Chapter 2
HUNTER
Bare concrete walls line the frame of the empty building. The winter breeze of the night is blocked, but the room is still just as cold as outside.
Rory Bishop, my best friend, shivers next to me. “Gabriel and his friends need to hurry the hell up.”
We agreed to meet our client here, but next time, I’m going to insist on choosing the meeting place. I’ll need to go in for an MRI if we have to wait here any longer because my lungs are filling with sawdust.
The building used to be a strip club, but the men who owned it weren’t good men, and their choices finally caught up with them a few months back.
Word is that they kidnapped the wrong woman and, in doing so, pissed off the MS-13.
They showed up, guns blazing and got the woman back.
Then the building was abandoned, and the MS-13 bought it.
I’m not sure what their plans are for the place.
They could be building another strip club or new headquarters.
As long as their cash is green, I don’t care what they do here.
Luke Ellis, my other best friend, stands as still as a statue on my other side with his hands in the pockets of his thick, long coat. He’s been silent since we got here, but that’s nothing new. He’s always been a quiet guy.
“I don’t like that they’re still not here,” Rory comments. “I never show up first. It ruins my reputation of being fashionably late.”
I internally roll my eyes. “You’re forty-eight years old. Being fashionably late should not be part of your so-called ‘reputation.’”
Rory spears me with an insulted look. “Just because I have a serious big boy job, doesn’t mean I have to be serious in every aspect of my life.”
“Don’t we know it,” Luke remarks under his breath.
“What was that, asshole?” Rory leans around me to give the same scathing look to Luke, but Luke ignores Rory’s indignation and acts like he didn’t say anything at all.
From the outside, it may seem like we hate each other, but it’s the opposite.
We’ve been together through thick and thin.
We’ve lived hard, and it shows in the peppering of gray hair we all have.
We even built RHL Solutions from the ground up and turned it into the multi-billion-dollar company it is today, with me as the CEO, Rory as the CFO, and Luke as the COO.
Luke changes the subject, brushing aside Rory’s barb. “How’s your son doing?”
“Fine,” I answer curtly.
It’s not that I’m ashamed of him. My relationship with my son has always been rocky, his mother saw to that.
Rory joins the discussion. “You loaned him some money for that startup, right? How’s that going?”
“Not good.” I feel a headache forming behind my eyes.
“How much did he lose?” Rory isn’t asking because he’s nosey. His mind naturally wanders toward the numbers.
“A quarter.”
Rory lifts a brow. “A quarter of what? One hundred or one million?”
My eyes slide to him. “What do you think?”
It’s no one’s fault but my own. In trying to teach my son how to handle his money, I haven’t done enough. After we talk, he talks to his mother, and she has always been a leech.
“Is he going to pay you back this time?” Luke inquires.
“What do you think?” My head rolls in his direction.
Yet another failure on my part as a father.
“He said he met someone, and he really likes her,” I add.
Rory gives me a faint smile, nudging my shoulder. “Ah. Do you get to meet her?”
“We’ll see.” I’ve only met a few people he’s dated. I don’t know if he’s embarrassed by me or what.
“Have you heard anything from that parasite of an ex-wife?” Rory grimaces.
“Not lately,” I answer, but apparently, I’ve spoken too soon. My phone vibrates in my pocket. Pulling it out, I show Rory the screen. “You jinxed it. Thanks a lot.”
If I don’t answer now, she’ll keep calling. She’ll blow up my phone until I respond. It’s happened many times before. It’s how she still manipulates me, even though we’ve been divorced for almost three decades now.
I tap the answer button and sigh, already done with this conversation. “What do you need, Giselle?”
“Why do you assume I need something?” Giselle returns, forcing a hint of hurt in her tone.
I shake my head. “You never call me unless you do.”
“Can’t I call just to chat?”
“I don’t have time for this.” I rub my hand over my mouth, searching for even an ounce of patience.
“Fine. I want to move,” she finally admits.
Squinting, I frown. “Okay. Do it,” I respond without emotion.
“I need money.”
Ding! Ding! Ding! We have confirmation. Money is the motive.
Staring at the floor, I grit out, “I send you more than plenty in alimony every month. If you’re not satisfied with your condo on the West Side, figure it out.”
“Why are you so mean to me?” I can hear her tears, but I know they’re fake. I don’t know if she’s ever shed a real tear in the entire time I’ve known her. “I just need a little more money.”
My face suddenly feels hot. “Have you forgotten that you cheated on me multiple times? Besides, we divorced decades ago. I owe you nothing.”
