Page 19 of Fixate (Devious Mafia Daddies #2)

Ricardo

On the night of the shipment, my plan was in place. I knew that no matter what happened, we would catch the next rat in the ranks.

It had been tedious work making sure that everyone's plans and information was different. I had to give them each a different path to take and timelines so that they would pass the information on incorrectly.

That also meant that I spent an entire day staking out the areas that I knew they were trying to hit. I had set up surveillance at most of them, but since I had a strong idea of who was involved, I went to one in particular myself.

I wanted to be there to grab the motherfucker the minute he showed up, thinking he could take what wasn't his.

As I waited, I concentrated over everything that had happened with Pharrell. I didn't understand what was going on with him. There was so much to unpack about the way I felt for him.

When I came here, I had an inkling of something more being there. I knew that he was consistently on my mind any time his name was brought up, and I felt this ache in the pit of my stomach when I thought of him with others.

Even his wife was on my shit list simply because she held that title in his life. I never liked her.

She acted like rainbows and sunshine to me, yet I knew it was all an act.

Of course, I had no idea how deep it went. When her plans were uncovered and she was executed, I thought I would feel relief.

Instead, I felt sad for Pharrell, because he lost someone he loved, and he would have the loss hanging over him for the rest of his life.

How does one get over a betrayal that steep? How do you overcome the one person that you're supposed to be able to trust the most doing what she did?

All I could do was be the support he needed. Whatever physical relationship we had was separate from the business.

During the day, we went into the office and handled paperwork and answered calls. We worked with security to keep the casinos and his clubs in line.

Then at night, we would move on to the darker side of the business. We would handle discussions of shipments and making sure that everything was set up to go to plan.

Every second I spent with him fueled the desire I felt, but I didn't dare act on it, not when others could see us. When we would go back to his home every evening, it was as if a dam broke.

Our need would overflow, and we would be tangled in each other's arms before we even made it out of the living room.

More than once, I had to gather my clothing and take it into the bedroom before going to sleep because I couldn't stand the idea of leaving the mess behind.

On and on that went. It felt like we had settled into this unspoken agreement. Neither of us chose to talk about what was going on. And I sure as hell wasn't going to be the person to discuss feelings and relationship statuses.

I wasn't even gay.

This was just... a thing we were doing.

It was comfort. I was supporting him in every way I knew how.

Did it feel good? Yeah, of course it did.

Was I curious about what else there was to do? Also, yes.

But at the end of the day, I wasn't going to push for more. I couldn't.

Not when there was too much riding on me being here and helping him out.

I was so lost in thought I almost missed the headlights coming down the road. They slowed as they approached the drop-off point that I had told my suspected rat. He shut off the headlights as he drove the car around back.

It was a good location to hide in and had I not already been here, I probably would have been startled at his position. He had done his research, it seemed.

In the end, it wouldn't matter because I had surveillance footage of where we were as well.

When Pharrell asked me why I was bringing him a dead man's head, I would show this to him.

Of course, I could also take him alive so that Pharrell could do the killing himself. That idea did not hold as much merit.

I missed getting my hands dirty from time to time.

When Dante took on his role as The Monster, I had to take a step back. He handled all his vigilante work by himself for the most part. Occasionally, I would go with him to supervise, but he was the lone wolf type.

Not being with Preacher made him isolated. He created this individualistic ideal of himself.

I was merely the support staff.

Kind of like I was for Pharrell, except I never wanted to climb into bed and snuggle with Dante. I nearly laughed at the idea.

I pulled up the camera feeds on my tablet to see where our rat had gone. He was crouched on the side of the building, smoking like he had all day and night to wait out this process.

Whoever he was working for hadn't shown up. Did that mean they trusted him to handle the interception alone? Was he going to kill some of the men he called brothers? Had they really come this way?

I would have been able to see him play it off as if he had been attacked.

