Page 87 of Degradation
‘Where’s Dom?’ I ask.
She thinks for a second. ‘I’m pretty sure I saw him down in the basement.’
‘Were you here during the raid?’
She winces a little. ‘Yeah.’
‘Are you okay?’
She nods. ‘You know how it is. They don’t see us like people since the rich assholes run this town. No offense.’
‘None taken. I’ll make sure you know beforehand next time, and you can get out of here before they come.’
‘I’d appreciate it.’ She rubs her wrist absently and I wonder if she was cuffed while the cops were looking for contraband.
‘I’ll see you later,’ I murmur, making a mental note to increase her pay. Maybe give her a ‘surviving the cops’ bonus, or something.
Down the hallway and to the right is a nondescript door with the words ‘Staff Only’ emblazoned on it. I open it and descend the dingy stairs, following the light from the lone bare lightbulb that hangs from the ceiling.
‘Dom? You down here?’
‘Yeah. Back corner.’
I follow the voice and find Mav’s brother between some shelves lined with boxes of liquor bottles. There’s broken glass all over the floor.
‘What happened?’
‘Fucking pigs happened,’ he mutters. ‘They don’t give a fuck if they break shit.’ He chuckles. ‘They couldn’t find a bottle of beer in a Bud factory though. Fucking amateurs.’
He pulls one of the shelves out. It slides easily and reveals a dark door that blends into the bricks, still black from when this basement was used to store coal for the fires back in the day.
We enter the secondary lab, and he pulls an old switch. The fluorescents flicker on revealing the tables full of beakers and Bunsen burners.
If the cops found this, they’d assume it was a meth lab. But the truth is, this is for Envy. I frown. If we can ever get the formula right, that is. When it goes into production, we’ll make it right here and distribute it upstairs to be consumed on the premises only. Not one pill will be allowed out of the club except for the supply we sell to Sark’s guy. It’s genius. Or at least it would be if we could guarantee its effectiveness. As it stands now, only one out of seven people get high from taking it and we can’t figure out why. Can’t sell an exclusive experience if most of the people who take it don’t feel a fucking thing.
‘Sark was here earlier looking for you. He’s probably still hanging around. If you don’t feel like seeing him, you might want to go out the back way.’ Dom smirks.
‘I think I’d rather talk to him than wade through sewage for twenty minutes,’ I murmur. ‘Lock it down and make sure it’s hidden again. I’ll bet we’ll get another visit from that detective and his guys as soon as he thinks we’re comfortable again. Envy still isn’t ready anyway.’
Dom frowned. ‘My big-brained little brother still hasn’t cracked it?’
‘Nope. And I can’t figure it out either. Going to have to soon, though. Sauvage isn’t known for being a patient man.’
Dom nods. ‘Might wanna make it a priority.’
I snort. ‘You think it’s not?’
Dom shrugs. ‘You’re here shooting the shit with me instead of at the lab. You tell me.’
I let out a sound between a groan and a snarl and leave the secret room, resisting the urge to lock Dom in for a while and send Sandy down to get him in a few minutes.
He’s right. I’m dragging my heels because I’m afraid we aren’t going to be able to figure this out, which means we’re dead in the water if Sauvage doesn’t kill us outright for screwing him around. We won’t have the money to open areallab or get the other drug launched. We’ll be stuck in Richmond under my father’s thumb and then under Andy’s until we die.
No.
There is no way that is happening.
My father will give Andy the reins. I know that. It’s all part of my punishment for not following in his footsteps as I was raised to. But I’m not living as my brother’s right-hand man, in his shadow, or, worse, as his enforcer for the rest of my life.