“Fine,” she spits back and ends the call.
Sliding my phone back into my pocket, I glare at Rory.
“My bad,” he apologizes with a wince.
“Gentlemen, sorry for the wait. Your patience is appreciated.” Gabriel Castillo, the palabrero, or leader, of the New York MS-13 cell, walks in with his arms stretched out and stops a good ten feet away from where we stand in the middle of the room.
He’s wearing a three-piece suit, a huge step up from the tank top and saggy jeans we last saw him in, but there’s no hiding the tattoos that cover his body and tell his story, especially the black teardrops that are permanently etched below his left eye.
Behind Gabriel are the two men he never goes anywhere without. Diego Rivera and Mateo Alvarez. They each wear nice black suits, concealing guns under the jackets. It isn’t obvious that they’re carrying, but I know their weapons are there.
After all, we’re the ones who supplied them.
Rory scoffs at Gabriel’s lackluster apology. “No, you’re not.”
Diego remains stoic, but Mateo narrows his eyes at the insult, showing exactly where to hit him if I wanted to make it hurt.
Gabriel brushes it off, though. “It was unavoidable. We had some business that couldn’t wait.”
I lift a brow. “And you decided that we could? I’d like to think that we have a better working relationship than that, especially since we’re the ones who keep your facilities secure.
However, if this is how you choose to do business, perhaps we should consider taking our services elsewhere.
We could easily move our operations south and set up exclusive deals with the Irish instead.
” My threat is subtle, but there’s enough bite behind it to let him know that I’m serious.
Diego’s hands tighten as they clasp together in front of him.
Found his nerve.
Gabriel shakes his head with a false sympathetic smile. “I wouldn’t go around making threats like that if I were you.”
The hairs on the back of my neck stand up, but I keep my face clear of emotion and my mouth shut.
Men like Gabriel Castillo don’t make those kinds of statements without a reason or proof to back them up.
“Nothing to say to that?” Gabriel mocks.
Rory and Luke wisely also remain emotionless and say nothing. In these situations, I’m the one who deals with the snakes.
“Say what you came here to say and get it over with.” My demand comes out smooth as if this whole meeting is beneath me.
Another thing I’ve learned is that if I act like the most powerful man in the room, then weaker men will bend to me. The men in this room are anything but weak, but still, my tactics have never steered me wrong.
“Two of my storage units were emptied last night,” Gabriel finally admits.
Rory visibly rolls his eyes, not trying to hide his annoyance whatsoever.
Mateo tenses again. “What’s the matter, cabrón? Do you think we’re lying?”
Rory makes a disinterested face. “Lying? No. Stupid? Well…”
Mateo tries to take a step forward, but Diego grabs him by the arm.
“You have to remember to set the alarm system before you leave,” Rory explains as if they’re ignorant kids who have never done this before, but we all know it’s the opposite.
Gabriel’s jaw clenches. “The issue is that our security system was disabled, cameras and all.”
“That’s not possible,” I oppose.
Gabriel taunts me with a quick raise of his eyebrows. “Believe it, viejo.”
I give him a skeptical look.
“Look into it yourself. You’ll see that I’m telling the truth.” The air around Gabriel is too poised for him to be telling stories.
If it’s true, that means we’ve been hacked, and we can’t let that continue. RHL Solutions is a legitimate security company with clients and everything; however, some of our clients aren’t on the right side of the law.
“We’ll look into it,” I agree with a small nod.
“I expect my system to be upgraded,” Gabriel demands, “and the product stolen to be replaced.”
“You can’t be serious,” Rory blurts with disbelief.
“I’m very serious,” Gabriel says with a hard tone. “I’d hate to have to be the one to take my business somewhere else.”
My fists squeeze at my sides.
“Vamos!” Gabriel directs his men, and they follow him as he exits.
When we hear the heavy metal door shut with a thunk, Rory paces and rambles away. “Fuck. How could this happen? We’re not fresh out of college. Our systems and code are among the best. Who would be sophisticated enough to hack it?”
Luke approaches Rory with a look in his eye that I’ve seen many times before but never commented on and places his hand on Rory’s shoulder, stopping him in his tracks. Whatever that look was, it’s not my business. They can figure that out for themselves.
Luke doesn’t say anything and gives Rory a look. Seeing Luke, Rory takes a deep breath, deflating on his exhale.
Thinking through the problem logically, I rub my hand over my chin. “We should have seen this coming. The fact that we didn’t means we’ve become complacent.”
“So what’s the plan?” Rory asks.