I hear snickering from behind me, and I know that it's Jagger and Martin.
His hands raise, "I didn't, I swear to you Hudson, I didn't betray you. I wouldn't."
I aim my gun at his knee, "Oh, so the footage I have of you talking with Detective Collins is fake? You had a great discussion with the man Ulric. You talked with him for thirty-three minutes." My finger squeezes the trigger, and I watch with a smile as the bullet rips into his leg, he instantly buckles and falls to the floor. I walk over to him, my gun still raised at his face.
"No." He cries out, tears streaming down his face. Fucking weasel. "Please Hudson, please just let me explain." He begs.
"It's Mr. Brady to you." I tell him with disdain, “You betrayed me, and you’ve betrayed my men, your brothers. Snitching to a fucking cop is going to make us all go down you pathetic moron.”
“Please….” He stammers as tears begin to fall down his face.
“No, no, please nothing. You fucked up, and you pay the consequences.” My tone is even. He’s fucked up and big time. This is something I cannot forgive, and I won’t forgive.
The room is quiet; the only thing you can hear is Ulric’s crying.
"Martin pay up, Jag was right, he's crying like a damn baby." I stare hard at the sobbing mess that's beneath my feet, "Listen up, and listen good." I say, my voice strong and loud, making sure every man in here hears me. "I don't give a shit if you think that I shouldn't be here. I earned my place here. It was always going to be me that was going to take over. Don't like the fact I'm younger than most of you? That's your problem, you either get over it, or you're going to end up like Ulric here." He's squirming, the tears falling down his face but he's no longer begging me, he knows that he fucked up and there's no way he's getting out of here alive. My finger squeezes the trigger once again. This time the bullet goes into his head.
Turning around, I face my men. Each one of them has a blank expression. "Show me respect and loyalty, and I'll give it back tenfold. Betray me, and it'll be the last thing you do. Most of you have been with this organization for decades. You saw what a hot-headed little shit I was and when I gave no thought to anyone but myself. It's time for you to realize that I'm no longer a child and that I'm your boss now. Don't like it? There's a bullet here for you."
A few uneasy shuffles from the older guys, the guys that thought my dad wouldn't pass the job to me until he was in his sixties, hell most thought Dad would be buried before he'd give up the crown.
"You’re pissed because my old man left, be pissed at him. I want my men behind me. I want to know that they trust me and that I can trust them." This is the only time I'm going to have this speech; anyone who doesn't fall in line is gone. I don't have the time nor the patience for this crap anymore. It's ending tonight. I made Ulric an example. They needed to know what is going to happen when you betray me, betray the family.
"Anyone have a problem with that?" I stare each and every one of them down, waiting to see if any of them will have the balls to go against me. Some are glancing at their shoes, others are focusing their gazes beyond me. My boys, the ones that have been calling me Boss for years are nodding in agreement. I turn to face Carmine. He’s one of the men that’s glancing at their shoes.
"Good, get rid of him and this gun." I glare at Matt and Carmine Jr. They were both my father's soldiers. They thought they'd move up the ranks, but they never did. It's because they're lazy and that shit isn't going to fly anymore.
"Cage, find out where Detective Collins is, and see if you can find out what the traitor told him. Then get rid of him." I instruct, he gives me a sharp nod and leaves.
"Burn this place to the ground," Jagger tells Matt and Carmine as I begin to walk out of the lot. "Not with him inside." He adds, knowing just how fucking lazy they can be.
At least this shit is done now. It's time to focus on making sure that Juan doesn't try and fuck me over. He's already on borrowed time. He comes after my family, he's going to suffer.
Six
Mia
"God, we really need to work out more, we're both so unfit." My breath comes in pants as I p
lace my hand against the wall and try and suck in some much-needed oxygen. I actually can't remember when I ran so hard. It was refreshing, but I'm going to pay for it later.
I am, however, faring a bit better than Lacey is. She's sprawled on the floor, her face bright red, and her entire body is shaking. "I'm dying." She whispers and I laugh, such dramatics.
I was awoken at seven this morning by a smiley Lacey who demanded we go for a run. Looking at her now, I'd say she's regretting it, and it's going to be a while before she's wanting to do it again. Once I'm able to get my breathing under control, I reach down and help Lacey up. "Come on, we need to have a shower. I can hear movement in the kitchen, here's hoping that Harrison's good at cooking because I'm starved."
"That man is a lot of things, but I doubt he's a cook. I did a bit of digging after dinner." She begins, and I just know where this is going to go.
I shake my head. "This isn't the place. We'll talk about this later." I wouldn't be surprised if Mom was listening. That woman has ears like a bat, and she's always around somewhere.
"Okay. Did you speak to Sarah?" She asks as we walk towards the door.
"Yeah, we spoke about her contacting Jagger." I spit his name out. I despise that man. "The private investigator she used got her an email address for him. She's going to send him an email and attach a picture of Allie. It's about time he manned up. He may not have wanted Allie, but he needs to know that she's alive. He helped create an amazing child. For Allie's sake I hope he reads the email and contacts Sarah. Allie needs her dad in her life."
Lacey links her arm through mine, "She really does, can you imagine her little face lighting up when she sees him? How is Sarah?"
"Lonely and busy, I was thinking of arranging for us to see them sometime this summer, maybe toward the end?" She's not really made any friends since being in New York. Having a baby alone in a new city with no support was the hardest thing anyone could have done, and I admire her so much for doing it. She's thriving as a mom and as a designer, she's finally starting to have her designs noticed by Leila Del La Core. She's the best designer in the world, and she noticed Sarah's designs on Instagram of all places. Since then they've been working together to get a fall range designed. It's being showcased in September for Fashion Week, so she's busy.
Lacey's eyes light up. "New York during summer break? Why are you even asking?"