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“I want to be in on anything that will take Wolf down once and for all. If you know something that I might be able to use against him, yeah, I want to know.”

A slow, ruthless smile kicked up the corners of Rock’s mouth.

“If you must know, after Angelo called me about this meeting, I made a few inquiries about Wolf and the Kingz. Your father is in the process of brokering a gun deal with someone who owes me. Depending on what you tell me tomorrow about overseeing my security, I might decide to cash in that debt. Which would mean, my ass would be all up in that deal. If that happens, and everything goes as planned, that would be the first dentweput into Wolf’s organization.”

Angelo stiffened next to Parker. “What happened to you going straight?” he snapped. “Our deal was, if you become a law-abiding citizen, then I’ll let you have a relationship with my family.”

Angelo hadn’t wanted Rock anywhere near Zenobia or their twin infants, but after Rock promised that he and his dealings were legal, Angelo changed his tune.

“Relax, brother-in-law. You’re the one who came to me to help your friend here.Remember?”

Angelo was slow to respond, and Parker should feel guilty about stirring up a mess in their family. Selfishly, he didn’t. If Rock had the means and an idea of how to take Wolf down once and for all, Parker couldn’t just walk away.

“I might’ve called you for help, but I didn’t ask you to do anything illegal,” Angelo countered, looking as if he wanted to leap across the desk and throat-punch the guy.

Heated seconds ticked by with Rock and Angelo staring each other down. The tension was palpable. Thick enough to cut with a chainsaw, and Parker wasn’t sure how to slice through it.

Then Rock broke eye contact. “Fine, I won’t do anything that could bring heat to any of us, and whenwedo go after Wolf, I’ll keep everything aboveboard.”

Angelo released a low, menacing growl. “Why don’t I believe you?”

“You can believe whatever the hell you want, but I’m serious. I told you, Zen, and my mother that I was cleaning up my act, and I have. Now that I have a niece and a nephew, I want to make sure I’m a part of their lives. Besides, the last thing I need in my life is your former DEA cronies, the Feds, or even ATF breathing down my neck.” He shook his head and cringed. “Nope, I don’t need that type of shit again.”

Parker and Angelo were not just coworkers, they were friends, and Parker didn’t want any bad blood between them.

Still, he wanted to be rid of Wolf. If he could ensure that Rock kept everything legal, or if nothing else, maintained several layers of protection between him and his criminal contacts, then Parker wanted to move forward.

But before he made any decisions or promised anything, he needed to have a conversation with Chelsey. She hadn’t said much during this meeting, and whatever he decided to do would affect her as well as him.

She was giving him a second chance with her, and there was no way he’d mess that up. Which meant he needed to tread carefully on all fronts, but could he do thatandbe connected to Rock in any way?

Chapter Twenty

Wolf increased the speed on the treadmill as he started to relax into his evening run. Normally he tried to get his workout in first thing in the morning by running outside. It hadn’t worked out this morning. He’d been pulled into too many different directions, but it was all good. Business was growing faster than he anticipated, and if it meant more work for him, so be it.

The Kingz had been moving three times as much product over the last six months, which was paying off big. For a couple of months earlier in the year, they’d struggled to keep up with demand. Their supplier had struggled to get product to them in a timely manner, and Wolf had to cut them loose. Now he was with a bigger supplier, and even with the price of product being a little higher, he was still turning a profit.

As his feet pounded on the treadmill in a rhythmic motion, his gaze went beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows. Tension eased from his body as streaks of yellow, orange, and purple painted the sky while the sun slowly made its descent.

Sunsets were one of many reasons why he would never move from the west coast. Especially considering he’d spent an obscene amount of money for his five-thousand-square-footpenthouse in La Jolla. It was worth every penny, thanks to the La Jolla Cove views that were breathtaking.

Yeah, this was the perfect way to wind down after a busy day.

Forty-minutes later, Wolf started his cool-down and noticed the news was on television. It wouldn’t have caught his attention had he not seen the words Lit Crystal at the bottom of the screen. He quickly grabbed the remote from the cupholder and unmuted the television.

Authorities confirm that there have been three more deaths linked to Lit Crystal, the latest drug cocktail that has hit the streets of San Diego. One of those deaths is that of a local drug dealer, Mario Jenson, known on the streets as Polar. He was found dead late last night in an Ocean Beach apartment from a suspected overdose of Lit Crystal. We’ll have more on that later, as law enforcement is still investigating.

In other news…

Wolf stopped the treadmill and pulled his cell phone from the other cupholder. As he shot off a quick text to Elder, he was relieved that local law enforcement wouldn’t be sniffing around the Kingz. So far, Lit Crystal hadn’t been officially linked to them, and Wolf wanted to keep it that way. Now that Polar was dead, authorities would be all over The Titans, the crew that Polar ran with. So far, the attention wasn’t on the Kingz.

Before he could set his phone down, Elder entered the home gym.

“That was quick,” Wolf said and wiped his face with the towel that was hanging from his shoulder. “I just texted you.”

“I had just walked into the apartment,” Elder said as he looked at his cell phone screen. “So Polar got a hold of our product, huh? Good riddance. Dude was becoming a menace, and if the drug hadn’t taken him out, one of the Kingz would’ve.”

“Yeah, well, we’re going to need to get that last batch off the streets and recut it. You should know as well as I do thatit’s bad business to kill off our clients. We want them high, not dead. Besides, since the authorities don’t know where the drug is coming from, we need to keep it that way. Too many deaths might draw attention our way and we can’t have that.”

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