Planning
Sitting at the dining room table in Cruz’s condo overlooking Coal Harbour the next morning, Presley wondered why she was clinging to her teeny, tiny, little apartment so much. The view from here was Incredible. In other rooms of the condo, you could see Stanley Park and from the balcony you could see beyond the ferry terminals. It was stunning from a location perspective. Add in the fact it was a four–bedroom condo, tons of wide–open space, warm and inviting and Cruz’s bed was a king–sized bed, and she could probably fit her entire apartment in his bedroom alone, well she was almost dreading going back to her
miniscule hole in the wall.
She took another bite of her sandwich while Cruz was in his home gym, another perk of his condo despite the building having an entire gym of it’s own, she listened to the clanging of metal. According to Cruz, the shared gym didn’t have weights which were heavy enough for what he usually lifted. The grunting sounds as he began lifting whatever he’d put on his bars told her he was pushing himself. She knew he was wanting to be strong to keep her safe.
Her phone which was sitting next to her plate rang and she noted the incoming call from Rami. If anyone ever told her she’d become best friends with a Russian hitman and drug runner known as The Mechanic she would have thought them insane and yet Rami felt as close to her as Sloane and Halima.
“Hey Rami.”
“Hello little sister.”
“How are you this morning?”
“I would be better if Mina would talk to me. She is still furious with me for putting her ex in the hospital. He deserves to be there, and she knows it. I only wanted to talk to him, and he had the audacity to tell me l shouldn’t even try to go for a woman as frigid as she is because my d**k would fall off if it got close to her. As if it is her fault he couldn’t make her feel safe enough to want to make love before he put a ring on her finger. I will marry her, Presley, and then I will spend the rest of my life letting her know it was him who was the problem and not her. However, before I can do such things, I need her to talk to me.”
“Give her time.”
“She told Algernon she wants to go on a date.”
“With you?”
“With anyone but me.”
“Let her.”
“What?”
“Let her go on the date, I mean, not that she needs your permission, Rami. She can go on dates without your authorization but instead of getting your panties twisted over it, show her you respect her rights as a woman to choose who she wants to be with. Don’t follow her. Don’t stalk her date. Get Belkin to send you on an assignment or something so you’re not tempted to make an ass of yourself.”
“You want me to pretend it doesn’t bother me she goes out?”
“No!” she laughed at him. “Tell her it bothers you. Send her flowers before her date. Call her after to ask her
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Planning
how it went and to remind her you are still interested in taking her on a date when she ready. Howeve respect her right to choose who she is going out with
1 will get Algernon to set her up with a jerk who is rude.”
“You will not.” Presley rolled her eyes. “You let her make her own choices, Rami. Don’t you want her to choose you?”
“Fine but if she ends up wanting to marry someone else, we can’t be friends, you and I.”
“Trust me. She wants to be your friend before she wants to be your lover.”
“She thinks I am a brute who punches my way through life. It is not true. I usually don’t punch very much. He made me angry.”
“Did you tell her what he said about her and why you beat him up?”
“She will not talk to me!”
They were going in circles, “Rami, respect her request for space. Tell her exactly this. You can’t make her love
you.”
“I know. It would make me no better than Liborio Bartoli.” He gave an exaggerated sigh. “I will tell her I am backing off and she can pursue her own happiness. If she chooses me, I will be waiting for her.”
“Good man.”
“I have other news for you.”
“It was Estrella, wasn’t it?”
“It was. The minute she stepped foot back in her home town, she was making phone calls to anyone who would pick up about how you never married Liborio and how you murdered him. She has a small group of people supporting her.”
“Well, that’s just rude.” Presley rolled her eyes. “What is her husband saying?”
“What?”
“Her husband. The man she has a child with. What is he saying?”
“Not much I can find. I didn’t really look into it.”
“Look into it. Before I break a man’s heart and expose Estrella’s ulterior motives, I want to know if he at least suspects his wife is in love with another man.”
“You want to break his heart?”
“No. I want to undermine her and her sway with the family. Get a couple of shots from the CCTV camera in the hall where she was fighting with Liborio after she struck me. We’ll also start the narrative about how she attacked me because Liborio married me when she wanted him for herself. Paint her as the scorned woman. We’ve been selling the narrative we were hit by pirates who killed Liborio who tried to defend me, and she’d been removed from the ship ahead of time. Let’s make it so her jealousy tipped them off.”
