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Chapter Six: Teo
IlookedaroundNeon,trying to see if there was anything out of order. I didn’t spot anything in particular, but I never did. The place, as always, was crowded. We had enough nightclubs now that we could make a lateral move and turn legit, if we wanted to, but we were embroiled in too many things to be able to simply leave all illegal activity behind.
In truth, I didn’t think any of us were ready; the life was hard, but the perks were unmatched. All four of us came from varying degrees of poverty and the truth was that there wasn’t one of us who was ready to go back to it. Even if it wasn’t abject poverty–we were all accomplished, smart men, with a lot of business acumen from our day jobs–the life we’d built for ourselves provided a safety network that few legit jobs would.
People could stop going to nightclubs. They would never stop buying drugs.
Grayson, Jace and Victor were all counting on me, not to mention the dozens of people we employed.
So I couldn’t let whoever was trying to frame us for these murders get away.
I wondered if the girl we’d found tied up in the basement of Neon was part of their plan, but I couldn’t figure out how.
I went through potential suspects in my head. It could be other gangs, but we had a pretty solid grip on the territory around our nightclubs. It could be a rival group, looking to take us down, but I doubted they would be so bold as to commit multiple murders in our establishments. More likely, it was someone within our own organization. Someone who wanted to take us down from the inside.
Truthfully, I couldn’t imagine any of the Blades turning on us like this. They were loyal to a fault, and we took care of our own.
My watch vibrated on my wrist with a notification. Victor was letting me know that they were at HQ. I sent him back a thumbs up emoji and called Grayson and Jace.
We needed to figure this out together. Whateverthismeant.
As I made my way to HQ, I couldn't help but feel a sense of unease in the pit of my stomach. The recent murders had me on edge, and I couldn't shake the feeling that things were only going to get worse. I was the boss, they expected me to keep a handle on things. But things were spiraling and it was clear that I didn’t know how to fix it.
When I arrived, Grayson and Jace were already there, standing at the door. They looked just as uneasy as I felt, their usual carefree demeanor replaced with a seriousness that I hadn't seen before.
”What are you planning to do with her?” Grayson asked.
Jace cocked his head, his light eyes darting between the two of us as if he was trying to decide whether he should speak up or not.
”First, figure out who she’s working for,” I said. ”We’ll go from there.”
”You think this whole thing is a setup?” Jace asked.
I shrugged. ”I think it’s extremely convenient to leave a pretty girl beaten and bruised in our club when we’re known for protecting women,” I said. ”It feels like bait.”
”She doesn’t look like she’s in a gang,” Grayson offered. ”Or like, affiliated with one.”
”Right. And perhaps that’s the point,” I said, opening the door to our HQ apartment. ”They wanted to get someone as clean cut as possible to make the trap seem as real as it could possibly seem.”
The three of us walked inside, the door closing shut behind us. We found the girl sitting at the kitchen table with Victor. She was nursing a cup of tea, but Victor had bound her to the barstool with a zip tie, her arm flush by her side. It looked uncomfortable, and he could’ve tied her up anywhere else in the apartment. It wasn’t tight, but it was enough to stop her.
Not that it needed to be done, since she was so battered, I didn’t think she could really go anywhere.
She looked up at us as we entered, her eyes widening with fear. It was clear she didn’t know what to expect from us, but she had good reason to be afraid. Whoever had done this to her was ruthless, and we needed to find out who they were before they could do any more damage to our organization. I grabbed a chair, flipped it around, and sat on it, my legs flanking the seat. I leaned my arms against the back and peered at her from above it.
”We won’t hurt you,” I said.
She stared at me.
”As long as you talk to us.”
She nodded, her eyes flickering with a mixture of fear and relief. I could tell she was struggling to piece together what had happened to her, and how she had ended up in our club.
”Let’s start with introductions,” I said, trying to keep my tone calm and even. ”My name is Teo. What’s yours?”
”Sofia,” she replied.
”Sofia. Do you know what happened to you?”
