“I’m bleeding?” His eyes go wide. “I thought I was okay.”
“You’re fine, bud. Just fine.”
A knock comes at the door, and we all freeze. Gabriel moves toward his desk, and before I have time to comprehend what he’s doing, there’s a gun in his hand pointed at the door.
“Who the fuck is it?”
“Me and Roux,” Q says from outside.
Gabriel’s chin drops to his chest, and he lowers the gun. “Get in here.”
Q opens the door, and shock rips across his face as he sees Bump on the floor with bloody tissues to his head. Then he sees the gun in Gabriel’s hand and stills. Roux barrels toward Gabriel, and he shoves the gun in his pants before giving her a pat to calm her down.
“What the fuck happened? Is he okay?”
“Moses was here. He had Bump at gunpoint. He wants his money.”
Q’s olive-toned skin goes pale. “What? How? When? Where did he go?”He whips his head from side to side, like he’s afraid Moses might still be in the room hiding, and then pulls out his cell. “I’m calling the cops.”
“No,” Gabriel barks out, shaking his head. “Shut the door and put down your fucking phone. We aren’t going to the cops with this. No fucking way.”
“What?” Surprise rips the word from between my lips. “What do you mean, we’re not going to the cops? We have to. This is literally what they’re for.”
Bump shakes his head. “Can we go home now, Gabe? I want to go home.”
“What a fucking mess,” Q says, leaning back against the door. “How the hell did he get in and out?”
Gabriel helps Bump and me to our feet. “Hidden entrance. He must have been watching us for months, or paid someone off to get the access info.”
“Fuck.What did he say?” Q scans all the faces in the room before locking on Gabriel’s again.
“He wants me to lose the fight. Wants me to throw it.”
If I thought Q’s swarthy skin couldn’t get paler, I was wrong. “No fucking way. Fuck me. What the fuck do we do now?”
Gabriel throws his arm around Bump’s shoulder and pulls me into his side. “We go home and regroup.”
* * *
The drive to Jersey is silent. Even Bump seems to realize that now is not the time for chatter. Q called in extra security and promised to come by as soon as the club closed. He tried to send Zoe home with us, but she refused to leave.
I want nothing more than to hold Gabriel’s hand, but he’s got both of them locked around the Bronco’s steering wheel. Hal follows behind us in the SUV. He agreed to work overnight, just in case.
I’m completely out of my depth. I have absolutely no idea how I’m supposed to react to everything I just witnessed. All I want to do is make it go away, which is why I offered up the money. Sure, a million and a half isn’t exactly chump change, but to protect Gabriel and Bump? I’d gladly hand it over.
But I can’t bring it up now, especially considering the way Gabriel is white-knuckling the steering wheel. He won’t be receptive to the idea ... which is probably fair, because Moses already said he wouldn’t takemymoney for the debt.
Still, I’d pay a fortune to find out what’s going through Gabriel’s head right now.
Five
Legend
Moses came back.
And in keeping with his style, he didn’t do it the way I expected.
No, what I expected was a bullet to the head with no warning. Just like Jorie. But, no, he wants to make me play his game and exact his own special twisted fucking revenge.