Andre

 

It’s a mess. The west side night club, which, historically, has been one of our safest businesses, is in ruins. None of the lights work except for a few on the ceiling above the stage. Tables and chairs are spread out across the dance floor, and most of them are in pieces. Every time I take a step, I hear the crunch of glass from broken bottles. It stinks like alcohol in this place, and some people are still cowering in whatever corners they can find.

 

About ten minutes ago, the cops did a sweep through here, and they were looking for me. That fucker, Officer Bryce, has been all over my ass since that night I spent in jail about a week ago. To top it all off, the giant biker who is more loyal to Samuel than he is to me has been skulking around. I have a strong hunch that he’s the one who set this disaster into motion.

 

“Whoa…”

 

I turn at the sound of Grant’s voice, and my lips press together. “Yeah, I know. I’m betting this is Isaac Morris again. I swear, if I ever get my hands on that fucker I’ll rip him into so many pieces, no forensic team on the planet will be able to figure out who the fuck he is.”

 

“Easy, Andre. You have every right to be pissed, but don’t let rumors and hearsay drag you in.”

 

“A little late for that, don’t you think?” I gesture at the general space around me. “I got a frantic call from one of my guys and when I showed up, it was like this. It looks like the cops went througheverything. They even took out the fridges in the back and the storage units out back. I keep trying to stay on top of everything, but I don’t know how this asshole keeps getting in to screw with me. What, am I stupid or something?”

 

“No.” Grant shakes a bag at me and walks over to the bar. He set the bag down and pulls out a laptop. “There’s something you really need to see.”

 

My brow furrows as I walk over to the bar. Glass clicks and crunches as I go. When I reach it, Grant flips up the screen and clicks on a live video feed from just outside a local pet store, which is one of my cleaner businesses. In fact, it’s so clean that I feel safe enough to conduct a fair number of meetings there with the crew.

 

On the screen, I watch as Will opens the staff door for Isaac, and my face falls. “Son of a fucking bitch… it’s been him the whole time.”

 

“Keep watching.”

 

I shake my head slowly back and forth as I watch Will exchange something with the big, angry-looking biker. It appears to be money or drugs, but the picture is too grainy to tell. Will waits outside as Isaac goes in. Within a few minutes, he comes back out again with a phone to his ear. He walks away and vanishes around a corner.

 

“What the hell…?” I can’t believe what I’m seeing. “When did this happen?”

 

“Last night. Keep watching.”

 

I can’t believe it can possibly get any worse until Officer Bryce shows up at the door. Now, more than ever, I wish these cameras had sound, but their interactions make it clear that they are in an intense discussion. Will keeps nodding while Officer Bryce makes several hand gestures that indicates he’s explaining something. This goes on for a few minutes before they both leave the frame of the camera.

 

I can barely breathe as I stare at the now blank screen. Has Will, my best friend since childhood, really sold me out? Anger rushes through my chest and pours into my core, but I feel strangely calm. “This needs to be fixed, now. Where is Will?”

 

Grant gives me a sympathetic look and shrugs. “I have no idea. But you need to do something to get the heat off you, and you needed to do it yesterday. I may have a way to do it.”

 

“How?”

 

“We need to clean up our act, and we need to do it fast. Hard drugs need to go before anything else, but you can’t just dump them anywhere. Flushing them would be a waste, too.”

 

“That’s obvious.” I give him an impatient wave.

 

“If you’d let me finish… there’s a new drug kingpin in town, Damian Owens. He just got in a few nights ago and he’s staying at the Francis Jill Inn, which just happens to be one of your businesses. I think you should set up a meeting and sell all the hard drugs we have to him.”

 

I nod slowly while I work my jaw back and forth. My teeth grind against each other. This is a very good plan. If I can get rid of the hard drugs before the cops break down anymore of my doors, the Black Knights might be okay. Besides, I could really use the money from a big drug deal to help take care of Kristel and the baby.

 

“This is a good plan. I like it.” I give Grant a nod. “I’m gonna go right now, so call him and give him the heads up that I’m meeting him in 10 minutes. And while I’m out, I need you to track Will down and bring him to the east side safe house. Lock him in a closet, chain him up, I don’t give a shit, just make sure he doesn’t leave.”

 

I lift both eyebrows at Grant before I turn on my heel and head out the door; this is going to be a long fucking night.

 

The Francis Jill Inn is actually one of the nicer ones in town. It has clean rooms and posh furniture. Unlike some of the dumps around here, the rooms are cleaned daily and the food is actually half-decent. When I step over to the receptionist desk, the young woman offers me a polite smile. She knows who I am.

 

“Hey, Pearl. Has a Leyla Congo booked a room here recently? It would have been in the last several days.”

 

“Hold on, let me look.”

 

I listen to the sound of her fingers as they fly across the keyboard. Her eyes are narrowed with focus as she searches the guest list.

 

“Yes. She is still booked in room 209 and it looks like she’s checking out tomorrow at noon.”

