Chapter 52 Royal
ROYAL
A DEAL IS A WISH YOUR HEART MAKES
After getting Steffano’s information from Berto, Valor set up a place to meet and put together a whole three-course meal of backup plans if needed.
Option one, where we started, is out here at the airfield. The quiet early morning hour allows for some privacy and keeps would-be bystanders away. A decent-sized private jet pulls up in front of one of our hangars.
The jet taxis over to us, and Dad looks to me. “And what are you not going to do?”
“Insinuate that I’m smarter than he is? Even though it’s true.” I shrug, tucking my hands into my jacket pockets, trying to warm up from the late January deep freeze.
“Close enough.” Valor pinches the bridge of his nose.
Dad shakes his head as our ground crew quickly maneuvers to help chock the plane and prepare for Steffano to disembark.
It’s killing me not to look at my phone to check in on Leticia and Mom. I know they’re at home and I know they’re safe. The fifteen alarms I have that would alert me to trouble are silent. But I just want to be able to see her.
A black SUV rolls up along the driving space toward us.
“Expecting company?” I ask Dad and Valor.
Valor is already reaching for his gun. “No, I sure wasn’t.”
Rustling comes from behind us, easily mistaken for the wind to human ears, and I know the sniper just adjusted positions. I feel a little better knowing we brought backup firepower. But my fingers still twitch, ready to draw my weapon.
Or we shift and tear them all to pieces. My wolf wags his tail with nervous excitement.
I suppress that thought but keep him on the surface. He makes me faster, helps me focus, and if it came down to his idea, he’d be ready.
The SUV rolls to a stop, and the driver’s door opens first, revealing one of the goons Gregorio and Berto showed up with yesterday. He opens the back passenger door, and I’m surprised to see Berto step out.
“Great,” Dad sighs. “I thought they understood we weren’t dealing with them anymore.”
Berto steps toward us. With his arms at his sides, he’s not quite unthreatening, but he certainly isn’t showing any signs of wanting to go to bullets as a form of communication.
Valor growls low but silences it when Berto gets within earshot.
“Gregorio is dead. I’m the new head of the D’Medici Mafia.
Steffano’s deal with me isn’t as ironclad as it was with my father.
I’ll be much more flexible, given our working relationship, than he would have been.
I thought you might like to use that in your negotiations. ” Berto stands rigid, addressing Dad.
From the corner of my eye, I see the jet door open and people descending the stairs.
The three of us look back and forth, the questions more numerous than the answers and the time needed to get them.
Did Berto man up and kill his old man for the seat of power, or was there something else at play?
“There’s a treaty between us, and I’d like to keep that and honor it to the full extent. I would like to stand in with your negotiations with Steffano and offer what we can to get Leticia the best possible deal and keep her safe with you.” Berto turns to me. “I think you’ll treat her better.”
I don’t argue with him because he’s right.
I keep my snide comments about how good she’ll have it with me to myself and just nod.
Berto can’t be trusted, not yet, but I’m willing to entertain the idea for now.
An olive branch is being extended. Especially since Valor hasn’t ripped his throat out yet.
Steffano Bianchi is shorter than I expected for an Italian Mafia boss. Then again, Berto isn’t all that big either.
He stalks toward us, well-tailored suit but no winter coat. His body is rigid against the balmy Illinois air.
“What is it with Italians and thinking they’re impervious to the cold?” Valor mutters.
“Where is she?” Steffano makes a show of looking around.
“Leticia is someplace safe,” Dad answers.
Safe at home. Where she belongs. My wolf snaps his jaws, frustrated and angry.
“You didn’t even bring her to negotiate. Bold of you.” Steffano postures, raising his chin.
Dad doesn’t rise to the occasion; he remains relaxed and calm. “She’s not up for negotiation. We’ll be keeping Leticia, and you’ll find we’re agreeable to a number of terms that are favorable to you.”
“Which is why you’ve brought Berto D’Medici here? I’m looking for a green-card bride. Bride being the keyword. I don’t want Gregorio’s son.” Steffano looks Berto over, but his gaze almost seems hungry.
Don’t protest too much. I struggle to hold back my laugh and hide it behind a cough.
“Berto is here as the new head of the D’Medici Empire.” Dad smiles, and it’s almost one of his happy ones. Almost, but not quite. “Berto informed us of the recent passing of his father, and as the truce between our families isn’t tied to a singular generation, we’re all here to work together.”
“I already paid the D’Medicis off.” Steffano points heatedly at Berto. “Gregorio accepted the deal. That’s not my problem.”
“I never said it was.” Berto adjusts his tie ever so casually, but something about it makes me think he’s doing it as a way to keep himself still and anchored to the ground.
“I just think there might be room for improvement so that everyone walks away from this happier. I can cut you a better deal on transportation than my father could.”
“Plus, I’m sure you were buying guns from us to sell to Steffano. We can cut out the pricing of the middleman by extending a deal” — Valor lets out a low growl of displeasure — “jointly.”
“I want double the number we talked about.” Steffano looks at Berto and then to Valor. “That’d be fifty fully automatic rifles delivered to any location of my choosing. I want an additional shipment of thirty in the spring.”
“Eighty fully automatic rifles, no problem.” Dad widens his stance and crosses his arms. “I’m sure Berto will help us with the transport, given he already has knowledge of your operations.”
Berto gives a single nod.
I reach for my phone to take notes. Steffano’s henchmen, who came to stand behind him, draw their weapons.
Holding my hands out, I make a show of slowly reaching for my phone in the breast pocket of my jacket. “Someone should take notes, shouldn’t they?”
