King of Morgan Park
KING
OF
Morgan Park
Book 5 of the Kings of the Castle Series
Book 1 is the Introduction
Books 2-9 are standalones
Karen D. Bradley
Ambrosia Sands Books
Dolton, Illinois
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
King of Morgan Park by Karen D. Bradley Copyright ©2019
Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-7336089-3-0
Digital ISBN: 978-1-7336089-2-3
LCCN: 2019912508
Ambrosia Sands Books
P.O. Box 827
Dolton, IL 60419
www.ambrosiasands.com
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever or by any means including electronic, mechanical or photocopying, or stored in a retrieval system without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For permission, contact Naleighna Kai at www.naleighnakai.com
Cover Designed by: J.L Woodson: www.woodsoncreativestudio.com
Interior Designed by: Lissa Woodson: www.naleighnakai.com
Editor: Lissa Woodson: www.naleighnakai.com
Manufactured and Printed in the United States of America
If you purchase this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It is reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped” book.
KING
OF
Morgan Park
Book 5 of the Kings of the Castle Series
Book 1 is the Introduction
Books 2-9 are standalones
Karen D. Bradley
Table of Contents
DEDICATION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
ABOUT THE KINGS OF THE CASTLE SERIES
ABOUT THE KINGS OF THE CASTLE SERIES
AUTHOR BIOS
SERIES MENTORS:
♦ DEDICATION ♦
To all the Kings and Queens who purpose require above average sacrifice, keep doing what you’re doing. People may be silent now but they are watching you as you create a legacy and leave a mark on the world.
♦ ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ♦
To my family and friends and core group of readers, thanks for supporting me through the ups and downs of this unexpected writing expedition. Most of what I have accomplished has been due to your excitement and encouragement that has provided fuel for a journey I wasn’t sure was mine to take.
A special shout out to my sister, Jenetta M. Bradley, for her part in getting my books off the shelf where they were collecting dust. I appreciate you reading my stories over and over again without complaint.
English and Grammar were never my strongest subjects but the stories in my head didn’t seem to care about that fact. Thanks to my editors Lissa Woodson (Naleighna Kai) and J.L. Campbell for your energy and efforts in strengthening the weakness in my writing, challenging me to be better and improving the novel.
To Christine Pauls, Ellen Kiley Goeckler, and Debra Mitchell, I appreciate your time and assistance. Your comments, corrections and questions were essential to putting the final touches to the story. Thank you to my Tribe.
A special thanks to J. L. Woodson for doing what you do best—creating awesome covers.
Finally, thank you to everyone who purchases a book, know your support is appreciated.
CHAPTER 1
The words I saw Levi Diesel kill a man broke through Daron Kincaid’s sleep haze.
A wave of familiarity hit Daron as he bolted from the bed and glanced at the clock, his heart racing. Weeks ago, Katara Johnson— one of his few clients—made an early-morning call about her daughter Tracy being missing. This time, the call came from one of three young men participating in his enrichment program.
“Mr. Dee, we’re in trouble,” Amarion, a small-time thief replied, his voice heavy with fear. His specialty was stealing jewelry but his life’s goal was to be a sculptor. Daron wanted to make sure he lived long enough for that to happen.
“Did he see you?” Daron whispered, flipping back the Egyptian cotton sheet, noting the rise and fall of Cameron’s chest as he slid out of the bed.
The last time he received an early-morning call, he also got a text informing him that Khalil, the man who hired Daron’s company, Crossroads Security, had been shot. Those two events were subtly interrelated. Daron pulled the cell from his ear to check for notifications. Thankfully, there wasn’t another incident at The Castle.
“No, but this slim dude they call Midas, may have.” The young man’s shaky voice dropped by an octave.
“Where are you?” Daron slipped on his discarded boxers, scooped up a pair of jogging pants off the chaise, and pulled them on.
“I keep moving,” came the quick reply. “Levi has eyes all over Morgan Park.”
“Can you make it to the kickback?” Daron asked. Kickback was the code word they used to refer to the house where he conducted the enrichment program. He selected this property because the boys could easily cut through the alley, enter the back gate to get to the side door and into the basement where they had the sessions, all without being seen.
“Yeah.”
