Chapter 32
chapter Thirty-two
It’s Done
Nico
There are only a handful of things in this world that excite me. A new business venture, making money, hearing my son’s laughter, and my wife’s pussy are the leading causes. However, revenge is a very close second.
Right now, my skin is buzzing with excitement. Early this morning I made an important phone call. I’ve spent a huge part of my day in negotiations. All for this very moment right here.
I’m sitting in one of the private dining rooms of one of Salv’s restaurants. The place is closed today for inventory and cleaning.
“Honestly, I’m excited about this next phase in life,” Robert Hart says, taking a sip from his bourbon. “Susan has dreams of traveling the world and spending more time with the grandkids.”
“Time with family is important.”
Robert chuckles. “Indeed it is.”
A deep voice outside the door draws my attention. “Listen to me, Francoise, you better call me back in the next three minutes. You cannot fuck this up.”
The door opens, and William Ingram walks in. He looks a little frazzled.
“Robert, I’m so sorry I’m late. I have the—”
Will’s words trail off when he spots me sitting beside Robert. His brow dips and his jaw slacks.
“William, come join us,” Robert says, holding his hand out to the open seat.
William seems skeptical, but he follows the orders. He takes the seat across from me.
“Basille, what are you doing here?”
I don’t answer. Instead, I smile politely.
“William, I'll be upfront with you. I decided to go with Basille for the Hart Resorts.
“What?” William shouts, shooting to his feet.
Initially, I didn’t give a shit about the Hart Resorts. But after finding out the truth about Will, I decided to get in on the deal. It required some negotiating.
I convinced Robert to allow the resorts to keep his naming rights, and I paid him a little more than his asking price. In the end, I got the better deal. Within the first year, I will recoup what I paid for the properties. I already have a few deals set up that will ensure it.
Although I did this for revenge, I’m a businessman first.
“What the hell?” William shouts. “You promised me the deal. I was getting you the money?”
Robert waves him away. “It’s business, William. That’s how this works.” Robert looks at his watch. “I have to go.” He slides his chair back and stands. I stand to my feet. Robert shakes my hand.
“It was nice doing business with you, Basille.”
“You too, Hart.” I watch as the older gentleman walks out of the private dining room. Slowly, I take my seat.
“I can’t fucking believe you,” William snarls. “My father was right. You’re a conniving, money-hungry snake. I’m going to make sure—”
“Sit your bitch ass down and shut the fuck up.”
William’s face pales as he stares back at me. It takes him a minute to pull his shit together. He licks his lips and tugs at his coat jacket.
“I… don’t know who you’re talking to, but I won’t stand for this.” He tries to leave, but Ghost politely shoves him back down in the chair.
He was so busy cursing me out for stealing his deal that he didn’t notice my men entering the room after Robert left.
I lean back in my seat, placing my foot on my knee.
“I don’t know what’s going on here, but this is uncalled for.” William is trying his best to maintain control.
One of my guys walks over to the table and places a covered tray down in front of William. William looks at the tray and then back up at me, confused.
“Go on, open it.”
Slowly, he pulls the top off the covered tray. The moment he peeks underneath, he gasps and then immediately leans over and hurls.
Lying on a silver dinner tray is the head of Francoise, his French bodyguard. Last night when the sham Don answered the phone, I knew who was behind my missing guns the moment I heard the heavy French accent of the caller.
When Francoise showed up at the supposed money pickup wearing a red baseball cap, I knew I had the right guy. I took pleasure in watching my guys saw his head off while he screamed.
That muthafucker thought it was okay to pepper spray my wife and try to blow her up. Not to mention, he was the one that followed her that day. He admitted to doing it all for William.
“What did you do?” William asks.
I grin. “What did I do? You mean, what did you do? This is all you, William. You decided to jump off the porch and play with the big dogs. You’re the one that fucked with Saint. And now, well, here I am.” I hold my hands out to my side.
Cue the waterworks. I don’t know why men think this will work. William Ingram is not a mastermind. He knows nothing about Saint’s world, but because he was desperate and dumb, he decided to play Billy Badass with my guns and now he has to face the piper.
“Let me tell you what I think happened.” I lean forward. “The last of your family’s hotels were sinking. You had the banks and everyone around you telling you to sell, but by now, the Ingram Family Group brand is worth about as much as a glass of unfiltered tap water.
“You were desperate. Trying so hard to recover the status and the name that your father’s disgusting sexcapades had ruined. Then comes the Hart deal. It was your way out.
