Page 1 of Tico

Chapter 1

Tico

Cheersandshoutssurroundus as Taco—my VP and best friend, Wire—the club’s tech guy and resident hacker, Daemon—my Enforcer, and I walk towards the back of the warehouse. In the pits, Draco, one ofmis hermanos(my brothers) is currently beating the shit out of his opponent, Hammer.

But they aren’t my focus.

No, my focus is on another one of our fighters who thought he could double cross me.

Thought he could double cross the club.

If he were a brother, he’d be getting a much more serious punishment, but thiscabrón(bastard)is a civilian.

I push through the private doors at the back of the room and stalk down the hallways towards the lower offices. Daemon opens a door and Marco jumps in his seat behind the desk. His face pales as he takes us in, his beady little eyes darting around, looking for an escape that isn’t there.

Daemon makes his way around the desk, clasping a heavy hand on Marco’s shoulder, keeping him in his seat. Marco winces as Daemon squeezes his shoulder tightly and leans down so that his mouth is right next to Marco’s ear.

“Looks like you done fucked up, Marco,” Daemon tells him, almost giddily, and Marco’s face pales further.

“I…I don’t know w-what you’re talking about,” he stutters out.

I chuckle darkly as I step forward, placing my hands on the desk and leaning forward. “Now, there’s where you’re wrong,güevón(asshole). See, Wire, here was recently looking into the books and tracing transactions because the numbers weren’t adding up right, and guess what we found?”

I own our gym and I oversee everything in regards to our legal fights as well as our underground fights. However, I also have people under me that I trust to help me schedule and promote the fights. Marco is one of those people. The fact that he has betrayed me has me wanting to close ranks even more.

A bead of sweat rolls down Marco’s temple as his gaze nervously bounces between the three of us before landing back on me. He licks his lips as he tries to portray that he isn’t scared shitless. “W-What did you find?”

“You’ve been a busy little snake, haven’t you, Marco?” I push off the desk and slowly walk around him. I rest my hand heavilyon his other shoulder and he flinches when I get in his face. “You created a fake alias in the ledger, an alias that eventually accumulated fifty grand in debts from betting on the fights. For the past three months, you tried to bury those debts and created a second fake alias to line your pockets.” I cock an eyebrow at him. “Did you really think we wouldn’t notice you stealing from us,güevón(asshole)? The only reason why it took so long to confront you was the fact that we had to make sure no one else was in on your little operation.”

Marco opens and closes his mouth a couple of times, but nothing comes out all the while, his gaze never leaving mine. Daemon uses his distraction to loop a rope around him, tying him to his chair. Marco strains against the rope and I wrap my hand around his throat squeezing it just enough to prove his life is in my fucking hands. He stills instantly, his eyes wide and frantic.

“Wire, exactly how much has Marco stolen from us?” I ask, my voice cold with a hard, deadly edge to it.

“In total, almost three hundred grand.”

Marco’s eyes widen as I squeeze his throat tighter. I pull a knife from my boot and tap the flat edge against Marco’s cheek. Daemon finishes tying Marco up and secures his arms and hands to the arm of his chair.

“Where is my money, Marco?” my voice is calm but cold as ice and as sharp as Daemon’s daggers.

“I…I didn’t take any money. I wouldn’t steal from you, Tico. Someone’s setting me up. You know I wouldn’t betray you.”

I make a tsking sound and slam the blade of my knife through his hand, piercing it to the arm rest. His cries of pain bounce off the walls of the office, but no one will hear him down here. Not with the fight going on.

“I really don’t like fucking liars,güevón(asshole),” I tell him as he catches his breath, tears streaming down his face. I lookover Marco’s shoulder at Daemon, then at Taco, tilting my head slightly. Both of them grin darkly in response.

Stepping back, I pull my blade out of Marco’s hand, twisting it slightly, and he screams again. Then, Marco’s body visibly relaxes as I release his throat, but his relief is short lived as Taco grabs a fistful of his hair and places his own knife to Marco’s throat.

Daemon steps to the side of Marco and pulls a knife from his boot. It’s a wicked, sharp four-inch blade with serrations along the spine of the blade. Daemon makes a show of inspecting it which makes the light dance along the sharp edge. I sneer as a pathetic whimper escapes Marco’s lips.

“You know, I really hate when people double cross the club,” Daemon says with exasperation but then he grins wickedly. “But that also means my little babies get to come out and play. And fuck are they excited to play today, Marco.”

Daemon stabs the blade through Marco’s hand, right where I’d stabbed him, but since his blade is bigger than mine, it cuts through more muscle and tissue. Marco cries out, his body jerking from the pain. Unfortunately for him, the movement causes Taco’s blade to cut slightly into his throat and a trickle of blood trails down his throat. Daemon twists the knife, and Marco cries out again.

Pulling my brass knuckles that I always carry on me out of my pocket, I twirl them around my finger and Marco swallows thickly as his gaze fixates on them.

“As a fighter yourself in the pits, you should know the dangers of betting on other fights. Especially when you don’t have the funds to back up your bets. Now, I want my money back, Marco. And if you can’t pay it, we’ll just have to find another way to get it back. Either way, you’re fucked. We can’t let people think they can double cross the Royal Bastards now, can we? And don’t trylying to me again—we know it was you because Wire traced it back to your bank accounts.Allof them.”

Marco goes to shake his head but then winces when Taco’s knife cuts further into his throat.