CHAPTER 131 There’s a Reason
Joy
The sun was about to rise when we boarded one of Xavier’s trucks bound for New Salem, leaving a
shaken Emma to care for Sebastian. I wanted to stay and look after Sebastian myself, but I had to go
back before Liam noticed I was missing.
After Delgado, Xavier didn’t want to lose any more members of the organization and the mere
possibility of someone else dying ate at him. He decided it was best if we were prepared. So he
ordered all his men stationed at Mandan to move to New Salem.
Despite the risks, Xavier’s sister… she wasing whether we liked it or not.
When Ki ki was formally inducted into the organization, she assumed Xavier would tap her to tap
be a part of his group. But Xavier, who only wanted to protect his sister, had Cristos her instead.
Although adept in h acking, Ki ki, like her brother, lovedbat and warfare.
I remember her induction… She was the first soldier to ever refuse a tap from an underboss.
“Katarina Xandra Beaufort,” her father yelled from the podium. “You are privileged to have been tapped
by a wise underboss. Know your ce in this organization or I will strip you of your membership.”
“But Father,” Ki ki reasoned, “I deserve to be under Capo B astone Beau-”
“You will address me as Don, soldier,” her father reprimanded her. “Understand our traditions. You will
follow and serve Underboss Primo… until your dying breath.”
K iki muttered a curse before bowing to Cristos. It was obvious she wasn’t too thrilled to be under him,
but Cristos was definitely happy to acquire K iki. She had the Beaufort skillset he needed for his dirty
work.
Eventually, Ki ki warmed up to Cristos especially since she did all of his field work for him. However, as
time went by, Xavier and his men oversaw all armed-rted operations. So, just like Dina and Lou, K
iki ended up being in charge of arge team of hackers working for Cristos… something she utterly
detested.
She was one slick cookie though. She waited for the perfect opportunity to get what she wanted. And
even though Xavier screamed obscenities at her earlier, she wouldn’t back down. Cristos had promised
anything to the one person who could decode Cris’ messages
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CHAPTER 131 There’s a Reason
“X, you aren’t the underboss I work for,” she said while on speaker phone. “Primo, you said I could ask
for ar
anything and this is what I want. I arrive in Bismarckter in the day. Please
have Lou or Dina pick me up.”
“I’ll pick you up,” I offered. “You can y my bestfriend from Nevada who will be helping met with my
wedding.”
“Oh, this is just fantastic,” Xavier eximed. “The two of you together? Not only do I have to worry
about just one woman, now I have two!”
“You will never have to worry about me, dear brother. As Joy’s bestfriend, I can and will keep her safe,”
K iki promised.
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Xavier said. “You are just as reckless as Sebastian. And K iki, it’s Virtue
Sullivan, not Joy Taylor. If you’re going to y her bestfriend, you better not slip. Chip and Virtue will
pick you up at the airport. And Ki ki, I need you to be a girly girl.”
“Aw… people in New Salem aren’t into goth?” K iki asked, chuckling. “No problem, Bo. I
gotcha.
Before we boarded the truck, we quickly went through Cris’ messages, but despite being in word form,
most of the messages didn’t make any sense, except for thest one which had
the words Ol’ Barn and Friday.
While heading back to New Salem, Xavier got an unexpected call from Link. It was a
to discover Norma Martin was broke.
“I should’ve looked into Norma’s finances,” Cristos mumbled, angry at himself. “I was a to, but Dan
called and we had the Chicago trip and the proposal. It slipped my mind.”
“It’s a
good thing then that Jake took a look at her finances for us,” Xavier said, cing at hand on his
shoulder. “Cristos, we need to find out who truly owns the pharmacy. Unfortunately, we are a man
short, so it’s up to us.”
“I’ll have Lou get us that information and I’ll instruct my team to listen in on all of Liam’s conversations.
Something big is going to happen tomorrow and the Ol’ Barn is where it’s going to happen.”
Xavier jumped out as soon as the truck stopped and immediately turned towards his office. But after a
few steps, he abruptly stopped. I was about to ask him what was wrong when he gestured for all of us
to keep quiet.
