Page 55 of Brutal Knight

I satin a darkened corner of Bourbon's office, antsy to get out of here, despite the joint I'd smoked on my way over.

Tatiana had disappeared.

It had been three days since I’d heard from her, despite her promise to stay at my house.

It wasn’t uncommon for her to disappear from my life but my gut instincts told me something was wrong.

I'd texted and called, with no answer. Then I’d tried Rook but he'd only sent me the middle finger emoji in response.

I'd let it go.

Until tonight, when I'd gotten a phone call from Candy, one of the other strippers, that Tatiana hadn't shown up for work.

I'd barely hung up when Coulter had texted, telling me to get my ass to Bourbon's office for a meeting. Bourbon wasn't the kind of boss to hold meetings just because he needed his ass scratched, so I knew it was important.

The door opened and Dante strode inside, the scowl permanently etched on his face in place.

He paused, noting that everyone else was already here. His scowl grew deeper and, without a word, sat next to Torian on the black, leather sofa across from Bourbon’s desk.

Now that we were all here, without saying a word, Bourbon pulled out a clear Ziploc bag and deliberately placed it on his desk. There looked to be about a hundred pink pills inside, stamped with a crown - our logo under the old Don.

No one spoke. It was our ozone pills, but something was different about them.

When ozone first came out, it was branded as a designer drug. Popular actors, musicians, and influencers were hired to use it in clubs across the country, while withholding supply of the product.

That made the demand, and the price, skyrocket.

It had taken us months ofnegotiationsto get access to the pills—something the Mendoza cartel was itching to take from us.

"This," Coulter finally spoke, pointing at the bag, "was confiscated from one of Mendoza’s men, selling at Posh.”

Dante, who was sitting closest to Bourbon’s desk, grabbed the bag, studying it. "They’ve done something to it."

Bourbon nodded. "Exactly."

"What did they do?" I asked, trying to get to the point quickly.

"They've added fentanyl,” Coulter answered.

Once again, the room was silent as everyone processed this.

One of the reasons ozone was so popular was because it was similar to ecstasy: it was a fun drug with little to no risk of overdosing. But now, if the cartel was adding fentanyl...

I broke the silence, “How many people have died?"

"Five. Four were at the same party, a private one.” Coulter said. “One more, after leaving one ofourclubs."

"Shit," Dante cursed.

Bourbon looked at us. “We need to find out where they're cutting this. Take one of their men, get the information from him."

"What happened to the guy you caught with this?” Dante nodded towards the bag.

"He’s dead,” Torian answered.

“Did you at least get anything from him first?” Dante asked.

“No, he died when we confiscated it.” Torian said.

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