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“You don’t mind, do ya?” Arturo questions tauntingly.
“Of course not. I may be equal in position, but he’s my elder and my father-in-law. As such, it’s my honor to allow him my seat.”
Fernando smiles, catching the word “allow,” but he seems pleased nonetheless.
Declan clears his throat as he gets up from his chair and offers it to me. Just like Fernando, I sit in it with Declan, Axle, and Lou standing behind me.
Lou’s father loses his smile when he sees his own daughter on my side of the desk, supporting the family that he once considered the enemy.
“Shall we get down to business?” I ask, hoping to keep emotions low.
“First, I’d like to say something to my daughter,” he starts in his heavily accented voice. “I am deeply disappointed in jour actions.”
“Papá!” Lou cries out behind me. “It’s not what you think.”
“So jou didn’t promise to marry Peter an then left oll of us hanging, wondering where jou were an if jou and jour mother were being tortured or, worse, dead?” He pauses, his breathing loud for a moment before he’s able to regain control. “An all the while, jou were shacked up with Kane?”
“Fernando, why don’t we talk about this whe—” her mother tries to interject, but he’s too angry.
“If jou didn’t want to marry Peter, jou should have said something. Instead, jou worry and humiliate us oll!”
“Would you have allowed her to marry me instead?” I watch the three brothers reactions, smirks and disgust, then look at their father.
Shifting his attention from his daughter back to me, he replies simply, “No.”
“There is your answer as to why things happened the way they did.” I take Lou’s hand and hold it. “We’re married and could have a baby on the way.”
She tries to dig her nails into the flesh of my palm, but I’m ready for her this time. I twist her hand so that mine covers hers.Put away those claws kitty cat.
Her father sits back and regards the two of us, his gaze dropping to her belly a few times. “Married to the fucking McKenzies. Grandchildren with them. How the fuck does this even happen?”
“They met at a party,” her mom tries to explain.
“It was a rhetorical question, Diana. I don’t give two fucks about how they met.”
“You’re right. That doesn’t matter anymore,” I agree. “What does is where we go from here.”
He rubs his chin with his thumb and forefinger. “All right. Let’s begin with what jou’ve cost me. Besides jears off my life when I thought my wife and child were gone.”
I motion for Axle to hand him the documents he prepared earlier. He sets them on the desk in front of Fernando, who begins to flip through them.
“Louisa told me about the contract with Peter’s father,” I say. “In exchange, I’d like to offer you my warehouse on Old Harbor. It has its own marina and boat yard. It would open up a new route and bring in more business.”
He glances up from what he’s reading. “This is in McKenzie territory.”
“We’re family now, Don Fernando. No one would question a gift to my own father-in-law.”
He considers it, the wheels in his head turning. “What about access to the harbor? Will my men be stopped every time we go into South Boston?”
I grin. “Mi casa es su casa.”My home is your home.“It was Lou’s idea.”
“And what do jou want in return? Diana told me jou want to be the sole provider of coke with a twenty-five percent cut. That’s a high price for someone we consider a—”
I lift my hand to cut him off. “I’ve changed my mind. All I want is your blessing on this marriage. Nothing more.”
Declan chokes on some grumbled words I can’t make out, nor do I care to.
Fernando peers at me suspiciously. “No favors?”
