JETT TRIED everything he could to rattle me, but I wouldn’t scare that easily. He’d invited me to this meeting just to show me I couldn’t handle it, that my positivity would die here because I was incapable of actual work. Jett didn’t know me though.
I had more drive in my pinkie finger than most people had in their entire body. Doctors had told me to take a year off from high school, that I could sit back a grade. Those days, I remember clinging to my mother’s words like a lifeline. “My daughter is seventeen and at the top of her class. Where she will stay. Because she’s a Blakely. I didn’t raise a daughter who couldn’t handle it.”
Handle it, we did. Even through late nights of throwing up from the chemo and emergency hospital visits and losing my hair along with my friends and my whole damn life, I’d stayed at the top of my class. I’d outdone everyone and gotten into every college I’d applied to.
Then my mother’s words got the best of me the day I’d told her I could go to school in California and conquer the world on my own. “You almost died, Victory. You can’t risk catching something and not being close to home. You have a compromised immune system. Your father and I can’t lose you. Not after we almost lost you before. Stay close, honey. You can live a great life here.”
The words propelled me now in the conference room. I was a Blakely, and I was living my life. Not stuck at home anymore. I finally took the step to leave and I would take another. I could handle this meeting and show I had a right to one of these seats as much as anyone else on the legal team.
I cleared my throat and stood to greet the two beautiful men along with their own legal team. Bastian and Cade had gone swimming in their Italian gene pool and come out soaked in the best of it. Their curled brown hair and dark eyes caught most women’s attention. Bastian wore those curls a bit longer, a tad unruly. Like he wouldn’t conform to the usual standards or rules. Cade followed behind his brother and held himself more rigidly. Rules must have applied to him.
“Just a joke between colleagues, Mr. Armanelli.” I nodded at him and went to shake his hand as Jett strode over to welcome them also.
Bastian looked at my hand like it was offensive. “Vick, you partied with me and that little dancer over there,” he gestured toward Brey who smiled wide. “One of the best nights I had in a long time. Don’t revert to professionalism now.”
Truth be told, a long time ago, before I knew they were mobsters, I partied with them because I thought they were celebrities hanging out with Jaydon. We drank way too much and danced way too hard. The memory of the night calmed some of my nerves. He wasn’t The Godfather.
Him referring to our night out could have been awkward. I could have stumbled over my words and looked at my boss in trepidation.
But I didn’t do awkwardness well. I stepped into his open arms. I was scared by the idea of Katie dating him, but I had forgotten how unintimidating Bastian was. The news stories painted darker and darker pictures of these men, and their sweet demeanors got stained with the images depicted.
When I pulled back, Cade stood behind his brother, his eyes bouncing from Jett, to me, to Bastian. He shot his hand out for me to shake like he wanted no part in the prior hug exchange. I nodded at him as I slid my hand in his.
He mumbled something about it being a pleasure to see me again, but his gaze stayed on Jett.
Jett. The formidable man who sucked the life out of the room. The boss of it all.
The man I’d screwed the night before.
The man I could find in a room with my eyes closed because the scent of him lingered with me through the night, mixed with my dreams, and stole away my thoughts.
“So, it seems you’ve all met.” He finally spoke, staring at Bastian like the cards had been laid on the table and they both had an equal winning hand.
Bastian nodded. “Seems the Stonewood men keep marvelous company.”
Jett grunted, and instead of shaking their hands, he spun to go back to his seat. As he made his way there, everyone else followed suit.
Jett maneuvered a few pieces of paper around the table before leaning back in his chair. “Your father isn’t here.”
Cade jumped in no doubt ready to right the ship. “He wanted to be here but thought since your father stepped down, it was best for us to handle it. Sons to sons.”
“This isn’t a family reunion, Cade. I don’t sit at the kid table while the adults talk business. It isn’t son to son. It’s owner to owner. You own the business now?”
Cade’s eyes narrowed just like his brother’s did next to him. Bastian sucked on one of his teeth, making a squeaking noise. It was the only noise in the room as the tension shifted. Both Armanellis scanned their surroundings, and my stomach dropped. Suddenly, these men weren’t as approachable. Suddenly, I wondered if the news story about bodies being hidden was true.
Jax sighed. I glanced at Brey with my eyes wide.
She quickly shook her head, signaling not to look her way. But I needed her reassurance. We were dealing with the mob. Someone needed to let me know I wasn’t dying today.
“I took over the city if that’s what you’re asking.” Bastian folded his hands on the table and pointedly moved a ring around one of his fingers. It matched the one on Cade’s ring finger.
Jett’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “When?”
Bastian laughed, but it felt hollow. “Dear old dad handed it over right before this meeting.”
Reading between the lines of two men who ruled the business and mafia worlds wasn’t my strong suit. I knew there was more to the story as Jett nodded solemnly. “Well, then. Let’s me and you talk business, Sebastian.”
