“No, you aren’t. You’re here to intimidate us, to make sure we’re staying on track.”
“I can do both.”
“Listen: I’m looking for guys, old squad mates, guys that I trust and that will work well together. Then I’m going to rent a truck. Then we’ll fucking steal the shit.”
“Sounds like a plan. And how long do you think this is going to take?”
“A few more days to get the guys. A few more days past that to plan it all out. I need at least a week, maybe a week and a half.”
“Okay, Travis. You can have one week. If we don’t see results by then, we’re going to have a problem.”
“We won’t have a problem.”
Culver stood and smiled down at me. “One last thing. Hartley, I just want you to know that your family is lovely and your farm is incredible. I really don’t want anything bad to happen to them.” I could tell Travis had tightened up as soon as Culver had started speaking. Culver began to walk toward the door, and I had ice in my veins.
“So do make sure Travis stays on track. Otherwise, I’ll have the boys I left down there cut every throat they find and burn down the whole fucking farm.” He smiled sadistically. “Good luck, you two.” He opened the door and was gone.
“Son of a bitch,” Travis growled.
“Did you hear what he said?”
“I heard the bastard.”
“Travis.” I stared at him in horror. “He said he has guys at my farm. My family is in danger.”
“Damn that fucking bastard.”
I sat there in total shock. I knew that my family was likely not safe, but they seemed so far away. The farm was only three hours away by car, at most, but it felt like it was across the country.
I had never imagined the mafia would actually go straight for them. I’d thought I was enough. The whole reason I came here was so that I could help my family, not make things worse for them. But every move I made seemed to put them in more and more danger.
“He’s bluffing,” Travis said, staring at me. “Listen to me, Hartley. He’s bluffing.”
“What if he’s not?”
“He is. The mafia doesn’t care about this enough to put that much manpower into this.”
As he spoke, though, I couldn’t shake the feeling that he was lying to me. This had already gone further than I ever thought possible, further than I ever imagined. I was so damn angry with myself for letting it get this far.
Travis stood up and stalked across the room. I watched him go.
“What are we going to do?” I asked him. “He wants results soon.”
“I’ll figure something out.”
I stood up. “Travis, my family. We have to go help them.”
“No.” He walked back toward me. “The best thing we can do for them right now is to follow through with the plan. We have to win, Hartley. We’re going to win.”
“How can you say that? It’s just the two of us. Janey and them, they don’t care about us. It’s just us versus the whole mafia.”
“I’m not just some asshole,” Travis said. “I’ve gotten us this far. I’ll take us all the way.”
“I can’t,” I said softly. “I can’t, knowing they’re not safe.”
He came close to me and reached out, but I turned away.
His voice was flat. “If you want to keep them safe, we have to win.”
“Yeah,” I said softly. “Yeah. I guess so.” I walked toward my bedroom. “I need some time to calm down.”
“You do that. This shit, it’s going to be okay.”
I gave him a look. He seemed haunted, gaunt and angry. I opened my bedroom door, stepped inside, and shut it softly behind me.
Chapter 20
Travis
Culver was getting to her. I couldn’t blame her, since that man was creepy as fuck, but his threat was just so heavy-handed and obvious. Still, she fell for it with absolutely no effort.
Culver tossing around threats seemed pretty desperate, though. So far, he’d basically ignored Hartley or treated her like window dressing. He hadn’t bothered to try intimidating her, since he knew he probably could no matter what.
What did it mean now that he was pressing Hartley and trying to rush us? I guessed that the mafia was getting impatient and wanted their shipment back. Possibly there were some internal issues too, but I couldn’t exactly know that up front.
That could be good, though. The more disorganized and desperate they were, the more likely they were to make mistakes. I didn’t need mistakes, though. All I needed was for them to trust me and let me do my thing, and I knew I could trap them.