Chapter 20 #2
“You can, and you fucking will. Answer her question,” Ryder growls, making the kid go pale.
“Blow,” he answers, looking at all of us, knowing he doesn’t stand a chance.
“Fucking cocaine,” Les hisses. “From who?”
Cocaine is one of the Poletti’s businesses. It is shitty, but money has to come in somehow. It also gives her the power to control who gets ahold of it.
The boys shake their heads at the same time, making their floppy blond hair fall over their eyes. Jesus, these kids are young, too damn young to be out here in the worst part of town slinging dope.
Gage steps up. “Answer her.”
I truly hate this part because they are, for the most part, innocent. Kids from bad homes or down on their luck. Moretto uses that to his advantage because they are expendable, most not having a family or one that doesn’t care what happens to them.
Les shrugs. “Fine. Tie them up and throw them in the back.” She turns on her heel, heading towards the car. It’s a bluff, but they don’t know that. I look at Leo out of the corner of my eye to see how he’s handling this, and he just seems to be soaking it all in.
“Wait!” the taller one calls out, and I have to hide a smile. Works like a charm every time. This is how you weed out the little fish from the big fish. Big fish won’t fold that fast.
She turns back around. “From who?” she repeats.
“Jerry Moretto,” he answers, looking around like he’s going to jump out.
She just shakes her head and pulls out her phone. “Gerald, we have two more. Corner of 96th and Mikee.”
“We told you what you wanted to know!” the smaller one calls out when she hangs up.
The other two kids Les sent home with a warning that she better not see them again. Gerald used to be one of her dad’s guards, but as he got older, Les put him and his partner, Boone, on easier jobs, like transporting teenagers back home.
“Calm down,” she says softly. “He’s just going to take you home. My beef isn’t with you.”
“We don’t have a home,” he says gruffly.
Les looks at Ryder and me. “What do you mean?” she asks with concern.
“We live in a shit foster home. Trust us; it’s safer out here.”
I see her soften immediately. “What’s your name?”
“Lucas,” the taller one says, then jerks his thumb at his twin brother. “That’s Landon.”
“How old are you?” Leo asks, speaking up for the first time.
“Seventeen,” Lucas answers, and I hear Les sigh.
“How much longer before you age out?” she asks, wondering when they’re old enough to be kicked out of foster care.
“Six months,” Landon says with a frown.
I can see the wheels turning in Les’ head. She might run one of the most ruthless empires in the world, but she has a soft spot for kids of all ages.
When Gerald and Boone pull up ten minutes later, I follow Les to their car, not trusting this neighborhood to let her walk alone. Those boys might not know who she is, but other people will. If you are on this side of crime, you know who she is. It’s everyone else she hides it from.
“Hey, G. Hey, Boone,” she greets with a smile when they climb out of the car.
“Hey, Boss,” Gerald grins. He is just shy of sixty and watched Les grow up, but he still respects her in public by calling her Boss.
He’s still built like a solid brick wall.
He’s almost bigger than me, with a slick bald head and watchful green eyes.
Boone is on the smaller side, not even six feet, with grey-streaked black hair and blue eyes, but the man can fight like a maniac.
“I need you and Boone to take them somewhere until I figure out what to do with them.”
“What’s their story?” Boone asks, leaning against the side of the car.
“Foster care. Seventeen. Hired by Jerry Moretto to sling blow,” she highlights, still sounding pissed.
Gerald raises both brows. “He knows that’s Poletti’s territory.”
“We are on our way there next,” I answer.
“He has a lot to answer for,” Les says, then gestures toward the boys. “You good with taking them?”
Boone nods. “Yeah. They can stay with us.”
No one knew for the longest time that not only were Gerald and Boone partners, but they were also a couple because they hid it. It shocked us, but Les told them never to hide who they are in front of her.
“I’m going to have Holden look into their foster home, so get me some info,” Les informs them. I know whoever these foster parents are, they’re going to wish she never stumbled on them.
“Give them hell,” Gerald grins, and it’s not a nice one. “And fuck up some of Moretto’s shit for me.”
