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Their eyes weren’t covered, so they spotted him immediately as he stepped into the room. He nodded to the three men acting as bodyguards who immediately left the room, leaving only Mathieu, Jason, and their honored guests.
“You know who I am,” Mathieu addressed them. “But do you know why you’re here?”
“Pascal, what is this?” Michael Aldean. He was the owner of one of the largest corporate law firms in the southeast. His pale face was bloodied, his suit torn and dirtied. He looked as if he’d been grabbed going to or coming from the office. Michael had gotten a loan from Mathieu’s father back in the very early days in order to start his business. And in return, Mathieu’s father owned him. Owned his business. Owned his life. When his father died, Aldean probably expected the truth of the debt to die with him.
But Mathieu had always been privy to it.
And he’d inherited Aldean and his company.
Not once had he suspected Aldean of being involved.
Mathieu grabbed a chair and sat facing the four men, leaning back and crossing his ankles. “I recently came into possession of something invaluable.” He met their gazes one by one: Aldean, Joseph Shapiro, Renny Tells, and Oliver Benson. All men who’d been indebted to Mathieu’s father in some way. They’d gotten away with planning and carrying out his assassination, but their time had run out. “I have to say—” He cocked his head. “—it was bold of you to kill my father.” Every single one of them ceased their struggling. “Even bolder to think I wouldn’t find out.”
“M-Mathieu.” Renny licked his severely chapped lips. “I don’t know what you think you know—”
“It’s not what Ithink, Renny,” Mathieu answered him, keeping his tone light. “It’s what Iheardon that video. It’s what Isaw.” He rose to his feet. “I know we’re missing Cesar and Jairo, but don’t worry, I’ll be dealing with them soon enough.” He paused, and though their eyes filled with terror, it did nothing for him. He was on autopilot, with no room to savor.
Behind him, Jason’s phone rang and he answered it in a low tone. A moment later he murmured, “Boss.”
Mathieu glanced over his shoulder.
Phone to his ear, Jason told him, “We have eyes on Cesar.”
Ah. A spark of anticipation.“Take him,” he issued the order. “Alive.” He turned back to the others. “Looks like Cesar will be joining us after all.” All they were missing was Jairo, but he wouldn’t be that easy to pin down. Mathieu already knew that. “I say we wait until Cesar gets here, hmm? Then we’ll begin.”
“Mathieu, please. You have it all wrong,” Oliver spoke up. His face was black and blue and swollen as if he’d put up a fight and ended up on the losing end. “I had nothing to do with whatever this is.”
Already turning on each other. Mathieu chuckled. On second thought, he just might enjoy this, after all.
36
It tooka while for his men to bring Cesar back to Miami, with traffic and all that on the I-95 Express. Mathieu didn’t mind it. He sat right there in the room with the others. Listening, not acknowledging them, as they begged for their lives.
One by one.
He tuned them out.
He remembered the last conversation he had with his father. The old man had wanted Mathieu to take over the business way sooner than he’d expected and Mathieu turned him down. Told him he wasn’t ready because he had Win and he didn’t know if he was prepared to thrust Win into the spotlight like that. His conversation with his father devolved into an argument after that. Fucked up things were said. Mathieu walked away.
And the next day the old man was just…gone.
He hadn’t gotten the chance to apologize. To tell his father he’d meant none of what he’d said. He’d been taken from Mathieu. Violence and the specter of death were nothing new, not with the life they led. Mathieu had been entrenched in it from the day he was born. A bullet from a rival, meant for his father, had taken his mother’s life six months after his sister Chantal had been born. Mathieu thought he’d become anesthetized to it.
But receiving word that his father who’d always been there—larger than life, seemingly indestructible—had been killed, had decimated Mathieu. Sent him spinning, and it’d only been recently that he’d stabilized again.
When Win came back into his life.
Fuck.He owed Win so much, didn’t he? He’d treated him unfairly, icing him out after watching the video. He could tell just by the expression on Win’s face he’d been stunned to discover Jairo’s part in Mathieu’s father’s death. But Mathieu had been so fucking blinded by the rage, by the bloodlust, he’d lost track of how Win might be feeling. It was more than clear that Win had believed in Jairo, believed he hadn’t been involved in Moïse’s death.
Jason tapped him on the shoulder. “Boss.”
Mathieu looked up.
“They’re here.”
“Bring him in.” He remained seated, taking a deep breath. He was going to deal with these motherfuckers once and for all. Then he’d go back home and make things up with Win because enough was enough. He was done hurting the man he loved.
Two men entered, dropping a bound and gagged Cesar at Mathieu’s feet.
