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.Nowhe 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’texactlytrue, 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 awhiffof 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.
