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Prologue
Storm Jones awoke in a cold sweat. The sound of screams filled his dreams awaking him once again. Sleepless nights were customary for any soldier who experienced war in their lives. For any man who conducted crimes, committed murder, even if only by giving an order from their command. He experienced it all. But nothing. Not the battles he fought to defend and protect his company and his team, nor the gruesome acts of violence he witnessed others commit on the innocent, stood out like that one night on US soil.
He ran his hand over the gruff on his face as he sat on the side of the bed calming his breathing. He stood up and made his nightly journey to the kitchen being sure to walk with light feet and not wake his roommates, his team members.
But he knew they heard him. Night after night, hours of sleeplessness, for they shared the same nightmares, the same feelings of fear at what could have gone so terribly wrong if they took thirty seconds longer to get to the scene.
When Storm entered the kitchen there was Zin.
He shouldn’t have been surprised to see him there, too. He gave a nod to his friend, his brother in arms and the best sniper shot Storm ever came across in his sixteen-year military career.
Zin poured him a glass of water and pushed it across the large granite island in the modern kitchen. They were surrounded by black granite, stainless steel, and black custom cabinetry. They all agreed that they liked the darker colors, the sleek appearance of a modern, high-class penthouse. It was far from the places they stayed while serving in the military and even the shit holes each of them grew up in. But really, all that steel, stone and blackness represented so much more, like each of their personalities.
“Back to Chicago for the next few weeks. I hate leaving Salvation. I like it here,” Zin said as he took a sip from his glass of water never looking at Storm. They didn’t talk about emotions, about the fears they had. None of them did. Not him, not Zin, Winter, Weston, or York. They had desires, dreams that grew because of what they witnessed around them, but none seemed to fit into their feelings of being complete except for her.
He cleared his mind best he could. He had to keep his focus on the businesses and the direction they wanted to go in.
“It looks that way, but it’s temporary. We need to show our faces or God knows what these employees of ours will do to fuck things up,” Storm replied.
“I know. It’s not that I don’t like Chicago. It can be a fun city with the right people. But Salvation is different. Hanging out at the end of the week at Casper’s with some of our buddies makes me feel normal.”
“Normal? What’s not fucking normal about our lives?” Storm asked and then leaned back in the chair and took a sip of water from his own glass.
“Being fucking billionaires. Running both types of businesses and trying to act like we’re legit when really we’re not. We’ve been saying that we want out. That we want to be free from the mob, yet here we fucking go again.”
“What? We’re doing what we need to survive. None of us want to truly give up the power, the connections and contacts we have out there. We’re pretty fucking powerful, and we’re not killing people or committing murder for money, or running prostitution rings. We’re collecting on money, money we helped these businesses acquire. We can’t just pass that up. It’s not how this works and you know it.”
“I know that. Nicolai likes that we’re still involved. But you know he could take over our share of this shit. We could just take him up on his offer of being silent partners.”
“Like that would last long? I’ve known Nicolai longer than any of you. It’s his way of squeezing us out nicely because of our relationship.”
“Which is exactly what, Storm? What is the deep connection between you and Nicolai?”
Storm placed the glass down and locked gazes with Zin.
“We’ve known one another a very long time. There are things that happened before I entered the service. Things I don’t need to look back on but tied me to Nicolai in a way that can’t be severed. Let’s focus on what we need to do. With Sotoro fucking around behind our backs and God knows who else he brought in to help take over our businesses, I think we have greater concerns right now.”
I can’t tell him or the others about the blood we share. The connection deeper than a business relationship.
“Yeah, like securing our company Pro-Tech Industries and trying to eliminate the competition of Sparks Industries.”
Storm chuckled. “You know Gary Sparks will be moving on soon enough. He’s playing a little hardball right now with the numbers and doesn’t realize that we haven’t even begun negotiations. He’ll come through.”
“He’s also Dmitri’s connection with that new multimillion-dollar construction job here in Texas. Do you think Dmitri even has a chance of landing that job with Andrei Renoke all over that?”
Storm felt his anger rise. He hated Andrei Renoke and his team of Russian and Slavic mobsters with a passion. He couldn’t do anything about it. The different families that ruled the territories Storm and his team did business in here in Texas and in Chicago had the respect and the acceptance of Nicolai Merkovicz, the head of all of it. But if Dmitri landed the job, then Pro-Tech Industries would get the contracts for all the security jobs including the work for their friends’ company, Liberty Construction and Development. Asher, Avery, Beau, Blade, and Cason were some of their closest friends and colleagues now living in Pearl.
“In all honesty, I don’t know if Dmitri has a chance. Winter’s connections believe that Andrei’s got it wrapped up. We’ll know soon enough.”
