by K. A. Ware
"I'm here until the job is finished."
"Fine," I said, returning to my seat. "All we know at this point is that our heroin is the only product that's being laced. We've switched out the girls that cut and package for us twice, and it didn't work, the tainted product is still getting through somehow."
"Do you have any idea where in the chain of possession it's being cut in?" he asked, and I had to fight not to roll my eyes at him.
"If I knew that, you wouldn't be here," I snapped. I was getting tired of his shit; I didn't need to be tied up answering his asinine questions. I needed to be out on the street getting fucking answers.
He flexed his hand into a fist, and I heard his knuckles crack, it felt like as much a threat as anything. My mind spun at the thought of taking him on.
The biggest ones always fall the hardest.
"Do you have any other useful information?" he gritted out through clenched teeth.
I sighed, the sooner I laid it all out, the sooner he'd be out of my hair. "We haven't been able to pinpoint who, where, how, or why. All we know is that at least six different dealers have passed on the tainted product, all of them unknowingly. The problem is from us to them we're talking anywhere from one point of separation to seven."
"Are the cases confined to a particular part of town?"
"No, they're all over the city."
"So the problem is somewhere within your organization," he said absently staring at the floor as if he hadn't just accused my people of sabotaging me.
"We don't fucking know that!" I yelled, finally losing my cool and jumping to my feet.
Luis who'd stayed quiet and unmoving up until that point got to his feet as well. "You don't come here and start pointing fingers until you have proof," he said, staring daggers at Antonio before turning to me. "I have some shit to take care of, I'll call you later."
I listened to Luis' heavy booted feet trudge down the decaying wood steps of the porch and had to restrain myself from calling out to him. I didn't trust myself to be alone with Antonio. I could control my libido, but I wasn't so sure I could control my mouth. He got under my skin, and I didn't know why, something about the way he carried himself, the cocky way he strutted instead of walked.
"Listen, I don't have time to waste worrying about offending you. I'm here to do a job, and I'm going to do it with or without you. You know as well as I do that it's a very likely possibility that this is coming from within your…" he trailed off, waving his hand about.
"Crew," I offered.
"Right, your crew." His disdain for the word evident in the sneer that curled his lip. "So, is there anyone that you don't trust?"
A snort that would've had my aunt turning over in her grave escaped me. "I don't trust anyone," I said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, but then amended the statement. "Except Luis."
Antonio's eyebrows shot up, "What is it that makes him so trustworthy?"
"Luis' loyalty is not up for fucking discussion," I spat.
"Pussy doesn't make a man loyal. We need to consider every threat."
The fire inside of me roared to life, and I seared him with a hard look. "I am not fucking Luis; he's my cousin. He's been my right hand since I fucking took over, he's not a threat."
"Why didn't he take over?" Antonio asked immediately, his eyes were focused on me, but his face gave nothing away.
It wasn't the first time I'd gotten that question, but for the hundredth time, I wished it were the last. "Because I did.
Chapter Five
Antonio
"Because I did," she gritted out, making it clear she wasn't willing to give up any more on the subject. The little vato princess had spoken, and I was supposed to just accept it.
Yeah, that's not going to happen.
"Why?" I pressed. She may be used to running her ‘crew,' but she needed to learn quickly that she was no longer in charge. I had questions, and she would answer them to my satisfaction. There was no alternative as far as I was concerned.
I could see the internal debate happening behind her eyes, could see her pride and instinct for self-preservation at war and battling it out.
"Santiago was my twin brother; I was his right hand, it was the logical move. Luis didn't mind; he never wanted the responsibility."
"How do you know that?" I urged, unwilling to let it go. I'd been handling drop offs with Luis for years now, but it wasn't enough to know his motivation.
"Because he told me," She said, crossing her arms.
"And you just believe him because he said so?" There was no way this woman could be that stupid. Family or no, she'd kept her business going this far, and it wasn't by being naive.
"Look, he's family. We grew up together, lived in the same house, he is basically my brother. I know him better than anyone else. He never wanted to be the one calling the shots, not like that. Luis is a crazy motherfucker; he needs his freedom to go off the rails once in a while. He knows that running an entire operation the way we do involves a lot more responsibility than he wants."
"Crazy how?" I could accept the part about not wanting to be the boss, I had no desire to wear the DeLuca crown, but if he was unstable, that could mean another set of complications.
"Luis is not on trial here!" she yelled, starting to pace the length of the room. "He takes care of things that need to be taken care of. Just like I'm sure you do for the DeLuca's," she said, lowering her tone and coming to a stop in front of me. "That's why you're here, isn't it?"
"You could say that," I nodded, my voice even.
"And if you can't find out who's responsible for the tainted product, you'll need to eliminate the threat by cutting off the head," she said her black nails were more like talons as they dug into the flesh above where her baggy jeans had fallen low on her hips. I wanted those nails on my skin, to feel the burn as they left a trail of red welts down my back. But it was the defiance in her eyes that made my dick twitch like she was daring me to admit that if push came to shove, it would be me putting a bullet between her eyes.
