"Garrick, what's going on?" I demanded, as soon as he answered his phone, "what haven't you told me?"

"Pat, calm down. It's not what you think," he reassured me, not helping the situation. 

He only called me 'Pat' when he thought I was over reacting. Perhaps I was. But it was rare when he went off on his own without telling me. Especially now.

"No," I growled, under my breath as I paced the length of the bar, "tell me what's going on."

"Okay, okay," I heard him chuckle, clearly amused by this, "I was going to tell you tomorrow. You know, after your anniversary."

Oh if he was in this room, I would throttle him.

"But I think I have a lead on a decent deal," he told me, sounding a lot more than half certain, "do you remember Matteo Gallo?"

I frowned, "he use to work for my Father."

"Yeah, but now he works for Odin Volkov," he told me.

Egor Volkov's son.

"Anyway, he's looking to expand his business. Something about his father wanting him to begin an empire."

I couldn't help but scoff. The only kind of business man Odin was, was a club owner and which woman he had to pay to get inside of. 

"That sounds like Obin," I bitterly chuckled, shaking my head.

"I'll explain more when I get home. But, it's very promising," with that, he hung up.

Sighing, I put my phone back in my pocket and began to rub my eyes. What did I think was happening? That Garrick had found something to suggest that he was still alive. No. Sebastian Drago was dead and buried. And not even he could fake a resurrection.

Shaking my thoughts away, I turned and headed for the door. Through the library I went before I reached the void and more importantly the stair. I barely noticed the voices coming from the study before opened the two glass French doors.

I halted, when I found Harold Balboni across from Eliza who stood by her desk. Crap, I had forgotten.

"Harold," I greeted, stepping into the room and closing the door behind me, "it's good to see you."

It wasn't exactly a lie.

"And you," he stated, offering out his hand.

I took it without breaking his hard eye connect, trying to find anything that would lead me to suspect him of anything. Harald and I had always had this relationship. Business partners, yes. But by no means did we trust each other.

"Eliza did say you were coming," I said, making conversation as my eyes darted over to her, where she stood behind her desk with her shoulders back.

I guess I was in the presence of the Business Woman.

"Yes, we were just pulling together the final pieces of a promising business deal, weren't we Eliza?" Harald spoke not breaking my eye connect.

I ignored the patronising tone in his voice, realising I had interrupted them.

Coughing, I remembered my mission, "well, don't mind me. I'm just had to do some paper work."

Harald nodded, hiding whatever was going through his mind. My eyes flicked to Eliza who gave a small smile before returning to the business woman. Knowing that she had it handled, I strode over to my desk that sat on the other side of the room.

"I think we have a deal, Eliza," Harald stated, once I had taken a seat.

"Excuse me?" Eliza blurted out, clearly surprised by his answer.

My eyes watched him carefully, noticing his sudden urgency to escape.

"I think we can both profit from your plan and that we both would be fools not to see it through," he stated, lying through his teeth.

I leaned back in my chair surprised by his transformation. The once powerful Harald Balboni was running with his tail tucked between his legs.

"Um, well, I guess we have a deal," Eliza spoke, clearly confused, "I'll need your signature."

Harald face dropped.

"Isn't a verbal agreement substantial?" He questioned, not happy with her terms.

"By still allowing you to back out, yes. Signature," she demanded this time, handing him a piece of paper.

His eyes flicked down to it, before snatching it out of her grip. I had half a mind to make him eat it. But I remained in my seat and allowed her to complete the deal.

With a sway of his hand, he signed it before offering it back to her. She took, more gently than he did, with a pleasant, if not forced smile on her face.

"It's a pleasure Harald," she spoke, smoothly and with ease, "we'll be in touch."

He nodded, his eyes twitching before he headed out of the room.

As soon as the door shut, she shuddered.

"I hate that man," she snapped.

I couldn't help but snort into my hand, "I thought you handled him very well."

"That's the thing, I wasn't. I was loosing him until you came into the room," she huffed, crossing her arms, "I tell you, I hate all men."

"Now, now, what have we done to deserve such a reputation," I teased, winning a glare.

"The only reason I scored that deal is because no one disrespects Patrick Maestri's wife," she ranted, going into a sulk.

"Is that a bad thing?" I asked, curious.

Even the thought of someone being rude to her sent my blood alight. Why would she want anything other than respect?

"Yes, of course it is," she told me, like I was a fool, "I want respect because I deserve it, not because of who I'm married to or who I sleep with."

I nodded, pretending like I understood her reasoning. It didn't matter to me what she wanted. I always placed her wellbeing first.

"I mean, how did you get it? You know, besides from having balls" She asked, waking me from my thoughts.

I was still, wondering if I should tell her all not.

"Well, I guess, being Oscar Maestri's son helped a bit," I told her, making her scoff and roll her eyes, "I guess by impressing them. Like you did with Eagle. He woke up and began to take you seriously."

"Great, so now I have to play poker with every mafia drug lord in hope that they'll wake up to themselves and stop seeing someone with breasts," she huffed, walking closer to my desk.

I smiled at her frustration, a small part of me enjoying it.

