He grunts.
“Have you checked this account?” I ask, pointing to the series of numbers at the bottom of the page as Declan throws the used condom into the garbage.
“Yep. It’s something offshore. Can’t be traced.”
I tap my chin with my index finger, my eyes roaming over Declan’s fit body. “Come here.” He gives me a look, then saunters over. I stand and wrap my arms around his waist, pulling his body flush against mine. “I’ll look into it. We’ll figure it out, yeah?”
“I know. I won’t give these fuckers a dime of my money. If I’ve killed someone, they fucking earned it. I won’t be bullied into apologizing for shit.”
“There’s my D.”
He snorts. “There you go, trying to catch feelings.”
“I told you, I wouldn’t dream of it.” I kiss him quickly, then let him go. I grab my underwear and pants from the floor and slide them on. “Gotta go. I’ll see you soon, okay?” I give him another kiss and leave before I have him on his back again.
CHAPTER 13
DECLAN
It takes effort not to fucking shoot the man in front of me, but since he’s not affiliated with the family or our lifestyle, I have to go easier on him than I would anyone else that I caught stealing from me.
As it stands, my trigger finger itches as Jadon, the man on his knees with tears streaming down his face, begs me not to fire him. Says he only stole from the casino once because his son needed some kind of surgery.
It’s bad enough that he’s lying about his kid—a kid that’s fit as a fucking fiddle if my intel is accurate—but this isn’t his first time skimming money from the cage during his shift change.
After I saw how fucking paranoid he looked a few weeks back when I walked the floor, I had my tech people install cameras in all my cash-on-wheels carts instead of just in the corners of the internal cash office.
I’ll admit, Jadon was good. Not only did he stay out of view of the cameras I’d had mounted, but he was also able to slide the cash into his pants without looking obvious. It was his own paranoia that raised my antennas.
Jadon isn’t using the money he lifted from me to help his sick child—he’s taking it to other casinos to gamble it away. He’s close to three million in debt across Jersey, so squeezing me for five mil will allow him to pay his debts and have a lot left over to flush down the toilet with his shitty bets.
After I told Carter what was going on, he told me to just fire him, not make Jadon swim with the fishes.
I swear my brother thinks I’m an idiot.
“P-p-please,” Jadon begs, and I roll my eyes instead of putting a bullet in his brain. “He only has a f-f-f-few months if I don’t pay for this expensive s-s-surgery.”
I push off my desk and walk over to him. He looks at me with pleading eyes, and I backhand him across his lying mouth. His eyes blow wide, fear etching his expression. “I don’t like liars, Jadon. You’re lying to me and it’s pissing me off.”
He swallows roughly, but pushes to his feet, holding his mouth. His eyes dance with triumph, like he has me right where he wants me. “I’ll fucking sue your ass for striking me! I’ll take you to fucking court and?—”
Before he can finish his threat, I wrap my fingers around his throat, lift him off his feet, and shove him back until he hits the wall behind him. Jadon cries out, his normally tanned face pale with fear.
Clenching my hand until he struggles to breathe, I say, “Do you know who the fuck I am?” He looks more scared than I’ve ever seen anyone, his eyes popped wide and terror filling his gaze. “You can try to sue me, Jadon. But know this: I know where you live with your wife of ten years and your perfectly healthy son. I know where your mother lives. And that sister of yours? Yeah, I know she’s selling pussy down on Third. I can have them all knocked off. And I’ll leave you so fucking broken that you lose your fucking sanity. Fuck with me if you want to, but I promise I’ll fuck you harder.”
Jadon’s face pales even more and he opens and closes his mouth like a fish. I keep pressure on his throat, my gaze boring into his so he understands I don’t respond to idle fucking threats.
“You thought you could blackmail me?Me?!”I shout in his face. Though I have him in a vulnerable position, his expression switches from fear to confusion. Yeah, he’s good. Now that he knows I know his secret, he has nothing left to do but pretend he’s clueless. Fucking amateur. He steals petty cash from me but decides to blackmail me with an offshore account? Did he think he wouldn’t get caught?
“Boss,” Austin says behind me and I grunt in acknowledgement, but don’t look away from Jadon. “We got Carter in thirty. If you drop Jadon’s body, he’ll find out about it in fifteen.”
I hate that he’s right. It seems like Carter has ears fucking everywhere, making it hard for me to keep anything from him. I’m surprised he hasn’t heard about the blackmail through the grapevine.
“Yeah, I know,” I grunt.
I give Jadon’s throat one more squeeze and drop him to the floor. He drags in a long breath, then coughs up a fucking lung.
“Get him out of my sight,” I seethe, walking back over to my desk. My men pick Jadon up and drag him to the door. “Oh, Jadon,” I say and my men turn the weak fucker around so he can see my face. “You’re fucking banned from every casino in the city. Get your family and get the fuck out of this state in the next week, or I’ll have everyone’s head tossed off the pier and your bodies dumped where they’ll never be found. You got me?”
