Page 10 of One (The Towns Syndicate #2)

Ally

“ T his is a great security system,” Winchester said as he looked at the monitors and god knows what else Mars had hooked up yesterday.

“It was expensive as hell, so it better be good,” I said, looking at the security set up that was somehow hooked up to an iPad and also my phone if I wanted it to be.

“Did he put some cameras in the forest behind us like I suggested?” Ruger asked, crossing his arms standing next to Winchester.

“Yeah, this screen is everything around us,” Winchester said, pointing out different areas on a screen.

All this tech was giving me a headache, and I wished I knew more than just how to work my phone, but I guess this is what I paid people to do. I had a few interviews lined up for this afternoon to talk about a few new positions I needed while Winchester and Ruger did a delivery for me.

It was an old contact from Kris that I had actually dealt with before, so there was no surprise when Blake had heard I had taken over.

He was actually happy that I had, and I told him I would make sure he was taken care of.

So, I wasn’t needed at this delivery and I was glad.

If I could manage the rest of the deliveries like this, I could focus on so much more.

“The truck is loaded up,” Lance said as he came into the room.

“Great,” I said, nodding at him to follow me out of the room. “This should be an easy deal, but just stay alert.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” he said, giving me some files.

“Everyone’s coming in today, Mav also has a copy too,” he said.

“Mav?” I raised a brow at him. “Pet names now?”

He rolled his eyes at me. “No, and don’t look into it.”

“Oh, now I definitely am!” I called out as he walked away from me.

Did he have a crush? I felt like she would eat him alive, but hey, maybe he liked a woman in control and I think Lance would look good on his knees. I smirked as I looked through the files walking to my office.

“Hey sugar tits,” Maverick said as I walked into my office. She had already made herself comfortable as she sat in my chair with her feet up on my desk.

“Maverick, must you put your dirty ass boots on my desk?” I glared at her.

“You took forever to get here, and I was just getting comfortable,” she shrugged, putting her feet down. “I looked at the files and I like these the best.”

“Ok, let me look through these and see if we matched on any of these,” I said as I finished looking through my pile.

She threw a knife in the air as she looked through her phone, not bothering to look at it, catching it by the handle every single time.

Maverick was feared just as much as her male counterparts and I’d be a liar if I said I wasn’t jealous of her.

No one protected her, she did that herself, and her reputation was widely known.

Men didn’t fuck with her because she would flay them alive. I wanted that. I needed that.

“Ok, it seems like we like these men,” I said, laying out the files.

Maverick looked over the files.

“Ok, but I think you should consider this guy.” She handed me a file. “He’s been in drugs for a while, and his references are great, plus he’s worked for the man the guys are delivering to now.”

I opened his file and read it over more thoroughly. Arthur Volt was a man in his late thirties that had been in the drug business for a while. Something told me to say no, but I nodded and put him in the yes pile, since she liked him. This still felt foreign to me, interviewing bad guys.

“Let these through,” I said and handed her the pile. “Come get me when the first one arrives.”

“You got it, boss,” she said as she left the room.

I sank back into my seat already tired. This was my least favorite part of the job.

“So how long did you work for Blake?” I asked, looking over Arthur's file again.

“Blake and I worked together for about ten years,” Arthur said, leaning forward, smiling. “He’s a great man.”

I raised my eyebrow at him. Blake wasn’t a great man.

I saw him shoot a man in the face after he spilled his beer.

He was tolerable, he was a grumpy asshole and the only reason I dealt with him is because he hated Kris.

He was nice to me because I didn’t fuck with his shit, and he didn’t give me a hard time.

“That word isn’t what I would use to describe Blake,” I said.

“My sister was pregnant, and my deadbeat brother-in-law had left her. He let me take care of her until I could get her help,” he said, looking thoughtful. “I would do anything for my sister and my niece, and he gave me the freedom to do so.”

Arthur wasn’t my first choice, hell he wasn’t even my pick, but Maverick seemed to know what she was talking about. I liked that he took care of his family.

“How are your sister and niece?” I was curious.

His face lit up. “Great, my sister just became a nurse, and my niece is in first grade.”

“That’s great,” I said, studying him for a second.

He looked happy for his sister, and I loved that he was happy for her.

“And why aren’t you with Blake anymore?” I asked and set the folder down. “If you're good at your job, I can’t imagine he would want to let you go.”