 

“Thank you. Do you have an extra key?” After she nods and gives it to me, I offer her a brief smile before I take the stairs up to the second floor. I’ve never been a huge fan of elevators. As soon as I hit the second floor, I walk with long strides down the hall until I reach room 209. As I ease out a low huff, I rap my knuckles on the door. “Room service.”

 

Within moments, the door opens. A man in his early 40s stares down his nose at me, and I tilt my head at him. He has a bit of scruff at the end of his chin and greying, balding hair. His clothes smell like they’ve just been washed, which I find unusual since he’s allegedly been here for several days. Something stirs in my gut, and I take a small step away from the door. “Never mind. Wrong room.”

 

“Don’t move, Andre! I know what you’re doing!” A voice from down the hall yells at me, and I look just in time to see Officer Bryce. He has a damn dog. How the hell did he find out I’m here?

 

“Shit!” I spin on my heel and charge down the hall toward the stairs. The drug deal now the last thing on my mind, I start to think about survival. I can probably outrun Bryce, but I’ll never be able to outrun that dog. It occurs to me that running may be the worst idea I’ve had in a long time, but I’ve made the slip under the cops’ nose before, I figure I can do it again. If Bryce brought a damn dog, he’s here for a reason. I can’t get caught and attacking them will just make things worse.

 

When I reach the door, I burst through it. Before I can go down, Officer Crow is on his way up. With a growl, I bolt up the stairs instead. There’s a locked door that leads to the roof, but the hotel receptionists usually prop it open so they can smoke up there. The closer I get to the door, the more I realize I’m in luck. It’s open.

 

I drop a shoulder and rush through the door. As soon as I’m on the other side, I slam it shut. There’s nothing to block it with that I can see so I make a run for the south side of the inn since the balconies on that end jut out a little farther than the ones on the other ends. I hear the tell-tale scrabble of claws on roof asphalt, and I know the dog has been set loose. Within four more strides, I drop off the edge and onto the balcony below; I’m back on the second floor. As my heart pounds in my ears, I open the balcony door and slip inside. Without any time for thought, I charge for the door that leads back into the hallway and run through it as fast as I can. I get about two strides before someone slams into me from behind and knocks me straight off my feet; it’s got to be Officer Bryce because he’s a lot bigger than Crow.

 

I struggle to roll onto my back, but big hands are on me and a knee digs viciously into my tailbone. My jaw hurts from the way I grind my teeth together, but I don’t say a single word. Officer Bryce’s grin makes the rage inside me boil, but I still say nothing. Cuffs wrap painfully tight around my wrists and my left shoulder protests as he hauls me to my feet. His hands move over my body, searching for anything that can hurt me I’m sure; he comes up with a set of keys, my wallet, and some napkins. I’m not stupid enough to carry anything illegal on me.

 

“Nothing to say now, huh?” His voice sends a spear of hatred through me, but I keep my mouth shut.

 

The dog pants and growls behind us, and I glance back just enough so I can see Officer Crow holding the leash. If it wasn’t for that fucking dog, I would be long gone by now and out of this mess. I look at Pearl as I walk past her and I raise one of my eyebrows at her. I know she sees the expression because she quickly looks down. I can only hope that she’s about to call Grant. If she calls Will, though, I really am screwed.

 

My heart drops when I see the patrol car. This time I won’t be able to get off so easy, and I know it. Even if I hadn’t run, this would still be a nightmare. The only defense I have is the fact that he hasn’t read me my rights and he hasn’t told me why I’m under arrest. I swallow any words and duck my head as Officer Bryce practically pushes me into the back seat. When the door slams, I bare my teeth and spit on the window. He just smirks at me and gets into the car.

 

“You still have nothing to say? You sure had a lot to talk about the last time we met. What changed?”

 

As he starts to drive, I look out the window. My body is vibrating and my rage almost feels alive within my chest. My hands tremble because all I want to do in that moment is rip Kristel’s father out of the car and beat his head into the road until his skull is mush. I breathe deeply and deeply as violent thought after violent thought rushes through my mind.

 

“No.” My voice is level and cold. I fight to keep any emotion out of it because he doesn’t deserve to know how pissed I am. I won’t give him that kind of satisfaction. “I have nothing to say, especially not to you.”

 

“Why’d you run? I didn’t find anything on you except for the usual and some cash. But that’s nothing new these days.”

 

“I don’t like dogs, and I like cops even less.”

 

“I thought you said you were cleaning the streets up. If you aren’t a criminal, then why’d you run? Who were you meeting with in that hotel room? This time don’t lie to me, Andre.”

 

“I don’t have to tell you shit, Bryce. So, unless you wanna go another round with me, don’t bother because there’s no way in hell I’m going to give you a damn thing. You know why?” I pause for emphasis. “Because I didn’t do anything wrong. But go ahead, keep asking your questions. You seem to enjoy talking to yourself anyway.”

 

He’s silent for the rest of the ride, but every time I glance at the rearview mirror, he’s glaring at me. I can’t help but smirk.