CHAPTER TWO
Az
"She set you up."
Rich's words had swirled around my brain for the last month. He couldn't tell me what he knew beyond that. The visitation booths and phones were all recorded, but he had told me enough. Today, I would find the depths of Victoria Bristol's plot to take me down. After six months of sitting in lock-up, waiting for the guys to find evidence to clear my name, I was finally being set free.
"Welcome back, boss." Deacon, my driver, said as I strolled toward the black SUV waiting outside the jail.
Giving him a curt nod, I climbed into the back seat. My mind was preoccupied with the night of the gala fire, a phantom pain tearing through my knee. Victoria had done a bang-up job of painting herself as the victim. If it hadn't been for Rich telling me she was behind my incarceration, I'd have thought her terror that night was real. Even replaying the moment I picked her up from the floor, I couldn't find anything that betrayed her true motives.
The SUV stopped in front of our house, and I climbed out before Deacon could open the door for me. The wall of mirrored windows prevented me from seeing inside, but I knew the other four guys were home. They wouldn't be anywhere else knowing I was being released. Sending Deacon off with a jerk of my head, I strolled inside.
The open layout of the house revealed Rich sitting at the dining table. Leighton, Craig, and Joe were nowhere to be seen.
"Welcome home," Rich said, not looking up from his novel. "Get the stink of jail off you, and we'll talk."
"I'd rather talk now," I replied. "Six months is a long time to wait for answers, Rich, and knowing Victoria Bristol is behind it… Well, I need to know why."
His eyes lifted from his book, taking in the tension in my body as I stood at the opposite end of the table.
"Fair enough." He lifted two fingers to his mouth and whistled. "Family meeting, boys!" He bellowed, voice echoing through the house.
The door to Leighton's bedroom opened, and he strolled out of the room wearing nothing but a wide grin.
"For fuck's sake, Leighton. Put some pants on and get rid of your company." Rich barked.
"Aye, aye, captain!" Leighton chuckled with a salute before turning on his heel and heading back into his room.
Ignoring the sounds coming from his bedroom, I slid into the empty chair in front of me. Moments later, Leighton reappeared in a pair of basketball shorts, his hand gripping the arm of a slim, red-headed woman. Her clothes were clutched to her chest as he marched her toward the front door. The lunatic hadn't even given her a chance to dress.
"Leighton, baby, we weren't done yet." She protested as he opened the door and shoved her outside. "I let you do all that sick, twisted shit and you're kicking me out before I even get mine."
"Good point. Wait here." He grinned, racing back to his room.
When he returned to the open front door, he thrust a wad of crinkled hundreds on top of the woman's clothes. "That should cover it and enough to get that one spot checked out."
"I'm not a fucking hooker, Leighton!" She screeched.
"Sure thing, babe." He replied, closing the door in her face.
Shaking my head, my attention returned to the table. Craig and Joe had arrived amidst the chaos of Leighton kicking out his latest screw. The unease I'd felt since my arrest melted away as I took in the family we'd made for ourselves, seated and ready to discuss our next move.
"Tell me everything."
"We found someone who had information about six weeks ago. It wasn't until he gave us proof that we took him seriously." Rich said as Craig opened his laptop and turned it so that the screen was facing me.
Images of Victoria before the gala, in a heated argument with someone I recognized, filled the screen. Lenny "The Shadow" Moretti. A low-level member of one of the most notorious gang families in Sacona and our competition. He'd been their fall guy for almost as long as I'd been alive.
"I'm guessing you have some idea why our girl here is talking to a member of the Jackals?" I asked.
Craig navigated to a grainy video of the pair talking to answer my question.
"Listen, boss, this job is bigger than you said. We're gonna need more to get it done." Lenny's voice floated from the laptop.
"You're supposed to be the best." Victoria retorted. "So, either I've overestimated your skills or you actually can handle the job. Which is it?"
The pair moved off camera, their voices too far away to pick up precisely what was being said, before the video cut off.
"You think she's running the Jackals?" I scoffed. "Their organization is locked up so tight that nobody knows who's actually in charge. They wouldn't be sloppy enough to get caught out like that."
"That's what we thought too, at first," Rich replied. "But then Gary brought us more pictures of her meeting with Lenny after the gala."
