3. Dax
DAX
Refreshed, armed, and caffeinated to the max, I was ready to take on whatever this day had in store for us.
Tommaso messaged us he was going to be at the headquarters in a half hour, so we piled into the vehicle and were on our way.
The De León Cartel owned a highrise in the city that they rented out the bottom fifteen floors and kept the top five for themselves.
Today being Sunday helped to ensure there wouldn’t be many clueless people working as the new king took his palace.
This time I rode up front as Eagle drove, wanting to keep alert to our surroundings.
While I didn’t think anyone would be jumping out of the shadows to attack us, it’s always better to be ready for shit to go down.
Eagle’s phone rang, and when he pulled it out of his pocket, I saw Gator’s name on the screen.
“My money’s on this being for you,” Eagle said, handing it over to me.
With a shrug, I answered it, “President Eagle’s phone, co-president Little Queen speaking.”
“Goddammit, Dax, what the hell were you thinking doing that?” Tilly screamed at me so loud I had to pull the phone away from my ear. “Why not just paint a fucking target on your head and wear a sign that says shoot me, I enjoy it?”
“Woah there, Tilly-billy,” I said into the phone I was still holding a safe distance from my ear. “I’m gonna need you to lower the decibel if you’d like to carry on a conversation with me, please.”
“Fuck you, I’m going to yell at you if I want to,” Tilly snapped but at a lower decibel.
Feeling it might be safe, I put the phone back to my ear.
“Look, woman, I’m all for you owning life and taking it by the balls, but do you really think that was the best move?
That psycho already has a hard-on for you, and now the whole criminal world knows it. ”
“I hate to break it to you, babe, but that ship already sailed,” I pointed out. “Everyone at that event was picking a side and declaring their allegiance to me or Marco. The criminal world is incredibly aware of the feud going on, and they’re acting like it’s a game of risk or some shit.”
“This isn’t helping me to not want to strangle you,” Tilly growled out.
Memories of the other night with Wes and his belt flashed through my mind. “Just as a head’s up, I’m not sure that would give you the desired effect you’d want.”
“You really aren’t bothered by this at all, are you? Do you have some magic plan to put this all to rest, or is this just bravado so I don’t worry about things more than I already am?” Tilly demanded.
“T, you’re gonna need to clue me in on what the hell is going on. You’ve never been this upset with me about my crazy antics. Actually, on more than one occasion, I remember you pushing me to own my crazy and do what needed to be done,” I reminded.
I heard a frustrated sigh, footsteps stomping down the hall, and a door being slammed. “Look, I’m not on speaker, am I?”
“No, but if you reach the rage you started with, I wouldn’t need to do that for you to be heard,” I said, not at all liking where this was going. “Tilly, what’s going on?”
“You can’t utter a goddamn word, or I’ll gut you like a fish,” Tilly snarled.
Shifting in my seat, I cleared my throat and shifted away from Eagle. “Gotcha, I read you loud and clear.”
“This was never supposed to happen. I mean, maybe eventually, but this wasn’t supposed to be now…
I know that for a damn fact. It’s all wrong, and Mutt can’t even…
but that didn’t matter because I wasn’t super sure about the whole idea.
Now we’re in charge, and if anything happens to all of you, this then becomes our full-time gig, and that’s not what I want.
You hear me?” Tilly asked in a desperate voice.
“I feel I should share that while you have my undivided attention, I don’t have the option of stepping away to have this conversation alone,” I said carefully. “I got about half of what you said, and I think I know where this is going, but I need you to be a little clearer.”
“I’m goddamn fucking pregnant, Dax,” Tilly blurted.
“Girl, I’m a mess. I really don’t understand, and I know you have so much on your plate right now, but I need you to promise me you’re coming back home.
No one knows yet, and I haven’t decided what I’m going to do, but I know for sure if I become the old lady to the president and VP, I’m not going to bring this child into that world. ”
“Okay, T, I hear you,” I assured her. “Now that I fully understand where you’re coming from, I can tell you I have every intention of winning this fight.
Marco picked the wrong person to fuck with.
Now I’m going to make sure the world knows if you want to take me on, you’ll lose, no matter how big and bad you are. ”
There was the sound of a deep breath being taken then let out again. “Dax, you better make that fucker pay for all this. It’s not just your life he’s turned upside down.”