“If you weren’t such an old man, you could go,” Les quips.
Boone bares his teeth at her jokingly. “Watch it, Lessie.”
She laughs. “I haven’t heard that in forever.
” She waves at the other guys to bring the boys over.
“This is Gerald and Boone,” she says, pointing them out.
“That’s Lucas,” she says, pointing to the taller one.
“That’s Landon.” She gestures back to Gerald and Boone.
“You will stay with them until I figure something out for the next six months.”
“Who are you?” Lucas asks with a perplexed look on his face.
Gage snorts. “You can tell they aren’t a part of this life.”
Gerald gestures towards the car. “I’ll explain on the way. See you later.” He gives us a mock salute before sliding into the car, Boone, Lucas, and Landon following him.
We get back into Ryder’s car, and Les sighs. “This is going to get worse, isn’t it?” she asks everyone.
“Fuck yeah,” Gage says excitedly, making her shake her head with a smile.
“What happens now?” Leo asks.
Les sighs again. “It gets bloody.”
“Joe!” Les calls out like they are old friends when we walk into his dive bar, Danny’s. Leo was given the option to stay in the car this time, but he refused, saying he could handle it. We are about to find out because Les is done with warnings.
Joe’s eyes widen a fraction, but he keeps his composure. “What can I do for you, Ms. Poletti?”
It looks like it’s only their people in the bar this time of day, which consisted of four guards, no innocent bystanders. Good. I can tell by the set of Les’ shoulders that she isn’t playing anymore.
“I warned you, Joe,” Les shakes her head sadly like she cares about this slimy piece of shit. “You didn’t listen.”
“Because we don’t take orders from women,” Jerry growls to our left.
“Hello, Jerry,” she smiles sweetly, and it’s anything but sweet. I know exactly what’s lurking just behind that smile. “A little birdie told me you had more kids selling for you. Imagine my surprise when I find them slinging none other than coke.”
“I guess you need a reminder that coke is Poletti’s business, and she didn’t fund that,” Gage says and taps his lips thoughtfully. “Which begs the question; who did?”
“I can assure you, Ms. Poletti, we would never step on your business. I heeded your warning last time. Your informant is wrong,” Joe answers, standing up from his stool at the bar, jerking his jacket over his gut that’s hanging over his pants.
His thinning brown hair is slicked back, his beady eyes running over Les.
I have to grit my teeth to keep my mouth shut.
“I wouldn’t take another fucking step,” Ryder warns menacingly, not bothering to stay quiet.
“Let’s talk about this like adults, shall we?” Joe offers like he’s talking to a bunch of children.
“This happens when you let a woman run a man’s empire!” Jerry explodes from his seat. Not everyone accepted Les in her role, but they don’t have a fucking choice, and she runs it better than most men.
“Shit,” I hear Leo mutter, already figuring out that this is going to shit. Fast.
Gage snorts. “Like you run yours? You weak fuckers couldn’t even control the little piece Alessa allowed you to have without messing it up.”
“This is how this is going to go.” Les steps up closer to Joe. “We,” she gestures between us, “will burn this place to the fucking ground with you in it if you don’t shut your limp dick, brother up.”
I love seeing her like this. Shoulders pushed back, head held high, dishing out threats I know she will follow through with.
“We didn’t break your rules,” Joe insists.
“No,” Les says, “But he did.” She points at Jerry.
“Bullshit!” Jerry says, but I can see sweat gathering at his temples. He looks just like his older brother and just as slimy.
“Cut the shit,” Les barks at Jerry, running out of patience. “You have a decision to make. Give me your supplier, or I will ruin you.” Jerry stares at her, his jaw locked. “Have it your way.” She turns to Gage and jerks her head toward the door; he jogs outside with a grin.
“Wait a damn minute,” Joe says, hiding behind his guards like a coward. “You got the wrong information. He wouldn’t do anything without my knowledge.”
“Oh, but he would.” Ryder smiles wide. “And he did.”
Gage jogs back in with two full gas cans, handing one to Ryder. “Burn, baby, burn,” Gage says before he and Ryder start shaking gas around the floor.
