Page 36 of When She Falls (The Fallen)
Dem props an ankle across his thigh and settles into his chair, looking utterly at ease. “I took control less than four months ago. We’re still working out the kinks with the new supply route we established for the counterfeits.”
“Have they been worked out?” Nero asks.
Irritation prickles across my nape. That fucking tone. “We don’t report to you, so stop talking to us like we’re your fucking crew.”
Nero lifts his palms up. “I wouldn’t dream of it. No disrespect, fellas. We’ve stumbled onto a good thing here, and it’s in both of our interests to get the cash flowing.”
“Indeed,” Damiano says, his gaze moving to Garzolo. “How much product can you move in the next six months?”
Garzolo takes a swig of his drink and glances at Messero. “That’s a question for Rafaele.”
I make a note of that. Interesting. So Messero’s crew is handling most of the distribution? What’s Garzolo’s role in all this then? We’d been operating under the assumption that he and Messero were splitting things fifty-fifty back in New York.
Messero is slow to answer. Clearly, he’s in no fucking rush. “We have a network of retailers across the East Coast with an eager clientele. The first month you sent us one million worth of merchandise. We could sell five times that.”
My eyes widen as I do the math in my head. Given our terms, this operation could bring in two and half mil per month. Jesus. After expenses, we’d be left with a two million profit each month.
This is a bigger opportunity than we were expecting.
Dem gives me a look that communicates he’s thinking along the same lines.
“We can ramp up production next month,” he says.
Messero swirls his whiskey. “How much?”
“Three million worth of premium leather goods, that includes shoes, purses, and accessories.”
“The quality?”
“Indistinguishable from the real thing. We forge the authenticity certificates too,” I say. “Every now and then, we send someone to the boutiques to ask for authenticity checks. They rarely fail. You won’t find any replicas better. Even the top-of-the-line Chinese factories don’t come close. Some of our factory managers have worked for the actual brands in the past, so they know exactly what to look for.”
Nero’s brows lift. “Impressive.”
“Three million won’t be a problem, but to get to five, we’ll need to build a new factory,” Damiano says. “It’s a large investment on our part. We’ll want to get more comfortable with the terms and discuss guarantees before we take that step.”
“We’re about to become family,” Nero says with a grin. “What other guarantees do you need?”
Damiano stares at him over the rim of his glass. “We aren’t family yet. Perhaps we wait until Rafaele and Gemma are officially wed.”
My posture stiffens.
I was doing decently well with putting Gemma out of my mind, but now everything comes flooding back.
The way her lips felt against my own is something I don’t think I’ll ever forget.
Fuck. I still need to apologize.
Kissing her was a mistake.
The bigger mistake has been allowing myself to get fixated on her.
Yes, she’s beautiful. I’m wildly attracted to her. I would have loved to do something about that attraction if circumstances had been different, but that’s not the hand I’ve been dealt.
She’s engaged. Spoken for.
She clearly hates my guts.
I need to stop being an ass and leave her alone.
