My cocky attitude had made plenty of bad decisions for me in the past. Everything had changed. Now I wanted Dom, and I would do whatever it took to make that happen. Even if that meant joining the Kings.
When Rebel’s burner phone rang, we all jumped. He flipped it open to find a photo of a dark-haired woman gagged and bound with a small child crying on her lap. There was an address. Fuck yes.
When Stray arrived with the Kings share of the cash, we immediately set out for Elmwood. As soon as we got in the car, I forwarded the photo of Garrett’s wife to Garrett himself. I only wished I could see his face when he saw it.
It wasn’t long before we received a return text.What do you want?
I replied immediately.You know what I want. I’ll send you an address soon. You’ll bring Dom there. Hurt him in any way, or try to fuck us over, and your family dies.
Goddamn it felt so good to have the upper hand. A satisfied smile spread across my face when Garrett replied.He’s all yours. Please don’t hurt them.
I’d never had to worry about a loved one getting involved in my criminal activity before. I couldn’t imagine having a family and doing this shit, even though so many did. Now I had Dom. Even though he was involved in this life too, I felt like it was time to make decisions more carefully. No reckless choices.
With six people crammed into an SUV, the drive was tight and tense. We were all eager to get this over with. Stray and Auryn made a few attempts at creating conversation. Most of which the rest of us nodded along to, having nothing to contribute. We were all in the zone.
Entering Elmwood got my pulse pounding again. I wouldn’t be able to relax until I saw Dom. The address Phil sent brought us to an empty restaurant. A sign in the window said it was closed for renovation. Knowing better than to try the front door, we went around to the back.
I’d barely knocked when the door swung open. Phil stood in the entryway, a cigarette dangling between his thin lips. His salt and pepper hair was disheveled. Despite the frigid temperatures, he wore only a T-shirt and jeans. Like the winter chill didn’t touch him.
“The wife and kid are in the storage room down the hall,” he said, taking the envelope of cash I handed him without counting it. “This place is owned by my buddy. Nobody will be around until the end of next week. If you spill any blood, clean it up.”
With that, he strolled out the door, sauntering over to a blacked out Mercedes parked behind the restaurant. I promptly sent Garrett the address with a warning. He was to enter alone with Dom. No other members of his organization. No weapons.
We found the wife and kid in the storage room just as Phil had said. There were a few racks filled with non-perishable goods lining the walls. She sat tied to a chair in the middle of the room, the kid crawling around on the floor getting into shit. He’d pulled down a bag of rice, spilling it all over the floor. Props to Phil for not tying up a toddler.
The woman began to cry, her voice muffled by the tape across her mouth. When Casper picked up the toddler, she almost lost it. Muffled screams and flailing so hard she almost tipped over the chair.
“You need to calm down.” I crouched in front of her, making her look into my eyes. “We’re not here to hurt you. Nobody is hurting your kid. I promise. We’re here because your husband made some bad decisions. He has someone very important to me, so I had to take someone important to him. He’s on his way. We’ll make a trade, and you’ll go home. Do you understand?”
With tears streaming down her face, she nodded. Having no choice but to believe me, she began to quiet down. Her darkhair was a mess, mascara streaked down her face. Garrett better regret his life choices when he saw her or he was a piece of shit husband.
Looking at the weeping, terrified woman, I almost felt bad for what I would have to do. She didn’t deserve the life Garrett had given her.
It didn’t take long for him to arrive. He was there in less than ten minutes. He must’ve been nearby. As I’d instructed, he entered the building alone with only Dom. Stray and Auryn went to stand watch, making sure nobody else tried to enter the building.
Garrett was visibly relieved when he saw his wife alive. “You fucking won. Here’s your boyfriend. Now let her go.”
He gave Dom a shove into the storage room, holding up both hands, pretending like he was harmless. Seeing Dom had never felt so fucking good. He hadn’t been gone all that long, but it had felt like forever.
“Casper.” I nodded toward the door. “Take the kid outside. Someone take her out of here too. Garrett stays.”
Rebel pulled the tape off the woman’s mouth before untying her wrists and ankles. Immediately she began to shout at Garrett. “What the fuck did you do this time? I thought we were past this shit. You promised me. You fucking promised.”
As Rebel ushered her out of the room, she went without a fight. When Dom and I were left alone with Garrett, I motioned for him to sit on the chair. He sat down heavily, his gaze darting between Dom and me.
“You won, okay? I lost. I accept that.” He seemed to think admitting defeat was the way out of this. Unfortunately for him, there was no way out of this.
I walked a slow circle around the chair, enjoying the way he nervously turned his head, trying to follow my motions. “There are some mistakes you can’t come back from, Garrett.Sounds like your wife has had enough of your shit anyway. Maybe we’re doing her a favor.”
He paled, shooting to his feet. I shoved him back down onto the chair, holding him with a hand on his shoulder.
“I’m sorry, man. I fucked up. You know how it goes. You win some, you lose some. I lost.” He was doing his best not to panic and plead. I saw how close he was to begging.
As much as I occasionally enjoyed a good begging session, I wasn’t in the mood for that right now. “You hired us to kill each other. You thought you would take over our city. You chose the wrong people to mess with this time, asshole. I know guys like you, Garrett. You’re like cockroaches. You never really go away. I won’t give you the chance to go home, lick your wounds, and come up with another plan. I’ve learned enough to know better than that.”
Pulling out the gun tucked into the waist of my jeans under my hoodie, I pressed the barrel against Garrett’s forehead. He started to blubber, to beg and bargain. I pulled the trigger, cutting off his words mid-sentence.
Blood sprayed onto a stack of canned goods on the rack behind him. Damn. Now we would have to clean up.
