Page 91 of Fighting

Mateo added Lily Long

Lily:

Is it time for a grand gesture?

Delia, Stef, Liam loved Lily’s message

Liam:

When and where, brother?

Mateo:

We got to figure out how to show her this was all real.

Delia:

I’m pretty sure she knows. Next step is getting her to open up to you.

Let’s chat at The Featherweight. I’ll reserve a private room.

We’ve just settledwhen Prudence barrels in with Sofia Salvatore. We all still, the room so quiet you can hear the blinking of eyes.

“I thought I had this space for a reading,” Pru says.

“We have a bit of a pressing matter. Can you use your shop?” Delia asks, using her best customer-service voice.

“What sort of pressing matter?” Sofia asks, her cheeks pinking.

“Oh, is this about the boys who think they’re men?” Prudence asks with a knowing look.

Lily and Delia, along with my sister, who’s patched in through video call, fall into a fit of laughter.

“I’d swear you four are a coven if I didn’t know better.” Prudence tuts as she pulls out a chair and sits.

Sofia glances around the room slowly, worrying her lip.

“Please, feel free to join us, ladies.” I gesture to the table.

What the hell. Nothing happens around here without the Salvatores and Pru finding out anyhow.

As we polishoff bar pies, I call out, “Let’s recap. Jim has been courting the Reynolds Group for a few months, hoping they’ll purchase the land that Grant put up for sale. What he and Grant have conveniently ignored is that they have no voting rights. They cannot approve the sale.

“There’s a mile-long list of reasons we should turn down the Reynolds Group offer. This includes their reputation for screwing over local companies they contract for work. Not to mention they will destroy anything in the historical preserve out on Kelly farms. And finally, they will run the current residents out of town using tax hikes and nefarious country club clauses.”

I scan the assembled group, chest filling with pride, feeling like an even better version of myself as each person looks back at me, rapt.

“The people at this table make up the ground team. Your job is to spread the word about these bad business practices. But…” I drag the word out for emphasis. “But I need it to be authentic, and keep my name out of it. Avoiding any connection to me is extremely important.”

“And you weren’t going to have a Salvatore on the team?” Sofia scoffs. “Wow, you’re lucky Pru and I showed up. Get me information on the lawsuits against the Reynolds Group. I’ll tell Chiara I’m thinking of switching to prelaw and ask her to take a look at some of the documents ‘my new class’ is analyzing.” She breaks into a devious grin. “She’ll be excited I’m making decisions, and once she dives into the lawsuits, she’ll get pissed off. Once she sees how they screw over contractors, she’ll run to Tommy and warn him to not take any jobs with Reynolds. Tommy has connections to all the local suppliers and crews, he can tell them too. Nobody around here is going to risk losing the family business.”

“Done. Stef, can you send the document called Adams vs. Reynolds to her?” I ask.

My sister nods and taps away at her laptop.

“We need to work on getting this to all the North Side business owners.”

Liam points a finger around the table. “Nah, dude. You have all of us. Me for the vet clinic land. I’ll talk to Gran tonight. And Lily’s here. The property the library is on is owned by the town. You’re set.”

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