Page 16 of More Tricks

Picasso shook his head. “We don’t know exactly when he’s coming back, and Eagle isn’t in the best condition to handle news like this.”

“That, and do you really want him tanning your ass until you can’t sit for a week?” Void asked.

Demitri deflated in on himself as he shook his head furiously. “No. God, I’d hoped none of you would have had to find out about this.”

“Yeah, sorry, but that ship has sailed, Demitri. You just need to be honest with us about everything from this point forward,” Picasso warned. “Let’s start at the beginning when they first contacted you?”

Chapter six

Dax

Demitri took a deep, steadying breath and then began to tell his story. “It started when I went to see Elena during spring break. She wanted to show me around New York City to prove to me that she could handle herself. While I was there, she still had lots of work to do on an end-of-the-year project. Some big article she was writing about the slums and how mental health and homelessness were a big problem. Which meant as we toured the city, we also visited some really shady parts to interview people.

“For the four days we stayed in the city, she wanted to check out a few shelters, a local drug house, and some spots that were common for the homeless to panhandle for the day. Ellie is as stubborn as anyone in our family, so I knew she was going to do this with or without me. It was gonna be safer if I went along and kept an eye on her. Problem was, Ellie picked the wrong day and the wrong time to visit the drug house. Seems there was a turf war over the spot between the De León’s and another smaller gang getting too big for themselves.” Demitri paused, picking at the skin around his thumbnail, trying to collect himself.

He raised his gaze to meet Picasso’s. “I should have never let her go there, it was a dumb idea, and I was too cocky for my own good.”

His uncle reached out and squeezed his shoulder. “We all make mistakes, D. You know my story and the hell we went through with our uncles. While I can’t promise I won’t be disappointed, you’re coming clean now, and we’re going to fix this, but I need to know what I’m up against first.”

Demitri nodded and continued, “It was some time after five when we went to the spot. It was abandoned and falling apart with cracked-out people lying around all over the floor. She was taking pictures with her phone and that’s what did us in. One of the dealers thought we were with the gang, trying to sneak intel so they could take the house back from the cartel. He grabbed Ellie and snatched her phone, demanding answers from me. I didn’t know what to do, so I used the only leverage I could think of and said that I worked for Tricks, and if they messed with us, he’d come down on them.”

“Fuck,” Cognac groaned, knowing exactly how wrong of an answer that was.

Hell, it would have been better for him to be honest and say he was related to the leaders of the Phantom Saints. They were a known name out here and would have added some backlash if they got hurt. Instead, he chose to use my name, and Diego and I had been enemies since I stopped his import of drugs from Mexico the easy way. Now he had to go through Texas or take the long route by boat to the East Coast.

Everyone knew that Texas wasn’t a state to fuck with. They didn’t like it when people broke the law, and everyone had a gun to do something about it.

“Yeah, that’s a pretty accurate response to that situation,” Demitri agreed. “Using Ellie as motivation, he got me to zip-tie myself, then her, and took us back to one of their warehouses. That’s when I met Anthony, Diego’s oldest son. He was the one to question us, and he figured out pretty fast that I’d lied and that made him furious. Anthony gave me two choices, take a bullet to the head or find a way to get myself in with the Hidden Empire. If I managed to do that, then the next part was to find out who Tricks really was and tell them.”

I leaned forward, watching Demitri, and something told me he’d managed to do the first part. “How?” I asked, knowing he would understand.

Shifting, he looked at me with regret and sadness in his eyes. “Jeff, he got me a job helping fix things a few days a week when I wasn’t here with Sprocket. He thought I was some down-on-my-luck guy who just needed a break. Jeff paid me cash under the table whenever he had things for me to work on at first, then brought me into the shop. He vouched for me with Ivan, and I was in.”

My heart squeezed at the mention of the man who’d been Brian’s partner in crime and someone I worked closely with for a long time. Jeff had gotten married a year before, and his wife had just had their first child. Since Jeff had been like family to me and died because he was one of my people, I was making sure that little baby girl and her mother had the life they deserved and would worry about nothing. It killed me that the funeral had happened, and I couldn’t be there, but from what Brian told me, Brenda understood. That woman was a saint to put up with me and what I put those men through as my enforcer squad.

“Tell me one thing,” I managed to choke out. “Did you kill him?”

Demitri’s eye widened in horror. “No, there’s no way I could ever have done that. He died trying to save me, thinking I’d gotten mixed up in the wrong crowd. It was actually what got Ellie’s finger cut off. They wanted me to get him somewhere Anthony’s men could grab him and torture the information out of him. Instead, he was shot, saving my life, but they used it to send a message. When they found out you’d been taken by the Saints, they decided to pull me from infiltrating the Empire to gathering information from you, Dax.”

“That’s good because I would really hate to ruin my chances with these men, but I would have killed you,” I answered bluntly. “Jeff was family to me, and I will never let that kind of act against my people go, no matter who they are that did it. Let that be a warning to you and anyone else who needs to hear it,” I added, meeting Gabriella’s gaze.

She met mine unflinchingly, rage simmering just under the surface. “So if Enzo and Teo are your family now, what does that make my kids and me? Are we valued enough for you to put that same emotion behind getting my daughter back? Or is she a lost cause because my son sold you all out?”

God, this is why I wasn’t friends with many women. They always had to come at you with their claws out. I mean, seriously, what the hell?

“Just to be clear, your son isn’t the only one who sold me out. You did too,” I rebutted. “As for the question about your daughter, she's innocent in all of this. How you’ve managed to keep her alive this whole time is beyond me with how sloppy you’ve both been. If anyone deserves to be rescued and given a fresh start, it would be Elena.”

Wes groaned with irritation behind me, letting me know I’d done something I shouldn’t have.

“The answer is yes, Gabriella. We will get your daughter back to you. While I can’t speak for the ramifications for Demitri like Dax said, Elena hasn’t done anything to deserve this,” Wes translated for me.

“I’ll take whatever punishment you and Eagle choose to give me,” Demitri said to Picasso. “If there is anything more I can do to help with getting Ellie back, just say the word.”

Picasso looked over at Wes. “What information do we need for you to start breaking down the network? I’m sure you already have a filing cabinet of information on them, but I’m sure Demitri will have some sort of new nugget of information.”

“I’ll sit down with him and go over everyone he’s met, talked to, or been contacted by. Also, nailing down how they relayed information can be helpful. I’ll also need the location of that drug house you got pulled from in the beginning,” Wes explained, grabbing his computer.

Since those two would be lost for the next few hours, it looked like I should find something useful to do. Getting up from the couch, I slipped on my shoes and headed for the door.