Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 96742 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96742 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
But this place is draining her, and I don’t think she’ll ever get away from its clutches. Just like me.
Chapter 50
Evander
The meeting happens on neutral ground. It took days of back and forth to get everyone on the same page, and I made sure only the most important people in my family heard anything about it. Lycus, trusted soldiers, and nobody else. Not even Camille.
I keep thinking about my wife. My real wife.
Gareth worked a miracle. Really, he took a lot of my money and gave it to the perfect person to make sure her divorce paperwork made it through the system without anyone noticing, which allowed for our marriage to follow in its wake.
Now that she’s finally mine for real, I keep thinking about her, keep thinking about what my life could be like if this wasn’t some short-term deal.
I’m tempted to skip this meeting. If all goes well—and there’s no guarantee it will—I might walk away with a solution to our problems.
Which means Camille won’t have a reason to stay with me anymore.
I won’t force her to remain my wife. I’ll sign the paperwork, as promised. I won’t keep her, even if I want to.
But there’s a part of me that wishes I could skip all these games and simply say what I feel.
I step into the sushi restaurant with Lycus on my heels. The girl up front knows we’re coming—this place is controlled by the local Japanese Yakuza organization, another minor crime family in the region—and leads me into a back room. It’s hazy with cigar smoke, and Don Pavone is already there, the big man leaning back in his chair with an ugly little smile on his lips. Standing behind him is his underboss, Renzo Nasato. The guards and soldiers were all left outside.
“Gentlemen,” I say.
Don Pavone stands. He grins at me, spreading his arms. “Hello, Evander Kazan. Or do I call you Lord Kazan?”
“Call me Evander.” I shake his and firmly. “And I’ll call you Bosco.”
Bosco Pavone has a slippery smirk, dark eyes, gray hair, and a rap sheet longer than a CVS receipt. His underboss Renzo is whip-thin with a scar on his lips that leaves him constantly sneering. Lycus and him exchange glares, but nothing more.
“Sit, please. Cigar?” He cuts the end of a dark Cuban and I light it from his torch. It’s decent, earthy and pungent. He doesn’t offer Lycus anything. “I’d say we should order food, but I fucking hate sushi.”
“They have other things,” I say with a shrug. I actually like sushi but I’m not about to get into an argument about the merits of raw fish with a guy like Bosco Pavone.
Out east, in the main family, he was a powerful Capo, but still only a Capo. When the Pavone Famiglia began moving into Chicago more seriously, he took over the local crew and established himself as the de-facto Don of their midwest operations.
I’ve met him a few times, back before the war got hot. I always found him loud, crude, and distasteful—not worthy of the title Don. But he’s the man I have to negotiate with.
“For once in my life, I’m not interested in food.” He laughs and pats his gut. “Though you look like you barely eat at all. Seriously, Evander. You’re, what, five percent bodyfat? You’re the lord of your little family, boy. You don’t need to worry so much about staying in shape.”
“I prefer to get my hands dirty, Bosco.” I don’t add, unlike you. Bosco rules from a distance, which is smart for the head of a crime family, but I think it makes him a coward.
“I’ve heard. Chris Conti in particular hasn’t been happy about it.” His smile fades somewhat. “Things have gotten ugly in our city, Evander.”
My city. But I hold my tongue again.
“You can blame your capo for that.”
Bosco tilts his head. “From my perspective, you stole his wife away. That’s what he says anyway.”
“His wife ran from him because he’s an abusive piece of shit. I met her by chance, took her in, and offered my protection.”
“And married her in the bargain.” Bosco grins, waving his cigar in the air. “Don’t get me wrong. I’ve seen the girl. She’s fucking pretty. I understand why you’re willing to rip the city to pieces for her. Seriously though, pussy is pussy, there’s plenty of good pussy in this city. Didn’t you know Conti would go full-on apeshit over all this idiocy?”
It takes all my self-control not to leap on him and beat him senseless. “I assumed he’d be dead by now.”
He barks a laugh. “Fair enough, but he’s not, and here we are. We’re burning fucking residential buildings, we’re shooting each other in the street, and meanwhile all my fucking businesses are grinding to a halt. Don’t look at me like that, I know you’re struggling too.”