I gave her a slight chin tip, my eyes never leaving hers. It was as much as I was willing to offer in the way of response.
Vic laughed, finally breaking eye contact to continue her pacing. "And I'm the head," she muttered, more to herself than me. Abruptly she turned on her heel and pierced me with a stare. "If that's what it comes to, I want you to look me in the eye when you do it," she demanded.
I took a moment to search her eyes, not a shred of the fear I would expect from someone talking about their own death. There were understanding and determination in her eyes. My dick strained against my zipper, and I had to resist the urge to adjust myself.
Her insolence stirred something in me as if it were a personal challenge. The gauntlet had been thrown down, and I was going to have fun bringing her to heel.
Excitement shot lightning bolts through my veins and a reel of images came to mind. The ways I would torture her, wringing out every ounce of pleasure from her luscious body. I would bring her to the brink over and over, leaving her on the edge for hours until she finally broke. She would give me what I wanted. Eventually, her attitude and bravado would splinter, and she'd beg for it.
My expression must've changed, giving away more than I thought because Vic cocked her head to the side and narrowed her eyes at me.
"Let's just focus on the task at hand for the time being, shall we?" I said smoothly, once again dropping the mask of indifference over my face.
The eye roll she gave me made my skin itch to feel the sting of my hand on her ass. "I've told you what I know if you've got some brilliant fancy pants idea, I'm all ears."
"Let's start backward; you said you'd narrowed the twenty-seven overdoses to seven street dealers?"
"Dios Mio," she groaned. "If we're going to go over this again I need a drink." I watched as her hips swayed heavily on her way to what looked like the kitchen. I had to peel my eyes away from her ass when she turned back to me at the doorway. "Well, com
e on then Mr. Chairman," she said beckoning me with a sharply tipped finger.
I blinked in surprise for a moment before her words registered, but she'd already disappeared, so I had no choice but to follow her. "What did you call me?" I asked storming through the doorway she'd disappeared behind. I didn't like being the butt of anyone's joke. Especially not some little thug I'd just met.
My rage was quickly dampened by the sight of her bent over, digging in the fridge. This woman had me off balance, and I didn't like it. One minute I wanted to choke her and the next I wanted to fuck her, probably while still choking her, but that wasn't the point.
"Here," she said, standing up and offering me a beer.
I took it without thinking and leaned against the counter while she took a seat and kicked her feet up on the sketchy looking dining room table. I didn't like to repeat myself, and we both knew she'd heard my question.
"It's the clothes mostly," she offered, letting her eyes roll over my form from head to toe and back up again.
"What do you mean?"
"Are you for real? You look like you're going to a board meeting." She leaned over and looked to where my ankles were crossed. "I can fucking see my reflection in your damn shoes."
I grunted my response. It was my turn to roll my eyes. Mia and Frankie were ball busters, but this tiny woman could give them a run for their money.
"It's true!" she exclaimed, setting her beer down with a loud thud. "If you're going to be running around my town, you need to figure something out. You can't go around looking like you're going to serve someone a subpoena."
"Enough about my clothes. Let's get back to why I'm here. Tell me more about the seven dealers you traced the overdoses back to."
"That's the problem. These guys are all over town. And their entire supply can't be tainted. Otherwise, we'd be seeing more dead bodies."
"Do you know what it's being laced with?"
"No, the police haven't released that information to the public yet. My guess would be that they're trying to identify the source of whatever it is first."
I blinked at her astute assessment. She was more intelligent than the image she projected would lead one to believe. "You're probably right. We've got someone inside the Seattle PD trying to dig up some information."
Vic set her beer on the table, giving me a quizzical look. "I haven't heard of anything unusual going on up there. My territory is limited to the inner city."
"It's not like that; our contact is a forensics expert, she has friends in the Portland PD, she's reaching out to them to try to find out what it is. Hopefully, that will lead us to who's responsible."
"Let's just hope we find them before the police do."
I was both relieved and surprised to find my car intact and unscathed when I finally left Victoria's house. We'd spent hours going over everything she knew, which was virtually nothing, over and over again. The victims had appeared to be random, the only similarity being that the product that they'd overdosed on could be linked to Vic's supply. The thing that we couldn't get our head around was how.
Two of the dealers that had sold the tainted Heroin got their supply directly from Vic and then distributed it to their own crews who sold on the street. The other three got their supply from at least one, if not two or three, rungs down the latter, meaning the product could've been cut up to six times before it hit the street.
I dialed Angelo as I turned out of the neighborhood, headed towards my hotel. Mia had set me up at a decent place in the suburbs since she knew the area. I was thankful not to have to sleep in a fleabag motel, not that I'd admit it. Something about the way Victoria saw me grated. She'd made it clear that she thought I'd been brought up as some spoiled rich kid, which to be fair was pretty accurate. The thing was, despite the nice house and expensive clothes, my upbringing was anything but easy.
My brother's voice broke through my thoughts. "Antonio, it's about time. Did you find anything?"
