Don't Touch

-56-

"Okay, are y'all gonna chill or...?"

Simone held up her finger, signaling Sean to wait as her and Emiliano's mouths moved hungrily against each other. Sean, Manuel, and Luca - who was driving the van and peeking at them from the rearview mirror - all shook their heads.

When Simone finally broke the kiss, she reached to the front seat to rub Luca's shoulder. "Tu sei il prossimo, mio caro." [You're next, my dear.]

"No chill whatsoever," Sean muttered as he rolled his eyes.

"What?!" Simone exclaimed. "I almost died! He had that gun pointed at me. I kept my cool and shit, but-"

"He had a fucking gun pointed at you?!" Emiliano snapped. "That fucking-"

"It's all good, Em," Simone interrupted, wrapping her arm around his and leaning her head on his shoulder. "Jared came through."

"Speaking of which..." Manuel readjusted in his seat and crossed his legs. "You didn't think it was necessary for me to know about that?"

"Well, you know Jared is former CIA and shit and he's all secretive," Simone replied with a shrug.

"Honestly," Sean continued. "We didn't even know what he was going to do. Whenever we have a big operation or anything, we just send him in advance to do his own planning to ensure our mission is a success. He looks for any holes in our strategy and anticipates problems and shit to pick up slack."

"Oh..." Manuel nodded thoughtfully. "That's what you meant when you called him an 'advance.'"

"Yeah, we figured Santi would get wild, but threatening the Council so boldly like that? If he had hurt any of us, he definitely would've been done for - I'm surprised he took such a big risk, but I guess he didn't have anything to lose at that point. At least he's dead now." Simone took a deep sigh and cuddled up more to Emiliano who put his arm around her to pull her against his chest.

"Y'all act like y'all not leaving for vacation in the morning and won't be booed up for for a whole week," Sean grumbled.

"Nigga, shut up and mind ya business," Simone taunted. "Anyway, let's just deal with the aftermath of all this."

***

"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!?" Justin Nakamura roared as soon as the Council resumed their meeting in the new secure location. "João got shot! Santiago was killed! We had to fucking flee while a shootout was going on! What the hell?! We have never had a meeting go so poorly."

"'Poorly' is not the word I would use to describe this meeting," Paola replied. She called in via video from the hospital where João was being treated. "We removed Santiago from the Council and he proved to us who voted for his ouster that it was a good idea, while those who voted against it were proven wrong."

"João was shot!"

"He was, but at least the person who did it is dead. Thankfully, João's injury is not severe and he's expected to make a full recovery."

"I am glad that João is okay, but it doesn't change the fact that what we just went through should not become commonplace for us. It is not at all like the Council and we-"

"That is where you're wrong," Cameron Gauthier interrupted. "Council meetings were actually much worse than this when we first started. Deaths or serious injuries at meetings were not uncommon and shootouts were almost expected."

"Well, I've been on the Council for nine years and I've never experienced anything like this."

"Okay...?" Cameron responded with a raised brow. "You keep saying that, but what are those words accomplishing? Would you like to make a proposal?"

"No," Justin scoffed. "I'm just saying that this should not be the regular for us moving forward."

"And it won't," Simone finally spoke up. "We made you aware of what Santi was doing in our region. What happened today was how we handled it."

"You don't think you could've 'handled it' a bit more gently?"

"An explosion at our favorite restaurant, a back full of shrapnel, two gunshot wounds, a traumatized mother of my child, and several kidnapping attempts all say fuck no," Sean retorted.

"Look, I recognize that this is our first full year on the Council and we may have played a role in making this meeting a bit more eventful than those in recent years," Simone added. "But, Santi's actions led to this and we were handling our shit in the most effective way possible. He wasn't trying to talk shit out with us and an assassination at any other time would've just resulted in his chosen line of succession being activated. This was our best, permanent option to deal with him."

"Fair enough," Justin surrendered.

"Would anyone else like to raise any issues with how we handled today?" Sean asked the room. "We made sure to have backup plan after backup plan to ensure the safety of the Council. Santiago shooting João was completely unexpected, but at least it wasn't severe and everyone is essentially safe."

"So what now?" One of the Council members asked.

"I say that we go ahead and finish up our annual meeting with our newest addition - Manuel - and carry on with business," Cameron proposed. "What matters most is the bottomline and Santiago will no longer be a liability for this body. We do hope that Manuel doesn't become one."

"I absolutely will not," Manuel responded with a warm smile. "So, let's get to it!"

***

Simone laid at the end of the bed on a video call with Jeff and Tina, excitedly explaining to them the events at the Council meeting.

"Yeah, pa! It's over," Simone beamed. "We finally got rid of Santi, and after all the shit went down, we were able to hold a real Council meeting in one of Manny's spots. I can't believe we did it!"

"I-I c-can, babygirl," Jeff said weakly from the other side of the video call. He was laying in bed, as he'd been for going on months. "I am s-so... proud of you, Simone. We threw y-you into the deep end. And n-now look at you."

"Thanks, pa," Simone replied with tears in her eyes, a combination of concern for her father and pride in the progress that she had made.

She thought about how far she came - from nearly 10 years of running from the family business to fully embracing it and running it alongside her brother. It was a fate she had dreaded growing up and thought she could avoid, but now that she was living it, Simone realized that it was where she belonged all along.

She didn't regret the years she spent in civilian life - knowing herself, she knew she would've forever been curious about it if she never tried it - but she also didn't regret leaving it all behind. And now, not only did Simone have her family back, but she also had two men that felt like they were made just for her and she loved both of them. She wasn't unhappy in her life as Syd Johnson, but she also never expected that it was possible to feel as happy as she felt now.

"Alright, Simone," Tina said from Jeff's side. "It's time for us to go to bed, but like your father said, we are so proud of you. We hope you, Em, and Luca have a safe trip. Where are y'all going again?"

"To one of the Rossi's villas in Turks & Caicos."

"Niceeee," Tina dragged out. "We'll do our best not to uh... disturb your activities."

"Whatever, ma," Simone giggled. "I love you both and we'll talk later."

"We love you too, babygirl."

+++

A/N: Thank you so much for reading! I know this is another short chapter, but all the Council stuff felt pretty dense and I wanted to round it out/finish up this mini arc with something shorter.