“I was stupid enough to leave because I thought I could make more money with another dealer,” he said looking remorseful. “Blake wasn’t too happy, and I was an idiot. I needed more money to support my sister and her baby.”

“You didn’t ask Blake for more?” Arthur looked uncomfortable.

“I should have, I was panicking,” he sighed.

“Babies are not cheap, and she didn’t take to breastfeeding so we were buying formula, and she was also sensitive to lactose so we had to buy a special kind.

Doctor’s appointments, clothes, diapers and everything became overwhelming.

After all she had sacrificed, I didn’t want to say no to my sister's dreams of becoming a nurse either.”

My kneejerk reaction was to tell him he was hired, but my instincts said I needed to wait.

“I appreciate your honesty,” I said, leaning forward. “I expect your honesty and communication if you work here. We can’t help each other if we don’t know what's going on.”

“I didn’t handle the stress well, and I regret not speaking to Blake about it," he said looking up at me, like he was owning up to his faults. “I left his crew and while I didn’t regret it at first, I did later.”

My phone vibrated and then pinged multiple times. I silenced it without looking at the messages.

“Who did you work with after Blake?”

“I worked with some smaller guys in Denver and moved around until we stayed in Las Vegas for a bit with Mario,” he said. “When he was busted by the feds a few months ago, I decided to come back since my sister was back this way and?—”

My phone rang, interrupting him. I sighed seeing Boogie's name pop up, but sent him to voicemail. King’s name immediately popped up after his, and something felt wrong.

“’Scuse me,” I said, before I answered the phone. “What?”

“A sensor in the woods and a window sensor have gone off,” King said quickly.

My body erupted in goosebumps and the door opened as Maverick came in.

“Noelle,” she said. Her expression was tight.

I passed the phone to her. “Figure it out,” I snapped.

Fear threatened to take over, I pushed it down. I was in the middle of the compound with ten men in the building and I had Maverick with me. I was safe.

“Everything ok?” Arthur had his brow raised.

“Yeah, just working out the kinks in our security system,” I said, trying to stay calm.

“I’m sure the transition of power is hard, and people are chomping at the bit to take over,” he said matter-of-factly. “Men in this line of work are threatened by women who do this job better than them.”

“What makes you think I’m doing a better job than they are?” I asked suspiciously.

“I’ve seen my sister raise a child while going to school,” he shrugged.

“She graduated on the Dean’s List, and she is now thinking of going back to school to become a nurse practitioner.

Men think women are only good for ensuring our future, but I think you could rule the world with more efficiency than fifty men. ”

I studied him, thinking he was too good to be true, but he looked sincere.

“Why do you think a woman runs the town better than her father did?” he smirked. “It’s a family who runs the towns, but until she came into the picture, the towns were floundering.”

I couldn’t help but smile at that information. I had heard the whispers about the Mayor and what she had had to clean up.

“Thanks for coming, Arthur,” I said, standing up as the door opened again.

Maverick held the phone out to me, with a scowl on her face.

“Maverick will escort you out and we will be in touch," I said, dismissing him.

“Thanks for seeing me, Noelle,” he said and shook my hand. “I look forward to working together.”

I nodded as he buttoned his coat and left with Maverick.

“Yes,” I said, holding the phone to my ear.

“Stay inside, do not leave,” King clipped.

“Is that really?—”

“Two more sensors were tripped,” he said quickly, as I heard his bike start.

“King,” I said, my heart skipping a beat. “You don’t have to come, I have?—”

“We are an hour away,” he sighed. “Boogie and I know the system and I want to check it ourselves. No one leaves.”

“I just finished an interview, I can’t make him stay,” I snapped.

“Boogie will call Mav,” King said as he revved his engine. “Stay put, Doll.”

He ended the call. I sighed thinking this was overkill, but a sick part of me liked that they were coming to check on me. The distance was killing me and every day it was getting harder to quell the urge to quit and just live at Halloween Town with them.

I left my office, tempted to go to the room with all the cameras, but that would only make me worry more, so I walked to my room to get my thoughts in order.

The quiet hallways unnerved me, my heart beat faster as my mind raced with thoughts that someone was inside the compound.

I walked into my room and felt better when I locked myself in.

This was getting stupid. I was safe here, Maverick was here along with a few of my men.

There was no way someone could get to me.

I walked to my bed and froze when I noticed a note was in the middle with blood red letters that read ‘DEAD SLUT’ and the outfit I used to wear was covered in what looked to be blood.