5. Maverick
5
MAVERICK
I looked up, feeling my shoulders sag in relief when Killian walked through the door.
That relief quickly morphed into anger when I got a good look at him. I stood up and glowered. “Where the fuck have you been?”
He smiled at me. There was nothing friendly about his smile, and it had nothing to do with the fact that he was covered from head to toe with blood. I tried to assess whether or not he was injured, but it was hard to judge just by looking at him.
“Hunting,” he answered, showing a straight row of white teeth. They gleamed even worse against all the blood and dirt that surrounded the skin on his face.
I brought my hand up and rubbed over my temple, trying to shake away the headache that was coming on.
Fuck me. My brothers had tested my patience their whole life, but this was on a whole new level.
“Who did you hunt, and where is the body?” I asked.
“Oh, relax. No one saw me or could connect me to the bodies. I wanted to leave a message.”
“The members of the Heartless Saints?” I guessed.
He didn’t say anything. I’d take that as his confirmation. Fucking hell.
“Did you at least take men with you?”
He shot me a look. So that was a fucking hard no.
“How many of them were there?”
“Seven.”
“Fucking hell, Killian. Are you hurt?”
He rolled his eyes at me. “You don’t need to worry. I’m not a fucking child.”
“Not worry? Why the fuck did you go to them alone?”
“I told you. I went hunting. You should be happy. We want the MC completely annihilated, no?”
“And this is the way to do it? Taking unnecessary risks?”
He shrugged. “It’s one way.”
“No, this is more than just you trying to get rid of the MC, and you know it.”
His eyes flashed. “No. Then what is this about?”
“You're trying to kill away the emotions you’re feeling right now.”
“Whatever,” he muttered, moving over to the minibar in the corner of the room. He opted out of a glass and drank directly from the bottle.
I watched him for a beat. “You don’t think so? Did you interrogate them? See if we can find out where Sebastian Cline is hiding?”
He didn’t answer me, but fuck me, I didn’t need him to. I shook my head. I tried to rein in my anger. Fuck, but what the hell was I supposed to do? Silas was a former shell of himself, throwing himself into work and on the streets, hoping he would gain any information on Mila’s whereabouts, and Killian just fucking disappeared, only to come back hours later covered in fucking blood. Had the fucker Agent Jones caught sight of him, our lawyers would have a hard time explaining this away.
“What are you doing, Killian?” I asked, resigned.
He didn’t answer me. Just took another sip.
I knew how he was feeling. He was angry Mila left and scared she wouldn’t come back, or something might happen to her without our protection, or fuck me, might be gone from us for good. I knew because this was how I was feeling, but to do shit like this? How the hell was I supposed to hold us all together if they both kept acting like loose cannons?
“You know, I would have gone straight home if I had known all you were going to do is lecture me.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “You should have gone there to wash off all the blood and lie low. Why the hell are you driving around town and coming in and out of this place like that?” There was no doubt the Feds were watching this place. We were supposed to have opened this new club last week, but the date had been pushed out when Mila left.
No one knew why there was a delay, and no one questioned us about it, but I was sure this would have drawn the attention of the Feds.
“Didn’t want to scare Rachel,” Killian answered.
I pointed to the private bathroom attached to the office. “Go clean up.”
He left without a word. I grabbed the bottle out of his hand when it looked like he was about to take it with him to the bathroom. He shot me a look but smartly kept his mouth shut. The last thing I needed was to try and haul his drunk ass out of the shower because the fucker fell and couldn’t get up.
I waited until the door closed behind him before I leaned back on the desk and took in my surroundings.
Fuck, but I missed her.
The last thing I fucking wanted to do was work, but the world didn’t stop running just because it felt like my world had imploded.
We got out of the car when it stopped at the back entrance to the Late Night Oasis, the small tavern owned by one of our men and also the place of the first meeting with the Cadorna Famiglia.
Setting up a second meeting here was on purpose. It reminded Vincent Cadorna that he was in Tiernan territory, and he would be wise to keep that in mind when he spoke to me. And with the way I was feeling now, it wouldn’t do if he provoked me.
