Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 135958 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135958 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
“And one was already dealt with.”
Kai didn’t take his gun away. Instead, he stepped even closer, putting the muzzle right against Levi’s forehead. “Finish. Once and for all.”
Levi’s eyes closed then opened again. He looked tired, gaunt.
He stared past Kai, past the gun. “A deal was struck afterward. Your dad, Ritzo, and the other broad’s family all went in together with a side business. When you killed Senior Bennett, his end was scooped up by Dick Delaney there.”
The Richard guy scoffed, but he tugged at his shirt. “You’re lying now, Barnes.”
“You’re a rat.” The Rose woman seethed, but she was nervous too, shifting in her seat, still eyeing the guards closest to her.
The only one not raising an argument was the elderly man, who Tanner had let lift his head back up. Blood trickled down his forehead. He tried to wipe it away but left a smear across his entire face.
“What was the trade?” Kai narrowed his eyes. “I’m getting fucking tired of prompting you for this shit. You want to live, you spill everything. I won’t ask again.”
Levi’s eyes jumped to his. “You’re going to let me live? After all this?”
“I care about my sister.”
Renewed hope lit Levi’s gaze, and he straightened up in his chair. “Yeah. Uh. For all those up there who don’t know what our trade was, it was…” He chewed the inside of his cheek. “Sex trade. Illegal porn. All that shit. I was the pointman down here. My family didn’t want to deal with that, so yeah, I was creating openings in the family. All them up there on the council knew about it too. They were helping me turn evidence on my family so I could step into the leadership role and bring the sex trade down here. I also had to scope out the competition. There’s a big ring in Ohio, but we had plans to eliminate them. Just hadn’t gotten to that part yet, if you know what I mean.”
He stared at Kai for a second before continuing. “Those three were never going to bring the rest of you in on the trade. Too much money and too messy with the fact that none of them were cleared to be doing sex trafficking. Only one cleared for that was the Guaranno family, who…” He looked, then frowned. “I don’t see up there anyway.”
Kai pushed the gun against him again, just a slight pressure before stepping back. “Is that all of it?”
“Yeah.” He eyed Kai warily. “That’s all of it. Except, my family didn’t know what I was doing. Just me. They got their asses handed to them from another fight down here against a rival family, so after they did the hit, they got paid, and that was it. I’m the one who reached out, said I could help bring it all to Milwaukee. I targeted your sister, told that group I had power over your family. I was supposed to get some bad shit on her, then blackmail her to get to you. They wanted to take you down. Those three are ambitious fuckers, if you ask me.” He waved to them. “The only reason they let me in was to get at you, because I’d already started boning your sister.”
“Right,” Kai clipped out, turning to the council again.
Two guards now stood behind those three council members. Rose. Richard. Ritzo Senior. Tanner had moved back, his eyes closed. He was counting to himself, his chest heaving.
“You’ve heard enough,” Kai said. “I motion to execute Rose Montieth, Joseph Ritzo, and Richard Delaney immediately. Cora, you start.”
The last woman raised her right hand.
The man beside her did as well.
And again.
Again.
Tanner was the last, but in his right hand was a gun, and before Kai could say a word, he pressed it to the back of the old guy’s head and pulled the trigger.
I watched this time. I couldn’t look away.
In a sick way, this was riveting.
After all this work, all this planning, bringing everyone together, waiting all those years, and having it all come to fruition now—Kai could never leave this life. This was who he was, how he thought, how he lived, how he breathed. Or was it? Pulling my gaze away, I felt him watching me, and I winced at the pain in his eyes.
Maybe…
I began to pull away from the wall.
Maybe this wasn’t how he wanted to be, but I heard Jonah’s voice in my head again. If he fell, they all fell. Then I thought about what they’d wanted to do, what they’d wanted Levi to do to get at Kai. I didn’t know what to think, how to determine what Kai might possibly think.
Without a word, Kai raised the gun to Levi, his eyes holding mine.
He pulled the trigger.
CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
After the executions concluded and both rooms had been cleaned, Kai faced the council.