Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 93048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
I walk closer to Larry. I keep my gun trained on him. “Last chance.”
“I don’t know,” he says, showing his teeth again. “You really wanna risk all that heat? Why don’t we come to a reasonable solution here, yeah? Make some agreement?”
“Off the bikes. On their knees in the ditch. That’s the agreement. Tell them to move, or I’m going to shoot you in the knee on the count of three. If you still don’t do it after I maim you, I’ll blow your brains out and tell my men to go to town. I don’t need you people alive to take your fucking drugs.”
“Who the fuck are you?” he snarls.
“One,” I say, staring into his eyes.
“God damn it, wait a second. We can negotiate here, we can—”
“Two.” I lower my aim to his leg.
“Larry,” one of the bikers nearby says, sounding panicked. “I think you should—”
“Three.” I pull the trigger. The shot’s loud, but not louder than Larry’s scream as he drops to the ground. Right in the kneecap—an impressive piece of work. He rolls from side to side, and a few of the bikers start reaching for weapons, but my men are on them already, screaming at them to keep their hands up.
Larry’s out of commission. I gesture at Niall, and he moves in with his troops. The soldiers start stripping the bikers off their hogs and patting them down for guns, knives, anything that might be an issue. They have a nice pile of goodies going as each member of the Bullethole Boys gets shoved onto his knees and zip-tied in a ditch. It takes a few minutes, and in the meantime, I walk around Larry’s whimpering body, and head straight to the truck.
“Not bad,” I say, staring under the tarp. Wrapped in nice, neat bricks and portioned out for easy distribution are pound blocks of meth.
“Think that’s all of it?” Niall asks, making an impressed face.
“Probably not. They cook the stuff, so I’m sure they have a supply back at their hideout. Unfortunately, I don’t think poor Larry Blood is going to be making any sales runs anytime soon.”
“Your girlfriend’s going to be happy.”
I turn to him. “She’s not my—” But I stop myself. He’s grinning ear to ear. The fucker’s trying to get a reaction. “I’m sure Valentina will be very happy.”
A part of me wants to tell him that she’s back at my place right now waiting for word of how this job went. Niall’s the only person I really trust, aside from my mother. Except what she said keeps running through my head on a fucking loop, digging little claws into my guts each time I linger on it. Don’t tell anyone. She wants it to be a secret—since she and I are all business.
Which is right, I know it’s right, but it didn’t feel like business when I came in her mouth and held her against me as we both fell asleep.
“What should we do with the boys?” Niall gestures for Seamus to get in the truck. The other soldiers clear the motorcycles off the road, dumping them into the grass beside the pissed-off bikers.
“Leave them.” I walk over to where Larry’s rocking from side to side and begging for help. “Should’ve just listened, asshole,” I say to him and put a bullet in his head.
The Bullethole Boys stare at me in horror. I look back at them with my usual smirk and tuck my gun away. “I hope whoever takes over is smarter than this asshole.”
Chapter 21
Ronan
Valentina seems very skeptical as I usher her into my BMW. She buckles up and crosses her arms. “Where, exactly, are you taking me at midnight?”
“Nowhere sketchy,” I say and smile a bit. “Actually, nowhere too sketchy.”
“That’s not helping.”
“Relax. It’s a surprise.”
Her eyes narrow. She’s not stupid—she knows something’s up. The run on the Bullethole Boys happened earlier and I’ve been trying not to tell her too much about how it went. But I get so little fun in this world, and even if she can see through my poorly disguised ruse and she knows what’s going on, I should still be allowed to play.
We don’t talk much as we head to the north side of the city. There are more warehouses out here, especially over near the lake. Trucks from Canada come down over the border and unload at the myriad of depots scattered throughout this section of the city, including at the big, beautifully maintained structure that is at the heart of the Hayes Group.
I park out front, and Valentina follows me to the front doors. “Is this place yours?”
“Welcome to Hayes Group Limited.” The door’s unlocked like I left it earlier and we head inside. The waiting room is surprisingly nice. “Normally, there’s a receptionist and our employees work out of there.” I gesture toward the offices on the left. We skirt around them and head down a side hall which leads to the main warehouse space, a massive open area lined with shelves and piled high with boxes.