Chapter 8 : Something Bigger

*Audry*

It was late at night, but neither Daniel nor I were tired. We were back at my apartment, sitting on my cheap couch. It felt weird to have him in my home. I never thought he would be in my apartment and Daniel would have been the one to help me find out who killed my father. If I would have guessed who would help me in the gang, my last guess would have been Daniel.

I was getting whiplash from today’s events. How did Daniel go from being my enemy who I made out with once to my partner in crime?

I still didn’t trust him, but we sort of fell into this arrangement. For some crazy reason, I was starting to trust him. He seemed genuinely angry when I told him the Taddeos had been trying to set him up the night my father was killed. I hoped I wasn’t being blindsided by how attracted I was to Daniel. I couldn’t fully let my guard down and I needed to take this partnership one step at a time.

“So, I guess the first thing we should do is tell each other everything we know of that night. Do you have a paper and pen?” Daniel asked me.

I hesitated. Should I show him my theory board in the closet? Was that a good idea, especially since I didn’t know if I could fully trust him?

Ultimately, I decided against it. I would show him that once he had proven he was trustworthy. I stood up and grabbed a piece of paper and a pen from my junk drawer. I handed them to Daniel and he leaned forward with the pen poised over the paper. I sat down on the carpet across from him, so he was looking down at me from his place on the couch. He wrote something at the top of the paper and I read it upside down.

12th St. Shoot-out (what we know):

My heart constricted as I read those words. I refused to go to 12th Street anymore. I avoided it at all costs. It always reminded me of losing my father.

Get a hold of yourself, Audry.

I needed to focus. Even though I didn’t fully trust him, Daniel was a good person to have on my side. He had a lot of connections and had grown up in a gang. He was even there that night. I probably couldn’t have picked a better person to team up with.

“Okay, I remember that night vividly because I was thrown in jail after everything went down and we lost some of our members.” Daniel frowned.

“From my informant, who has connections with the police force, I know that none of the Taddeo Family was put in jail that night, right?” I asked him, crossing my legs from my spot on the floor.

“You have connections with pigs?”

Daniel looked impressed. I knew that it was hard for gang members to have an in with cops, for obvious reasons. I suppressed a smile. I wasn’t going to reveal that my sources were my father’s friends on the force or my connections from being an ex-police cadet. He’d probably have me killed in a blink of an eye.

“Yes,” I answered his question evasively.

I expected Daniel to question who my connection was, but he surprised me by moving on.

“No, none of the Taddeos were put in jail,” Daniel muttered. He was staring at the wall, looking like he was lost in thought. “I didn’t think that was strange at the time since their family usually found a way out of the slammer, but that does make it sound like a set-up when I think about it.”

He looked me in the eyes, and I felt a swooping sensation in my stomach that had nothing to do with what we were talking about. I tried to ignore it. I needed to focus on what we were discussing, not the exact color of Daniel’s eyes.

“Was your gang making a deal with them?” I asked, clearing my throat.

Daniel nodded. “Yes, it was an arms deal.” He looked down at me. “An arms deal is selling guns,” Daniel explained.

I rolled my eyes. “I know what an arms deal is,” I said impatiently.

Daniel smirked at my tone and wrote down everything we’d said so far, then looked up at me. “Do you know anything else?”

“An undercover cop was killed that night. I heard that from my sources,” I said quietly.

Daniel nodded and wrote that down. He sat and thought for a moment. I folded my hands in my lap, thinking of my father and mother.

“You know what this sounds like? Six months ago, we had another arms deal gone wrong with the Taddeos. Same thing happened, some of our guys died from the shoot-out, but I don’t think they lost anyone,” Daniel said, his eyes growing big.

“Oh, I remember hearing about that. Didn’t it happen on 32nd Street?”

He nodded and wrote more on the piece of paper. It surprised me that he had such great handwriting.

“There was also another one three and a half years ago that happened exactly the same way. I wasn’t there that night, but my father told me all about it. In the beginning, the deal seems normal and legit, as legit as an illegal deal can be, but then everything goes to shit,” Daniel noted.

