Legions (Georgia Smoke #7)

Fourteen

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“My hope is she fucks her way through the southeast. Tries a wide variety of dick.”

Thatcher

She had whimpered and said random words like carrot, hay, and water. But it was the other words she’d muttered in her sleep. The ones that had been said when she was restless that I had struggled with. Holding her close to me and soothing her while the words dad and mom had fallen from her lips. The talking had been bad last night too. I tightened my hold on Capri and pressed my lips close to her ear.

“I have you, little doll. You’re safe,” I whispered several times.

My name, a whisper on her lips as she slept, helped calm the storm building inside me.

Her father would pay for this. Every selfish decision he had made, not once thinking about his daughter, he’d pay. And Charlene Jewel would have her revenge while living life as a wealthy woman. She may not see it now, but she would be happier because of the turn of events. Eventually.

It was just after five in the evening when I unlocked Clark Jewel’s apartment and walked inside. The place was clean, not luxurious, but on the nicer end of the scale. Chinese takeout and an open MacBook were on the coffee table.

“Hey babe,” Clark called from behind a closed door. “Your sesame chicken is on the table!”

I walked over, picked up a carton, and opened it—white rice. I sat it down and then picked up another kung pao chicken. Taking a pair of chopsticks, I helped myself before walking over to see what he’d been looking at on the MacBook.

Resorts in Fiji. Chewing the food in my mouth, I looked up his history to find that it was one of the many tropical locations he had been searching for.

When the door opened, I didn’t glance up to see him, but his sharp inhale told me he saw me.

“This Chinese is shit,” I told him, putting the carton down, then picking up the MacBook and throwing it against the wall hard enough to make it break and the screen shatter. “Terrible location choices too.”

“How did you get in here?” he asked, inching closer to another door.

I turned my head to look directly at him. His hair was damp, and only a towel was wrapped around his waist. “I’m not supposed to kill you, Clark, but we both know I don’t follow rules. Come sit. Don’t test me.”

I took another carton and found the sesame chicken. Deciding I’d eat that one, I leaned back, stuck the chopsticks inside, and got some while waiting for Clark to make a move.

“At least let me get dressed.”

“And grab a gun that will get you killed?” I asked him.

My eyes narrowed, and he began to move toward me, holding his towel tightly in his left hand. “Look, I know Capri is upset. But this has nothing to do with her.”

I chuckled, chewing the chicken I had put in my mouth. “That’s not the Jewel woman I’m here for,” I replied, enjoying the way his eyes widened. “Sit, minister,” I drew out the title with a sarcastic drawl.

He sat down slowly on the edge of a tacky blue chair that matched the sofa. “You can’t mean Charlene. She’d never send you to find me. She hates you.”

I laughed while taking another bite. That was fucking funny. Rubbing the back of my hand over my mouth, I continued grinning while swallowing. “Not as much as she does you.”

The wariness in his gaze as he glanced at the door.

“Oh, she’s not coming,” I told him. “I’m afraid Maelee’s been arrested for possession.” I tsked and shook my head. “I reckon five hundred grams of cocaine will get you locked up for a while. You should be more careful of the company you keep.”

His gaze swung back to me, anger and concern on his face that pissed me the fuck off. He sure as hell hadn’t been worried about his daughter. It was a shame I couldn’t slowly kill him. Watch him beg, cry, and bleed.

“What have you done?” he asked, his tone accusing. “Maelee doesn’t use cocaine. She wouldn’t even know where to get any!”

“Me?” I pointed at myself. “That hurts my feelings. You think so little of me. I’m a Marlboro man myself. Blow has never been my thing.”

He pointed a finger at me, and it trembled as he did. “You! What did you do?” So, fucking scared for the bitch but not giving a rat’s ass about Capri in all this.

I shrugged. “Well, I’ve done a lot, Clark. A whole fucking lot.”

“This isn’t your business. It’s not Capri’s. She is an adult. What I have chosen is not her concern.”

“Minister, if you don’t want to burn in that Hell you preached about before the sun goes down, then you’ll stop bringing up Capri,” I warned.

His face had paled much the same way Capri’s had when I told her mother all he had done. That wasn’t enough. He hurt my girl. No one does that.

“Maelee has done nothing wrong,” his tone pleading. “We fell in love. That’s our sin to bear. But having her arrested for drugs, that’s not fair.”

I took my cigarettes from my pocket and tapped one out while watching him saying nothing. His wince when I lit it only made me enjoy the first inhale so much more.

“Did you love Esther, Gia, Brandy, and Kim too?” I asked, calling each of the females by name that he’d brought to this apartment. “Since two have had abortions after you ended things with them, I’m going out on a limb here and say, no.”

Yes, you sorry son of a bitch, I know it all. I leaned back on the sofa and enjoyed filling his apartment with the smell of nicotine.

“I don’t-” he began.

