“Time, for one. Patience, for another.” He looks at me again, head c****d to the side, a curious kind of compassion on his face that has no place in a frank business discussion between two precarious allies. “And best of all, persuasion. Don’t wrestle her. Woo her.”
The laugh rips its way out of me. I never had a chance to stop it. “Woo her? You’ve lost your f*****g mind, old man. Did catering to her feelings do a damn thing for you? Tell me: how many floral arrangements and boxes of Sorry You Have A f*****g Beast For A Father chocolates did you send to her door over the last fifteen years, hm? How many times did you try to mend fences? How did that work out?”
Leander rubs a hand over his face, looking suddenly exhausted. Even the bowtie of his tuxedo seems to be drooping. “Mock it all y
