Page 63 of Hart of Redemption
I pressed on the cap of a pen I’d picked up off my desk as I leaned back in my chair. “You didn’t do your homework, Mateo. Rosario and I have a different business arrangement. No money exchanges hands until I sell the goods to our clients. I hear a ‘but’ coming, though.”
“The game has changed,” Lou said. “Two of Rosario’s men in prison shanked Tito.”
“Bullshit,” Vince said.
Lou wasn’t blowing smoke up our asses. The rage and sorrow on Mateo’s face was clearly evident.
“Is Tito dead?” I wanted to be sure I was reading Mateo correctly.
Mateo’s Adam’s apple bobbed. “Yes, so you tell Rosario if she wants her guns to come and get them herself.”
I would give anything to be on a tropical island fucking my brains out with Joy. Joy? Not the time to be thinking of her. Or maybe it was. She certainly had a way of taking my mind off shit I didn’t want to deal with.
I tossed the pen on my desk. “Did you honestly think your plan would work? You murdered two of her men in cold blood. Just by doing that, you started a war—and not with me.” I wagged a finger between us. “You and I are soldiers in this game, Mateo. Now, you either hand over the guns to me, or you better run—leave the state, leave the country. That’s your only option. Rosario isn’t coming to Boston to deal with you. She has men on the ground here. She has me and my men as well, but I’m going to give you a chance to rectify this load of crap.”
Mateo slammed his drink on the coffee table, and bourbon splashed everywhere as he pushed to his feet. “She’ll meet with me. In addition to the guns, I have something that she’ll want, but it will cost her more than her guns.”
I felt my face twist. “What?”
Mateo’s lips curled into a cocky grin as he skirted the table. “I’m not about to show my cards. Just pass the message along. She’ll figure it out.”
I rounded my desk and got in Mateo’s face. “Whatever you’re planning will only end with you in a coffin next to Tito.”
His nostrils flared, his cigarette breath washing over me. “Or maybeyou’llbe six feet under.”
“You know I don’t scare easily.”
He bumped his chest into mine. “Oh, I know how to do just that.”
Mateo strutted to the door, making it clear from his stride that he thought he had the upper hand.
Vince opened the door.
“One more thing, Mateo,” I said. “Is Arturo behind this with you?”
“I don’t need that fucker’s help.” He held his middle finger high in the air on his way out, with Lou sniffing up his ass.
“What is going on?” Vince asked.
I snagged my cell off my desk and punched in Rosario’s number. “No clue. Lock the door. Don’t let anyone in.”
Rosario answered on the first ring. “Duke, I was just about to call you.”
“I have you on speaker,” I said. “Only Vince and I are in the room.”
With the bass of the music reverberating outside my office, no one would be able to hear us.
“I spoke to Arturo,” she said. “He’s not behind stealing my guns. He was also in LA, not Boston.”
“I’m figuring that out. Mateo just left my office. Did you have Tito Alvarez killed?”
I asked.Please say no.Not that I was distraught over his death.
“No one fucks with me,” she shouted. “I had to send Mateo a message.”
I pressed my fingers over the spot where I thought I had an ulcer. “You need to get on a plane to Boston if you want your guns.”
“That’s your job and Gustavo’s.” Her tone permitted no argument.
