Chapter 28
N ash
My phone dinged, and I picked it up before dropping it back into the cupholder.
Vicky was reaching stalker levels of desperation.
If I wanted to ruin her, all I had to do was forward the naked images she had just sent me to Dean Henry or her father.
I wasn’t there yet, but if she didn’t back off, then fuck it, I might put them up for sale on the dark web.
At that point, she deserved the humiliation.
“Everythin’ good?”
I looked over at Myles. “Yeah, just Vicky sending me nudes.”
Myles cocked a brow and snorted. “Desperate, ain’t she? Yer really done with her?”
“Yup.”
I didn’t need this shit with Vicky. It might have been easier to continue the way we’d been going, but her constant jealousy was no longer amusing.
What she did to Ren was creative, but if anyone was going to stuff Ren in a garbage can or dump it on her, it would be me.
She certainly deserved it with the mouth on her.
“Not that I’m judgin’. I can’t stand Vicky and definitely don’t trust her, but she is the daughter of one of the most prominent Italian families. Are ya sure ya want to give that up?”
I looked over at him before staring at the road and the line of oncoming traffic.
“Financially, it makes the most sense, but my father has someone else picked out. At least he says he does.”
“Do ya know who?”
“Not a fucking clue. He refuses to tell me and drops stupid little hints to keep me guessing. Only says that whoever it is, I won’t fucking like them, and he knows I’ll try and stop the wedding.
The joke is on him because I’d rather walk away from the family entirely than marry at all, let alone someone I can’t fucking stand.
” Nash shrugged before shifting gears and passing a guy driving under the speed limit.
“I’m hoping I can take over before that happens.
It’ll just make things more complicated. ”
“I feel ya.” Myles rubbed his forehead.
“You haven’t told Ren, have you?”
He cringed. “Naw. I’ve already told my Da I’m not marrying Fiona, so why bring it up? It’s only going to cause issues that I don’t need,” he said.
“Hmm.”
“Hmm? I don’t like it when ya do that,” Myles said, and I smirked.
“Nothing, other than you better make sure it doesn’t come out because Princess doesn’t seem like the type to take that shit well after the fact.
” I wasn’t even sure why I gave a fuck. It would work in my favor if she left Myles.
He’d been way too distracted, walking around with his head in the clouds ever since Ren showed up.
“Feck, now ya got me worried.”
“Especially when you have Blake waiting in the wings, ready to swoop in and take her away.” I smiled as Myles swore and crossed his arms. Teasing him always brought a smile to my face, but as I looked in the rearview mirror, the smile was wiped away. We still had our tail. Fucking cops.
“What the fuck is going on? We’ve had a tail for the last twenty minutes, and I’m pretty sure it’s that same cocksucker who pulled us over for no fucking reason.”
Myles glanced out the side mirror. “Let’s pull into the LongHorn Steakhouse. We can pretend to be heading in to eat. See if the pig hangs around.”
That was a good call. There were two driveways, and it was the kind of place we’d usually go to eat. I went the speed limit and even put on my blinker before turning into the restaurant parking lot like I was ninety and out for a Sunday drive.
The cruiser pulled in behind me. “Have you heard of anything going on that I haven’t?”
“Naw, but Morrison hasn’t been around either, which is strange. Your father would’ve said if something was off with him,” Myles said as I wheeled into a parking spot.
“Alright. Let’s head in and see if we can wait him out.
” I watched the officer pull into a spot at the far end of the lot.
He looked a lot like the guy from a few weeks ago.
Killing a punk was one headache. Killing a cop was up there with any of the kids at school from prominent families—a different headache, but just as nasty.
“Liam is meeting us, right?”
“Yeah,” I said.
“Then I have a better idea.” Myles pulled out his phone and hit Liam’s number, putting it on speaker.
“Yo.”
“Hey, man. We got that same cop I mentioned followin’ us. Is Nora still volunteering at the community center?”
“Yeah.”
“Think ya can get her to create a distraction,” Myles asked.
“Gimme two,” Liam said and hung up.
Liam was a guy of few words. If he didn’t need to say it, he wouldn’t unless it had to do with bets and gambling.
