My fist found his face again, easily and brutally. A tooth popped out and I sighed. Perhaps the long hours I’d put in lately were the reason for my eternally bad mood.
Randy’s strangled sob turned into a coughing fit, strings of blood oozing from his mouth.
“What exactly are you sorry about, Randy? Stealing my product without my consent, providing it to underage kids, or your traitorous acts being discovered?”
My hand ached, which meant it would soon begin to swell. A casual condition of my employment.
“Everything.”
I almost laughed at his admittance. I snatched him around the throat, yanking him free from Jarvis. The adrenaline was such I lifted him off the concrete floor, leaving his legs dangling. “Do you know what would have happened if the kids you sold the drugs to had overdosed? Do you?”
His face was turning a lovely shade of crimson, although in the dull warehouse lighting, his skin appeared the color of a fresh beet. I’d give him credit. He managed to nod.
Disgusted, I tossed him against the wall, unnerved that I had to dole out punishment more frequently. He’d thought he was a tough guy, telling me as much several times in pleading for a promotion.
He’d promised me he could handle the pressure. In a sense, I’d allowed the theft by becoming too lenient over the last few months.
Not that anyone else would agree with me.
Other than the Russos. Additional training on security methods would soon follow.
“Please. I won’t do it again. I swear to God. They’re fine. I didn’t let them take much. Just a hit. Nothing more.”
Fuck me.
I pitched him against the hard concrete, silencing him with a single look, watching as he slid down the wall. “As I said, Randy. You fucked up and doing so won’t be without punishment.”
Tears slipped down both sides of his face. He was certain I had plans on putting a bullet in his brain and I should. However, as I’d learned over the years, warnings were an excellent incentive. Some would even say his small infraction warranted it.
However, I wasn’t like everyone else.
“I have some information you can use. Maybe. I think so.”
Sighing, I slowly lifted my head toward Jarvis, who promptly shook his head. He had no idea what the kid was talking about. When Randy wasn’t forthcoming, I crowded his space, making him sweat a little more. “Talk, Randy. My time is valuable.”
“The guy with my brother. He spouted off some shit. You know, when he was high.”
“What exactly did he spout off?”
“The Russos. Something big is going down.”
Solid confirmation that the Russos were behind the warehouse break-in.
That would make the most sense, regarding who’d disabled our security system and taken our product. It was a child’s game, which should be nothing but an irritant. Unfortunately, we’d been playing a game with the Russos for years, my father, the Don of the Prince Crime Syndicate coming closer to starting an all-out war.
In my opinion, it was time. Past fucking time.
That wouldn’t be good for either family or the city, but the last thing we could allow to occur was to appear weak to either the Italians or any other syndicate. That’s when the most blood was shed.
We were always at war over something, clashing over land, warehouses, or power within New Orleans. It was a feud that had lasted for generations, although lately both sides had chosen peace over bloodshed. That meant nothing in the world and warring status of crime syndicates.
There’d even been talk as recently as a few years ago about forming an alliance by marriage. I’d refused to allow Emmeline to get near the pricks.
So maybe tensions were still running a little high.
“Care to elaborate?” I asked. I was a man of few words and little patience. “Is this about the warehouse?”
He licked sweat and blood from his swollen lip. “I don’t think so, but I tried to ask. You know, to see what I could learn. The kid just said soon the Russos would own New Orleans.”
