Helping Mr Gang Leader .Chapter 70: directly into the lion’s den .Walking through the clinic felt like walking to the gallows. Nurses and patients stopped to wave and greet him, all of them with smiling faces, and Gianna grinned back out of sheer willpower alone. But it felt fake and hollow and her balance was such that she worried she’d tip over, or her legs would give out.But there was a show to put on as Stetson bumped and prodded her along, and Gianna understood the consequences for failing to be convincing.She was almost to the front door, almost to the point of no return, when she saw Angelo coming through the door, the last bits of his lunch in a white bag hanging from his fingers.“Gianna?” Angelo asked, clearly not expecting to see her. “Where are you going?”Gianna felt Stetson’s impossibly large presence behind her and redirected the conversation, asking, “A little late getting back from lunch?”Angelo looked at her sheepishly. “Sorry. Traffic was bad. I’ll stay a lit

Helping Mr. Gang Leader .Chapter 72: a threat is a threat .Taking a strong, reassuring breath, Gianna rallied herself to action, rolling up the sleeves on her shirt and turning to Clyde to ask, “Who spends the most time with Maddox?”Clyde and Hagrid looked between themselves, probably more surprised at her assertiveness than anything else.But then Clyde shrugged and asked, “Why? It’s probably me.”Gianna leaned back over Maddox to start her examination.She could see immediately why the doctor who’d treated him previously had suspected a simple cold, or even the flu. Maddox had an elevated temperature, was clearly shivering despite his fever, and was much paler than any human looked when they were healthy.“How long has he been like this?”Maddox crossed his arms and stepped nearer, thinking aloud, “He started complaining of a headache about three weeks ago. Then it was stiffness in his body about five or six days after that. At least that’s what he said.”Carefully, Gianna pull

Helping Mr. Gang Leader .Chapter 74: nothing to lose .“What are we doing here?”Stetson ignored her, which Gianna guessed was better than any kind of violent reaction, like Clyde or Hagrid might have given.There were tons of men cluttered around the garage, some of them talking to each other, but most of them standing tensely.Something was happening.“In,” Stetson gestured to a nearby car.The backseat was empty when Gianna climbed in, and Stetson came in after her, shutting the door firmly and gesturing for the driver to start the car.“We’re going to Mercy West,” Stetson said finally when the car drove forward a bit, one more in front and one behind. “Maddox will meet us there. You’ll perform the test, administer the treatment, and you won’t say anything unnecessary to anyone.”Gianna looked at him a little flabbergasted, mouth hanging open. “Did you just … have you commandeered a hospital?”Stetson snorted. “No. of course not.”Probably even Infinite couldn’t take over a hosp

Helping Mr. Gang Leader .Chapter 76: necks on the line for her . “I should go back and put a bullet in his head for this.”Gianna had to laugh a little. “It’s not so bad. Trust me, I’ve had worse. Not a lot, but worse.”Finally, Rio’s fingers went down to her chest, tapping just as gently over her beating heart. “And this?”.“Just fine,” Gianna assured. She toed off her other shoe. “And I don’t think you understand why they took me. It wasn’t about Mariposa at all.”“Not about Mariposa?” Rio demanded.“No.” Gianna shook her head. “They took me because they needed a doctor and apparently my reputation is just a little too good.”“A doctor for what?”.It felt like she knew confidential information. It felt like what she was going to tell Rio was something that would change the game irrevocably.At a near whisper, despite them being the only people in the room, Gianna told him, “For Maddox. For Infinite’s leader.”Rio looked shell shocked. “He’s hurt?”.“Sick” Gianna corrected. “I th

Helping Mr. Gang Leader .Chapter 78: life is a kaleidoscope.Rio reached for the tablet and moved the map over to the adjacent area from where Infinite bordered the cobras. He explained, “This is the dragons territory. Infinite has never really had a problem with the cobras, to the best of our knowledge. They’re not friends, and they’re certainly not allies, but they don’t bother each other and rarely have conflicts. But the dragons is just like any other gang in this city. They’re looking to expand, and they’re looking to gain power. We just offered them a great deal they couldn’t turn down.”“That deal,” Dante said, “is simple. They align with us, and help us nose Infinite out on the tenth, and in return Mariposa gets the cobras’s territory, and the dragons gets all of Infinite’s previous holdings with one example.”Gianna let out a deep breath. “That’s …”“Ballsy,” Jovani supplied. “We know. And potentially really, really catastrophic. But hey, it’s not like we have a lot of ch