The room went cold.Magnum shifted by the door.I moved in front of Goldie before I thought about it.
Gene noticed.“So there it is,” he said softly.“Now you understand.”
Twister’s voice dropped.“Understand what?”
Gene looked from him to me, then to Goldie.“They’ve been warning you.Pushing you.Hurting you enough to scare you off.”His eyes hardened.“If they decide warning is over, you won’t see them coming.”
Hodge laughed under his breath.“You trying to scare us?”
“No,” Gene said.“I’m telling you they’re worse than you think.”
Goldie stepped around me, just enough to see him clearly.“You said they went too far.”
Gene’s eyes locked on hers.“They did.”
“How?”
He looked tired again.Defeated.“Because The Ledger isn’t what it started as.”His voice lowered.“My father wanted control.He wanted power.Money.Influence.He wanted the city bent around men like him.”
“And now?”Twister asked.
Gene swallowed.“Now they want ownership.”
No one spoke.
Gene’s fingers curled against his knees.“They don’t want to influence Madison anymore.They want to own every door.Every official.Every deal.Every piece of dirt under your feet.”
Goldie looked shaken but steady.“Then help us stop them,” she said.
Gene’s mouth twisted.“You think I haven’t tried?”
“Have you?”That question came from me.
Gene looked at me for a long second.“I kept records.”He looked at Goldie.“Two sets, just like you did.”
Goldie went completely still.
“What records?”Twister asked.
Gene shook his head.“Not here.”
“Where?”
“If I tell you, they’ll know.”
Hodge cursed.“That’s convenient.”
“It’s true,” Gene snapped, the first real spark of life in him.“Do you think you came here without being noticed?Do you think your bikes rolling down this street didn’t get seen?Do you think because you don’t see them, they aren’t watching?”
My gut twisted.
He wasn’t wrong.
Twister’s expression didn’t change.“Then tell us something useful.”
Gene looked at the floor.For a few seconds, I thought we had hit a wall, then he spoke.“You keep looking underground.”
Goldie’s brows pulled together.
