Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 97426 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 487(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97426 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 487(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
“What?” she asks while searching my face with her gaze.
“Nothing,” I murmur.
“Cupcake,” AJ says and gives us puppy eyes.
“What about a cupcake? Use your words for Mommy,” Lex coos.
“I want cupcake, please,” he replies.
She cups his face and rocks him back and forth. “You’re so smart. Of course, you can have a cupcake. Then you’re going to read those cards to me. I’m so excited. We’re going to start those videos again now that we’re settled.”
“Videos?”
She chuckles. “Our kid is smart, not Einstein, Ant. You didn’t teach him to read today. I have one of those systems too.”
I slap her ass. “Get out of my kitchen.”
“Did I steal your thunder, baby?”
“I have some thunder for you to steal. Just wait until tonight. He may not have learned to read in one day, but you’re going to learn to speak in tongues in one night.”
“Okay.” She pulls a face and nods. “Is that supposed to be a threat?
“I’ve been deprived for so long, I’ll sit and spin while singing Michael Jackson’s greatest hits for a week and you’ll be the one breaking a sweat, baby. I’ll be the willing and happy contestant. I’ll take hallelujah for five hundred, Alex. Please and thank you.”
I burst into laughter and tug her into me, laughing into her hair and inhaling deeply. This is who we used to be. It feels good.
I’m going to put off that talk a little longer. I think I can figure this out if I dissect Uncle Blake’s words. It’s only been a day, but things have been quiet.
I deserve this peace in my life. I have my family in my home. I’d do anything to keep that from changing. Anything.
Chapter 46
Forced Hands
The Problem
“Why are you two here?”
“I have something you should know,” the first idiot says.
“Neither of you has anything to say to me that would require your presence here. You’re making me regret bringing the two of you so close. I should have held you at arm’s length like the others. Can either of you remind me again why I didn’t?”
“Thaddeus was a ticking time bomb. Griff was greedy and not too bright. It wasn’t worth the time to get too close to the situation in Vegas. And Sakai’s arrogance was a problem,” Wizard Number Two says.
“And your arrogance? It’s not a problem?” I lift a brow.
He shrugs. “You need me more than you care to focus on that. I’m hiding in plain sight, and I have more than one connection you need.”
I wave a hand at them both, wishing they’d just disappear. However, he’s right. Of the two, he’s the one I need.
“So what brings you both here if only one of you has information?”
“His information may lead to needing my resources,” my arrogant wizard says.
“Well, spit it out.”
“Alexis is back in Vander, living with the bartender,” Idiot One seethes.
“Sounds like a you problem to me. I’m done with this part of the deal. Her father is gone, William Pitman now controls his old station and I don’t really give a fuck where she lives.
“That’s all you, buddy. You wanted revenge, so you handle it from here.”
“Are you fucking kidding me? You made promises. After what she’s done… after all I’ve done to help you? You’re not bailing on me now,” he growls.
I look down at my fingernails and clean the imaginary dirt from underneath them, then examine them again. The girl was my way of distracting the Knights’ enforcer. Controlling her threw off Blake’s guard dog in training.
“Son, you need to learn when a ship is sinking. I’m here for the long game. At the end, I plan to still be standing while Vander and Bridge Lake’s elite all burn to the ground.
“It’s time I make my exit. I can see in your eyes you’re going to do something stupid. While you rot in a cell or in a grave, I intend to finish what I started.”
“You son of a bitch.”
“You know not my mother and if I were you, I’d be very careful. You still have an opportunity to take the money and walk away.”
“They owe me. All of them owe me,” he barks, spit falling from his mouth.
It’s really quite nasty. This kid has spent his life harboring rage over something of his sibling’s own creation. To be honest, he’s lucky I ever approached him.
I had to pick the lesser of two evils. This time he won out. Now I… I have reasons for this long, tedious game.
Even my arrogant wizard has some skin in this game. Although, no rights to it. Just greed for something that belongs to someone else.
They’re both becoming expendable. However, I can’t enter Vander or Bridge Lake just yet. Not with Blake Knight and William Pitman still with their fingers on the pulse.
I had hoped to knock Blake off the board with the Castro family. Marquis was a wasted kill for me. My arrogant wizard is the only one who benefited from that, buying himself more time.