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)
Disbelief shattered my brother’s constant mask of perfect. “The Brotherhood actually thought you would turn against your own family? I thought the man behind this was intelligent.”
“That was my thought, Liam. The guy’s a clown and he sent his circus-trained buffoon to get killed on my floral carpet,” I said. “That’s when Isiah finished his speech. If I gave control of Harlow over to the Brotherhood, I could still run the Cardinals while making peace with the death of my entire family. Or I sided with the Merchants and every woman in Harlow who wears red will be slaughtered.”
I swallowed through a tightening throat. “Not every Cardinal, Liam. Every woman. It’d be open season.”
“It would not be because we’d never let that happen.” He grasped my shoulder. “So you turned him down and he set off the bomb? While he was still inside?”
“No, that’s the thing. It was all strange,” I admitted. “The Brotherhood couldn’t seriously think I’d turn against my own family. Somehow I was both a non-threat to them and a psychopathic monster? What the fuck kind of sense did that make?
“But then if that offer wasn’t serious, why was Isiah droning on instead of killing me?”
“He was a stall.”
I snapped my fingers, pointing at him. I said a lot of things about my brothers, but I never said they were stupid. “Every single attempt to kill us has failed. Even with their weapons, trackers, and assassins. Isiah was sent to keep me in that building when it blew up. Trouble is, I don’t think he knew he was just bait.
“He really sounded like he believed the bullshit he was saying. I mean, the guy said my gang was a little girls’ club with a straight face. If he knew the scale of my operation in Harlow, he wouldn’t have bothered pissing me off right out the gate with that bullshit.”
“But you got out of there. You made it down to the basement.”
“I did,” I said, wishing I drank that scotch instead of using it to decorate the wall. “Once I realized something was off, I knocked his ass out and beat it out of there. I was running through the bar when I heard tires peel out fast. I could only think of one reason someone was speeding away as quickly as possible.
“Bomb,” we said at the same time.
I sighed. “So, I dove into the basement, and you know the rest.”
“I don’t know the rest.” Liam claimed the spot by my side. “Why didn’t you tell us this?”
“At first because it didn’t matter. That offer wasn’t real. The Brotherhood wanted me in a coffin right alongside the rest of you,” I said. “But the more I thought about it, the more it bugged me. His threats were specific. The Brotherhood knows what I’m dealing with in Harlow. Worse—they know the right pressure points.
“If they have even half of my enemies on their side, they don’t need a deal with me. With my death, they can make things very difficult for the women in my borough. Only a Merchant can run Harlow, so I haven’t trained any of my girls to take over for me. With me gone, the Cardinals have no leader. They’re vulnerable to attack from all those misogynist pigs— What am I saying? We’ve already been attacked. They blew up that warehouse with three of my people inside.
“By now the Brotherhood knows I’m not dead. It’s only a matter of time before they make good on those threats and tear down our empires. If they’ve got the biggest presence in Harlow, why wouldn’t they start with me?”
“I still don’t understand why you didn’t tell us.”
“Do you tell me about every little issue in your borough? Does Sunny or Bane? I can handle my own business.” I shoved up, shaking him off. “These people are willing to blow up their own ‘brother’ to take us out. We need to end this as soon as possible, and you know that, Liam. This isn’t about making Kenzie happy, or about me being so impatient I’ll take pliers to a man’s fingernails without a thought. I don’t want to torture Vito, but I will if it saves Harlow and the Cardinals.”
I could see on his face, my logic was getting through. Grinding his teeth, Liam flicked to his phone resting on the coffee table. I wondered if he was thinking about Kenzie.
“Say... I give you an hour with him—”
“You will give me all the hours with him I need.”
Liam held up a hand, silencing me. “Say I give you time with him. Do you really believe there’s anything you can do to get him to talk? Vito Bernardi holds a particular hatred for you. Gen, I wouldn’t trust anything he told you even under the harshest methods.”
His words went in my ear and out the other. I’d get Vito to talk because I had to. End of story.