AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Greyson planned the parts of the house we’d use most to be comfortable and soothing, but he also knew we’d likely have to entertain guests here at some point. So, he’d set up the first rooms in the house as my formal Queen of Seattle rooms.
Places that my people could come for official reports, spaces where allies could come to negotiate, all while being completely closed off from our actual home since the entire building was locked down with state-of-the-art security.
People couldn’t piss under our roof without us knowing.
It was fucking brilliant, especially because he made it very clear with every piece of furniture and décor that people weren’t encouraged to hang around. The walls were bright, sterile whites to match the most expensively bland fabrics imaginable.
The chairs were all hard corners, the lounges had stiff cushions, and not a single throw pillow was in sight beyond the couch Ash and I headed to. It was softer than the rest, which made me itch just looking at them, but not by much. Again, anything to remind people to leave as soon as possible.
Victor settled onto the most uncomfortable couch known to man, sprawling like a king on someone else’s throne. Knowing there were no weapons on his half of the room was the only thing that let me relax into the couch in front of him.
Aislynn sat, wiggling in place with a grumbled, “Christ, these are awful.”
Victor’s laugh was barely an exhale, but I saw the way Ash’s lips tipped before they immediately dropped again. More evidence of the scars Cameron had left.
Not wanting to drag things out, I turned back to Victor. “I’ll be honest, you seem far happier to see me than someone who just lost part of his business should.”
He laughed again, much louder this time. Not sure I liked making him laugh as much as Ash did. “Cash was already cut off before you took the coke. Although, I think that helped you in the long run.”
“You’d already cut him off?”
That didn’t make any sense. Why would he cut off a man he’d already admitted was a cash cow? No pun intended.
I sounded exactly as mistrustful as I felt, and Victor heard it. “Cash wasn’t as sneaky as he’d hoped. The rumors of him lacing the coke, losing it, snorting it—all of them found their way to me. It’s bad form to fuck with a product when someone else’s name is on it, and I’m particularly attached to my reputation. So, I cut him off. According to my intel, what you confiscated was the last of his personal supply.”
If that was true, Cash had been stealing far more than even I’d suspected. The pictures Nate took—I blew out a breath. “That doesn’t exactly tell me why you’re here.”
Victor leaned forward. “I’m here because I want to reiterate in person that my offer still stands.”
Help removing Cash for the ability to import coke into Seattle. Which wasn’t ideal, especially considering I had a federal contract buried in a safe somewhere on the premises, prohibiting that very thing.
I hummed under my breath, wondering if there was a way to leverage his help without ruining the immunity of sorts that I’d already secured.
Importing was the biggest incentive for Victor to work with me, and even if it wasn’t something I was interested in, it was something I could work with. Greyson would know how to ferry the drugs to some other city if we had to, but with the watchful eyes of the government on us, I couldn’t guarantee smooth passage the way I normally could. We’d already shut down the docks to regular shipments because we didn’t trust Cash not to bomb it again.
Truthfully, we were hemorrhaging money at every turn. I had plenty, but there was only so long I could float the business from my personal accounts before things got dicey.
I had to keep Victor on board.
“What I’m about to tell you goes no further than this room.”
He immediately shook his head. “I can’t promise that. I need to be able to tell my second, at the very least.”
Thinking back on the information we had on Paez and his second, I considered it. Maximoff Vega came from generations of Bratva soldiers. No doubt he would’ve joined too if not for his father meeting his mother in Colombia. Nine months later, he was born, they were married, and his father had left the home country for warmer shores. According to the intel, Victor’s second was an asshole of extreme measures, but he took his word seriously.
“Promise me that your second will keep this to himself.”
His nod was immediate. “I swear. Maximoff will keep it quiet.” I wasn’t sure I believed him, but did I really have another choice? I had to tell him or risk the Paez cartel gunning for me when this was over. “My contacts say the Feds have a vested interest in the outcome of what happens with Cash. Even when this war is over, they’re going to be watching me closely. There’s not going to be any importing available until they find someone else to stalk. And even when I can import, I won’t be able to distribute without tipping them off, and neither of us wants that.”
It wasn’t quite the truth, but it was as close to it as I was willing to get without promising to push drugs in my city. Truthfully, I thought he knew as much too.
Victor’s eyes narrowed, and he seemed to war with himself, but finally, he nodded decisively. “I understand not wanting to put your people at risk. Perhaps there’s something I can have in return.”
His eyes drifted to Aislynn, and anger surged through my body so fast, my fingers tingled.
He wanted me to offer up my best friend as part of the contract. Whether as collateral or a body to warm his sheets, my answer was the same. To some leaders, giving away one of their people would be nothing, but I’d already asked too much of Ash, and she was still paying the price. I wouldn’t do it to her again.
“I don’t sell my people,” I snarled. “You need to leave. Now.”
