Spark of Hope (MacKenny Brothers #3) - Kathleen Kelly Page 0,44
me a present?”
His smile makes you want to go and have a shower to wash the slime off yourself.
“I did.”
“Hmm… and you’ve got a lot of friends with you this time.”
“Safety in numbers,” I reply flatly.
Cristiano narrows his gaze and gestures for me to walk ahead of him.
“After you,” I say with a fake smile.
Cristiano nods and smirks as he walks through the offices and into the main part of the building. Angus is leaning against his van’s back doors, projecting a tone of boredom as he plays with his cell phone. A few of Cristiano’s men are scattered around the room, and Cutter moves up to flank my right side. I glance at him, but his eyes are fixed straight ahead. The only sign he’s tense is the toothpick in his mouth that he’s busy working from one side to the other.
When we’re a few feet from Angus, he pushes off the van and says, “The gang’s all here.”
Angus opens the back of his van. Inside is a trussed-up Yvette Cartland, her eyes are wide, and she’s shaking her head frantically.
Cristiano begins to laugh and clap his hands. “Oh, my friend, this is a wonderful surprise!”
“I’m not your friend.”
The laughter stops, and he shakes a finger at me. “Ah, but I think you are.”
“No.” Raising a hand, I point at Yvette. “She’s the reason we have bad blood between us.” I let my hand drop and stare at Angus. “Do you have the bag?”
Angus nods and reaches into the van, pulling out a dark blue sports bag and tosses it toward Cristiano. He looks down at it, then up at me.
“Open it. I believe you’ll like what’s inside,” I say.
Cristiano clicks his fingers, and one of his lackeys rushes over to open it. The guy holds up a brick of drugs and a fist full of cash.
“It’s Christmas,” says Cristiano with a grin. He nods at his man, and he takes the bag away, then he nods at another and points to Yvette. “Do you care what we do with her?”
“No.”
Yvette tries to scream as she’s dragged out of the van, but with the tape across her mouth, it’s muffled.
“Does this make us even?” asks Cristiano.
“Not even close.”
Cristiano nods and clasps his hands together. “What can we do to repair our friendship?”
“I want the man who gave the order to have our man killed. I want Deedee and Wheels returned, unharmed, and I want you to stay away from my MC.”
Cristiano smiles, the kind of smile that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up.
“But we could have such a beautiful friendship.” He does a twirl around, arms extended. “Don’t you want to be my friend?”
His men all laugh like he’s said the funniest thing in the world. Cutter moves up a little more, no doubt putting himself between one of Cristiano’s men and me.
“I want things to go back the way they were. Where you do your thing, and I do mine. The Loyal Rebels don’t deal drugs. It’s not our thing.”
“But you run guns, cars, and just about anything else, yes?”
I stare at him and say nothing.
“Come on, Kyle. I’m not asking for a partnership, merely an open business relationship.”
“I’m not following. What part of stay away from my MC wasn’t clear?”
“Oh, you were serious about that?”
“Serious as a heart attack.”
Cristiano laughs. “Well, my door is always open.” His eyes flick to Yvette. “Take her out back.” He crosses his arms. “As for your other demands, Deedee is here, and you can take her if she wants to leave. Wheels is not here. And as for your request about having the man who gave the order, that’s…” he pauses and steps into my personal space, “… never going to happen.”
“And here I thought we were going to be friends.”
Cristiano gives me a chin lift and steps back. “Wait here while I talk to Deedee.”
“That’s not going to work for us. We need to see her.”
“As you wish.”
Cristiano turns and walks out of the room. Cutter spits his toothpick out, and Sean is busy checking out the men who are left to guard us.
“I don’t like this, Prez,” whispers Cutter.
“Be cool.”
“The guy’s way too confident,” replies Sean.
“Both of you be cool.”
A door swings open, and Deedee walks through with Cristiano following close behind. Her stride is impaired, and she’s grinning like a fool.
“Kyle!” Deedee yells and trips, but Cristiano has her before she hits the ground.
“Fuck,” says Rocky as he shakes his head at the