Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
ACE
You would have thought a man like Vinnie Crusiaux would be hard to get my hands on. He wasn’t. Vinnie was a creature of habit. He should have known better, yet, like clockwork, he still attended his weekly poker game at the same location he’d attended for nearly ten years.
We’d done our research; we always do on our enemies. Then we held it tight to our chest, biding our time so that we could be ready for attack. Today was the day, unfortunately, for Vinnie. When I got the order from Adam, I was desperate to know why, but I held my questions at bay, not willing to compromise the pending attack. I’d had my eyes on this scum for a while, long before his daughter slept in the room across from mine.
He was a pedophile.
A trafficker.
Morals worse than any I’d seen, and I’d struggled to figure out how this man and Bellamy were from the same family. She was meek and sweet. She fought to get out her thoughts, but when the backbone surfaced, I hated to admit it made me hard. Fuck, it was Adam’s wife, but sometimes watching her was too much for a single man to handle.
We’d been taking shifts, keeping an eye on her, worried about her safety. During that time, I’d learned a little about the little mouse. She likes books, the smuttier the better, though she tries to hide them. She has a weakness for anything peanut butter, and if asked if she needs anything, she always says no, even if you know that isn’t true. Hell, half the time we have to remind her to eat three full meals a day.
She seems to enjoy spending time with Mercer the most, but I suspect that’s because I’m guarded and Adam makes himself scarce. I should change that. I want to change that. I just don’t know how, and even if I did, would it be deemed inappropriate to make time for someone else’s wife?
“Do not let a single man out of these doors,” I ordered my men, right before I used a rope to scale my way to the roof.
The poker building was practically windowless, a safety future I suspect they had implemented to avoid being spied on. But I was never a man afraid of heights. A little breeze as I enjoyed the roof top skylight was a perfect way to spend my evening. The suction clung to the window like they were cemented together, making it easy for me to cut out a space big enough for a gun.
Six.
Six men were simple enough. Though I knew by kill number three, they’d try to run. Try to escape the cage they put themselves into so fucking willingly, but it would be too late. There would be no escaping. Not when all their exits were surrounded and their only fate was death. We’d bring Vinnie alive, of course. He deserved a death more than a simple gunshot to the head, but the rest, they’d go quick.
I glanced over at Max, who Adam had sent with Drew to help, giving him a hand signal, counting down with my fingers before my first shot. With each finger I pushed down, he relayed over the side of the building until my fist was closed and the fuckers had run out of time.
My first shot was flawless. The silencer made it impossible for them to detect until the player's head was face down in his cards, blood pooling over the green felt of the card table. The moment it registered, the second was down. His body pushed backwards as he rose from his chair. By the third shot, chaos had gripped the group, shouting orders and demands as if that would save them. It wouldn’t. Salvation was beyond their hold when you lived a life like ours.
Shockingly, no one dared to look up. Maybe because they knew where I was, or from fear that if we made eye contact, they’d be the next one to go. Still, the remaining men split, pushing at each other as they fought their way to the exits. Had they thought we were dumb enough not to have men outside those doors waiting? Had they not cared? And Vinnie? He was the one who fought the hardest, pushed the most, gave in to his instincts to run and damn anyone in his path.
I turned to Max. “Piece of fucking cake.”
A slow smile formed as he peered down, taking in the chaos at the door. “I could use some cake.”
“Always about the food,” I chuckled.
“It’s all I’ve got going in this life.” He gestured to the rope. “Going down first?”
“Might as well.” I bent down and grabbed the rope, gripping it tightly as I adjusted my feet, then began the walk down the brick, praying I didn’t fuck up and smash my head on the cement below.
When my feet touched the ground, I blew out the breath I had held, thankful that today wasn’t my day to go. Max grabbed the rope, beginning his descent, when I turned away, strolling to the door that was bottle necked with oozing bodies. Trying to avoid getting blood on my shoes, I looked down. “You kept Vinnie alive, right?”
Drew snorted. “Was I supposed to? I believe you said, ‘Do not let a single man out of these doors.’” He changed his voice to mock me.
“Do not fuck with me. Anyone else and you’d be dead.” I glared at Drew, who was completely unfazed by my temper. He was used to it. He’d been a friend nearly as long as Adam and Mercer.
