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I had no idea what we were doing next. The crowd of people in the house wasn’t budging. Ariel held the reins, and we all waited on her.
At last, she put down the pen and regarded Larson. “Now listen to me. I need you to follow my instructions—”
Larson made a sound of disgust. “What don’t you get about this situation? You don’t have the upper hand. You never did because you’re just a girl. Even with all the people you can pull in, it’ll never be enough.”
Jackson leapt from the sofa, pushing me aside. He ushered Lochinvar and Cameron out of the way then grasped Larson by the lapels, tightening them around his throat. Without ceremony, he yanked the man to his feet and dragged him across the room to kneel before Ariel.
“Shut your mouth and listen to her.”
I gave up worrying about his health. My boy was recovering fine.
Ariel smiled prettily. “Thanks for that. Everyone else, I’m going to need you to clear the space. Wait in your cars if you like, but I’ll need quiet for what I’m about to do.”
There were protests, but Ariel had taken charge, and one by one, everyone obeyed.
Aside from me, of course.
Same as her brother and Jackson. The three of us remained with her and Larson.
Ariel held up a sheet of paper for Larson to see. “Pass me his phone,” she said to her brother.
Raphael collected the device from the floor and handed it over.
Ariel activated the video. Trained it on Larson so only he was visible on the screen. “You’re going to read this list,” she told him. “Speak clearly, don’t hesitate, and if you go off script, Jackson has permission to hurt you.”
He squinted at the page and paled. “What is this?”
I was dying to know, too.
“Just read,” she commanded, hitting ‘record’.
Larson worked his jaw then commenced reading from the list.
Chapter 37
Jackson
I released Larson from my grip and stepped away from the arsehole.
With no expression, he started on Ariel’s list.
“Mr West operates a biweekly weapons drop for Liam Martinez, contravening his agreements with associates never to work with this individual as it directly impacts their primary income. This has been the case for a decade. Eight years ago, Mr West struck a deal with Noah Smith and the Venice cartel for people trafficking, namely sex workers across the border into Los Angeles, but reneged on that, contributing to Mr Smith’s arrest and subsequent jailing in a sting operation made possible by the transportation failure. Mr West had a sham arrest arranged of himself and two of his drivers to maintain the illusion he was innocent so the cartel didn’t come after him. A year prior, Mr West orchestrated a bloodbath between the Seventeenth Street Brotherhood and the Black Fence street gangs by stealing parts of shipments of narcotics one was delivering to the other, while blaming the other party for his theft. Mr West took a cut of payments to Julian Reyes—”
Larson read line after line, naming Ariel’s father’s associates, politicians, gangs, and accusations of all he’d done to them.
It painted a damning picture.
She condemned her father to everyone who worked with him. Previously, Daisy had released records of her family’s dealings to the feds, knowing it would tie them up in legal wranglings and successfully get them to leave her alone.
The same wouldn’t work for the West father.
It wouldn’t be enough to reveal his crimes because of the number of powerful people he worked with. But revealing how he’d played them off against each other was certain death.
Pride burst through me at her power move.
What a card to play.
Larson reached the end of the list and calmly regarded the camera. Ariel stopped the video, cropped the beginning and end, and held it up to Larson.
