Page 20

20

RYUJI

W e pulled into the agreed upon location five minutes before the meeting time.

“Think Kofler will go for this?” Leona asked, her finger absentmindedly swirling the hair at the end of her braid. Kofler was a well-known European who made a name for himself over the last fifteen years as a cutthroat businessman. I’d never personally met him, but Obi and I had both heard his name before. He was infamous on the West Coast.

“It is a risk for him, but without risk, there is no reward,” Obi told her. “You must present strength. Ryu and I will be right behind you.”

If this didn’t go well, we could almost guarantee he’d snitch to Volpe about our business, and then Volpe would be able to guess what we were doing.

“Should you lead the conversation?” Her eyes flicked to the rearview mirror, where Obi watched her carefully. “Maybe he’d take us more seriously.”

Obi opened his mouth, but I interrupted him.

“No,” I said firmly. I hated how she’d started to defer to him. Like I told her before, if she wanted to be a queen, then she needed to act like one. “You are in charge of this.”

Leona nodded, eyes steely and hard. She pulled out her deep red lipstick from a hidden pocket inside her jacket and brushed it over her lips with a pop .

What would a ring of her red lipstick look like around my cock?

Fuck, I wanted to smudge her makeup. Wrap her hair around my wrist while I thrust into her sweet pussy from behind and make that sharp eyeliner run down her face.

“Look okay?” she asked.

She looked more than okay. She looked fucking powerful .

“Deadly,” I said with a wink.

We slipped from the car, both Obi and I keeping a careful watch on our surroundings. We were armed to the fucking teeth, and the vehicle held an extra stash of weapons—including my .50 caliber sniper rifle—should we need them.

The dealer waited in the middle of an abandoned warehouse in the south of the city. The corrugated roof had rusted and collapsed. Oil drums were scattered under places where the roof was still intact, covered in soot like they were used for makeshift fires. A homeless encampment had settled down the street, but even they gave this place a wide berth. I kicked an empty can of tuna across the gravel before it pinged into some scrap metal.

Kofler stood with three men next to one of the burned-out oil drums, but I raised my eyebrow at Obi. By now, Kofler had to have heard the rumors that Leona Vero partnered with the Shadows. And he only brought three men with him?

Obi smirked slightly, a silent agreement that they stood no chance against us.

“Kofler,” Leona said as we walked up to them. Whatever anxiousness she held in the car had melted to unveil a sexy swing of her hips and her head held high. She looked like a goddess.

“Vero?” He shoved his hands in his pockets. The European was in his forties, at least, already with gray peppering through his hair. But beneath his jacket, I could make out an outline of two guns. The men behind him were each armed with at least one.

“Pleasure to meet you. These are my men.” She gestured to Obi and me, flanking each of her sides. She didn’t introduce us further. If he’d done his research, he’d know who we were. “I believe you knew my father.”

The man nodded. “My biggest client before Volpe took over. Volpe is still my biggest client.” He looked down his crooked nose at her. “What do you want with this meeting?”

“I want your business.” She held her head high. “Buy guns from me instead of Max Volpe.”

The man raised an eyebrow, sneering at her like she was dirt. Anger simmered in my veins. All I needed to do was flick my wrist and he’d be dead.

“That’s ridiculous,” he scoffed.

Obi tensed slightly, cracking his knuckles, and Kofler glanced in his direction. Leona’s shoulders remained steady, confident.

“How much are you currently making off the gun trade on the West Coast?”

He eyed her carefully, a sweeping glance from her toes in those sexy as fuck boots to her leather jacket and fiery hair. “In the range of twenty to thirty million.”

“I’m prepared to up those numbers by 10 percent.”

He barked a laugh, and a knife suddenly appeared in my palm. Nobody insulted our girl. Would I kill him if he didn’t take her deal? No. But I would tear his eyeballs from his face and force him to eat them if he kept looking at her like she was nothing more than trash.

I locked eyes with one of Kofler’s men, practically daring him to try something, but the man stood passive and unmoving.

Kofler’s gaze flicked to my hand before he got a hold of his disrespectful attitude. His voice came out much more restrained. “And how exactly do you plan to do that?”

She shrugged, using one hand to pull her braid over her shoulder. “I’d say that’s more my problem than yours, but I can make that happen.”

“I need to know my investments can deliver,” he grumbled.

