Chapter 3

3: 3

Finch fished the folded slips out of my pocket, gave them a glance, and doubled over laughing.

"The way you were looking at us just now, I thought you were somebody important."

She held the slips up and offered them to Drew with both hands.

"Take a look, Mr. Swanson. Here's this big boss's entire net worth. Five pounds of hairtail, ten pounds of raw oysters."

"All that talk, and she doesn't even have a proper storefront."

"Probably runs some sad little stall on the sidewalk at the market, out in the wind and sun, fighting people for a patch of pavement."

I looked down at the slips and didn't bother arguing with her.

She thought they were a vendor's purchase receipts.

In fact, they were the dispatch orders for my deep-sea fleet.

The professional codes and tonnage numbers on them were nothing a small-timer like Finch could ever read.

Any single one of those slips moved cargo worth eight figures and up.

Earl was laughing so hard her eyes were watering, clutching her stomach, unable to straighten up.

"That's it, that's it, Drew, you've got the worst luck in the world. They set you up with a fish peddler."

Drew frowned, pinched the sheet up by his fingertips, gave it a glance, then dropped it straight onto the floor.

"Disgusting. Get her out of here, now."

"I was wondering why she wouldn't leave. She's got her eye on what our family's got, trying to marry up."

"A rotten tree grows crooked branches. One look and you know her parents have no shame, raising a shameless kid like this."

"Drew's exactly right. What would some broke nobody know about shame?"

That set Earl off again. He picked up a slice of sashimi from the table with his chopsticks.

Waved it in front of my face, then dropped it straight into the trash.

"You know how much this one slice of fish costs? More than your whole family scrapes together scaling fish in a month."

"Those shameless parents of yours, I bet they gave you a hundred warnings before you left the house."

"Told you no matter how much you got cussed out today, you'd better shamelessly pack up as many leftovers as you can and bring them home."

"Give the whole family a taste of meat for once, right?"

My eyes went cold.

Until now I'd taken them for spoiled fools, not worth my time squabbling with two ignorant kids.

Market stall, fishmonger, whatever they wanted to call me. How they saw me, I didn't care.

But there was one thing they never should have done. They insulted my parents.

My parents fought half their lives against the wind and the waves to build the fishing empire Harborview has today.

There isn't a business heavyweight alive who wouldn't greet them with respect and call them their elders.

And these two arrogant brats thought they could tear them down behind their backs?

I bent down, picked the slips up off the floor, folded them, and slid them back into my pocket.

Then I took out my phone.

"I'm going to make a call now, and give you a proper answer."

Drew crossed his arms, contempt all over his face.

"Go ahead. Make your call. I'd love to see who a sidewalk fish peddler can summon."

"Your mom, to come throw a tantrum? Or your dad, to come down on his knees and beg?"

"If you can't get someone here today who can actually fix this, you're leaving with your hide peeled off."

I dialed Bruno, keeping my voice as even as I could.

"Bruno, tell the refrigerated truck to turn around. That bluefin tuna headed for the Swansons, haul it back the way it came."

On the other end, Bruno clearly paused.

"Boss, that fish just got to their kitchen. They're about to unload it—"

"Bring it back."

"Understood."

I added one more thing.

"And notify every supplier in the port. Cut off all business with the Swanson restaurants."

"From today on, not one strand of kelp the Henson fleet pulls out of the water gets sold to them."

I hung up.

Drew and Earl exchanged a look and burst out laughing together.

"Drew, did you hear that? She says she's cutting off your family's supply chain."

Drew wiped the tears from his eyes.

"Not bad acting, I'll give you that. But no matter how good the show is, it doesn't change the fact that you're broke."

"So you've made your call. Now what? Is the sky going to fall or something?"

"Finch, what are you standing around for? Get her out of—"

At that moment, the door to the private room was flung open from outside.

It hit hard enough to rattle the frame, and the laughter in the room cut off all at once.