“I want to see him.”
“Do you have an appointment?” one of them asked.
“Does your face have an appointment with my fist?” In a flash, I twisted his arm and kicked the back of his knee before I slammed my elbow hard into the back of his head. It happened so fast, the other bodyguard didn’t have the opportunity to react, so I grabbed him by the neck and slammed his head into the wall, knocking him out cold. He slid against the wall and down to the floor.
The others in the hallway froze in horror.
I headed up the stairs and approached Don Mancini’s office. I was nice enough to knock.
“What the fuck is it?” he barked.
I let myself inside and approached his desk.
He’d been reading something when I walked in, and the second his eyes flicked up to look at me, he stilled. But he didn’t display the look of panic a lesser man would show. I helped myself to the chair in front of his desk. “Your men informed me I didn’t have an appointment, so I put them to sleep.” Just wanted to make a point, that I was an unstoppable force, that I could kill him right now if I wanted to. “In a few minutes, your other men will run into this room to stop me. But if I wanted you dead, you’d be dead already.”
He gave a quiet sigh and placed his papers off to the side before he sat forward, arms on the desk. “Say your piece, Wolfe.”
“I’m not working in the warehouse anymore.”
“You think you’re above that?”
“I’m not above a hard day’s work. But my skills and experience are wasted as a human dolly. I revealed that the man you viewed as an ally is actually an adversary, that he stole from you and then laughed behind your back.That he intends to bury you in the ground then dance across your grave. And you can’t even acknowledge what I did for you.”
He continued to stare, his fingers interlocked on the desk.
“And you still won’t.” I sat back in the chair. “I thought I was a stubborn man.”
“Perhaps you knew where the guns were because you put them there.”
“Don’t insult me.”
“Then how did you know they were stolen in the first place? Because none of my men would have told you that.”
I had no proof without sharing a secret far worse than being a spy. “I overheard your men talking. They didn’t know I was there. And it’s a shame that you keep me in the dark because I’m the kind of pit bull you never put on a leash.”
He didn’t need to blink as he stared at me.
I didn’t either. “Make me a part of the crew—or I walk.”
“You’re in no place to make demands.”
“Actually, I am.” I raised my voice. “Because you looked like a fucking idiot until last night. Your guns in someasshole’s warehouse while you wondered if they were really lost rather than stolen from right under your nose.”
His eyes immediately narrowed in ferocity.
“I didn’t ask you to trust me. I just want the job I applied for.”
He released his hands, and he sat back in his leather armchair.
“Something you should know about me—I don’t bluff. So meet my demand, or I walk out of here. I’m sure Leo told you how I raided that warehouse and took out the guards entirely on my own in less than five minutes. You don’t want to admit it, but you fucking need me.”
It was the first time he’d blinked in minutes. Then he continued another lethally long stare.
“Let me help you, Don Mancini.”
His men finally stormed into the room. “Don, are you alright?”
He slightly raised his hand and dismissed them.
