26. Unit 33

Chapter Twenty-Six

UNIT 33

W aiting to hear back from Daniil on whether or not he was successful in his endeavors to track down and get information out of Orellano had been brutal. Each phone call, every knock at the door, any carrier pigeon, was a reason for Layne to perk up in her seat.

After her personal revelation at The Alderson Hotel, while she got her insides rearranged by the two men who had promised to be her everything, she had looped Joey and Gage in on how she had come across Daniil.

Expectedly, Joey had been pissed that Brandon had kept his mouth shut. Fortunately, Layne was able to soothe his anger down a few notches with a few sweet nothings and strokes of her hand before he marched downtown to scare the poor kid senseless.

Currently snuggled between her two large De Luca men on the sofa, she tugged the blanket over her lap as they watched the hockey game together.

"You've got to be kidding me! Where's the slashing call?!" Gage yelled at the television, raising his hands in the air.

Layne snagged another chocolate-covered rice cereal treat out of the bowl Joey was hoarding. The powdered sugar coating left a dusting on her fingertips after she popped the square into her mouth. Listening to Gage get all worked up like the referees on the ice could hear him through the television screen made her giggle.

"Makes up for the tripping call they missed earlier," Joey argued before he snatched up Layne's hand and sucked the white confectionary coating from her fingers.

Watching the guys bicker when their favorite teams played each other by far was one of Layne's favorite things to keep her mind preoccupied when they all weren't naked.

Her phone began to ring and vibrate against the coffee table. Not wasting any time, she leaned over to scoop it up into her hand, without any hesitation of answering the blocked number.

"Hello?" There was a pause as she listened, sitting still as a statue. The way she tensed up prompted Gage to mute the game and Joey to put the snack bowl on the side table.

Her jaw tensed as she ground her teeth together when the caller laid the news on her. She squeezed the phone tighter in her hand, "I appreciate it, Daniil. Thanks."

Hanging up the phone, she shook her head. "Motherfucker."

Gage's hand squeezed her thigh. "What is it?"

Both of them were now staring at her with concerned eyes.

"I need to meet with Ethan, Jonathan, and Sammy. We've got a fucking problem." She tossed the blanket off her legs. It looked like this wouldn't be a night off from work after all.

After the wedding, Layne had paid some of her grunt workers to go to Liam's place, change the locks, and throw all his shit into a storage unit. Layne had been intending to go through her brother's belongings to see if there was anything of value but hadn't yet had the opportunity. The whole shitshow of her husband getting shot, getting stabbed herself, her Daddy getting drugged, her car gettingwrecked, and trying to keep her illegal business ventures afloat was a major time suck.

She called up her top associates and had them meet her, Joey, and Gage there at Southside Storage for an urgent debrief. Joey lifted the storage unit's metal door; a single light bulb provided enough light to reveal the half-filled rental resting on a concrete pad.

"You think there's something in here that's useful?" Sammy asked as he walked into space with Jonathan and Ethan trailing close behind.

"I know there is," Layne said as she waited for all six of them to be inside before pulling the garage-style door closed.

Jonathan picked up a dusty bobblehead figurine before tossing it back into a box. "Looks like a bunch of crap to me."

Ethan sighed imagining that this was going to be a long night of digging. "Do you have any idea of what we're looking for?"

Joey and Gage grabbed a chair, centering it in the open space.

Layne nodded. "I do, and it's right here." Her eyes scanned the interior of the unit before she looked at Jonathan. "Take a seat."

"What?" He blinked a few times as he pointed at his chest. "Me? Why?"

Joey grabbed Jonathan's shoulder and shoved him into the chair. "She said sit."

Her associate stumbled into the chair, the confusion was as clear as day creasing over his face. Both Ethan and Sammy looked at one another, mirroring the same cluelessness.

"I want to make something very clear." Layne pulled out her gun, tugging the slide back to load a bullet into the chamber. "I made it known when I took over the business that I would be setting some incredibly high standards. When those standards aren't met, it does not make me very happy."

