Page 72 of Filthiest Of Them All

“Well, you’re dealing with me,nother.” CJ smiles and it grates on my fucking nerves because he looks smug as fuck about my answer.

“She said you would say that.” I turn rigid.

“The fuck does that mean, Vatel?” Omen snaps. Out of all of my brothers, Omen is the one who is closest to Tate. How she was able to manage to get close to him is a mystery to me. Omen has steered clear of all females since Rosalina abused him.

CJ doesn’t falter. “I spoke with her last night.”

My face slackens. “She’s awake?” I breathe out unintentionally. I told Halo to stop tracking her and for the others not to keep tabs on her. In order for her to be truly safe from my enemies she needs to be nothing to me and the only way I can think of to do that is to act like she never existed. It’s the cruelest form of punishment to not only her but to myself as well. Tatum Lawson is venom in my veins. She’s a plague that haunts my every waking thought. For someone as small as her, she has taken up every ounce of space inside me, there isn't a crack or crevice she doesn’t own within me.

CJ nods. “She is and at the risk of pissing off the infamous Butcher, she’s pretty fucking mad at you.” I grind my teeth and breathe through my nose, trying to tame the anger unfurling inside me. CJ is young and has much to learn—he’s only twenty-two and still thinks like a child. If he has any hopes of taking over Chicago, he better harden the fuck up.

“Pissing me off is the least of your worries. Tatum’s anger rivals my own so I’d be very fucking cautious of pissing her off. She tends to throw things when she’s mad.”

CJ laughs and nods, and I fight against every instinct that tells me to leap across this table and smash his fucking smug face in. “She mentioned that as well.”

“Just how fucking friendly are you with Tate?” Omen hisses.

CJ crosses his arms over his chest and all trace of humor vanishes from his face, a hard look enters his eyes. “I respect her,” he says in a tone filled with malice. “Tatum Lawson is a good, honest woman and someone I consider a friend.”

“Yeah, well, she’s family to us,” Halo bites out.

“Can we get back to fucking business or are we going to sit here all day measuring how big our cocks are?” I snarl, then slam my hand down on top of the table.

“I made a deal with Tatum and I want to make sure you will honor that deal. I may respect her and consider her a friend of mine, but you and I both know that business and personal life should never mix. I want your word that you will honor the terms I agreed to with Tatum.”

“What were her terms?” I grit out, hating that I'm on the back foot. I’m still mad as hell that my brothers let her meet with the fucking don of the Vatel family. Tate has no business getting mixed up in my fucked up world. She’s too pure and perfect to be dragged into the darkness that I live in. The shadows are my friends, they have offered me comfort for years since I lost Ellie. Tatum is a bright light and chased those shadows from my life for a brief moment and for that, I will always be forever grateful to the blonde-haired goddess.

CJ runs his gaze over the five brothers behind me before finally settling his gaze on me. “The deal is that no member of the De Santis family will remain in Chicago. They will never come after my family and we are able to take over all their operations.”

I narrow my eyes and lean forward placing my elbows on the table. “Bullshit. Tatum wouldn’t have handed you everything and left them with nothing.”

CJ smirks. “It was worth a try,” he jokes but it falls flat, none of us are in a joking mood and all he is doing is pissing me the fuck off. “The operations you don’t want for the Denver Kings will be signed over to me.”

“You will?—”

He cuts me off before I can finish. “Before you even mention it, Tatum has already told me that the supply and demand for narcotics is one you will never want and I have assured her that any product I distribute will be tested and clean. I don’t deal in GHB, never have and never fucking will. You have my word on that, Butcher.”

Pride swells inside me. “We want the guns and a twenty percent cut in all the revenues that the hotels turnover?—”

Again this motherfucker cuts me off. “I can do fifteen percent. I already agreed to give Tate five percent for her helping me and I won’t renegotiate on that.” We spend another half hour hashing out the details. CJ will have a contract drafted and sent to Terry–my lawyer—to read over. “They are being held in the basement beneath us.” I frown and he shrugs. “I thought it was easier to bring them to you as a show of good faith.”

“Where are my brothers?” Pope asks.

CJ shakes his head. “I have no idea, we scooped up the shit stain and the bitch before they could flee out the back, but it was only the two of them. I’m assuming from the angry look on your face that if the twins are spotted you want them?”

“You and your men don’t fucking touch them. If you spot them you call us and we’ll deal with it,” Carnage growls.

“If they’re inmycity we’ll find them, you have my word,” CJ replies.

“Don’t fuck this up or fuckherover,” I warn.

“You gonna beat me up if I do?” CJ jokes.

“No. I’ll come back here and strap your ass to my table and give you a front row seat to how I earned the name Butcher.”

Alexander

I stand in the shadows and relish the sight of Desire strapped to my table while Nexus is chained to a seat near her. A shiver of anticipation rolls through me, I’ve had them here for nearly five days. Those cunts were thrown in the cargo hold of our plane and brought back to Denver with us, where they were transported straight here so I could claim my revenge. Desire is holding it together better than Nexus. He pissed himself within the first hour of being here.

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