"I want to be taken seriously, Patrick," she pouted, coming over to my side and leaning against the desk.

"I know," I told her, taking ahold of her hand, "but these old Mafia lords are old fashioned. They're not going to take being beaten by a woman easy, no matter who she is."

"So what do you suggest I do? Bow to them, grovel?"

My jaw twitched at the thought.

"No," I told her sternly, watching as her eyes narrowed in suspicion, "perhaps lower your expectations."

She scoffed and rolled her eyes, not willing to accept the reality. It was the reality. Not many shared my views. Unlike me, many only saw one place for the women in their lives. Their bed. And though it pained me to even think it, I'm sure that's where a lot of them thought Eliza should be. But, like always, she never did as she was told.

"Does my respect count as anything?" I asked, rolling my chair a few inches over till she was pinned between my legs and the chair.

She gave me a dumb look, causing me to snicker, "what do you think?"

I shrugged, feeling a cheeky grin form on my face as I took her hand to my lips. Immediately, my body seemed to burn with want with the simple touch of her hot skin against my tongue.

"Stop it, Patrick," she ordered, "I want to stay mad."

"I know," I moaned, "that's what so damn sexy."

It was simple words, but I knew it had left her eager. Even if she tried to hide it with an eye roll and a scoff. Unfortunately, it left a twitch in my shaft that couldn't be ignored.

"Your horrible," Eliza scoffed, playfully hitting my shoulder.

A deep throated chuckle escaped my lips as my hands clamped onto her stocking-covered-legs, rubbing the soft nylon. Shifting to the edge of the seat, I was in direct excess to her breasts and buried my head between them.

"Oh I get it," she huffed, pulling back, "you only want me for my body."

"Well, of course Amore," I teased, causing her brow to rise before I cupped her nape, "a body like yours is always wanted."

"Charmer," she purred, allowing me to slowly guide her head closer to mine.

"Patrick, I - oh crap."

Eliza and I broke apart at the sound of Garrick's voice and found him standing in the doorway with a smirk on his face. I glared at him, noting that this was not the first time he had interrupted.

"Garrick, you really need to work on knocking," Eliza told him, with her own smirk, clearly no longer ashamed that we had been caught.

Garrick awkwardly snickered, shaking his head, "yes, I know. Did you want me to come back?"

"Yes," I told him at the same time as Eliza waved him in, "no."

We shared looks, knowing that we didn't often see eye to eye on this. But she didn't understand the extent of the need I felt. The need she had to fulfil.

"Alright then," Garrick snickered, ignoring my wishes and closing the door behind him.

He was silent for a moment, his eyes flicking between Eliza and I. I knew what he was asking. Should he start with Eliza in the room? Normally I wouldn't mind, but this was different.

"Eliza, can you leave us for a moment?" I asked politely as I could.

Eliza's head turned to me, her eyebrows raised.

"Of course," she huffed, pushing off the desk, "I'm just a body around here anyway. I'll go see if Rex wants me."

I couldn't help but snort. Sometimes she was such a drama queen.

"What was that about?" Garrick chuckled, coming closer to the desk.

"Oh nothing," I sighed, standing.

"You know your going to pay for that later, right?" He questioned with a devious smile.

Oh did I know it.

"It's fine. I have a plan. It's our anniversary, remember?" I told him, not hiding my own mysterious smirk.

"Right," he chuckled, "the flowers?"

I shrugged. I didn't think they were too much.

"They said it all, didn't they?" I asked.

He nodded, a little too enthusiastic, "anyway, did you want to hear what I got."

It was my turn to nod.

"Alright, so turns out. Daddy threatened to cut him off if he didn't get off his ass and accept some responsibility," he qualified, clearly giving me the long story, "so, Odin's thinking about cracking into the drug trade with yours truly."

"Odin wants to do a deal with me?" I questioned with an annoyed scoff.

"Seems like it."

Unbelievable. It wasn't long ago when Eliza had admitted that she had met Odin before. It was for a brief moment when she had gone against my orders to stay home and had gone clubbing with Zoey and a reluctant Nickola. It had been Odin's club that she went too. He knew exactly who she was and yet, he thought it was appropriate to make a pass at her. It didn't matter how we felt about each other than.

"What does he want me to do about it?" I questioned as I began to pace.

"He wants you to come to him," Garrick told me.

I couldn't help but bitterly laugh, "please tell me your joking."

He shrugged, a grin forming on his face.

"No, no, if he wants a deal, he's coming to me," I said, sternly, not believing that Odin could be so naive.

"Do you want to risk not getting the deal. As far as I'm concerned, it's easy money,"  Garrick council, clearly not seeing that principle was involved.

"And what kind of friend would I be to Egor if I made it easy for his son. He is trying to make a point after all."

Garrick fell into laughter. I even cracked a smile.

"I've said it once and I'll say it again, Patrick, your evil," Garrick snickered, shaking his head.

I shrugged, proud of myself.

"Now, on a more serious matter. I booked you two a table at Il ristorante di Perlo," he told me, making my heart lift in my chest.

I nodded, letting out a breath, "good, hopefully that will cheer Eliza up."

He snorted, "yeah, hopefully."