Steffano waves his hand, and the guns are lowered.
“Well, if that’s all, then.” Dad shrugs. “That’s an easily done deal.”
“No, no, that’s not all.” Steffano laughs. “I also want access to a mercenary, at my discretion, no charge, for three full years.”
“Six months.” Valor scoffs.
“Two years.” Steffano counters.
“One year. Firm. And you’re still mandated to abide by our normal screening procedures for each job.” Dad takes over.
At a minimum of twenty-five thousand dollars per job, that could be very expensive.
Though I can’t imagine that Steffano has that many enemies he needs an outside hand to murder.
Though, that’s not to say all mercenary jobs are killing either.
Sometimes you just need the best in the business for surveillance and protection.
Steffano thinks about it, running his tongue across the front of his teeth.
After a long moment, he answers. “Acceptable.” But he’s not done.
“I also want access to your tech geek.” Steffano looks at me but pretends not to know my name.
Or at least he thinks ‘tech geek’ is supposed to be offensive to me.
“For what?” I close the screen on my phone.
“I need a project done, setting up a new safehouse. My last contractor . . .” — Steffano chooses his words carefully — “met an untimely end after using my upgrades as his new standard for all business.”
“Don’t I feel that,” Valor huffs, and I know he’s thinking about Paulie and the architecture for his own house.
“Where?” Dad clearly wants to keep this conversation moving.
“Undisclosed location.” Steffano snipes back.
“I’ll know when you get me there, you might as well tell me now.” I shrug.
Steffano crosses his arms in front of his chest. “Moldova.”
“You can’t have him full-time. He’s crucial to our business. I’ll give you two weeks.” Dad offers.
“Can you get a whole house done in two weeks?” Steffano drops his arms, and this is starting to feel more and more like a conversation rather than a negotiation.
“New build or a retrofit? Square footage? How many outbuildings? Am I fortifying the house or the attached land too?” I ask for as many specifics as I can off the top of my head.
“New build. One thousand one hundred square meters. One outbuilding, a garage. You’ll be integrating the existing land security into the system,” Steffano rapid-fire answers.
“Two weeks is doable. I’m guessing you want me to bring everything necessary.” I’m already trying to come up with a list.
“Yes, I’ll provide you with the specifications that I’m looking for, and you’ll provide all hardware, software, and supplemental materials.” He nods.
“I want the electric pre-wired before I arrive. I can mark out on blueprints where you —”
“Already done.” Steffano waves me off.
We’re leaving our mate for two weeks? My wolf practically riots.
Shhh. I console him. But there’s no way I’ll ever be able to explain the separation in a way he’ll find acceptable. It’s for the best. It’s for a short time to secure forever.
We just got her back. He protests.
Dad turns to get my consent, and I nod.
“Done, you can have Royal for two weeks, but he comes back in the same condition as we sent him to you. Any damage or harm that comes to him will nullify the agreement, and you’ll get none of the remaining contract of the mercenary or of the guns.
Is that understood?” Dad squares up to Steffano, making one of his henchmen twitch.
Valor sees it too, and he subtly rolls his shoulders back to accommodate a quick grab for his gun.
“I won’t harm your precious geek.” Steffano gives me a pitying look. “But I want him available for updates for a full year too. Those first-year ghosts in a system as they work themselves out.”
“While I’m appalled that you’d think I’d leave ghosts to pop up in the system, I accept one year of tech support. But it must be done remotely.”
“On-site.” Steffano shakes his head. “I don’t want this system accessed anywhere but locally.”
Paranoid much? My wolf scoffs.
“One trip a quarter, no more than three days at a time.” Valor cuts in. “We’re not flying him halfway around the world just because you can’t figure out how to turn on the security system.”
“Once a month.” Steffano tries to argue.
“No.” Dad shakes his head. He makes that ‘disappointed in you’ look that he’s never once used on Valor and me but uses on other people all the time. “One trip a quarter. Three days at a time. Best we can do.”
“Fine.” Steffano huffs. “Then I want to up the cash from fifteen to seventeen million. To get back the money I already paid the D’Medicis for her.”
“Done.” I don’t even try to negotiate that.
I know Dad wanted to negotiate the amount down due to Leticia being hurt, but the money is just sitting there doing nothing anyway. The whole concept makes my gut ache. Exchanging money for the woman I love isn’t something I want to do, but it seems like it’s necessary. I just want to move past it.
“That’s it? Are we done with this?” Valor looks around our small group before addressing Steffano. “You’ll get the marriage annulled in Italy, and we’ll arrange the rest of the details.”
Steffano looks at me one last time. “Can’t see what she sees in him, but yes. I’ll take this as payment for Leticia and process the annulment in Italy.”
“Well, that was much more civil than expected.” Dad sighs. He steps forward to shake Steffano’s hand. “It’s a pleasure doing business with you.”
Steffano shakes, and when they let go, he adds as if it’s an afterthought, “I’ll expect Royal in Moldova tomorrow, then?”
“Tomorrow isn’t enough time to get everything together, even if you had the specs list in hand right now. I need a week to make sure I can source everything we need.” I’m quick to argue.
“Excellent, one week.” Steffano turns his back on us, walking to his jet. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have another bride to find.”
We wait until the henchmen and Steffano are on the plane and it’s turning around to head back to the runway before moving from where we stood to negotiate.
A cool wind whips by, and I shudder.
That’s it. In three weeks, I’ll be home with my mate, and this nightmare will be behind us.