the council. I had no power.”
Lucie tugged at my hand. “We don’t have time for this. Please, Martin, tell him what you told me.”
“Ramon Sanchez lost favor with Carlos. He was supposed to take out this important lieutenant in the Colombians’ setup in Queens, but he fucked up. Was high on coke so the bastard got away. The next night, the Colombians retaliated. Shot the shit out of one of their warehouses, set it on fire, lost them over ten million worth of product.”
Flame whistled. “Ramon has a hit on his head?”
“Yeah. He got out of town almost immediately after he fucked up the job with the lieutenant.”
“Why’s he here though?”
“Probably just trying to ass lick. I have no doubt that Carlos Rodriguez hasn’t forgotten about Lucie, but it’s the least of his worries at the moment. If Ramon can bring her back, then that might reduce his death sentence to losing a fucking arm or something.”
Lucie winced at that, but I was past the point of giving a fuck.
“Why did he warn us? Why set shit up?”
“I know Ramon. He’s a wily fucker. I’ll bet he’s setting himself up two nests to roost.”
“What do you mean?” Lucie asked.
“He means, if he can’t get shit settled with Carlos, if he’s done us a favor, maybe we’ll let him bed down with us.” I rubbed my chin. “He wasn’t going to hurt Lucie. Just make it look like he had.”
“Wouldn’t trust him with my fucking goldfish, never mind my daughter,” Lucifer snapped, his arms bulging as he folded them across his chest.
“Accidents happen all the time,” Flame concurred, shooting me a look. “Can’t blame a man when he’s trying to help.”
“We sure as fucking can,” I snarled.
Flame just shrugged, but the fact his lighter was back in his damn hand said everything as far as I was concerned.
“Let me guess. You Flame?” Martin stated, eyeing the lighter. Flame smirked at him and blew out the flame on the small device.
“What gave it away, I wonder?” he mocked.
Before Flame could get snarky, I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Look, man, you obviously took her for a reason. I want to know what the fuck your game is.”
“She’s been in danger all her life. I wasn’t there to protect her. This time, I could.” His jaw clenched. “My war wasn’t with you, but with Bomber.”
“That mean you’re backing off?”
“I have no beef with you, and our businesses don’t even mix. Especially not if you’re getting into ghost guns.” He cocked a brow at me. “If you’d be interested in supplying me with them, I’d be interested in buying.”
Fuck, he knew about the guns?
Just who in the fuck was our rat?
“Don’t bother asking. You’ll find out soon enough when he doesn’t show up over the next few days,” Martin said with a smirk that made me want to slap him.
“Are you going to leave me alone?” Lucie inquired, her hand gripping mine like she’d done when she was a fucking kid. Hell, back when I’d been a fucking kid too. As much as I loved that she looked to me for comfort, I hated the need for it.
“I don’t want to,” Martin admitted.
“She doesn’t need your—”
“What? Help? Seems like I helped you out already if you’ve taken Sanchez prisoner,” he sneered. “You let him go to anywhere other than your pig farm, then you’re a fucking idiot.”
I gritted my teeth in irritation, but I was still uneasy. This felt wrong. I was glad there was no battle today, glad we’d shed no blood, but I didn’t trust this fucker. He and his MC had been hitting us hard for years, and him just backing off like this?
Narrowing my eyes at him, I asked, “Ramon on your shit list?”
Martin smirked. “What do you think?”
“You fed me any BS?”
“No. He’s a dumbass. Brain’s in his cock. And what little he had left of it, he’s fucked or snorted it away.” Martin leaned against the gates, managing to look cool as shit as he did so. “Rubbed me up the wrong way a few times. Fucked over a few of our girls. Got them pregnant, pissed off some brothers. Won’t be any shame to me if he’s fed to the pigs.”
“Does anyone else know you’re Lucie’s biological father?”
He blinked. “My MC. They know that’s why we went to war with you bastards.”
Shaking my head, I spat, “Why go to all this effort to get her and then give her away? You went to war for her,