Chapter 22
Caden didn’t think he’d love spending a quiet evening at home, but that was his new normal.
For their home date night, Dru had customized puzzles for them to put together.
Each one had a different picture of them that they’d taken together.
The shit was the kind of cutesy thing he knew his brother and best friend would clown him for, but he had fun putting it together.
The message behind it was made clear—they were the perfect fit, and like a puzzle, they were two people, two pieces, who belonged together.
The thoughtfulness behind the gift and date night caused warmth and emotions he’d never felt for a woman before to spread through Caden’s core.
Dru had a tendency to downplay the things she did with and for him because they weren’t as extravagant as the things he provided, but Caden didn’t care about that.
Everything she did for him was thoughtful, intentional, and sentimental, and to him, it was priceless.
When her alarm went off, that meant their homemade pizzas were done.
She stood and asked if he wanted anything besides the pizza and wings, and he told her no.
Caden’s plan was to refresh their drinks while she fixed their plates, but when he pulled his phone out to check the time, he saw that he had two missed calls from Lorenzo.
It couldn’t have been business related because he would have called his secured line, but Caden was still curious about what he could have wanted that warranted back-to-back calls.
“You busy?” Lorenzo asked as soon as Caden answered the call.
“Date night with my sweetheart.”
“Tell the little one I said what’s up. I won’t keep you long.
Just wanted to tell you I still ain’t been able to get that link with Galloway.
He ain’t necessarily hiding, but he doesn’t want to hear what we have to say.
He said, and I quote, ‘Young blood is a CEO for a pharmacy chain. He ain’t no threat to me,’ and then he said he’s not interested in meeting with you to squash a beef that he didn’t put on the fire himself.
I made it clear him going after Dru or even taunting her and trying to make her fear for her life was an automatic death sentence, fuck a damn beef, but he wasn’t trying to hear that.
He’s not taking you seriously at all, Cade. ”
Squeezing the bridge of his nose, Caden released a long breath.
It wouldn’t have been the first time someone in The Syndicate didn’t take him seriously.
Because he didn’t have unnecessary wars or shows of power, people often underestimated him.
That was cool. That was often when he thrived the most.
“It’s his funeral,” Caden said casually with a shrug. “I’m not willing to risk Dru seeing him out in public. While I feel like he’s upset because I outmaneuvered him, I don’t want to risk him taking it out on her.”
It was in that moment that Caden realized just how much he’d fallen in love with Dru. He’d always been a gambling man, but when it came to her heart or her safety, those were two things he’d never play around with.
“Agreed.”
“Reach out to Rameek Mayhem in Memphis. He has a PI firm now. See if he can get the address to Galloway’s compound. Once we get that address, we’ll plan an attack. Since he wants to talk about beef, I’ma make sure he’s bloody and rare.”
The next night, Caden took Dru to Cash’s casino.
Since Lorenzo and Niko were tagging along, Stevie came with her sister too.
They were all having a good time until Caden noticed an older man staring at him.
At them. Casually, he brought the man to Niko and Lorenzo’s attention, but neither of them recognized him.
“He has to be one of Galloway’s men,” Niko said. “We ain’t got no issues with nobody else for him to be staring you down like that.”
“How you wanna handle it?” Lorenzo asked, because he’d always been that way. Always less concerned with the facts and ready for action.
“If he’s one of Galloway’s men, he might be our way in. One of y’all can bribe the valet and see what car is his. Take a picture of him. We need to track his car. If he leaves here and goes to Galloway, we’ll know exactly where he is.”
“Aye, you know I keep them airtags on me,” Lorenzo said, as if that was the most normal thing in the world. Well, it was . . . in his world.
Caden chuckled as Niko said, “Aight, bet. I’ma distract him while you go talk to the valet. Bro, you stay casual. I don’t put it past him to try and follow you if you move.”
“Bae!” Dru yelled cheerfully, scurrying over to him. “I just won ten thousand dollars!”
“Word?” Caden asked, taking her into his arms. “Playing what?”
“Blackjack!”
That made him laugh. “How the hell you win that playing blackjack?”
She shrugged innocently. “I don’t know. I guess I just got lucky. I was just moving my hand like I saw them do on YouTube, trying not to go past seventeen, and it must’ve worked.”
Laughing harder, Caden led her back toward the card tables. “Okay. I have to see this for myself.”
As he suspected, the older man’s eyes followed them in the crowd.
He moved closer, but he didn’t approach.
Caden’s eyes shifted toward the exit as Niko and Lorenzo went outside.
All he could do was chuckle. While Galloway’s old-school taunting tactics may have worked on other enemies, it wasn’t going to work on Caden.
All it did was give him an opening that he hoped would lead him straight to Galloway’s compound.
Anger surged through Caden as he listened to Cezar explain how his team had completely fucked up the mission.
As Caden suspected, as soon as the older man left the casino last night, he went straight to Galloway.
Not to his compound, but to his home. In the early hours of the morning, Caden ordered Cezar and his team to go in and kill Galloway, and anyone else who got in their way.
Somehow, Cezar’s team had killed everyone in the house .
. . except Galloway. Not only was he not seriously injured, but the shot to the head was only a fucking graze.
He had been released from the hospital already.
“How many times did you shoot him?” Caden asked.
“How many times?” Cezar repeated, as if he hadn’t heard the question correctly. Caden’s head bobbed once. “Only once. I thought it was a clean shot, boss. To the head. I-I guess he turned and . . . my attention shifted. His people were firing, and I started shooting at another target. I fucked up.”
More than anything, Caden was filled with disappointment. “I guess that saying is true,” he mumbled, pulling his Glock from his waist. “When you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.”
“Boss, ple—” Cezar’s words were silenced by the bullet Caden sent between his eyes.
Looking at Cezar’s team, he said, “That’s how you do a kill shot.
” Their eyes went from Cezar’s lifeless body to Caden.
“If you ain’t capable of doing that . . .
” He lowered the gun and sent several bullets into Cezar’s body and face.
“Two to the face, or three to the chest. Why is that so hard to understand?” He stepped toward them, anger surging through his system.
Because this wasn’t just a failed assassination.
This was a failed assassination of the man who had a target on his woman’s back.
“Do y’all need another fucking example?” Caden checked, lifting the gun in their direction.
While some vocally answered no, the others shook their head. “Get the fuck outta my sight.”
An irritated sigh escaped him as he turned to face Niko and Lorenzo.
“How bad is it?” Caden asked Niko, who always had his ear to the streets.
“I haven’t heard a lot. Just that he’s pissed and planning to retaliate. We have his right hand, and before we killed him, he said Galloway made it clear that it’s beef, and it’s personal now. He didn’t think he even cares about Dru anymore. His focus is solely on you.”
That made a slow smile spread Caden’s lips. “Good. Send him a message that we have his right hand, and I’m more than willing to give him back so he can give him a proper funeral.”