“It’s Zeth motherfucking Mayfair, bitch. Now put Julio on the phone.” There we go; that’s more my speed. The person on the other end of the line responds by swearing in Spanish. There’s muted chatter in the background and he’s there, the man himself, talking live and direct right into my right ear.

“Zeth, my friend. So good to hear from you. I trust you are well?”

“Never better,” I clip out. It’s started to rain. The windshield wipers in Michael’s sedan automatically begin to sweep across the windshield, blurring the lights of the other cars into long streaks of white and red as they pass us by. “I believe we have a small matter to discuss,” I say.

“Oh? And what might that be?” There’s a layer of cordiality to Julio’s voice, but I can hear the violence beneath it. Men like him smile and say polite things while plotting all the ways in which they plan on fucking killing you. I know this all too well.

“The fact you’ve taken a friend of mine. The fact I’ve taken a friend of yours.”

Julio gives me a half-amused laugh. “I’m afraid I have no idea what you’re talking about, Zeth. I have a missing member of a motorcycle club staying with me at the moment. His boss is on his way over here to retrieve him. As far as people on my end…” He sniffs, pauses for effect. “It seems as though everyone is accounted for over here.”

Andreas is missing and he knows it; he’s just trying to be a smart motherfucker, make me believe he doesn’t care about his guy when I know all too well that he does. Andreas is a fucking liability. He’s hot-headed and reckless. Most people in Julio’s position would have killed him a long time ago, which means the gang lord must have a soft spot for him. I wouldn’t be surprised if Medina is related to him in some way. So how to play this? How to play this the right way? And why would Julio pick Cade up if he were planning on handing him straight over to Rebel? It makes no sense.

“Fine,” I say. “So Rebel comes for Cade, and I dispose of my house guest. Permanently. You’re happy that this is how shit is gonna go down?”

There’s another pause on the other end of the line—I can imagine the expression on Julio’s face, mouth pulled down in a pout of nonchalance, shoulders shrugged up around his ears. I can almost hear the fucking bravado. “Whatever, man. You do what you gotta do.”

I grunt, nodding my head. I’m thinking. Thinking hard about what the hell our next move should be when Julio speaks again. “You should know you’ve made me very unhappy, ese. No, I’m not very happy with you at all.”

“I can see why you might feel that way,” I concede. “If it’s any consolation, it was nothing personal. It was a favor for a friend.”

There’s a rhythmic snapping sound down the phone—Julio tutting. “I don’t give a shit about the girl, ese,” he says. “I give a shit about you deceiving me in my own house. About you spying for Charlie.”

It’s one thing to hear it coming from Andreas—the guy is paranoid as fuck—but now Julio thinks I came to the compound to do Charlie’s bidding? “I said I was there for the girl. I wasn’t there for Charlie, asshole. The motherfucker’s been trying to kill me for the past few weeks.”

“Ha!” Julio’s loud blast of laughter almost deafens me. “So why the fuck did he come burning up here as soon as my guys told him you were here, huh? Why did he show up at my door only six hours after you left, when my home was in ruins, and pay me an obscene amount of money to not come after you? Why did he sign over his drugs business to me to settle the debt you owed, when your friends blew up my villa?”

“What?”

“He may have bought your life for you, Zee, but let me tell you this. If you come creepin’ up on me again, no amount of money in the world will save you.”

Still focusing on the road ahead of us as he drives, Micheal’s eyes widen; he must be able to hear Julio. I try to comprehend what the guy is saying to me, but yet again it makes no fucking sense. I can’t remember the last time anything did make sense, but this? This is just off the charts fucking bizarre. Charlie paid Julio to keep him off my back?

“Why would he do that?” I ask. I feel stupid. I feel like the guy who’s missing some vital, crucial piece of information everyone else is in fucking possession of but I am not.

Julio gives me that laugh again—that arrogant, fuck you laugh. “It’s the same deal world over, my friend. It’s all well and good wanting to kill your family members when they’ve done something to piss you off. But if someone else comes along and fucks with them…that’s a whole different story.”

Man, this guy just doesn’t seem to fucking listen. “I told you then and I’ll tell you now, asshole, I’m not part of Charlie’s family anymore. I left. I quit. I fucking walked away.”

The quiet that stretches out seems to last a lifetime. This isn’t getting us anywhere. I need to get off the phone so I can call Rebel and find out what the hell’s going on. I need to—

“Oh, come now, Zee. Even you should know this. You can never walk away from a man like Charlie Holsan,” Julio chides. “You might try and walk away from his organization. You probably wouldn’t live to tell the tale, but still you could try. You, on the other hand…he’ll never let you walk away from him.”

“And why’s that?” I snap.