Antonino sat and drummed the fingers of his right hand on the desktop in silence for several minutes while purposely avoiding eye contact with the man sitting on the opposite side of the desk. He didn't look at the man for the simple reason, that for the moment, he needed to control his temper and keep from actually reaching out and slapping the dumb bastard across his face. He glanced over to Ms. Holloway, it was clear by her mannerisms, she wanted to hurt the dumb bastard as well, and hurt him badly, she'd been overprotective of her girls since day one and on a few occasions had gone she-grizzly bear type mad protecting her cubs and nearly put a few customers in the hospital. He watched as she curled her long toned legs as if poised to spring up from her chair and strike, her sultry eyes narrowing with malice toward the man sitting in front of her Boss's desk.

 Antonino's deep baritone voice broke the silence in the room with such sudden unexpectedness that both Ms. Holloway and the man flinched and both looking at him in surprise. Antonino continued to ignore the man as he raised the palm of his left hand up toward Ms. Holloway in a 'halt' gesture and fixed his dark eyes on a steady gaze with hers, "Be a dear and pour us a glass of Scotch, would you please", his words were more of a statement to do so rather then a question if she would, and having worked with him long enough to know that the underlying intent of the statement was to keep her from doing something rash, so she rose to her feet without protest and went to the bar, the clicking of her heels echoing in the room was the only sound to be heard as silence once more blanketed the room.

 Ms. Holloway sat the mans glass on the desk in front of him rather then offer it to him, then came around the desk and held out a glass for her Boss, the scent of her perfume wafted lightly on the air, she let her fingers slip across his hand as Antonino took the glass, then let her fingernails drag sharply across the top of his fingers, conveying her displeasure with the present situation before spinning on her heels and sauntering back to her chair. Antonino watched her as a cat would a prey, bidding its time before striking, but of course, he never would, for one, he valued their working relationship far too much to complicate it with sex, and two, one of his self imposed cardinal rules was never to mix business and pleasure. Antonino took a sip from the glass then set it down and now focused his attention on the man sitting in front of him, his words edged with controlled anger.

 "You've been told once before not to be overly rough and slap MY girls around, have you not, Senator Thomas?", Antonino paused only a second, then cut the man off when he looked about to say something, "I told you before...if you want that kinky shit, then take your business out on the street, I run a class operation here, my girls cater to gentlemen, now because of your reckless indiscretions, Maria won't be able to work for the next three weeks, no one wants to pay for a girl with bruises on her face and body, and to be honestly candid about the situation, your fucking lucky I need the other Don's permission, otherwise I'd strap a thermite grenade to your ass and toss you out the window, or worse yet, lock you in a room alone with Ms. Holloway for about ten minutes, trust me, you'd rather want the grenade...now what I am going to do, and what you WILL do, is cover Maria's medical bills and pay for her percentage of the money she would have otherwise brought in had you not slapped her around and left her black and blue, and until such time that the payments are made, your not to set foot in my place, do we have an understanding Senator Thomas?".

 The man nodded his head between sideways glances at the woman sitting on his far left, again he started to speak, but Antonino cut him off curtly, "NO...just save your bullshit for those speeches you make, Senator, and keep this one thing in mind.... the next time you hurt one of MY girls, I know a thousand and one ways to make your death look like a fatal accident, now get out of my office, Ms. Holloway will send you the bill and I expect it to be paid". Antonino grabbed his glass then spun the desk chair around so his back was to the man, who rose to his feet, averted looking at the woman who was glaring back at him the entire time he walked to the door, opened it, then stopped and turned around, the shot of Scotch seemed to of helped him find his balls, "You can't do this to me, I'm a State Senator for chrissakes, I'll have the States Attorney all over your ass, you sonofabitch", he said with false bravado.

 Antonino spun the chair around and was on his feet before the Senator could bat an eye and slammed a fist straight down on the table, using the pain that shot through his knuckles to temper his anger, "You wanna play hardball with me Jackass...wasn't it the money from your Wife's side of the family that got you elected?, what do you thinks gonna happen to that money when she finds out what you really been doing on your supposed campaign trips, so go ahead call the State DA, you get my establishment shutdown for three, maybe four months, so what?....in the meantime I'll ruin your political career, I got transaction records, dates, the names of the girls and times you been here, which will match up just nicely with all those supposed trips you been taking on the taxpayers dime, you sorry piece of dogshit...fuck with me and you won't even be elected dogcatcher in that backwater piss pond town you came from, now get the fuck out of my office, before I change my mind and shoot you now", with that Antonino reached into the top desk drawer and pulled a H&K VP9 out and sat it on the desk top.

 After the Senator made his retreat, Antonino sat down, shook his throbbing hand then glared at Ms. Holloway as she made a disgruntled sigh, he growled at her menacingly, "Something you'd like to add?". "MY girls is it now ?", she queried with a smartass tone in her voice, Antonino took another sip from the glass and smirked, returning her smartass tone with his own, "What's mine is mine, and what's yours is mine, now get me another drink then go see that the girls are ready for tonite, some of the boys's from the "Family" will be here tonight". then smiled to himself as she made a huffed exasperation, tossed a cushion that sailed over his head as she rose to her feet, uttered a hissed, "Your legs ain't broke, and I'm not your maid, so get your own drink Asshole", under her breath and strode for the door. Antonino chuckled, then shot back, "Not gonna make Secretary of the year with that attitude, sweetness", he blew her a kiss just as she turned and shot him the finger before closing the door behind her.

Antonino turned to look at his Enforcer Bruno, if ever there was a person deserving of their name, it would be him, a big muscular behemoth of a man and absolutely heartless. "Lemme know when that Lil bastard Freddie gets here and let him in, then stick around, I'll need ya to either take some money to the safe, or break the lil fucker in half, he's had plenty enough time to make his payment", he told the man with an irritated tone.