Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 110550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 553(@200wpm)___ 442(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 553(@200wpm)___ 442(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
Gunshots rang in my ears. “I can stomach what needs to be done,” I exploded. “But this doesn’t need to be done! Vito will tell me everything he knows, I promise you. Give me two days.”
“No.”
“Genny!”
She tore free from my grip. “We all have our jobs to do. Yours is playing with silk and lace while you pretend to be a badass. Mine is stepping in when you can’t handle it.” Genny pulled a face. “Ugh. That sounded all right in my head, but now that I hear it out loud, I sound like the B team. Let me fix that.
“My job is to rule this city, handing down sentences to stupid little boys who think they can defy me. Your job is to pretend you have the balls to do the same.” Genny popped another kiss on my quivering cheek. “Later, Feisty. Stay out of locked rooms with Lyla Dawson.”
Just like that, Genny was gone in a cloud of mint soap and stolen perfume samples.
GENNY
I jabbed the intercom button, cursing my brother to make my ears bleed. The fact we shared a mother and father unlike my other siblings, didn’t mean anything. He was no more my brother. They were no less my siblings.
But since the father we shared is the one and only Killian Hunt. It’s ingrained in our DNA to see the full measure of people—their greatest strengths and most embarrassing weaknesses. Add to that our mother being Adeline Redgrave, we were born with the taste of not using our powers for good. Put that together and throw in a penis, you get the most irritating fucking guy whoever messed with you just because he could.
“Hello, Gen.” Liam’s droll voice spread through the elevator. “Something I can do for you, baby sister?”
“Reminding me we’re blood won’t stop me kicking your ass. Let me in!”
“I’d never make that mistake,” he said, chuckling. The doors slid open on the end of his sentence.
I slammed into his apartment, finding him reclined in his armchair with a glass of scotch.
“You—”
“Not in front of my kid,” he sliced in.
The mist cleared. Staring at me from behind her princess playhouse was the first and only person who made me regret I couldn’t have kids. Yeah, I had other nieces and nephews, but they were boring as hell. My Tricky was a Merchant through and through.
“Tricky, Grandma has gone a whole morning without showering you in gifts,” I said. “You should go downstairs and fix that. Tell her you want a Princess Tiana Double Deluxe Castle, or you’ll hold your breath till you pass out.”
“Okay!” Elizabeth took off running.
“Don’t tell her that!” Liam called. She was already out the door. “Must you, Gen?”
“Yes, I must. How could you keep from me that you found Vito? And asking Kenzie to torture him? What the hell is that about?”
He leaned forward in his seat. “I know you, Bane, and Sunny. Sunny puts a positive spin on everything. A week in the terminal ward and he’ll have all the patients singing and skipping. You love our life and what we do, so you’re not the one to give Kenzie the reality. And as for Bane, he won’t lie to her, but he’s got no intention of letting her use any of the skills he’s teaching her. He’s always sacrificed to make everyone’s life easier. When the time comes, he’ll sacrifice so she never has to stain those soft hands.
“I brought her to Vito because Kenzie needs to know what this life really is,” he barked. “Right now, up front, and before she gives up the life she wanted before she met any of us. But when I put her in that room, expecting her to choose option A or option B, Mackenzie Blaine whips out option C. She asked me to let her do this her way, and I keep my word.”
I blew a raspberry. “Save the code of honor act for someone who didn’t watch you sneak out every night in Dad’s favorite car—until you crashed it.”
“I was sixteen,” he gritted.
“You were a devious little shit then and you’re still one now. Don’t get mad,” I said with a shrug. “It’s what I love about you. That’s how I know we’re related.”
“You always had a gift for making your insults sound like compliments.”
“You’re taking me to Vito. Now.”
He sighed, rising from his seat. “Did you get a chance to hear Kenzie’s plan before you ran out on her?”
“I heard enough. It’s not going to work.”
“It hasn’t had a chance to work.” Liam nodded at the television. “They’re playing that video on every station. By tonight, everyone in Cinco will know the name Brotherhood. Whoever’s running this has already cut ties with Vito. When the bomb goes off, he’ll likely have Vito killed and displayed in hopes that heads off the FBI from creating a task force devoted to ending the Brotherhood.”