He rolled his eyes. “Someone needs to loosen up, maybe get laid.” If only he knew. “Yes. He’s alive. Can’t you hear him crying like a hysterical school girl who just got dumped before prom?”
“That’s Vinnie?” I let a laugh loose, unable to contain it. “Jesus Christ, how pathetic. And he was supposed to be leading one of the major local crime families?”
“Bellamy has cried less.” Drew smirked and I sobered.
“We don’t talk about her.”
He raised his hands up, feigning helplessness. “Sorry, man, I meant nothing by it. You know I have nothing against the girl. She’s sweet. And she makes a mean ass sandwich.”
“She’s made you food?” Lead settled in my stomach.
“Um.” He was looking everywhere but at me. “Hasn’t she fed you?”
No. The answer was no. And I didn’t know why it angered me so much that her guard had gotten special attention from her when often I didn’t even get a fucking glance. But that was a circumstance of my making, wasn’t it? I intentionally held myself back, giving her the bare minimum because even though Adam said she was ours, I was afraid of the rejection, the ridicule, the pieces I’d have to collect of myself if I allowed myself to care too much.
“Are you fucking her?” The words were out before I could stop them, before I registered the jealousy and betrayal I felt over what I knew was absolutely nothing.
“What?” Drew looked shocked and maybe I felt a little guilt over it, but I’d never admit it out loud. “You three are some of my closest friends. Without this job, the loyalty of the family you’ve created, I’d probably be dead. I’d never betray you like that.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I’m sorry. I know that, it’s just…“
I let my words hang because I didn’t know what the fuck I was about to admit. It’s just… I’m crazy? It’s just… I’m jealous? It’s just… I might want this girl, knowing I shouldn’t? Was that it? Did I want her or did I just like the idea of having her?
“It’s just that it’s been a while since you felt.” Drew finished through me, calling me out on all the bullshit I always tried to hide, and why wouldn’t he? He’d known me longer than most of our men, known me before I’d even fully skipped out of the awkward stage of puberty. He knew my lies and my truths, maybe before I even had.
“Yeah.” I clapped him on the back and stepped over the body at my feet. Such a fucking mess. It’s what I hated the most about this job.
I strolled casually over to Vinnie, who was kneeling between two of my men. Two guns pointed at his skull. Someone was courteous enough to tie his arms behind his back. How fucking degrading to go from the leader of men to a sniffling snotty mess on a dirty warehouse floor. When I got close enough, he dared to lift his head, meeting my gaze.
“I—“
“Don’t fucking talk.” I reached forward, pulling his hair to tilt his head back, making sure he had eyes on me and only me. “I don’t know what the fuck you did to make your capture a priority, but I can fucking promise it’s a long time coming. Was it the wedding? The scout you had outside my gate? What else did you do to make your son-in-law so fucking mad?”
He tried to shake his head, but my grip was too tight for him to move. “I hadn’t done nothing.”
I laughed. “We both know that’s a fucking lie. Men like us are rarely innocent.”
“She’s a bitch like her mother. Whatever she told you, it isn’t true. From one man to another, you fucking know that. Females can’t be trusted.”
My knee to his nose reminded him that the female in question belonged to us. No thanks to his protection. Blood sprayed outward, splattering my clothes, and I tried not to cringe. “I’d suggest you not talk about Bellamy like that again. In fact, keep her name off your lips and out of your mind because she’s a hundred times the person you’d ever be, and I knew this within ten seconds of knowing her.”
“She’s a whore. Haven’t you heard by now?” His bloody grin begged me to remove some of his teeth. “Have you taken care of it yet? Gotten rid of the evidence of her whoring ways?”
I leaned down. “Why would we do that? Something you’re hiding, Vinnie?”
For a moment, his eyes flashed, and the tiniest spark of fear shined through before he hardened his gaze. “Nothing that concerns you.”
My grin was sinister. “Anything that involves her concerns me.”
Before he could open his mouth to spout out more bullshit, I gave into my weakness and took out a few of his teeth, while rendering him unconscious. Whatever bullshit he wanted to say, he could speak to her husband right before he dies.