Original Sins by Faith Summers
21
Georgiou
The day went exactly as it did the days before, and it started to feel like Evie lived with us.
By nightfall, however, I was swiftly reminded of the darkness of my world when Christian messaged me with intel about meeting up urgently because he had information about Peter.
He had a name and a place for us to check out.
I left the house minutes after, taking my motorcycle instead of my car.
It’s easier to use if trouble comes.
Christian did the same.
Both of us are dressed in black when we meet at the old factories by the docks.
I’m very aware this is outside our limits when it comes to danger, and I should probably get Frankie or Vincent to look into it for me because we are dealing with the Triads, but I’m not a man like that. Neither is my brother.
He steps out of the shadows and gives me a nod when I park.
“What have you got for me?” I ask him.
“Something you won’t like.” He sighs. “I found an account. It’s offshore. There’s a different name on it, but it’s linked to Peter’s personal account. There’s ten million in there, and it looks like he’s been stealing money from the bank too.”
“Fuck.” I clench my hands into fists. That motherfucker.
I was right not to fucking relax when we didn’t find anything.
“There’s transactions going back more than five years. He hides the payments as company expenses and siphons the money across. The account has payments going to an account in China, which I’m guessing is linked to Xiou Wong.”
“Jesus, Christian. What the fuck. That fucking dog is up to something.”
If Christian weren’t so thorough, we wouldn’t know any of this. We’d be none the wiser and be Peter’s butt monkeys.
“He is. Maybe we can find out what it is tonight. The guy he met the other night is here. The prick’s name is Lim Hoi, and not a guy to mess with. He’s a middle man between the Bratva and Triads.”
Fuck.Bratva? The last thing we want is the Russian Mafia on our asses.
That would not go down well with everyone else.
“My tracker picked him up with Peter a few hours ago.”
“How did you do that?” I know he has his ways of doing things, but I still want to know.
“I hacked into the city’s surveillance CCTV and programmed my facial recognition bots to alert me when it picked up his ugly mug.”
“Fuck. You sure we’re related. That’s some science shit I would never be able to do.”
He chuckles. “I’m the anomaly, remember? No one can explain me.”
“You’re right about that.” The moment of humor fades. “Where can we find him?”
His gaze darts to the warehouse to our left, “he’s by himself in there waiting for some money for a drop. The guy he’s meeting will be here in five minutes. I couldn’t hear the conversation he had with Peter, but I found out this part. Now we can get some answers.”
Indeed. “Well done, brother.”
He motions his head for me to follow, and I do.
We walk around the archway where it’s pitch black, and there we find the fucker.
Five minutes pass, and a bulky-looking guy meets with him and hands over an envelope I’m assuming has the money in it.
When the bulky guy goes, and Lim walks away, we move in.
It takes him two seconds to realize he’s being followed, and the motherfucker breaks into a run.
We give him the chase of his life and probably mine too.
Most Triad guys I know are swift fuckers who can fight old-school Kung Fu that can take you down with one hit.
I’m from the streets of Chicago, so I can’t do that shit. I fight dirty enough, though, and when I chase someone, I always get them.
So when he climbs up the side of the warehouse and ends up on the roof, I’m right behind his ass.
When he goes to jump across to the next building, I grab him and haul him to the ground.
The fucker goes down and stops fighting me when Christian pulls out his gun and holds it at Lim’s head.
This won’t be some lie and torture session, though. He’s going to give me the information I need on the first try.
“What the fuck do you want?” he blurts.
“Information.” I grab his neck and walk him over to the dangerous side of the rooftop.
“I don’t know anything.”
Fool.“Fucking bastard. I haven’t even asked the question yet.”
“I don’t have any information,” he shouts, writhing against my grasp as I continue to march across the roof with him.
When we sees where we’re going, he starts freaking the fuck out.
There’s a building close by on the side he was going to jump over. This side has nothing but the ground, which is more than a hundred feet down. If he falls, he’s dead.