She stepped forward, right up to his face. The men behind Kofler reached inside their jackets, but Obi clicked his tongue and shook his head. They froze.

Kofler didn’t budge an inch as she lifted her hands to straighten the neckline of his jacket.

“Do you think I would stand here, with these two men at my back, if I couldn’t deliver on my promises?” Her voice seemed to echo through the rusted metal of the building’s shell.

I swore the fucker shivered. He looked at Obi and me for the first time. I smirked and flipped the knife in my hand. Now he was taking her seriously. Which was all well and good, because the sooner we could get this done with, the sooner we could get back to the hotel.

“No,” she murmured, smoothing her hands down his coat. “I don’t think so either. So let me ask you again. Are you interested in making 10 percent more off your gun trade if you stop buying Volpe’s guns and start buying mine?”

“All right,” he said with a loud swallow. “I’m listening.”

She flashed him a beautiful smile, then launched into the specifics of the deal. How much he could expect. When. Delivered where. Timeline expectations. Our girl answered every question Kofler threw at her like a fucking pro, like this wasn’t the first multi-million-dollar gun trade deal she’d made. She’d spent the last three days carefully planning and researching how to pull this off.

Slowly but surely, Kofler began to look at her with respect. All the while, he kept looking back at me and Obi like we would snap his neck if he said no.

And that wasn’t exactly true, but he didn’t need to know that.

“So?” Leona finally asked. “Do we have a deal?”

He stared, and she met his gaze without flinching. “Deal.”

Leona extended her hand to him. “Pleasure doing business.”

“I hope this arrangement bears the fruit you promised,” Kofler said as he shook her hand.

He got lucky letting go of her when he did because if he held onto her hand for a second longer, I would have cut his off.

“I believe it goes without saying that this agreement stays between us,” Obi said—the first time he spoke at all.

“If Volpe so much as gets a whiff of this conversation, we will hunt you down,” I added, flashing a smile that was all teeth. “It’s been a while since we’ve had a good chase, huh, Obi?”

“Indeed. I am overdue, in fact. It has been too long since I’ve flayed someone alive.” He placed his hand on the small of Leona’s back. “One must keep up with those skills.”

Leona snorted, and I threw an arm around her shoulder. Kofler’s eyes went wide as I nuzzled her hair. “Come on, sweetheart. It’s date night.”

Kofler and his men practically gaped, especially that one who stood passively the entire time. But I didn’t give a fuck. If people didn’t know we had claimed her by now, I’d be more than happy to spread the rumors like wildfire.

Let the world know Leona Vero belonged to us.

Ever so slightly, Leona poked my ribs, and I bit back a laugh.

“We’ll be in touch, Kofler,” Leona said. We turned and walked out of the warehouse like the fucking kings and queen we were. Obi and I still kept a vigilant eye to make sure we didn’t get ambushed or attacked. Fortunately, Kofler didn’t change his mind, and we made it back to the G-Wagon with no other issues.

A breath whooshed out of her the moment the doors closed, and Obi started the vehicle.

“We did it,” she said with a grin. Her fingers flew across her phone screen and mine dinged with a text shortly after. She’d sent a message to our group chat, notifying them that our meeting with Kofler was successful. “That went much better than expected.”

“Look at you, out here making thirty-million-dollar deals.” I laughed. She was right, though.

“What, like it’s hard?” she joked, but her face flushed pink with pride.

I matched her smile and so did Obi in the driver’s seat, but I couldn’t wait anymore.

I pounced on her, sealing my lips to hers. She squeaked before melting against me and threading her hands through my hair. I groaned when her lips parted and her tongue darted into my mouth.

I barely registered the SUV moving, but I could feel Obi’s eyes on us in the mirror.

Exactly. Watch, Obi. Let’s fray that control. Let’s make you snap.

“Come on, sweetheart,” I murmured while my hands snuck under her jacket. I peeled it down over her shoulders. “Let’s mess up these leather seats. I’ve been waiting all day.”

“Yeah, you’re so patient,” she breathed while I sucked on her neck.

“I’ve been remarkably patient. But business is done for the night, and now it’s time to play.”

She giggled, then cupped my face in her palms and made me separate from her delicious skin. “What do you have in mind?”

I pushed her shirt up and licked from her navel to her bra. “Obi, take us back to the hotel. Now.”