I had seen others who had turned their loyalty go so far as to punch themselves in the face or cut themselves open to bleed just to make it seem as if others had caused it. This guy would probably do the same.

I intended to make sure every wound he got was inflicted by someone else. He had crossed the wrong people.

With the screens still pulled up, I scaled down the side of the hilltop I had hidden on. I went over to the side of the road and waited carefully.

The wind howled, covering the sound of my steps across the gravel road. I kept moving slowly and steadily. He didn't need to get any kind of warning as to what was going to happen to him.

With him incapacitated, I could handle whoever else would show up.

I'd give them half an hour or so and if no one came, then we'd head back so I could make sure he got to meet Pharrell's darker side.

When I approached the side of the building, I tucked the tablet into the slot on the harness I wore and withdrew my gun. I slipped a silencer on it and eased to the edge of the building.

I wasn't going to give him a kill shot. Just needed enough to pin him down so I could tie him up.

A thigh maybe. Something that wouldn't go through a life-threatening vein.

This close, I could hear him grumbling to himself. “Fucking bullshit. Pharrell thinks he's hot stuff. He'll get what's coming to him. Oh yeah, we'll take him down. He shouldn't have hurt her. It wasn't his right.”

Realization hit.

This man was trying to avenge Pharrell's dead wife.

Was the loyalty to her so strong that he was going to risk the wrath of a man who was willing to slaughter anyone who turned against him?

The answer to that had to be yes since he was here alone and talking shit about his boss.

I took a deep breath and then rounded the corner. The idiot was too caught up in himself to even realize I was there. Was it going to take a song and dance to get his attention?

I made a clicking noise with my tongue. When he looked at me, I shot him in the arm and the leg. We'll call it a two for one special because he had pissed me off enough that he deserved it.

I took it as a personal attack when someone went after someone I cared for. Dante had had my loyalty and now it was with Pharrell. Preacher had it too, though that was by association more than anything.

“Fuck!” The guy yelled as he fell to the ground. With his good arm, he tried to yank out his own weapon, but I kicked the gun away.

“You fucked up. This could have been much easier had you just come forward with your feelings. Now you have to die, but not before we have a little fun.”

Furious eyes were aimed my way. “Who the fuck do you think you are? You're just a pawn in this. Don't play in big boy games.”

I scoffed harshly. “You think I'm the one playing in big boy games? You have two bullets in you right now, and I'm standing here perfectly fine. I'm going to tie you up and take you back to the warehouse. Might even call Pip and give him a head start to come have some fun.”

The guy paled at the mention of Pip. I noticed he had that effect on a lot of people. He was a psychopath at best. His methods of torture were infamous. And he had no rational plan for how he carried them out.

Hearing him talk about what he considered fun was enough to make even my stomach roil.

I said, “You're getting the picture now, aren't you? I won't even offer you a way to make this easy because there isn't one. You're going to tell us what we want to know and it's going to hurt. But you chose this, and actions have consequences.”

I spoke to him like he was a child because really, this was the childish decision on his part. He could have done what I said and brought his complaints to Pharrell.

Pharrell would have explained everything, I'm sure. Or at least enough to settle him down. He might have even given him a chance to leave the organization.

But instead, we were here.

I pulled out the zip ties I’d brought with me. My booted foot kicked him until he rolled over. Then I hog-tied him. I patted down his pockets to get his keys.

I'd had a rideshare drop me off here earlier. During the daylight hours, this looked more like an industrial complex that was still in use, so the guy didn't ask questions.

But now I had a vehicle and a body to transport. It worked out great.

Once I had the trunk open, I lifted the guy and threw him in back. I made sure there was nothing he could use to get himself free. Then I closed him up and whistled my way to the driver's seat.

I drove with the radio up loud since the asshole thought it would be fun to kick and scream the whole way back. Vegas was busy enough at night that no one paid any mind. I doubt they could have heard him anyway.