“I’ll meet you there. The door will be unlocked so you can go straight in.” With his hand, Daron used the edge of the mattress to guide him closer to the door so he wouldn’t disturb the woman he was dating. The glow from his phone helped him find the knob and he entered the hall.
The light came on immediately.
“What’s going on?” Cameron asked, making him pause.
Daron slipped the cell in his pocket and glanced over his shoulder into the room. Although she just woke, Cameron’s hazel eyes were alert as she swept several strands of dark-brown hair behind her ear. “Amarion has a situation.”
“Do you need back up?” she asked, pulling the gown she wore over her head, exposing a pair of breasts so lush Daron wished he could return to bed.
Her kind of backup could leave a higher body count when Chicago was already having issues on that score.
“No.” Daron retrieved a t-shirt and grabbed a pair of gym shoes. “I need to get him off the streets and find out what’s going on.”
Cameron skewered him with an intense stare while he finished dressing before saying, “Call if you need me.”
Daron gave her a mock glare and peck before going into his office, quickly gathering a few items, then racing out the door.
His tablet beeped the moment he slid behind the wheel of the Jaguar XJ. On the screen, he watched Amarion approaching the side door of the property. He keyed in the command to disengage the alarms and the locks, allowing the young man to slide into the house.
Daron made the three
-minute drive and pulled into the garage of the small two-story brick house. Checking the feed of the security cameras and the drones he had hovering near the property, he made sure no one was walking by or near a window. He slipped from the garage into the house, guided by the dim lighting.
Amarion wore a thin black jacket with a hood and dark-blue jeans. He paced the basement like an expectant father outside the delivery room. “What happened?” Daron asked.
“Remember that story about the girl who went missing but was found with a tracker?” Amarion shifted a small bag from his back and placed it on one of the desks the young men used during sessions.
“You mean Tracy Johnson?” Daron asked, resetting the perimeter alarms. He developed an earring tracking system, to help combat sex trafficking problems and protect young women. Women that tend to be alone a lot either because they lived in a single parent household like Tracy or single women that traveled alone more often than not. For the safety of his clients still utilizing the earrings, Daron created a decoy tracking device for Tracy’s mother, Katara, when she went missing.
“Yeah.” Amarion swept the hood from his head. His golden-brown face was flushed as he stuffed both hands in his jacket pockets. “Well, Levi wanted that keychain tracker her mom was talking about on the news.”
Daron lowered the basement window shutters in order to turn the lights up a few notches. From the outside, no one would notice the difference. “What does this have to do with seeing him murder someone?”
“I’m getting to that.” Amarion stopped pacing, pulled out one of the chairs and lowered himself onto the seat. “He arranged for me to snatch the keychain when the mom showed it to the police officer.”
“You committed a crime in the police station?” Daron braced himself, unable to believe what he was hearing. He moved in closer. “Amarion, are you serious?”
“That’s not the point.” Amarion glanced up as Daron hovered next to him. Not an ounce of fear flashed in the boy’s dark-brown eyes.
“Let’s back up. Why does he want the tracker?” Daron had created a fail-safe tool. If anyone attempted to open it, trying to duplicate the technology, the device would short circuit and burn out.
“According to what I heard, he wanted to see if it was emitting any frequency or something like that.” Amarion grimaced and shrugged.
“What does that have to do with the shooting and the other witness that may have seen you?” Daron sent Steve, his right-hand man, a text with Levi’s name. Over the years, Steve had been the person he trusted with security and to gather intel. By the time they were scheduled to meet later that day, Daron would know everything there was to know about Levi.
“I was there to deliver the device and I hesitated because I recognized the address. Reese and I had been checking out the place for another job for Marquise.”
“Marquise? What on earth did he have you do?”
“I work for Marquise but he occasionally has me do jobs for Levi.” Amarion ran a hand over his curly mohawk, then began fidgeting with his phone. “Maybe five minutes after I put the key chain where they told me, I heard voices arguing. Then Levi was like, ‘I don’t let anyone mess with my money,’ and he shot a man.”
“Where was the other witness?” Daron walked toward the big desk at the front of the room.
“Midas was sneaking up to the crafting area from the back at that exact moment.” Amarion stood, fiddling with his bag before sliding it onto his back. “He may have seen me when he tried to hide before Levi came round the corner.”
“I have to get you out of town for a minute.” Daron sent another message to Steve.
