to nod and walk away. I hated the fact that the little shit had put his hand on me, but I needed to get over myself. Just because Izzy chose to use him for sex over someone she didn't know — or me — wasn't any of my business. Sure as fuck felt like it was, but it wasn't.
"D, up here, man." Marco waved me over and extended a piece of paper with an agenda on it.
"What's this?" I snorted and read through it. "Are you seriously putting us on an agenda tonight?"
"Fuck yes. The last meeting was six hours. I know you remember that shit because you kept getting up and pacing the room like a tiger trapped in a cage too long."
"That's true. I'd forgotten." I turned to lay eyes on Izabella and found her talking with Madame Gizelle, who ran our prostitution ring, and Carlos, our transportation capo. Why Danny had been working on Joe's car instead of Carlos was a mystery I wanted the answer to. From the looks of things, Carlos looked healthy and fully capable of doing the job.
"You ready? Let's call this thing to order." Marco patted the top of my back and moved over beside his father, who was seated at a table with Cat and Freddy. I was rather surprised to see the little fucker there. Izzy had to have scared him shitless with her threats, and yet there he sat, looking better than I'd seen him look in a while.
"Yeah." I moved up to the table closest to me and picked up a water glass, tapping a fork against it and clearing my throat. "Find a seat please. We're going to get started."
"Where is dinner?" Joe called out and got a cheer for asking.
"It's coming, Dad. We're going to go through the meeting items first, and then the food will be brought out." Marco lifted his hands as everyone started to bitch. "It's easier this way. You guys will move quickly through issues, and we'll be done in an hour instead of two."
"Marco is right. Sit down, and we'll get our drinks refilled while he starts. Give him your attention, and if you butt in too often, Izzy will cut out your tongue." I winked and walked toward Joe's table, taking a seat next to Freddy and pulling out Izabella's chair as she moved in to sit next to me.
She lifted a butter knife in the air and smiled. "I could use a bit of relief."
"Tease," I whispered and pulled my napkin into my lap, ignoring the hot press of her stare from beside me.
"All right, first things first." Marco walked languidly to the back of the room and closed the door. "We need an insider on the police force, and the last time we met together, we'd decided that the Don would talk with Armstrong Kelley and get the old man to help us work on bringing over his son, Jonathan, but that's not proven too fruitful, so it's time to discuss what our next steps are. It's not a democracy in here, as you know, but Joe loves to hear your thoughts, so spill."
"Are we sure Jonathan is the key to our success on the force?" Cat asked, lifting her hand.
"I'm pretty sure he's our guy," I responded and stood up. "We've profiled everyone and feel like he's the right age, the right socioeconomic class, and has the necessary skills to do just about anything we need done. The problem is that he's got serious ethics."
"What will it take to buy him off?" Jesse asked. "Every man has a price, right?"
"He doesn't need money," Joe answered and glanced over to Izabella. "He needs a woman."
"A woman?" Edward asked. "And what are you guys proposing exactly?"
"I think we should scare the shit out of him. It works with just about everyone else we've dealt with." Marco lifted his glass of wine to his lips. "Threaten his life. Promise him that we'll send Izabella after him if he doesn't do our bidding."
"I think he would like that -— a lot." Daniel lifted his hand. "I know Jonathan. We went to school together. He's a couple years older than me, but we played soccer on the same team."
I glanced over at Joe. "You want to see what Daniel could do?"
"No." Joe stood up and turned his attention back to Marco. "I think we're going to try and woo him over to our side."
"Do you need help?" Madam Gizelle gave Joe a