Page 105 of Devious Lies

She is perfect.

Tell her already.

I will, I tell myself.

I will.

“You ready to finish this fucking meeting?” Nico says, and I glance up at him and Angel.

Shit.

“Yeah. So, this is what we know about O’Doyle’s connection to Sanchez,” I say and give them a rundown on how those two pieces of shit came across one another, running guns and drugs.

The thing is, they both need the Vipers to do it.

But they don’t want to pay. And everyone has to pay.

We live in a world of trolls and tolls. Civilization is pretty much grounded in this one system where a person or organization has control over access routes, information, goods, or what have you.

Gatekeepers.

It is all about the gatekeepers.

And if you want what they have, you must pay. Period.

There is no other way.

In this scenario, the Vipers have control of the port.

If O’Doyle and Sanchez want to play there, they need to pay. But if they want war, well, we can do that as well.

Nico has proven a hundred times he’ll stoop to whatever level of violence our opponents drop to.

“If that’s it,” Nico says, standing, and Angel is already out the door.

“One second,” I tell him.

I feel guilty for believing my own doubts about Maria. It was only a few weeks ago that I told Nico I wasn't sure if Maria was working for Sanchez or not.

“Listen, about Maria,” I begin.

“Yeah, what?”

“She was never working for Sanchez,” I tell him.

“And?” he says.

“And? Well, you know she’s living with me,” I say, not sure how to proceed.

“Yeah? Look, Luc, spit it the fuck out. I wanna go see my woman and kid,” he says.

“I just wanted to tell you and to, shit, I guess I don’t know,” I say, rubbing the back of my neck and feeling kind of foolish.

“You are a grown ass man, Luc. You want Maria?”

I nod.

“She want you?”

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