14. Coen
Coen
What do you get when you have a room full of ignorant men who can’t solve a problem?
Total fucking anarchy.
My phone vibrates in my pocket and when I pull it out, my heart thumps fucking harder.
June: Missin you, Co x
At least she doesn’t completely hate me for all of the secrecy and distance. But the longer I keep this up, there’s no telling how much she’ll deal with.
I’d be mad at me.
Hell, I am mad at me.
It shouldn’t have been this difficult of a situation to handle. We have the best of the best on our side and with having full control over the organization, we should have been able to pull any resources we needed to figure this out.
But Dom is too fucking proud to make it a companywide problem and insists we handle it in-house with our own limited team.
He’s too afraid someone will doubt his power, that they’ll come for his precious throne.
Well, they're not only coming for his throne, but his woman, too, and that actually means something to me. I couldn't give a shit less if they burn every last ounce of product to the ground and kill every man that works for us—but the second they involve her, it becomes my business.
“Out, all of you,” Dominic orders everyone in the room.
I remain in my seat, my phone in my hand. I thumb a quick text back to June and let her know I’m missing her, too, even though there are no words to string together to prove to her exactly how much.
I only just got her back, and this situation calls for my full attention, leaving her left alone, with Simon fucking Beckett as her personal bodyguard.
I’m the first to admit he’ll do what it takes to keep her alive, but it doesn’t make it any easier to fucking stomach. When all of this is said and done, I’ll gladly put a bullet in his head.
Bryant is the first to speak once it’s just the three of us.
Me, him, and Dom. “If you don’t tell her soon, I’m going to.
This can’t keep going on.” He drops his feet from the table onto the floor and slams his hands on the hard surface.
"This is bullshit." Bryant rises from his chair.
"It's fine if neither of you gives a shit about losing her, but I fucking do, and I refuse to stand by and let it happen. "
Dominic stands, too. “You will do no such thing.”
“What are you going to do? Fire me? Go for it. I don’t care.” Bryant empties his pockets on the table—his wallet, keys, and gun. “What do you want from me? The clothes off my fucking back? Take the house. I’ve got savings. I can provide for her just fine.”
Dominic makes fists with his hands and if this were a cartoon, steam would no doubt be spilling from his ears. "No one is leaving. And no one is telling her. Not yet."
“Then when? Huh?” Bryant crosses his arms over his chest. “Give me a fucking deadline then. Because I’m not going to keep doing this.
I’ll tell her my fucking self. I’ll take the blame.
I’ll deal with her being pissed at me, but I will not fucking lose her.
” He glances over at me. “Dude, come on, you have to have a say in this. You lost her once. Do you really want to do that again?” He turns back to Dom.
“Do none of you care about her the way I do?”
I sigh and run my hand through my hair. “Don’t speak for me, Bryant.”
“You know what’s fucking hilarious?” Bryant chuckles dryly. “You both hate Beckett so fucking much, and yet he’s the only one she can count on. The only one who actually shows he gives a shit. Honestly?—”
“Don’t you fucking say it,” Dominic growls.
Bryant throws up his arms. “But it’s true.
” He points to Dom. “You know it.” Then at me.
“And you fucking know it.” He pauses for a second and continues.
“I’m not a fan of the guy, but right now, as of today, he’s more of a man than the three of us combined.
He conceded because it was her dying wish.
Would either of you do the same? No? I didn’t think so.
” Bryant kicks a chair across the room. “I wouldn’t even be mad if she chose him over us.
He prioritizes her. What do you do? Shove her aside to figure out who’s stealing your fucking contraband? ”
“This”—Dominic tries to keep his tone even—“has nothing to do with the business, and everything to do with her. How do you not see that?”
“Oh, I’ll explain.” Bryant draws circles on the table with his finger.
“This is you. This is the business. This is you caring about the shit that happens. This is June running away with your so-called enemy because you were too stupid to do anything about it.” He looks up to Dom. “Are you that fucking dense?”
“I will tolerate this lack of obedience because I understand how you’re feeling?—”
“Do you? Do you really?” Bryant motions to Dominic’s chest. “Do you even have a fucking heart in there, Dom? Have you been in this industry so long that you’re so blind to what’s right in front of you?
Tell me, truthfully, do you not care if you lose her?