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CHAPTER 131 There’s a Reason
“Link, cough once for yes. Is this Tomas Martín Hispanic?” He asked through hismunication
device. I noticed the excitement on his face as he listened intently.
“Who is Tomas Martin?” I mouthed to Cristos. He answered me with a shrug of his shoulders.
“The Angels of Darkness is primarily the Mexican Mafia,” Xavier suddenly said. “I want you to get on
Tomas’ good side. Get Ford out. Do whatever it takes.”
“Get Ford out? Are you insane? What about Emma?” Cristos asked incredulously. “And who is this T
Martín anyway?”
“Chip, I’ll make sure Emma has back up. As to who this Tomas Martín is, he is Ford’s father and
Norma’s ex-husband,” Xavier answered. I gasped. Was he Luis Villegas in disguise? “I overheard
Norma and Tomas fighting over the pharmacy. Tomas said, and I quote, “The pharmacy stays in the
organization.’ End quote. Xavier grinned at Cristos. “I think we have finally found Pete’s capo. I can’t
believe it. Everything does happen for a reason.”
“I need to h ook up myptop,” Cristos said, quickly walking towards Xavier’s office which was still
partly boarded up except for a small opening. “I’ll use facial recognition and see if he fits the description
we found on Luis Villegas.”
I followed Cristos into Xavier’s office where he quickly set up hisptop and began typing. It took him
about five minutes to hack into the CCTV footage at the Sheriff’s station and. obtain an image of Tomas
Martín.
He uploaded the image he got from De Luca and sought a facial match.
“Sixty-six percent,” Cristos announced, grimacing. “It’s not good, but it’s high enough considering this
photo was taken years ago. Height is a problem though. He’s an inch shorter than this Luis Villegas,
but we do be shorter as we age so this could be him-”
“Jake has something for you,” Xavier suddenly interrupted, entering with Jake. He handed Cristos a
USB. “Files from Hartman’sptop. Link told me earlier Norma wired Hartman five hundred thousand to
help Ford. You go through that while I check her phone.” Xavier sat down on his sofa and began
swiping through Hartman’s phone.
“Hartman was nning to s kip town… she even wrote a letter confessing to the murder of Theodore
Cohen…,” Jake began, but stopped. “Has Autumn
you, Primo? Otten in touch with I’m sure she can provide us with more information than what I could
get off Hartman’sptop.”
“No. I told her toy low Cristas said grabbing his phone and dialing. “Autumn, can you ·
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CHAPTER 131 There’s a Reason
speak freely?
You’re at home? Good. What do you have for me?” He put her on speaker phone so we all could hear
what she had to say.
“Well, Hartman first tried to pin Theodore’s death on his cardiologist, but it didn’t work. After the Sheriff
went through all the CCTV footages and smartphones they confiscated, he announced all the evidence
pointed to Ford. Hartman called Norma to inform her of her son’s arrest and told her she couldn’t stand
idly by and watch Ford be crucified for something he didn’t do, so she offered to take the fall for
Theodore’s death. However, she went on to exin to Norma that it came with a price, considering her
retirement benefits. would be revoked once she s kips town. Norma agreed to pay her all the money
she had left in her bank ount just as long as all charges against Ford are dropped. Unfortunately,
Hartman wasn’t too pleased with the amount Norma offered her and was about to back out, but Norma
promised her once Ford is released, she would ask Ford for a loan and pay her more. They negotiated
for a while… with Hartman finally settling for two million dors,” Autumn narrated.
“After writing her confession letter and leaving it inside her desk drawer, she pulled out a -long brown
folder from under her desk. I thought she was going to go home, but she headed to the hospital
director’s office instead. Apparently, they both originally conspired to take Ford’s trust fund money in
exchange for his appointment as nurse administrator. However, due to the unforeseen circumstances,
taking Ford’s money was no longer a viable option, so Hartman proceeded in ckmailing the hospital
director, showing him all the evidence she had collected in that folder she had brought with her. The
hospital directorughed and quickly turned the tables on her, informing her he had evidence of her
embezzling money from the department budget. It seems Hartman has a gambling addiction and
travels to Fargo frequently,” Autumn exined.
“What evidence did she have against the hospital director?” Cristos asked.
