Chapter 28
C onnor
The message we’d been waiting for arrived with interesting timing.
Convict: Talk now?
In thirty minutes, cameras would be rolling, Arran would address the masses assembled in the warehouse, then a fuck fest would be going down. Not ideal for us to be distracted with whatever Convict had discovered about the Four Milers.
Across the office, Arran read the screen I held up and palmed his jaw. “I should be with Gen.”
“I’ve got this.”
He exhaled. “Fine, but if it’s anything I need to know immediately…”
“I’ll find ye. Go.”
He left the office, closing me in alone. For a beat, I sat in the darkened space, the spotlight shining on the visitor’s seat, not that there was anyone there. Then I put my phone on loudspeaker and dialled our spy.
Convict answered immediately. “Shade, thanks, brother. I don’t have long.”
“You’re in?”
“They came to me the next day.”
I exhaled in relief, at him being alive, at the bait taken. Our plan was working. Our rivals had done exactly what we wanted them to do, making a move on our disgraced crewmember. Satisfaction curled inside me. “How did they make their approach?”
“Not going to lie, it was rough, but I’ll spare you the details. It took a while to see Red. They had me do a few jobs first.”
“What kind of work?”
“Deliveries, mostly. Drug drop-offs from the smell of the packets. Then cash.” He paused, the sounds of the evening behind him. “Tonight was different. I got given an address to pick up a woman. Had to take her to a building on the east side of town. Looks like the Four Milers own it.”
I drummed my fingers on the desk, not liking the image.
Convict continued. “We know the woman. She works for us. Or she used to. She wouldn’t speak to me, though, and I kept it light so I didn’t raise any suspicions.”
“Who?”
“Bonnie,” he named one of our dancers.
A lass in her twenties who had previously been trafficked to the UK from Europe. Our outreach crew had rescued her after she’d spent six years on her back as a prisoner. Under Alisha’s care, Bonnie had undergone therapy, and we’d housed her for free while she decided what she wanted to do with her life. She’d chosen to stay and work at the warehouse, but only to dance, never to fuck for money.
The thought of her defecting to a drugs gang haunted me.
“Did ye go inside the building?” I asked.
“Couldn’t get beyond the entrance. I’ll work on that.”
“What about the mayor? Anyone talking about him?”
The door to the office cracked open, and I snatched up my phone. Alisha slipped inside. Usually, she’d knock. Even as a core part of the management team, she’d never accepted that she was equal to me and Arran.
I relaxed back down into my seat. “Anything to add on that?” I added pointedly to my phone.
Alisha eyed it then perched on a seat.
“No,” Convict replied. “Not yet. Shit. Got to go.”
He hung up, and I settled back, taking a second to piece over the intelligence he’d gathered. One of our dancers working for the Four Milers sickened me. Red treated women like shite. I hated that Bonnie had made that choice, and I needed to know if it was voluntarily. Convict would find that out. Red was slowly giving him his trust, first handling drugs, then cash, and finally women, for whatever purpose he intended. Our boy was doing exactly what we needed.
The chair opposite creaked, and in the spotlight, Alisha leaned forward. She was dressed for the night in her typical uniform of a glossy wig and a floaty, see-through dressing gown over lingerie, but it was her expression that struck me as strange.
She stared at my phone, her lips working. “Was that Roscoe?”
Just like no one ever used my real name, aside from Everly, I rarely heard Convict’s given name.
“The man himself.”
She took a shaky breath. “Does he want to come back?”
For the sake of keeping Convict as safe as possible, we’d told almost nobody about his undercover role, including Alisha. Had she been in the room when we made the decision, it would have been different, but she’d opted out of those kinds of conversations time and time again.
“He does,” I gave up.
Her eyes beseeched mine. “Will you let him?”
There wasn’t time for this conversation. I had a dozen things I needed to do to get the game underway, but more, I wanted to get upstairs to find Everly. I had plans for us this evening. I’d tell Alisha the truth, but not right now.
More the point, Alisha and I were overdue a long chat. I’d judged her harshly, and regret dogged my steps, giving me pause every time I saw her. On more than one occasion, I’d cut our conversations short, and we were friends. I owed her more than a cold shoulder if I was pissed off with her.
Alisha was a key part of the warehouse running smoothly. We couldn’t cope without her, and I didn’t want her to feel less engaged than she already did.
I heaved a deep breath. “Okay to take a rain check? I’ll tell ye everything later.”
Slowly, she nodded. “That’s fair. I miss our chats. And our games of cards.”
“I do, too.”
“I’m happy that you’ve got Everly. She seems sweet, though I was surprised when you brought her here.” Her lips formed a pretence of a smile. “I once wondered if we might be a good match.”
I tried to hide my recoil. “We’re friends.”
Alisha twisted her lips. “Can men and women ever really be friends? We’re built to attract the other. Something’s bound to go wrong on one side.”
She’d been attracted to me and I’d been walking around ignoring her. What an arsehole. I’d always seen Alisha as the lone-wolf type. Content to manage the women at the club and never stick her head above the parapet, never wanting to rock the boat, let alone settle down. Not that I’d have been an option, but I could’ve been a better friend.
“I had no idea ye felt like that.”
“No, you’re misunderstanding me. I’m…I’m just shit talking, it’s not important.” She clapped her knees and stood. “I needed to tell you we’ve had a couple of women quit. Bonnie and Maeve both left us. One of the bar staff, too.”
Fuck. Three guesses to whether the other two had followed the first. It helped to set free Alisha’s statement about us so I could focus back on the Four Milers’ theory that was brewing in my mind. Later, I’d fill both Arran and Alisha in on it, but right now, it was game time, and I had a woman to share the experience with.
With a quiet thanks for the information, I left Alisha to lock up the office then ran through my final checks around the warehouse.
The whole building hummed with a dangerous level of excitement and energy.
The security team had the right men and women locked in the basement—an advanced level of checking in place since Genevieve’s unfortunate experience. Our tech team were ready with the live stream. Every available room in the building was occupied with paying customers with a woman or man of their choice ready to bounce on their dick while people fucked on the basement’s concrete floor.
With ten minutes to go, I stormed up the stairs to my apartment. My work was done, and I only needed Everly. We were going to watch the show together.
I needed her out of her comfort zone and feeling everything she wanted to feel.
She had no idea what was coming.