“Our contract stays the same. We don’t have time to negotiate a change in terms.”
“That contract was outdated the day our fathers shook hands.”
“There’s no record of that handshake,” Bastian quipped.
“I don’t have time for this,” Jett sighed, shoulders slumping as if the world’s weight had become too heavy. “You know I’m trying to develop a way of maintaining a clean water supply in third world countries. It’s time sensitive for people who live there. This isn’t as important.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose, and everyone fell silent. His words echoed through the room, shifting the focus from the power struggle between men to the struggle of humanity. A man’s pride should have been measured by what he did for the world, not by who might have been a bigger man in the conference room.
Maybe both Bastian and Jett knew that. Maybe the two saw and fought battles so much larger than the rest of us could fathom that they could put aside whatever differences they had to make their partnership work.
“I’m here to keep working with you, Jett,” Bastian said, his words precise, clear, and starkly honest.
Jett’s blue eyes scanned the room. “We’re all here for that. Let’s make it work. What do you need?”
“I need backing on the pharmaceutical company, Levvetor.”
Sheets of paper ruffled throughout the conference room as our team scrambled to find the relevant information.
“Not even on the table, Bastian,” Jett grated out. “You didn’t send any information on that. It’s a curveball I’m not willing to entertain.”
The air shifted, I saw it before anyone else or they didn’t care to see it. Bastian rolled his shoulders once and flicked his gaze to his brother.
“We should do it,” I blurted.
Every single blue eye, green eye, Italian eye, and brown eye swung my way. The attention of the whole room was on me.
And not in a good way.
Maybe a concerning one from Brey and a curious one from Bastian and Cade’s side of the table. Everyone else wanted to kill me, burn me at the stake, shove me out of the conference room and apologize for the idiot. I understood it. I wanted to take back my words as soon as I’d unleashed them.
‘She’s new,’ Jett explained and waved away my comment.
‘She’s also intelligent. Hear her out.’ Brey sat up tall, head turned to face Bastian. And to avoid Jett, no doubt.
‘Anything for you, little dancer,’ Bastian smiled as he murmured it. Partying with Bastian and Cade one night had ended mostly in Bastian wanting more from Brey than she could give him because her heart already belonged to Jax. Bastian flaunted his soft spot for Brey every time he encountered the couple now.
“Drop the name, Bastian,’ Jax warned.
Jett cleared his throat. ‘Let’s keep this about business.’
I stopped him. “Investing in Levvetor would not only benefit the company from a publicity standpoint, it’s also a good company. And if that solidifies the contract we want with you …’ I glanced at the Armanelli team and then looked at Jett. His shoulders sat stiff and straight under his suit jacket. He glared at me while he clicked his pen in and out. The sound matched my heart’s beat. Fast. Rapid. Alive. “I think it’s a deal we shouldn’t pass up.”
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Stepping in to take the decision out of a powerful man’s hands so I could give my opinion washed away any feeling of weakness, fragility, or deficiency. Normally, I worried over whether my cells would divide abnormally one day. It took one simple imperfect DNA mutation and I would go back to wondering if I would get to see another day.
I hated that anxiety.
I wanted to keep waking up to the sun, go to work and fight the city sidewalks to get there, sit across from the most beautiful man I’d ever slept with and go head to head with him.
I wanted to feel alive.
I let it creep across my face, the smile that I felt through my whole body.
Jett leaned back in his chair, raised a dark eyebrow and clicked the pen one last time. He searched the room. “Anyone else think it’s a good idea?”
“We need to do some research but it could work,” Jax nodded at me and winked. Brey beamed at him like he had redeemed himself for the conversation minutes ago.
I almost jumped out of my seat when I heard a soft clipped voice from the corner speak up, “Levvetor Pharmaceuticals has outsold competitors for two quarters now. They’re gaining attention and relevance as they are pricing their drugs higher than competitors and still selling. It’s a solid investment.”
Jett watched Gloria as she rattled off more statistics about the company. The company I knew all about. I could have rattled off those statistics along with ten others and given a firsthand story of my experience with them. A Levvetor drug saved my life.
Jett interrupted Gloria. “I’m not interested, Gloria,” he ground out loudly. His perfectly sculpted jaw flexed as he stared at her, daring her to continue. When she closed her laptop and snapped her mouth shut, he eyed the rest of his team. Every single person’s head went down, submitting to their king, not willing to argue, share thoughts, build ideas. This wasn’t Stonewood Enterprises, it was Stonewood Autocracy.
“Jett, we must already be watching them with those numbers and—”
“Whether we are or aren’t watching them, Ms. Blakely, has nothing to do with this meeting. We aren’t backing a company that wasn’t even on the table to pacify you, Sebastian.”