“Drugs. The hospital director supplies the meth the nurses buy from Junior Nurse Administrator Rodney
Marshall, one of two friends Emma has. Don’t get me wrong… I like Emma, I do, but she can be a real
snob. Everyone at the hospital sees her as this big priss, so no one ever really warmed up to her. Ford,
that idiot, had thought Emma was doing drugs since she was on speaking terms with Pam, this nurse
who helps Rodney with his drug. dealing. That’s the reason why Ford targeted Emma in the first ce.
I didn’t say anything because I needed her to act naturally.”
“Does Ford know about this Rodney?” Xavier asked.
“He only knows about Pam. Rodney is like a hero at the hospital. He even created a petition for the
termination of Ford’s employment.”
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CHAPTER 131 There’s a Reason
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“Wait, I’m confused. Rodney is openly trying to have Ford fired when the drugs he sellse from the
organization Ford’s mother is tied up with?” Xavier asked
“Based on what I heard from the hospital director, Norma Martin has no stake in the
business whatsoever while Ford… well, he was bing a hindrance to the business. The
only reason why most of the sexual harassmentints against Ford were withdrawn was because
many of the female nurses who filed aint were involved with drugs. As for Hartman, the hospital
director reminded her that all he needed to do was say the word
and she, Ford and Norma would cease to exist. He reminded her of a security guard and a
janitor that went missing and told her, ‘McDowell doesn’t like liabilities. He prefers them buried in the
ground.”
I gasped again. The one ce we didn’t care to look… the hospital..
“What happened after their meeting?” Cristos asked, shaking his head in disbelief.
“While I was providing care for Nicole Davis and everyone else was at the vigil, Hartman went to the
nurses’ locker room and raided Emma’s locker, then quickly left the hospital right after. I have to
apologize for my negligence, Primo, because it was already two in the morning when I was able to
check the footage,” Autumn apologized.
“Do you know what she saw in Emma’s locker?”
“She saw Emma’s ring, Primo” Autumn said, her voiceced with concern. “After watching th
recorded feed, I went out for a smoke to calm my nerves and that’s when I noticed Hartman car parked
at the gift shop fronting the hospital. I decided to see if she was inside and she was, with a gun in her
hands. That’s when I decided to steal the note. I was on my way to warn Emma, but she had already
left. I immediately linked into the CCTVs and found Emma standing in the parking lot with her hands
raised above her head. I hurriedly alerted Link, knowing he could take care of Hartman.”
“Do you think she told Norma about Emma?” Xavier asked.
“I don’t think so. I don’t even think she understood the inscription on the ring. But from the footage, it
was clear Hartman marveled at the red diamond of Emma’s family heirloom,” Autumn answered. TheCopyright N?v/el/Dra/ma.Org.
red diamond ring was only owned by the founding fathers of the Blood Disciples. Emma inherited hers
from her father and it was worth millions. “What I can definitely say though was Hartman wanted money
and she was desperate. Desperate people
often don’t want to share.”
“I have to say you did well, Autumn, but next time keep Emma updated… including me,” Cristos
instructed her. “We can’t risk anyone’s life. For today. Emma’s calling in sick, so you’
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CHAPTER 131 There’s a Reason
need to keep an eye on Nicole. I also need you to hack into the hospital director’s files and look into
every patient and every employee who is currently in that hospital and send that
information to me. It’s possible Pete may be hiding there.”
“Of course, Primo,” Autumn replied and hung up.
“I’m convinced. There’s a reason for everything,” Xavier said, standing up. “There aren’t any messages
on this phone. Here, Chip. See if you can find anything else on it.” He handed
Cristos Hartman’s phone, then turned to speak to Jake. “Jake, did Link leave you with
instructions?”
“He needs me to assist him for the day, Bo,” Jake answered.
“For now, your mission is Tomas Martín. I want to know where he lives. Tell Link to call me
later. I need the both of you to ambush one of Sheriff’s deputies, Xavier instructed. Jake nodded his
head and quickly left. “I’ll call Sam and have him meet with the hospital director
while Lou and my men put up CCTV cameras around the Ol’ Barn.”
“Why do you need Sam to meet with the hospital director?” I asked, surprised.
“I’m going to make a deal with Pete.”
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The Joy of Revenge