Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 77394 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77394 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
“I can’t do this shit anymore, man.” Ruben was a big fella who tried to play it tough, but in the end, he was a low-life coward. “Please, just end it. I’m begging you.”
“I could do that.” I walked over and stood directly in front of him. “But I’m gonna need something from you first.”
“Anything. Just no more of this shit.”
“If you want it done, you’re gonna have to tell me who your crew was working with?”
A spark of hope flashed through his eyes as he asked, “You mean our supplier?”
“Suppliers. Distributors. I want to know everyone with ties to your crew.”
“Ah, man,” he snickered. “You boys got trouble.”
I grabbed the broom handle that was leaning against the wall as I warned, “Answer the fucking question.”
His smile faded as he looked at the broom, then back to me. Knowing what was in store for him if he didn’t talk, he let out a sigh and answered, “Marco Delgado.”
“Who the fuck is that?”
“He’s cartel, and he’s our supplier.” Ruben couldn’t even look at me as he explained, “He wants his money, and nothing’s gonna stop him from gettin’ it.”
“How much money are we talking about here?”
“’Bout a quarter of a mill. He did a drop a couple of days before you and your boys came after us. That’s been at least a couple of weeks, so yeah. He wants his fucking money.”
“How can we find this guy?”
“His number’s in my phone. Just don’t tell him how you got it, or he’ll kill everyone I ever cared about.” Ruben shook his head. “Dude is one sick motherfucker—even worse than you, and that’s saying somethin’.”
After I leaned the broom back against the wall, I grabbed Ruben’s phone from the counter and started for the door. “Good doing business with you.”
“Whoa! Wait!” Ruben screeched. “You said you were gonna finish me off!”
“I lied.”
“Come on, man! Don’t do me like that.”
Without responding, I walked out of the room and let the door slam behind me. I went back and got Shep, and together, we headed to Prez’s office. When we walked in, he was sitting at his desk, and Creed was sitting across from him. Prez leaned back in his chair as he said, “I hope this means one of you found something.”
“Yeah, you could say that.”
I took a minute to tell them everything Ruben had told me, and once I was done, Prez shook his head and sighed. “This is not the news I wanted to hear today.”
“How do you want to play it?”
“As far as I see it, there’s nothing to play,” Prez answered. “Delgado doesn’t know we were involved, and there’s nothing out there that will lead him to think otherwise. So, we keep quiet and don’t buy trouble we don’t need.”
“And if he happens to piece something together?”
“Not gonna happen, but if he does, we’ll deal with it.” Prez immediately turned to Shep and ordered, “Get me everything you can find on this guy. Just so we cover all our bases.”
“You got it.”
“Let me know what you find.”
“Will do.”
Shep turned and started out of the room. Once he was gone, I looked over to Prez and said, “My time with Ruben has run its course. I figured you or Memphis might wanna come finish him off, or I can do it myself. It’s your call.”
“We’ll take care of it.”
“Good deal. Just let me know if you need anything.”
“You made him suffer?”
“In ways you can’t imagine.”
He gave me a nod, and I took that as my cue to head out. I went back to Shep’s room and spent the next few hours helping him collect everything we could possibly need on Delgado. He was true cartel, vicious and powerful, but we’d gone up against men like him before and would again. It was one of the many risks that came with being in a club like ours, especially when you controlled a territory like Little Rock.
Over the next few days, things were pretty quiet. There was no more talk of Delgado and his hunt for the Assassins, and while we were relieved, I knew better than to think we were totally in the clear. Hell, we were never totally in the clear—not with anyone.
But we didn’t let it slow us down.
We kept business running as usual, and business was good. The new blood at the Vault was bringing in quite a crowd—even more than usual, and our latest run had gone off without a hitch. For the most part, I’d say things were going pretty well. The same held true for Jenna.
Once she was certain Luna was okay, she went back to work at Rosie’s and things seemed to be going really well. She’d learned how to make some of their more popular drinks and was making tips hand over fist. I wanted to see her in action, so I stopped by the bar on my way home. When I walked in, I wasn’t pleased to discover that I wasn’t the only one who’d decided to stop by.