Fallen Empire (Dirty Empire)

Caleb stops less than a foot away from the guy, towering over him. How this average guy overpowered a guy of Mike’s size is beyond me, but a gun barrel against your temple can bring down even the largest of men. “You gonna deny what you did to our friend?”

Mateo pauses as if deciding how to respond. “Which one was your friend?”

“The club manager for Empire.”

“Oh, that big bastard.” Mateo sneers. He already knows he’s a dead man. “He took a little extra work to go down—”

Caleb takes a hard, fast swing and his knuckles collide with Mateo’s cheek, snapping the man’s head to the side.

He leans over to spit. Blood and several teeth spill to the interlocked stone.

Beside me, Mercy flinches. She’s seen far worse than this, but I don’t want her to see any more of it.

Thankfully Ava doesn’t seem interested either. She fires off instructions in Spanish before waving a hand, and they lead Mateo away, blood dripping down his chin. She takes a long sip of her wine and gingerly sets her glass down in front of her. “Tony will take you and your men to a prepared place. You may bring your guns and deal with him there. But this matter needs to be fully resolved tonight. Is that reasonable?”

Meaning, she doesn’t want us going all Bane-like and torturing him under her roof for the next twenty-four hours. That’s probably all she knows, being surrounded by the kind of men she’s grown up around.

Caleb inhales deeply. If I know my brother at all, adrenaline is coursing through his veins, ready to fuel him for hours. Thankfully his temper won’t allow that. Mateo won’t last more than twenty minutes before he’s full of bullet holes. “More than fair.”

I check my watch. “With your father gone and Mateo here, what will happen with our delivery?”

“It’s already in motion. The men will still hit it, especially if they believe Vlad is the one behind my father’s death.”

Then the exchange moves forward as planned.

I brace myself before I look to Mercy, expecting to see everything from disappointment to judgment to disgust for what she’s witnessing. After what she went through with Bane, there’s no way she’d condone what’s about to happen to the guy they just dragged out of here.

Her jaw is tense, and I can’t read the look in her eyes, but all she says is, “Do what you need to do and end this tonight.”

I nod solemnly. “Farley will stay with you.”

Her gaze flickers to the enormous bodyguard. “If you don’t need him.”

I lean in to plant a kiss on her lips. I’ve always loved the feel of her mouth against mine. “I need him with you.”

We leave the women sitting at the dining table, surrounded by platters and glasses and chairs while we collect retribution for Mike.

Just like our father taught us to do.

The air is warm and the sun is beginning its descent when I step outside, my phone ringing in my pocket. The shed Ava had prepared is an outbuilding set away from the house and the road and anything resembling normal life. It’s used to house farming equipment and landscaping tools for the sizeable fruit orchard in front of me.

Tonight, though, it’s draped in plastic for an easy clean-up.

Taking a deep breath, I answer the call.

“Gabriel,” a heavily accented male voice curls around my name.

There’s only one person this could be and he’s an important domino. “Eduardo.”

“I assume you are aware of what happened at the exchange?”

“I just got the call.” Stanley confirmed that the drop happened as planned.

“I lost two good men,” he says evenly, and I can’t tell if he’s truly upset or is simply posturing over expendable drug runners.

“And we lost three of our own,” I counter. Three especially hotheaded guys who I knew wouldn’t balk at pulling their guns, which is exactly what I banked on. Afterall, the idiots thought they were getting a big promotion. Now they’re three dead idiots who can’t ever trade intel on our family.

There’s a long pause, as if he’s waiting for me to speak. “What a clusterfuck,” he mutters after a moment. “Hit by both the DEA and Navarro’s people? How does that happen?”

“I have no fucking clue how the DEA found out,” I lie. Stanley filtered the tip through several layers to get to a known informant. He assured me it’ll never blow back to us. “But Navarro’s men took out JJ and Ivan on Saturday night and that must be how they found out. I warned Vlad that it was too hot—”

“Then why didn’t we make alternate arrangements?” Eduardo snaps.

“You know my father. He didn’t want to risk losing customers with delays.”

“Yes, I know Vlad. He is passionate about his business.” Eduardo sighs heavily. “But now he’s out his product and double his money, because I still expect to be paid.”