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Delancy's eyebrows snapped together. "Me?"
"You are a social media nightmare and mobsters avoid the media like the plague. Being married to you will definitely put my face in the papers, and that is not good. It gives my grandfather a reason to take Brooklyn away from me and order me home, where he can kill me without getting into trouble with Spain."
Delancy exhaled slowly, his eyes dropping. "I don't know what to do. I need to keep my face in the news doing stupid stuff so that no one figures out what I am really doing, but I don't want you dead."
"Is there any way you can be in the news without doing stupid stuff?"
Delancy snorted. "Probably not."
I sighed heavily. "Okay, so will people expect you to still do stupid stuff now that you are married? Won't they expect you to settle down into married life? Isn't that how it's done here in America?"
"I wouldn't know. Not only have I never been married before, but my only frame of reference is my parents, and you've met them. I learned everything I know about creating scandals from them."
Yeah, I could see that.
"There has to be some middle ground." I hoped so at least. "I can't give up what I do here in Brooklyn, and we can't get divorced. Both options end with my death, and I kind of like living."
"Yeah, I'm kind of in favor of it, too."
"You don't think people will believe you've turned over a new leaf?"
Delancy shrugged. "I guess married life is supposed to change you to some degree, but a new leaf? I'm not sure how that would work. I mean, what am I supposed to do? Work at a soup kitchen?"
"That's one option certainly. Charity work will get your name in the papers and give you the media visibility you seem to need, but that's not the only way."
Delancy raised one eyebrow. "You have a better idea?"
"One of the requirements of keeping Brooklyn is that I have to send a certain amount of money home every quarter. If I don't, my grandfather can take Brooklyn back and order me home to die."
"How much money are we talking?"
"Millions."
Delancy's shoulders slumped. "Damn."
"If I kept things they way there are now in Brooklyn, I could probably do that, but I refuse to deal in drugs or prostitution. Hugo and I, along with a few old friends of mine, are working on finding other businesses I can use to make the money, businesses that don't make my stomach curdle in disgust."
"You are not going to deal in drugs?"
I shook my head. "Drugs and human trafficking are a sure way to get the attention of the authorities, and that can end up with a lifetime vacation behind bars. I would prefer to avoid that if at all possible."
"So, what are you going to do then?"
"I'm working on a couple of different business ventures."
"Illegal ones?"
"Some illegal, some not so illegal," I admitted. "Spain doesn't care where the money comes from as long as they get it. I'm currently looking into what I can do that will make me that money."
"Do you have any ideas?"
"A few," I replied. "One of my friends suggested shipping. It can work with both sides of the fence. I can establish a shipping company and ship normal wares, but I can also ship black market materials."
"But not drugs or people, right?"
"Right.
"What else?" Delancy asked.
