“A little birdy named Dimitri told us,” I answered.
His face when pale white.
“That’s what I thought.” I stood up. “So, here’s how the rest of our little meeting is going to go, Mr. Mayor. You’re going to tell us when the deal is going down, and where you’re meeting your boy, Ivan. If you don’t, my boys Chase and Juarez will be more than happy to persuade you.”
“I…I don’t know when or where. He’s supposed to call me,” our host protested.
“Guys,” I said, ordering Juarez and Chase in position. They stepped around the desk and stood on either side.
I cocked an eyebrow. “Again, Mr. Mayor. When and where?”
His eyes darted back and forth. He didn’t look the least bit worried. In fact, he seemed to be weighing options he didn’t really have.
“If you wish to call my bluff, Mr. Mayor, I’m sure my guys will be happy to prove you wrong,” I said.
I nodded to Chase and Juarez, and they closed in on the mayor and took turns slugging him once each right in his gut. He started to double over, but they grabbed him and held him back against his chair so that his wincing face stared at mine.
“As you see, we’re not afraid to get our hands dirty, not even with you,” I said, leaning across the desk. “Now, when and where?”
He looked at me and groaned from the pain in his stomach. “What does it matter to you?” he asked.
“We’re shutting Ivan down,” I said. “We’re going to take over his supply chain, and we’re going to take this city back. It belongs in the hands of people from here. He’s not invested in this place. It’s just another market to him. He doesn’t care beyond his clients.”
The mayor sat and thought for a minute. “So, you’re not planning to interrupt the flow; you just want to take it over?”
I yawned dramatically. “I’m growing bored with our conversation, Mr. Mayor. Just understand that you don’t need to know what my intentions are. You just need to know that if you don’t comply with our wishes, you’re going to be a dead man.”
I nodded at Chase and Juarez again, and they slugged him once again, planting their fists deep into his gut and letting him double over. I nodded again, letting them plant a few more punches into the crooked politician.
Finally, he held up a hand. “Alright, stop. I’ll tell you.”
My boys held him back in his chair.
“I’m meeting up with him in two days on a yacht on Lake Michigan,” he said desperately.
“Who else is supposed to be there?” I asked him.
“I don’t know. I swear. All I know is I’m showing up with my people, and we’re making a large purchase,” he answered.
Chase clocked him in the mouth.
I shared a look with Angelo. We had the information we needed. We knew where Ivan was going to be and had a rough idea of when. This was our chance to take Chicago back from these commie bastards.
“Thank you for supporting local businesses, Mr. Mayor. Boys, make sure he doesn’t tell anyone we were here,” I said as Angelo, Rick, and I turned to leave.
“Wait, what?” the mayor asked right before a few punches landed on him.
“I want you to remember that if you talk, we will be back, and you won’t walk away.” We turned and left him sitting in his chair while Chase and Juarez worked him over for me.
Chapter 22
Julia
While Gage and the leadership of the Kings of Hell MC were out talking to the mayor, I ran downstairs to see Dimitri again. I wasn’t sure what I expected to gain by going to see him, but I felt like visiting him was necessary. I felt trapped by Gage and the MC, and I knew Dimitri was literally in the same position I was in. Sure, I wasn’t tied to a chair, but I might as well have been. I had tried to leave once, only to be drawn back in, as much by my attraction to Gage as by anything he’d done to persuade me.
“I’m surprised to see you again,” he said when I entered the room. “I figured you would have been long gone by now. I gave you what you needed. Why are you back?”
“I don’t know,” I confessed to him. “I just felt like I needed to come down here.” I really couldn’t explain what had driven me to come back to see him. I felt responsible for him for some reason, like he was my prisoner as much as he was Gage’s or the MC’s. I’d spent so much time working with him that he had become my personal project by that point.
“You seem confused,” he said. “Have a seat.” He nodded at the chair in front of me. His voice was still rough sounding.