She walked over to Jonathan and straddled his lap, putting the deadly end of the pistol right against his dick. Looking at her negotiator in the eyes. "Is there something you want to tell me?"

Ethan and Sammy took a few steps back, the look in Layne's eyes gave them enough warning not to interfere. Their boss may have looked like an otherwise sweet girl you'd meet on a night out, but she sure as hell had her father's commanding presence when it came to business matters.

Jonathan struggled to find his words, ultimately stuttering out, "N-no. No, of course not!" His eyes pleadingly looked to everyone else in the room there with them. "What the fuck is going on?" Looking for answers from anyone who would take pity. No one did.

Her hand grabbed his face with her other hand, squeezing it tightly so she could look at him. "I'm teaching a lesson in loyalty." She jabbed the gun harder against his junk.

"Layne! Jesus! Stop!" Jonathan's words mushed together by her fingers painfully digging into his cheeks. He began to push up from the chair, but Joey's hands shoved down onto his shoulders from behind.

Layne calmly gave her order to the other two associates, "Sam, Ethan, please make sure Jonathan stays put while we have this conversation."

Without hesitation, both guys came over and took Joey's place. She wanted them to see what happened when she was disappointed.

"Jon, you're a hell of a negotiator. You've helped close a lot of deals for me and smoothed over a lot of relations with other factions on my behalf. So, I want you to negotiate. Show me how good you are." Her hand released his face, but she kept her weapon right where it was. The urge to prematurely fire it off right then and there was incredibly tempting given her newfound knowledge.

"You're fucking crazy! Negotiate what?" He had the nerve to look ignorant.

Her words were void of any emotions as she gave a nonchalant shrug, "Your life. Why I shouldn't blow your dick to pieces. I mean, I think it's pretty damn obvious."

Gage and Joey hung back, watching as Layne rightfully tormented the guy.

"Uh," was Jonathan's first word as he sat there with Layne sitting on his legs. "I love my dick. Like really love it. I don't want it shot to shit. Layne, I don't know what has set you off, but I swear I will do anything to help you out and make it right."

Was he kidding her right now? Layne rested a hand on the back of Jonathan's neck as she laughed darkly. "Holy shit, do you hear yourself right now?"

Nervously, Jonathan tried to read her laughter and gave a half-chuckle trying to find humor in the situation to placate her.

"You should see your face right now." Layne smiled as she gave a softer laugh this time.

"Hah, yeah…" The bead of sweat on his forehead began its slow descent towards his brow.

Shifting back a few inches on his lap, Layne pulled the trigger. The bullet easily tore past the thick denim of Jonathan's jeans and straight into his cock.

Her other two associates simultaneously flinched and cringed, you could notice their legs flexing as they had fear struck into their own dicks.

Jonathan immediately jolted and howled out in agony. Layne's grip on his neck rotated to squeeze his throat, minimizing the sound of his yells.

"You are a fucking liar, Jon!" She yelled at him to be heard over his pain as the blood began soaking his pants, spreading outward over the crotch area. "You've been working for Liam this entire goddamn time! How are you going to make that right?!"

She moved the Glock so it was now pressed against Jonathan's shoulder as he jerked and writhed, tears streaming down his face. "No, no, no, no!" His denial was on repeat, or perhaps he was in disbelief she had just put a bullet through his penis.

Glancing up to see the shock on the other two's faces, she began laying out everything she knew.

"No? No, you weren't helping Liam? You're telling me that you didn't tell him when I was at the hospital with Joey? You didn't feed him information about my every move? You sure that you didn't give him the heads up where I was having dinner down in Times Square?" Each recounting of all the puzzle pieces clicking into place made her anger tick up another notch.

Her face came up to his so close their noses were touching and she didn't care how much spit came out with her words. "What about all my discussions with other factions that you were handling? Huh?! Did you fuck those up for me, too?! Is that why no one seemed willing to help me!?"

