The Family Business 3(49)

“Get the f*ck outta here!” I grabbed my head in frustration. Shit was not supposed to go down like this.

“Conrad, I don’t know what to say. I checked that place out myself. I’m sorry, man. I swear I didn’t know. We’ll take care of each of those officers’ families.”

“I’m gonna hold you to that. Those were good f*cking men.”

“I’m sure they were.”

“I’ve gotta go, Vegas, but before I hang up, I’m putting you on notice. I want the man who did this. I want that f*cking Brother X, and I want him brought to me alive!”

“I understand.”

I hung up the phone and looked up, expecting to see Orlando hovering over me with a million questions. Instead, he was sending a text. He hit send and looked at me with an expression somewhere between confusion and rage.

“What the f*ck did you do without talking to me?” he asked.

I glanced over at my father. I didn’t know if he could hear us, but if Orlando and I came to blows, I didn’t want it to be in front of Pop. “Come on,” I said. “Let’s go out in the hall and I’ll explain.”

Outside the room, I gave him all the details about what I’d set in motion with Captain Marks. “So as you can see,” I said as I finished up, “in theory it was a great plan. I just don’t know what the f*ck went wrong. Marks said the place was booby-trapped. I mean, how the f*ck did X get wind that something was about to go down at his place?”

Orlando was about to say something, but we were interrupted by Paris, who came flying off the elevator looking like she had been taken through a meat grinder. Her clothes were torn, her hair disheveled. Paris would never be caught dead in public looking like that, but it was the haunted look on her face that caused me the most alarm.

“What?” Orlando shouted, getting to her first.

“They took her. We got separated and they took her. There was nothing I could do. They just took her!” she yelled.

“Who?” I didn’t even know that she had left the hospital. “Who was taken?”

“Sasha! They took Sasha.” She was crying, but underneath the tears I could see her fury, and worst of all, I could see fear in her eyes. The sister I knew was fearless—or at least she used to be. “Oh, God,” Paris cried. “Momma’s gonna kill me. We gotta get her back.”

“Slow down. Who took Sasha?” I questioned.

“Brother X’s men. The Muslims. They took her.”

“Wait, this doesn’t make any sense. What do you mean they took her? Took her from where?” In the corner of my eye, I noticed that Orlando had started pacing nearby.

“Yo, O,” I said. “Any reason you’re over there instead of over here asking questions to help me figure this out?” He stopped walking, but he couldn’t look me in the eye. Bad sign.

I turned back to Paris. “Where were you?”

“We were just about to leave for Rosedale to raid Brother X’s spot. Then his men showed up at our warehouse and took out all of our guys, plus Popeye Wilson’s twelve men. Vegas, it was a f*cking bloodbath!” She broke down sobbing, and I pulled her in close and held her as her tears soaked my shirt.

“Popeye’s men . . .” I said, looking over Paris’s head at Orlando. “And what were you going after X and his men for anyway?”

She didn’t answer, but turned to look at Orlando, which told me everything I needed to know.

“What did you promise Popeye, Orlando?” I asked him.

He finally made eye contact, but remained silent.

“Answer me, dammit! What did you promise Popeye Wilson?”

Orlando’s shoulders slumped as he admitted, “I gave him the distribution rights to Virginia, Maryland, and parts of PA.”

“You did what?” I asked, seething. “Those weren’t your rights to give away. They belong to the family.” I was trying to remain calm because we were in a public place. Lucky for him, because my instinct at the moment was telling me to pump a bullet into my stupid, stupid brother. “How the hell could you do that?” I shouted at him.

“It was my call. Not yours,” he yelled, matching my volume with his own. “I’m the one Pop left in charge, so I made an executive decision. It didn’t go as well as I planned, but I had to do something.”

“Paris, go check on Pop.” I shooed her toward the room. When she was out of sight, I lit into him. “What the f*ck were you thinking? Do you have any idea how long it took us to get those rights? How many people had to die? For you to just give them away.”

“I did what I thought was right for the family,” Orlando fumed, holding his ground in a martial arts stance. Just the idea of my little brother challenging me set me off. I snatched him up by the collar before he could blink.

“No, what you did was sell this family down the river. Same way you sold me out when you revealed X’s location. You and I were the only ones who knew where he was holed up, O, and yet somehow X knew we were coming for him, and he had time to set a trap. Now we’re gonna be beholden to twelve NYPD widows because of your f*cking mouth. How many folks did you tell about his warehouse in Rosedale?”

Orlando remained tight-lipped.

“How many?” I asked again, tightening my grip on his collar.