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“Cress has all kinds of filters and shit on there so I don’t have to.”
“When did you get back?” he asked, stepping outside the room and leaning against the wall. I posted up on the opposite one, locking my arms over my chest.
“About half an hour ago.”
Elias nodded, glaring at me. “If I had known you were going there to shoot up a club, I would have gone with you.”
“I didn’t.”
“You considered it.”
“I consider a lot of things.” I shrugged lazily and he laughed.
“What did McCants have to say about you pulling up on him?”
“Nothing worth repeating but he did tell me this thing with Christian is deeper than he let on.”
“Which means he’s involved?” Elias glared at me then glanced over his shoulder, considering his wife’s proximity.
“Don’t know but whether he is or not, they offered to fix the problem for him.”
“Then why is The Collective drawing a line in the sand if they’re willing to make this go away?”
“Making the issue go away means they own him.”
Elias snorted. “They alreadyownhim.” His eyes met mine.
And us.
But he didn’t say it aloud. They always had some kind of pull over our lives but some were more indebted than the others. No matter how much power you had, there was always someone who played a role that affected that power. A kingpin had to buy product which meant he was indebted to someone. That product had to be distributed so the dealers who worked under the kingpins were indebted to their leader. It was the same with us. We were all connected and indebted to each other in one way or another. It was up to you to decide how dependent you wanted to be. I chose insolence. I always assumed Christian and I were the same but maybe not.
“Yeah, well… Seems like they’re pushing for him to rethink following his old man’s business practices. If he agrees, they make this go away.”
“He may be telling the truth then. Sounds like they set him up and tossed his name out there.”
“That’s what I’m thinking but he neglected to tell me that part which means he fucking lied.”
“Why go through all this though? They can just as easily replace him.”
“They can but that means years of vetting and building with a new family, which is time consuming. Why get new players when you can manipulate the ones already indebted to you? He fucked himself by giving them a way to manipulate him.”
“Nah he didn’t. His father did that shit. Christian is just paying the price for it which means they can do the same to you.”
“Being attached to guns and drugs is nothing compared to having skin trade attached to your name. I’m not Christian. I have no problem walking away from all this shit.”
“You haven’t walked, Ez. You’re still dealing with this shit.”
“What we do matters. I take the good with the bad.”
Elias didn’t give a damn about any of this. He tolerated everything because of me. I respected his position and he respected mine.
“When are we going to see Christian?”
“I’ll pull up on him tomorrow.”
“We. I’m going.”
“You don’t need to.”
