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“So, it’s a no on the wisdom?”

A voice from the front tries to pull focus. I keep pretending I’m staring down this little fuck. I can hear him sweat and fidget. I can smell his fucking fear and I’m feeding on it. If he goes off, the chaos is good for me. I want to wind up this little toy and unleash him on our arrival at my goddamned house.

“Answer me, asshole. It’s only good manners to answer the old timer.”

“Don’t engage, Gabriel.” Some are Italian, but there are some LA guys. None of them were mine, which was a smart move. Or a dumb one since they don’t know what I’m capable of. They all seem to be loose ends. This isn’t a crew. It’s a murderer’s row of angry, disassociated assholes. No class, no respect, no loyalty and certainly no code. Christ. They’re like a mismatched posse, idiots with an axe to grind without a clue who to throw it at.

As far as I can tell, Enzo’s running a gang not a family. I can carve these punk asses up with words. Enzo is trying to hold shit together so Cady doesn’t discover he’s a cardboard Don.

Gabriel spits out, “There’s no war coming.” I laugh. “Enzo stopped that shit. He rises and we follow while you, um…get to die.”

“I’ve heard. Been there, not going back. And certainly not by the hands of a eunuch like you.”

They all laugh except him. Another guy says flatly, “He said you have no balls.” Him, I’d hire. But I feel the eunuch’s rage rise. It’s exactly what I want right now. I can pop these bracelets anytime I want, but it has to be strategic.

I saw what this life did to my mama, the zias and my Nonna. I was never my own man; I was always the Family’s until her. I won’t do this to my wife. I will not lose one more fucking thing in the name of Mi Familia.

“Here’s the thing. Enzo doesn’t have the money, land, power, receipts, or the fucking ports. The Norteños will move in to challenge the heir apparent, Sureños, and they won’t give a shit who you are. Cartels will divvy up the city, serving only themselves. And they ain’t taking recruits who find themselves unemployed after today.”

“You don’t know shit.”

“They’ll take the parts they need and then the Bravata will come knocking. That will bring along the Bloods, the Crips and the Yarkuza all looking for a taste, and they are all crewed up. Everyone with their hand in what you believe is Enzo’s pocket.” I yammer on about supposed war, but these are facts. I twist my ankles and stretch the zip tie a little. Back and forth smoothly while I talk.

“They’ll cut you and your city up and dole pieces, parts, and fallow territories to randos. You know what fallow means there, genius?”

The sly voice to my right speaks, but I need the others to talk so I know where the fuck they are in this vehicle. “Dead.”

“Close.”

The last piece of my puzzle drops into place as a man to my right, riding behind the passenger seat speaks. “Unproductive. You leave it alone to come back, but there’s not enough left to be profitable.”

“Exactly.” My stare behind my blindfold returns to where my instrument of chaos sits. Get ready to dance marionette.

“You’re here, with him. You’re a marked asshole or an idiot. Wait, are you pretending to be this dumb? Because there’s brainless, and then there’s you.”

“What the fuck you say?” Come on, kid. Press it to me. I need to know. Show them you’re the liability. Let them think you’re the one that will get them killed, not little ole me.

I keep spanking the bitch while positioning my hands. “I said you are a stupid cugine blindly following a fucking corpse. He doesn’t even work for himself, assholes. He’s got a sugar daddy. Enzo’s not his own man, and when he gets what he wants, you’re dead inside of a day. I don’t have to do a goddamned thing because he’s already been fucked up the ass by Satan himself. You assholes die, and Enzo gets to play the good pet. He’ll return to his knees for his fucking owner, then he’ll suck him off, letting the devil himself fuck his face to completion and swallow down his hot load forgetting you ever were on the fucking planet. Good luck with that shit. In the end Enzo eats alone. You spineless zips. Chin Chin.”

There it is. I bite back a smile as he stabs his gun into my stomach, and now I know he’s got a big juicy Glock just waiting for me. I was afraid it was a Beretta or an elegant Sig Sauer like Brick carries. But this is mine. I’ll relieve him of that firearm in moments.

The man in the front of the van bellows. “Back off.”

I smirk and again stare into his soul right through this fucking blindfold.

Gabriel yells back, “He can fucking see. This blindfold isn’t working.” They laugh at him.

The driver speaks in a low and deep voice. “Stand down, Gabriel.”

Nah. Gabriel, start the uprising, you useless bitch.

I let my lips twitch up as if I can see the man and say, “Back off, Gabriel. I’m not yours to make your bones on. Kill me and you won’t even finish a sentence before you’re walking the bridge with your brains splattered on the sidewalk and Enzo fucking your skull for fun.”

I am nothing but the monster I was trained to be. I am simmering rage, sinew, and fucking heat in a fancy wrapper. I keep my face controlled and calm even if every fucking cell in my body wants to splatter these assholes around this van. I’m a junkyard dog in a $5000 suit waiting to carve up the world to get back to the only thing that matters. My wife.

If I sit across from Enzo, there’s no getting up from that table. I’ll be done. Whatever civility he was trying to cobble together is gone by his venue switch. I wouldn’t be surprised if Cady himself is here because it’s got to be an all-out battle from the beginning. I need Poppy to keep her head down. I push her from my mind. There’s five in my van, two and two in the other vans, and three in Poppy’s van. That’s ten heartbeats that will cease today. That’s a good beginning.

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