The Banker (Banker 1)

“I’m sure Cato is funding competition. If they can get rid of him, the nucleus binding all the organizations together, it would be chaos. A free-for-all. There’re just as many people who want him dead that want him living.”

And I would be the one to make it happen.

“So, don’t feel bad. Cato Marino is just as evil as I am.”

After listening to Bones speak so highly of his wife, I didn’t feel afraid of him. “You don’t seem so bad.”

He finished his drink then turned the glass upside down on the table. “Trust me, I am.”

9

Cato

I hadn’t touched my glass since the moment I sat down. It was my favorite drink—scotch. A single ice cube sat at the bottom, slowly melting and mixing with the booze that burned my throat with every sip. Four of my men stood behind me, all packing under their jackets.

Claw sat across from me, a large scar down his left cheek. It looked like someone had tried to skin him alive—but he managed to escape. He wore a blue blazer with a gray V-neck underneath, and while he sat with grace, he didn’t possess a hint of dignity the way I did. He was a thug, a criminal, and a pawn.

I was the king. “Twenty percent.”

He cocked his head slightly, his eyes narrowed in revulsion. “You can go lower than that.”

“I can go as low or high as I wish.” Every room I stepped inside had a temperature. It rose and fell depending on the mood of the inhabitants. But I was the thermostat. I was the one who controlled everything.

Claw clenched his jaw slightly. “Ten.”

I chuckled. “It’s twenty-five now.”

A glimmer of rage sparked in his eyes, but he kept the rest bottled inside his body. “You gave a much more generous offer last week.”

“That was for Kevin—who asked for a much smaller loan. You expect me to give you two hundred and fifty million without something in return? You’re asking me to front the costs for enough military weapons to provision all the soldiers of an entire country. Yes, asshole. It’s twenty-five percent interest. Take it or leave it.” My biggest profits came from my connections to organized crime. I got high interest on my investments, and since criminals cared more about their reputation than innocent people, they always paid their debts.

Claw shook his head slightly, furious with the terms but unable to protest. If they wanted to make this happen, they needed me. All the assholes of the underworld needed me in one way or another. “I’ll take it.”

I sat in the back seat of the armored car as I was escorted back into Tuscany. It was three in the morning, but I had clients visiting the estate the next day, so I’d rather make the drive now than later.

Bates called me. “How’d it go?”

“Twenty-five percent.”

Bates paused as he let the number sink into his skin like water into a sponge. “They couldn’t have been happy with that.”

“No.” The Skull Kings didn’t like it at all, but since their balls were in my hand, there was nothing they could do about it.

“Shit. That was easy.”

“Too easy.” I’d been in the game for a long time, and my reputation was doing all the heavy lifting. Deals were made for me with little work, and getting incredible deals in business negotiations wasn’t even hard anymore. I looked out the window as I mulled over a word in my head. Bored.

“We’ll talk about it tomorrow after the meeting.”

“Alright.” I hung up then looked out the window into the darkness. Once Florence was behind me, it was nothing but black on the way to the house. Some homes were lit up from a distance, but since the countryside was asleep, it was just me and the stars.

I arrived at my home fifteen minutes later, then stepped inside the house.

Regardless of the hour, Giovanni was awake and ready to greet me. “How’d it go, sir?”

“Fine.” I slipped off my jacket and handed it to him.

“Anything I can get you? Or are you straight off to bed?”

I was going to bed, but not to sleep. “No. Go to sleep, Giovanni. It’s been a long day.” Giovanni served me all hours of the day, and even when I tried to give him time off, he never wanted to take it. Keeping up my home seemed to keep him sane.

“Alright, sir.”

I turned to the staircase on the right.

“Sir?”

I looked at Giovanni again, knowing he wouldn’t disrupt me unless it was important.

“I wasn’t sure if I should notify you now or in the morning, but…there’s been a situation with one of the men on the team.”

Survival was about keeping two eyes in front of you and two eyes behind you—at all times. Even with so many men guarding me, I never truly felt safe. As long as I possessed this kind of power, the rest of the world would want to take it away from me. No one could be trusted—not even my butler. “Yes?”