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“Unfortunately for you, I’m not the only one who put a bounty on your head.”
Wait, what?“What are you talking about?”
“Now”—he motioned to me with that toothpick—“I believe that you don’t have the USB drive. If you did, it should have turned up by now, and if the police had it, I’d have gotten wind of it at least. If not been arrested. But I don’t believe that Dominic didn’t tell you anything about me or my organization that could help in a future prosecution. You probably told others and helped them build a case.”
I wanted to circle back on that wholesomeone else put a bounty on my headthing. But persuading people was about giving them what they wanted—or at least giving them the illusion that they were getting what they wanted—and what Franco wanted was to vet how much had been leaked about his criminal activities.
Plus, he was probably lying. I mean, honestly, no one else would put a bounty on my head. A prosecutor maybe. Even a judge. But not someonedefendingcriminals.
Trying to reason with a psychopath was proving exceedingly difficult.
“Dominic didn’t tell me anything,” I said, and more to myself than to him, I added, “He didn’t deserve to die.”
“The Vigilante saved me the effort, but Dom was a dead man walking.” Franco cracked his neck. “Dominic never had the balls to be part of my business in the first place. Dominic had always been a pussy. Only reason he got involved with dealing drugs was because he needed money for his mom’s medical bills, but you don’t just walk away after dealing thirty grand in heroin. He’s an idiot for thinking he could.”
Or a man so desperate, he wasn’t thinking straight when he first signed on.
The fact that Franco was talking this much was a bad sign; high-ranking criminals didn’t talk unless they thought it’d have no repercussions. Like if the person they were spilling this all to would soon be dead, for example.
“But I never wanted to walk away. I embraced this shit. I love every second of it. Moving drugs under the noses of law enforcement,” he said, like doing so made him smarter than them. “Moving up from small to big, from dealing to distribution. Making sure people remember who the boss is and what happens when they step out of line.”
So, he enjoys hurting people, then.
“But Dominic? Only reason he killed that guy was because if he didn’t, he’d have been killed himself. I’m the one that’s always had the balls to be in this organization, not him. Dominic wanted out, but there was no getting out. He figured the only way was by taking me down, and he knew that if he ever had a shot, it was now or never.”
“Why now?” I asked.
Franco looked annoyed. “You know why.”
I didn’t. That was the whole problem. But based on the nervousness in his eyes, Franco must have been particularly vulnerable to being arrested. Maybe even getting killed himself if he screwed up.
He stepped forward and positioned a knife just under my chin.
“I don’t let nobody interfere with my organization. So, let’s try this again. And this time, every lie will have a punishment.”
My stomach clenched with nausea. Plan A didn’t work. Plan B didn’t work.
Now, there was a knife to my throat.
It was time for plan C.
CHAPTER51
Hunter
Istormed into my house, slamming the door to the garage behind me, and I rushed through the kitchen, where Maria froze and stared at me with wide eyes.
“Please take the rest of the day off, Maria,” I said. “Tell everyone to leave.”
I walked into the great room, and as I jogged up the stairs, two at a time, Maria’s frame ambled out of the kitchen.
“Mr. Lockwood, is everything okay?”
“I hope it will be, Maria.”
I didn’t know how this was all going to go down, but if I had any hope of rescuing Luna, I needed everyone out of my damn way.
And if I failed her? If I got to her too late?
