Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 110550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 553(@200wpm)___ 442(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 553(@200wpm)___ 442(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
I put up a hand. “Wait, hold on. When the bomb goes off? What the hell are you talking about?”
“Ah,” he said, amusement twisting his lips. “So you didn’t give her a chance to tell you the whole plan.”
“Cork it and explain, Liam.”
“How can I explain if I’m... corking it?”
See what I said about being a premium brand of irritating? “What bomb?” I gritted.
Liam explained the plan in full.
“Hmm. I admit it’s clever. Kenzie’s got the Hunt gift for picking people apart too.”
“This is why I’m content to leave her to it.”
I snorted. “Who asked you? You’re not in charge.”
“Excuse me?” The vein in Liam’s jaw started ticcing. “You just said it’s a clever plan.”
“It is clever, but it’s a waste of time we don’t have. Do I need to remind you that you guys pulled me out of the wreckage of my new place two seconds ago? Do you also need the reminder that days before, they trapped and tried to blow your heads off? The Brotherhood isn’t hiding anymore. They’re actively hunting us down, and now our parents are here so they can take us all out together.
“You shouldn’t have put this on Kenzie, and you shouldn’t have said shit about torture. I will squeeze out every drop of information he has on the Brotherhood. Either get me past the suits yourself, or I grab a couple of my girls and we storm the club.”
Liam gave me a long look. “Granted, Gen, we weren’t raised on society’s morals. Sinjin frequently told us that if we saw something we wanted, we should just take it. But one thing he didn’t teach us to do and fuck sure never did himself was torture a man because he could. Because it was convenient.”
I stiffened ramrod straight.
“I know the danger we’re in. I don’t need a reminder,” he snapped. “But I also know the terrible things I’ve done so you, my brothers, my sisters, and my parents don’t have to. I wanted another way back then and now there is one. Kenzie is asking for two days. Why can’t you give that to her?”
“Fuck you.” My tone was a low, dangerous hiss. “I don’t take pleasure in this, Liam. Nothing about this is fucking convenient!”
“Then why can’t you wait?”
I shoved away, fists balling. “Because—”
“Because what?”
“Just because!” I shouted. “There’s no time to wait.”
“Why, Gen? Tell me why!”
“Because I know who was killed in the explosion!”
Liam reeled, anger blowing clean out of him. “What? What are you talking about?”
“Ugh!” I flung his glass of scotch across the room. It didn’t make me feel better. “Damn you. Why can’t you ever just do what you’re told without asking questions?”
“Because I’m a Hunt.” Liam pushed me down onto the couch. “Why would you say you know who died?”
Sighing, I flopped in a boneless heap. This was the second time Liam ever witnessed this—me giving in. “Because I did,” I said flatly. “That night, I walked into my bedroom and there was a man sitting on my bed. I’d never seen him before.”
Liam twitched for a weapon he didn’t have. “What did he do to you?”
“He didn’t do anything. That wasn’t what he was there for,” I said. “He told me his name was Isiah and he was with the Brotherhood. Just like that, Liam. Dropped the information like a pickup line in the club. He said he had a proposition for me and I could hear him out, or I could think about how easily the Brotherhood found me. The next time, they’ll get the drive-by right.”
“What was the proposition?”
“The guy banged on about the Brotherhood having the strongest presence in Harlow. The place is loaded with misogynist pigs chafing under the rule of a woman. Many jumped at the recruitment offer. Some of them I’d never suspect. A good amount of them I’ve never met.”
Liam bobbed his head slowly. “You didn’t recognize the men who shot at you. Sunny didn’t know Snyder before the bastard threw him off a bridge.”
“I know it wasn’t an empty threat,” I said. “Neither was I shocked they’ve gotten the bulk of their brothers from Harlow. I’ve always been about protecting the women in that borough. Never hid it, won’t apologize for it.”
“But what did he want from you, Genny?”
“He said the Brotherhood wanted to make a deal with me,” I burst out. “He said me and my little girls’ club are cute. Sunny’s basically the youngest kingpin in Cinco City. You run the largest money-laundering operation on the East Coast. Bane’s amassing millions through his arsenal, but me—” My lips curled. “Apparently, all I do is mess around in my bar with a bunch of women. My goals and aspirations did not harm the city or oppose the Brotherhood’s plans. If I was willing to form an alliance with them, there didn’t have to be another assassination attempt.”