“Then the contract stands as is.” He shrugged and closed his folder, ready to leave.
Jett moved to stand as well. The hardened line of his jaw and cold blue eyes glaring out at no one in particular showed me he was just as ready for them to leave.
Blurting out my feelings hadn’t helped. Pushing Jett’s boundaries definitely hadn’t helped. I knew after this meeting the deal would be dead in the water. I’d overstepped my place.
Yet, I was a Blakely. My mother taught me not to fold even when I encountered the impossible.
I stood and smoothed the soft fabric of my dress. “What exactly do you want invested in Levvetor, Bastian?”
He stopped moving and looked at me with curiosity. “Without Stonewood Enterprises, I can only invest sixty percent of what I’d like. It would give me a share but not the voting share needed.”
I took a deep breath and tried to figure out if we could swing it. “If I had another investor …”
“They want Stonewood.”
“I’ll call Harvey. He’ll consider it.”
“You’ll call Harvey? You have a direct line to the CEO of Levvetor?” Jett sneered from behind me. His breath was hot on my neck. Everyone in the room was watching us as I looked over my shoulder at him. He was closer than he should have been. Too close for a business relationship.
I noted that. Noted that everyone in the room would be speculating on whether we’d had relations after this meeting.
I sidestepped Jett dramatically, hoping our team noticed that too. “Yes, as I said, I’ll call him.”
Bastian outright laughed at our exchange. Then he clapped his hands together. “Well then. You and I have business to discuss. Everyone else can go back to work.”
Jett’s lip curled, his muscles bunching like he wanted to lunge for me. I’d seen them poised that way before, but this stance was filled with rage instead of desire.
“We don’t make deals without my business involved, Victory. There’s a reason we’re in Stonewood Tower right now.” His words dropped rock after rock into the pit of my stomach. The blood rushed through my veins with my heart jackhammering under his stare.
“You don’t want your business involved.” My voice sounded meek and timid. I lifted my chin and flipped my hair once to reinforce my confidence. “I think helping a company even if we can’t invest in them would be the best thing for everyone.”
“So, now the Armanellis are a company to you?” He lifted an arm and extended it to look at his watch. “I don’t have time for you or this. The meeting is over.”
Bastian cleared his throat and the bubble around Jett and me popped. “I’d like a word with Ms. Blakely alone.”
Everyone filed out quickly, nodding or mumbling a thank you to their bosses and colleagues, excited to get out of the room before they got in as much trouble as I had.
Brey walked by and grabbed my hand briefly while she leaned in to whisper, “Good luck.”
Jett didn’t walk out with his team. He crossed his arms over his expansive chest and stood there with his feet shoulder width apart. He looked unmovable and protective. Hot.
“Victory works for me.”
“She does, but the business we have together isn’t a part of Stonewood Enterprises.”
“Then you can have dinner with her outside of her working hours.”
“Don’t be a prick, Jett. I just need a minute with her.” When Jett still didn’t move, Bastian sighed and ran a hand through his dark curly hair. “Oh, for fuck’s sake, I’m not trying to date her or get her into business with me. She’s safe, she’s yours, she’s untouchable. I get it.”
“I’m what?” I stammered out. “I’m not … We’re not …”
“Don’t fucking forget it, Bastian.” Without looking at me, he stormed out and slammed the door.
Bastian groaned and mumbled, “Jesus.”
He sat back down in his chair and waved at the one next to him.
I glanced around, searching for cameras or something in case he really did try something mobster-ish. Nothing looked remotely like security, and I found myself tensing back up.
“I don’t want to hurt or scare you, Vick. It’s just me.”
I nodded and pulled the chair out but moved it a little further away before sitting.
He grumbled something low and then his hand shot out to the leg of my chair so fast I nearly jumped. He dragged the chair close enough that we were inches apart and said softly, “You danced with me a whole damn night, woman. And now I’m dating your friend. Katie isn’t scared of me. You shouldn’t be either.”
“Katie isn’t scared of anybody.”
A laugh burst out of him as he sat back. “Got that right. I’m fucking scared of her sometimes.”
I slumped at his assessment of my friends. I remembered that laugh he had—so intoxicating, I told Brey to have fun with him in the club, not knowing a thing about him. Now that I knew so much more, I wondered how I could accept Katie dating him.
News outlets consistently followed the Armanelli men, and while they never did the dirty work themselves, there was so much done in the streets of the city they controlled. Taking over for his father meant he could make a call and literally have someone killed. That power and feeling of godlike control could only lead to abuse.
“Everyone should fear you. Power breeds fear.”
“I don’t have power like you think.”
“Don’t you though?”
He stared out the windows. “It’s a beautiful city. I’m not here to paint it red. My dad gave me power because he wants me to clean up the red that’s already been spilled.”
Was he saying what I thought he was saying? This was for movies or books. Not my life. Not my carefully protected life.