"I'm not buying it. She's too clean to be involved with them. There has to be another reason she decided to set me up."
"You're right, she is clean. Too clean." Craig spoke. "It's like she doesn't exist at all other than the articles about her involvement with the youth center."
"Her father is the most high-profile attorney in the city. Of course, she'd be too clean."
"But even Daddy-O isn't as squeaky clean as his little girl. Aside from the pictures and video Gary brought us, Victoria is a fucking ghost. Nobody that legitimately clean gets caught up with someone like Lenny Moretti." said Craig.
"Have… we thought about the fact that it could be entirely a coincidence?" Joe piped up from his seat at the table. He'd been quiet as the evidence was laid out.
"Show him the rest," Rich ordered, disregarding his comment.
Craig pressed his lips into a thin line and started a slideshow of photographs. Image after image of Victoria Bristol with highly ranked members of the Jackals flashed across the screen. What could almost appear like images of her out living her life, except for the smattering of known mobsters with her. She was holding shopping bags on a boardwalk in one, a soldier walking beside her. In another, a mean-looking Capo held the door to a taxi for her on a rainy day. However, the most damning of them was an image of her laughing in a crowded cafe. Rinaldo Marino sat across from her, smirking and looking very pleased with himself.
"No one has lunch with Consigliere Rinaldo and has it be a coincidence." I said through gritted teeth.
"It gets worse." Leighton grinned. The maniac enjoyed everything chaos. "She didn't try to just set you up. She wants us all to go down."
I glanced at Rich for confirmation. He was leaned back in his chair, arms crossed, low simmering anger radiating from him. He nodded once at Leighton to continue.
Leighton pulled the laptop over to himself, hit a couple buttons, and turned it so we could all see. Gary's face popped up on the screen a moment later, looking into the camera before flipping around to see the sidewalk. There wasn't much of note until he ducked into a doorway.
"Man, you know this is bullshit, right?" A voice said from off camera.
"Yeah, but you're getting a bonus for it, so quit your fuckin' whining. You sound like little Miss Princess herself." A second voice, seeming more amused with the situation. "We got the evidence we need and a decent plan. You just gotta take a few punches and then get checked out. Boom, long weekend and a bonus." The camera shook a bit as Gary adjusted, trying to get a better shot of the conversation. Leighton paused it as the two men came into the frame.
"And that right there is Sanso Bellini, the one whining like a little bitch. Couldn't make out his friend. The video goes on to talk about how Sanso is going to be on guard for Victoria and they're going to stage another kidnapping. This time, somehow, they were gonna have our Craig take the fall for it." He pushed the laptop toward me so I could see the figures more closely. Not that it mattered, one street guy or another.
"So… she's going to play herself the 'Damsel in Distress' while we all go down for trying to take her?" I slid the laptop out of the way and stared at the slide of Victoria at the cafe with Rinaldo. It was so wild. She looked so carefree and innocent. The idea that something sinister lurked behind that cherubim smile was equally intriguing and infuriating. "And what are we going to do about it, boys?"
"We're going to prove our innocence and take her down in one fell swoop." Rich drawled. "We have an appointment with Daddy-O first thing tomorrow. I plan to insert us as her bodyguards for now. I was hoping to take Gary along for the meeting, but wouldn't ya know it? The sneaky vixen caught him tailing her, and we received this just this morning."
Leighton hopped out of his seat and strolled to the fridge, pulling out a black shoebox-sized package as if on cue. Grinning from ear to ear, he sat it on the table in front of me and flipped open the top. A heavily tattooed hand was positioned on a bed of red spider lilies. The Jackals' calling card.
"What… the fuck is that?"
"Gary. Or what's left of him, presumably." Leighton cackled. He reached out as if he was going to take the hand from the box.
"L, no. That's enough. We're not going to disrespect him like that." Rich gave Leighton a stern look, and he put everything away. "Best behavior tomorrow, boys. For now, we celebrate."
The following day, we stood outside a gothic-style mansion. Hugo Bristol was homebound while he recovered from the injuries he sustained during the gala fire. His home was beyond ostentatious, and I wasn't the least bit surprised when a stuffy butler answered the door. Inside was even worse. The whole vibe screamed Dracula, and I was starting to wonder if it didn't have something to do with Victoria being the newest player on the board.
