Page 38 of Up in Flames

I’m in the yellow room again, along with Trap, while we wait for Alfie to bring in Malone—the asshole undercutting us. Alfie rounds the corner, strutting in with his vibrant ginger hair next to Malone, dressed as usual in his pristine suit and looking as arrogant as ever with his blue tie and gold tie clip. His silver hair is manicured to within an inch and swished over to the side, and his freshly trimmed beard looks perfectly neat, covering his square jaw. He looks every part the bustling politician he is.

“Malcolm Malone, it’s good to see you, Governor,” I state, putting out my hand to shake his.

He takes my hand in a firm grip and nods. “Cain. Look, as you know, I’m the Governor of Louisiana and a very busy man. I can’t just drop everything and come here for a chat and a cigar whenever you want me to.”

I let out a bemused laugh. “No, of course not, Governor, my apologies. But I wouldn’t bring you here unless we had some important discussions to go over with you.”

He cocks his head to the side and raises his brow in curiosity. “Well, get on with it. I have to prepare for the National Governors Association business meeting. It’s in the Virgin Islands...” He raises his eyebrows up and down. “So help me, Lord, I hope the ‘virgin’ part of the ‘island’ lives up to its name.” He winks at me as he uses air quotes, and my lip turns up.

And now I remember why I despise this guy so much.

“Governor, please, have a seat,” I instruct while gesturing to the singular seat in the room.

He nods, tugging on his jacket collar, and sits without a thought. Alfie closes the door to the yellow room, and I smile, leaning back, bending my knee, and propping my foot back on the wall. I peer up at the ceiling, trying to drag this out as much as possible.

This cunt needs to know his place.

And right now, I am the man to show him.

“Cain, c’mon, you know I’m working your profits nicely. Everything is running smoothly on my end. You can trust me.” His eyes squint, and he smiles weakly as I stifle a laugh.

I push off the wall and head over to the cabinet, also painted in yellow. “You see, Malone, the problem is, I don’t think Icantrust you…” I pause for effect and continue, “Here’s my issue. Alfie here is a wiz on the computer, and while you say you’re working our profits nicely, I think you’re workingourprofits and then turning them intoyourprofits.”

His eyes open wide, and his head snaps to the door a little too dramatically as Trap steps in front of it, blocking his path even though he’s still seated.

“Fuck.”

“Mmm… fuck is correct.You,of all people, should know, Governor, that when you deal with the Baton Rouge Bachelors, you’re not dealing with small fries. We have eyes on everything. Ears on everything, includingyourbank account. We know where your money comes and goes. Even your bank account in the Cayman Islands.”

“How the fuck…” he drifts off as he looks around to Alfie, who smiles wide and nods.

“Oh, it’s true, I see all the hookers too. Man, your wife would besooodisappointed,” Alfie jabs.

Malone grits his teeth and sits taller while clenching his jaw from side to side. “Right, what do you want?”

I chuckle. “Your son… Caleb, is it? You got into this because of him and his little drug problem, right?” He glances at me suspiciously and nods. “You want him to stay sober by thinking you can control where the drugs are going in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, so you take over selling and distributing them. Isthatwhat you were trying to do?” I ask.

He slumps his shoulders, no longer the big man in the room. “Yes. I was attempting to make sure it went to the right places. You know, only the less fortunate parts of town and stayed out of the better parts. I’m doing my civic duty. I’m making the state better, Cain.”

A loud snort erupts from my mouth, and I shake my head. “And you think you’re the only person we deal with, Governor? You think you’re theonlydrug lord in the state of Louisiana?”

He frowns and swallows hard. “No, but I’m your biggest client. I take the most, right?”

Exhaling, I raise my brow and tilt my head. “We have another who is on par with you, Governor. You’re not the best on our books, but youarethe most crooked.” I raise my eyebrow. “So what are we supposed to do about that? You’re high profile, so we can’t do anything to you personally… can we?” I tilt my head menacingly as I glare at him.

His breath catches in his throat as he looks from me to Trap, then to Alfie. “What does that mean?”

I shrug. “Well, the NLGA business meeting in the Virgin Islands is coming up. We could arrange a press announcement that you have a Cayman Islands bank account and are squirreling money away… but where would they say you’re getting the money from?”

“Cain!” He grunts as he sits taller in the chair.

“Or, we could go a step further and announce that you’ve been selling drugs to the less fortunate parts of Louisiana to make sure it doesn’t get into the better parts… doing your civic duty and all—”

“Fuck, Cain. No, you can’t. It would ruin me!”

I nod and take a breath. “No, you’re right. I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking straight. It’s just, you know, people think they can outwit us, and it gets my back up. I lose control for a second, and thenBAM…” I slam my fist on the table loudly, making him jump, “… something fucking bad happens.”

He opens his eyes wide as I reach into the yellow cupboard and pull out an iPad. I press the video call button, and Morgan answers right away.

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