Chapter Eight
Ricco had his fingers locked behind his head and he limped inside the clubhouse with a sneer on his face. When he saw everyone waiting inside he was a little surprised by the sheer number of the men there.
Then he saw Arielle standing there with a look of contempt for him on her face. “What the hell are you looking at, puta?” He scoffed. “Ain’t you ever seen a real man before?”
Arielle snorted, “Yeah, I’ve seen a real man before and he ain’t you, loser. You are a small man in my eyes.”
Ricco snarled. “I’ll show you a real man before I get done with these stupid bikers. They aren’t getting me near a jail cell, sweetheart. They ain’t got no evidence against me.”
“Oh, tiny man they got more than enough evidence,” she air quoted the word, “To sink your fucking battleship.”
Ricco scoffed at her. “I ain’t got no battleship honey and even if they do take me down, they will never stop my organization.
If I go down it won’t be for long and my brother Gabriel will step in and handle things for me.
So even if I fail, my family always steps up to hold the fort down until I get free again. ”
Arielle nodded. “That might actually be true if you hadn’t killed your own brother a few days ago.”
“What the fuck are you talking about, puta?” Ricco all but shouted at her. “I didn’t kill Gabriel and he’ll come in here and kill you all.”
“Says who?” Bouncer bellowed. “We took you and your men down without any problems at all, I think we can handle your brother.”
Ricco shook his head. “You think I’m bad? You ain’t seen nothing yet. Gabriel taught me most of what he knew but he’ll have something special waiting for you guys. Something you ain’t never seen before.”
“That might have been true but like I said you took care of him for us, you asswipe,” Arielle called out.
“What the hell are you talking about, chica?” Ricco asked her in a disgusted voice. “Gabriel is waiting to hear how we did here, he’s not dead.”
Arielle smiled at him. “Let me ask you something Ricco, do you remember the bar you walked into last week?”
Ricco looked confused. “The bar? What bar?”
“The Blue Bar in Bangor.”
Ricco cocked his head in remembrance. “Si, I remember that bar.” He shrugged. “They told me to go away.”
Arielle nodded. “And you didn’t like that much, did you?” she asked ever so softly. “You felt like the owner simply dismissed you and you needed to make an example of him and place, right?”
“How do you even know about that bar?” He narrowed his eyes at her.
“I’ve been watching you for some time,” Arielle told him. “But you see, there was something about that particular bar that you didn’t know.”
“And what was that?” Ricco asked with a scoff.
“Your brother was already two steps ahead of you and that bar was already paying him protection.”
Ricco’s face paled. “That’s a lie, he wouldn’t come into my territory like that.”
“Well damn, I’m afraid that he did just that.
Did you know he was slowly making his way to taking over all of your territory?
” She nodded. “Yup, your brother was slowly taking over and you were so stupid you didn’t even know what he was doing.
When the bar owner called him and told him someone had been there hassling him, Gabriel was in the bar waiting for you to come back.
And what did you do after you felt insulted?
You decided to make an example of that place.
Am I right?” She chuckled as she seemed to enjoy this story.
“You decided to show everyone how you handle rejection so you came back after dark and you just had to tamper with the gas lines, didn’t you?
You didn’t even check if there was anyone inside.
” She shook her head. “You thought the bartender and the owner were the only ones inside. You broke the gas line going inside and waited a few minutes then you opened the back door and tossed a lit lighter inside. Then you ran away like the little pussy you have always been. You watched from a safe distance as the bar blew up. You just stood there as all that debris fell everywhere then you smirked and walked away like the coward you have always been.”
“How do you know what happened there?” Ricco finally asked.
“I was there waiting for you to show up,” she informed him.
“But before you showed up, your brother and four of his men arrived. He was waiting inside that bar and the medical examiner had to do a DNA test on what was left of his body. They found pieces of him and his men all over the ruins of that place. And you would have known that if you’d stayed around a bit longer.
But you never stayed.” She tisked in a fake sadness.
“You seem to think you can do whatever you want and nothing will ever touch you. Well that’s not how the world works motherfucker and now it's time for your reckoning to begin.”
“Gabriel couldn’t have been there,” Ricco whispered softly as he looked perplexed. “He wouldn’t cross boundaries like that.”
Arielle leaned a little closer and spoke almost in a whisper, “But he wasn’t crossing boundaries, was he? You were the one doing that very thing, you were stepping into his territory, weren’t you?”
Ricco flushed as he began to believe what she was telling him. “He wasn’t supposed to be there. He was supposed to be in another town, securing even more outreach for the family.”
“Sorry but he’s good and dead. The cops couldn’t even find all the pieces of his body, thanks to you.
Oh and your father didn’t take the news well.
When the police went to his door to inform him of Gabriel’s death, he didn’t take the news well at all.
He just stared at them in shock. For a moment he didn’t believe them but the cops insisted they had tested the DNA.
He fell to his knees and shouted his grief.
” She shook her head. “I’ve never heard a sound like before and I hope I never hear it again.
He asked them if they knew who had bombed the bar but the police didn’t have anything yet.
They were still sorting through the mess left behind.
Then your father called out his vow for revenge.
The cops looked a little worried at his threat.
Cause you know. The man is infamous, right?
” She paused as if to allow this to sink into his brain.
Ricco just kept shaking his head in denial and disbelief.