Page 124 of Havoc

I took pride in my slim figure and clear complexion. Though I was on the skinnier side, at least I was healthy and had low cholesterol.

“What did you show him?” I pointed to his arm.

He pushed his finger into the dirt and drew a circle. “I’m part of a club.” He looked around. “It’s elite and highly private.” He drew up his sleeve and lifted his arm to reveal a circle tattoo. It had what looked like a crocodile swirled around the top and looked almost tribal.

“What’s the purpose of the club?”

“Power, money, fear.” He grinned. “We’re taking back something that was once ours.”

“What are you, like, the mafia?”

He leaned his head back and looked at the sky. “In a way, yes. I can tell you more, if you’re interested in joining.”

“No,” I shook my head, “I don’t want to belong to anything.”

“You say that,” he continued to draw circles, “but you’re marked as jail bait, and I won’t always be around to interfere.”

“And you think some black ink is going to protect me?”

“No, but they will.” He pointed toward the other inmates. “You can’t spot them, but there’s a lot of us in the group, and we protect our own.”

“It was because of a fucking club that I’m even here.”

“I know.” He nodded, and that caught my attention. I’d never shared who was behind my ruined life.

I pondered the idea, but I’d been badly scarred by Allen and pushed it right out of my head. I belonged to no one.

He got up and dusted off his knees. “Something to think about, anyway.” He lit a cigarette and slowly wandered away from me.

“Hey,” he looked back at the sound of my voice, “what’s the name of the club?”

“Potens.”

Grim

We could have had this meeting on the twentieth floor, but I couldn’t run the risk of anyone hearing. If word got out that Elio’s men were digging, the fuckers would scatter. Everything had to be hush-hush. I made the unusual decision to hold the meeting at the office in my suite rather than go to the basement. It would be easier for my parents.

“This is the list of hitmen for hire in the New Orleans area.” Elio clicked a button on the keyboard, and a list of names, pictures, and locations came up on the screen. “Because we can’t assume he wasn’t from out of town,” he tapped another button, “I cross referenced the list with this one from nearby, and here’s what I found.”

“Impressive.” Dad stepped closer to the screen and rubbed his temples. We could be looking right at Leo’s killer, and there was a part of me that figured we should just kill them all, and maybe I would.

“I’ve still got my men on the ground digging for more.” Elio tried to ease the sting of all the photos. “It’s just a matter of time before something shows itself.”

I glanced at Mom sitting on the leather couch. I reached over from where I perched on the armrest and gave her hand a squeeze.

“And there’s zero chance Alina Li could be behind this?” I needed to be sure it wasn’t Alina. Since we’d broken up after Singapore, I found out she had ties to Chicago. She had me fooled for a while, and I was glad to be rid of her. She had been ruthless.

“No,mio amico,” Elio assured me, “Jesse already had me look into her.” I gave a nod, relieved I didn’t need to deal with anymore crazy exes.

“It’s important not to make any moves yet.” Elio pointed to two men on the screen. “That being said, these two here are connected to the Fentanyl Father.”

“Which means chances are they’re connected to Sonny,” I grunted, knowing the fucker was keeping his distance from Indulge but remained in Vegas.

“Excuse me.” Kenna’s voice had us all whirl toward the door. How the hell did she get up here without me knowing? Then it hit me. The fucking keycard was still under my name, so she bypassed the security system that kept everyone else out. “Mr. Gates,” she avoided my glare, “my deepest apologies for the interruption, but?—”

“It’s not a good time, Kenna.” I cut her off, but she stepped into the office with her chin held high.

“I’m sure it isn’t, but I would never have come up here if I didn’t think this was incredibly important and something you need to hear.”

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