Page 9 of Chosen By Blood

“I was just telling the boss that uh…we have a problem with one of our distributors.” Nate let out a deep breath. “We think they might be stealing from us. The books came up short last month and the product was a little light this month. We’re having everybody round up.”

“We’re doing that now?” I asked, sliding the chain of my small purse over my shoulder.

Nate shook his head. “No, ma’am. We got some other things to attend to first. Then we’ll get to the bottom of it. Need to figure things out first.”

“Okay,” I said, looking him in the eye. “Keep me informed.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Nate moved toward the door. My father kissed me on my forehead. “Have a good day.”

“You, too.” I smirked. “Don’t forget to take your medicine and don’t eat a plate of bacon for lunch. But add some vegetables.”

“Lettuce and tomato?” He chuckled.

“Good enough.” I sighed which only made him laugh. I was glad that my father and I shared the same sense of humor.

I gave him one last look over my shoulder and then Nate closed the door behind us.

When we were a few steps away from the car, I turned to him. “Did you call me ma’am?”

He smiled. “Addie, you’re the Underboss now. I can call you ma’am or sir. It’s a sign of respect for your rank in this family now. Own it.”

Nate moved around me and headed toward the car. He opened the back door to me. I got in and he closed the door and then got into the front with Joe. Apparently, Joe liked to drive so Nate let him.

I learned from experience never to ride in the front with the guys. Always ride in the back. It’s too easy to get capped from behind when you ride in the front. My father taught me that. I sighed as I watched the scenery pass outside the window. My father had taught me a lot of things.

I was so ready for all the push back that I hadn’t been prepared for someone being okay with me taking over the family. Nate and I didn’t know each other well, but he respected my father. And he always did what he was told. He was a good soldier.

Most of the day was uneventful. Nate explained that the point of the day was to show me around. Show me where the businesses were and what they did. He basically wanted me to get a lay of the land. We had lunch at a restaurant called Mae’s, an amazing Chinese restaurant that I loved since I was a kid. It had the best Chinese food in town. We didn’t pay for our food and the owner, Mr. Young, slipped Nate a thick white envelope before we left.

“So, they pay us a protection fee?” I asked when we got in the car.

“Yes.” Nate handed me the envelope. “Them and some other businesses. In exchange, we make sure none of the other delinquents in the neighborhood mess with them and they don’t get hassled by ICE. Since they’ve been paying us, they haven’t been robbed.”

I gave the envelope back. I knew some of the ins and outs of what we did but not everything. My father wanted me to know just enough. He had me do certain things for him, but I think that was just to test me. To see if I could handle the gritty aspects of the business. I’ve beaten people, stabbed people, and extracted information from people. I’ve killed people. But I’ve never dealt with the business side of things.

I sighed, leaning back in my seat.

“What’s wrong?” Nate’s head snapped up, his eyes filled with concern.

“Killing people seems easier than the business side of things.”

Nate and Joe laughed.

“It’s not supposed to be.” Joe smiled.

“It’s not to most people. For most people, killing someone is harder,” Nate added.

“I find it relatively easy.” I looked at my nails, making a mental note to have them done.

Nate and Joe exchanged a look, lifting their eyebrows.

“Killing someone is easy,” I clarified. “I mean, we’re all just sacks of flesh. You stab the right part of a body. Fall the wrong way. Hit your head and that’s it. You’re dead. No, killing people is easy. But living with it is what’s hard. You’ve taken their life. Snuffed it out. There’s no coming back from that. But you’d be surprised at how easy it is to live with once you’ve done it a few times.”

The car was silent until Nate’s phone rang.

“They’ve gathered the guys together.” Nate clicked off his phone and slipped it back into his suit pocket. “So, we need to head over to the warehouse.”

“Okay,” I said, leaning forward. “Now, explain this to me.”

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