"Not much. I narrowed it down to one supplier in the area, the Mexicans. I met with Vic and Luis, but they have no clue how the product is getting cut and why they seem to be the only one targeted. Did Mallory come back with anything?"
"Not yet, she's still waiting to hear back. This is dangerous shit, Antonio; we're talking about cops here. She can't seem too eager for the information otherwise people will start asking questions, and I'm not willing to put her in that kind of situation. We just have to be patient."
And there it is again.
There had to be something going on between my brother and the beautiful blonde; there was no other explanation for his territorial protectiveness over her. It was completely out of character for him. Angelo could only be described as a lady's man; there was no other way to put it. He burned through women like it was his job, never keeping anyone around long enough to even learn their last name.
Except for Mallory.
What I couldn't understand was why. If they were together, he wouldn't be out sleeping with half the city, but he made it clear she was off limits. On the few occasions Mallory had made a personal appearance, he'd been glued to her side the entire time, and quickly ushered her away after the job was done.
"Of course we wouldn't want to risk her job, we'll just wait patiently while the body count rises." Sarcasm wasn't my usual style, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to give my little brother shit.
"She's an asset, Antonio. We don't want to burn her and lose that connection."
A memory flashed across my mind. The expression of utter despair on Mallory's tear stained face across a room full of police. It had been right after Angelo had been shot. In the almost year since my brother had nearly lost his life, Mallory hadn't been mentioned at all. Something told me that her absence had been in large part, due to the reaction we'd all seen that night. It was evident that their relationship went beyond the occasional exchange of information.
Relenting to the fact that I wasn't going to get anything out of Angelo that he didn't want to tell, I let it go. "I know, just let me know when the info comes in. I've got my hands full down here."
"That Vic guy giving you problems?"
"Woman," I corrected.
"Woman?" His surprised tone almost made me laugh.
At least I'm not the only one who got it wrong.
The corner of my mouth kicked up in a faint resemblance of a smile. She was all woman. "Vic is actually Victoria."
"No shit? I bet that was a shock."
"You don't know the half of it."
"Is she hot?"
Hotter than you could even imagine.
Not that I was about to tell Casanova that. "Jesus Christ, I've got to go. Let me know when you hear from Mallory."
"Send me a pic—" Angelo tried to get in, but I disconnected the call.
Turning onto the highway, I followed my GPS towards the hotel I'd be calling home for the duration of my stay. That was unless I could find a more comfortable arrangement. I spent the rest of the drive imagining the different ways I'd like to show Victoria who was in charge.
Chapter Six
VIC
I shut and locked the door behind Antonio and immediately pulled my phone from my back pocket, no messages. We'd been going over every scenario we could think of for hours, and I hadn't gotten a single call or text from Luis after he'd bounced that afternoon.
I quickly typed out a message, irritated that my second in command hadn't even thought to check in after leaving me with what was essentially a mob hit man.
Where the fuck are you, asshole?
Pocketing my phone once more, I headed into the kitchen to clear away the beer bottles. I cursed as Chopper wiggled his giant head between my knees, nearly tripping me in his quest for attention.
"Hey buddy, you hungry?" I asked, scratching behind his ears. At the mention of food, Tank skidded into the kitchen, paws scrambling on the linoleum.
"You'd think you never feed them," a deep voice said from behind me. I whirled around, my hand instinctivel
y reaching for the gun that was usually tucked into my waistband, but it wasn't there. My panic was short lived when I recognized Luis' tall, lanky form propped against the doorframe.
"Where have you been?" I demanded, my voice sharp to mask the fear that had crept into my throat from having been caught off guard. I was always prepared for a fight, always. Even in my own home, I slept with a gun on my nightstand and a knife under my pillow, not to mention the two massive guard dogs. But they knew Luis, had come to expect him coming and going just as much as me.
So why is your heart still beating out of your chest?
"I checked on Juan, wanted to make sure he switched out the girls. Then I went and had dinner with Dad."
I couldn't help the uneasy feeling that settled in my stomach at the mention of my uncle. I should feel admiration and gratitude towards the man that raised me, but all I felt was leery. The man was a liability. An ex-con drunk that liked to talk too much. If he weren't family, I would've taken care of him a long time ago. I may owe the beginnings of my empire to the man, but I'd worked my ass off to go from a corner girl flipping folds of heroin, to running the whole damn city's drug supply.
"And what were you doing? Having a party with the Italian?" Luis' gruff tone snapped me out of my thoughts.
"Excuse me?"
He gestured to the empty beer bottles as if they said everything he hadn't.
"We had a couple of beers while we were comparing information. Since when do I need to justify my drinking to you?"
"You don't, but if you're thinking of fucking your way out of the DeLuca crosshairs, it won't work."
Did I have slut stamped across my forehead?
Luis had always treated me with respect; it wasn't like him to talk to me like that. I took him in again, sweatshirt, jeans, nothing seemed out of place, but the way he was leaning on the door jam like it was doing more to hold him up than just a comfortable position to stand in, gave him away. He was lit.
"I'm going to pretend you didn't just say that to me. You can leave now."
