Page 141 of A Captive Situation

“You were asking for too much—”

“I wasn’t. He had my woman. He had myson.”

“I didn’t know.”

I didn’t believe him and it didn’t matter anymore. “You fucked up, Ashton. You lost sight of what was in front of you. You were my family’s enemy and I chose your side.”

“You used my side to keep yours in check. Do not change the script on what fucking happened in the past.”

It didn’t matter. Not anymore. “I struck a deal with my cousin. I’m calling to give you notice.”

“With Lane?”

Here was the kicker, the real part that Ashton never considered and what he should’ve.

I said into the phone, “You’re under the impression that my family’s operation is solely in Maine and that my cousin only tried to push his way into the city. You think we didn’t have any hold already in the city. You’re wrong to make that assumption.”

He was quiet again before asking, “What are you talking about?”

“We have assets set up throughout the entire city. Manhattan. Brooklyn. Tribeca. Soho. Red Hook. Queens. Harlem. The Bronx. We have a distribution pipeline that’s used for transport of all goods. We have trucks in the city. We have men in the city. We have nightclubs that we use as camouflage for our other operations. We have businesses that we use to clean money for clients. My family is a lot bigger, a lot more powerful, and a lot more dangerous than you think. When our families went to war, you did not wipe us out. You only made a dent.”

Ashton went quiet. “What the fuck did you do?”

“You knew my cousin would have too many men. You knew I wouldn’t be able to take all of them out, but I just needed the one shot. Right? Just the one.” If only he had helped ... But he hadn’t.

“What. Did. You. Do?”

“The deal was for my life. My woman’s life. My son’s. Everyone that Sawyer loves and everyone my son loves. That’s what I bargained with Lane for our lives.”

He’d grown quiet. Waiting.

“I stepped aside, Ashton.”

“What?” he asked, curtly.

“This call was a courtesy. Through the years, your family’s name gave Justin the ability to be normal for a while. Because of that, I’m giving you a heads-up of what’s coming your way.”

“You still haven’t said what the fuck you did—”

“I gave him my family.”

Ashton stopped talking, abruptly.

This was it. This was what I did. “I stepped aside and I gave him the keys to my family’s business. He knows the locations. He knows the passcodes. I gave him every piece of information he would need to move in and seize control of my family. My uncles have already either been killed or they’ve been immobilized. I don’t care. He needed a stronghold in the city, and I’m the one that gave it to him.”

“You fucking piece of shit—” Ashton cut himself off, but I heard the swift curses falling from him. “And if I send men after you? You opened a goddamn back door to my city, you fuck. You’re my enemy now. I know your weaknesses because that’s the kind of enemy I am. I could send men to execute that pretty little delusional woman of yours.”

I waited for him to finish.

“One call and your son is dead. His entire family. His sisters. His mother. You’d have to walk through their blood as you’d be the one who would discover their bodies. You want me to do that? Because that’s who I am, Worthing. You are forgetting who I am in this world.”

“You won’t. Because when you calm down, you’ll remember that I know more about your business than you think I do. And I know your woman. I know West’s woman. I know about your new compound. I know your businesses, the ones you don’t want anyone to know. And I know that in the back of your mind, you’ll think about everything that I knew about my family that I never told you. You’ll start wondering what else I know about your businesses. So, Ashton. It’s your move. You send men after me and mine, I’ll come for you and yours.”

“Idespiseyou.”

I shook my head, holding my phone so tightly, but I knew the truth. I heard through the anger from him, saying, “Maybe. But I alsohelped give you your sunshine and I know what that’s like now. The war’s at your doorstep. I just opened the door for him to come in.”

“Fuckyou, Worthing.”

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