I glanced from one side to the other at my brothers. Hell, with the way things were, I doubt I could stop Killian or Silas from doing something rash.
We walked through the tavern’s doors, and Cian, the owner, greeted us with a slight bow of his head.
Vincent had already arrived and, from the looks of it, drank more than half a bottle of wine. Silas pulled his lips back in a sneer at the sight, and I quietly brushed over his arm, reminding him to keep his face neutral. The last thing I wanted was an all-out war in Chicago. Not when we were already warring with the Heartless Saints, or whatever was left of them.
Vincent didn’t stand when we got close, and I narrowed my eyes at the show of disrespect. He smiled at me, even as his second in command didn’t show any reaction.
Giovanni DeMarco was a little harder to read than his capo, but what I did know about him made little sense to me on why he was working under a man like Cadorna. If things went to shit, he would be the first one I took out.
“Gentlemen,” I greeted, taking a seat. Killian and Silas followed suit. Vincent’s beady little eyes followed the men I had spread out over the restaurant, his eyes sticking to Emilio, who had taken position standing behind me.
I didn’t need to turn around to know my men were sizing his men up. Last time, we came here in good faith and left our men outside the restaurant.
This time, Vincent decided he needed an entourage of men to protect him, but I wondered if he realized just how… vulnerable he looked. I smirked a little at that, and the fucker squirmed in his seat. It was a surprise he even made it this far as capo. But this position was one he inherited from his father, and old man Valentino was known for his cruelty. A man who had even made my own father look like a schoolboy.
My eyes shifted over to Giovanni. He was expressionless, but his eyes were sharp as they took in the room and all the men surrounding them. It was as if he was trying to assess whether or not he would make it out of here if Vincent said one wrong thing.
“How good to see you again, Maverick,” Vincent said, taking a huge sip of his drink. I held in a sigh. I loathed making business deals with drunks. His lack of self-control was already making it hard for me to see the good side of this business deal.
“Have you thought about what we discussed?” Killian asked, getting right on topic. I briefly glanced over at him. I knew he was one trigger away from exploding but hid it well, at least.
“Of course. And we decided to take you up on the offer.”
One of my eyebrows rose from his words. “I don’t believe I have made an offer.”
His skin flushed, and his meaty hand wrapped around the stem of the wineglass. Any harder, and he would break it.
“What is the offer?” Vincent gritted out.
I smiled. “A ten percent cut and you have your men help with the transport. We want access to all the roads, not just the ones heading west, but the ones you have south of the border, to Mexico, and up north to Canada.”
His face turned a deeper shade of red. Technically, we didn’t need him for access to Mexico or Canada. It was just California and heading out to Stocken Isle that his help would prove useful. But it would make things a hell of a lot easier.
“Daniel paid thirty percent.”
“And the fucker cut his profit each time, hiding most of it away and offering you a measly percentage.”
And the fucker knew what I said was true. The reason why he hadn’t turned on Daniel before was because he couldn’t.
Even when the MC ruled under a useless president, it had been stronger than the Cadorna Famiglia, which had stayed in the same family for over three generations.
That fucking said something about the state of his organization.
“Take the deal, Cadorna.”
“And how do I know you and your brothers won’t pull the same shit?”
“Because my words mean something.” I smiled a little. “There should be honor among thieves, after all.”
He cackled. “Calling yourself a thief is like the little club princess calling herself just that— princess. ”
Silas tensed beside me at the mention of Mila.
My fists clenched beneath the table, but I didn’t show any outward reaction.
The fucker laughed. “Speaking of, how is the little whore working out? Are you still keeping her around?”
“I don’t see how I deal with my property is any of your concern,” I said, keeping my voice neutral.
He looked over at Giovanni, shook his head, and let out another laugh, spittle flying from his mouth. “You know, there have been reports about how… close you and your brothers are getting to the little whore. You better be careful. You might have been able to destroy most of Daniel Hayes’ club in one night, but there was a reason why no one had been able to touch him before and why I kept up my business deal with him. The fucker had no weakness. He would have whored out that ex-wife of his if he thought it would be useful. And the daughter? You should have heard the way he spoke about her.”
