Page 99 of Controlled

“Yeah, you have.”

I tossed him a look and grinned. It wasn’t often I felt this good, or this satisfied. The fact the business-as-usual mentality had become boring no longer weighed heavily on my mind. It simply meant I’d been ready for a change. However, as much as my thoughts had been directed toward Bella and little else, the pieces were in place to end the ridiculous charade, which meant I could alter my life as I determined.

“There are times when you learn that doing things the old way isn’t in anyone’s best interest.”

For some reason, my Capo seemed uncomfortable, squirming in his seat. “If you say so, boss.”

“Stop worrying, Kane. I’m still the ruthless bastard I’ve always been.”

He laughed and headed down a less than fashionable street in a part of Chicago I certainly wouldn’t enjoy living in. While Gregor had left an address with the ballet, something found easily through my connections, the location had been a lie. The address had been nothing more than a store front to a burned-out building.

His connections with the South American cartel had been verified, his family considered enemies of Carlos and his family. The pieces were falling together, although none of them fit very well. While there was no direct connection with Armand, no flagrant drops of money, emails or texts that could be found, my gut told me Armand had hired him to look after his daughter. The single reason why had been the man’s dance background.

I might find that strange in and of itself but to each their own. Hell, I’d enjoyed hunting humans. Why not the dance?

“Yeah, I know that, boss.”

“You’re sure he’s here?” I asked, glaring up at the group of buildings.

“He’s here. He arrived yesterday afternoon and hasn’t left.”

“Then this should be easy.” I glanced at my watch. It was after eight in the morning. I was more than looking forward to Walter’s phone call to determine if what I suspected was true.

Time would tell.

As with all my more merciless aspects of business, I always brought backup, just enough to keep the wolves at bay while not drawing but so much attention. Not that many people were paying attention to a group of men dressed in suits at this time of morning. Still, one never knew.

While I wasn’t worried about the police, I knew that with Gregor working for Armand, there could be additional lookouts hiding in the shadows. I nodded to the eight men piling out of two SUVs and they scattered immediately. Kane had already provided them with a layout of the building and the area prior to informing me what he’d learned. I had to give the man credit. He’d been working all hours of the day and night to try to help solve the mystery.

Kane, four other men and I headed into the building. I stopped long enough to glance at the surroundings. It wasn’t unlike the warehouse section where we housed our weapons. Nondescript. Close to a true residential area. It was perfect to handle business, including the lower taxes.

But Gregor would appear to be using the building as his home as well. Not unusual except the man had money given his family’s wealth and status within South America.

As soon as we entered the building, Kane’s phone indicated he’d received an incoming text. I was already on the stairs by that point, eager to get the situation handled. As I looked back, he shrugged and pulled his phone into his hands.

It was often impossible to read his expression, the man the master of hiding his true feelings. Not this time. He wore an expression of utter shock. When he lifted his head, his furrowed brow indicated concern.

“What is it?”

“A warning.” He moved closer, handing me his phone.

As with his reactions, it wasn’t often in business that I was troubled by the sight of anything. I studied the grainy photograph, which was obviously taken in the wee part of the morning. While pictures could easily be doctored and had been in my experience, I was fairly certain what I was seeing was real.

Carlos and his entire family had been slaughtered like lambs, their bodies tied to chairs and soldiers holding their heads up by their hair for the picture. The cartels in that part of the world were truly little more than savages. There was no text involved, no second picture and the unknown phone number used was likely a burner, already tossed or burned.

While sent to Kane, it had been done so to further taunt me. Their killings had been a statement and given Armand’s battered body, the fucker responsible was enjoying toying with me. I handed him back his phone, glancing up the stairwell.

“What the fuck are they doing?” Kane shook his head.

“They are telling us that we should no longer consider South America a viable option for any aspect of our business.” But that was only the tip of the iceberg. A takeover attempt was occurring and if both Chicago and New York could be acquired, Los Angeles and Miami would soon follow.

I wasn’t a gambler by any stretch of the means, but I didn’t like the odds.

Or the game being played.

“You still want to do this?” Kane asked, shoving his phone back into his pocket as he glanced up the stairs.

“Didn’t you ever learn that running from an issue would only bring you bad juju?”

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