As for the senator. No. It wouldn't be him. News of potential resignation had swept the state and all eyes were on him. At the moment he was fighting the suggestion he should step down because of his brother's arrest; he was still sticking to having nothing to do with his family.
Manny was surprised when the slim, meticulously dressed woman chose to sit in the chair opposite him.
The senator's wife, Emily Bullen, or Emily Selby as she liked to be called. An ex-debutante, she was everything the young Thomas Bullen had needed to enable him to go straight through to the white office. Money, charm, and an impeccable family tree made her akin to a freaking Kennedy. Why was she the one who had taken this meeting? Manny half stood as she sat and then retook his seat. She nodded at the guy behind the long bar and then sat quietly until he came over with a coffee. Her bodyguard faced off with Nik and stood silent and watchful.
"Why are you here?" she asked quietly.
"Vincenzio Altosinno of the San Diego Altosinnos."
She looked at him over the top of her coffee cup and narrowed her eyes. "We know who you are. We have nothing to say to the West Coast."
"If you did your research, ma'am, then you will know that the Altosinnos are no longer a force there. I am taking them back to the top."
"You seem awfully young." She wrinkled her nose and placed the cup on the table. "Tell me why you wanted a meet."
Manny sat back in his seat. Josh was silent in his ear. Clearly he was working on this new twist with the senator's wife in the hot seat.
"Maybe you should be telling me why you agreed to the meet. You look at that reply and I think we will answer each other."
She inclined her head in silent agreement. Manny looked closer and wondered what she saw in him.
Adversary? Friend? He saw her face lined with worry, even though she was trying damn hard to present an unconcerned façade.
"What are you bringing to this table?" she asked. "If you researched us then you know I don't need money."
"Guns. Experience." He inclined his head at Nik who stood quietly behind him. "Muscle." He paused for a while. "I know what is happening. I saw it happen in my family. Things start to go wrong, an arrest here, a murder there, and suddenly you are exposed with weakness you never imagined. Anyone who can, will try to get their slice of it all. A relationship between Bullen and Altosinno would be the first step in me creating a new, stronger presence on the West Coast."
"How do you plan on doing that?"
Manny huffed a laugh and then forced a suitably contrite expression onto his face. "No disrespect, ma'am, but take me to whoever is in charge and we'll talk man to man."
She narrowed her eyes and stared him down. They were in some kind of weird face-off until Manny deliberately dipped his gaze. She probably took it as a sign of respect; he hoped so, it was what he had been aiming for.
"We did our research as well," she finally offered.
"Don't think us stupid. There is little to speak of you as anything other than the son of a dead man and the nephew of an idiot."
Manny tilted his head and gave a half smile. "We're not always responsible for what our fathers did before us or for choices made. One person and one block at a time I am rebuilding the Altosinnos as a force to be reckoned with. I am sure your research showed that."
She stared at Manny for a good few seconds. Then she appeared to come to some kind of internal decision.
Every single step of it was written in her eyes. Confusion, acceptance, and then judgment.
"Come with me," she finally said. Putting her sunglasses back over pale blue eyes she gestured to the rear of the building.
Manny and Nik followed her and the bodyguard out the door marked kitchen, through a prep area, and out the back entrance. A short alleyway led to the street at the same end where Manny had entered and where a car was now waiting. She paused and cast a look up and down the street.
Manny was acutely aware that she was as much in line for paparazzi as her husband and he dipped his head, just in case. There were no flashes. Finally, they stood by the open car door where Manny had a final decision to make. If he got in this car he was agreeing to going wherever the senator's wife thought was good.
"We'll follow you," Manny said simply. He indicated back to their 4x4 parked up on the opposite side of the road. Getting in the car with her was like admitting he fully trusted her.
He didn't.
As soon as the car door shut on them Manny was
talking and reporting back to Josh. Nik drove carefully at a good distance behind the town car and concentrated on weaving around late morning traffic.
"This wasn't the plan Manny," Josh said.
"We're going with the flow. There's desperation in her eyes—"
"Manny—"
"My call, Josh."
"Nik? Bring him home. Let's talk about this."
Manny chuckled that his erstwhile handler was going direct to the other half of this team. Nik simply repeated 'it's Manny's call'.
Josh sighed and then seemed to get his senses together and focus on what was happening. "Talk to me then," he said
