Page 76 of More Tricks

Stuffed full of yummy food and another cup of coffee in my hands, we headed up to the triplets’ place. I found Harper and Betta chatting while Tommaso was going over something with the guys. Papers were strewn everywhere on the table, and it seemed they’d been at it for some time.

“Are we late?” I asked.

Magnus looked up and smirked. “You know not everything is about you, Dax. Tommaso, here, hired us for some help hunting down some guys he knows are going to cause trouble in the new De León Cartel.”

“Oh, so you’re keeping the name?” I questioned.

Tommaso shrugged. “I mean, it is my real last name and proves that I deserve to take over. Since they already took out my half-siblings who were direct rivals last night, I’m feeling more secure. There are just a few of the older generation I know won't accept the change, and I plan to nip it in the bud before it causes a problem.”

“How pragmatic,” I commented, then turned to the girls. “What power play are you two planning?”

“Oh, nothing much, just how Betta can use her last night as one of the four to make a splash,” Harper shared. “So, do we get to hear what this secret plan of yours is?”

“What fun would that be if you knew? This is one thing you’re just going to have to watch and be amazed.”

Harper frowned, not liking that I wasn’t going to tell her, but if she knew, I had a feeling she’d talk me out of it. Harper might have toughened up a lot in the last few months with the triplets but not enough to see the benefit in what I was about to do.

“Then why are we even meeting?” Betta asked. “If you aren’t going to tell us the plan, how can we prepare for it?”

“Whoa, ladies,” I said, holding up a hand to fend them off. “I didn’t say I wasn’t going to tell you everything. There are some parts I want to keep for maximum impact.” Turning to everyone else, I decided to get this meeting started. “Anything about last night we need to share?”

Cam cleared his throat and raised his hand.

“We aren’t in school. You can just talk,” I said with a sigh.

He just grinned and gave me a wink before he started. “We have Diego’s wife, Mariana, in a safe house and plan to take her with us when we leave. I discovered that she’s Marco’s biological sister, and I got the feeling she’s more than willing to share her knowledge with us.”

“Ah, well, we found out that Axel is one of the men who kidnapped and killed Jeff,” Picasso shared.

That had my attention. I set my coffee down and walked over to him. “He admitted it?”

“Yeah, said Jeff warned him you would hunt him down and make him pay for killing one of your people,” Eagle added. “After that, we made doubly sure he was safe so you could kill him properly.”

I nodded and started to pace as the plan I had started to build turned into something more. “Okay, good. Did Elena get back to Gabby?”

“Yup, they are safe, back home. We told them to stay at the compound just to be sure they were protected,” Eagle explained.

“Tommaso, did you have a grand entrance planned?” I inquired.

He frowned and shook his head. “No, do I need one?”

I flashed him a grin. “Oh, yeah, you do, and I have the perfect opportunity for you to really drive home everything you’ve been telling me. If you want this partnership between you and me to go off without a hitch, then you’ll have to trust me when I call you up to the ring tonight.”

“Yeah, I can do that,” Tommaso agreed. “If I’m going to pick a side in this fight, then might as well not be shy about it, right?”

I clapped my hands together, smiling like a fool. “Tonight is going to make such a splash, and no one will see it coming.”

“Walk us through what you can, little demon, so we can keep up,” Void requested, so I grabbed a pen and flipped over one of the maps for something big enough to draw on.

I carefully explained as I drew, watching them all realize what I was going to pull off. I was sure they understood the part I was keeping to myself, but I didn’t want to jinx it. This was risky as fuck, but dammit, it would be good to finally pull one over on Marco if this worked.

Chapter twenty-eight

Dax

The energy in the underground fighting ring was electric. The bleachers they had held about three hundred people and were packed. Then there were the box seats above that, protected by bulletproof glass, where the more important members of the criminal world sat. There were women in bikinis and heels selling shots, food, and themselves for the right price. When I say this place would have fit in ancient Rome with how debauchery was running wild, I wasn’t kidding. Men fucked right there in the bleachers, not giving a shit who was watching.

The fights had started by the time we arrived at nine since Void and I weren’t supposed to go on until ten. Or so they thought. We’d managed to smuggle in Diego and Axel with Betta’s help since she made it clear we needed our own space to ensure no fighting happened before the ring match.