Amarion frowned as if Daron said something outrageous. “I can’t leave my mom here to catch the heat for me.”
“I’ll make sure your mother is protected.”
“No, sir,” he shot back. “That’s my job. I’ll ride this out for another two weeks until she moves to be with my grandmother.” Amarion left the seat, crossed the basement and came closer to Daron. “Mr. Dee, that isn’t the real problem.”
Daron leaned on the wood desk. “Then what is?”
“I also overheard Levi talking about this new guy who was causing him to lose a lot of money,” Amarion whispered, as if they weren’t alone in the basement.
“And how’s that your problem?” Daron felt he was missing essential information. Maybe it was the “we’re” in trouble part. He was waiting to see how Reese—another thief in his program, who specialized in stealing art, played into the scenario.
“He was talking about you.”
Daron snapped back to the present. “Are you sure?” Even though he recognized the name from somewhere, Daron couldn’t recall ever crossing paths with a Levi Diesel.
Amarion’s cell vibrated. His eyes went wide as he checked the message, then flipped the cell to face Daron. “We’ve just been given an assignment to break into Crossroads Security.”
Daron blanched at the mention of his company’s name. Why in the hell does Levi have a problem with me? He has to be crazy if he thinks he’ll be able to waltz in and take my emergency tracking device.
Daron was certain he needed to put a rush on Steve’s efforts to find information because it was clear Levi would be a problem. Daron now understood the “we” Amarion was referring to was him and Amarion.
“Mr. Dee, how are we going to keep Levi from murdering you?”
CHAPTER 2
The early morning activity had Daron on a fifth cup of coffee. He’d left Amarion at the kickback until he had a chance to talk with Reese Pendleton, who wasn’t a morning person. Once Reese confirmed there were no whispers of Amarion’s name in the streets, he slipped out and Daron set a plan in motion to protect the young man’s family. Daron would not have Amarion or his mother’s death on his conscience.
When Daron promised Cameron he’d open a legitimate firm that provided security systems, he meant every word. For the last few years, Daron, under the street moniker, The Warden, was the brains behind an illegal organization that helped the FBI takedown Chase Prescott’s family business from the inside. Prescott was one of Chicago’s most wanted criminals.
He had made a promise that the “cloak and dagger” lifestyle wouldn’t shadow them. That was fast becoming a promise he couldn’t keep. Especially with Levi gunning for the tracking device housed in a pair of diamond studs—one of the items he had developed as a personal security gadget for single ladies. Not to mention The Castle, which was where wealthy people indulged in any and everything their hearts desired. Daron now handled their security and had taken a seat on the board of directors, which pitted him against powerful criminals.
Steve Beck’s call came through as Daron moved the conference pad into position. The holographic image of Steve sitting in a maroon chair appeared in the workspace. “So, Levi Diesel is nothing nice. On paper, it looks like he cleaned up his life and turned it around, but ...”
“It’s all for show, I take it.” Daron’s laptop pinged.
Steve plucked a tablet off a small wooden table next to him. “I didn’t have to dig far to uncover dirt on him.”
Most times, Steve was well aware that the channels to search for individuals like Cameron, who had a colorful and well-hidden past, took more effort. Most people didn’t know she was an expert in breaking the same laws the men in her family were sworn to uphold and protect. Cameron had only recently given up living a double life.
“He sold drugs,” Steve added, “had a prostitution ring, an armed robbery crew and this list goes on—all before he turned twenty-one.”
“I’m assuming that was the age he “cleaned up” his appearance?”
“Yes. Now he owns a restaurant in Morgan Park and a couple of stores in Chatham and Hyde Park.” Steve shifted, typed in some info that populated in the message box on Daron’s screen.
“As you now know, he’s after my best work.”
“You mean to date, right?”
To decrease media attention, Daron had cr
eated a decoy tracker for Katara to show the world, instead of revealing the real device that assisted in locating Tracy. Secrecy was the key.
Daron designed the earrings so that all a woman had to do was press it to alert her listed contacts and activate the tracking system. Unfortunately, the more he sold the device to what he thought were good women with high-risk factors, the more chances of the word getting out. If traffickers were in the know, they would make sure the earrings were off before moving their victims. The few clients he’d sold the tracker to were still wearing them, which made the decoy necessary.