Chapter 36
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
GOOSE
“I have someone on the apartment, just in case.”
“Who?” I ask.
Bullet clears his throat, and I wait for him to answer me. I don’t know what the hesitation is about, but I don’t push. His lips twitch into a smirk. His gaze searches mine, then he chuckles.
“Lightning. Nothing is going to happen to her or Lainey with him there.”
He’s right.
Lightning took a bullet for Cidney. Not a single fucking thing is going to happen to them when he’s around.
I don’t know if I could trust another person as much as I do Lightning.
He’s taken one bullet, and I know he would take another.
But I hope he doesn’t have to. He never will. He’s already done enough.
“He’s the best guy for the job,” I agree.
“Figured as much,” Bullet mutters.
The police are in place, most in plain clothes. The owner is ready, and the bait is also ready. I want to be inside to watch it all go down, but the best I can do is sit in this cage in the parking lot, watching alongside Bullet.
Piggy is on the inside and the only one who will see everything go down. Thankfully, the police have agreed to work him into their detail, but only because he was the one who brought this to them.
“There he is,” I murmur.
The sports car pulls up to the regular VIP space.
It’s always there for him, and he takes full advantage.
I watch as he unfolds from the car, his shoulders square, his spine straight.
He is seriously an asshole, even when he’s just walking into a building.
I want to slap the absolute shit out of him.
Shifting in my seat, I watch as he disappears through the door. Bullet does the same before he speaks.
“It’s going to get done tonight. At least this part. It may take a little while for it to be completely finished, but he won’t be a danger to Cidney any longer.”
“Yeah,” I murmur.
God, I want to say something else. I want to tell him that I am officially claiming Cidney.
Not just pissed off and declaring it in a heated moment the way I did, but really announce it, but I don’t.
As much as I want to, it’s not the right time.
She needs to recover from what Goffredo did to her.
And getting him off the streets, protecting her—that’s only part of the recovery process.
It feels like we sit in the parking lot for hours waiting for something to happen. Pressing my lips together in a thin line, I stare at the door. My knee begins bouncing with nervous anticipation.
“They’re going to get him. He has certain words he must say. He has to solicit her, but he also has to know she’s underage before he does. You know that,” Bullet murmurs.
I don’t know if he’s trying to reassure me or himself. It doesn’t matter. I shouldn’t stress out about this. I can kill Goffredo myself if I really want to. And I might if this doesn’t work out the way I want it to.
All I know is that after tonight, either legally or by the bullet of my gun, Goffredo is not going to be a fucking problem anymore. It’s my goddamn mission and goal. I hate that asshole, and I want him to get everything he deserves out of life.
Every single thing.
“Oh shit,” Bullet hisses.
I’m not sure how long we’ve been sitting here.
Could be one hour, could be five. I can’t take in the concept of time.
I’m far too fucking amped up, anxious, jazzed, whatever the fuck you want to call it.
I turn my head and watch as five police cars come barreling into the parking lot, lights flashing.
“It’s time to pop off,” Bullet states.
And that’s when the action takes place. Two plainclothes police officers walk out of the strip club, pushing a cuffed Goffredo in front of them.
As much as I want to make myself known, to show him that I’m the one who did this, I stay in the car, watching him move through the parking lot and toward one of the lit-up police cars.
He’s shoved into the back of the car, and a few moments later, the car drives away. Only then do I open the door and unfold from the front seat. At the same time, Bullet’s phone rings.
“Hang back,” he calls out from beside me. “It’s Piggy.”
Bullet answers the call but places it on speakerphone so I can hear, too. We lean our asses against the front of the car, crossing our ankles in front of us, the phone on speaker in a strip club parking lot.
“Yeah,” Bullet greets.
“They got him. It couldn’t have gone better,” he states. “He took the bait. I mean, it was fucking disgusting, but he took the bait. She said she was fifteen. He was far too excited about that, which makes me think we need to check his internet searches.”
“Can you get his shit?” I ask.
Piggy chuckles. “Officers already have his phone. If I had to guess, I’d assume he’s not smart enough to cover his tracks, and even if he were, he’s too cocky to actually do that. So I bet we’ll find some shit. There is no way this was his first time, not with the way his eyes lit up.”
“That’s fucking disgusting,” Bullet growls.
My stomach rolls at the same time, and he says exactly what I’m thinking. That whole-ass piece of fucking shit. If I didn’t want him dead before, I certainly do now. This just gives us more ammunition and takes more of the heat off us, because I never heard of any kind of pedo being safe in prison.
Bullet ends the call and shoves his phone into his back pocket, but doesn’t make a move away from the car. I stay beside him, knowing that he’s working through something. I can’t stay silent for long, though. I want to fucking gloat and gloat hard.
