Chapter 164
Elodie’s POV~
"Another potential partner?" I asked, watching Johnny stare at his phone like it had personally insulted him.
"Most likely." He tossed the device onto the desk, where it skidded across the surface. "Harry Becker. We don’t exactly run in the same circles, you know? And honestly, after everything with Dante, I’m not thrilled about dealing with his friends."
I understood what he wasn’t saying. Harry was the kind of man who looked at me and saw a problem to be solved—or worse, a puzzle to figure out. He’d always been polite enough to Sienna, but me? I’d never really registered on his radar as anything more than Dante’s wife.
"Take the call," I said, not looking up from the spreadsheet in front of me.
Johnny’s head snapped toward me. "What? Why would I—"
"Because ignoring him won’t make him go away. And honestly, that’s bad business." I pulled my reading glasses off and met his eyes. "I don’t want you acting out of spite. That’s how mistakes happen."
He stared at me for a moment, probably looking for signs of distress. Some indication that hearing from Harry’s circle would shake me. When he didn’t find it, he picked up the phone and swiped to answer.
"Mr. Becker," Johnny said, his voice dropping into that cool, professional register he used for people he didn’t like. "This is unexpected."
I could hear Harry’s voice through the speaker, calm, exactly the way I remembered it. Always so composed. So sure of himself.
"Johnny. I’ll get straight to the point. I hear Cole’s got some interesting developments coming down the pipeline. I’d like to discuss a partnership."
Of course he did. News in this world traveled faster than light. The He family had their fingers in every pie. They knew things before the people living those things did.