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Nero glanced over at me, and we both knew that there would be only one way to make that happen. Thanks to Morocco, we had enough tapes of Ashton beating Savina to ruin the entire Oliver family. However, any good general knew better than to show all his cards before he had to. Now, while I was positive that Stewart Oliver would do whatever he had to in order to preserve his precious son’s memory, the idea of handing over something so private and heartbreaking for Savina didn’t sit well with me. Not to mention, I couldn’t stomach anyone else ever seeing her that way.
“We can give you the congressman, but what we find to make that possible, we keep,” I said, finally speaking.
Declan arched a brow as he leaned back in his seat. “Which tells me that you already have something big on him.”
“That’s the deal,” I said, neither confirming nor denying his assumption.
“Don’t forget, you’re needing us more than we need you, Provenza,” Noah said, and because both men were single, neither would understand just how close I was to losing my fucking shit.
“Well, if that’s the case, then get your men ready, gentleman,” Nero said, using our numbers to get Savina’s revenge for her. “War it is.”
Declan’s chin came up, and for a man that understood the math just as well as we did, he looked completely unbothered. “Well, that escalated quickly,” he chuckled.
“We’ll be seeing you soon,” Nero said as he stood up, me right behind him.
“Oh, sit down, Sartori,” Declan huffed. “I get that you’re on edge, but you need to re-fucking-lax.”
“Meaning?” Nero asked coolly.
“Oh, c’mon…everyone in the fucking state knows that your wife is about to give birth to the second coming of Christ,” he drawled out sarcastically. “Do you really want to go to war right now?”
“Though your concern is touching, I’m quite capable of multi-tasking, O’Brien,” Nero retorted.
“You’re confused, Sartori,” Declan said, his dark blue eyes glittering. “My concern is for Mrs. Sartori, not you.”
“You motherfuck-”
I placed a hand on Nero’s chest before he could pull out his gun. “Let’s go.”
“You’re confused again, Sartori,” Declan said, not knowing when to shut the fuck up. “I mean, how many times do I have to tell you that I have nothing but pure respect for your lass?”
“As many times as I keep having to tell you to keep my wife’s name out of your mouth,” Nero hissed, letting The O’Brien push his buttons. “You and my wife are not friends, O’Brien.”
“Be that as it may, after everything that she’s been through since marrying you, she deserves peace in her current situation,” Declan said, and I could feel the anger vibrating off Nero. Though Declan wasn’t wrong, another man looking out for Kasen didn’t sit well with Nero, and he also didn’t care who that other man was. “So, because I owe her, I’m open to a compromise.”
“You don’t owe my wife a goddamn thing,” Nero snapped.
“Don’t I?” he challenged, arching a brow.
Declan wasn’t wrong. After Nero had found out about Kasen meeting with The O’Brien, he’d wanted to go after every O’Brien walking the earth. However, Kasen had been against it, feeling the same level of respect for Declan that he had for her. No one really understood the dynamic between the two, but Declan was alive right now because Nero had owed Kasen in a way that he was probably never going to be able to repay.
“Okay, I think that everyone needs to calm down,” Noah said, eyeing both me and Nero until we took our seats again. “We’re losing sight of our common goal here. We need Stewart Oliver in our pockets, and we really couldn’t care less what happens to his family. We also know that you’d rather be with your wife during this time, and Declan respects her enough to be able to appreciate why. Going to war isn’t going to help anyone.” Noah looked between all of us. “Besides, a war would only give Kotov a reason to move in once our resources were depleted. While you might have the numbers to wipe us out, we’d take quite a bit of you guys with us, giving Kotov the edge. No matter what, no one at this table wants that, and we all know it.”
Honestly, I wasn’t surprised that Noah was turning out to be the voice of reason. Whether true or not, it was said that Noah was a bit of a sociopath and apathetic to most things. When a person wasn’t prone to feelings, then they were able to see situations clearer.
Declan smirked as he said, “If you can guarantee that Stewart Oliver will be sucking my dick by the time that this is all said and done, then you can have his son. Hell, you can have both of his sons.” Declan’s eyes began to glitter again. “However, you have only one night to pull this shit off. I don’t want you lads here more than necessary, and if Kotov gets wind that we’re playing nice, that might kick off another shitstorm of problems that no one wants to deal with.”
“We can guarantee it,” Nero said, and though I didn’t doubt the man, I knew what he was risking by doing this for me. Yeah, he’d say that he owed it to me for all those years that I’d been his guard, but that’d been my job. Taking a bullet for Nero back then hadn’t been personal, even if it was now.
“Then I’m good,” Declan replied easily.
Normally, this was the part where Nero and Declan would shake hands, but as long as Kasen held a soft spot for the Irishman, that wasn’t going to happen. So, rather than adhere to customary manners, Nero and I stood up, signaling that we were done here.
On our way out of the restaurant, Nero said, “I should just kill the fucker.”
“You could,” I agreed.
My best friend shook his head as our driver opened the car door for us. “I have no idea why Kasen likes the sonofabitch.”
