Tell Them This When I Die

They Wouldn't Dream of Pussyfooting Here in the Big Leagues

Caledon is vastly annoyed that Eris has called him to a meeting at some random place in the city. He never does meetings with Eris. She never needs meetings. She just gets him the drugs, brings him the drugs, and he pays her. But he gets twice the profit from dealing that he gets from his party warehouse, so he pulls up to the liquor store she called him and told him to go to. He gets out of the car, knocks on the door.

Leonardo answers the door. Invites him inside. Caledon doesn't know who Leonardo is; Eris doesn't let her buyers meet her other buyers.

Leonardo walks him back to the table he's set up. Just like a proper dealer.

He has a list of names, in Nikolas' handwriting. He's called all her big buyers here tonight.

Nikolas sits on the floor of an abandoned house in the south end, back to the wall. His eyes are closed. He promised he'd get on the plane. He meant it. Leonardo just got to him before he could get from the cab to the airport.

Nikolas didn't talk for a long time. He sat there, while Leonardo had two men beat him to a pulp, and kept his mouth shut. I don't know the names of her buyers. I'm not the manager anymore. I don't know who she sells to.

Leonardo said he'd hook him up with cocaine if he talked. An endless stream. Nikolas let the blood run down his face and kept his mouth shut.

She's living with the cop, Leonardo told him. He took a hiatus from work, and now he sits in her penthouse and fucks her all day long. He painted the scene like it was a story. Nikolas kept his mouth shut. Let the blood run.

Nikolas' parents know he's unreliable. They love Eris, but they won't bother her when he doesn't show up. They'll roll their eyes and go home. They won't know what's happened. Eris won't know what's happened.

Nikolas' nose is broken, but perhaps he deserves it. It's some sick sort of fair punishment. Leonardo tells him to unlock his phone. Nikolas doesn't do it for him, even after the punches.

It took Leo two weeks to find the solution. That day, he dragged a bloody, unconscious Kayla into the basement. When she woke, he put a knife to her throat and brought her to Nikolas. Tell me the names of Nyx's buyers.

"Don't you say a fucking word," Kayla had snapped. She'd kicked, punched, threw herself around, cursed the hell out of Nikolas. Told him she'd have his head cut off if he spoke. Nikolas didn't speak. They drove a knife into Kayla's bicep, into her leg. Don't talk, Kayla had screamed. Don't you fucking talk.

Kayla screamed and kicked, but she never whimpered or sobbed. Kayla doesn't whimper. Kayla doesn't sob.

She sits beside him now, her fingers bloody, her face bruised. She hasn't spoken to Nikolas since he talked. She's mad he talked. He did it for her. Knife to her throat, pressing into the skin. Nikolas has worked with Kayla for two years. He couldn't take the screams anymore.

"She'll figure it out," Nikolas assures Kayla. "She always does."

Kayla shakes her head. Eris always stays a step ahead because her employees take her secrets to the grave. Nikolas has quite possibly sent Eris—all of them—to jail.

"He would've killed you," Nikolas says.

Kayla doesn't answer. Stupid, stupid Nikolas. She rips at her bloody fingernails.

Across the city, Leonardo invites the buyers into the back room at his liquor store and sits down. Four of Eris' biggest buyers. Caledon, Brises, Shale and Leonardo.

Leonardo's girlfriend sits next to him. She's beginning to show a little, so she's wearing a coat to hide it. She hates the way her body looks while pregnant.