We were shown into an oversized office, just as pretentious as everything else we'd seen. Dark leather chairs were lined up opposite a massive mahogany desk. I could barely see Hugo Bristol over the backs of the chairs as he struggled to stand without the cane propped against the wall behind him.
It was almost amusing to watch him struggle to move around. People like him always strutted like they owned the world. The condescending smirk he wore, like he permanently had the upper hand, made me want to punch him. Age was starting to show on him, though, with gray creeping into his brunette hair and beard, that he likely spent far too much money keeping groomed. One stark blue eye watched us with a calculated glint as we filed into the room. His right eye was covered by a black patch, gauze peeking out from behind it, scarring from the burns he endured during the fire, marring that half of his face.
"What can I do for you, gentlemen?" Hugo asked with a tight, wary smile. He held his hand out in greeting, and I shook it. He had a surprisingly firm grip for an aging man. I wasn't sure we had potent enough soap to purge the tainted feeling from my skin.
"I think you'll find it's what we can do for you, Mr. Bristol." I beamed, turning on the charm.
We each settled into one of the oversized chairs, with me taking the one in the center. Craig sat immediately to my left, Rich to my right, Leighton and Joey on the ends. I jerked my chin toward the desk, and Leighton produced Craig's laptop from the bag over his shoulder, placing it directly in front of Hugo.
"I'm not sure what the man who attempted to kidnap my daughter can do for me."
"Direct. I like that." I chuckled before turning my attention to Leighton. "Show him."
Leighton leaned over and pressed a button on the laptop. I didn't need to see it to know what he was looking at: an edited compilation of the evidence Gary had collected for us while I was locked up.
"You've been following my daughter?!" Hugo's face turned an amusing shade of red.
"I'm not sure those are the words I'd use. I was locked up for a crime I didn't commit and couldn't follow anyone." I smirked at my response. I'm hilarious.
"Don't get cheeky with me, son. This is stalking, and after what she's already been throu–"
"Your outrage isn't necessary, Mr. Bristol. Take a look again. The men in these pictures all have something in common." I watched as the wheels turned in his mind, going back through our evidence again. "Someone tried to kidnap her, but it wasn't us."
"The Jackals." Hugo breathed, his face going pale as recognition dawned. "How? How the hell did they get this close to her?"
"That's what we would like to find out. Your daughter is clearly mixed up with something, whether she knows it or not." I replied, though pretending Victoria could be innocent grated. "We're here to clear my name and offer her the best protection in the city."
Hugo's brow furrowed in confusion. "There's only one name that comes to mind as people who would stand a snowball's chance in hell at protecting anyone from the Jackals. If you're admitting to what I think you are, I should turn you over to the feds right now."
"I've professed nothing but my innocence and a desire to clear my name." I replied calmly.
"Fine, so you're admitting to nothing…" He leaned back in his throne-like seat, contemplative. I could have laughed. He almost looked like a cartoon villain, complete with beard stroking. "But no other conclusion makes sense. You are the Horsemen." To my right, I heard Rich snicker quietly.
Leighton outright laughed. "It's not what you know, Daddy-O. It's what you can prove. Now, do you want to keep your pretty princess safe or not?"
"What did you have in mind?" Hugo grimaced.
"I actually have a few ideas." Rich spoke up, leaning forward with a smirk. He loved it when a plan came together. "We can bring your princess to our place. It's safe, and fairly unknown. She'll have round-the-clock guards, since at least one of us is always there. Regular check-ins with you, of course, as proof we're the… good guys here. There'd be no one safer in the city than her."
"Absolutely not! If I'm going to accept your offer to protect her, it's going to be on my terms." He paused and thought for a moment. "We have a second home that's currently unoccupied. I'll have access to the cameras and be able to pop in whenever I like to ensure my daughter is safe."
"I'm sure that will be fine." I said, interjecting before Rich could argue his point. "The ultimate goal is, of course, keeping Victoria safe. If that's all, I believe we have an accord."
Hugo looked like he might burst a blood vessel in his head, but he nodded. "I'll have my assistant deliver the keys and address this afternoon."
"Perfect." I stood and extended my hand, plastering on a pleased smile despite the roll my stomach was doing at the idea of sharing a home with the woman plotting our downfall. "A pleasure doing business with you."