Tito slipped his gnarly fingers into the pockets of his ripped, soiled jeans. “Fuck. I don’t work for Duke. He’s the reason you’re here, though.”
“So you hired Costa to kill me because of Duke? You had some guy follow me the day I got out of prison and try to off me? Then you tried again at the club? Do I have the facts right?”
He snarled. “You just don’t die, do you?”
“Fuck you. Why am I here, man? In one moment, you’re trying to kill me, and in the next, you’re kidnapping me. Be done with it already.”
“I had a change in plans,” he said. “If you’re dead, I won’t get what I want.”
Tito was a persistent motherfucker, but he never thought before he acted.
I pushed out all the air in my lungs. “What do you want?”
He plucked out his phone, punched in a number, and waited until the line rang. “Let’s ask Duke.”
I used Lou’s word. “Peachy.”
The line rang again, echoing in the empty warehouse.
“Alvarez.” Duke’s voice came through loud and clear. “Where the fuck are you?” My brother’s tone was calm as though the two were as thick as blood.
Tito had a satisfied grin on his ugly face. “Don’t you want to know how your baby bro is doing?”
I stared at the phone, seething as sweat poured off my body. “How’s Jade, Duke?” I rushed out, not sure if he could hear me since my voice was low and raspy.
Silence filled the line except for Duke’s heavy breathing. “What do you want?” he finally asked. This time, his tone was scary as fuck.
Tito tapped his chin with his finger. “You know what I want—a seat at the table.”
Maggie was right when she’d said that Tito Alvarez was trying to make a name for himself.“He’s high on power and money and taking over the city.”
“Do you think the leaders will open their arms for a lowlife gang leader who puts contracts out to off people?” Duke asked. “That’s not how the organization works. We don’t call attention to ourselves. We stay legit and under the radar. Until you learn that, you have no place at the table.”
Inwardly, I was laughing like a crazy man at how Duke was reprimanding Tito as though my brother were his old man. For the briefest of moments, I was transported back to when Duke would yell at Dillon and me for doing stupid teenage crap like smoking weed or drinking our old man’s liquor.
“Duke,” I called. “Is Jade o—”
Tito mashed his lips into a thin line. “I want into your organization like the other gang leaders. Bring me in, and I won’t kill your brother.”
“I don’t care about Denim. I haven’t for years,” Duke said in a serious tone.
He hadn’t given me the time of day in over six years. But a tiny voice in my head said to trust him.Trust him like you did when you were a boy. Trust him with your life like you did when you ran in a gang with him. Trust that he values blood over money and riches.
Trust could wait until he answered me about Jade. “Duke?”
He didn’t acknowledge me. I was relieved Duke wasn’t the one who had been trying to kill me. But what the fuck? He could at least say something to me.
Tito plastered on a satisfied grin. “You won’t bat an eye if I shoot him right now, then?” Tito produced a gun from his lower back.
“Look, Tito,” Duke said. “You’ve already got one kill under your belt. Kill Denim, and I can promise you that you’ll never have the chance to play in the big-dog arena.” Then the line went dead.
Duke’s words stung like a swarm of angry bees.One kill? Does that mean Jade is dead? Or is Duke baiting Tito?
Tito kept the gun aimed at my temple. “I guess he doesn’t care about you. Let’s see how Duke reacts when I deliver your dead body to him.”
I had to think fast. My problem was that my brain hurt as much as my entire bloody body. Still, my past relationship with Tito had to count for something. I certainly didn’t want to die, not before I had a chance to confirm whether or not Jade was dead. But I couldn’t think about Jade at the moment, or I would explode, and I had to get out of there.
I swallowed a ball of dirt. “Why is it so important to get a seat at the table? What table?”
