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“I’m already on assignment, Sir.” Todd replied.

“What fucking assignment?” I demanded. “I’m the one handing out jobs and this is the only one I’ve given you.”

“Uh…” Todd went pale, his eyes widening as they bounced between me and Phil, and he took a step back with his hands up.

“He’s working for Joey.” Phil interjected.

“Todd, go wait over there.” I pointed at a stack of crates near the farthest visible wall and then turned on Joey. “Why the fuck do you have one of our men on a job only you and Phil seem to know about? One I clearly haven’t signed off on!” I demanded.

Joey drew up, squaring his shoulders as he turned toward me. He tilted his head to one side and sneered. “I wasn’t aware I needed to ask permission to assign a job that I needed done to one ofourmen.”

“It seems like you aren’t aware of a lot these days.” I shot back. “In case you haven’t fucking noticed, our organization is in shambles. We’re back at square fucking one, something you weren’t there to experience the first time. So, theonlyjob right now is getting this organization back on track, rebuilding and recruiting, not whatever secretive bullshit you’ve got going on.”

“You’re acting like I’m not aware that we need to be getting our shit back on track! That’s what I’m fucking doing, and I don’t need your permission to decide how I do that!” He crossed his arms over his chest and lifted his chin in defiance. “Imighthave been around to help with building and recruiting in the beginning, but between you and my brother I was relegated toproving myselffor most of that! You can’t sideline me and then use it against me!”

“You never proved yourself! If Rich hadn’t brought you in, you’d be dead.” I snapped.

“Oooh shiiit!”

“Shut it, Leighton!” I barked out just as the sound of Phil’s palm cracking against Leighton’s skull rang out in the warehouse. Turning my attention back to Joey, I stepped into his space. “What you did was get yourself in too fucking deep and on the wrong side of the Golden Devils for slinging dope in their territory. If Rich hadn’t claimed you as one of us, they wouldhave put you down for the slight. All because you were too much of a fucking child to take your brother’s ‘no’ for an answer.”

Joey’s arms dropped to his sides, his fists clenched and his jaw tense as he stepped toward me so we were chest to chest. “You fucking liar.” He leaned back enough to shove at my shoulder, his face screwing up when it didn’t have the effect he wanted. “I know I screwed up as a kid, but don’t make it worse than it fucking was. I caught some charges, and the Horsemen had to bail me out. I worked off that debt, and Rich said I worked off my debt. He put me where he did so I could use my skills for everyone’s benefit. I know you always wanted his spot, but don’t you put words in his fucking mouth now that he’s gone!”

I crowded back into his space so that we were nearly nose to nose and dropped my voice to a dangerous whisper. “No, you got caught by cops on the Devil’s payroll. Rich sent you to your parent’s to hide out whilewesorted out how to pay the fucking tax on money we never made. Youcostus, little brother. But it was a cost we gladly agreed to pay to keep you breathing. If you don’t believe me, ask Craig. If you don’t believe him… Well, Helen will be here in a week with our delivery, you can ask her just how close you were to a nine between the eyes.”

I moved back just enough to shoulder-check him hard as I stepped around him and toward the exit. The need to hit something was riding me hard after Joey’s insinuations. He wasn’t in a place to reckon with his misconceptions, but if he didn’t get his head out of his ass soon, he was in for one hell of a shock.

Chapter Sixteen

Joey

“Joey…” Craig’s voice came through the speakers of the laptop Phil had set up for him to join the meeting via conference call.

“Save it, Craig.” I bit out, stomping over and slamming the laptop closed.

My eyes skimmed the almost empty warehouse, briefly landing on Leighton and Phil tearing into a tin can of popcorn before finding Todd where he’d been ordered to wait. I stomped to Todd, causing the man to blanche as my shadow fell across him under the harsh fluorescent lights.

“Keys,” I ordered, holding out my hand. “You and me are going on a little drive.”

Todd gulped, his hand visibly shaking as he struggled to retrieve his keys from his hoodie pocket. The overloaded keyring jangled loudly, echoing across the space as he placed them in my hand.

“Should…” his voice trembled almost as severely as his hands. “Should I let my ol’ lady know I won’t be coming back, boss?”

“Fuck’s sake, Todd. I’m not taking you out back to shoot you. I have something I need to do and I’m not particularly in the mood to ride bitch on Leighton’s bike.”

Todd visibly relaxed and stood from his seat, motioning me to follow him out of the exit opposite where Az had left. He led me through the empty parking lot to a travesty of a fucking car. It looked like he drove it straight off a ‘Fast and Furious’ set and set out to make it evenmoreobnoxious. With an irritated sigh, I climbed into the driver’s seat and waited for Todd to get in and buckle his seatbelt.

“Do you have any experience taking out security equipment?” I asked as I pulled onto the road and drove away from the warehouse.

“Some. I mean, I’m no Craig, but if it’s not too complex I can knock it out for maybe fifteen with my homemade emp if I get close enough.”

“Shit. Fine. That will have to do.” I said, more to myself than Todd.

He shot me a puzzled glance that I didn’t bother providing further explanation for. The last thing I needed was for him to narc me out to Phil, who would then narc me out to Az… again. At least not before I found the evidence I needed to prove that Victoria Bristol was a fucking snake and that Az was wrong about how I earned my place.

Glancing at my watch as we drew closer to my destination, I silently cursed Todd’s vehicle choice again. There were plenty of hours left til daylight, but the fucking hunk of fiberglass he called a ride was going to stick out like a sore thumb in Hugo Bristol’s neighborhood.

“Todd,” I said abruptly. “You need to ditch this piece of shit and find something nondescript if you want to stay away from the end of my gun. No way in hell you’re tailing Theodore Abrams in this fucking thing and going unnoticed.”