Page 100 of Disgrace

Andino smirked a bit. “The pretenses about who is running this show is just about over. Are you going to sit, or not?”

“Made men should never appear level with their boss. Stand for respect, or sit when he’s standing to allow his voice to carry. We all learned these things, Andi.”

Andino nodded. “Except, you and I have always been on equal ground, cousin. Never one higher than the other.”

“You are now.”

“In appearance only.” Andino pointed at the chair once more. “Sit.”

John dropped his form into the chair, and only glanced back over his shoulder when the office door was closed behind him. “We’re the only ones here for this, or what? Not a good sign for you, Andi.”

Andino chuckled. “Keep poking my nerves, man.”

“I kid.”

“I know.” Andino shrugged. “No one else is needed for this at the moment, John. You had some issues last night, huh?”

“Another burned warehouse.”

Andino’s expression turned pensive as he turned his head a bit to look out the window. “Shit, like we can fucking afford another loss like that.”

“My thoughts, too.”

Sighing, Andino looked back at John. “Unfortunately, I need you to stand down on all of this. Do not respond to that with another attack, just like we let the drive-by shooting on you and Lucian go unanswered, too.”

Irritation simmered through John’s blood.

“Seriously? What are you trying to—”

“The Calabrese need to believe we are subdued in every aspect, from business to family. By not answering them back, it will slow their violence. Give them the idea they have possibly strong-armed us into a corner. Regardless, it allows me to put feelers out, which I need at the moment. I have an end goal here, and I want to reach it soon.”

Andino smiled coldly, “It’s time to put the last part of this plan into motion, John. I can’t afford for anything to ruin it. So, no attacks, no threats, no anything. I need quiet streets until I get the Calabrese into the position I want them in.”

John tried to swallow down his rage, but it was damn hard.

If not downright impossible.

“And your goal is what?” he asked sharply. “To make the Marcellos look weak—incapable, easily manipulated, and broken by a few attacks? To let them think we’ve backed down, and that they’ve scared us?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I would like for them to assume.”

Andino’s admittance took John by surprise.

John straightened in his chair. “What kind of fucking boss does that make—”

“A very smart one,” Andino replied. “A boss that they won’t see coming, as they still don’t know I am the boss. Think, John, they know I will be taking over, but not when. As of now, it is still assumed Dante is running the show. Perhaps Dante is too old—too tired—to keep up with this kind of nonsense. Consider Dante gives them a way out of this that would satisfy their need and want to have more control in New York.”

Andino leaned forward, and steepled his fingers together. “Consider, cousin, that their greed and ignorance will put them in a position where they open up to us. Where we finally get our in to remove the issue entirely. Where they are the ones who are weak, manipulated, and broken.”

John took in Andino’s words.

He liked them.

And he didn’t like them at the same time.

“I knew this was your plan all along,” John murmured. “To take over that family, I mean.”

“Wrong. Oh, I do want to reorganize and make it a faction of the Marcello family, yes,” Andino said, giving John a look from the side, “but I have no intention of absorbing it into this family. It was never ours to begin with. It belonged to someone else.”