Inheritance

At the end of his shift, Adrian walked through the dark Save Mart parking lot, ready to go home. Having the club in his pocket had proven to be a bit of a double-edged sword. In some ways, it made the drudgery of his job easier when he knew there was a light at the end of the tunnel, but in other ways, it made it almost impossible to drum up the motivation to keep working.

His life had changed a lot since becoming Araqiel’s knight, and more changes were coming. Some of them were for the worse, but if he was honest with himself, most were for the better. Despite his regrets about how his friends had been impacted, he knew that if he had the chance, he’d do it all over again.

Lost in thought, Adrian didn’t notice the man leaning against his car until he was only twenty feet away. He stopped cold.

“Adrian Parker?” the man called out.

“What do you want?” Adrian called back, trying to work out if he could make it back into the store before the stranger could catch up with him.

The man stepped forward, and Adrian got a better look. He was shorter than Adrian by a couple of inches, but stocky and muscular. His arms were sleeved with tattoos, and his thick, gray-black beard extended down to his sternum.

“You work quick,” the man said. “Took you less than a week to weasel Rocco out of that club.”

Adrian had already been pretty sure he couldn’t take the guy, but any thoughts of fighting fled entirely when a second man stepped around the back of his car. The newcomer was a head taller than Adrian and built like an ill-tempered brick. His bald head was covered in tattoos, and as he leaned against the passenger side door with crossed arms, Adrian spotted a conspicuous flash of metal tucked into his waistband. For all his newfound abilities, the cloak folded up in Adrian’s pocket suddenly didn’t seem like all that much protection.

There was nowhere to go in the mostly empty parking lot. Adrian was completely caught out. He tried his best to keep his pounding heart under control. He’d grown up in the city and had been mugged once before, but this wasn’t that. They knew him by name.

“You work for Rocco?” Adrian asked.

“Rocco works for us,” the bald man said.

The shorter man flashed an angry look at his partner. “He did, at least. Not much use to us now.”

“Fourteenth Street,” Adrian guessed. The street gang Rocco had been in bed with.

“That’s us,” said the man with the sleeves. “My name’s Sebastian, and I run the crew.”

“And who’s your friend?” Adrian asked.

“Don’t worry about him,” Sebastian said. “Everything goes well here, and he won’t have nothing to do with you.”

The other guy didn’t seem to like that much, but he didn’t speak up.

“Got to admit,” Sebastian drawled. “When I was told where to find you, I thought we must have had the wrong guy. Where does a man working at a grocery store get the kind of money to pay cash for a nightclub?”

“Inheritance,” Adrian replied.

Sebastian narrowed his eyes and took a step forward. “You don’t want to be messing with me right now. Who do you work for?”

“I’m independent,” Adrian answered.

“Bullshit,” Sebastian growled. “You think you can just step into our territory and we won’t ask any questions? That’s somebody else’s money you’re spending, and I want to know whose.”

Adrian tried hard to come up with an answer that would satisfy the gangster, but came up empty. “I don’t know what to tell you,” Adrian said. “I don’t have any backers.”

Sebastian took another step forward and sucked in spit through his teeth. “See, I thought that maybe you’d say that. Guess you have to meet Diego after all.”

The bald man took a menacing stride forward, and despite himself, Adrian flinched back.

“Last chance,” Sebastian promised darkly. “Who are you?”

“You think if I had support, I’d be working this job?” Adrian argued desperately. Diego paused in his advance, and Adrian took the opportunity to keep going. “That money is all I have. I bought the club because it’s a way out of the dead end I’m stuck in. That’s it. I promise.”

“I think he’s telling the truth,” Diego said.

“I didn’t ask you,” Sebastian barked before returning his attention to Adrian. Diego glared daggers at the back of Sebastian’s head, but the man took no notice. “Let’s say that you are telling the truth. I got one way for you to prove it.”

“What’s that?” Adrian asked, dreading the answer.

“Rocco was taking care of some business for us over at Gilt. If you really don’t have any friends, then you wouldn’t mind handling that same business for us, would you?”

Of course that was what this was about, Adrian realized. Gilt had been how 14th Street cleaned their money, and they didn't want to let that go. Adrian should have been ready for this; he had been stupid not to see it coming.

“I know about yours and Rocco’s arrangement,” Adrian said carefully, “but I was hoping for more of a clean start.”

“You can hope for whatever you want,” Sebastian laughed, “but what you got is me. And I say that you’re going to pick up right where Rocco left off.”

“I hear you,” Adrian told him. “But are you sure this is how you want to play it? That’s not a threat,” he added quickly, holding up a hand. “What you and Rocco were doing together takes a lot of trust, and we don’t know each other. You’re telling me that if the cops come knocking, you have faith I won’t rat?”

“Oh, you had better not,” Sebastian said threateningly, but Adrian saw Diego pause.

“I wouldn’t.” Adrian paused. “But then, I’d say that either way, right?”

Diego turned to his boss. “Some of the other guys were saying-“

“I don’t give a shit what they say,” Sebastian snapped. “Who’s in charge here? Is it you?”

“No,” Diego said, eyes smoldering.

“That’s right,” Sebastian taunted. “It’s me. So if you or anyone else has something to say, keep it to yourselves.”

Diego nodded passively, but Adrian could tell he was pissed.

“As for you,” Sebastian said, turning on Adrian. “You ever sell me out and I will bury you, understand?”

Adrian nodded. The last thing he wanted to do was rock the boat.

“This is happening,” Sebastian continued. “You on board? Or do I have to beat some sense into you first?”

If Adrian was going to fix this, he needed to buy some time. “I’ll do it,” he agreed, mouth dry. “Stop by the club tomorrow night, and we can go over the details.”

“Now that’s what I like to hear!” Sebastian said. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Let’s go, Diego.”

The pair stalked off to a beat-up, red sedan parked in the corner of the lot. With a flash of recognition, Adrian realized that he’d seen it before, on his way home from Gilt earlier that day. His veins ran cold. That was how they’d known where to find him. They’d followed him. Which meant that they knew where he lived.

Once they had driven away, Adrian got into his car and took a moment to catch his breath. Things looked bad, but he wasn’t willing to throw in the towel without a fight. Once his nerves had settled, he pulled out his phone and made a call.

“Amira,” he said. “Sorry to call so late, but I need a favor.”