Chapter 187
“Freeze! Put your hands in the air p>
Rex and his crew had barely finished laying into the second bike when a voice cut through the darkness like a whip.
They snapped their heads up, completely stunned. When the hell did the cops get here?
Standing right beside the officers were several men in crisp suits and ties, wearing the Green Bikes logo.
How did the cops and the bike company find out so fast?
They never would have guessed that someone had called them in before they even started swinging.
And the moment that first hammer struck, it had triggered the specialized trackers embedded inside the bikes, instantly alerting the regional maintenance department.
The police gathered the evidence, slapped handcuffs on all five men, and hauled them straight to the precinct.
Inside the interrogation room, the five men remained surprisingly calm, openly confessing to the vandalism.
But when the officers dropped the bomb-thirty bikes, a two-thousand-dollar fine per bike, and three months behind bars—their eyes nearly bulged out of their skulls.
“Isn’t the fine only a thousand bucks a bike? Since when is it two grand p>
“We only smashed ten of them! Why are you charging us for all thirty p>
“Aren’t we just supposed to get a couple weeks in jail? Why thirty-seven days p>
“Oh, so you brushed up on the law before you did this?
That proves this was premeditated. Who put you up to it p>
The thugs fell dead silent.
“Not going to talk?
Fine. You have three days
cough up twelve thousand dollars each in fines. If you
don’t, we’ll take extreme measures.
And just so you know, intentional destruction of property over five thousand dollars crosses the line into a felony p>
Panic finally set in. These guys were no strangers to the inside of a cell.
If they didn’t pay up, the police would freeze their accounts or seize their personal assets to cover the cost.
If it came to that, the punishment would be far more severe.
But a twelve-thousand-dollar fine was a pill they simply couldn’t swallow.
They had only been paid ten grand each so far, and now they were staring down the barrel of thirty-seven days in jail. Was the boss behind all this really going to leave them hanging?
The four subordinates shot piercing glares at Rex.
Nobody went around smashing bikes for fun unless a wealthy backer was footing the bill.
A wave of guilt washed over Rex. After all, he had secretly pocketed an extra fifty grand for himself. But that was standard street protocol the guy who brokered the deal always
took a fatter cut.
Still, with a price tag this steep, there was no way in hell he was coughing up that extra fifty grand to bail them out.
If anyone was to blame, it was Mara.
She was the one who hired him to do her dirty work. Now that things had gone south wasn’t it herob to clean up the mess? fo
Why hadn’t she made a move yet?
“Hold on, guys. Give it an hour-no, two hours. In two hours, the person pulling the strings will bail us out p>
He was giving Mara two hours. It was his way of repaying her for saving him back in the day.
But if she left him out to dry, he wouldn’t hesitate to burn her to the ground.
His crew finally settled down, their tempers temporarily soothed.
But two hours later, the same officer strolled back in, demanding their fines.
“Excuse me, Officer, but did anyone call for us? About our case p>
“Your families? No p>
The moment the cop walked out, the thugs lost their patience.
“Rex, if they’re leaving us to rot, we’re flipping p>
Rex looked at his four guys. “Give it two more hours p>
“Are you kidding me? Another two hours p>
“I’m begging you, just two more hours. It’s the final stretch.
If she doesn’t handle this by then, we rat her out p>
“Fine. Out of respect for you, Rex, I’ll wait two more hours p>
“I appreciate the loyalty, boys. When we get out of here, the first big score goes straight to you p>
He was giving Mara two final hours. He was doing everything he could. He could only pray she rushed in to save them.
But inevitably, they were met with bitter disappointment p>
Meanwhile, at the Mercer estate.
Lacey carefully carried a bowl of hot soup into Mara’s study.
“Sweetheart, drink this p>
Mara had been behaving perfectly lately. The moment she got home from school, she’d choke downca quick bite and dive straight to her studies. Content Belongs to
She had to keep up with her current classes while desperately catching up on the
old ones. It was exhausting just watching the poor girl.