Page 126 of Savage Enemy

A deeper voice responded.

“I thought the Russians were paying good money?”

“Yeah, but the New Yorker offered more. A shit load more actually and better terms.”

“New York? At least he’s Italian then,” the other guy said.

Someone opened and shut the refrigerator door. Bottles clinked together, followed by the hiss of caps being removed.

“Sadly, dude, being Italian doesn’t mean he’s not a little bitch. Sometimes even the best stock goes weak.”

I rolled my eyes at how easily my twin parroted one of Saul’s bullshit phrases.

“I thought she was with Stefano Vignali?” the guy asked.

“What the fuck you know about him?”

“Whoa… some but not a lot. He wasn’t supposed to be his family’s heir, but his dad and older brother were murdered at the same time. I guess the Commission let him live because no one thought he could become any kind of threat.”

Aris cackled. “See? Weak stock.”

“Nah, man, listen. He rebuilt that empire, and from what I’ve heard, it’s a lot stronger now. He deals in influence, and if the rumors are true, incredible counterfeit money.”

“Just how ‘incredible’ is it?” Aris demanded.

“Rumors say he has printing plates so good that not even the Feds can tell his shit from the real stuff. But that’s not even the impressive part.”

“Then what is? His shitty taste in women?”

Clearly amusing himself, my twin chuckled.

“Nah, come on. Another family tried to intimidate him and move on his territory. Guess what? They had apartment buildings with massive weed farms in the basements.”

Aris scoffed. “He burned them down? So what.”

“He didn’t burn down anything. He strong-armed some politician into pushing shit forward to get weed legalized in New York. He took their fucking revenue away.”

The guy seemed impressed.

I might have been impressed myself, just a little.

“How did they retaliate against him?” Aris asked.

“A bloody battle in broad daylight at an old warehouse. If what I heard is really fucking true, as soon as the rival leader was dead, Vignali halted the shooting and absorbed the man’s assets into his own.”

“Again, so the fuck what? So he owns useless weed farms.”

“Dude, he’s the biggest supplier to the legal dispensaries.”

“How the hell do you even know this?” my twin bit out.

“I got a cousin who works for the Maltas. He helped vet Vignali when Capaldo wanted to marry his daughter to him.”

“Well, don’t believe everything you hear, you dumb fuck. Vignali’s nothing but a simp bitch, chasing after a whore. He’s even raising her son like his own.”

Heat bubbled up in my chest, and I tightened my grip on the fake wood knife handle. I wanted to rush out, release a battle cry while jamming the blade into his neck, then pull it out, so no one could save him after they killed me.

“A very small part of me actually feels bad for the asshole,” Aris said. “But when I sneak back to New York and gut that fucking brat of hers, dude will be back on track.”

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