His intention was to escape me by jumping onto the roof of the other building. With his speed and agility, things like space jumping and building hopping would come easy to him.
It comes easy to me too, I’m just not doing that type of shit tonight, so I’m doing this.
Lim sees we’re dangerously close to the edge now and starts cursing me in English and Chinese. I slam him down on the ground again, stunning him.
This time when he hits the ground, his head is hanging over the side of the building. One push, and he’ll go flying straight to his death.
“Peter Marino. That’s who I need information on, and you’re going to give it to me.”
“I don’t know, no Peter,” he cries.
“Bastard liar.” I shove him further over the side, and he screams bloody murder.
Christian tenses next to me, and I can tell he’s shocked by my actions because I always seem so calm and in control.
My brother should know it’s the quiet ones you have to look out for.
I can’t be fucking calm when my name might get tied up in shit.
“You met with Peter earlier. Don’t fucking lie to me. I want to know what business he has with Xiou Wong.”
Lim’s eyes go wide, and it’s not because he’s hanging off the side of the building.
The mention of Xiou’s name would put the fear of God in anybody, and he knows anything he tells me is not something he should reveal.
Since it looks like he needs some encouragement, I push him further over the side. Now I’m holding one leg, and the rest of his body is dangling in midair.
“Please, don’t drop me! I’ll tell you what you want.”
That’s better.
I pull him up, and he coughs so hard his body wracks like he’s having a fucking fit.
“Pathetic fuck,” Christian scuffs at him. “You need to man up and talk.”
“Peter has been working for Xiou.”
“In what ways?”
He stalls, and I kick him.
“Drugs. It’s the drug ring. He supplies money to fund it and get it out to our dealers.”
“What about Ricco?”
“He’s part of it too. Ricco manages the dealers on this side of Chicago, and Peter funds it.”
Fund?The motherfucker must be funding it using Donny’s money.
“What else is there?” There’s always more when it comes to these guys.
“They’re planning something big. I don’t know what it is, but I heard Xiou wanted to spread his clientele in Chicago. That’s all I know.”
I look at Christian, whose shoulders are tense. I have no idea if Lim is lying about the limit of his knowledge, but what he’s told us is enough.
It’s time to speak to Donny. He’s back next week for his daughter’s engagement. I’ll keep watch until then to see if I can figure out what this big thing is they’re planning.
“You’re dead if I find out you lied to me,” I threaten Lim, and he flinches. “Or, withheld information. You know who we are, don’t you?”
“Giordanos. Georgiou and Christian.”
“Good. So you know my threat is real.”
He doesn’t answer, but the fear in his eyes tells me he gets the message.
I release him, showing him the mercy of keeping his life, and Christian lowers his gun.
We walk away from him but stop at the same time when we hear the distinct sound of the hammer on a gun cocking behind us.
The motherfucker has a death wish.
“It doesn’t matter who you are,” Lim said with a trembling voice. “I have spies watching me. I’m dead if they saw me talking to you. I can’t allow you to leave with that information.”
I glance at Christian out of the corner of my eye.
People think Henry and I have this freakish way of sharing each other’s thoughts. That’s until they see the way I am with my brother.
We might have a strained relationship at the best of times, but this is one of those times when we don’t allow that shit to matter.
One look to the left, and Christian knows to follow me.
One day we’ll probably fucking die together doing shit like this.
We both whip around at the same time, pulling out our guns and firing.
The bullets leave our guns and land in Lim’s chest. He staggers backward and falls over the side of the roof.
I keep firing even as he goes down, making sure he’s triple dead before he hits the ground. We both hear the moment he hits with a sickening smack, and I straighten up.
“Let’s go.”
Now he won’t have to worry about his spies, and since I can’t see anybody, I’ll worry about it then if and when I have to.
For the moment, it looks like I have this under control. Donny’s not going to like the bad shit I have about his future son-in-law.
