Page 15 of Nick

Fighting through the crowd, I get outside, jog towards the back, and find him alone in the parking lot. “Stop, Patrick,” I yell. “It’s over.”

He turns at the sound of my voice. “Nick. You’ve got the gun. We need to get out of here. Let’s go.”

Shaking my head, I point it at his chest as I walk forward. He looks confused, which is a joke. “Why’s the gun pointed at me, Nick? I’m your father. Let’s get out of here.” He has enough sense to walk backward toward his truck. When he grabs the handle of the door, I tell him to stop.

“Come on, Nick. We need to go now.” Turning his back to me, he opens the door and reaches inside. When I see his arm rise, I take two shots through the driver’s side window, and he drops like a stone. With the gun still raised, I walk over to the door. Bastard pulled a gun from his truck. It’s lying beside him on the gravel.

I hear, “well done, Nick,” from behind me. Turning, I see Artur and two men walking towards me from the bar. They stop by Patrick as I take a step back. Artur kicks his leg before he reaches into Patrick’s pocket, retrieving his keys. Removing the one I know is to Cash’s room, he tosses me the rest. Meeting my eyes, he says, “This mess falls to you now since he was planning to use you as a scapegoat if he failed. Clean it up.”

“Not interested,” I shake my head.

“You don’t have a choice. You killed him, and Mr. Fitzgerald needs someone to pay. That falls to you now. We lost many men tonight. You are in charge of this operation now. Fix it, or your other family will pay. We already have one of yours. We picked her up after I realized Patrick was going to betray us. Mr. Fitzgerald is particularly enamoured with her. If you want her unharmed, you’ll get this done. I need to get my arm cleaned and stitched, and then speak with Mr. Fitzgerald about this evening. Have I made myself clear?”

Fuck fuck FUCK! They have Summer or Gabs. “Yeah,” I nod. I have to play along for now.

“I’ll be back in the morning to check on you. I’m leaving my two men here as a reminder,” he gestures to the two guys behind him. “My gun, please.”

I empty the chamber and dump the magazine before handing it over. Artur smirks before he walks over to his SUV. The driver gets out to open the door for him, and he slides into the back.

Once he’s gone, I go back to the bar with the two men. There’s a dead guy in the hallway with everyone else still in the bar area. Seems Artur’s men have cleared out; no one's fighting. Man number one stands on a chair when we get inside. “Patrick is dead. Nick is your new boss. Spread the word. Meeting tomorrow night here for everyone.”

He nods at me after he jumps back down. Looking around, I see rage and indifference surrounding me. I find Patrick’s favorite asshole, Deke, and call him over. “Do you have a cleanup crew?” I ask.

“Yeah,” he grits out, murder in his eyes.

“Call them along with the doc. Patrick is out by his truck, and there’s someone dead in the hall. You’ve got four hours to get this place spotless. Have someone put a sign on the door we’re closed until the day after tomorrow and call the staff.”

I walk back out, not giving him a chance to argue, and head for my new office. Fuck my life. Shit got more complicated quickly.

One man follows me into the office and shuts the door. “Name?” I grunt.

“Hollis. The other guy is Travis.”

Since I won’t be left alone tonight, I nod and decide to look through Patrick’s stuff because I need to think. I am not staying here to run a drug operation, so I need to get Cash, his sister, and whoever they took out of here. “I need to get into Patrick’s computer, but it has a password. Can you get Cash?”

Shaking his head, Hollis answers, “No one had a key but Artur.”

“Does he have a phone?”

Nodding, he pulls out his phone and makes a call. “He can unlock it from his room,” Hollis tells me.

I nod, waiting until I see Cash working on the screen. Once I’m in, I open random files, looking around, and Hollis comes up behind me to look at the monitor. I find the bar finances, bringing them up to look through, pretending to be interested. “The bar is legitimate, right?” I ask.

“Yeah. It’s real,” Hollis nods.

I continue to read through the bar information, even printing off the staff list and schedule before Hollis finally steps outside to take a call hours later. He leaves the door open, but his back is turned.

I quickly open the link Cash left for me when he got past the password and let him know Patrick is dead, I’m in charge and that they have one of mine already from Charleston and to find where she’s being held.

A quick acknowledgment from Cash that he hasn’t heard anything but will search, and I switch back to spreadsheets.

Four long hours have finally passed with the babysitters when I get up to check and see if the men did as asked. Patrick’s body is gone, as is the man in the hallway. Someone cleaned up the bar, and it looks normal. There are four guys sitting at a table in the far corner, sipping beers, including Deke. Travis is standing near the door, against the wall.

“All done?” I ask Deke, getting a nod in reply.

Walking over to the table, I still see murder in Deke’s eyes. “Go home. Be here for the meeting tomorrow.”

I wait until they get up to leave and then lock the front doors. “I’m heading to the condo, unless you need something?”