Page 32 of Vicious Vows

"Mr. Lochley, I can't say I'm happy to hear your voice. I was almost hoping you'd try and duck me." His voice was slimy and made my stomach turn.

"I have no reason to duck you. Better yet, you know that's not how I fucking operate. What did you want?"

"I wanted my fucking merchandise," he snapped at me the moment I finished my question.

"How do I know you don't already have your merchandise? Seems quite strange to me that all of this went down moments after you'd already verified the contents." I said, making sure to keep my voice low so I wouldn't tip anyone off as to what we were talking about.

"You've got some fucking balls on you, don't you, kid." The juvenile term made me clench my jaw in aggravation. I was no one's fucking kid.

"Kumar, this conversation is pointless. I've got an empire to run, so I'm going to ask you this one more fucking time. What do you want?" I snarled.

"You're right. There's no use talking about this over the phone. A fuck-up as severe as this demands a face-to-face. Seems like we need to get to the bottom of this before we can move any further." He sighed before he continued. "Maybe it was a mistake doing business with you instead of your father. After all, it seems like the pup still has a lot to learn from the king."

With that, he hung up the phone. A red haze clouded my vision, and I squeezed the phone hard in my hand before I jerked my leg out and kicked one of the small end tables clear to the other side of the room. It crashed against the wall with a loud bang and drew several staff members into the space.

"Sir, is everything okay?" One of them asked.

I bit the edge of my tongue to keep my temper in check. As of right now, these people were in charge of keeping my brother alive. I didn't want to give them any reason to make any mistakes.

I nodded once, and slowly they made their way out of the room, leaving me to stew in my own aggravation. I was so fucking tired of being deemed less than worthy by those who either wanted to or used to work with my father. I'd have to prove once and for all I knew what I was doing, and that started with soothing Kumar. It would take a lot, but I was up for the challenge.

* * *

Nothing good happens at three in the morning, but that is exactly the time Kumar set the meeting for.

I insisted that we meet on neutral ground, mostly because I didn't put it past him to try and blow my head off the second I got close enough.

The fact that I didn't have my brother with me already put me on edge. I was used to him being with me at meetings like this. As it stood, I'd have to depend on the people I didn't know I could trust to watch my back. I wanted to get this over with quickly.

Kumar chose a diner in a truck stop about twenty minutes away from the city for us to meet up. Outside of the truck stop, there was nothing around besides highways and trees. If he wanted to, he could find a way to kill me and dump my body before the sun came up. It was an intimidation technique, but I wasn't scared in the least. I could do the same to him.

"Kumar, let's make this quick," I grumbled as I slid into the booth opposite him.

"Yes, let's. You owe me a crate of small arms as well as one million in dinars. I had transportation all set up for tonight, but now that won't be possible, so I'll need to be compensated for that as well."

"You're out of your fucking mind. I'll get you your merchandise and the money, but the trade remains the same."

"How can you even fix your mouth to say that to me? Do you think me stupid? It was obviously someone from your side who ripped you off. I'm not going to be inconvenienced because you can't keep your people under wraps."

I leaned forward in the booth, my hand clenched into a fist on the tabletop. "Don't you fucking worry about my people. Unless you're saying you have more information about what went down than I do. Maybe it was someone from your side who fucked with the drop. As it stands right now, you're the only one who stands to gain from a double shipment." I stared him down and waited to see if there was a break in character from him, but he didn't budge.

"My people had nothing to do with it. I don't take kindly to the threats either," he raised an eyebrow at me.

"I don't take kindly to extortion," I replied.

We'd come to an impasse, neither one of us wanted to give up more than we'd already lost, but it was clear that we both still needed each other.

"I want double the next shipment, and I want it quicker." He offered up, but it still felt like I was being held over a barrel.

I already had a shipment of guns on the way, but he wanted his next order faster than I could get it.

In order for me to make the next shipment on time after I scrounge up what I can for this botched shipment, I'd have to reach out to several members of the underworld that I didn't have the best relationships with.

It'd be a lot of back and forth that I didn't necessarily want to deal with.

Still, I wanted to make sure I kept the pipeline open between Kumar and me. The cash flow seemed to be never-ending with him, and I'd hate to lose it. I'd do whatever I had to do.

"Fine, I can get it two weeks before the next due date." I leaned back in my chair, happy to be over the pissing contest between the both of us.

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