He shook his head, his eyes glinting, as if he thought he got me where he wanted. He should have known I hadn’t clawed my way to the top as a weak man. I did so with the same determination and savagery I would show him if he didn’t keep his fucking mouth shut.
“Did you already make that mistake, Maverick?—”
He didn’t get to finish his sentence. I watched as a sharp little knife flew from my side and struck him in the neck. He gasped and choked as it stayed lodged there, even when he struggled to get it out.
No one spoke for one tense moment, all eyes on the man bleeding life from his neck. I recognized the knife. I turned to Killian, and though his face didn’t show any emotion, there was a gleam in his eyes that I knew well.
“He talked too much,” Killian said when he noticed my attention. I gritted my teeth to keep from saying anything. Giovanni sprang out of his seat, and chaos ensued, guns pulled out from both sides.
“You motherfuckers! Do you know what you have done?”
Killian stood up, much slower than Giovanni. The room seemed to have held its breath as we all watched Killian move over to Vincent’s prone body. Blood had already pooled on the floor beneath his feet, and the white tablecloth on his side was soaked with blood, matching the color of the wine that the fucker never got to finish.
Killian pulled the knife away and carefully wiped it on the clean part of the tablecloth.
“Vincent has a son, doesn’t he?” I asked, standing up. All my men moved from behind me, getting ready for the attack that could happen.
Giovanni took in his surroundings. He knew he couldn’t beat us. So what would he decide to do?
He nodded at my question.
We both knew Vincent had a son. A boy who just turned nineteen last month. Perhaps to some, he might be considered too young to rule, but hell, when I was nineteen, I had already begun building my army. And from fucking scratch. It wasn’t like our uncle had helped us with anything except to give us a safe place to hide from fucking Hayes.
“The boy can take his father’s stead,” Silas said, standing up, his brown eyes assessing. This was why my brothers and I worked so well together. We always knew what the other one was thinking. Killian might have acted rashly and killed the head of the Famiglia, but I wasn’t sure if I wouldn’t have killed the fucker with my bare hands as well, after the way he talked about Mila.
Giovanni didn’t say anything, but I knew the look in his eyes well. He was calculating.
I smiled. “Leave. And take your men with you. And tell the heir we'll work with him if he can control his father’s men.”
Giovanni shook his head. “You think men are now going to follow a boy who barely just got inducted into the business? The boy fucking spent more years drinking from his mom’s tit than he has in the business.”
I shrugged. “As nice an imagery as that might be, it’s not my problem.”
“But it will be if they don’t. You might have just caused an all-out war in Chicago. I hope the little whore was worth it.”
I placed my hand on Killian's chest when it looked like he was about to attack the man.
My mistake was not paying attention to my other brother. Silas jumped over the table and tackled the fucker to the ground. I let out a small sigh and nodded at Emilio, and he walked around the table to pull Silas off the man. It took three tries before he could pull my brother away, and by then, Giovanni’s face was a bloody mess, streaks of blood running down the side of it. His men came forward and helped him up, not taking his eyes off us.
“Take him and get out of here,” I said. We’d caused enough to worry about, and I needed Giovanni alive to ensure the fucking Cadorna Famiglia could get organized to finish off the deal and make sure we didn’t have an all-out war on our hands.
We watched as Cadorna’s men left the restaurant. I turned to my brothers when the door closed behind them.
“What the hell was that?”
Silas cracked his neck, not looking a tiny bit remorseful. Killian just looked like he was high on adrenaline and needed his next fix.
“Let’s just go,” I said, knowing nothing I said now would get through to them.
I walked out without waiting for them, passing over Vincent’s body. I would have to compensate Cian for this.
I didn’t care that the fucker was dead. He had been getting on my nerves, but hell.
His words echoed in my head. Killian was right. Mila was going to be our downfall. Our fucking weakness. And I couldn’t fucking fault her for that. But now, it seemed word had been getting around. How many more men were after her, trying to break the Tiernan Syndicate?
Fuck, but where the hell was she?