“You assume too much about their intelligence. It’s all about the money,” Alexander said far too quietly. “Which is why we need to play this carefully. From what I heard, the tenants of the various properties were given notification their leases were terminated effective ninety days.”
“So someone is footing the bill for buying them out. Interesting.” At least half the people in the building had a lease to own contract. Even though I had no doubt we could break the contract easily, since idiots had put it together, we’d wanted to do the honorable thing.
There was no reason to fuck over small businesses. They deserved to get their money back.
Alexander shook his head. “No. They aren’t honoring the contract we set in motion. It’s pack up and leave.”
“He’s correct,” Jacques corroborated. “The buyer in question doesn’t care.”
“I suggest you find out what their intentions are with the property,” I threw out at him.
Alexander rubbed his jaw. “Yes, Jacques. Find out every detail. We still have very strong connections in this city.”
“The termination notice means a deal has already been proctored. They bypassed our offer altogether.” Jaxon snorted.
“There’s something odd about the way this went down, including with Mr. Franklin suddenly being brought on board. Marcus must have another investor he’s working with.”
“Agreed,” Alexander took a sip of his drink. “As you might imagine, there’s already unrest with the tenants. A couple of them could cause some trouble, but not in a court of law.”
My brother had been handling the initial business proposition before our father’s murder including visiting the site and the discussions with the city government and with the architect we normally used. I’d had other business to attend to.
After our father’s death, he’d dumped the project in my lap. Maybe I shouldn’t have taken for granted that it was a done deal. Today had all but blindsided me.
“At that sake of starting a fistfight, I feel I need to ask. Is there any word on the street regarding the stolen shipment?” Jaxon asked, darting his eyes around the room as if anticipating that Montgomery and I were eager to initiate the fight.
I shook my head, disgusted with every aspect of what had occurred. No, I wasn’t happy the fuckers had gotten away with the theft or that Vincent hadn’t provided a single worthwhile detail.
There’d been no word, no sign of anyone trying to get it out of town. While we had men scouring the airport and buses, that meant nothing.
It was like trying to find a needle in a haystack given the ways the cocaine could be taken from New Orleans. Unless someone talked, we were out of product and potential buyers.
That had pissed us all off.
Alexander simply shook his head. But I could tell by his tight grip on his glass that he was pissed off.
“I don’t need to tell you that with the loss of our product, we not only are out millions, but appear weak. That is unacceptable. Now, with the deal being ripped from under us, I certainly don’t want these goddamn tenants thinking they can strong-arm us.”
I finally picked up the paperwork. “This a list of the businesses?”
Nodding, Alexander polished off his drink and the waitress was right there to bring another.
“Wait. Isn’t the gun shop owned by the fucking Las Riveras MC club?” Jaxon laughed.
“Yes, but up until now they’ve never caused us any trouble.” Alexander was drumming his fingers on the table.
I glanced in his direction. “Wait a minute. They issued a threat.”
“Let’s just say when I headed out to my car this morning, I found a butchered deer on my hood. Now, I don’t mind telling you that seeing the carcass pissed me off. Not only did my security team not notice, but the perpetrators had managed to avoid the cameras, which were working.”
“Well, fuck. Why is the deer so important?” Montgomery asked.
Jaxon laughed. “I used to ride with a couple bikers. They knew the group well. They’re savages. The deer is their symbol. It means they are about to go hunting.”
When I bristled, Alexander waved his hand. “If their methods of pointing out their enemies are well known, we can’t be certain they left such a special gift. But I do want you to have a nice chat with them, Sinclair. They are very much interested in partyfavors, cocaine their favorite choice. They’d been known to make a few larger sales from time to time. We need to find out if they had anything to do with the heist.”
Heist, my ass. It’d been nothing so sophisticated.
I laughed. “Gladly.” Just as I was about to toss the paperwork, I noticed a name and froze. What the fuck? Narrowing my eyes, I read the name again.
