Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 124836 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 624(@200wpm)___ 499(@250wpm)___ 416(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124836 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 624(@200wpm)___ 499(@250wpm)___ 416(@300wpm)
I tried to twist out of their grips and spoke through clenched teeth, “Let go.”
Chen kept his shaky grip on me. “Calm down.”
But I couldn’t calm down. My vision narrowed, all I could see was Marcelo holding Moni and all I could think about was killing him.
"Put me down. Now, Marcy!” Moni hit his shoulder.
Chuckling, Marcelo finally set her down.
But the damage was done—the moment had pushed me to the brink of war.
Duck, Chen, and Hu had to dig their heels in to keep me from lunging at him. My muscles were strained, trying to get them off me.
Moni, oblivious to the tension spiraling out of control behind her, adjusted her dress and playfully swatted Marcelo’s arm. “Stop playing. You know you don’t hug me that way.”
Still not calm, my heart pounded in my chest and my vision turned red with fury. The men around me tightened their grips, trying to hold me back from making a move that would unleash chaos on the Diamond Syndicate.
A deep voice cut through the tension like a knife. “No. No. We cannot fight during my first official cookout in the East.”
Goddamn it.
I calmed a little.
And we all turned to see Dima approaching, dressed in a pale-yellow linen top and pants.
However, to my surprise the second quest was not his mother or someone from the Syndicate. Instead it was a striking Black woman in a yellow sundress that walked beside him and held his arm.
Chen whispered, “She looks familiar.”
“It’s the nosy reporter.”
Duck kept his voice low. “I thought he was supposed to kill her.”
“Me too.”
When Romeo had been killed this reporter had sneaked into Syndicate owned places, trying to get an extra story. No other reporter in Paradise City would have dared, but she wasn’t from around here.
Dima said he had it under control, which to me meant—kill and bury her somewhere no one could find her.
Apparently, having it under control meant making her his lover.
And she had to be a pretty important lover, because he almost never brought women around us.
But that still wasn’t the most ridiculous thing about his entrance.
As he continued toward us, with his other hand, he casually held a yellow leash attached to a small kitten, who trotted by his feet and purred. She was a small puffball of white silky hair. Her button nose was pink. Her steps were sly and commanding.
When the fuck did Dima get a cat?
The sight was so bizarre, so completely out of place in the middle of our standoff, that it momentarily broke the tension.
Dima stopped three feet from me and smiled warmly, as if he hadn’t just walked into a powder keg about to explode. “Let’s enjoy the day, shall we? There will be no fighting here.”
Marcelo released a low chuckle and the men holding me back slowly eased their grips. But my anger still simmered beneath the surface, ready to ignite at the slightest provocation.
Moni finally turned around, saw my men letting me go and blinked.
That’s right. I was about to knock your precious Marcy’s head off his shoulders.
She gave me a soft look that said more than words ever could. She knew what had almost happened and she knew how close I was to losing control. But with Dima’s arrival, the atmosphere shifted—if only slightly.
I checked her sisters and spotted all three of them heading over.
Great. Rowe Street Mob will get more little shields. Okay, fellas. I’ll play your game at this cookout, but soon you’ll have to deal with me.
I stepped back and straightened myself.
For now, the storm had passed. But I knew it was only a matter of time before the next one hit. And when it did, there would be no holding back.
Chapter twenty-one
Law 480
Moni
Two black crows flew over us and landed on the helipad as if we were holding breadcrumbs for them to snack on.
Or even crazier, as if they were eager to know what would happen next.
I couldn’t blame the crows. This cookout had turned into a drama flick with constant conflicts and twists.
So. . .I’m finally going to meet the leader of the Diamond Syndicate.
A tense silence settled over all of us as Lei glared at a smiling Dima who was clearly not picking up on the cues of my baby being pissed.
Unsure of what to do, I checked out Dimitri Ivanov. He was impossible to ignore—a mountain of muscle with a face so perfect it seemed almost unreal.
Alright. Mr. Ivanov. No wonder Lei doesn’t want me to be alone with you.
Of course, Lei had nothing to worry about. He was fine in his own right.
But one could not disagree that Dimitri could turn some heads too.
His short blonde hair caught the sunlight, gleaming like a halo around his head, but there was nothing angelic about the way he looked at me. His eyes—an intense, icy blue—pierced right through me, as if he could see stare into my soul, dissecting every thought, every fear, every vulnerability.