Jonathan cried out again, reeling from injury filling his body with unimaginable pain. "Gah!! Pleeeeease!"

Layne pulled her face back to give a little more space. "I hate to tell you, Jonathan, but Nicholas isn't as tight-lipped as you thought. A friend of mine had him spilling everything he knew. Imagine my goddamn surprise when he told me one of my own fucking men was betraying me!" Layne was beyond pissed and every word she spat out was laced with her dangerous venom.

When Daniil had called her to alert her he had tracked down Orellano, he informed her of everything that spilled out of the man's mouth. It had taken some extremely aggressive forms of persuasion, which the Russian had been all too happy to resort to. Nicholas had dropped Jonathan's name like a two-ton weight. He mentioned another man, but when questioned further, it was determined he knew nothing about Liam's other partner.

"What is Liam's plan, Jonathan? Hm? You better tell me something or else I will make the pain you're feeling now seem like a mild headache." She dug the muzzle of the pistol harder into the front of his shoulder.

When it was clear he was too distracted to answer her question, she crashed the side of the gun across his face. "What's his plan?!" Her voice echoed against the walls of the small space of the storage unit.

She saw the defeat and surrender begin to peek through Jonathan's tough front as he sobbed. He choked on his words, "He…H-he wants you to," he gasped for some air between his fits of pain. "Meet at Eric's old place. It's on the note." He took several large breaths trying to get through the intensity of the wound between his legs.

Layne thought back to the note left for her after the accident. 430 at 830 on 227 for 611. The first number was the house number of Eric's old residence. The second must have been the time, followed by the date. However, her mind was drawing a blank on what the fourth number represented.

"What's 611?" she asked after being unable to figure it out on her own.

Jonathan shook his head. "I don't know." When she went to lift her pistol again, he screamed out, "I don't know! I swear! I just gave him info, I didn't ask questions!"

Well, that was fucking useless.

"Layne, I'm sorry." Oh boy, here came the apologies that she hated so much.

She got off his lap, pacing a few feet in front of him. "Who is helping him?"

"I told you, I don't know!" He brayed like a wounded jackass.

Bang!

Another bullet ripped through Jonathan, this time it was the top of his foot. Layne looked up to see Ethan holding his gun out. "You piece of shit! If you don't start giving her answers, I will personally shove this gun up your ass and pull the trigger."

Color Layne impressed that Ethan was harboring the same amount of anger and resentment that she was. He was going to need a damn promotion.

Jonathan was now hysterically screaming, the words coming out of his mouth were a combination of nonsense and curses.

Layne's fingers rubbed across her forehead trying to gather her thoughts past the incessant whines and whimpers as Jonathan's body became crippled from the attacks.

She tapped the side of her pistol against her thigh to help her think. Deciding that Jonathan was no longer of any use to her she lifted the gun to aim it at his chest.

His eyes went wide seeing that another shot was about to be fired. "Some old fuck! Real twisted!"

"Thanks. Your services are no longer required." Layne pulled the trigger and the bullet found its home lodged into Jonathan's heart, obliterating the critical muscle.

Sammy shook his head in disgust that out of the three of them, it was Jonathan who was working with Liam this entire time. "Layne, I had no idea…"

Sighing heavily, she nodded. "I know, nobody seemed to."

"Dickhead," Ethan said under his breath.

Layne returned her Glock to the holster in the back of her pants and pulled out her phone.

Gage raised a brow and came up behind her. "Who are you calling?"

"Liam," his name rolled off her tongue drenched in disgust.

"Layney," Joey said with a warning tone.

"Don't worry, I'm making this short and sweet," she reassured both of them.

Putting the call on speaker, the other end of the line rang a few times before her brother answered.

"This is a pleasant surprise." Liam sounded far too excited to hear from her.

"Southside Storage, unit thirty-three. Come pick up your shit, motherfucker." Her finger tapped the end call button. A moment later, she sent a picture of Jonathan's hunched-over corpse to Liam.

The time of playing by her brother's rules was over. Now, she was playing by her own.