Arranged love

I exit our private elevator underground to the meat locker. Nigel is already waiting for me and Bones. “Good afternoon.”

Yes, it is. I find my days to be much more tolerable when I open my eyes to see Emilee next to me. Naked. I love the way she moans when I wake her up for sex before I start my day. “Good afternoon.” I nod and walk down the long hallway to the heavy metal door at the end. I open it up and step inside the cold space. Bones enters behind me and locks us inside the concrete room. Grave and Cross are not present, but Luca and Nite are. Along with three other men I know all too well.

They each sit in a chair at the single table in the middle of the room. They jump to their feet the moment they see me.

“Titan, I can explain …”

“How you failed at the only job you were supposed to do.” I interrupt him.

Matt fists his hands and his jaw sharpens. “He outsmarted us.”

Bones arches a brow. “Did he, though?”

“Woah.” Tommy throws his hands up. “You think we did this on purpose?”

So defensive right off the bat. I cross my arms over my chest but say nothing.

“You can’t be serious,” the last one, Steven hisses. “We had the house surrounded.”

“Exactly.” I hiss. “How the fuck did you let George get away?” These were our three guys who were supposed to be our surveillance. We put them on George’s detail because I thought they could be trusted. Now the fucker is gone and these three are going to tell me exactly what I want to know. “Where the fuck is he?”

“We don’t know.” Matt growls, taking a step back from the table. He runs into Nite who shoves him forward.

“Bullshit!” I snap.

“We heard that there was movement out back,” Steven speaks up. “By the time we made it around to there, he was already in a car and on the run.” He swallows. “We managed to catch up with him on the highway, but when we looked closely there were three identical cars. We followed the one that we had had eyes on since the house. We managed to run it off the road, but it was not him.”

“So, you followed the wrong one?” I make sure I heard him right. “There were three of you, why didn’t you each follow a car?” It’s not fucking rocket science. There’s more at stake here than five hundred thousand dollars. Fuck the money! Now our concern is him coming back for Emilee.

Tommy steps forward. “We were only down to two cars. When we went to take off my tires had been slashed.”

“Unbelievable.” Bones hisses beside me.

Quite so.

“This wasn’t our fault. They had the drop on us.” Matt snaps at him.

“Sounds like you allowed them to have that advantage on you.” Bones shoves him backwards. “Now the question is was it on purpose or just a coincidence?”

“Wait a minute.” Steven looks from him to me. “This was not intentional. We were set up.”

I look over at Bones and he shrugs at me. It’s my show. “You’re right. You were.” I say and pull three bullets out of the front pocket of my black slacks. Luca walks over to me and hands me his Smith and Wesson 629 classic revolver. I open it up and insert the three . 44 magnum bullets into the cylinder and then spin it before snapping it close.

I raise the gun and pull the trigger, shooting Steven in the leg. The sound so loud in the concrete box that it has me momentarily deaf. He falls to his side, holding his thigh. His eyes wide as he watches the blood cover the floor. He starts screaming.

“It’s a through and through. You’ll live.” Bones tells him.

I point the gun at Matt’s head and pull the trigger. Nothing happens.

“What the fuck, man?” he ducks and steps away from me. “What the fuck are you doing?” he shouts, grabbing his chest.

“Growing up, my father always told me that we were gambling men. It was in our blood.” I point the gun at him again, and he runs to the corner of the room. I almost laugh. Nite grabs him and brings him to the center. He throws him over the table and pins his arms behind his back. I grip his hair and lift his head, so he has to look up at me. His lips pulled back in a snarl. “Have you ever gambled with your life?” I ask.

“Fuck you!” He seethes. “All of you!” He fights Nite but he’s too strong for him. Mr. Bianchi bred Nite for this. To be a soldier. A killer. We’ve all been trained for battle, so we win the war.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

Letting go of his hair I grip his chin and pry his teeth apart. He cries out as I shove the barrel of the revolver into his mouth. I pull the trigger. Again, nothing happens.

Nite steps back and Matt falls to the floor. He’s gasping for breath and tears run down his cheeks while he shakes uncontrollably. One look at his jeans and he’s pissed himself. “Shit!” he gasps, looking over at Steven who is still bleeding on the concrete floor from the gunshot in his thigh. But he’s removed his shirt and has it wrapped around tightly to try and stop the bleeding.

“Luca.” I nod towards him and he tosses a piece of paper on the table.

“What is this?” Tommy demands.

“This is a bank statement for fifteen grand deposited into your account.” I say to him. “Luca so happens to own the bank where you keep your money.” I smile. All he had to do was look up his account and check transactions. It’s easy to trace when it’s wired from another account. Don’t wanna get caught? Then always do hand-to-hand transactions with cash. No paper trail equals no evidence.

“What is he talking about?” Steven growls from his spot on the floor.

“I … I don’t know …” Tommy stutters.

“Your friend here. Took a bribe from George Wilton to let him get away.” Bones explained. Steven is losing blood, so he may have a hard time comprehending what is going on.

“You what?” Matt shouts at Tommy. “You put our lives in danger for fifteen thousand fucking dollars?” He runs at him, but Nite grabs the back of his shirt, and holds him captive again.

“He came to me!” Tommy snaps, pointing at his chest. “Me! Said you were too weak and that you’d never be able to get the job done. He needed a man.”

Bones snorts from beside me.

“You’re a fucking idiot.” Matt shouts.

“Be that as if may.” I speak. “I want answers. I’ve got three more shots and two more bullets. Who wants to gamble?” I ask.

“We didn’t do this.” Matt growls at me.

“Call it guilty by association.” Bones adds.

I step up to Matt and gesture for Nite to let him go. “Where the fuck is George?”

“Why are you asking me? I didn’t make a deal with him.”

I tilt my head to the side. “That has yet to be determined. You guys could have split the money.”

“Five grand a piece?” He shakes his head angrily. “Fuck that. Nothing is worth screwing over the Kings.”

“Ahh he’s smarter than he looks.” Luca finally speaks. He’s got a smirk on his face and his hands in the pockets of his slacks. He’s in a cheerful mood today. But I’m not surprised. He likes blood as much as the rest of us.

“We were told from a source that he’s in Paris, but I don’t think that is true either.” Bones adds. “So for the last time, where is he?”

Tommy squares his shoulders and I refrain from sighing. Matt was right, he’s an idiot. “He’ll come back for her. And he’ll give me fifteen more.” He spits out. “I won’t fucking tell you a goddamn …”

I lift the gun and pull the trigger. This time it goes off. And the bullet goes right between his eyes.

That is how you flush the system.