Jesus fucking Christ. “So who was Stone with?”
“Nicole said when Stone walked out of the apartment, there was a woman in the car he got into. She was out of her mind upset, so she didn’t think to tell Randy about it until a week later. Randy asked around but no one was talking.”
This was so fucked-up, I almost couldn’t wrap my head around it. “And Randy didn’t go straight to the cops the second he was stateside?”
André gave me a look. “Would you?”
“Fuck. No.” Fine, I got it, but still. What a fucking asshole. Call some friends, corner Stone, beat it out of him, something. But six goddamn months?
“Nicole said Randy became hell-bent on getting back in with the LCs. He was convinced that if he was wearing a cut again, he could make one of the brothers talk and find out where the kid was.”
The pit of my stomach churned. “She could be anywhere by now.”
“She could be,” André agreed. “But I don’t think she is. I think she’s in Kentucky. Call it a gut feeling.”
“We need more than a gut feelin’.”
“I’m working on it.”
I ran my hand over my head. “So what did Stone want in exchange for the kid?”
André crossed his arms. “I can guess.”
Fuck, this ought to be good. “What?”
“Maldonado.”
“No fucking way.”
André held a hand up. “Hear me out. Six months ago, Maldonado took over operations when his uncle died.”
My jaw clenched. The uncle Blaze and I rescued Layna from. “This is too fuckin’ coincidental.”
“It is, but it isn’t,” André protested. “Maldonado was never the businessman his uncle was. Stone saw an opportunity to push his way in but he needed Maldonado dead and whoever did it had to be either suicidal or disposable because Maldonado’s men would retaliate and we both know how far that organization’s reach is.”
Maldonado’s uncle had stalked Blaze’s wife for three years, far was an understatement, but I still wasn’t convinced. I shook my head. “Stone couldn’t have known I would ask Candle for a favor.” I’d never even met Stone before two nights ago.
“I agree but you’re focusing on the wrong thing.” André pushed back in his chair. “Another inmate took out Maldonado and you could pass that off as the type of shit that goes down in lock-up but I looked into his visitor log. The day before, Randy visited the guy who shanked Maldonado. He was a known ally of the LCs.”
“We already know Randy set it up,” I reminded him.
“Yes, but we didn’t really look at why. Despite what you think about him, Randy did three tours, he worked for his money and he tried to hold on to his woman. On paper, he was a smart guy. Yet he doesn’t bother to conceal his visit to an inmate who commits a murder the next day? And when Maldonado’s people found out, according to my sources, he didn’t even deny it. That was suicide. Randy had every opportunity to throw blame, give Maldonado’s men your name, do something, but he didn’t. Why would he do that?”
It was obvious as fuck now. “Because he was taking the hit to save his daughter.” The fact that I’d asked Candle for the favor had only upped Stone’s timeline. Jesus. I might’ve unwittingly sent Randy to his death. Rationally I knew this shit was set in motion long before I entered the picture but knowing what I knew now? Fuck. The irony was if Carter had come to me six months ago, I would’ve helped him.
“Your deal with Candle just happened to coincide.”
“But why’d Stone wait to kill him if that was his plan all along?”
“Believe it or not, Maldonado was easier to get at in jail. Outside, he was keeping a pretty heavy security detail.”
“Jesus, this is fucked-up.”
André nodded in agreement. “And it’s only the tip of the iceberg. The sniper and the two guns who went after Blaze and Layna on Sunset Key on their honeymoon? They weren’t related. The sniper was one of Maldonado’s men but the two guns were hired by a biker.”
“You sayin’ Stone wanted to off Layna?”
“Not directly. Stone’s been undermining Maldonado’s operations for months. I dug around and found out he intercepted payoffs and shipments and raided one of their weapons depots. He’s been going after anything he can get his hands on, like an animal toying with its prey before killing it.”
“For what purpose?”
“I think to show that he could. So when he finally took down Maldonado, whoever was left in that organization would either be scared enough to fall in line with Stone or run for the hills.”