49. Chapter 49
Chapter 49
DECLAN
I ’m not lying to Vivian, I reason with myself as I head out with my brothers. I am just keeping her safe by not telling her what I am actually doing. But when her eyes went wide after she touched me, I knew I had made a mistake because she could for sure feel the Kevlar under my shirt.
Truth is, most of my jackets have some bulletproof material in them, but it is just less obvious. Tonight though, I want the extra protection because I need to come home to her. And not in a body bag.
Tonight my brothers and I are going to follow Jeff, the man who had broken in and attacked Vivian several nights ago, as he goes to deliver the contract to Lexington. Jeff doesn’t actually have the contract, but a stack of paper that we had made to look like the contract.
I had reviewed the plan with my father the other night once I told him I was taking over, and he agreed. Since Lexington is no longer taking his calls, there seems no other option than to meet him in person. And this is the best way to make it happen.
The meeting is set to take place in an alley behind a closed Chinese restaurant in Saugus. Jeff says he has met Lexington there before, and described the place so we know what to expect. He’d been given specific instructions from Lexington on where to be and when. The guy is a mind fuck for sure; he likes to try and control his prey.
My brothers also wear Kevlar and we arrive separate from Jeff, in case he is being watched. We park in another alleyway in a rental car, and now are positioned at different spots with all eyes on Jeff ten minutes before Lexington has told him to be there.
And we all stay in our positions for over an hour more.
Finally, a figure appears in the alleyway, having come out from the abandoned restaurant’s back door.
“You have it,” the shadow demands, and Jeff nods nervously. The shadow holds his hands out, and Jeff shakily puts the stack of papers in it. Immediately, the pile is flipped to the back page and the figure studies it. He reaches into his pocket and pulls something out—a lighter—and flicks the light, lighting the packet on fire and dropping it to the ground. “You did good, Jeff,” the man says, stepping into the sliver of light to pat the terrified man on the shoulder. “But what happened to your face?”
“I ran into somebody getting out of the house, and we tussled,” he says, and Lexington nods. “Are we good?” Jeff asks.
“For now. Please tell Teresa I said hi,” he says darkly. “Go,” he commands, and Jeff turns, his head hanging, and moves quickly from the alley.
I keep my eyes trained on Lexington, and sure enough, once Jeff’s back is turned and he’s three steps away, the fucker produces a gun. A loud pop goes off, and the gun goes flying from Lexington’s hand, Jeff still on the run.
Lexington looks around, seeming to attempt to find the shooter, but I’m there before he can locate anyone. “Only a fucking coward shoots a man in the back after having him do his dirty work,” I tell him. My brothers remain hidden, one of them having shot the gun out of his hand, but this fucker won’t have known that. He’ll assume I did it, think I’m alone, and that’s what I want.
Lexington is able to school his face quickly, but his shaky hands and dilated pupils give his nervousness away. “And who do we have here? A white knight?”
“I’m a better man than you are, that’s for sure,” I tell him, moving to stand right in front of him. I’m a good six inches taller than he is, and I am absolutely certain that he has no other weapons. He is just pompous enough to expect his word to be followed and never challenged.
But I am about to rock his world.
He narrows his gaze and studies my face. “Wait a minute, you look familiar,” he says, squinting now. “Are you a Falco?” I just set my stare back into his, refusing to answer him. “Yup, you are. You must be Jude’s son.”
“Don’t fucking put my father’s name in your mouth,” I warn Lexington darkly.
“How’s he doing?” Lexington pushes. “Heard he is having some health problems lately.”
He is trying to get me going, and it is working, but I refuse to let him see that. So I just stare him down. Some men can handle silence. I am willing to bet that Lexington is not one of those men.
“To what do I owe the pleasure of this meeting, Falco? Declan, right?”
I ignore him. “You’re not answering my father’s phone calls,” I remind him. “So I figured a face-to-face meeting would be better.”
“Better for what?”
“For me to tell you it’s time to pay up what you owe my father, or I will be cashing in on the contract you signed.”
Lexington blows out a laugh. “There is no contract,” he says, moving to turn from me.
I reach out and grab his neck. I could have just spoken to him and gotten his attention, but his quick dismissal pisses me off, along with pretty much all of his behavior. So grabbing him by his fucking throat seems like the best and only option, and it makes me feel better to channel my anger into choking him.
“You just fucking burned an instruction manual, you idiot,” I tell him. “And you may think that you can fuck over everyone you want, everyone who you deem beneath you, but you think wrong.”
“That fucking contract is worthless,” he croaks out at me.
“Then why were you so eager to get your hands on it, to destroy it?” I ask. He doesn’t say anything so I let him go.
He makes a big production of straightening his tie once he is released, and I don’t miss the way he subtly steps back from me in the process. Everything this guy does is calculated. He is constantly trying to be one step ahead.
“I want the money in the next two days, or I will take the contract to my lawyers,” I tell him.
“That contract won’t hold up in court,” Lexington says, pushing his pompous attitude back into his voice, like I didn’t just feel his balls in his throat when I choked him.
“We’ll see,” I tell him, crossing my arms over my chest.
He shakes his head at me. “Like I told your father, if you try to sue me, I will countersue that you and your family of thugs pressured me to sign it. And that I did so under duress.”
“And what possible reason would we have to do that?”
“Well, because I found out about your illegal gambling operations, or maybe your loan sharking, or maybe your father is selling drugs in his bars or burning buildings that he can’t buy.”
I once again go silent on him and watch him. I want to kill him, but it’s better to keep him talking. He wants me to think he is in control, and he assumes now with my silence that he is. But still I know what I am doing, because my silence scares him, and he will fill the emptiness with words to try and show he’s in control.
“Cause you see, Declan, I am a well-known businessman, with a clean record. You and your family, however, are all just a bunch of fucking thugs. Running low-end dives that bring in just enough cash to make you think you have power. You assholes are nothing more than common thieves, bottom dwellers with a little cushion of money. You come forward with that contract, and all the skeletons your family has will be brought to light, and you will lose what little you have. And I will look like the poor white-collar billionaire that was bullied.”
He’d thought about this, and I hate that he is right.
“You see it too. I know you do. I know defeat when I smell it.” He laughs coldly.
I take my gun out and put it under his chin, and the laugh dies on Lexington’s lips. “I smell something else,” I tell him.
“Going to kill me? It’ll just reinforce the thug you are,” he says. “And your money will still be mine. So go ahead—more blood on your hands, and just as low-class as I always knew you were.”
This isn’t working the way I had planned it. He’d spun the narrative on me, has me against a wall, and I hate to admit it. But this is something I can’t fix with my hands or threats or a shot to the knee. So I put my gun away.
“I will destroy you piece by piece and take away everything you love,” I swear to him.
Lexington narrows his gaze at me. “Not if I take everything from you first,” he hisses his own promise, then he turns away. I stay rooted where I am until I’m sure he’s gone. I’m not worried he’ll shoot me, but I don’t want him to think I trust him, even a little.
Just before he’s completely back through the door to the abandoned restaurant, Lexington stops, and without turning he says loudly, “Oh, and Declan, that black-haired beauty of yours, she is for sure someone I wouldn’t mind spending some time with.” He then slips forward and lets the heavy steel door slam shut behind him.
Rage pounds through me at his veiled warning. Then I feel something else—fear.
I turn and pick up the gun Lexington had left in the alleyway, and make my way back to the car, my brothers meeting me there.
“I have to get to Vivian,” I say, sliding in the driver’s seat and starting the car before my brothers are even inside.
That fucker is going to wish he had never met a Falco when I am done with him. But first, I have to get to Vivian.