“Only problem was, you and I both knew that Hart wanted me to take the deal, but I wasn’t interested. Tell me, is this when the Horseman came to you? I’m assuming he reached out via text, letter, or phone call. He seems too smart to talk face to face.”
The Horseman knew that if I ever discovered William’s betrayal, I’d put pressure on him to give up his identity. Then it was game over for him.
William nods. “He called me. He knew how much I hated you. He said that he wanted to take you down, to watch your world burn. That’s when he told me about Saint and how you were into a bunch of illegal stuff. He connected me with a guy that knew how to get me access to your guns.”
So far everything I had put together since I figured out that William was behind my missing guns has panned out.
The moment I heard Francoise’s voice on the other end of the phone, I started putting the pieces together.
I will say I never knew his hatred for me was this severe.
I assumed there was some petty rivalry in his head, but I would’ve never thought he would stoop this low.
“And the attacks on my wife, were those all you?” This was crucial to how I handled William and the Horseman.
William looks to the left, his gaze not on me. “She was just a casualty of war.”
With that one sentence, he had just sealed his fate.
I stand to my feet and button my suit jacket.
“I could’ve just killed you. And don’t get it wrong, you will die.
But I want to make sure you feel the consequences of your actions, even in hell.
Not only did I take the Hart deal, but I also just made a deal with the banks for your remaining hotels.
In three months, they will seize those properties and your final shares.
“I will then buy the hotels and sell them off one by fucking one to the lowest bidder until they are nothing more than roach motels. Your family will see none of that money.
“In the next year, everything you own will be owned by me, your cars, your houses, even your mother’s pathetic estate your father left her will be mine.
The Ingram name will be no more than a shit stain in the history books.
I’m going to make sure that your entire family will die penniless and in the fucking streets. ”
William sobs. I didn’t give a shit about his tears. He tried to kill my wife. I might have gotten past the stunt he pulled with my guns, but the stuff he did to Tiffany will never fly. No one touches my wife without feeling the consequences.
“Finish this bitch off,” I tell my crew.
They grab a crying and screaming William from his seat and drag him away. Everything is set up to make his death look like a suicide, even with a fake ass letter to go with it.
Ghost and Nate follow me out of the private dining room. We make our way to the underground parking garage. Roc is there waiting for us. I climb in the back seat with Ghost. Nate climbs into the front seat.
“Everything went well?” Roc asks as soon as we get in.
“Yes, as well as expected. But you know what still bothers me,” I say to no one in particular as Roc turns the engine on.
“What’s that?” he asks when no one else answers.
“How someone who knew nothing about my business could infiltrate my very tight and secure organization. They knew the routes of cargo ships, which containers were mine, the location of my warehouses, and they knew when the guards to those warehouses would change. Seems odd, doesn’t it?”
Roc’s eyes connect with me in the rearview mirror. In that very brief connection, I spot the moment he knows I know the truth. He shuts his eyes and sighs.
“Boss, I—” His brains are splattered on the driver's window before he can finish that sentence.
I didn’t give a shit about why he betrayed me. I don’t care that he had a drug problem that was discovered and that he was being set up. He should have come to me.
I will admit I didn’t catch this. This was all Mason. He got tipped off the night my money drop was attacked. In fact, he was trying to bring it to my attention the day the Horseman sent everyone that damn journal entry.
Two days ago, Grant found the captain’s estranged ex-wife. It seems he had reconnected with her before he went on the run. He told her all about the deal he had brokered with Roc to transfer the guns.
Apparently, after shit went down, Roc was trying to clean up after himself. Which is why the captain was hiding out in that hotel. It’s also why Roc volunteered to look for him. He found him before we did.
Grant and Ghost are the ones who found out about the drug use and how he was being blackmailed.
Nate, Ghost, and I climb out of the SUV. Another blacked-out suburban pulls up. The driver, one of my men, steps out. Nate climbs behind the wheel while Ghost and I get in the back. The driver then goes to the SUV with Roc in it. He will dump the car and dispose of the body for me.
Nate pulls out of the parking garage and heads to my house. I lay my head back and let out a deep breath.
“It’s finally over now,” Ghost says.
It felt as if I could breathe for the first time since Tiffany got that video.
The past few months have been one bullshit thing after another.
But now, Tiffany was safe, and I’d recouped most of my missing guns.
I can get back to my regularly scheduled program.
However, there was one very real threat still out there.
“Not until I bring the Horseman down.”