The Family Business 3 (The Family Business #3)(38)
“I don’t, but I believe that shit. Now, are you going to tell me what I want to know or what?” I started to type a text.
“I’m not messing with IBPP,” he insisted. “Those dudes are crazy. They’ll kill me.”
“And you think her husband won’t kill you? Have you met Frank Russo? I used to play cards with him in prison. He’s not a very nice guy when he’s upset.”
“Come on, Vegas. Anything but that.” Sweat beads had started forming on his forehead.
“Johnny, all I want to know is where they’re held up. I’m not asking you to mess with them. It’ll be our little secret.” I looked down at my phone then glanced up at Terri. “Unless you want me to send these pictures to Frank.”
“Johnny, tell him what he wants to know.” Terri sounded even more scared of her husband than she was of my gun. “If Frank sees these pictures, he’s going kill us both.”
Johnny still wasn’t giving in. “Vegas, you don’t understand.”
“No, John, you don’t understand. I want that information. Now, you have about five seconds before I hit send.” I started a countdown with my fingers.
When I was down to two, I started waving my thumb over the screen like I was preparing to hit the button, and Johnny finally relented.
“Okay! Okay! They spend most of their time at a safehouse in Rosedale. Two-seventeen Wilshire Road. Jesus Christ, don’t send those pictures.”
Paris
24
“Daddy, the others, they’re not like you and me. I’m the only one who understands that you should never appear weak in this business, because it makes you an even bigger target. If somebody hurts one person in your family, then it’s your job to make sure their entire lineage is dead.
“That’s what’s pissing me off right now. To our enemies—hell, even to our supporters—we’re coming off like some scared-ass little pussies instead of the powerful Duncan family that you raised us to be. To them it’ll look like we’re impotent without you here to guide us.
“I feel like I’m the only one who knows what to do. Now, I’m trying to be patient, I am, Daddy, but you and I both know that’s just not how I was made. I will not be patient, especially when it comes to killing the bastard who put you in this bed.”
I stared down at my father, holding onto his hand for dear life and willing him to answer me. I needed him to say something, anything that would help me at that moment, because I wasn’t getting a whole hell of a lot of comfort from waiting. “You hurt my family, you die,” had always been the Duncan motto, which was why I couldn’t believe that my brothers hadn’t waged an all-out war to avenge this.
Only thing I hated more than waiting was being helpless, so to have to experience the two together felt like my own personal hell. Hospitals were cesspools of incompetence, if you ask me. You can walk into the hospital with a small issue and come out worse than when you walked in—if you come out at all. As far as I was concerned, these inept fools who worked here were half the reason Daddy didn’t seem to be getting any better. I swear, if he didn’t make it, I would come back here with my guns blazing, right after I killed the motherf*cker who shot Daddy in the first place.
“Honey, we all just need to remain positive,” my mother said as she walked in and joined me at the bedside.
I shook my head in amazement. I didn’t understand how my mother, of all people, was not raging mad. Hell, I hadn’t even heard her complain once, even though I knew it had to be eating her up, watching her husband lying comatose in this bed. Those two had a deep connection. Not only did my parents have a strong partnership, but they were still, even after all these years, madly in love.
“Mom, I am positive. I’m positive that the person who did this should burn in hell, and I should be the one to light the match.”
She put a hand on my shoulder, but didn’t stop me from continuing my rant. “I don’t care how Junior feels about Sonya. He’s wrong. I would never choose another person over this family, and you know I’ve been in that position,” I said, reminding her of the sacrifice I’d made when I had to kill Niles Monroe. “And I have never regretted my choice, Mom. I loved Niles, but family comes first.” I looked down to Daddy, the man who had instilled that valuable lesson in me ever since I was a child. “So I don’t understand how Junior can betray us for some girl he didn’t even know a year ago. I mean, am I the only one who thinks he needs to give that damn crazy man his wife back and move on? How the hell can he choose her over us?”
She sighed. “I don’t know what to tell you, Paris. I don’t know what your brother is thinking at the moment. I swear that woman must have some kind of voodoo or something, the hold she has over him.” She looked down and put her hand on Daddy’s arm, giving him a sad smile. “Then again, there was a time your father felt the same way when other people were telling him to stay away from me. I guess there’s no telling what a man will do when he’s in love.”
“It’s not the same thing,” I said, refusing to ignore what was right in front of our faces. “If it weren’t for my *-whipped brother, Daddy would not be in here fighting for his life.”
She shot me an angry look. “Paris, you will not talk about my son that way!”