“I’m lucky she was there to peel me off the fucking pavement,” I murmured.
My brother nodded. “Lucky indeed. She says there were four of them.”
I shook my head. “No. Three.”
“Not what she said.”
“Well, she’s not the one that got her ass handed to her by them.”
“From her point of view, she says there were three who jumped you, then hopped into a black SUV. And that none of them got into the driver’s seat.”
My eyes found his. “Fuck.”
He nodded. “‘Fuck’ is right. There were four men there. One manning the car.”
I sighed. “It was a hit.”
“Who the hell have you pissed off?”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “You mean other than Dad? I can’t think of anyone we’ve pissed off lately.”
John nodded. “I was hoping you could shed light on that, since I’m not much use in that department any longer. There’s no crews you’ve come into contact with? No turf wars happening? No shit like that?”
I shook my head. “No. Nothing like that.”
Then it dawned on me.
“You don’t think…?”
John interrupted me. “Dad’s a fucker, but he’s not that stupid. If he wants something done, he’d want to come watch it for himself.”
“He could’ve been that fourth person. The one in the car.”
“You know that’s not how he rolls. I mean, the garage incident tells us that.”
I paused. “How the hell do you know about that?”
He chuckled. “The real question is how you thought you could keep it from me. Yes. I know Dad sicced his men on you in the garage. But if he was there, you would’ve known he was there. This isn’t Dad. He’s a sick man, but he’s not mental.”
“Says you.”
I chugged back the rest of my coffee and poured myself another mug. I hated this feeling of not knowing. It felt like my head was being held underwater. And when I felt like this, that put the entire crew at risk. My men, who depended on me, were now in danger.
And I didn’t have the slightest clue as to who the fuck was doing all this.
“You need to warn the guys,” John said.
I nodded. “I’ll get to that, yeah. Once I’ve got something to fucking tell them.”
“If someone is after you, you can’t just--”
I held my hand up. “Your reign as president is over. I know what I’m doing. Let me do it.”
He huffed. “Suit your fucking self. But if any of them get hurt or killed because you’re too chickenshit to go to them with stuff like this before you figure it out? That’s on you.”
“What did you just call me?”
“Like you’ve got the energy to do anything about it. Pour yourself another mug while I cook us up some bacon. And eggs. I’m sure your girl’s gonna be hungry when she wakes up.”