Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 62847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 314(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 314(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
I shook my head.
You’d have to be nuts to be that close to Dante.
“Shane.”
“Mason.”
“What do you want?”
He smiled and I felt my spine straighten. Someone had called him pretty boy once. I was pretty sure that guy was now missing a couple of fingers.
“Don’t bother with the charm, you smug bastard. You Raisers are officially banned.”
He held up his hands.
“I thought you’d like to know that the Hell Raisers are under new leadership. I’m here soley as a sign of respect.”
“New leadership?”
He nodded slowly.
“Mine.” He smiled again and I got a chill down my back. “Your little problem is solved.”
I stopped with the bottle halfway to my lips.
“What little problem?”
He just smiled wider.
“Casey’s safe from us. I don’t care about her or that big fed of hers.”
I set the beer down and stared at him.
“Where is Dante?”
“He won’t be an issue. I can promise you that.”
I got a chill. Dante was dead. I could see it in his eyes.
Man, this guy was crazier than I thought.
“Good to know.”
He smiled and I felt like I was watching a commercial for cologne. Or imported beer. The man really was a little too good-looking.
“Oh and we will be back Mason.” He winked. “There’s no way I’m giving up that barbecue.”
“I’ll send you a bottle.”
He laughed and walked out. I didn’t much care for the man’s arrogance. But I knew in my gut that things were going to be okay.
Besides, Shane might be nuts, but he wasn’t a sick fuck like Dante. Casey was safe. Against all the odds, it was going to be okay.
I picked up the phone and called Connor again.
Connor
“Jesus Christ.”
The body hung in the air, suspended from the normally busy bridge. Of course, now it was empty, other than every cop and federal agent in the county. The man was hanging there, strung up by the neck.
He swayed in the breeze like some sot of gruesome pinata.
After being burned, and then dragged, the body was almost unrecognizable. But the ride wasn’t. I knew instantly who it was.
The bike that was crashed on the ground nearby was one hundred percent Dante.
Holy shit. Dante was really dead. The fucking bastard was worm food.
My phone beeped and I saw that Mason was calling me again. I sighed and rubbed my face. I decided I better take this.
Considering the man was going to be my de facto father-in-law I had to try and make nice. Or something-in-law. Anyway, we were about to be related.
So I answered.
“Hello.”
“He’s dead. He’s fucking dead. You can bring her home now.”
I didn’t bother asking him who he was talking about, or how he knew. I leaned against my car and closed my eyes.
“News travels fast.”
“You got confirmation?”
“I’m looking at it.”
“Great. Bring her home.”
“That’s not going to happen, Mase.”
“What the fuck man, you said you were protecting her!”
“What if the Raisers think you had something to do with it?”
He laughed and I knew without a doubt he knew who had killed Dante. I wondered if he’d been dead when they strung him up. I kind of doubted it.
Dante had pissed on a lot of boots over the years. The body looked worked over. Oh yeah, he had suffered.
A lot by the looks of it.
“Not an issue. Bring. Her. Home.”
“No.”
“You doing something you shouldn’t?”
I sighed and rubbed my eyes.
“I’m keeping her.”
Total silence.
“The fuck you are! What the hell did you do, you cock sucker?”
Well Mason, I chained her up, fucked her six ways from Sunday and came down her throat. How’s that for starters?
But I didn’t say that. I wanted to live the rest of my life not looking over my damn shoulder. Mason wouldn’t just kill me. I stared up at the body. He’d ‘Dante’ me.
“She’s mine now. My responsibility. You can stop it with the mother hen act.”
“No. She’s my responsibility. And you are a dead man!”
“I’m marrying her Mase.”
“What?”
His voice came out as a low growl. I wished I could see his face at the moment. On second thought- maybe not a brilliant idea.
“You heard me.”
“Did she agree to that?”
I laughed. This was ridiculous. But… well, damn. She hadn’t exactly said yes now, had she?
“More or less.”
“You get her fanny over here, or on the phone, today. Or else.”
I nodded. The man deserved to see her. But I had to make sure he didn’t try and keep her.
“I’ll bring her by with the pets.”
“When?”
“Tonight.”
Then I hung up and stared at the body gently swaying in the breeze. I had a fuck ton of work to do. And now I was even further from catching Danny’s killer. Because if it was Dante, he’d never face trial.
But I was getting married. And my girl was safe.
I was the only person working the grisly crime scene that day with a shit eating grin on his face.
Cassandra
“You look beautiful.”
Connor kissed my neck as I stared in the bathroom window. I had picked out a few of the fancier things in the bags Conn had brought me. I was wearing a dark gray turtleneck dress made out of a soft, thick knit. It hugged my curves and brought out my eyes.