Chapter 64 THE NEGOTIATION
AUTHOR'S POV
“Look who we have here,” Pedro had begun to say upon sighting Santiano Rafael Devereaux and his men marching in uninvited.
“Who could have thought the almighty Santiano Rafael Devereaux would come into my lair without an invitation?” He continued with a sadistic grin playing on his lips before breaking into a laughter that was unbearable to one's ears.
Santiano stood still, not minding his display from Pedro as he was more pressed about finding what Pedro was about to do with his Vanessa rather than lashing out at him right away.
“I have received news that you have something that belongs to me under your roof, Pedro— a person.” Santiano said, his voice chilly and condensing, enough to bear the weight of its urgency.
“Do I?” Pedro asked, acting clueless as he began to fit his fingers into a black leather glove he had picked up from the side glass stool that also hosted his gun which was yet to be assembled with five silver bullets lying beside the magazine.
“My woman.” Santiano finished, holding himself back from breaking out as he just wanted a peaceful dialogue at first just so he can confirm Vanessa was still in safe hands and no harm has been done to her.
He was literally holding himself back from attacking Pedro at once all for Vanessa's sake— he just needed her to be safe wherever she was even if it meant he was to play by Pedro's rules.
The game Pedro was playing with him was an obvious fallacy and he was rather growing too impatient as Pedro was playing his cards well into his face.
“Hmmm…” Pedro mumbled without a care in the world about what Santiano was feeling as he blew air on the tip of the nails on his right hand before fitting them into the second glove.
He continued after wearing his glove, stretching his hands towards the ceiling so the brilliant light could shine on the leather like he was a woman examining the big rock on her finger.
“Yes, I do have a certain woman with me, but how can I be so sure she belongs to you?” He questioned with a silly pout that wasn't soothing for his old, scrunchy face.
Santiano clenched his fists hard, a mild anger at Pedro's deliberate response flashing through his eyes.
“You know damn well who that woman is— she is not Italian, you know this and she belongs to me!”
Pedro chuckled slightly, his gaze shooting at Santiano as they rested on him keenly like he was the boss in that game— of course, he had a lot of cards to play with Santiano and this was only the beginning.
“Very well, if she belongs to you, you can only have her after you have cut the deal to take over my family's casino and as well give up the Devereaux family distillery and sign it into—” he paused, stretching his arms like he was sigma. “-the care of the Pedro family and at once, your woman will fall into your arms again.” Pedro said, his tone soft enough to pacify a hard rock negotiator.
It seemed as though Pedro had all the time in the world and all the right cards to play to corner Santiano Rafael Devereaux well. He was just a short man with a fat body whose legs could barely hold his whole weight.
Pedro was just like a man who had embodied the term cunny itself and had laid his hand on the center of Santiano Rafael Devereaux's soul by taking his woman— the very human whom he was willing to risk everything and anything for.
“Are you trying to blackmail me?” Santiano growled, suddenly lounging at Pedro as he grabbed the man by the neck at once.
In that moment, Pedro's men flared up at Santiano's grip on their boss and they all pulled out their guns at once, pointing it at Santiano and ready to take out their shots at him as he held their boss by the neck and so did Santiano's men.
Santiano's men also pulled out their guns, aiming at every other man that wasn't a member of the Devereaux family causing the room to be extremely heated, the tension already palpable.
Eventually, Pedro spoke up, dousing off the heat with his next words, but everyone was still on guard, ready to pull the trigger of their gun if need be.
“No. Why? Do you feel threatened, Santiano?” Pedro finally replied with a mischievous grin playing on his lips as he had realized he was leading the game he had subjected Santiano Rafael Devereaux to.
He then began to chuckle as he watched Santiano's teeth seething as he tried to mask his anger by unleashing the flares of flames that had engulfed him on Pedro.
“To get your woman back, Santiano,’’ Pedro started again, dusting off an invisible speck of rubbish off of Santiano's coat. “You had better get the documents drafted up and then I might consider giving you an invite to bid on your woman at my auction. That is the only way you can get her back, believe me.”
Pedro said with the grin still playing on his lips as he watched Santiano struggle with in-depth emotions that were brewing within him.
Suddenly, Santiano pushed Pedro back into the cushion he had been sitting on since he got into the room, pulling his gun out of nowhere and pointing it directly at the center of Pedro's head without breaking a sweat.
Pedro almost fell out of character as Santiano pointed his gun at him, an immersive heat pulling up through his entire being as fear gripped his heart tight, causing him to break into a cold sweat, the fear of Santiano pulling the trigger and emptying the bullets in the magazine of his gun riling up inside of him.
“Do you think you are in any position to try and cut a deal with me?” Santiano asked with a growl, pushing his gun out of safety mode with a click, his finger well rounded on the trigger.