She caught movement as Cruz/came out of the gym, sweaty and red and he was frowning at her as he made his way to the refrigerator to grab a bottle from the fridge. He walked to the table, twisting open his drink. “Rami, do you find it as odd as I do how easily my fiancée has slipped into her new role as mob boss?”
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Planning
“She has the perfect imagination for it, this is certain.” Rami laughed at Cruz’s question. “You want us to pin the entire thing on Estrella? Blame her for Liborio’s death?”
“Why not? She’s blaming me. She’s putting the actions of a mad man on my shoulders.”
“She lives in a small vengeful town. It could get her killed.” Rami argued. “Are you comfortable with this?”
“Not really.” Presley sighed, “but, perhaps we can make her out to be more pathetic than dangerous. She was shipped home from the ship because she hit me and then Liborio died after trying to protect me from the pirates she tipped off. Not her fault but kind of her fault.”
“It will still get her killed.”
“Make sure the town knows Presley doesn’t want her dead,” Cruz suggested. “Let them know Presley ordered her to stay alive.”
“Ordering the town not to kill her in retaliation for Liborio’s murder will make Presley look weak.”
“He’s right,” Presley looked at Cruz with a shrug. “If I look weak as the head of the family, I’m inviting trouble to my doorstep.” She tapped her fingernail against her bottom lip. “Tell them I want to deal with her personally. It will give me time to come up with a suitable punishment for her. In the meantime, put her on lockdown in her home with her husband and kid. Make sure the story of her begging Liborio and get a good photo from the cameras of the bruising on my face from when I was on the ship to start making its rounds. Once we get more information on her husband and child, I’ll decide on what to do with her.”
“I’ll get the information you’re wanting. You need to be prepared if the town decides to go vigilante.” She gave an exaggerated sigh, “fine. Make sure she is protected on her lockdown. Make sure the entire town knows I want to deal with her personally and if anyone contradicts my wishes, I’ll cut all funding to the town. I saw last night when I was going through some documents Liborio puts a lot of money into the little town. I’ll cut it off if she gets hurt.”
“I’m telling you, Rami, it’s like watching an evil genius at work right in front of me.”
She rolled her eyes at Cruz as he smirked at her. “Did you find out who it was who helped Ramona get the uniform and our food order?”
“Yes. Two men loyal to Liborio who made their living here in Vancouver. They worked at the casino. Belkin is dealing with them.”
“I want to meet them.” She paused, “unless they’re dead already.”
“Sure.”
Presley could hear the reluctance in Rami’s voice and could see the concern on Cruz’s face. “Look. I need to start bolstering my reputation. I’m not going to be running the illegal stuff but I’m not going to allow people to try to come in and steal the legal businesses either. If I start off as weak, then it makes me an easy target. I need these businesses to thrive so I can be part of Phoenix. I don’t care about anything else but going through all the files I’ve gone through, knowing the people we can help with this foundation, I can’t let anything happen to it. We need the money Liborio has left to us to fund the organization. If I get targeted because I’m some weak punk and we lose the ability to save even one woman because of it, well, then I won’t forgive myself. As much as I hate Liborio and as much as I hate the notion the world is under the presumption I married him willingly, it’s a small price to pay to keep the organization moving. I saw the figures. The bulk of the financial backing for this enterprise came from Bartoli companies.”
She’s right, I read the papers with her last night, Cruz commented to Rami. His contributions percent while the other four familles were each ten percent. He was an incredibly wealthy man, and the contributions were divided based on income.”
Let the underworld, or whatever you criminal types,” she snickered when Rami protested her name caffing, call yourselves, know I’ve dealt personally with the threat against my life. I won’t be able to pull a trigger ever but I want everyone who knew Liborio as the mafia boss he was, to think his wife is capable of ordering a hit
**k it pisses me off you need to be called his wife.”
“Me too, Cruz but,” she held his gaze, “you are consoling me so well it’s going to be a whirlwind romance as you ease the ache in my heart over losing such a dedicated partner. Our love is going to defy the ages.
Rami snorted over the phone line, “again with the imagination.”
“Shut up, Rami. At least my girl wants to be with me.” Cruz retorted.
“I need to go kill someone. I’ll tell Belkin to hold your men for you, Presley but when you order their hit, I want
it.”
“Done.” She shrugged carelessly and noted the way Cruz’s eyes widened. “What?”
“You said it way too easily,” Cruz shook his head.
“Rami. Keep me posted. I need to finish my sandwich.”
Rami’s laugh as they ended the call made her grin. She smiled at Cruz. “Get used it, Cruz. I’m a boss b***h
now.”
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