I was stunned silent. I could not believe what I was hearing. How the hell did X know how to find one of our illegal warehouses? I wasn’t so worried about the dealership; we were insured for that, but the loss of that warehouse and its contents was going to cost us millions, and that came under my job description as the family’s troubleshooter.
Orlando peeked around the corner to make sure no one was listening. “Don’t worry. I got Popeye Wilson’s people on their way from DC. I need you and Sasha to get down there and meet them so you can lead the charge. I’m sick of waiting around. We’re taking out Brother X at his Rosedale hideaway tonight.”
I threw my hand up in the air and he high-fived me, “Now, that’s what I’m talking about, Orlando!”
He placed his finger over his lips. “Keep it down. I’m not trying to have the world hear our plans.”
“Oh, sorry. I’m just a little excited,” I whispered back, grinning. “How did you find out where he was?”
He leaned in closer and said quietly, “Vegas told me.”
“Damn, that Vegas is a beast. Is he going with us to take this motherfucker down?”
“No, and I don’t want him to know what we’ve got planned until X is dead. Can you do that?”
“Wait. Is Vegas cool with this?”
His irritated expression gave me my answer, which his words confirmed. “He doesn’t know.”
“He’s not going to be happy,” I warned him. We both knew that making Vegas unhappy was something to be avoided.
“I don’t give a shit whether he’s happy or not. Protecting this family is my job,” Orlando said, “and him walking in here trying to run shit stops right now. We are at war, Paris. As big and bad as Vegas seems, he’s not ready for war, so I need you and Sasha to let these motherfuckers know that they can’t just mess with the Duncans.”
“Done!” I whooped, already heading to the elevator to get Sasha from the cafeteria. I turned to Orlando after I pushed the down button. “O, you need to tell Vegas what you’re up to. You owe him that much, just for the information he gave you.”
Orlando nodded his understanding, but didn’t reply as I disappeared into the elevator.
Chippy
29
“Honey, you know that I consider myself the luckiest woman in the world to have a man like you love me for as long and as well as you have. We could have each made different choices back then that would have led us away from each other, but we didn’t. We were smart enough to choose to be together, and neither of us has ever regretted that decision. We just kept moving closer together, and our love has helped us to withstand a lot of crises that would tear apart most couples.
“I can’t imagine my life without you, but I know that I need to honor your wishes and do what you would want, even if it’s the last thing I want to do. What I want is to have my husband back . . . for you to wake up the great LC Duncan, and for us continue loving each other for the next thirty years. That’s what I’ve been praying for all these days, as I watch you lying here hooked up to all these machines.
“But I know it’s selfish, because you have made it clear to me in the past that if anything ever happened to you, you didn’t want to suffer. I don’t want to see you suffer, either, my love. That is not fair, and I know it’s not what you would want.