Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 82112 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82112 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
“I’m assuming we aren’t just going to go busting into their lair, guns out,” Kye drawled, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. “Although that sounds kinda fun.”
Huck took the cigar from his mouth and looked over at Blaise. “There are only forty in Orlando. Acid is in Tampa with the other sixty. So, are we hitting Orlando or Tampa first?”
“Who is over the Orlando members if Acid isn’t there?” Kye asked.
I felt Trev’s eyes on me, and bile rose in my throat. That was what they hadn’t told me yet, and the way my best friend was looking at me, I understood why.
I dropped my head into my hands. “Goddamn,” I swore.
“Oh fuck. It’s AJ, isn’t it?” Kye realized.
“Afraid so,” Blaise replied. “We let him live, and that was a mistake. He fooled us. We thought he was blinded by feelings he had for Gina, but that wasn’t the case at all. He was feeling us out. Testing us. Seeing how we handled things.”
Gage let out a hard laugh. “Stupid fucker.”
Blaise sat down in his chair. “I thought about going at them both at the same time, splitting the men, but that would also mean splitting us. We’re more lethal together. We will start with Orlando. That will be Acid’s warning. He’ll either back down, and we can just go take him and Destiny out. Or he will retaliate, and we’ll have the Tampa members to wipe clean.”
Levi looked from Blaise to Huck. “We take down AJ, and the rest will scramble. We won’t need to kill them all. Same with Acid and Destiny. We could split up to take out the leaders, then come together to start popping off the members.”
Blaise leaned back in his chair. “Gage is going to want to take out Acid and Destiny. You and Huck could take AJ. Then, for some goodwill with the Feds, we’ll lead them straight to their location. The Vipers aren’t the biggest drug threat in this region, but they are funneling enough drugs into the state for the Feds to care.”
Gage lifted his gaze from the knife in his hand. “Or we could let the LA Vipers know about them. They’ve got branches all over the US. Last I heard, they had one as close as Atlanta. I’m surprised they’re not in Florida yet.”
Blaise studied Gage, then nodded. “Maybe goodwill with the LA Vipers is better than with the Feds. That’s the good demented shit you excel at.”
Gage’s chuckle sounded sadistic. “At your service.”
The corner of Blaise’s lips curled as he shook his head, then looked back at the rest of us as he stood up. “Levi, get me the contact I need for the LA Vipers. Gage, sharpen your toys. Huck, I need lookouts sent to Orlando and Tampa to watch things.”
“The Judgment owes us one, boss. Liam could set up men at both locations. We could use the backup. The more men we have on it, the better,” Levi said.
Blaise nodded. “Yeah, okay. You’re right. We should use the MC. I’ll call Liam and have him set that in place.” Then, he looked at me. “And someone get Sax a fucking drink.”
I stood as everyone else did, and Blaise left the office. This was worse than what I’d imagined.
Trev turned to me. “You heard Blaise. AJ isn’t what he pretended to be. He’s dangerous.”
I understood that. I got that AJ was putting his entire family, Haisley’s family, in danger just by association, but would she understand that?
“I don’t know how I can keep this from her.”
And I didn’t know if she’d forgive me.
“You have to,” Gage said, holding out a glass of whiskey for me.
I took it and downed it in one gulp. I was going to need more than that. I handed the glass back to Gage. “She’s going to be devastated.”
“She won’t know. He doesn’t contact her,” Trev pointed out.
But I would know.
“Come to the house. We can sit out at the pool and drink until we pass out. Just like old times,” Trev suggested.
I shook my head. “No. I have to get back to Haisley.”
I needed to hold her. Remind myself why I was doing this. Get my head wrapped around how I was going to handle it.
“All right, fine,” Trev replied.
“Not a word to her, Sax,” Levi said as he opened the office door to leave.
“I won’t,” I replied.
Lying to her about what we did was one thing. Having to lie about her brother was another. At least I wasn’t going to be the one to kill him. I couldn’t live with myself if I had to do that.
Twenty-Eight
Haisley
New Year’s Eve was tomorrow, and I couldn’t wait to spend it with Saxon. He was taking me to downtown Ocala for an event they were having there. We had left the tree up so that we could come back here and sit on the sofa, watching the ball drop in New York City with our tree lights and a fire.