Chaotic Order // Rio fic

Chapter 32

The next morning Rio and I were greeted by the cheery laughs of the kids as they all jumped on us. It was most likely far too early in the morning to be awake but they were all at full energy, bouncing up and down on the bed with absolutely no sign of stopping.

"You sure this is what you want?" I joke to Rio and he only laughs in return.

The morning consisted of an immeasurable amount of pancakes created by yours truly and an ungodly amount of maple syrup. The added sugar was a terrible idea on my part as each kid went absolutely hyper, oh well that's a job for their hungover mothers to deal with. We piled the lot of them into the same limo that I'd called earlier this morning and we were off to drop them all back to Beth's before Rio and I returned to the office to continue some much needed decision-making. I suppose I'd have to take a break some other time. Maybe a nice vacation when this was all sorted.

Beth, Annie and Ruby all thanked Rio and I profusely for giving them a much needed break, each of them explaining how fun the club had been. We bid them a quick goodbye, in an effort to get to the office as soon as humanly possible considering the urgency of the situation.

After a plethora of important and tense meetings with a variety of different company members we had finally agreed on some type of cohesive plan of action to attack the situation with. Rio had suggested that we use Peter's newfound guilt as a means to recruit him against the others. According to Dominic's research Pete had a strong influence on the Risneed sisters, he'd been the one to introduce them to Drusky. If we could get Peter onside he could bring them along with him.

"So then its all of us against Somberg and Drusky? Sounds like a fair fight." Rio exclaims and I agree with him.

"We just need to discuss this with Peter, we don't know if he will jump so quickly, he started this whole thing I don't know how eager he'd be to extinguish it." I state with worry.

"We could offer him a cut back in to the business." Candace suggests and I shrug in agreement, willing to do anything to get this settled as soon as possible.

"Do you think he'd be willing to be cut back in? I mean, working with Rio probably won't be something he wants to go for." I argue and Rio nods.

"Only one way to find out." Rio responds and I ask Candace to remind me to discuss that with him later.

"Ok so the Risneed sisters need to be our main focus. They could be an important asset to us even after we take down Drusky and Somberg. Their hacking abilities are unmatched by even our top IT techs and with them working closely with us they could provide a great addition to the company." Dominic pipes in.

"We'll work out a way for them to integrate into our system. They could assist us in finding out exactly how Drusky and Somberg plan on taking us down so we can beat them at their own game." I state, looking around the room for confirmation, they all nod in agreement.

"I think they'd do anything for the right price." Rio exclaims and I roll my eyes at his innuendo.

"Ok considering your history with them I don't want you anywhere near that negotiation, can someone get me in contact with them?" Everyone began typing on their laptops, the only sound filling the room were panicked taps as they all competed to find something first but ultimately it was Rio that had the information.

"I've still got the number saved." The room fell quiet, all eyes trained on my reaction but I simply ignored the implications and wrote down the number.

"Ok well thank you everybody, we will contact you all when we have an update on the situation." They silently filed out of the room while Rio and I faced each other.

"We're really gonna have to see him huh?" He asked, kicking back slightly in the chair.

"I think this is something him and I will need to do one on one."

"What the fuck no way-" I cut off his interjection.

"I'm sorry babe but you know he will never agree to any of this if you're in the room." I reason but he doesn't look convinced at all.

"How do we know he isn't going to strangle you again!"

"Just trust me on this please."

In the end Rio conceded with my wishes and I'd scheduled to meet Peter at my father's old house. I'd kept it all these years as a place for me to escape and to remind myself why I continue on with all of this. He arrived shortly after me, greeting me at the door of the nostalgic little house, it wasn't much, exactly what you'd expect from a small town drug dealer but it was always enough for us.

"Been a while since we've been here huh?" He exclaimed, his hands awkwardly tucked in his pockets as he looked around the interior. I'd tried to keep it as similar as possible, keeping some type of memory alive.

"Sure has. Times were simpler then." I added, taking a seat on the old couch, the familiar cushions tugging my heart strings.

"I wish we could go back to then, before this shit got so fucked up." There was a tense, solemn silence in the room before Peter joined me on the couch. "Thanks for meeting with me by the way."

"I didn't want to to be here. You didn't really give me a choice." I responded, my tone cold and distant, trying to establish some type of boundary between us, we weren't friends, not anymore.

"I'm sorry." Was all he said but the words hung heavy in the air, taunting both of them. "For all of this."

"I just wanted this all to end Peter. This isn't what dad would have wanted." I state, glancing around the room.

"He would have wanted us running it. Just the two of us." He retorts, his voice strained and full of resentment. "That's why he let me train you, I promised I'd keep you safe and I can't do that with that other guy around."

"Look I don't forget the fact that we built this together. I will be forever grateful for everything you've done and because of that I wanted to offer you a cut back in. Pick up where we left off. You can have your old office back I just need this to all be over." This is the closest I would ever come to begging, but desperate times calls for desperate measures.

"Where will his office be then?" His tone was curious as he turned to look at me, to gage my reaction.

"Him and I will share. He spends more time in my office than his own anyway. So? What'll it be?" He took a few seconds to really think it over, it would be like he was returning to his family, the people that helped him get to the top even after he abandoned them.

"Ok deal. But the second he tries anything with me I'm out."

"Deal."