Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 125020 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125020 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
“He’s true to his rules. Achilles is his son. My and Ox’s cousin, Josh’s godbrother. Zoe Gataki’s son.” I pause as something about that tries to catch my attention.
“Jeff is a problem,” Luke says, looking at Josh. “Not the problem, but a problem.”
I nod. “He already knows this. Jeff isn’t who I’m looking for here. Someone else is hidden in all of this.”
I float out of the room again. This time I’m back in that room as a little boy as my mother walks in. The woman with her was Zoe Gataki.
I come back to the present and start to snap my fingers as my brain races faster than I can speak. Blake said once to pay attention to names. They’re important.
“Uncle Blake, you’ve been with Zoe Gataki for years. Since we were little. She was married to Atlas Novack for a while. His sister Sofia Georgiou was killed in a car accident with Janice Smith and Maria Nikolaou-Kylix.
“Novack later lost his medical license. It was some bullshit and he swore he was being framed. Motherfucker.
“I’m the kid. I was working to get his license back before that race and getting locked up.” I look to Kelex. “The dude talking to your dad at your house and in the hospital was Atlas Novack.”
“But why is he after us?” Skittles says.
“Jeremy Harris was Atlas’s nephew. He was Sofia’s son. We buried Atlas for the shit he did to Zoe. He almost killed her.
“I had Marvin call him in to remove a bullet for one of his guard’s shoulders. A bullet I placed there to lure Atlas in, then I used that to get his license revoked.
“He’d been threatening Zoe, after she had me spare his life. I made it so he was nobody and had nobody. His life was over before you guys started your engines. I would never have pinned him for this,” Blake muses.
“Because we were looking for big money, but if Ulysses was footing the bill, it all makes sense,” I say.
“Are you sure?” Kelex asks.
“I’m positive. Atlas was who I called to stitch Skittles up. I was calling in a favor because the firm I did my internship with wanted to drop his case. I kept working on it anyway until I got locked up.
“Oh my God, that’s the man who stitched me up when I was little. I remember his eyes,” Shawna says, looking up from her phone.
Skittles takes the phone from her to look at the picture she pulled up. “Yeah, that’s him. The guy I recognized from helping Daddy.”
“So he saw you guys that night and put it all together. Now it all makes sense. Atlas has an axe a mile long to grind with the families on both sides of the fence.
“He blamed us all even though we had nothing to do with Sofia’s death. After the cover-up done to keep you guys out of trouble after Jeremy’s death.” Uncle Blake pauses and frowns. “That was fuel to the fire.
“Where do we find this motherfucker?” Ox says.
“Now that I’m sure of who we’re looking for, I’ll cast a wider net.”
“I don’t get it. Jeff is one of us. How is he involved with this guy?” Tak says sadly.
“Blake, what was Jeff’s mother’s maiden name?” Kelex asks darkly.
“Harris.”
Kelex
We walk into our bedroom bone tired. I just want to climb in the bed and stay there for at least three days. Too bad that’s not an option. Blake wants us to meet him back at the bar in the morning.
“This is all so crazy,” Shawna says.
“I know.” I tug her into my arms and give her a squeeze.
“I’ve learned so much about you in the last two days. Mayor, huh? Do you want to run?”
I exhale. “I don’t know. Would you be mad if I did?”
“Not at all. You would be great, but I don’t think that’s what you want.”
“What makes you say that?”
“You build things, you protect people, you handle shit without question. I can see why Pappoús wanted to hand things over to you. Pit works where he is. I think you would make a great gatekeeper of Vander and Bridge Lake,” she says.
“That comes with that other side of me. I don’t want to be that person.”
“Do you really think you could be like your father? I mean, from what you’ve said, he was vicious, without boundaries.”
I stand and think for a moment as I sway her in my arms. “I want to go to bed proud of what I’ve done, not wondering if I’m losing my soul. Does that make sense?”
“All the sense in the world.” She pecks my lips.
I take over and sip deeply from her mouth. When I break the kiss, I take a sharp inhale of air. “Maybe I need to be mayor.”
She smiles up at me. “I’ll support and love you either way.”