it was crazy Mecca coming out. The one they had seen take men out without batting an eyelash. The one whose name was whispered about and looped with the word ruthless and insane. The one that was always packing and ready to live or die by the oaths of the streets.
These mouthy fuckers had made the good Mecca go bye-bye, and they were left with the one that didn’t have one worthless fuck to give about how they felt. Zero to crazy. There was only so much I would take, and I prayed my husband was paying attention.
“This is Arjen Vallin, my husband. In case you were too fucking ignorant to know, he is the head of the Vallin family, and one of the head men in the Ferali Syndicate.”
The mouths of the ones that were finally making the connection fell open.
“Yes, that syndicate. For those of you that don’t know Latin, Ferali means, deathly,” I informed their asses, my hard glare on Marshawn in particular. He and Marcus sat slack-jawed, eyes blinking like trash had been blown into them by a hard wind at the realization of who was standing beside me.
I pointed a stiff finger and shook it in their direction.
“Know who the fuck you’re dealing with before you run your fucking mouth. And I don’t need anybody’s permission on who the fuck I marry. You got a problem with it; write to your congressmen so he can call you back and tell you about the fat ass stack of cash I send him every month.”
Arjen stood in place as quiet as the men staring holes through us. Having to explain myself to them had my damn blood pressure about to blow my head clean off. I changed the subject quickly and proceeded with information about Black Saints business, like my news about my marriage hadn’t just stunned them.
“I received intel that we’ve been using a couple of underaged runners. If they’re not eighteen, they gotta go. Hire them to babysit, or do your housekeeping or some shit, but they can’t be involved in this business, in any way. I don’t care if they turn eighteen tomorrow, send them home and tell them to come back at midnight.”
A couple of faces fell into deep frowns before their hands went up. They had a problem with the guideline because using the younger kids was cheap labor, and they could influence them easily.
Raymond had loosely implemented the rule when I had suggested it three years ago. Now that I was running things, I wanted to make sure it happened. The last thing I wanted was to be responsible for the life of someone’s child. It was bad enough when adults were killed.
“What?” My hot glare was slung at Marshawn.
“Two from my crew are under eighteen. If I let them go, we are not going to be able to cover our territory.”
His eyes fell to my heels sitting on the table in front of me as I brushed the tips of my nails along the top of one of them.
“When I was out there, it was two or three of us covering a much larger area. I don’t care how you do it, make it happen.” He didn’t like my advice, and it burned him up that I didn’t care what he thought of it.
Two more complaints was all I could tolerate. The next subjects delved into supply, distribution, and production. I didn’t lie about our supply issue, but I didn’t disclose the full truth either, since I was actively working on finding a solution.
A deep exhale relieved some of the tension build up when I was met with more complaints and opposition from Marshawn. He was testing me. He hadn’t seen me murder anyone in a while, and it appeared he was angling for next in line.
The rest of the crew continued to stare at Arjen. Was he going to say anything? I had offered him the platform twice, but he had declined, content with allowing the mystery of his deadly reputation to keep the group in suspense. There were things about him that I hadn’t figured out yet either.
“Are we a part of the Ferali Syndicate now? Are we going to start selling guns?” Timothy ‘Tims’ asked the questions that was likely on all their minds.
“We are in an alliance with them. Therefore, we are more of a collection of powers, than one being absorbed into the other. We fall under the syndicate’s umbrella, which means if we fuck