“Yes,” Samuel growls, “You have no idea what you’re playing with.”
“Oh I think I do,” I say to him, “this is my city, it’s you who have tried to come in and take it, and it’s you who’s going to fucking lose it all, starting with the girl.”
“So you’ll kill a completely innocent woman in the name of revenge?”
“Yes.”
“You’re making a mistake, this is bigger than you. You’d be wise to surrender.”
“I’ll be dead before I give up this City.”
“Trust me,” Samuel stands, “it won’t be long before you join all those you’ve buried yourself.”
I level the gun with his chest, “You can send a message back to Valentine that his daughter will be dead in less than twenty-four hours. He best make his peace because he’s next.”
Samuel shakes his head and then turns his back on me, heading to the elevators to take him back down.
“Oh and Jameson?” I call out.
He stops, back stiffening, “I see you in my club again I’ll decorate the walls with your brain.”
A couple of my guys see him down and Ryker takes the empty chair.
“What do you think he meant this shit is bigger than us?”
I shrug, “It’s a bluff. Valentine knows he can’t win so he’ll use anything.”
“I don’t know,” Ryker shakes his head, “Something doesn’t feel right.”
“Just keep an ear to the ground, report back if anything raises your suspicions.”
“So this is it then?” Ryker asks as I stand and tip back the remainder of my drink, “You’re gonna finally say farewell to your little house guest?”
I nod once and head out.
As much as my cock liked the girl it’s time I wring that little birdy’s neck.
As always, the downstairs section of the club is rammed, familiar faces swim in the chaos of people, naked girls grind on laps and dance on the poles, and I watch as people who pretend to have the authority in this city lean down and snort their money up their noses. There’s white dust on damn near every surface and more money than sense being stuffed into the panties of the girls I employ here.
I tip my head to the chief of police, noting the security camera trained right on him as he snorts a line of coke off the stomach of one of my girls.
That’ll be a nice little bribe should I need it.
Outside, the air is humid, the promise of a storm pressing in. Angry dark clouds roll through the sky, suffocating the moon and stars.
My driver waits for me at the curb and I slide into the back, finally taking a breath.
It’ll be twenty minutes before I hit the compound, so I settle back and close my eyes.
This will be the only time I get peace, here in the back of the Mercedes. The windows are heavily tinted, the engine smooth and quiet as it rolls through the streets of Brookeshill.
The partition between the back and front seats is up and I can pretend, just for a moment that all this shit isn’t happening.
I don’t remember a time in my life where anything was easy. Don’t get me wrong, my transactions were smooth, my business dealings successful but there’s always something. Like a shadow, you can’t get rid of the shit that comes with running this city, it’ll always follow, even in the darkness, you’re never quite alone.
We’re turning down Commercial Avenue when the back windscreen shatters.
“Fuck!”