Because I do. I’d rather fucking die. And let me fucking warn you, if I do lose her…
” Bryant stares right at Dom. “You better put a bullet in my head because if you don’t, I’m coming to put one in yours. ”
“Enough!” I tell both of them. “Sit fucking down, Maggie.” I drag the chair he kicked back over to him.
“Sit. We’re not losing her, okay? Not today.
” I turn to Dom. “Wipe that murderous glare off your face. Nothing he said wasn’t anything you didn’t already know.
” I stand at the edge of the table. “What we need to do is figure out what we’re doing here.
The time to act is now. We need to handle this situation with urgency. ”
“You think I haven’t been trying to do that?” Dominic asks me.
"I don't know, Dom. Have you? Because this fucking guy has been running amuck for over six months and hasn't been captured.
" I scratch at my neck, hesitant to say the next words that leave my mouth.
"You're right to be concerned. About what people will think of you.
About what will happen when they find out.
But what are you more concerned about—that or June?
Because you have to decide. If you choose to not involve everyone, this will only take longer.
And time is not on our side. I think you forget that you're human.
You can't do everything, and it's showing.
Asking for help is not a weakness. There's only so much that Maggie and I can do.
We have a small team, but even they have limited information.
We have to pull more resources. We need all hands on deck if we're going to take this fucker out.
Savini is a great asset, but we need more. "
Dominic lowers himself onto the seat, his cuffs unbuttoned and rolled up to his forearms. His entire outfit is disheveled and nothing like the put-together man I've grown accustomed to. He's stressed, and it shows.
Is this what he would be like even if June weren’t in the picture?
Taking over a multi-billion-dollar criminal enterprise is a lot for one person, especially given the circumstances of our late predecessor.
Factor in the fallout of his brother, the leader of the east coast syndicate, and you have a recipe for fuck-shit-pie.
But finding the love of your life in the midst of it, at the ripe age of fifty-something, and it’s bound to take a toll on a man.
Dom is a powerhouse, but there’s only so much he can handle.
I’d be losing my mind if I were him, too. Hell, I am in my position and it’s nowhere near as important and influential as his.
But something has to change. Because if it doesn’t. We’re going to lose everything. The business. The money. The girl.
And even though I hate agreeing with Bryant, I’m on his side on this one—about her being the priority.
“Give me a week. That’s all I ask. Another week. If I can’t neutralize the threat, we come clean.” Dominic looks up at me, his hand resting along his scraggly beard.
“When was the last time you fucking ate?” I ask him.
He looks like shit. Sunken in eyes, pale, a bit thinner than usual. All of it is so very unlike him.
“Does it matter?” Dom shakes his head. “I don’t know. Earlier. Yesterday.”
“What do you think, Maggie?” I turn toward Bryant who’s fuming in his seat. “Can we handle seven more days?”
Bryant glances at me then Dom. He sighs. “Seven fucking days. No more. Then me and June and Simon are running away together. Not a fucking second more.”
At this point, I’d go with them if it meant escaping from this fucking nightmare.
I used to live for this shit. The chaos fueled my restless soul. But now, I just want it to be over.
When we finally involved June in all of this, I thought that was going to be the turning point. No more lies. No more betrayal. No more hiding who I am. She would know the truth about my past, what I did, and why I had to leave her behind.
But the second Dom got wind that her attacker was still out there, he ordered us to keep our mouths shut about our business.
Said the less she knew the better. He’s not wrong, but if that’s the decision he was going to make, he should have kept it that way from the start and let her go her separate way.
Instead, she took a fucking bullet to secure him the win and then he pushed her into the arms of our enemy because he didn’t know how else to handle things.
I’m usually on Dom’s side about business matters—but this was the stupidest choice he’s ever made. And his judgment might be what risks everything we’ve worked toward. Our careers, and her love.
“You need to fucking stop with the Beckett shit,” Dominic tells Bryant.
Bryant shrugs. “You can’t get mad about the truth.”
I roll my eyes. “Seriously, the both of you, just shut the hell up.” I glance at my watch. “When’s Johnny going to be here?”
Bryant checks his phone and must get distracted by something shiny because he doesn’t answer me.
“Soon,” Dominic confirms. “Any minute now.”
A knock sounds on the door, like fucking clockwork.