Page 26 of Intent to Kill
“You think I don’t want to protect this family?” Adam kicked the garbage container next to him, its contents spilling out on the concrete. The alleyway echoed the sound of shattered glass and reeked with the smell of alcohol.
“So you love him?” Adam shouted again, his yell scratching at his throat.
“I’m doing what I have to do to keep everyone–”
“Do youfucking love him??” Adam said.
“No!!” Mercedes said, launching forward as if she were throwing the words at him with force, her breath coming out like a deadly strong gust of wind.
Hearing it, though, he wasn’t sure if that admission made him feel any better. He hadn’t been that angry in years, and as violently pissed as he was with Blake, only she could make him so passionate. Aggressively or otherwise.
Her face twisted with regret, as if she hadn’t meant to say that and the words were sour on her tongue.
She stepped back until they were staring at each other with panting breaths from a few feet away. Eyes shuttering, she shrugged as she tucked a loose hair behind her ear.
Calming down, Adam said, “Then are you gonna fucking help me kill him or not?”
She only shook her head, not as if she wasn’t agreeing, but as if she couldn’t take any more questions.
Walking to his side, she shoved her hand into his pockets. “Give me this,” she spat, pulling out the keys to his car and striding off in the opposite direction from him.
“You can’t take my car,” he called to her.
But it was no use, she’d already left.
* * *
“I have to say, when you said you had a plan I thought you’d, you know, actually have a plan.” Dan gave him a disapproving look as he read through the files laying across Adam’s dining table.
Adam had come back up from his argument with Mercedes to the friends who were actually still on his side. But his heart felt hollow, and his regret was a sinking ship in his stomach. “It’s a little lite on–”
“Fucking hell, this is just a bunch of useless notes, Adam. This isn’t a plan,” Dan said.
“Look, it is a plan. It’s a list of everything we need to take from Blake in order to be powerful enough to take over.” Adam paced around his room, pointing out items on the wall, but noticing that Carlos and Paul, who were sitting on the end of the bed, shared a nervous glance between one another.
“See this—this is what we need to control—you’ve got the prostitutes, the arms trade–” Adam continued about the room. Though he could tell the erratic nature of his movement wasn’t inspiring confidence among his friends. “Um, and the drug trade, and his property, and—wait, I’m sure there’s more around here somewhere.”
Adam flicked through papers, throwing them about to find the one he was looking for. He looked over at Paul, who merely shook his head, giving him a very clear signal to stop talking.
“It’s a little undercooked, I’ll admit,” Adam said, running his hands through his hair. “But I had to come back here before this was all fully fleshed out. We’re running out of time. Blake is about to become the mayor.”
“A great point,” Paul said. “Once he becomes Mayor, the city budget will fund whatever he wants. The law will officially be in his hands. There won’t be anything he can’t do.”
“Maybe he won’t get in,” Carlos shrugged, leaning back farther onto the bed.
“He’ll get in,” Dan scoffed, pushing papers about the table. “And if he doesn’t, he’ll just rig the vote so he does.”
“It puts a definite timeline on things,” Paul said.
“It means we can’t let him become Mayor,” Carlos said.
“Or we have to kill him before he does,” Dan suggested.
Adam nodded. “See? The plan is simple. We have to steal all these things, and then kill him, and then we take over.”
“Oversimplified.” Dan rolled his eyes.
“It’s all about power. The people will follow whoever has it,” Adam said. “Guys, come on, trust me here. Imagine what we can do when we set our minds to it. Fully fleshed plan or not.”
