Lying on a silver dinner tray is the head of Françoise, his French bodyguard. Last night when the sham Don answered the phone, I knew who was behind my missing guns the moment I heard the heavy French accent of the caller.
When Françoise showed up at the supposed money pickup wearing a red baseball cap, I knew I had the right guy. I took pleasure in watching my guys saw his head off while he screamed.
That muthafucker thought it was okay to pepper spray my wife and try to blow her up. Not to mention, he was the one that followed her that day. He admitted to doing it all for William.
“What did you do?” William asks.
I grin. “What did I do? You mean, what did you do? This is all you, William. You decided to jump off the porch and play withthe big dogs. You’re the one that fucked with Saint. And now, well, here I am.” I hold my hands out to my side.
Cue the waterworks. I don’t know why men think this will work. William Ingram is not a mastermind. He knows nothing about Saint’s world, but because he was desperate and dumb, he decided to play Billy Badass with my guns and now he has to face the piper.
“Let me tell you what I think happened.” I lean forward. “The last of your family’s hotels were sinking. You had the banks and everyone around you telling you to sell, but by now, the Ingram Family Group brand is worth about as much as a glass of unfiltered tap water.
“You were desperate. Trying so hard to recover the status and the name that your father’s disgusting sexcapades had ruined. Then comes the Hart deal. It was your way out.
“Only problem was, you and I both knew that Hart wanted me to take the deal, but I wasn’t interested. Tell me, is this when the Horseman came to you? I’m assuming he reached out via text, letter, or phone call. He seems too smart to talk face to face.”
The Horseman knew that if I ever discovered William’s betrayal, I’d put pressure on him to give up his identity. Then it was game over for him.
William nods. “He called me. He knew how much I hated you. He said that he wanted to take you down, to watch your world burn. That’s when he told me about Saint and how you were into a bunch of illegal stuff. He connected me with a guy that knew how to get me access to your guns.”
So far everything I had put together since I figured out that William was behind my missing guns has panned out. The moment I heard Françoise’s voice on the other end of the phone, I started putting the pieces together. I will say I never knew his hatred for me was this severe. I assumed there was some pettyrivalry in his head, but I would’ve never thought he would stoop this low.
“And the attacks on my wife, were those all you?” This was crucial to how I handled William and the Horseman.
William looks to the left, his gaze not on me. “She was just a casualty of war.”
With that one sentence, he had just sealed his fate.
I stand to my feet and button my suit jacket.
“I could’ve just killed you. And don’t get it wrong, you will die. But I want to make sure you feel the consequences of your actions, even in hell. Not only did I take the Hart deal, but I also just made a deal with the banks for your remaining hotels. In three months, they will seize those properties and your final shares.
“I will then buy the hotels and sell them off one by fucking one to the lowest bidder until they are nothing more than roach motels. Your family will see none of that money.
“In the next year, everything you own will be owned by me, your cars, your houses, even your mother’s pathetic estate your father left her will be mine. The Ingram name will be no more than a shit stain in the history books. I’m going to make sure that your entire family will die penniless and in the fucking streets.”
William sobs. I didn’t give a shit about his tears. He tried to kill my wife. I might have gotten past the stunt he pulled with my guns, but the stuff he did to Tiffany will never fly. No one touches my wife without feeling the consequences.
“Finish this bitch off,” I tell my crew.
They grab a crying and screaming William from his seat and drag him away. Everything is set up to make his death look like a suicide, even with a fake ass letter to go with it.
Ghost and Nate follow me out of the private dining room. We make our way to the underground parking garage. Roc is therewaiting for us. I climb in the back seat with Ghost. Nate climbs into the front seat.
“Everything went well?” Roc asks as soon as we get in.
“Yes, as well as expected. But you know what still bothers me,” I say to no one in particular as Roc turns the engine on.
“What’s that?” he asks when no one else answers.
“How someone who knew nothing about my business could infiltrate my very tight and secure organization. They knew the routes of cargo ships, which containers were mine, the location of my warehouses, and they knew when the guards to those warehouses would change. Seems odd, doesn’t it?”
Roc’s eyes connect with me in the rearview mirror. In that very brief connection, I spot the moment he knows I know the truth. He shuts his eyes and sighs.
“Boss, I—” His brains are splattered on the driver's window before he can finish that sentence.
I didn’t give a shit about why he betrayed me. I don’t care that he had a drug problem that was discovered and that he was being set up. He should have come to me.
