Page 113 of Devious Corruption

“Because I do business with the DeAngelo family?”

“What business do you have with them? You don’t move flesh, you move guns,” I remind him.

He scrapes his top teeth across his bottom lip.

“And now they’re giving what little power they were going to give you to Milo. And they will push you out of the States, not just this city.”

“What do you want?” He tilts his head back, his jaw tight.

“You’ve been trying to broker territory on the east coast, is that right?” Alexander steps forward. “A deal can be made for certain items to be moved through our ports and with our protection. For a fee, of course.”

“And what is this fee?” Levon questions.

“Do you think you have any leverage here?”

“All of this because of a fucking woman.” Vartan scoffs.

“What did you say?” I ground out.

“Tony explained that his brother is at war with the Bratva over a woman. She stole from him?—”

“The war between the Volkovs and Marco is his own doing. He put his hands where they didn’t belong. He went after Alexander’s wife. And he didn’t stop there.” I lower my chin, leveling him with a hard stare. “You’d be smart to stay away from whatever bullshit the DeAngelos are trying to sell you. If you want to make money here, you’ll take this deal I’m offering.”

“Understood.” Vartan nods. “A misunderstanding, then, on my part.”

“And what of your woman? How does she play intothis?” Levon pushes. “Those brothers of hers, they’ll need to be dealt with.”

He pulls out a photograph of their meeting Tony and Milo and jams his finger into it.

“They will be dealt with, my way,” I say matter of factly. “And you’ll leave Maxine out of this.”

The soldier in the corner mutters something again. This time it’s not nothing.

“Maxine? I saw her once, nice ass, round and juicy. Perfect for bouncing on my cock. Fucking American bitch.”

I jerk away from the table. I’m on him in a blink of an eye; my hand wrapped around his throat and have him pushed against the wall.

“You don’t get to say her fucking name.” I move my hand to his head, fisting the short hairs there and dragging him to the table.

In one motion I smack his face into it with bone snapping force; blood splatters across the wood tabletop.

“You don’t ever say her fucking name. Not unless you want me to cut your fucking tongue out and feed it to you. Understood?” I say calmly. Inside I’m raging that this fucker dared to even think about Maxine.

I should have his brains scrambled.

His head bobs and he covers his nose with his hands. When I release him, I bring my knee up to his stomach before dropping him to the ground.

“Jesus.” Vas sighs behind me.

The room falls quiet again, other than the groans ofthe soldier still curled up on the floor trying to get his breath back.

“I don’t believe my men realized you spoke Armenian,” Vartan says, looking down at his fallen soldier. “Either way, he should have better manners.”

“If we back away from the Italians, they’ll only team up with Milo. You haven’t solved anything by putting us in a chokehold.” Levon stands up from his chair.

“You’ll have our backing. If Tony makes a deal with Milo, they’ll be going up against the Volkovs, me, and the Petrosyans. They won’t have a chance,” I assure him.

“How do we know you won’t double cross us the same way? Pull in Milo?” Levon continues. He has more sense than his father—a bit less myopic of how the future can be shaped.