He gave me a bear hug and clapped me on the back. “About fecking time we got together again.”
His son, Angus, was the spitting image of his father, though trimmer and with some good looks thrown in from his mother. Leary was around Colum’s age, late fifties, with beady eyes and a wicked business sense.
“What did you do to Sully? He hot footed it out the front door like he had a bee up his arse.”
I shrugged. “I may have joked that we were planting bombs under your car.”
Colum pulled back and stared at me, the tension in the room ratcheting up to smothering levels. My inner alarm bells cut through my drunken haze as Colum eyed me.
Peter edged closer to us, his hand hovering at his stomach, ready to grab his piece if shit got real.
Then Colum’s face crumpled into a grin. “Jaysus, I bet he’s out there right now on his back under the Escalade, checking every little thing.” He laughed so hard tears glistened in his eyes before settling down. “Oh, feck me, that’s good shite.”
Peter let out a sigh of relief and motioned for the Irish to have a seat on the sofas as I walked around my desk and sank into my chair.
“Anybody want a drink?” I smirked at Peter.
“I just had a little nip in the car, so I’ll be good for a bit. Now, let’s get down to business, shall we?” Colum sat next to his son while Leary stood off to the side, staying alert.
“The merger.” I nodded, the drunken cobwebs slowly clearing.
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” Colum relaxed into the sofa, his portly stomach protruding over his khaki pants. “You’ve got problems to solve before we can even begin to talk about marriage again.”
“The rat.” I leveled him with a hard stare. “That’s going to be taken care of in short order.”
“Know who it is, do you?”
“Not yet.”
Leary shook his head.
“You got something to say?” I fired off at him.
He focused on me but kept his mouth shut.
“Don’t mind Leary. He’s just a little skittish seeing as how the Genoas killed his Da all those years ago, and here we are talking about alliances with what’s left of that organization.”
“What’s left?” I leaned forward and wove my fingers together on the desk. “What’s left is the biggest, fastest-growing, and most robust organization this town has ever seen. We’ve doubled our legit operations since I started, cut back on the shit that brings the most trouble, and have collected record profits. The Genoas had a family business. We have an empire.”
Angus glanced at his father. Clearly, the son was interested in what I had to offer despite the old man’s reticence.
“I’m not doubting you.” Colum held up a hand. “Not a bit. But this problem with the Russians, that could lead to a war we want no part of. We’re like you, trying to get some more solid businesses to front the rest of our operations. It’s a slow process, but Angus has been spearheading those efforts.” Pride gleamed in his eye. “Got a business degree from Yale and came right back to the family to use it.”
“Then we’re on the same page.” I would keep trying to woo him. The Irish had the capital and the means to solidify our grip on the city. The Russians wouldn’t have a foothold once we’d joined forces.
Both of us knew that the Irish would stand to gain greatly from an alliance. But Colum was smart—he wasn’t betting on a horse until there was a clear winner. Once I beat out the Russians, the deal would be as good as closed. But if the Russians somehow managed to stumble into a win, he’d ally with them in a heartbeat.
Colum stayed cagey. “We are on the same page, but like I said, I can’t get involved in this Russian mess. Once you clean all that up, we’ll be happy to meet you at the altar.”
“I’ll need a pre-ceremony blowie, as is custom.”
Colum belted out a belly laugh. “Jaysus, this guy.”
“What about the last shipment of weed?” Angus kept his voice low, but asked a pointed question.
I turned my attention to him. “What about it?”
Colum scratched his chin. “Angus brings up a good point. If we ally with you, who’s to say these ambushes won’t continue? Maybe if other organizations see you as weak, they’ll start coming, too.”
Anger rode me, but I kept a lid on it for once. “Weak?” I smirked. “Did you tally up the body count from our little Russian interlude? Dmitri took a solid hit. He’ll take more and more if he tries to fuck with my shipments.”
“But he will.” Colum leveled his intelligent gaze on me. “He’ll be back for more. Word on the street is that you have something of his. Something that he’ll happily spill an ocean of blood to get back.”