Chapter 69 The Warehouse Meeting
Aria POV
The drive back toward the industrial district felt longer than it actually was because the streets were slick with oil and rain, and the SUV’s engine was making a clicking sound that made me wonder if I had damaged the radiator when I drove it down that ridge. I kept checking the rearview mirror to see if any Syndicate cars were following me, but the roads were mostly empty of anything except for a few delivery trucks and the occasional stray dog darting between the shadows of the closed factories. I had changed my mind about going straight to the Apex tower because a new message had come through on my phone while I was hitting the city limits, and it wasn't from my contact in the server room but from Jess himself, who had sent me a set of coordinates for an old meat-packing warehouse near the docks.
"I know you have the coin, Aria, so if you want to see your grandmother again before the Silverfangs decide she’s useless, you’ll come to the pier alone and we can settle this without any more houses burning down," the message had said, and even though I knew it was probably a trap, I couldn't risk the Syndicate or the Silverfangs moving Nana to a second location where Grayson would never find her.
I pulled the vehicle into a gravel lot across from the warehouse and sat there for a minute while the wipers pushed the rain back and forth across the glass, and I looked at the silver coin in my hand, thinking about how such a small piece of metal could be causing so much blood to be spilled. I finally stepped out of the car and walked toward the small side door of the warehouse, and the smell of salt and rotting wood was so strong it made my eyes water, but I pushed through the door and found myself in a wide, open space filled with rusted hooks hanging from the ceiling. Jess was standing under a single yellow light in the center of the room, and he looked perfectly calm as he leaned against a wooden crate with his hands in his pockets, while two men in dark suits stood a few feet behind him with their arms crossed.
"I wasn't sure if you’d actually show up without Grayson holding your hand, but I guess you’ve developed a bit of a backbone since the last time we talked in that van," Jess said, and he pushed himself off the crate and walked a few steps toward me, though he stopped well outside of arm's reach.
"I don't need Grayson to tell me how to handle a rat like you, Jess, and I certainly don't need him to tell me that my grandmother is the only thing that matters right now," I told him, and I kept my hand inside my jacket pocket so I could keep my fingers wrapped around the edge of the coin. "Where is she, and why are you working with the Silverfangs when you know they’re just going to kill you once they have what they want from the Harts?"
"The Silverfangs are a means to an end, and they pay a lot better than the Harts ever did, especially since Grayson started spending more time worrying about your bakery than he did about the quarterly earnings," Jess replied, and he let out a short laugh that echoed through the empty warehouse and made the hooks on the ceiling rattle. "They don't want the docks or the trucking routes, Aria, because they want the bloodline ended, and the Syndicate is happy to let them do it as long as the transition of power is quiet and the paperwork for the assets is signed by the right people."
"And you think Delilah is just going to sit there and sign everything over while you hold a gun to her head in the boardroom?" I asked, and I moved a little closer to the light so I could see his face better, trying to figure out if he actually knew where Nana was or if he was just stalling for time.
"Delilah is a pragmatist, and she’ll do whatever she has to do to survive, but she’s not the one I’m worried about right now," he said, and he held out his hand as if he expected me to just drop the coin into his palm. "Give me the emblem, and I’ll take you to the medical wing where your grandmother is being kept, but if you keep playing these games, I’m just going to call the team at the tower and tell them to finish the purge."
"If I give you the coin now, you have no reason to keep me alive, and I’m not as dumb as you think I am just because I spent my mornings making bread," I told him, and I saw one of the guards behind him shift his weight and reach for the holster under his jacket. "This coin is the only proof that the Silverfangs are back in the city, and if I send a photo of it to every news outlet and pack leader in the state, your 'quiet transition' is going to turn into a full-scale war that the Syndicate can't hide."
"You wouldn't do that because it would put a target on Grayson’s back that he could never run from, and you’re too in love with him to be that reckless with his life," Jess said, but I could see a flicker of doubt in his eyes that told me he wasn't entirely sure if I was bluffing.
"Try me, because I’ve already lost my shop and my home, and I’ve watched the only man I care about get branded by a curse that’s eating him alive, so I don't have much left to lose," I countered, and I pulled the coin out of my pocket just enough so he could see the silver glint in the dim light. "I want to see Nana, and I want you to call off the team at the Apex tower, and then we can talk about who gets to keep the emblem and the secrets that come with it."
"You're making a lot of demands for someone who is surrounded by armed men in a warehouse that nobody visits anymore," he said, and he nodded to the guards who started to spread out to my left and right, closing off the exit.
"I'm making the only demands that matter, and if you think I came here without a backup plan, then you really haven't been paying attention to how much time I’ve spent with Jax," I told him, and I felt a surge of adrenaline as I realized that the conversation was about to end and the real fight was going to start.
The heavy doors at the far end of the warehouse suddenly groaned and began to slide open, and the sound of a high-performance engine idling in the rain filled the space, making Jess and his guards turn their heads for a split second. I didn't wait to see who it was, because I knew that whoever was behind those doors was either going to be my salvation or the person who finished the job Jess had started.
A dark figure stepped out of the shadows near the loading dock, and the sound of a safety being clicked off echoed through the room like a death knell.