I don’t have to answer his question. “I’m asking you a question. Considering how your brother was you can’t blame me for asking now, can you, Michael?”
He leans back and shakes his head. “Lucky for me, we weren’t raised together, and I’m nothing like him.” I believe him. I’ve known Michael for a few years, and for the amount of time I knew Antonio I knew he was trouble.
“So you’re moving to take over the business?” I ask him.
Michael smiles. “Yes. You have two girls for me to take?”
Quinn stands, walks out and then walks back in with two girls blindfolded and pushes them to their knees with their hands tied behind their backs. One of his members gets up and takes the girls.
Quinn taps me on my shoulder. “I’m claiming my favor now.”
We all turn to look at him. It’s a weird time for him to do so. But I can’t deny him. He saved Saskia from my father’s clutches when he would have loved to take her. And we always stay true to what we owe.
“You owe your man a favor. That’s a risky one,” Michael says laughing.
I ignore him and wait for what Quinn wants.
He scratches behind his ear and looks at me dead serious. “I want one of the girls back, and I want to keep her.”
Michael laughs. I look at him with wide eyes and confusion. I don’t understand. Why would he want one of the girls?
“Was she sold?”
He shakes his head. “She’s still in that place. I want her.”
I look at Michael. He shrugs his shoulders. “You’re the boss, if you want her, you take her and replace her.”
“Fine,” I say, tapping my hand on the table.
“Her name?” Michael asks.
“Sabrina.”
Michael laughs loud. “You sure you want her? That bitch is crazy.”
Quinn smirks, and I can tell there’s more there. A story as to why he wants her. But now isn’t the time for me to dig into it. He’s entitled to love, and if he wants that with a collected girl he can have it.
Michael turns back to his men, telling them to organize it then looks back to me. “You made a mess, did you know that? People are afraid to do business with you now.”
“They won’t stop. The merchandise to them is the best through us. And fear is good. You want them to fear us. Then they won’t fuck with us,” I say smirking.
“Then why come here and accuse me of something? Who’s threatening you?”
My hand brushes through my hair. I need to cut it. “Someone’s sending her photos. Threatening her.”
Michael looks around then back to me. “If they’re sending her photos, you should be looking to your inner circle. Or hers. Not outside of it. They obviously know her.”
I didn’t think of it that way. This business comes with people wanting to invariably ruin you. It’s just the way it is. Someone always wants what you have, and power’s a tricky position to be in. Most want it, but don’t know how to handle it. I found that out the hard way. People want to know you, to see what they can get out of you. Some just want to know you to say they know you. And some want to kill you. Livia wanted me for all the wrong reasons. She doesn’t know me. She saw what I could give her. The type of lifestyle and my name attached to that was something she wanted. I wasn’t it for her, and she wasn’t it for me.
We finish up our meeting, and as I pull up to her shop, Saskia’s sitting out front and next to her is Robert holding a can of beer as they drink. She’s laughing. And I want in on that laughter, I want to be the one to make her smile. But I know I’m about to take it away the minute I step out and tell her why I’m here.
Maybe I can hold it off a little longer. It wouldn’t be right to do so, though. I’ve hurt her enough to last us a lifetime. I don’t intend to do that any longer.
They both look up, her smile still on her face as she stares at me with those eyes that make me do crazy things. Like wanting to pick her up right now and claim her on this street in front of anyone who’d dare look.
Robert nods his head to me as I walk over and sit down next to her.
“Interesting place to drink,” I say, looking at her. She shrugs her shoulders and smiles.
“It was needed… at least one.” She nudges my shoulder with hers and passes me her beer. I take it, drinking it until it’s empty then placing it between my legs. “You’re here early. Usually, it’s late-night calls.” She laughs, but I don’t.