Page 120 of Menace

He was still pacing when Pablo walked in, there was fine blood splatters on his white shirt. His dark eyes glistened the way they always did when he had spent time in his special room.

“She is who she said she is. Harper Delaney. She’s the woman of the head of the Irish. She has no idea where Joaquin is.” He said. “What do I do with her, do I kill her?”

Jorge whipped around to face his son.

“You do nothing. I’ve talked to the bikers and they want the woman and her child handed over unharmed.” Jorge snarled and waved his phone in the air. “You and Carmella are going to bring us down with the way you act without thinking. We needed the bikers to not suspect what we were planning. And what happened? Carmella and her thirst for blood and dick, that’s what happened. She’s a liability and she’s proved it by snatching the woman and son of a mafia boss. A mafia boss with far reaching connections.”

He sighed and threw himself into the chair next to a silently watching Pablo.

Carlos knew he was watching him and Jorge, trying to figure them out. His nephew didn’t understand how their power sharing worked. He sighed internally. Neither Pablo nor Carmella were prepared to share power. They both wanted to be in sole control of the business. Los Rojos will be ripped apart by their fighting if they ever took over from him and Jorge.

Meeting his brother’s eyes he read the same realisation there. Contrary to what Pablo and Carmella thought he was the man at the head of the cartel, his word was law. No one else. He wasn’t scared of Pablo and his rages and he knew what he was about to say would have one of those erupting. And this time Joaquin wasn’t here to calm him down. Not that it mattered.

“Maniac, the leader of the bikers, has reached out to Jorge. They have information about Joaquin and won’t give us anything until we hand over Harper Delaney. As your father said, they want her back unharmed.” Carlos said, watching Pablo closely.

Pablo frowned then laughed and shrugged as if it what he had done to the woman didn’t matter.

“Well, she’s alive but she’s a bit cut up at the moment.”

Jorge’s phone pinged several times and he ignored the two of them to read through the messages. Once done he closed his eyes, his lips drawn in a thin line.

Opening his eyes he looked at Carlos.

“We have shit, big shit. Asa Malone arrived earlier, on a private plane owned by Dominick Maingarde, and he headed straight for the SWMC clubhouse. He is there now, with his men.”

Pablo snorted in derision and Jorge’s hand swung out, viciously backhanding his son in the face. Pablo jerked back, rage burning in his eyes but he did nothing, he just licked the tiny bit of blood from his split lip.

“You imbecile. If you paid attention to what I’m trying to teach you then you would understand how important it is that he arrived on a plane owned by Maingarde. The same Maingarde who destroyed the Harrison Organisation and their allies. Letting the Irish use his private plane means he’s allied to them, and if the Irish allies with the bikers, and they will, it means Dominick Maingarde’s eyes are going to turn to us, to Los Rojos. And if Maingarde takes an interest in our business then so will the Irish and the Russians. We can’t afford to have the Russians taking an interest in our business, not right now.”

Carlos sat quietly waiting. Jorge looked at him, shrugged and continued.

“We need to arrange a time and a place to exchange her and the boy for the information Pablo wants. Call in the doctor and let him see to our guest. Once she’s patched up and can walk without obvious pain we do the exchange in a public place.” He glared at Pablo. “In the meantime you keep Carmella, her brother and those bikers she brought with her away from the woman. Make sure nothing happens to the baby, if anything happens to him Malone is going to start a war that we will lose. We aren’t in territory we control, we’re in theirs, which means we’re weak. I will contact the damned bikers and set something up.” He looked at Carlos then at Pablo.

“The two of you need to prepare our defences and clear a way to the yacht. I want us away from here and out at sea where they can’t get to us.”

Pablo snorted. “Papa, if they don’t return Joaquin to me I’m going to kill the bitch. You tell them. You tell Asa Malone I am going to kill his whore and take his son. I don’t care who his allies are. I don’t care who comes for us. All I want is my son and if I don’t get him I will take his.” He shoved the chair back and stood. “You tell him.”

With that he turned and stormed out of the study.

Carlos looked at Jorge and they both sighed.

“We need new heirs who have a brain and aren’t crazy.” Jorge said softly.

Carlos nodded.

“I know. When we get Joaquin back I will watch him closely, see if he has what it takes to be in our business.”

Jorge shook his head. “He’s lost to us already. His grandmother raised him to be a good boy, to hate everything we are. I’m not going to go against her, she’s too powerful. I pity whoever took Joaquin from her, that witch will burn them in a bonfire and laugh as they burn.”

Carlos smiled. “Well, that means we have to try again, brother. Maybe we’ll be lucky the next time around.”

Jorge laughed. “Maybe, but we’ll have to choose good women, not the bitches we’ve had before. And we’re not getting any younger.”

He snorted and his brother smiled.

“Let’s get this mess cleaned up, brother.” He said. “Then we’ll consider who will have the honour of carrying our new heirs.”

Jorge nodded, sighed, stood and walked out.

---