“Was this deal with the Taddeos?” I asked, growing excited by the progress we were making.

“No.”

“Oh. Well, then, do you think it’s connected somehow?” I pressed, my excitement deflating like a day-old party balloon.

“Yes, it has to be. The deal was with the Russos and they have always been close to the Taddeos,” Daniel told me, furiously writing on his sheet of paper. “It’s no wonder I didn’t see a pattern forming until now. All of the deals were too far apart and the Taddeos were smart about keeping their names out of it.”

I tried to memorize everything we were saying so I could add it to my theory board once Daniel left.

“Have you and the Taddeos always been rivals? Why were you guys making deals with them if you didn’t trust them?”

Daniel shrugged. “Ever since my father took over as leader, he tried to keep the peace between our gang and the rest of the gangs in Detroit,” Daniel explained matter-of-factly. “My grandfather was a leader who made many enemies. My dad has spent most of his life cleaning up the messes his father made before him.”

I considered what Daniel was saying. From what I knew about Mr. Molton, I could see him trying to keep the peace for the sake of his gang. The smart gang leaders didn’t want to have many enemies because that meant more fights that led to losing members. Mr. Molton didn’t care about being the biggest or most powerful gang in Detroit. He always put his family first. Something I respected him deeply for.

“My father has tried to keep the Taddeos at arm's length. But it’s hard when their leader, Aaron, is so ruthless. In Aaron’s head, you’re either with him or against him. My dad has tried to keep the peace, but Aaron has always tried to fight over territory, places we’ve had control of for years. My father had no choice but to fight with him sometimes," he continued. "But he also tried to get on their good side by only buying guns from them. That’s why we were doing those deals with them.”

I thought over all the new information being presented to me. Maybe it was a good idea to team up with Daniel, otherwise it would’ve taken me a lot longer to learn this information. If ever.

“I think this whole thing is definitely part of a bigger picture,” I finally told him.

Daniel sighed. “I agree. Something big and most likely something bad is happening.” He made eye contact with me. “It’s our job to figure it out.”

Daniel looked like he was ready to take on the job. By the look in his eye, I could tell that he was not only prepared, but was looking forward to taking on this dangerous mission.

I found it hard to match his enthusiasm. I was upset by how deep this went. Did this mean that my father died for nothing? That he lost his life because of some stupid gang war? That I lost the last family I had left because this shady Aaron character wanted to be more powerful than he already was?

Those thoughts made me sick to my stomach. Life was so unfair. My parents were taken away from me when they were both so young and had so much life to live. All because people were too selfish to think about anyone else besides themselves.

I felt the familiar sting in my eyes which meant I was about to cry, but I managed to hold the tears at bay. I wouldn’t shed a tear in front of Daniel. I didn’t want him to think that I was weak. I didn’t want him to pity me. I’d had enough pity for myself.

Daniel checked his phone and his eyebrows raised in surprise.

“It’s already two in the morning. Time flies and all that, huh?” he said, standing up from the couch and stretching. Part of his shirt lifted at his waist and my eyes zeroed in on the small patch of toned bronze skin that was revealed.

Woah.

I felt my panties grow wet with need. How could he make me become aroused just by stretching when other men couldn’t even do it while being naked in my bed? This attraction I felt for him was dangerous. That was the only thing I was sure of in my life.

“I should head out,” he added, folding the piece of paper he’d been writing on in fourths and slipping it into the pocket of his jeans. “If something comes up, you have my number.”

I nodded.

“What do you have me save under? ‘Asshole’?” Daniel teased as he walked out the front door and turned back to face me.

“No, of course not,” I replied, grabbing the door handle. “I have you saved as ‘Number One Asshole’.

Before he could say anything else, I shut the door in his face.

My good mood expired as soon as Daniel wasn’t in the room to mess with. I slumped against the door and slid down, holding my head in my hands. Now that I was working with someone, there really was no going back. I was in too deep and I couldn’t back out of this dangerous mission.

Even if I wanted to.

The tears that I had been holding in all night started to fall as I thought about the difficult road ahead of me. I hoped that I wouldn’t lose my life the same way my father did.