Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 78464 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78464 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
“I sincerely hope not,” he said calmly. “Because you know what those consequences will be.”
I cocked my head. “Did you just threaten me?”
“I’m simply reminding you—”
“Not to tell her how worthless you are. But I can’t control her figuring it out on her own, and with the way you’ve been conducting yourself, she’s going to figure that out real quick.”
Theo enjoyed his cigar as we went back and forth. “Gentlemen, let’s focus on business.” He held the cigar between his loose fingers as his arm rested over the back of the couch. “We need to arrange a meeting with the Colombians. I agree with Axel that we shouldn’t make assumptions about the state of that relationship. Second to the US, we’re their biggest client. We need them as much as they need us.”
“Well,” Dante said. “They were prepared to kill us for that ten percent—”
“They were prepared to hijack the business,” Axel said. “And you were stupid enough to give them that chance. That’s the second time you’ve dropped your guard and made yourself vulnerable to your enemies. And you say I’m the one with the ego…”
Dante brought his hands together and cracked his knuckles, like he wanted to punch me until I flew into the window behind me. “When was the first?”
“You really don’t remember?” Theo turned to me. “Definitely didn’t learn his lesson.”
When Dante understood, his eyes dropped for a nanosecond.
“Had you by the fucking balls.” I grabbed my own cigar and lit up because I needed something to soothe my anger. Only booze and cigars could do that…and my wife. “Their mission failed. They don’t have the business, and now they don’t have the client. They’re probably sitting on pallets of product they can’t sell. Their production has probably already slowed because they’ve lost the demand. We need to set up a meeting.”
“It’s a family-run business,” Dante said. “They aren’t going to dismiss what happened—”
“Never assume anything,” I snapped. “If they want to kill us, I’m sure they’ll make that very clear.”
Shaking his head in annoyance, Dante looked away. “I’ve been working with these guys for twenty years—and then you show up and that goes to shit.”
“I’ve been in love with your daughter from the moment I saw her, and you’ve fucked that up every step of the way,” I said. “So it looks like we’re even.”
As if my declaration of affection made him uncomfortable, he shifted his gaze to Theo.
Theo stared at the fire as he let the tension settle. “Then we’ll set up a meeting and see where they stand. In the meantime, we need to find a backup supplier—”
“There is no one,” Dante said coldly. “No one who can make a quality product and make it in such vast quantities. Trust me, I’m the expert on this—”
“We can do business with several suppliers,” Theo said. “That can make up for the quantity.”
“But the customers won’t always get the same product,” Dante argued. “They’ll get one of three options—and customers want consistency.”
“We’ll make our own product if we must,” I said. “That’s probably something we should consider anyway.”
“That’s not possible,” Dante said. “We can’t fulfill that demand—”
“You’re awfully pessimistic,” Theo snapped. “I’m not sure how you built this business in the first place with an attitude like that.”
Dante paused, his expression hardening into annoyance. “The Colombians have the luxury of space and privacy. We don’t have that here. We can’t open a factory in Tuscany. We’re confined to what we have—which isn’t much. I’m being the voice of reason here. The Colombians were the best partners we would ever hope to have—and you shit on all of that.”
“You shit on your daughter when you brought her to that meeting—”
“Here we go again.” Theo raised his voice. “Shut up—both of you.”
I was tempted to pick up my chair and throw it at him.
Theo let a couple seconds of silence pass before he continued. “I think there’s only one way to go about this. We meet the Colombians, tell them what happened, and offer the ten percent they originally asked for as a peace offering. If they’re receptive, and I think they will be, then we move on.”
Dante rolled his eyes. “If only we had just done that in the first place…”
“They obviously think you’re a pussy bitch if they crossed you to begin with,” Theo said. “And that’s on you.”
Dante snapped his neck as he turned to Theo.
“So, are we in agreement?” I asked. “If this doesn’t work, we’ll move to the next idea.”
“Even if they agree,” Dante said, “they’ll probably plot to kill us anyway.”
“I’m sure they will,” Theo said. “And we’ll be ready when they do.”
“And when that time comes, we take them all out and put new people in charge,” I said. “We’ll clean house. If they weren’t so far away, I would just take over their production altogether.”