Then he’d bore you until your ears bled with stats and odds and longshot bets or taking the over.
I didn’t gamble. It felt like a road to addiction if you weren’t careful, but Liam made a killing at it, and he always donated fifty percent of anything he won to the cause.
The lights on the cop car suddenly came on, and he peeled out of the parking lot. “That was smart thinking. I wonder what she said?”
Myles shrugged. “We gotta figure out why this punk is on our ass. I can’t be followed around when yer dad has me moving product, or you have me doing a drop-off.”
I started the car and slowly pulled out, looking for the deputy, but he was nowhere in sight. “Soon, you won’t have to do that, at least for us. I have an idea for my father as well. I don’t need one of my guys getting shot up or arrested.”
“I love the sound of that. What’s the idea?”
“I’m taking you there,” I said, driving toward the posher, party side of town.
“And here I thought ya were just jealous of all my alone time with Ren and wanted to steal me away.” Myles smiled, and I scoffed.
“Right, cause me jealous over a ball and chain sounds like me,” I said.
Myles laughed and shrugged. He did seem annoyingly happy to the point that I wanted to punch him.
Princess was like a siren’s call. I hated to admit that she was fucking hot, and I’d found myself enjoying sparing with her, but jealous…
not fucking likely. If she continued to cast her spell on my guys, then she would be dealt with.
We pulled into the parking lot of an older plaza that at one time had multiple thriving businesses.
The area had changed, people had moved, and soon, this section of road had become bars and seedy clubs.
Beauty salons and upscale cafes were pushed out, but I had an idea to bring back the upper-class money.
This plaza was an untapped market. The price tag and taxes were cheaper, and it was right across the road from people looking for a place to hang out, party hard, and feel like they were being badasses.
We would provide all of that without them leaving the comfort of their street.
They wanted to dip their toes in the seedy but were too terrified to travel very far.
Luckily for them, I was happy to swim in either section of town.
“She ain’t much to look at,” Myles said as he stared up at the two-storey building.
“It will be when we’re done.”
Liam jumped out of his truck as the real estate agent I’d contacted a few days ago about coming to see the building pushed open the front door to the closest unit.
If I had to guess what he did for a living based on appearance, I would’ve said he was a used car salesman.
The suit was light grey and draped on his older frame, while his hair was slicked back with a clipboard in hand, but his eyes were sharp with intelligence as he looked at us.
“Which one of you is Nash?”
“I am. I assume you’re Mr. Resnick?”
“Indeed.” He held out his hand. “You can call me John,” he said as I shook it.
“These are my business associates, Liam and Myles.”
“Nice to meet you. Come in, and I’ll show you around.
” We followed him inside, and it was like being swallowed by a time capsule.
My nose twitched with the dusty, dank scent.
The color of the walls screamed how old the place was while piles of old ceiling tiles and other random garbage were scattered around the open space.
“As you can see, this place has sat empty since the last business moved out of the area a few years ago. The little café just couldn’t survive with no day business.
The walls are still strong and sturdy, but the wiring, plumbing, and, of course, the interior all need to be upgraded,” John said.
He may have looked eighty, but he was marching along at a quick pace as he pointed out the pros and the cons.
I liked that. He wasn’t trying to tell us all it needed was to be cleaned and a coat of paint.
We reached the back, and he pulled open a door.
“You may like this. The hallway runs the entire length of all the units, and the building manager’s office is at the far end with the security room.
None of the cameras work anymore, but this hallway makes it easy for whoever is looking after the place to watch for any trouble or to walk down the hall to the unit with a clogged toilet. ”
This was the best feature other than location and price. I wanted access to all the businesses but not to be seen all the time. John opened each of the unit doors as we got to them for us to peer inside.
“As you know, this building is almost as old as I am.” He smiled. “So, it has a few features that newer buildings don’t have anymore. Each unit has a full basement, and the upstairs can be rented out as separate apartments.”
It took another twenty minutes to follow John around before he handed me the keys and said he would wait in his car so we could talk privately.
“What do you think,” I asked as John stepped outside.
“Can we start with why we are here,” Myles asked.