Proposal

Chapter 2

"Can you just, for once, do as your told, Tony?" Rolling his eyes, the blond looked across the diner table at the man he was with. Tall, with dark olive skin and slicked back, black hair, his brother couldn't have been more different from himself. Groaning, he looked back down at the menu.

"I just... we're here, all the way in Las Vegas, and we got some time to kill before the meeting so... why not? Nobody's gonna know if we hit up a bar or two, Al." His brother shook his head.

"The answer is no, Tony. Even if Papa doesn't know, I'll know, and that's just as bad. No, we stick to he rules." The man jabbed a finger in his direction as he spoke before turning his attention back to the menu in his hands. "Besides, I know that a bar isn't what you're wantin' to hit up." Huffing, he crossed his arms and glared at his older brother. They'd come all the way from Brooklyn to Sin City, only for all of the appeal of the place to be stripped away. All because they were there on business.

"What do you have against casinos anyways? You act like they're such bad news." His brother's shoulders dropped.

"Tony, half the strip here is run by Siegel. You wanna hit up a casino and get found out by Bugsy?" No, not particularly. If they got found out by Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel then they were practically begging for a war. And everyone knew their father would fight it to the end, but only God knew who would win. Sighing, he looked back down and frowned.

"What are we doing here again? I thought we'd already talked to these guys about starting here." His brother shook his head, and looked around them. Within a minute, their waitress was sliding up to the table to take their orders. The rest of the meal was spent talking about useless things or lying to throw off any curious ears.

After leaving the diner, they headed back to their hotel for a bit, where he dropped himself on the bed. "Okay, so now can you tell me what we're doing here? We already got those guys on board, right? What's so hard about this shit anyways." Al paced to the other side of the rom with a groan.

"Just... for once in your life, won't you listen? We are here to sign the contracts, Anthony. The last time it was just shop talk, this is the real deal. If this doesn't go well, Papa will hang us from the rafters." Tony's body stiffened with the threat.

"Okay, okay, so... we make the deal, sign the papers, and be on the next train home by tomorrow, right?" Watching his brother move about the room, he could almost see the nerves. Not that anyone else ever would; not with how composed Alessandro kept himself outwardly. He only saw it because they'd been together since the day he was born, not because it was obvious.

"It's not that simple. Look just... let me do all the talking and everything will go fine. We should able to go home by next week." Jumping up, he stared at his brother open mouthed.

"Next week! You mean we gotta sit here and do absolutely nothing in a city full of fun things for a whole fucking week, just to talk to these guys about a start up? Again?" Al rolled his eyes and waved a hand at him.

"You know, this is why I don't take you for business deals. You don't understand any of the shit that goes into this." Tony scoffed.

"Oh yeah? Like what? It already took 'em two months to write up a god damned contract for us to sign." His brother jabbed a finger in his direction.

"Exactly! They wrote it up. Part of this now is us, that is to say me, looking over what they wrote up and making sure it actually works for us, Tony. Just because we talked about it before doesn't mean they won't try to hide some bullshit clause in there to try and screw us over. And if we try to get them to change it, they might not want to, and more discussions happen. This is business, this is how it works." Dropping himself back on the bed, he sighed.