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CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

“The quickest way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.”

~ Alice Walker

Saros

“Guess who I just got off the phone with.” Cosmo strutted into my study, appearing no less exhausted than I was.

“Who?”

“Fernando.”

That surprised me. He didn’t tend to call me, especially after his debt was paid. “And what did he want?”

“He said that last night the governor and his son were having dinner at his restaurant—not unusual, but the governor left to use the bathroom and a man approached Dre. A minute later, the two of them left. When the gov came out, he asked where his son went.”

“So Fernando called you because Dre left with someone? How was that an odd thing to see?”

“Because of this.” He clicked the remote, and the multi-screen showed all the news stations reporting the kidnapping of Andre Hopper. “That’s why Fernando called. He didn’t think much of the encounter until he saw this.”

“Why is he kidnapping him now, with everything we have going on?”

“Don’t know.”

I grabbed my jacket, stormed out of my study, and headed down to the basement. Frazee was asleep on a shitty mattress in the cage, three of my guys watching over him.

“Frazee!” I kicked the bars, jolting him awake.

The left side of his face was swollen, and he had an arm clutched around his stomach.

“What?”

“Explain to me why the governor’s son is being reported kidnapped?”

His one good eye widened. “Are you sure?”

“No, I like wasting my own time. Answer me.”

“He said he wasn’t doing it. After Brandi…” Frazee ran his fingers through his hair. “He originally contacted Lionel Cummings for info on Dre—he wanted the option to take him and threaten the governor if he ever found himself in trouble. But I don’t know why he’s doing this now.”

“Unless he wants the governor to help him get you out of the picture,” Cosmo added.

“How would he do that?”

“Unfortunately, I think we’ll find out.” Cosmo pulled out his phone. “Dafni needs me.”

“Go.”

When Cos left, I glared at Frazee. “It never had to be this way.”

He sniggered maliciously. “It was always going to be this way, Saros. One of us was going to be in the cage and the other outside of it.”

“You’re in there because that’s what you believe. I’d have worked with you.”

He shrugged.

“What were the warehouses for?” It was the one question he’d refused to answer last night as if he knew that once he did, I’d kill him.

“Not your business.”

I gripped the bar and sneered. “It’s all my business now, Barrett.”

Regardless of what many people thought about me, this broke my heart. One thing Uncle Andrew had taught me as I’d grown into this position was that this business worked when everyone’s strengths and knowledge melded together. Sure, I was on the top of the heap right now, but who wanted to rule over a broken kingdom? If they thrived, I thrived.

Frazee was always just out of the circle because he couldn’t be trusted. He wanted to take and never grow. And that truth was never more proved than right now.

“Fuck off.” He rolled away from me.

I spun on my heel and left the basement. I’d finish dealing with him later. Right now I had a governor to call.

“Hey.” Em bounced into my study with a dish in his hand.

“You’re the best thing I’ve seen all day.”

“That’s sweet. I came bearing sustenance. Martha told me you haven’t really eaten, and I remember someone—you—telling me that we needed to stay strong.”

I motioned for him to give me the meal. “I’m clearly a genius.”

He chuckled and placed the plate down. Martha had made me chicken salad, broccoli cheese soup, and sourdough bread. My stomach growled.

“ Mmhmm .” He moved to the couch and watched me until I took a bite.

I loved this moment. I sat and ate and Em read a book. By the looks of it, another one that Dafni gave him.

“What’s that story about?”

“Some unicorn warrior shifter in search of his omega. They are each half of a whole, and the warrior is weakening every day since his, like, five hundredth birthday. I don’t know more than that; I’m only halfway.”

“What the fuck?” I laughed. “Why are you reading that?”

He stuck out his tongue. “Because it’s an escape from reality.”

“Fair.”

“So, what did you do today?” He folded his book on his lap.

“Called the governor, whose son was kidnapped by Ramsey, to see if there was anything I could do. I informed him that I was aware of who took his son and that I was in the middle of trying to take Brookes down. I have a feeling Ramsey took Dre to corner him into setting me up, but I could be wrong. Ramsey could have another reason.”

“Oh, wow…set you up, how?”

“Probably if he can’t beat me on his own, he’d figure out some way to do it legally.”

Em cocked his head. “I mean, the governor has power, sure, but he’d still need to have something justifiable in order to have you arrested.”

“I’m not sure what his plan was, exactly. But I’m trying to get ahead of it.”

“Have you heard from Ramsey since you took Frazee?”

“No.” That was surprising.

“Because Ramsey is selfish. The second you took Frazee, Ramsey cut him loose.”

I finished my lunch, my brain racing with what the fuck I was missing. Ramsey was making no sense.

“Hey.” Em had his hands on my desk and was leaning over it. “There are only three things in this world that Ramsey loves, three things that if he lost would rattle him.”

“Power, money, and what, women?”

Em shook his head. “Not women, they’re a dime a dozen to him. Sure, he maybe liked Brandi the most, but she’s likely already replaced or he’s forgotten her.”

“Are you going to make me guess?”

His expression became serious. “No, Saros, this isn’t a game. You want to cripple Ramsey, find RJ. His son, the only person in existence he actually gives a shit about. His heart could literally only love one person and that was RJ. Look how he treated me, and I was his flesh and blood.”

I went through everything in my mind and realized we hadn’t seen RJ. “Where would he be?”

“The one location you wouldn’t think to find him.”

I stared at Em as if the answer would jump out at me, but nothing.

“I don’t know.”

He came around and sat on my lap. “You’ll figure it out.”

Wrapping him in my arms, I let my mind drift. The last place I would search for RJ…any of Ramsey’s properties would be pointless. Maybe Frazee’s? I mean… Oh, my God.

“I know where he is.”

Em gave me a peck and jumped off my lap. “Go get ’em, tiger.”

I raced out of the study and once again was standing in front of the cage that Frazee was in.

“I think you genuinely wanted my warehouses for business. Not sure for what exactly, but when you asked for them, it had something to do with Ramsey. You were going into business with him.”

He rolled to face me. “What’s it matter now?”

“I’ve been watching them, but there’s been no activity.”

He rolled his good eye. “Of course you were watching me.”

“Thing is, they’re still abandoned…right? Just sitting there, doing nothing.”

He watched me, not even flinching.

“One thing about those warehouses is they have bunkers. Some old-timey dude built them and went nuts thinking the world was going to end. After he died, my father bought them because he thought it was cool. That’s why I kept them.”

“Okay, thanks for the history lesson.”

I smirked and pulled my gun out from my holster. “It’s the perfect place to hide.”

He eyed my gun. “I suppose.”

I pointed it at Frazee, and to his credit he didn’t look away from me.

“You’re not the person who will make Ramsey fuck up something or even shed a tear, but his son is. Sorry, Barrett. You just became useless.”

I pulled the trigger before he could respond; then I turned to Gino. “Three five-man teams to each warehouse, the bunkers. RJ Brookes is hiding in one of them. Bring me that son of a bitch.”

“Yes, sir.”