Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 98255 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 491(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98255 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 491(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
Someone was inside the house.
Grant stopped.
Whoever was inside the house had heard him. There was no doubt about it. He’d not heard the door, so they’d been there even before Grant had been. Hands clenched, his heart beat hard in his chest. Not fast. He wasn’t scared, but ready, prepared.
With her clothes in the bag, Grant took the stairs. He didn’t go to the front door, but straight to the kitchen where he saw him, the man who he witnessed kill that woman at the trailer park. Miguel Vito Carlos.
He was sitting at Aria’s kitchen table. A bottle of water was open on the table.
“Hello, Grant,” Miguel said.
His accent was thick but Grant understood him.
“Miguel.”
By just saying his name, he saw the tic near the corner of one of his eyes. He had surprised him. “You know who I am.”
He stayed silent. What the fuck was this bastard doing in Aria’s house? It made no sense.
He’d seen the way Miguel looked at her, though. There was no doubt this man was interested in Aria, but why? Was it to get to the club? To get to Bull? To him? None of this made any sense.
“Ah, I see you’re the quiet, silent type. Strange. I’ve heard so many things about you.”
“What do you want?” Grant asked.
Miguel chuckled. “You’re a guy who likes to get right down to business.”
“I’m the guy that wants to know what the fuck you’re doing in his woman’s house.”
“Ah, Aria Taylor. Sweet woman, am I correct? This was once her grandparents’ house. I believe her receiving this in their will had caused quite the stir.”
Grant smiled. “Nice.”
Miguel bowed his head. “I like to be thorough when I do my research.”
“Aria’s not your concern.”
“Oh, but you see, she is. She’s part of Carnage and seeing as this town is very much my concern, I have every right to do my research.”
“This town isn’t yours,” Grant said.
Miguel laughed. A full-throated, uncontrollable laugh, at least it sounded that way, but something in Grant’s gut said this man was always in control. He’d never let his guard down.
Grant stayed perfectly still, watching him, waiting, trying to understand what was going to happen next. Was this the last day he got to see his woman, his brother, the club? Miguel was here for a reason and he’d already witnessed him kill before, so he knew Miguel didn’t have any qualms about pulling the trigger.
Miguel sat back in his chair and as quickly as he burst out laughing, like a switch being flicked, he stopped.
“I have a business proposition for you.”
“I’m not interested.”
“Come on, Grant. I know that you and I are similar.”
This made Grant laugh. “No, we’re not.”
“Fine. You kind of remind me of Julio.”
“Do not mention that fucker’s name to me,” Grant said. He watched as Miguel’s nostrils flared. “I’m nothing like him.”
“No?”
“I don’t kick a man while he’s down, and I don’t kidnap women, nor do I shoot them in the face,” Grant said, staring right into Miguel’s eyes as he made the last accusation.
A small twitch, ever so slight, and most people wouldn’t have been able to catch it, but Grant did. He’d caught Miguel by surprise. How interesting.
“Aren’t you tired of being under your brother’s control?” Miguel asked. “He was given the Chaos and Carnage MC, but you were expected to wear the VP patch, with what? Pride? That doesn’t seem like a fair deal to me.”
Grant continued to stare at him. Yes, he and Bull had fought, and Grant, during one of his many pissed-off moments, had done the whole trying-to-stake-his-claim as Prez of the club, but it had been bullshit. Grant didn’t want the role. He just wanted to piss off his brother.
Lame. But it was what it was. Brothers being exactly that—brothers. Grant didn’t want anything else from Bull. In a way, he just wanted his brother back.
He smirked as he looked at Miguel. “And you think you can give that to me? Bull wasn’t given the patch because of some older brother bullshit. He earned that patch.”
“By killing your father.”
“That must have been hard on you.”
Grant didn’t say a word. Was this man trying to reason with his sensitive side? Did he really think he missed his old man? Seeing that old man dead and gone was a huge fucking relief.
“What do you want?”
“I want to give you a chance to run the shop at Carnage. Bull is outdated and it’s time for him to go. Hernandez was mistaken in thinking this town could be left alone. It’s a wonderful bed for all kinds of business.” Miguel got to his feet. “But I realize that you must need an incentive to see how important this is. Your woman, I promise you, no matter what, she will never see any harm come to her. For that, you have my word.”