“Thanks, princess. Why don’t you send him in and ask Harris to join us.”
“Okay. You want me to sit in on this as well? I can take notes,” she replied.
“No, I don’t think it will be necessary.”
Paris looked like she wanted to say something, but then she must have thought twice about it, because she pulled her head back through the door. She was still on relatively good behavior after her incident with Trevor.
“Listen, Pop, if you’ve got a meeting, we can talk about this later.” Orlando stretched, getting up from his chair.
“No, no, son. I want you in on this. I think you’re going to see that I can think outside the box as well.”
“All right, but can I ask you a quick question?”
I nodded as he sat back down.
“Why’d you send Rio up there to seduce that man? You would have never let Paris or London do anything like that.”
“I sent him there because this family is in trouble and I had to use everything at my disposal to save it. Make no mistake. Every member of this family has talents that are very valuable to our operation. If you’re going to lead this family, you better understand it and be ready to use those talents whenever it’s necessary.” I took a cigar out of the box on my desk and clipped the tip. “Son, we’ll have to finish this conversation another time. It looks like our guest has arrived.”
Orlando turned to the door, and we both stood up to greet the handsome and well-dressed Latino gentleman in his early thirties that Paris had ushered into my office.
“Daddy, this is Miguel Sota. Miguel, this is my father, LC Duncan.”
“Buenos días, Miguel,” I said as he shook my hand. Paris’s eyes lustfully lingered on Miguel before I shooed her away. Orlando saw it as well, but he didn’t bother to react. He was learning.
“Miguel, this is my son Orlando.”
“Se?or Duncan ... er ... both of you, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” He spoke with a heavy accent. I liked his manners, as well as his composure, especially after whatever his employer had told him about me before he came from California. To some in the business, I could be the devil; to others, something worse.
“No, no, Miguel, the pleasure is ours. Come, have a seat.” I motioned toward the open leather chair next to Orlando.
“Would you like something to drink?” Orlando asked, stepping up so as to not be a spectator in what he now perceived to be an important meeting.
“No. I’m fine,” Miguel replied. “Paris already asked me. And after a long flight, I’m just ready to get down to business. That is, if you don’t mind, sir?”
“No, not at all. Orlando, Miguel works for Alejandro.”
Orlando nodded his head with a smile. “I see. How is he?” Orlando asked as Harris entered the room, carrying a folder. He sat to the right of Miguel.
“Doing good, in spite of the economy. When some of our competitors struggled and failed in Las Vegas, he managed to move right in and expand into that market.”
I glanced over at Orlando. “Yes, I hear he’s doing a lot of that lately. Is he being backed by anyone?”
“No, sir. Not that I know of.”
I studied him, hoping to see some type of chink in his facade. He gave away nothing.
He continued, “He just sees opportunity and takes it.”
“That sounds like him. Did you know I used to do business with Alejandro a lot back in the day, when I was getting established and branching out? We were just two up-and-coming minority dealers from two opposite sides of the country, looking to make moves in their respective markets. I learned a lot from him about distribution and networks. I hope he learned a lot from me about sales.”
“Yes, he has mentioned this many times,” Miguel stated, making me feel a lot better about the possibilities of working with Alejandro. “He says that you are a great businessman and we can all learn much from you.”