Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 82881 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82881 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
She opens the top drawer, pulls out a gun, and places it on the counter.
I roll my eyes. “Meredith, I don’t think that’s necessary.”
Her eyebrows shoot up. “No? Because right now your brother is missing because he’s chasing pussy, and you seem distracted because of…” She waves her hand toward River and loses her words. “He’s beautiful, I’ll give him that. But you two have lost your ever-fucking minds.”
“He and I are nothing,” I’m quick to say, denying her insinuation about me and River. But River barges past me and holds out his hand with a cunning smile.
“The name is River, ma’am.” I cringe at his use of “ma’am,” and he doesn’t miss it either. He just looks at me and shoots me a small smirk.
“Oh, would you look at that… it speaks,” she says condescendingly as she takes another puff, ignoring his outstretched hand.
He smiles. “You two are more alike than I expected.”
“Flattery won’t get you anywhere here, boy,” she snarks back.
“Who said it was a compliment?” he replies sweetly.
Her eyebrows shoot up, and she turns to me. “I can see why you might’ve caught her attention,” Meredith says over the counter as she pours herself a glass of whiskey and then a second and hands it to River.
I’ve only ever seen him drink scotch, but he accepts it.
You can’t be serious? There’s no way he can win over this old bitch.
“River who?” she asks, properly appraising him.
I roll my eyes and sit on a stool at the counter. River remains standing at the edge, closest to the door, and I hope it’s an intentional exit strategy, because he might need it.
“River Bently,” he tells her.
Meredith looks into her whiskey as she swirls it with a cigarette hanging from her fingers. “Born and raised in Los Angeles, mother is a widow, and you run one of the largest gun selling businesses worldwide. Am I missing anything?”
Oh, I forgot to mention her photographic memory.
“Yes, but how did you…” River says, tensing his shoulders.
“Meredith has a photographic memory, and she keeps tabs on anyone of importance who steps into town,” I inform him.
“Meredith…” River says, brows pinched, and it’s rather nice and unusual watching him only figure out something now. “I know that name.”
Because if he looked into Alek’s and my foster papers, he would’ve seen a Miranda Petrov signed on the dotted line. What’s not on the records is the handsome price she paid to ensure we were handed to her.
“I’m sure you do, kid.” She nods.
River looks at me then.
“You were raised by Meredith Fork,” he says, eyeing me. “I get it. I get why you are who you are.” He looks back at Meredith, a new revelation sparking in his eyes. “You were known for your high-quality, no-nonsense bullshit. Cutthroat and one of the first and only women to run drugs and ammo. I heard rumor of you when I first started, but that your business was taken over by the Ivanov siblings.”
“Taken over or handed down, depending on what intel you choose to believe. If someone like me was taken down by the siblings, then they were someone not to be trifled with from the very start,” she says to him. “I gave them the perfect head start.”
She pins me with a stare. “It’s not easy being a woman in this line of business. You have to be more ruthless than any man. You’ll be wise to remember that, girl.”
“Meredith has retired,” I inform him, ignoring her not-so-subtle dig.
I’m reconsidering whether I should’ve brought River here at all now. Meredith has had lovers. Men at her beck and call. But having a man in your life permanently was a weakness to her.
I don’t know why she would look at River in any other way.
“Big shoes to fill,” River says in salute as he takes a sip of the whiskey.
“It would appear this generation gets distracted easily,” the old bitch tosses out, specifically for me.
“I’m pretty sure there’s been no complaints about the retirement fund you sit on and the monthly income you receive to give you all the time in the world to bake and burn fucking muffins,” I say back.
“I’m surprised, Anya, how quickly you’ve replaced Alek,” she purrs, flicking the ash off her cigarette. “What’s it been… three, four months since Alek disappeared? You’ve never learned how to be alone, have you?”
“I’ve only ever known how to be alone,” I snap. And her cold, calculated gaze is fixated on me. The rest of the sentence goes unsaid. I’ve only ever known how to be alone because of you.
She offers a sharp, antagonizing smile. “Yes, so I passed my business down to these two. Who have been doing great before I found out about Alek,” she says through clenched teeth to River. “So you can’t blame a mother for being concerned if the empire is going to shit.”