CHAPTER 4:The Red Queen
1192 Words
Valentina POV:
The gun on the table was picked up, and pointed directly at my chest. I don’t look at it, I look at the man pointing the gun at me. Salvatore Greco, his fingers rest against the trigger, his expression twisted into a smug little smile.
“ you have five seconds to apologize” he finally speaks
I glance at the weapon, then at me. Does this guy think I am some joke.
“ for what?” I blurted
His smile disappears, the room goes silent. Three of his men stand behind him each armed. My two men remain by the door. Neither of them moves, they don’t have to. I cross one leg over the other and take a sip of my wine.
Salvatore eyes narrows “ you think this is funny”
“ no” I set my glass down
“ I think you are making a very expensive mistake Mr Salvatore”
He laughs at me, “ you walked into my territory and insulted me”
“ the only thing I did was to correct your price. And let’s even say I did insult you, your whole existence is an insult already”
“ ohh no you don’t, you don’t know who you are dealing business with, how dear you. You call my weapon a garbage”
“ they are garbage”
His jaws clenches
I can practically hear the anger behind his eyes. Good, angry men make mistakes. And Salvatore has already made enough tonight to lose his deal. He has a reputation for being difficult, I call it insecurity. My like Salvatore becomes dangerous when they realize the woman sitting across them isn’t intimidated.
“ you are very confident for a woman a sitting in a room filled with loaded guns” he says
I smile, “ you are very confident for a man holding a gun that’s unloaded”
The room freeze, Salvatore looks down, for a second; which is enough. I raised my cheek bones a little.
“ check it”
he doesn’t
“ check it” I repeat
His eyes flicks towards the weapon, I know what he is thinking; she’s bluffing. So I lean back.
“ go ahead, I’m waiting”
Slowly he pulls the magazine, empty. His facial expression changes, mine doesn’t. One of my men behind me exhales a small laughter
Salvatore slams the food on the table
“ who are you, I am met to do business with macro. You are young, why would they bring a lady to do business with me” he shouted
“ you asked me to be here” I pick up my whine again and take a sip
“ I asked for a representative”
“ you have gotten one”
“ I expected a man, but some rude arrogant lady”
I smile, “ that sounds like a personal problem”
His men exchanges glances, I open the folder in front of me.
“ now that we have established that you can’t intimidate me, let’s talk business”
Salvatore stares at me
“ I am not doing business with a woman, especially when she has a lose tongue”
“ oh please, you should have made your findings first. I am not any lady”
“ who are you then?” He questions me
“ I am Valentina Moretti, known as La Regina Ross, The red queen”
His face twisted in agony, he couldn’t say a word. He staggered back.
I side the document across the table
“ two hundred rifles”
He looks at it
“ three hundred”
“ two hundred”
“ three”
“ two”
he laughs, “ you came all the way to Trapani to waste my time”
“no” I close the folder, “ I came all the way because you are desperate”
his smile vanishes, I continue
“ you’ve got a shipment in your wear house that needs to move before the end of the week” his eyes widens
“ that’s none of your business”
“ it has become my business when you are asking my to pay for it”
I pull out another document; his warehouse and shipping records. Names, dates and numbers I place it in front of him clear enough for him to see.
“ you are running out of buyers”
he doesn’t touch the paper
“ you have been investigating me”
“ of course”
“Why”
“ because I don’t hand my money to strangers”
he leans forward
“ you don’t have any idea who you are dealing with”
i meet his stares. I tap my hand on the table
“ oh I know exactly who I am dealing with, a trafficker that failed three deliveries, a supplier whose men has been skimming him for weeks”
he took a glance at the document
“ plus a business man who is about to lose his biggest buyer”
“ you are lying” he altered
“am I?”
I then bring out a photograph and fling it towards him. A picture of a truck leaving one of his properties in the morning. Salvatore goes completely insane, I smile
“ you are not the only one who knows how to gather information, but what do you want” he looks at his men then back at me
“ Two hundred rifles, ten crates of ammunition. Delivery under seven days”
“ and the price” he asked me
I give him a number
His eyes widens, “ you are insane”
“Not at all” I stand up slowly
“ I am your only reasonable option”
“ you think I will sell that for you” he laughs
“ I don’t think, I know” I turn towards the door
“ his voice follows me, “ if you walk out now, there will be no deal”
I stop, I look over my shoulder
“ Salvatore” he waits
“ you already agreed to the deal, Salvatore”
his brows pulls together
“ I never agreed to anything “
I smirk, “ you did when you unloaded your guns”
his faces falls, i take a step towards him
“you wanted to scare me, you failed. You wanted to make me feel powerless, you still failed”
I leaned closer to him
“ and now you are going to sell those weapons at me price, because you need the money more than I need your weapons”
Everywhere was silent, he looks furious. He doesn’t deny it, my face straightens, I walked back towards the door
“ twenty four hours”
“ or what?”
“ I find another supplier”
he scoffs, “ you think someone else will give you what you want”
“ yes”
“who?”
“ someone who is smarter than you”
“ Valentina” he shouted
“you are going to regret humiliating me”
I looked back at him and responded immediately, “ you are going to regret underestimating me”
I then walk out.
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