Page 33 of King

I sit down, and after the waitress takes my order for a coffee, she leaves us alone, the door to the private room closing behind her.

I exhale and open a file I’ve brought with me.It’s from my father’s office and lays out his plans for cleaning up the family business.

“What’s that?”Tommy asks, leaning closer.

I hand him a sheet of paper and give a duplicate of it to Ryan.“My father plans to clean up O’Connor Enterprises.”

Tommy looks it over and throws it onto the table dismissively.

“Your father was idealistic and naive if he thought we could just get the business out from under the Russians.”

The door opens, and I wait while the waitress puts my cup of coffee down in front of me.When she’s gone once more, I turn to him.

“He was idealistic, but he wasn’t naive.He had a plan, and it seems to me to be a very smart plan.He knew he was in deep, and that it would be hard to get out, but he thought it through.Did he not come to you with this plan before he,” I say and pause pointedly, “died?”

Across from me, Ryan looks away almost guiltily.He knew what I meant by the emphasis on died.

“Yeah, he passed a few ideas by us,” Tommy says, “but I told him he was a fool if he thought he could keep the business operating and not work with the Russians.There’s no way.It’s not possible.The only thing to do is go somewhere else, move to some other location and start over.Good luck with that.”

“My father seemed to think it was possible,” I reply, my gut in a knot, because I expected Tommy to disagree, but a part of me hoped I was wrong.I wasn’t.“Sell off the part of the business that the Russians rely on to one of them and focus on the other parts.Other routes.”

“You don’t think that hasn’t been tried?”Tommy replies, angered now.His fist clenches, and he hits the tabletop.“It won’t work.The Russians want us to assume the risk, and they get the reward.Not gonna work.I tried to tell Ronan this, but he was stupidly stubborn and so concerned with looking legit.”Tommy is really angry now and moves his head in a mocking way.“Ask anyone with any law enforcement experience.The Russians control shipping in New York.Period.You work with them, or you sell and get the hell out.That’s it,” he says and makes a slicing motion with his hand.“The Feds have been completely unable to do anything about it.Even thinking they can is a joke.”

With that, he gets up and grabs his jacket.“I’m outta here.You two can discuss this and waste your time, but I’ve got better things to do.”

I stand up and hold up my hand.“Stop,” I say, not wanting the dinner to end this way.“Just sit down and let’s talk it out.Seriously.My father — yourbrother— wanted to go straight.We owe him at least to try to get O’Connor Enterprises out of the Russians’ grip.Wouldn’t you sleep a lot better?”

Tommy stops his motions for a moment and looks at me, his gaze moving over my face like he isn’t able to believe me.

“Are you that naive?Do you really think we can just walk away?”He shakes his head and finishes pulling on his jacket.“If you are, you’re gonna be really disappointed.I’m gone.”

Then, he turns and leaves the room.

I turn to Ryan, who is sitting there, watching the door.

“Well?”I say, sitting back down with a sick feeling in my gut.“What do you think?Are you with me or with Tommy?”

Ryan shrugs.“He’s got a point.It won’t be easy to clean up O’Connor Enterprises.Maybe we could move the operation out of New York.Go to California.Go to Washington State.We could sell off what real estate we have and just ship all our equipment out west.Start over, but it will be hard.”

Part of me feels a little better.He’s actually considering it, whereas Tommy was so upset that he actually left the restaurant.

“Do you think Tommy would agree, or do we have to buy him out?”

Ryan shrugs.“You got me.He seems pretty hostile to the very idea.Me?I’m game.It will be hard, but maybe it’s our only option.You’re the boss, after all.If this is what you want, that should be what happens.I guess Tommy thinks it’s unrealistic.”

“It may be, but it’s also necessary.I want out.I want O’Connor Enterprises out.Period.”I place my fist on the table to emphasize my decision, and Ryan merely nods slowly, like he’s accepting my decision but with hesitation.

“Do you want me to buy you out, too?”I offer.

He shrugs.“I’ll wait and see how it goes.I don’t want to give up on the business just yet.”

“Good,” I say and stand.“It’s time to leave.I’ve got a meeting back at the warehouse with the business manager to go over some details.”

Ryan gestures to the door.“I got a thing with some contacts in supply.I’ll brief you later.”

“Sounds good,” I say, glad to get out of the place.I leave the restaurant and step into the afternoon sun, which is a nice break from the colder, wet weather.Ryan puts a hand on my shoulder affectionately and then walks the other way towards his own vehicle, which is waiting at the curb, with a driver at the rear passenger door, holding it open.I watch as he steps in, and the driver closes the door and enters the driver’s side.

Ryan likes things the way they are and, honestly, I can understand why.He’s a partner in the business, and he has lots of money and personal power.Why would he want things to change?