Page 34 of Ruthless Touch
“Gideon, I trust you. You know that. I know you’re skilled in handling things here on the Amalfi Coast.”
I quickly agree with him, hoping to keep that thought going. “I am. Things aren’t like they are in other parts of the world. We’re relatively new here, so that means learning the lay of the land and building trust. I’ve done just that, and people up and down this coast see me as someone who should be respected. They respect our family because of that. Lashing out at Marcello Angeloni because he’s blowing off steam could cause an erosion of that respect, and that’s the last thing we want. You put me here to be the eyes and ears of the Rule family on the Amalfi Coast. I’ve been that to a T. Let me navigate through this Angeloni issue in my way. It’s always worked before. There’s no reason to think it won’t now.”
I see in my father’s eyes a look that says he agrees with me, but once more, Alex chimes in and inserts doubt into his mind. “That’s all well and good, but you don’t let a threat go by unchallenged. This Marcello asshole needs to be set straight. Show him a little muscle and he’ll find someone else’s family to try to intimidate. We need to strike and now!”
Fuck me. My brother may very well be trying to get me killed. Maybe that’s his plan. Make things unbearable here for me until someone offs me, and then he can step into my place and live the life he’s always wanted to here. Not that he has a single clue as to what it takes to run this hotel. In his mind, all I do is get dressed in a suit and sit behind this desk every day.
What an asshole. How we can be related is beyond me.
Just as my father opens his mouth to say something, probably in support of Alex’s insane suggestion, Sasha knocks on my office door and walks in. With a smile I can tell is fake, she says, “I’m so sorry to interrupt you. Gideon, there’s an issue I need your help with.”
“I’ll be right back, Dad. We’ll pick up where I left off in just a minute.”
Happy to be relieved of that discussion, I walk out to the lobby to find Sasha standing behind one of the marble columns like she’s hiding from someone. Confused, I look around to find the issue she needs my help with but see nothing out of the ordinary. My lobby looks just as it always does. Guests milling about. People checking in and checking out. The pianist dressed in a black tux and tails playing some melody meant to entertain people as they enter the building.
“What is it?” I say as I join her behind the column.
“Nothing. I knew you were likely unhappy in there with your father and brother since you’re always surly when they come to visit, so I thought you might need a distraction. Was I right?”
I pinch the bridge of my nose and let out a heavy sigh, disgusted after only a few minutes around my brother. “Of course you were. If it was just my father, it would be okay, but fucking Alex…I swear he does things just to push my buttons.”
Sasha smiles as she straightens my tie. “Family. You can’t live with them. You can’t live without them.”
Looking down at she moves her hand up to tighten my Windsor knot, I joke, “I thought the saying goes you can’t live with them, and you can’t shoot them.”
Although at this moment all I can think of is doing just that to my goddamned brother.
“Well, I didn’t think you had that option, so I went for the family-friendly version.”
She takes a step back and studies how I look for a moment before smiling again. “There. Perfect.”
“What would I do without you?”
“You’d get along fine, but you’d have to endure more of these types of meetings without any reprieve. So it’s really bad? Alex being his usual asshole self?”
Tension courses through my shoulders and neck on its way to creating a splitting headache I know I’ll have to deal with in the next hour. Tilting my head left and right, I try to stop it before it even begins by cracking my neck, but I’m so tight, nothing happens.
“He’s his usual bombastic jackass self, which I think might get me killed if my father does what he wants. The son of a bitch thinks we should strike at Marcello Angeloni. I mean, I get it. He’s weak now because he hasn’t gotten his footing as head of the family yet, but for Christ’s sake, why does everything with Alex and my father have to include violence? It’s like they never think of the possibility that we can outwit people and achieve the end goal.”
Worry fills her eyes as she shakes her head. “He’s always such a brute. Why doesn’t he understand the idea of subtlety? You want the same outcome as he does. And why does your father listen to that? He knows how well you’ve handled things here all this time, doesn’t he?”
I take a deep breath in as I try to find the right way to describe why my father is like he is. After blowing the air out of my lungs, I say, “I think it’s the oldest son thing, which is odd since to hear him talk, that’s the one thing his father did that bothered him more than anything else. My grandfather always deferred to my Uncle Maddox since he was the oldest, and according to my father, that was a mistake because it ignored what he had to say since he wasn’t the oldest. Nothing like making the same mistakes your father made.”
Sasha sets her hands on my shoulders. “You have to make him see your way is the right way. Let Alex pull that Cro-Magnon man shit at his own place. You have the right idea. Helix just has to see that.”
“From your lips to God’s ears. Was that all you wanted? To give me a break from the torment in there?” I ask, happy if that’s all it was. The break helped more than she knows.
“No. There are no issues I need your help with, but Cesare is here and wants to talk to you. I have him waiting in the conference room.”
“Good! Now that’s the type of news I want to hear today. If I can just get through this meeting, here’s to the rest of my workday going smoothly, assuming Cesare has something good to report. Keep him happy until I’m done. It shouldn’t be long.”
My assistant lowers her head and stares at me. “What that man would like to make him happy isn’t happening with me, Gideon. And not with any of the people who work here either. He’s a pig. He’ll be lucky if I don’t scoop out some slop on the conference table in front of him.”
The way she talks about the one person who can help my day turn from the shitshow it’s become back to good makes me laugh. “Just tell him I’ll be there in a couple minutes. Turn on the TV for him. Keep him amused and I’ll get to him as soon as I can.”
The news of Cesare coming to see me so soon gives me hope that he has some dirt on Marcello I can use so I can assure my father things will be fine and not have to deal with my brother going all old school mafia on things here. When I return to my office, only my father is waiting for me, though.
This day keeps getting better and better. If he tells me Alex has left, I might let out a yelp of joy.