Page 94 of Waste of Worth

Anything that was not given to him was always taken away.

That fear was so real to him.

So alive.

He wouldn’t let her be hurt because she was his.

He would rather hurt her himself than see her be used against him.

Karen wouldn’t understand.

Dino wouldn’t explain it.

“IF you’re not up to discussing business today, that’s fine. But don’t ignore me as though you’ve got better fucking things to be doing,” Riley Conti said. “I’ll take your lack of conversation as your usual bullshit, but the rest is just disrespectful, Dino.”

The bitter tone of the Outfit’s front boss held an almost threatening quality to it, and that was the only thing that made Dino glance up from his clenched hands.

Riley glared at him from across the restaurant table. His outburst, and Dino’s lack of attention, had not gone unnoticed by the other men who had been brought to attend the meeting between the front boss and Capo.

“Well, do you?” Riley barked.

Dino willed away the mess in his mind, determined to get this day over with so he could move on. “Do I, what?”

“Have better things to be doing, Dino!”

Yes, he wanted to say.

He should be with Karen, across the fucking city, apologizing for being a total asshole the week before. He should be on his knees in front of her, making amends in whatever way she wanted him to for leaving her place without so much as a goodbye. He should be feeding his desires, placating the dull pain in his heart by going to her.

Instead, he was sitting in a shitty restaurant having a conversation with a man he cared nothing for. Dino felt more for shit under his shoe than he did for Riley Conti.

Business was still business.

He had a job to do.

“I’m here, aren’t I?” Dino asked calmly. “You want more foot traffic on your territory, fine. I’ll make it happen.”

“With my men—not your brother doing the majority of the work.”

Dino resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Still don’t like Theo, huh?”

Riley didn’t grace that with a response.

Honestly, he didn’t need to.

“Do I need to take this to Ben?” Riley asked after a moment of silence had stretched on between the men.

At that, Dino did tense in his seat. He’d gone through much of the meeting without trouble, despite his lack of conversation and attention. It really wasn’t that unusual for him, regardless of what Riley wanted to say.

But at that statement—that threat—Dino did hesitate.

Riley knew it was a good threat to use. The front boss was one of few men aware of just how to get what he wanted where Dino was concerned, and that was through Ben.

“I said you’d get the foot traffic,” Dino said.

“Make it happen, or the next chat I have will be with your uncle.”

With that final threat hanging over Dino, the front boss stood from his seat, waved a hand at his son across the restaurant and the other men who had attended the meeting, and then he was gone. Dino only looked up from his hands again when he heard the jingle of the bell above the restaurant’s front door.