Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 77118 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77118 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Then, well, I might want to get some revenge.
Judge, yeah, he hadn’t been much help to push me toward optimism.
“The fuck you mean he’s out?” Judge asked, stiffening when I told him the news. “He had four… oh,” he said, realizing the time that had passed. “Fuck,” he added, slamming his head back on the couch cushion.
“So, it sounds like you knew the guy pretty well,” I said, grabbing beers for each of us.
What we really needed was some whiskey.
But he was on baby duty.
“As well as I could before he went away,” Judge agreed, nodding. “The man is cold and smart and fucking ruthless.”
“Which doesn’t sound to me like someone who would be run out of town.”
“No,” Judge agreed. “I mean, to be fair, Erion was a half-brother. And the rest of the organization made it clear that the half wasn’t as good as the whole. It was the same mom, not the same dad,” he clarified at my confused look. “Their mom hated their dad and divorced him when the other brothers were in their early teens. She went off, had another kid, died, and their old man actually took Erion in.”
“Why would he do that?”
“See, the mom hated the dad. He was an obsessive, controlling bastard. But the dad loved the mom. Held a torch for her until he died too. And her other kid had her eyes, her smile. Guess it was his way of holding onto her. But his half-brothers resented him and the attention their dad gave him, so they excluded him, made sure he was aware that he wasn’t at the same level they were.
“When their old man died and they took over, they didn’t give him anywhere near the same kind of control or money they had.”
“The fuck he stay for if they treated him like shit?”
“I guess because loyalty and family was hammered so hard into him growing up. And even with reduced pay, the money was good. He’d never do anything else that paid as much. And he was good at what he did. Like I said, he was smart as well as detached and ruthless enough to get shit done.”
“And then he went away…”
“Yeah. They got him on a manslaughter charge. Aggravated, if I recall correctly. But it wasn’t. He’d sought the guy out with the intention to kill him. No one was going to say that, though. Not back then when they were probably the biggest players in this town. Certainly the most cold-blooded.”
“Did you see him while inside?” I asked.
“Nah. We were in different units. And we had different shifts in the chow hall. Maybe caught sight of him a time or two on the yard, but I honestly can’t even be sure.”
“Would there be tension between you two?”
“I mean, we were on good terms when I went away. And I went away before the mess went down too, so he can’t hold me accountable for not helping with that.”
“True. What about with you being in the club now?” I asked.
“I mean… the fuck did he expect me to do? Rebuild a family I didn’t even belong to?” Judge asked, shaking his head. “Erion was reasonable. I don’t think he’d start shit with me for starting my life over after I got out.”
“What about everyone else in town?”
“I mean… if he’s sticking around, my guess is he’s going to plot against the Novikoff brothers for taking his family out. And taking over their business in the area. But that’s a big if depending on a lot of other, smaller ifs.”
“Such as?”
“If he had anyone still loyal to him on the outside in the area. Old flames. Old friends. He’s not staying at the motel, so he’s gotta be staying somewhere.”
“True.”
“And if he had money stashed. That business wasn’t legitimate, so they couldn’t put that shit in the bank. And if the Novikoff brothers took over shit, I’m sure they searched through all the houses and business locations and cars to strip them of all their cash.”
“But Erion is smart,” I said.
“Yeah. Honestly, smart enough that I guarantee you he had cash stashed away from any of the home bases. I think he was the kind of man who was even prepared for the family to turn their backs on him, and he would need an escape route. The kind of guy who thinks in all directions at once.”
So that meant one hell of an enemy if any of us found our way in his path.
I mean, yeah, we were all relatively friendly with the Novikoff brothers. We frequented their establishment, at least. But we weren’t involved with them. No one would think we were.
So we weren’t friends with Erion’s enemies.
Still.
Street wars were messy.
Innocent parties could end up suffering too.
“So, you assume he’s here,” I concluded.
“I can’t be sure of shit. Prison changes a lot of people. But if I were placing a bet, I would put it on him being here somewhere.”