Chapter Seven
Crank shook his headat Nita.“Nah, little girl.I cared about my family at one point.And I am sorry to say this...But I hated what my father stood for and how he treated people.I mean I always knew he didn’t like Ursala but I was going to marry her whether he liked her or not.He always looked down on her because she was just a regular person, you know?She didn’t have country club money and she always worked for a living.One time he said he would never accept her and I told him then he better prepare himself to lose me because I wouldn’t give her up, that she was my forever after.”Shaking his head he admitted, “I don’t think he took me seriously but after she left, so did I.My father always used money as a weapon against people, not only his own family but he used it as a way to determine if people were worthy of his time.I learned many years later that my father tried to kill my woman and he ran her out of town.I never knew that.I looked for her and never knew the truth.Then I missed my daughter’s entire childhood.All because my family...well, is as bad as yours in essence.”
Titus nodded, “Yeah and it finally all came back to him.We all saw the panic in his eyes just before Ricco turned his guns on him and his crew.”
Crank sighed hard.“All of this would have been unnecessary if he’d just have been a decent guy.But that was never his way.If he’d have been a decent and law-abiding kind of guy, he still could have made a good living and raised his family up right, but my father had to be different.He had to be stubborn, sly and deeply disgusting.He never should taken any kind of vows he knew he wasn’t going to keep.My mother had old money and he could have kept growing that but no...he needed to make his own money come hell or high water and he had to drag two of his sons into a life of crime and under dealing the cards.Then he chose Stella Sanchez to cheat with?Man, it must have been the thrill of it?I still don’t understand that he could be that stupid.Then he taught my brothers that only their business was worth anything and I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that Ricco wasn’t the only one he double crossed.If Eduardo thinks he’s going to step into my father’s businesses he’s got another thing coming.”
Bouncer looked troubled as he glanced over at Crank.“Can I ask you a question, son?”
Crank nodded.
Bouncer rubbed his hand along his jaw and then just asked, “Your trust, does it mention anything about what would happen to the money your mom left you if you were to die before you got married and had a kid?”
Crank froze, then he replied, “Hell, I don’t know.”
Bouncer shrugged and said, “Most trusts have that clause and if you were dead the money would usually go to your next of kin.Maybe that’s why your dad thought he could get it.Maybe your brothers are still figuring on that same thing.They could have offered that money to Eduardo to collect if things don’t go their way.”
Crank reached for his phone and placed a call to the attorney handling his mother’s trust.“Hey, got a question, what would happen to the trust money if I died before I got married?Would that be enough for my dad or one of my brothers to claim it?”He listened for a moment then found Bouncer’s gaze and nodded slightly.“Ok thanks, but listen, if I do get married will that money go to my wife and not them if I email the certificate to you?I mean can you use that to hold the money for my wife and not let it go to my brothers?”He again listened for another moment then he nodded.“Ok, I’ll email you the certificate soon.”Then he ended the call and stared at Bouncer.“He told me if I died unmarried, the money would go to my brothers.He also said that I could email him the marriage certificate and the money would be held for my wife.”
“So what do you want to do with that information?”
Boomer asked.
“Looks like Ursala and I are getting married today.”Crank laughed.“I know we don’t have long before the world goes to hell on us but I’m not waiting any longer.We’ve been waiting for twenty years already and I’ll be damned if I’m waiting any longer.”Turning, he walked down the hall.Before he got far, he looked over his shoulder and told Bouncer, “Make whatever calls you have to make and get me a preacher or a judge to perform the ceremony.I don’t really care who you get, just make it legal.I don’t want them to get their dirty hands on that money.She’s already got the ring and I’m not waiting any longer.”
Bouncer grinned as he reached for his phone and made the call.“Judge, this is Bouncer, would you be free and willing to perform a marriage ceremony for Crank?Like um...this afternoon?We need it done quickly and legally.”
An hour later...
Jep could see on the cameras when a convoy began climbing the road to the top of the mountain.Finally, they reached the clubhouse after the twenty-minute climb.He dropped the gate long enough for the vehicles to get through then he raised it again.
Bouncer opened the gate and several people walked through it.
Titus and Boomer met them on the front verandah.
Bouncer extended his hand to Judge Ryan Molitor and smiled.
He shook his hand.“Ok Bouncer, what the hell is going on here?”
“Well as you know, I’m sure the sheriff has kept you up to date on the goings on around here.Crank’s family came here demanding he turn his trust over to them as they needed the money, well what they needed the money to pay a man who is worse than a loan shark.A man called Ricco Sanchez.Then when he saw what we had for evidence against Todd Lawler, Ricco went crazy and shot up the place, killing several men and he killed Todd Lawler.Crank’s two younger brothers escaped and since then they have joined the Sanchez organization.So when Ricco came back here, he couldn’t escape and he ran out of men as we stopped them from getting up the road.”
“Was that the wreck we found on our way up?”the judge asked.
Bouncer nodded.“We put those gates up according to the law.We got the permits and all that crap.And the sheriff knows about why we think we need them.When Ricco couldn’t get out, he and his men scattered into the woods around the clubhouse.We found them and captured them.We were gonna hold them until the Sheriff could come and collect them.”He paused then rubbed his chin.“Well, Ricco being the man that he is, he tried to rush one of our women.Jep had no choice but to kill him.He had a knife in his hand and was looking to kill a woman named Areille.”He sighed hard and went on, “Well now, we got the rest of his family coming to take him away from us.They don’t know he’s dead and I don’t think they’re gonna be happy when they finally realize that little fact.”
“Do you know who his family is?”the judge asked.
Bouncer nodded.
Titus answered this, “Eduardo Sanchez, Lily Sanchez and Canto Sanchez.Then there is Lily's boyfriend Joel Prescott.”
Judge Ryan Molitor hissed and his face paled.“Sweet Jesus.”
