Life of Sin Book 1

Chapter Eighteen

The inside of the club showed absolutely no indication of there ever being a “shootout.” I could only imagine the aftermath, but everything from the walls to the stage to the bar looked untouched and better than ever. It was enough to make Ducati's run-of-the-mill clientele wonder, but they wouldn’t dare question him directly. Then again, they couldn’t. DelMar never saw the point of speaking to people who offered little to no benefits, which led me to believe that something about Quentin was a lot more notable than I’d initially assumed.

“The right amount of money will make anyone put in 110%,” Eli said, noticing as I took in my surroundings.

“Everyone has a price, right?” He laughed slightly, leading me past Ducati's office and into the supply closet.

“Is there a reason you’re taking me to the warehouse?”

“Sí, DelMar wants to talk to you.”

“About?” Eli glanced at me, a bothered expression on his face. He didn’t answer and instead motioned for me to pick up the pace. DelMar stood in the vast loading bay, barking orders to the same men who harassed me before. They didn’t even look my way this time. Eli called for his uncle's attention, gesturing towards me. DelMar quickly peered up at me then returned to berating his workers.

“Let’s just wait inside my office,” Eli said. I followed after him, hanging back a bit to check in with Nikki.

“Everything’s cool in here, you good?”

“I’m fine, just make it quick.” Slipping my phone into my back pocket, I walked in and sat at the round table assuming it was meant for meetings like this. Eli poured us both drinks and poured a third for DelMar.

“I just want to apologize for the way my tío’s acting. He's been on edge ever since yesterday.”

“I can imagine.” Just then, DelMar entered in a haste. He self-consciously smoothed out his wrinkled shirt and took a breath to reset before sitting down with us. He looked as if he hadn’t slept in 48 hours.

“Devyn, it’s so good to see you,” he said, sipping his drink.

“Some of the other girls, ehh… they ran screaming for the hills.”

“That just separates the sheep from the wolves,” I said. He shared a laugh with his nephew and raised his glass for a toast.

“I don’t want to hold you, I understand Ivy’s not doing too well.”

“…she’s not. By the way, thank you for getting her to the ER, Eli. You have no idea how much I appreciate that.” He nodded in acknowledgement. I pushed my drink aside and leaned forward. A serious tone engulfed the room as I placed my clasped hands on the table.

“There’s no need to sugarcoat anything, we all want Quentin dead for various reasons. He stole from you and he’s a bane to my everyday life. That being said, I wanna do more than just give you pieces of information. I want to kill him.” They both spoke up, eager to disagree but I cut them off.

“Say what you want but my mind is made up.”

“What makes you think—”

“He raped my sister, Eli! I’m sure you both understand the concept of ‘family’, right? Well, Ivy means more to me than your entire organization means to y’all!” The room fell silent, their expressions a mixture of pity and awkwardness.

“So that’s where I stand on this issue,” I said, reaching for my drink and sitting back.

“You can either help or I can do it alone, but it’s gonna get done either way. And if I’m doing this as a service to all three of us,” I said, gesturing around the table,