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“It was a good option before, it’s still a good option. I’d still like to do this as quietly as possible, but it’s looking more and more like that might not be possible,” I said.
We were quietly contemplating our options for a moment when Smith asked, “So, are you gonna take the laser sight off me or what?”
Just for emphasis, Stephen moved it to his chest once more. We watched as two more sights showed up beside Stephen’s. Sephie, without cracking a smile, said in Russian, “I can’t even begin to tell you how much I love you right now, Yoden.”
The great thing about the Russian language is that it’s harsh. So, even when you were saying something funny or sentimental, to anyone that didn’t speak the language, it still sounded quite severe. Smith was completely convinced that she had just threatened his life once again. He swallowed, hard, and kept his mouth shut. I simply raised my eyebrow at him, looking at him as sternly as I could.
“Tell us where the smaller brawn operations are,” Viktor said. He opened a map and laid it out on the kitchen counter.
It was exactly the distraction needed to give me a moment alone with Sephie. I pulled her away from everyone to ask her thoughts on everyone. Truth be told, I also needed to touch her. She knew what I was wanting without me asking her. She stepped close to me, her hand finding mine once again. It was such a habit for me that I reached up and resumed my ongoing battle with the curls around her face as she quietly talked to me in Russian.
“I like DJ. A lot. He’s very much like Chen. Gus too. I’m not getting anything bad from those two. Smith, on the other hand, I don’t get a good feeling from. I don’t think he’s necessarily trying to undermine anything, but he doesn’t have good reasons to be here. The other two legitimately want to be here. He does not. I can’t figure out why he is, but I don’t trust him. However, I don’t know how to get rid of him at this point either. If he’s being forced to sell for Massimo, he could easily be forced to tell him everything about our plan. I don’t like it, but I don’t think him meeting the same fate as Chucky is necessarily fair either. I don’t think he has a choice in this matter,” she said. I could see the concern on her face as she talked. She’d been weighing the options this whole time.
“There’s a third option, spider monkey,” Andrei said from across the room. He looked like he was speaking to Misha, who was standing next to him. No one had figured out we could all hear each other yet and we liked to keep it that way.
Misha responded, “We just lock him up until this is over. You’re right, he may not have a choice in the matter, but he definitely doesn’t want to be here. Locking him up is a good solution. He gets to live and we don’t have to worry about him betraying us. He goes free once this is over.”
“And Massimo is taken care of, so he’ll be free of whatever he’s got over him,” Sephie said. “You’re giving this the official approval, my adorable Russian guardian?”
“Da. Officially,” Misha said.
She looked to me. She still had a question on her face. Stephen chimed in. “We’ll have a team grab him after the meeting, Seph.” She looked surprised, not sure how he knew what she was thinking. “What? You’re standing right by the window. It was obvious,” he said, laughing. “And that’s also a question I’ve had to ask before. I mean, it seems obvious now, but it was not obvious the first time it happened to me either.”
Her gorgeous smile spread across her face as she glanced out the window, making the room just a little brighter.
We wrapped up the meeting with Gus, Smith, DJ, and Chen. They gave us all the information we had on the brawn operations they’d found, as well as the surveillance they’d already put in place. Gus and DJ were smart men. They would prove to be useful. Chen too.
Smith left the meeting first, which was advantageous. Stephen had a team grab him a couple blocks from the apartment building and take him to a safe house. He would stay there under constant guard until this was all over. I agreed with Sephie that we wouldn’t be able to trust him. Before Sephie, I would’ve just killed him and called it a day. She was right though, it likely wasn’t his fault he was caught up in everything if he’d been forced to deal. Now, he would sit this one out and get a second chance once it was over. Or he would get shot if he was dumb enough to try and escape.
Before we left the apartment, I informed the other three what we had decided on Smith. I needed them to trust me, so I made extra effort to be honest with them. It’s what had made my relationship so strong with Trino in the beginning. I was as transparent as possible with him and he’d stayed loyal to me, even through the other bosses’ attempts to undermine me.
“Smith will no longer be a part of this,” I said. Chen’s jaw dropped. He looked to Sephie immediately, shocked.
“Please tell me you knew him before too and he wasn’t to be trusted either,” Chen said.
She laughed quietly. “No, Chen. He’s being held until this is over. I don’t trust him, but if he’s being forced to deal by Massimo, it’s not necessarily his fault. He’ll go free once this is all over with.”
Chen audibly exhaled. Gus laughed at Chen, shaking his head. “You would never last in Colombia, man.”
“Which is exactly why I do not live in Colombia,” Chen said.
Gus looked to me, a serious look on his face. “I appreciate your discretion, sir. I’ve had a hard time trusting him since this started. He commands a certain respect from a small group of dealers, but I think it’s because they’re afraid of him. The rest of us want to be here. I never got the same feeling from him. I think it’s better if he’s not running anything through this.”
“The dealers are very loyal to Gus, sir,” DJ said. “He’s well-known in his area of the city too. He’s got a good rep with the people.”
“I would expect nothing less from one of Trino’s guys,” I said. Gus simply nodded to me. “I’ll be frank with you all. This is likely going to get messy. Very messy. But once the other bosses are taken care of, I’m going to need people I can trust throughout the city. I’m very generous to people who are loyal to me.” They all nodded in understanding. “We’re going to check on everything you’ve given us tonight, to see what plans we can come up with. We’ll be in touch soon after. If anything changes on your end, let us know. Chen knows how to get in touch with me.”
They all shook my hand once more, then took their leave. Once we were alone in the apartment, I looked at Sephie to make sure she didn’t have more insight.
“I think those three are going to prove to be very valuable throughout this, as well as after everything calms down. I get the same feeling from them that I did about Trino. Good guys, trying to make good come from not-so-good activities. It would not surprise me one bit if Gus and DJ had their own businesses they were using the dealing to fund, just like Chen is,” she said.
“Does anyone else find it weird that this whole time we’ve been told it was the bosses that stopped the first wave of brawn years ago, but it was really the dealers?” Andrei asked as we were walking to the elevators in the parking garage.
“I’ve been wondering about that this whole time. Maybe they were trying to keep me from finding out that Sal is the one that had it created. The story the whole time has been that the dealers were the ones making it and selling it,” I said.
“Maybe it was to protect the doctor that made it, so Sal could keep using him,” Ivan said.
We heard Stephen’s SUV pull into the garage as we waited for the elevator, so we all stood waiting for him to catch up to us outside the elevator. As he walked toward us, Sephie met him halfway. I knew she was still struggling with what had happened earlier that night. Once again something from her past resurfaced, forcing her to face it.
