Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 72496 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72496 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Phoenix looked at it, then back up at Nixon and Chase. “I didn’t want you to find out this way.”
“Find out what?” Nixon asked. “That Ivan’s a jackass and that we have a killer on the loose that thinks they’re a boss and keeps branding their own men?”
Phoenix took a deep breath. “There were five.”
“Five?” Nixon repeated. “Five what?”
“Over twenty years ago, there were five De Langes that Chase and I didn’t cleanse. Five that disappeared off the map.”
Ash leaned forward while Chase cursed and looked down at his feet. “And you think they’re pulling the strings?”
“I think…” Phoenix sat “…that my son discovered them, and they made him pay for it, they wanted one thing, the money and the power, they wanted him to be a figurehead, I’m assuming. Knowing Junior, he said no, and they threatened his Family.”
“Why wouldn’t he just come to us?” I asked. “He knew better.”
“You don’t rat out a rat.” Phoenix sighed. “You lead them slowly with their own obsession… he couldn’t use force, they’d run, regroup, retaliate.”
I nodded my head. “He wanted them all out exposed, in the open.”
Phoenix tossed the black folder onto the table, the pictures slid out. Of Junior training Ivan, of Ivan’s first kill, of Ivan becoming made and Junior’s right-hand man.
“What better way,” Phoenix whispered, “to pull out the rat from the darkness, then having your favorite betray you?”
One of the pictures was covered by the folder, I pulled it out and did a double take. “Wasn’t his throat slit?”
“Junior?” Nixon asked. “Yeah, from left to right, couldn’t miss it.”
“He had a white horse tattoo on the left, not the right.” Hands shaking, I dropped the picture while Phoenix stood and ran his hands through his hair. “Anything can be edited.”
Nixon narrowed his eyes. “Ivan, are you still saying you killed him for the spot?”
“Yes,” Ivan snapped. “Of course I did.”
Nixon actually smiled. “He’s vehement about it.” I tilted my head. “Always is, about things you want, love, hate.”
Ivan went still.
Nixon stood. “Good meeting. Keep your secrets, I’ll keep mine, and Ivan, you touch her again without my permission and you’ll pay for it.”
Ivan reached for Nixon and gripped his arm. “With my life or with pain?”
“Why are you asking?”
“Answer the question.”
Nixon cursed. “Pain.”
“So I’ll live?”
“You hate her.”
“So I’ll live,” Ivan repeated. “Correct? On your word in front of our Capo. I’ll live.”
Nixon sneered. “You’ll wish you’re dead.”
And for the second time in twenty-four hours, I witnessed Ivan whisper, “Worth it.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
“Everyone has a secret, everyone has pieces to that same secret, the hard part is getting everyone to finally show their cards. After all, we all have something we want to protect.” —King Campisi
Bella
It took him forever to get back.
Tank had been guarding the door.
And I’d been laying down in bed desperately trying to sleep without having nightmares of getting attacked.
The door to the bedroom opened. I had an early class in the morning, so I really should be sleeping and going on like everything was normal.
But he was back.
He was there.
In our room.
This sudden, massive presence, and he smelled good, though the air around him felt exhausting.
“Bad meeting?” I asked.
“Good news,” he answered. “I might not die if I touch you, so can I please do one thing?”
I could have sworn my entire body lit on fire in that moment, though I played it off. “Oh, what?” I fake yawned.
“Can I hold you?”
I wanted to be held, but I wanted so much more, I finally wanted to just… do something for me, maybe for us. I was too confused to make any big decisions, so I didn’t answer, I just turned on my side and let him pull me against him.
It was nice.
“Tell me about our first kiss,” Ivan whispered against my neck, his lips sliding down to my collarbone, goosebumps erupted all over my body. I shuddered against him. “All I know is that I was in a bathtub, wet, and bleeding, and you were—perfect.”
“Lie or truth?”
“Truth!” he said quickly. “Total honest to God truth, I hated you for it.”
“For being perfect?”
“For being out of reach, for being the daughter of a Family that murdered mine, for being part of something I wanted to be a part of despite my guilt, for being pretty when you smiled, for helping me when I didn’t deserve blood to be cleansed from my body—for looking and seeing an actual soul.”
“A dark one.”
“So dark.”
“I was never afraid of it.” I pulled his arms around me and pretended everything was going to be okay, that this was normal when it was anything but.
His lips tickled my ear. “Of what?”
“The dark.”
“So, is that your way of saying you were never afraid of me?”
“Never afraid. Maybe more afraid of myself.”
“Because you were afraid you’d get in trouble for stabbing me?”
I shrugged and looked over my shoulder. “Or maybe I’d get in trouble for actually kissing you instead.”