“Save your bullshit, Clark. I’m not here for excuses and more of your lies. I’m here for revenge—a reckoning of sorts. You see, I know what devotion is. With my soul as fucking black as it is, I understand complete commitment. Wanting no other. Only seeing her. One woman. Wanting only her. Needing only her,” I took another pull then blew it out my nose. “You’re just a sick bastard with a sex addiction. Maelee enjoying threesomes with whatever virgin you bring here doesn’t constitute love. It’s just fucking.”

Clark looked at me, his body tensed, dread marring his face so perfectly that I wish I could take a picture. But Capri wouldn’t want to see this. My little doll still loved her father.

“I’ve made some mistakes…”

I held up a hand, shaking my head. “Do I look like a fucking Priest to you? Keep your confessional to yourself.”

His mouth closed again.

I looked at the table of food. “Any eggrolls?”

His eyes shot daggers at me but finally pointed to one of the two boxes I hadn’t opened.

“Thanks,” I replied and grabbed it to take one out. “Now, let’s get to the part of the visit where I tell you your future, Clark.”

I took a bite and watched him as hate, fear, and anger contorted his expression.

“You’re broke,” I informed him. “Every penny of that three-point five mil in your offshore account has been successfully moved to one in your wife’s name. She also has the money in your checking account. Now the fifty grand you put in a joint account for you and Maelee, I left that alone. The feds will seize it, and it’ll only make Maelee look even more guilty. You’ll be brought in for questioning. Might serve some time. I can’t be sure what all they will decide to do with the two of you.”

Clark shot up out of his seat. “WHAT! You can’t do that! That is my money.”

“That you made doing very illegal things.”

He glared at me. “I will tell them how I made it!”

I chuckled. “Threatening me? Really, do you believe that’s the best course of action?”

The caged, desperate look on his face was probably going to make me do something I shouldn’t.

I motioned with the hand holding the last bite of my egg roll. “Sit.”

His jaw clenched, and it was clear he would rather do anything other than obey me. But he did.

“As I was saying, you’re broke and possibly involved in drug trafficking. It really all depends on what Maelee tells them. If it’s love, I am sure she will keep you out of it. If it’s not, then, well, bad decisions have their consequences.”

I finished the egg roll and let him think about that for a moment. Wonder if the bitch truly loved him or not. I was guessing not, it didn’t matter. I had it all planned out.

“Now, time for the revenge portion of today’s visit,” I drawled and took another pull from the cigarette. “Regardless of what your used cunt decides to tell the cops, you have your life planned out for you. Courtesy of me. You’re welcome.”

He sat silently, his anger no longer present on his face but in the terror shining in his eyes.

“You’ll be evicted from this apartment once I leave,” I told him, then took out a piece of paper with information that he would need. “First is the address to your new pad. It’s lovely. Comes with pet rats. The second is your new place of employment. I hope you enjoy the smell of garbage. I hear you get used to it. Third is the two different soup kitchens and shelters you are signed up to volunteer at five nights a week.”

His eyes went to the paper, then snapped back up to me.

“Should you choose to miss work, not show up to volunteer, or go anywhere near your wife or daughter, I will know. And you will pay. It won’t be enjoyable, Clark.”

I put the cigarette out on his coffee table.

His voice wavered as he said, “I’ll tell the feds all I know about you and your family. “

I smirked. “While you’re at it, tell them I said hello.”

Understanding slowly lit his eyes as he clung to anything that he thought might save him.

“I’m serious! I will tell anyone who will listen! I will talk until I find someone who isn’t in your back pocket!”

I stood then, growing weary of his threats. No one threatened me. Yet I couldn’t kill this one. His eyes had a wild look in them as I walked over to tower over him. With one well-rehearsed move, I slid the blade from my boot and held it at his neck while I grabbed a handful of his thinning hair and jerked his head back.

“You’re alive because of Capri. But don’t test me. I’ve killed for her many times before, and she forgave me. Besides, she didn’t say I couldn’t slice out your tongue and make you eat it.”

The terror staring up at me was what I liked to see. That was respectful. Shame I had to get it by going to these means.

“Now, you piece of shit,” I said, then took the microdevice I’d had Wilder get me and, using the injecting needle, shoved it up his nose while he screamed. His eyes widened, and his body shook while I made sure it was secure before withdrawing the injector.

“That’s a tracker. If you try to take it out yourself, it will kill you. Don’t touch it. Or do. Every step you take, I will know,” I told him, then let his hair go and left a slight prick on his neck from my blade, just enough so that blood would trickle out.

Wiping my knife off on his towel, I held his horrified stare.

“I own you, Clark. You may get to live, but it will be a life of… what is it called… Oh, yes, penance. And while you do that, the woman’s life you wasted will get a new one. A wealthy, single woman with enough money to start over. Do anything she chooses. My hope is she fucks her way through the southeast. Tries a wide variety of dick.”

I slipped my knife back into my boot and then headed for the door. Stopping just as I reached it. “And Clark, be careful who you threaten. The family will know, and I can’t stop my father from killing you. He’ll make it appear an accident. I won’t even know he’s done it.”

With that, I opened the door and walked out.