And if they stopped me, all I had to do was explain who I was and who I worked for, and they would probably leave me alone.

Pharrell's sway in this town rivaled that of the Romanos back home.

When I reached the warehouse, I drove into the open bay. The men around stopped what they were doing to watch. I climbed out, still whistling a tune.

Henri and Pip appeared, followed closely by Pharrell. They were unloading the shipment that I had chosen to have as a distraction. We had the drop completed earlier than I told everyone else, just to make sure it was secured.

The guns would be sold at a higher price, and the drugs were going to supply some of our wealthier clients.

"I've got a present for you," I said, grinning at Pharrell.

He arched his brow. Surely, he was surprised by my openly flirtatious tone.

It wasn't that I was trying to flirt with him. It's just when you bring a man a body to beat and interrogate, it's kind of a sweet gesture.

At least in our world it was.

I might as well have been declaring my love for him. Not that I loved him or anything. That wasn't what this was about.

I shook my head to dispel the errant thoughts as I opened the trunk and pulled the guy out. I placed him on his knees, which aggravated his wounds. He cried out, dropping his head forward.

The men walked over slowly, their gazes going from me to my prisoner to Pharrell and back.

Pip giggled like a little schoolgirl and rubbed his hands together. "What a present indeed? Tell me I get to play with it too.”

Henri smacked him with a clipboard. "Enough of that," he said.

Pip growled, then crossed his arms and huffed while waiting to see what I had to say.

I took in the eyes of the other men, seeing if anyone felt the urge to come forward and protect this man. If they were loyal to whomever this guy was loyal to as well, then they would feel the need to say something.

Their faces remained neutral. Only one seemed to show any sign of remorse. I suspected it was because he knew the guy on a deeper level rather than they were in some type of alliance.

I would still keep a close eye on him to be sure. People like this rarely worked alone. Where there was one rat, there were many.

Several had been extinguished, but one could never be too cautious in this line of work.

Pharrell approached. He stood far enough away to be out of reach but close enough to be heard when he said, "What's going on?"

I held my arms out wide as I put on a show of dominance. It was for the others, not him. He knew exactly how I was in my nature.

Now was not the time to think of that though.

“This is a present for you, Pharrell. I found him waiting at the location he thought the shipment was going to. He was going to intercept it. His back seat is full of weapons.”

Pharrell cocked his head to the side. He addressed the man kneeling before me.

"You wanted to steal from me?" he said, voice cruel.

The guy spit on the ground between him and where Pharrell stood. I kicked him in the back, making him land in what he just tried to use as an offensive gesture to our boss.

"You do not disrespect him!" I yelled, letting a bit of my hysterics show.

My whole life I've been known as the calm and collected one. I did what I was told.

But Pharrell had me on edge. Anyone who disrespected or betrayed him made me into a different person. They tested the limits of my patience in a way others never had.

I was far too emotionally involved, but there was nothing I could do about it.

With the man on the ground, Pharrell stepped right up to his face.

He turned the man’s head to where he was at an angle to be able to see him. When he looked down on the rat, he clicked his tongue and shook his head.

In a disappointed tone, he said, "I'm going to have to hurt you.

And while I don't necessarily enjoy hurting my men, I do enjoy weeding out the bad fruit.

So, we're going to go have a bit of fun, and you're going to tell me who you work for.

The longer you hold out, the more pain you will find.

Your screams will be so loud they'll hear them at the casino. There is no relief for those who betray me, only death.”

At his speech, the other men stood proudly, fists to their chest as they pledged allegiance to him. Their loyalty was tangible. I knew the others who were not here, the groups who were working on different projects that were a hundred percent loyal, would be doing the same.

He had legions of men at his disposal, though those numbers had been cut since the ordeal with his wife. I had no doubt he could build his ranks again.

People would fight to be able to work for Pharrell Lyon. He was just that magnetic. I knew because I had been caught in his gravity, and I didn't want to be set free anytime soon.