“Wait!” Joe yells. Les holds up a hand, and they stop pouring. “You can’t just come in here and burn down my fucking bar without proof!”
“I have proof, but I don’t have to prove anything to you.
Poletti’s word is the law, whether I have a pussy or not.
” She aims that last bit at Jerry. He jumps from his seat, and she has a Glock out of her holster, a round in the chamber, and pressed to his forehead before he even touches her.
“Sit. Down,” she says between clenched teeth.
Fuck, she’s glorious.
“You heard her,” I tell him, jerking him back down in his seat.
“Why are you blindly following her?!” Jerry asks, shooting daggers at Les with his eyes. Some men can’t handle a woman in power, but women like Les in control are what this old-world mafia life needs.
She tilts her head to the side in that creepy way. “They don’t blindly follow me, you misogynist piece of shit.”
“We respect her and choose to follow her,” Gage says. “Can you say that about your men?”
None of the guards reacted to Les pulling a gun on Jerry; they stayed more protective around Joe. Interesting.
She presses the gun harder, never taking her eyes off Jerry. “What’s it going to be, Joe?”
“Tell her what she needs to know. Now!” Joe demands Jerry. There doesn’t seem to be any love lost between the brothers. Jerry doesn’t say a word, just glaring at his brother past Les’ gun. “NOW!” he yells again.
“I will find out one way or the other,” Les warns. “So, save me the trouble.”
“I’m not telling you shit, you stupid cunt.” Jerry insults.
Goddamnit. If anything will trigger Les, it’s that word. It’s what Frankie’s men called her the whole time they had her. You can call her any other name in the book and not get a reaction.
She pushes the gun harder into his head, her finger hovering over the trigger. “What did you just call me?” she asks in that deadly tone.
“You heard me,” Jerry says, calling her bluff. “You stupid cu...”
I pull Leo back just in time before she pulls the trigger, blowing Jerry’s brains all over the wall behind him. He slumps in the seat, surprised, dead eyes looking up at her.
She swings the gun toward Joe, and his guards tighten ranks around him, blocking him from view. “Is this how it’s going to be, Joe?”
He pushes past his guards, sliding unaffected eyes over Jerry. “You did me a favor.”
“That’s your brother,” Leo says incredulously. I look back at him, and he’s staring at Jerry, his face pale. Please don’t fucking puke. I know he saw his brother kill that guard at the house, but he wasn’t as close as he is now. He was almost sprayed with blood and brains.
“He’s been trouble for years.” He waves his hand like he is nothing more than a stray dog. “You won’t have any more trouble from me, Ms. Poletti.”
She holsters her gun. “This is your last fucking warning. You won’t get another one.” She jerks her head for us to follow her out. Gage and Ryder put the gas cans in the hatch before climbing into the car.
“Are you okay?” Les asks Leo when we’re headed back to the house.
“Yeah,” he answers, but he still looks like he’s going to hurl. If he does in Ryder’s car, he will die before the first drop hits the floorboard.
She slides her hand into his. “It’s okay not to be okay.”
Gage chuckles. “For real. My first dead body, I couldn’t stop puking.”
“Your first one?” Ryder lifts his eyes to the rearview mirror to see Gage. “Try the first ten.”
“That’s bullshit!” Gage says, sitting up in the seat.
“No, it’s not,” Les laughs. “You gagged every time anyone mentioned dead bodies.”
I turn around in the seat. “You had to clean out the backseat of Luca’s car more than once.”
“Whatever,” Gage grumps, pouting, crossing his arms over his chest.
Les runs her hand down Leo’s face. “That’s better,” she says, noting his color coming back.
“I’ve never seen this before,” Leo says, embarrassed.
Ryder shrugs. “We all have our firsts, and it’s never easy.”
Leo frowns at the back of Ryder’s head, probably confused that he’s not tearing him down. It could be because Les is in the car, or Ryder is actually trying.
Leo handled that pretty well, considering it was his second time seeing someone’s brains being blown out, and the one that blew their brains out is the girl he loves.