Page 30 of Torch

“Whatever you need, I got you,” he offered immediately.

His words caused that warm, tingly feeling to come back. Christian was proving to be exactly who he said he was. At the same time, I was starting to realize he was the man I had always dreamed of. Each day I spent with him showed me I had made the right decision in walking away from Julian. Despite being at odds with my family, I had never been happier. There was no way I was going to allow my mother or Myron to force me back with Julian.

I was getting back to the old Brittney. Anyone who didn’t like it would have to get over it. My happiness wasn’t up for debate anymore.

Chapter Eleven

TORCH

“As you all know, last night was Diablo’s night to follow Tyson. I called Church because he said he got some information for us,” Viper addressed the table.

Everyone turned to Diablo as he sat up, scanning the group. “So, last night I followed Tyson to a laundromat where there was a group of guys waiting. There were about ten of them, including Tyson. About twenty minutes after he got there, another car pulled up. This guy was definitely the ringleader. You could tell by the way he carried himself. Anyway, they all went inside carrying duffel bags. Thirty minutes later, they all came out. Each of the guys dropped a bag into the trunk of the leader before taking one to their car and leaving.”

Cara let out a long whistle. “Sounds like a drop to me. Did you get pictures?”

Diablo nodded. “Yeah. It’s all on this chip.” He handed it over to her.

Cara plugged it into her laptop. Seconds later, the wall-mounted screen displayed the pictures he had taken. Once the picture of the suspected leader popped up, Cara and Sara shared a look. And it did not go unnoticed.

“What was that?” Viper questioned them. His face had formed into a scowl. “Don’t even think about lying either. Cara, so help me God, if you’re trying to pull one of your stunts, I swear⁠—”

“Will you calm down? Damn. Why does everyone always think I’m up to no good?”

Everyone at the table gave her a deadpan look. She and Sara both had a bad habit of going rogue. While their plans always seemed to work, that wasn’t how we did things. After their last stunt, Viper let them know they would be booted out of club business if they ever tried it again.

“Cara, please. Let’s stop pretending you two are innocent and tell us what that look was about.” Thor rolled his eyes, watching them impatiently.

Cara smacked her lips before typing on her laptop. After a moment, the screen changed to a mug shot. “Sara and I have been tapped into Tyson’s phone line for two days. He texts regularly to someone named Smoove. Now, in these exchanges, he says things like, ‘I have a bite for you’ or ‘custo’ followed by a question mark. I recognize the street lingo from my time with STF. Bite and custo are slang terms for customers. Once I knew Smoove was the one selling this shit, I obtained his phone records and got his information.”

Cara got up from her seat and made her way to the screen. She pulled out a wireless remote and killed the lights. “Everyone, meet Zay Miller, better known as Smoove on the streets. He has a very lengthy arrest record. He started off boosting cars at fifteen, and by the age of nineteen, he had moved over to selling weed.” She clicked a button on her remote and Smoove’s mug shot was right next to the picture Diablo had snapped of him last night. “And now it looks as if he’s moved up in the drug game.”

The room was quiet for a minute before Chains spoke. “Cara, we’ve only been watching them for three days. How the hell did you get all of…” He paused. “You know what? Never mind. I don’t even know why I was about to ask that dumbass question.”

Cara scoffed. “I don’t know why you were about to ask it either. Look, I’m all for a good stakeout, but kids are dying from this shit. I had to get some information a little quicker than that.”

Viper sat up, rubbing his chin. “Okay, my beautiful and smart Ol’ Lady. What do you think our next move should be?”

Cara grinned, winking at him. “No need to butter me up, baby. You’re already getting lucky tonight.”

Blade and I groaned while the brothers roared with laughter. “Cara,” I growled in a warning tone.

She held her hands up in defense. “Okay, okay, I’ll chill.” She made her way back to her seat. When she sat down, Sara pulled out a small camera.

“Our plan is to have you guys learn their routine. When the time comes, we’re going to break into their laundromat and Smoove’s condo to plant these cameras. There’s only so much they're going to discuss on the phone. Judging by the size of those duffel bags, this isn’t a small-town bust. I’m a hundred percent positive Smoove is just the middleman working for a bigger boss,” Sara said.

Viper glanced at her. “By bigger boss, you mean…”

“Possibly the Mafia or a high-profile criminal organization.”

Capone shook his head, leaning over the table. “If this shit is Mafia, things just got tricky.”

We all learned not too long ago that Capone was the son of a Mafia Don. If this is where things were headed, he would at least be able to give us some insight into how things worked.

Everyone turned to Viper, awaiting his verdict on this. At the end of the day, it was his decision to see how we moved forward. “I think the girls are right. We need to know exactly what we're up against. I know the other chapters would come down if needed, but I don’t want to blindly lead us into a war when we don’t know exactly what we’re dealing with. From now on, I don’t want anyone following Tyson. I want you all staking out the laundromat and following Smoove. Keep your distance and stay out of sight. We don’t need them spotting us and switching up their entire routine. Understand?”

“Yes, Prez,” everyone answered in unison.

As I left Church, I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were about to walk into a war that would change everything. In all the years I’ve been here, we’d never dealt with anything this extreme. Nothing about this was going to go down easily. There would more than likely be some bloodshed. I just prayed it didn’t come from anyone on our side.