Page 32

Reaper

November 30, 2024, Purgatory, California.

In my office, I sat watching the news unfold on television, shaking my head in disbelief and twirling my phone in my hand as I waited for the fucknut to contact me. My intuition told me with unwavering confidence that he would do exactly as I expected. Faced with a situation beyond his control, he was left with absolutely no choice. With each passing moment, more skeletons tumbled from his closet at an alarming rate, far exceeding his capacity to conceal them, thus unveiling the truth to the world at large.

Luckily for him, I was a patient man.

Well as patient as I could to be, because right now, it was taking everything in me not to board a plane and kill the motherfucker for just existing. Still, I had to trust that fucknuts knew what the fuck he was doing, and when my phone rang, I smirked and took a deep breath as I put my game face on.

It was time for him to face the Devil he knew.

“Reaper.”

“Fucknuts.” As his groan filled the air, I calmly offered a measured response, my demeanor steady despite his audible distress. “Is there something you want to tell me?”

“Not particularly, but I’m going to guess you saw the news.”

“Hard to fucking miss, since it’s on every goddamned channel.”

“How do you want to handle this?”

“You can do me a favor and put a bullet in your brain.”

“Not doing that.”

I sighed. “I warned you, Montana. I even offered my help.”

“I didn’t order the hit.”

“It doesn’t matter anymore. Nothing would have happened if you had kept your word.”

“Is there any way around this besides going to war?”

Oh, there were plenty of ways around this problem, but I would not give him the satisfaction of telling him that. I wanted the fucker to suffer first. Given the emotional turmoil he caused Remi, it seemed only right. Yeah, a bitter taste lingered, a resentment that refused to fade for what he had done.

“Reaper?” he growled, and when I didn’t respond, the fucker yelled, “Reaper!”

I had barely begun to formulate a response when a muffled conversation reached my ears, causing me to listen intently while shaking my head in disbelief, fully aware that fucknuts would never learn from his mistakes.

“What the fuck, Mercy?”

“You do not want to talk to him right now.”

“The hell I don’t. I’m trying to stop a fucking war.”

“Nothing you say will change his mind, brother. Trust me. Just hang up the phone. Fury is out. He dropped his cut. Threw his marker too. We can’t touch him. Vicious is gone. Took his kids and left.”

“Delany?”

“Gone,” I clearly heard Payne state. “Drove over this morning. All I found was that note nailed to the front door.”

And that’s when I couldn’t contain it anymore.

I fucking laughed. Fucker’s house had crumbled like a stack of dominos, collapsing in a matter of seconds.

“Tell me you muted that call.”

“See ya soon, fucknuts.” A low, guttural chuckle rumbled in my chest as I disconnected the call, the silence confirming my suspicions of his unwillingness to listen. If he was serious about his plan, he needed to find a way to get rid of Mercy and Payne, no matter the cost. I was not going to waste time waiting for him to act, so I took the initiative to move forward. In the event that he was indeed serious, I was willing to compromise and meet him halfway.

Yeah, I knew it was more than he did for me, but fuck it.

I was bored sitting around doing nothing, anyway.

“PLAYER!”

“Yeah.” My brother wandered in without a fucking care in the world, eating a damn sandwich.

“Any word from Sypher or Phantom?”

“Nope,” he said before taking a bite.

“Where is Bullseye?”

Player shrugged, chewing his food slowly.

Narrowing my eyes, I glared at the annoying fucker. Ever since Massacre left, Player had been a pain in my ass. I didn’t know what fucking butt nugget had crawled up his ass and fermented, but if he didn’t get his shit together fast, I was going to shove my blade where the sun didn’t shine.

“Swallow. Now.”

Sighing, he slowly swallowed the food in his mouth. “What?”

“What do you know?”

“About as much as you.”

“What about Matrix?”

“Don’t know. Gonna have to ask him.”

Groaning, I balled my fist tight, then roared, “MATRIX!”

Sauntering in moments later with a sandwich in his hands, Matrix grumbled, “You know yelling isn’t good for your blood pressure.”

“Neither is murder, but I’m willing to compromise.” I deadpanned.

“He wants to know what you know.” Player sighed, rolling his eyes before taking another bite.

“Know about as much as you, I suppose. What did you tell him?”

With a full mouth, Player shrugged and muttered, “Nuttin’.”

“Then why am I here?”

Fucker shrugged again as Matrix looked at me. “We don’t know shit. Can we go now?”

Banging my head on my desk, I heard laughter and looked up to find Ravage standing in the doorway.

“If you two know what’s good for you, I’d run.”

As both men left my office, Ravage closed the door behind them before walking over to take a seat. “Okay, boss. How can I turn that frown upside down?”

Sighing, I leaned back in my chair and said, “Can you make all this shit disappear?”

“Say the word, and I will happily take care of it.”

Shaking my head, I smirked. “You are as bad as Sandman.”

“No, I’m worse.” The fucker smiled wickedly. He was right though. He was worse. “So what’s really the problem?”

“The cat’s out of the bag.”

Ravage took a deep breath. “I saw. How long do you think I have before my secret is out?”

“A few months, maybe weeks if Sypher can’t contain everything.”

“That’s gonna be hard since he’s otherwise occupied. He asked for time, boss.”

“He doesn’t have any more time. Montana called.”

Ravage sighed, then nodded. “Then do what you have to, Prez.”

“Not giving you up without a fight.”

“Then you need Montana on your side.”

He was right.

Getting to my feet, I ordered, “Get packed. We’re going to New York.”

“What for?”

“To give Sypher the time he needs.”

“How?”

“I’m gonna force fucknuts to his knees.”