“Whoa there, Energizer Bunny, there’s a reason I did all this,” I pointed out. “No, it wasn’t just to torture you, I promise. Without you there, it leaves them free to talk about anything and everything. I want to know what that would be, so we are going to be really quiet and not enter right away.”
Luca blinked at me a moment then nodded.Ah, a man of few words… fucking hate that.We arrived at the curve of the hall that would land us back in the room with everyone else. I pulled Luca to a halt and listened.
“Did you hear Boss Caprioni is giving the zoning issue over to his daughter, just like we thought he would? The man’s losing his touch, first thinking we’d actually want to invest in a crap piece of land like that. Second, putting a fucking broad in charge of matters that should be dealt with by men,” Harrison said, the disdain clear in his voice.
Alejandro scoffed. “You’re just butt hurt because a woman took you for a ride, and you got nothing out of it but the bill.”
“No,” Harrison snapped. “It’s to show that the big man isn’t the king he thinks he is. Colmazio is losing his grip on the city, first with the bikers and now this. If any of them fucking touch that land, it will become a nightmare that will never end.”
“What the fuck do you know?” Edgar asked. “That sounds like more than just a money pit of toxic land.”
“When they started to look into the damage of the toxic waste, they found a burial ground on the edge of the land. Once they did testing and found out it was one that belonged to the Kocabe, the government reached out to inform them. Now the whole area is off limits to everything until they survey the entire area to see if anything else has been missed,” Raymond explained.
“I still don’t get it,” Quincy muttered.
“It’s now protected land under the preservation of the Kocabe Native Histories Act. If Colmazio or his daughter send someone to do their own reading of the soil, they’ll have broken the treaty. It was the government’s way of making peace and trying to mend fences. By anyone taking even a speck of sand from the area, they have stolen from the Kocabe. Until they can determine there’s nothing else of their heritage on or in the land, it’s all theirs at this point,” Harrison continued with a chuckle. “They’ll be thrown in prison and pay a fine so large to the Kocabe people they’ll be ruined.”
Motherfucker, I’m going to kill them.
“Why doesn’t anyone else know about this?” León asked. “Seems like if they did their research, they would know.”
“Harvey O’Hagan was more than happy to pay off the right people to keep this quiet and off the books. It’s not officially documented anywhere. Besides, Harvey is offering us a way better deal on property outside the city. It wasn’t what we were hoping for, but the money we save on the land means more money in our pockets at the end of the day,” Raymond answered.
Luca rested a hand over mine, making me realize that my nails had dug into his arm, leaving behind marks. Yanking it back, I shook it out, took a deep breath, then entered the room.
“Miss me, boys?” I asked, plopping down in my seat. “As much as I’d love to keep taking all your money, I feel like this is best left to the boys. Don’t worry, I won’t take Luca from you. He can stay and have all the fun.”
“That’s too bad. I was hoping to get a chance to redeem myself,” Harrison challenged.
“Oh, I think we’ll run into each other again. Maybe then we can play another game and see who the better player is,” I said with a wink. “Luca, you look like you’re running a little low. I’ll let you use my chips.”
Leaning in, I kissed him on the cheek. “Bleed them dry,” I whispered, then gave the men a girly finger wave and left the room.
“Everything all right, Lady Astin?” the guard at the door asked when I pulled out my phone.
I whirled to look at him. “You knew who I was?”
“Yes, Ryker sent out your photo to all of us so we wouldn’t be caught off guard,” he answered.
“Huh, guess news about that travels fast,” I commented. “Do me a favor and don’t let any of them know who I am. I was incognito for the night, and it would spoil my fun if I didn’t get to see the shocked look on their faces.”
“As you like, Lady Astin,” he said and resumed his stance by the door.
Scrolling through my phone, I found Gunner’s number and dialed. The damn thing went right to voicemail. Glancing at the screen, I found it was one in the morning, but that was no reason for him to have his phone off.Fuck. I hurried over to the railing and looked for the others, but I couldn’t find them.
“Ugh, I don’t have time for this,” I growled as I headed for the entrance.
When I got to the stairs that led up to the street, one of the bouncers spotted me. “Mistress, are you all right?”
“I need a cab or a ride back to the house,” I answered, trying to google a number for a cab.
“Not a problem.” The man grabbed a radio off his belt and spoke into it. “The mistress needs her ride.”
“Roger that, sending the limo around front,” another man responded.
My jaw fell open. “That was fucking impressive.”
The bouncer grinned. “Glad you think so. Are you sending it back for the others?”