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“Hold on,” Braden said. “I have something for you. But I need you to do something for me.”
“What could you possibly know?” Unless it was how to get Emma out, I wanted nothing to do with it.
“I have one of King’s men. Don’t you want to speak with him?” Braden made the question sound more like a statement.
“Unless he’s going to help me get Emma—”
He interrupted me. “He was planning on killing her, you know. Listen to what he has to say.”
When Braden rose to leave, I followed, angry hatred towards King’s man flowing through me freely. Whatever war was going on between the two mafias, all I cared about was Emma’s safety. Nothing else mattered, and a threat on her life shook me to my core.
We entered a small, dark room. It’s sole occupant was King’s man, tied to a chair with a bag over his head. I walked up to him, and made to hit him.
“Wait a minute!” Braden said. “You hit him, she may as well be dead.”
I turned towards Braden, a burning fire lit in me. I forced myself to take a deep breath; hurting Braden wasn’t the answer, as much as I wanted it to be.
“Tell me,” I said, gritting my teeth and ballin my hands into fists so tight my knuckles went white.
“You have to listen, Jack,” Braden said. He sounded like he was enjoying torturing me.
I turned back to the man in the chair. “Talk to me.”
“Go ahead,” Braden said to the man. “Tell Jack what you told me.”
“The Kings will stop at nothing to drain every dollar from Price,” said the man. “We figured we’d toy with him, slowly drawing money out of him, using her as a bargaining chip. But then King realized that he wouldn’t pay his bills. So he’s not too fond of that. He plans on getting back at Price.”
“When?” I had to go. I couldn’t wait any longer.
“You have time,” said the man. “King needs to secure that mansion Price got for him in Lincoln Park. They’re a few weeks from closing on the deal.”
“And how do I get to her?”
“She’s well guarded,” said the man.
“And that’s why you need me,” said Braden. “But my help doesn’t come free, and I need you to do something for me, or else I’ll take care of Emma myself.”
I hated how they felt that they could just threaten her life as if she was a plaything. It disturbed me down to the depths of my soul. I racked my mind trying to figure out how to deal with the aftermath of getting back. My mind was going one hundred miles an hour, and I was going to get her no matter the cost.
But evading both the Reeds and the Kings?
“Ok,” I said. “I’ll work with you.”
Lane Price had enough money to own both of these groups, but instead he was merely a pawn caught between the two gangs because he didn’t like to give out his money to just anyone?And why would Lane do that? Cross over a mafioso?
It was greed. Lane Price wanted control of both of the mafias and I saw right through him.But how could he do that when he was playing his cards so poorly?
When I was a boy, I had learned to play poker, and the biggest rule was to get the best hand possible. I learned the ways of the game, and it was those skills that helped me navigate my way through the mafia power structures. Lane’s money, an outsider’s influence on the gangs, was unprecedented.
I thought through everything, and realized that I had a bargaining tool.My child.As sleazy as Lane was, he wouldn’t risk getting his grandchild killed.And, if I played my cards right, my son could control both of the gangs.The idea was far fetched, but I had to get to Lane Price to tell him. And, of course, I had to get Emma back. Even more importantly, Emma had to birth my child.
Braden had been blabbing about his plans which I had been ignoring. “…I’ll own all of Chicago…” he was saying.
I interrupted him. “So what’s the deal with that Karen woman?”
Braden stopped. “She’s served me well, hasn’t she?”
“Not really,” I said. “She has Emma, and she’s eating from King’s palm.”