“Look, I don’t want to be involved in this thing between you and the Stonewoods.” I sighed. “Levvetor is a good company. Does that mean you should back it? I’m not sure. I don’t know if you are looking to corrupt it or help it.”
“Help. Promise.”
“I don’t know how much weight that holds. A promise between us is—”
“Cross my heart, I’ll bleed out on the streets of Chicago for you if you find me lying.”
I looked him up and down, took in his expensive suit, the way his body leaned toward me in a way that didn’t feel creepy but earnest. He wanted me to believe him, maybe even wanted me to be friends with him. Some yearning was there, but it was definitely platonic. “Why Levvetor?”
“I could ask you the same question. Going up against Jett isn’t for the faint of heart.”
“Meh …” I shrugged a shoulder.
He smiled. “More to that story, I see.”
“You don’t see because there isn’t anything to see,” I scoffed.
“If you were just working under him, you wouldn’t have gone up against him.”
“Yes, I would have,” I countered, and I meant it. “I believe in Levvetor.”
He measured me up this time, and I didn’t shrink under the assessment. “Why?”
“You first,” I blurted. I didn’t want to share my story, didn’t want to see the pity or the sympathy in his eyes. I didn’t share my story with anyone anymore. I’d learned quickly in high school that no one really wanted to hear it. No one wants to know how you’re actually doing when they ask the question. They want comfort, and it is completely uncomfortable to talk about cancer.
He sighed. “Aside from the fact that it will make us all a lot of money, my father knows the founder. They are good friends of the family.” Before I could ask, he added, “And yes, I mean that in every sense of the word. We don’t want competitors shutting them down, and that means we need to pour more money into it when the government starts to back the bigger companies.”
“Their drugs are working. The government can’t …”
“Big companies can make smaller ones go away even if they are finding cures, Vick. You know that.”
“Okay. So, if Stonewood Enterprises won’t back you, then I’ll lean hard on my mother’s company.”
“Blakely Fashion? Interesting. You’ll be tanking your career at Stonewood Enterprises and doing something completely illegal. And …” He dragged the word out as his eyes tracked over my face. “You don’t care one bit.”
“Nope.” I stood up, ready for the conversation to be over.
“I need an explanation.”
“Can’t me wanting to save lives be enough?” I turned toward the door.
“Nope.” He stepped in front of me, his height and presence worked to his advantage, overwhelming my space and my confidence. “Tell me why.”
“I’ve used a drug they make,” I whispered the admission.
His eyes jumped back and forth between mine. Then he scanned my body, surely looking for the evidence of my cancer.
He wouldn’t find any. My cancer hadn’t left scars on the outside. It festered in my bones, flowed through my blood, and weighed down my soul instead. Cancer wasn’t always apparent but it was always lurking. If not in you, then it lurked in someone you loved, morphing the way they looked at you, treated you, saw you. It morphed and marred every aspect of your life.
“You don’t …” He stopped. “You aren’t sick. You don’t look …”
“I’m in remission. Have been for years.”
His brow furrowed. And his gaze turned harder, more solid. “You’re a fighter then.”
His words, they weren’t a question but a statement, and I stood taller with it. The belief in his voice or possibly the cemented conviction made me want to hug a mafia boss. “I’m a fighter then.”
We let the time pass. Minutes went by. I crossed and uncrossed my legs, fidgeted with my pen. I didn’t feel the need to make him feel comfortable or fold under the awkwardness of it all.
“You don’t tell people.”
“It doesn’t go over well,” I admitted.
“That’s a lot of baggage for one person.”
“I’m sure you have a lot of baggage for one person too.”
Bastian’s shoulders tensed. Then he cracked his neck, as if trying to release the secrets he had no doubt stashed away.
“We follow your lead when it comes to Levvetor.” He licked his lips and buttoned his suit jacket.
“I’m sorry?”
He looked up at the digital clock on the wall. “We need your expertise.”
My thoughts acted like hair full of static and shot in twenty million different directions. I could do this. It was the opportunity of a lifetime and a way for a pharmaceutical drug I believed in to move forward.
Also.
I would be working for the mob.
I would be going against on Stonewood Enterprises. Jett would flip out. He would literally lose his shit.
“I’ll do whatever I can.”
“Get Jett to back it. I don’t want your mother’s company involved. Government can get dicey.” He licked his full lips. “Mean. Stonewood Enterprises has the manpower to handle mean.”
“My mother’s company …”
“Doesn’t know what mean really is, Vick.” He grinned, showing his teeth like a wolf all of a sudden, they held a sort of snarl so vicious I wanted to take a step back.
“And you think I do? That I can handle this?”
He walked to the door, opened it, and motioned me through. His smile was slow as I made my way through it. “You’re a fighter.”
I met his gaze. “Damn right I am.”
