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The Kings wouldn’t like this if I told them. The Reeds had long been trying to grow, and their brazen attitude would only make trade relations worse. My profits would dwindle and Frank, Adriana, and everyone else were depending on me to keep them all alive.
The first step was to prevent them all from killing each other. I needed time.
“I know you’re not going to like this, but you’re going to have to listen,” I said. This was the part where I had to lie through my teeth. “I have money tied up just a bit from the city in a small town called St. Joseph, ever hear of it?”
“What’s any of that got to do with us?” Braden asked.
“The money is a gold mine of businesses and other assets, and it’s all yours,” I said. The truth was that there was no “tied up” money, but I needed the Reeds focused on something else. I also needed to make that money exist in St. Joseph, because it currently wasn’t real. I had nothing out there, but the prospect of expanding everything I owned was always a fun little game I liked to play.
Braden thought about it then said, “I call BS. You don’t have that money and you won’t give us a piece. You just want to get us away from Frank because you’re screwing his daughter.”
I cursed, because now, I was between a rock and a hard place. If I didn’t provide some proof of my fake “money” I was done for.Lie harder.
“Do you know just how rich I am?” I asked Braden. The best lies are always coated in a bit of truth, and Braden nodded at this. “I own everything, but how do you think I can do that without the FBI looking me up? You think everything I have is clean?”
Braden smiled. I did too.
“Ok,” he said. “You have until next Friday, or Frank and his daughter die.”
Boiling with rage at the threat, I still managed to calmly nod, and then said, “You didn’t even ask me how much.”
Braden laughed this time. “If I’m not happy,” he said, “I’ll make sure to kill his daughter first.”
Since he wasn’t the kind of man to be disrespected, I had to hold back. Everything in me wanted to kill him but slowly, so I could savor his pain. However, I needed a plan, and I needed one quickly.
I immediately thought to call Carlo as soon as I left the seedy bar. Braden’s men all grinned at me, and I made a mental note to have them all watch Braden Reed die from a long agony.
There was the problem, however, that I didn’t have a phone. I walked to the nearest coffee shop and plugged into a charger right away. My phone buzzed on, and I breathed a sigh of relief. There were only two messages from Adriana, but I couldn’t get to her until I knew that I could keep her safe.
I called Carlo.
“The mole was one of theirs,” I said. “He must have changed his identity to go undercover.”
“I know,” Carlo told me. “These Reeds are getting pretty ballsy. What do you want me to do boss?”
“Find out everything about them,” I said. “I want to know all of their weak points. And I want you to help me make Braden pay for even thinking he can do anything to me and my loved one.”
“That’s not like you, boss,” Carlo said. “I thought you were in the business of making money?”
Carlo usually never questioned me unless something was off. It’s what made him such a good right hand man. He said yes when it mattered, and asked a little more if he had to. I usually didn’t explain myself when it came to using the dark, violent side of my power, but Carlo was the kind of man who deserved my respect.
“They’re getting greedy,” was all I had to say. I didn’t need to elaborate, but I did anyway. “And they threatened to kill Adriana.”
Carlo said nothing, and hung up. I knew he was right on it, trying to find out everything he needed to know to make the Reeds pay for their threats.
I walked through the city, and eventually hailed a cab home.
When I got there, I felt a mysterious quiet. Adriana was nowhere to be found. Then I looked at my phone.The messages from Adriana!
Chiding myself, I immediately called her to apologize. She didn’t know I was trying to save her and her father from being killed. A threat from the Reeds was a serious one, and they had overstepped their bounds by threatening their main source of income.
She didn’t answer, and the frustration from dealing with the Reeds and now missing my mother-to-be’s doctor appointment had me cursing loudly. If the Reeds hadn’t threatened Frank, we’d be fine. Of course, if Frank hadn’t killed one of theirs…it was all a vicious cycle.
Deciding I wasn’t going to let Adriana ignore me, I called again. She answered crying.
“Adriana,” I said as her tears welled up even through the call. I couldn’t bear the thought of breaking my woman’s heart, and I was sure that missing our doctor’s appointment was why she was crying.
“I had to meet with the Reeds this morning, they thre-“ I was interrupted by her babbling, manic tears.
