“Am I supposed to believe that shit?” he asked. “From what I hear, you’ve been tight in his org since you came to town.”
“I’m tight with a fucking payout,” I corrected. “He paid the best because he knew he had the best. That’s where my loyalty resides—with cash in my fucking pocket for a job well done.”
“And now, what?” he asked as he leaned back against the cushion behind him. It started to slide a little, and he had to lean forward before he fell over. “Am I supposed to offer you a contract with my organization?”
“Fuck your piss-ant little Azerbaijan outfit,” I snarled. “You can’t fucking afford me. You might think your family is hot shit in the eastern block, but you’re nothing around here. However, Gavino Greco has the means to pay me what I’m worth.”
His eyes narrowed, and I hoped I hadn’t taken it too far. I needed him to think I didn’t give a shit about him—only Greco—or I wasn’t going to be able to pull it off. If I came across as too nice and compliant, he’d know something was up.
“So talk to him,” Micah snapped back. “What the fuck do you want with me?”
“Well, that’s exactly where you come in,” I informed him. I inhaled on the cigarette again, watching the red glow warm the center of my palm. “I need you to arrange a meeting. Neutral ground—like this place.”
“Why would I do that for you?”
“Well, ultimately I would say it’s in your best interest.” I sat back and tossed the cigarette onto the nicely polished hardwood floor before stomping it out with my boot. “If I keep working for Moretti, you’re going to move to the top of my list, especially considering your sister is banging his son. He’s not too thrilled with that, you know.”
Micah glared.
“He’ll probably add her to my roll as well,” I added. “Considering I killed off his secondary cleaner, I’d be the only one given the job. Without me, he’s a little paralyzed right now. If you don’t want to play nice, though, that’s okay. I’ll just do a couple more jobs for Moretti before I leave town.”
“You’ve made your point,” he snarled.
“Glad to hear you can be reasoned with,” I said with a smile. “I’ll be waiting for your call.”
I wrote my phone number on a napkin and tossed it to him before I stood up and left the bar. I took a deep breath of summer air as I walked back into the street and headed to the nearest bus stop.
Nothing could have made that go any smoother.
Chapter 13—Tentative Agreement
Though I was quite sure Micah Severinov went straight to Greco with my offer, he took his sweet time getting back to me. It took several days for me to receive his phone call, but I had expected the delay tactics and chose to spend the time finding a new apartment.
I found the perfect one just a few blocks away from the Loop near the Green Line, which gave me easy access back to downtown. It was a smaller place than my old one, and with two people and a big dog, it seemed a little cramped to me, but still perfect for what we needed. Lia wasn’t complaining—she thought the place was extravagant. It was much bigger than the place she had been in and had a nice pool and a balcony with a good view of the area around us. There was green space for Odin’s quick trips outside and a nice dog park a couple blocks away.
We moved in at night and had everything brought over within a couple of days. Lia hated the whole living-out-of-boxes thing and worked hard to get the essentials unpacked as quickly as possible. There was still a bunch of shit back at my place—I didn’t want it to look abandoned—but all of her stuff fit in the back of my car.
She didn’t have much.
“I don’t need anything,” Lia insisted.
“Yeah, fine,” I argued, “but what do you want?”
“Nothing.”
Frustrating fucking woman. Why was it that on the rare occasion I did feel like buying shit for a chick, she didn’t want anything?
“I can just go out and get you stuff without you looking at it first,” I threatened.
“You said you didn’t want me out and about until you ‘took care of business,’” she reminded me. “Besides, I’ve spent all afternoon moving shit all around and finding a place for it—I’m not up for a bunch of shopping on top of it all.”
“There’s always online shopping,” I countered. “You don’t even have enough clothes to last you a week.”
“That’s why we got a place with a washer-dryer.”
“Bullshit.”
I pulled out my laptop and threatened to buy one of everything at Macys-dot-com until Lia finally gave up and sat down with me. I pulled her onto my lap and kissed at her neck while she picked out a few things from a cheaper website. She argued some more when I insisted on buying matching jewelry for the clothes she ordered, saying she only ever wore the necklace made from the quarter she’d once bounced off my ass. I used my mouth and hands to persuade her until she finally relented.