“Bet your ass I’m gonna make him pay,” I remarked as we pulled into the parking garage of the De León building. “Babe, I don’t mean to cut you off, but we’re about to enter an underground garage in case I lose you.”
“No, it’s fine. You need to go so you get everything you need and end this once and for all,” Tilly said.
“I’ll figure this out. I simply needed to tell someone because I don’t want to add that stress to my guys while they’re trying to handle everything here.
It’s still early if I choose to do something about it. ”
“I’m glad you called me, Tilly. I’ll try to be better about checking in,” I told her as we got out of the car.
“Sure you will. It’s a good thing I like yah even if you’re shit at communicating,” Tilly teased, then we said our goodbyes.
“Everything all good?” Eagle asked as he took his phone back.
I nodded and shoved my hands in my jeans. “Yeah, she just realized that if all of us got wiped out, she and the guys would be leading the Phantom Saints, and she wasn’t so thrilled with that idea.”
Eagle grunted. “Yeah, I could see that reality setting in if they watched what happened last night. Mutt said they were going to tune in so they knew if there was going to be trouble for them or not.”
Cam pressed the button for the elevator, and we all stepped in and hit the one marked ‘L.’ Tommaso said he’d meet us there since you needed a keycard to get past the fifteenth floor.
Apparently, there was a tech company and shipping company Diego ran that weren’t a total front, and the fifteenth floor was the offices for the legitimate businesses.
I suppose having hackers and programmers on hand make quick work of handling the documentation for all the unlisted goods they shipped in.
The doors opened, and we stepped out to find a group of reporters all gathered around Tommaso, asking questions as cameras flashed.
“Sir, is it true that you’re the heir of the De León estate?”
“Can you tell us how your father discovered you were still alive after thirty-three years of believing you died?”
“Do you know who would have a big enough grudge to blow up your father’s home with them still in it?”
I did an about-face and motioned for the guys to get back in the elevator.
There was no fucking way I was going to be blasted all over the newspapers.
Of course, they had no idea who I was, thank fuck, but I wasn’t going to make trouble for Cam or any of the others in case someone knew who they were.
However, my guys seemed not to feel the same way about things I did and ignored my efforts.
“Calm down, little rebel, or then they’ll really notice us,” Sprocket said as he pulled me to his chest, wrapping his arms around me so I couldn’t do anything but watch what was going on.
Tommaso was a natural and handled the questions like a pro.
If that had been me, someone would have ended up with a broken nose and a microphone shoved up their ass.
Finally, they seemed to get the answers they wanted, and the building’s security intervened, herding the reporters out the front door.
“Hello, friends,” Tommaso said with a bright smile. “So glad you could join me on this, but I hope you don’t mind I thought it was best to handle the questions.”
Sprocket finally released me, and I walked over to the new top dog of New York City. “Nah, you were great, and I’d have been put in jail faster than you could say photo op.”
Tommaso snorted. “Yes, I imagine that would be the best-case scenario.”
Crossing my arms, I looked him up and down for a moment. “Did you get an afternoon delight or something when you checked in with Cynthia? You’re in way too good of a mood for my liking. Typically, when people act like that, it means I’m going to get screwed in a not-so-fun way.”
“I hope you don’t mind if I decline to answer that question.
We might be friends, but I’m not sure we’re at that level yet,” Tommaso commented as he led the way to a shiny gold-plated set of elevator doors.
“What I will tell you is that my mood is all your doing, Dax. I truly thought that taking out Diego would be the simplest part of this whole thing, but I underestimated how scared people would be of you.”
“You’re forgetting the ones who want to kill her even more,” Void interjected.
Tommaso nodded at that as he pressed a keycard to the sensor. “True, but it would seem that with my new men wanting to show how supportive they are, on top of those who are backing you, chased them out of town.”
Spinning to face him, I shoved the man back against the elevator wall. “What did you just say? Are you telling me we didn’t need to flee first thing this morning and uproot my best friend from her home?”
Tommaso raised his hands to defend himself from me as his jovial expression fell. “Don’t ever place your hands on me like that again, Dax. We are allies, but I won’t be seen as your puppet. I need to make sure my people know I’m no wallflower put in place by you.”