology.
No, we left that shit to the Silicon Valley brains.
“Delucas don’t have shortfalls. We have a conscience, morals, respect. ”
He offered me a curt chuckle before turning serious again. “Funny. I’ve never seen it.”
“I could say the same about you, getting Brooklyn pregnant and telling her you wanted nothing to do with the child. Dad,” I said, the emphasis I placed on the last term obvious, but in case he was too dense to pick up on it, I raised my eyebrow and glared directly at him.
“Why is it any concern of yours?”
“You don’t read much, do you?” Obviously not.
If it wasn’t somehow incorporated into the porn he watched, I had a feeling he missed it.
“Brooklyn and I are engaged,” I informed him, the sharp jut of my chin locked in.
He needed to know he couldn’t mess with Brooklyn anymore.
If he didn’t want anything to do with her, then it was his loss.
“Oof, sorry, man. It must hurt your ego to think that she cheated on you with me because you’re not half the man I am. I understand, though. Not many men are.”
“Sure, well, at your age, you’ve lived a lot more of life than the rest of us.”
He angled his head, and I was pretty sure a nose hair popped out to join the conversation. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Funny,” I said, intentionally using the same word he had used before taking a ridiculous failure of a jab at me. “I was going to say the same thing to you.”
“What for?”
I sighed. “I would never congratulate you for the tech innovation. I tend to not see it as such a good thing when patent infringement lawsuits are filed by rival companies following a big media campaign to make an announcement.” Score one for Lorenzo who helped me see to it that his friend’s company filed the lawsuit, jeopardizing so much for this asshole and his company.
He slammed the top of his desk, the hairs on his arms standing up with heightened panic. Even the sound reverberated in the office as the petty office supplies I was sure he never touched jumped with the impact. “What the fuck, Deluca?”
A deep, guttural rumble escaped me. Not that my sadistic delight could’ve been helped.
He deserved far worse, but this would have to do.
I wasn’t the type to get my hands dirty, even if I played dirty on occasion.
He was lucky I wasn’t from another family who had no qualms about more physical responses to being pissed off.
“Oh, it wasn’t us, Lyons.” I shrugged. “But kudos to the other guys, because you’ll be tied up in lengthy, expensive litigation for so long it’ll destroy Lyons Enterprises in ways I can only imagine.
I just hope the changes don’t make too much of a dent in your bottom line.
Or, worse, that you won’t be banned from proceeding entirely.
I must say, in that way, I am curious to see how the case unfolds.
I’ll have to make sure I’m subscribed to the paper for all the latest.”
“Go to hell,” he shouted at me, rising from his chair, as if he could intimidate me.
Standing, I leaned forward on his desk, my hands braced on the top, and narrowed my gaze as I stared him down.
“Stronzo.”7 I turned to walk toward the door, having done everything I set out to do today.
Except maybe there was one more thing… “If you ever so much as share the same oxygen as Brooklyn, I’ll destroy you in far more damaging ways than a nuisance lawsuit. ”
“Get out of my office.”
“Happy to.” I swung his door open and strode out the same way I came in. “Have a lovely day, Sandra.” I sure as hell would now that this was over.