“You think we really got him?” I ask.
“Police have been wanting to nail his ass, hoping they can make the whole family crumble.”
“That hurts us in the long run?”
He hums, nodding once, then clears his throat, turning his head to look at me.
“As a club, we’re still trying to find our place without transporting that equipment, without having the shop.
The private security gig is a good one, and it will grow, but I can’t deny that I like the idea of taking over the Front Family’s operation completely. ”
“Bullet,” I warn.
He shrugs a shoulder, shifting his gaze forward. “They got a whole fucking clientele. It would be nothing to take over if they were taken out.”
“You just got everyone on board with going legit, and now you’re throwing this into the mix?”
He’s silent for a moment, no doubt thinking about my words, though not very hard, because I can tell he’s already made up his mind on what he wants to do.
There’s also no guarantee that any of this will come to fruition.
But he wants a plan if it does. It’s a smart thing for him as the president to think about, but not something I want to do.
“Just a thought, something to keep in the back pocket,” he murmurs as the rest of the police officers move toward their cars and slowly drive away, their operation complete, their bad guy caught.
“Want to talk to that owner before we leave?” Bullet asks.
“You got something you want with him, don’t you?”
“Might want to talk about security.”
Fuck.
Of course, he does.
“A strip club isn’t an event.”
“Yeah,” Bullet snorts. “But it’s fast, easy cash, and it will line our pockets.”
That’s not a lie. Pushing off the front of the car, I follow him into the strip club, ignoring the shitty bouncer on my way, and walk straight back to the owner’s office. He’s there, sitting behind his desk, lifting a glass of amber booze to his lips.
“You got more shit for me to deal with today?” he growls as soon as we walk into the room.
I close the office door behind Bullet, then stand back slightly. Giving my president the room he deserves, in front of me, to talk to this man. Bullet doesn’t say anything immediately.
It’s clear that the owner is pissed.
I’m guessing that maybe he was a bit overly anxious about everything, too, and is on an adrenaline crash. I know that the minute I get to my room, I’m going to pass the fuck out. I feel like I’ve fought a whole battle for my life, and I stayed in the car the whole time.
“No more shit. Just wanted to chat with you before we head back up the mountain,” Bullet murmurs.
“Well, have a fuckin’ seat, then,” he barks.
I almost laugh, because he sounds so goddamn nonchalant about it. I press my lips together as Bullet sits down in the chair across from his desk. He clears his throat, crossing his ankle over his knee, and I try not to laugh at this whole damn scenario.
I don’t even know this fucker’s name. The meeting begins, and it’s the most chaotic moment I’ve encountered in a while, but funny as fuck, too, when Bullet begins to tell him his grand plans.
“How much would this cost me?” he asks.
“Depends on how often and how much you’d want my men here.”
The owner’s gaze flicks to meet mine, then shifts back to Bullet’s. “You got men who have the right sizes for this kind of work, but this is a high-end club. Not to be rude, but you all look like dirty bikers.”
Again, hilarious and chaotic.
“You’d rather we look like mobsters?” Bullet asks, raising a brow.
The owner shrugs a shoulder. “My bouncers wear suits. I got men renting rooms for a thousand bucks an hour to have some girl rub their ass against their crotches. Champagne flows on my floor.”
Bullet stands, but I can tell by the way he’s holding his body tightly that he’s not happy about the way this guy has reacted to his proposal. I watch as he leans over slightly, placing his palms on the wooden desktop before he leans over.
“You want a bunch of dumb shits running your place, that’s fine. Come to me when you’ve got a bigger problem than Goffredo Hagerty, and we’ll talk.”
He straightens, then turns and walks out the door. I follow behind him, the two of us moving through the strip club without a single glance at anyone else around us. We step out of nobody’s way, walking straight out the front door and toward the car.
When we’re inside the vehicle, Bullet turns to me, his lips twitching into a smirk. “He’ll be calling us.”
“Yeah? After all that shit about the way we look?”
“He knows anything goes down, his men would piss their pants. We take care of shit, and I can tell he’s nervous, and it’s not just because the cops were swarming around his place. He’s nervous about something else, and you and Maverick are going to do a little digging to figure out what.”
“Yeah, we can do that.”
He starts the engine, and we head back to Thunder Rock.
I don’t know if I want to take on this adventure that Bullet has suddenly become interested in.
I get it. Security is a big deal, and I was more than happy to do it at home, but all the way in Raleigh?
I’m not sure I want to tackle that beast, but I can tell he is ready to wrestle it and pin it to the fucking ground.