Captivated

I never had any real interest in learning anything more than that since I’d made up my mind to kill him at some point, so who gave a fuck.

“It’s because of his father’s wealth and influence in the city. That wealth has allowed him to skirt the law and get away with a lot more than you know. I could’ve done something a long time ago, but I knew you needed to be the one, so I held off.” That got my interest real quick.

“What do you mean?”

He leaned forward in his seat, his hand still holding fast to the gold and black walking stick he never went anywhere without. “Why do you think I never fought you on making the business legal? Why I pushed you so hard to succeed at university. Because always in the back of my mind was this plan.”

“I thought we had more time, but now….how is the young lady? When do I get to meet her? Drake tells me she’s a good girl, fit to be by your side.” I’m sure he did, bitch snitch.

“She’s fine; I put her to bed not long ago. What’s this plan you mentioned?”

“When you kill your enemy, it’s just for a moment’s satisfaction. But if you cut them and watch them bleed out, that satisfaction lasts a whole lot longer. There’s a lot of pleasure to be had in watching your enemy suffer for a very long time. We no longer live in the days when a quick scuffle in a dark alley does the job, now we need our results to be more far-reaching.” He passed the envelope I only just noticed in his hand across the table.

“Like I’ve mentioned, the father is the one who allowed the son to get away with the things he did. If you want to kill the snake, you cut off the head, not just the body. If he hadn’t allowed his son to be what he is, your sister, my granddaughter, would still be alive.”

I still wasn’t getting where he was going with this. “You want me to do them both?”

“No boy, I’m talking about their business. The thing that gives them the power they wield so carelessly. You’re in a position now to crush them beneath your feet, to watch them suffer. Isn’t that more satisfying than taking his life?”

“Not really, no.”

“Boy!”

“What you want me to lie?” He regaled me with his grand scheme, and I have to admit it sounded good, but I still wasn’t sure that I’d get as much pleasure from destroying their business as I would from just ending the fuck.

“I see your point, but you gotta know that’s not going to be enough to satisfy my rage.”

“We’ll see my boy, we’ll see.” He got to his feet and came around the table to clap me on the shoulder before kissing my head the way he’s done since I was a boy. “I’ll leave you to it then, let you get back to your young lady. Bring her to dinner on Sunday.” Shit, that wasn’t a request.

I’d been planning on holding off on that for at least another month. I figured that was long enough to introduce her to the truth about my life without scaring her off. It would be hard to hide once she sees all the guards and shit around the family mansion.

I sat in deep contemplation long after he left thinking over the words he’d said and read through the stuff in the envelope, which turned out to be an in-depth report on the company owned by the asshole’s family.

There was a list of shareholders and the names of all the bigwigs who backed them. He’d even made notes of the best moves to make to get the fastest and most long-lasting results. It wasn’t like gramps to take the fight to the boardroom instead of the streets, so I knew and respected that he was doing this for me.

I wanted so badly to go back to that house and finish what I’d started, what I would’ve done had Dray not shown up. But then I’d have been leaving her out here on her own because sure as shit as hot as I went in, I would’ve made a mistake big enough for the asshole FEDs to walk through.

Maybe the old man is right; perhaps this was the best way to go. And besides, nothing is stopping me from having the best of both worlds. I can destroy him and still end his ass when all is said and done. I like the fuck outta that idea.

Since gramps had pretty much laid out a blueprint and had started the groundwork, I already had a plan forming in my head. In this market, it wouldn’t take long to cut them off at the knees. Since they were little more than trader-merchants, all it would take is undercutting them in the market. Not the most legal thing, but there are ways around that shit.