Total pages in book: 178
Estimated words: 170884 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 854(@200wpm)___ 684(@250wpm)___ 570(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 170884 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 854(@200wpm)___ 684(@250wpm)___ 570(@300wpm)
It was cruel to think that our family would likely be torn apart with this battle.
It was cruel to have only had my son with me a few solid months. But, no matter the sacrifice, we’d see it through.
I would give anything for my little man. Including my life.
“Where’s the cop?” Pav asked from across the room.
Peering over Lexi’s head, I stated, “Sent him on his way.” When our eyes met, I uttered, “He can’t help us, Luka.”
From the grave nod he gave me, I knew he got me. This was our problem. We did not play by common rules in this kingdom. The law meant nothing to us. We dealt with our own in whichever way we saw fit, and Ling Nguyen had signed her own death warrant.
I wasn’t prepared for what should occur if Gabe Blanco got to Ling first.
She’d plead insanity, likely serve a few years, and get out on a complication or loophole. And I couldn’t let that happen.
“Okay, let’s get started.” Pav moved into the center of the room and looked around at our small but capable family. “The Dragons kept a lot of their dealings on the hush, which made it pretty hard to track down any property acquisitions they may have had a hand in. But, with the right tools—” He inclined his head to Luna, who returned it regally. “—you can find anything on the internet.”
Zep’s gaze rolled over the woman sitting next to him before reaching out to impishly pinch her side. “Lulu to the rescue, huh?”
“Stop it.” She flinched, pushing away his hand. “I’m ticklish.”
Zep’s eyes hooded, and nobody missed the claim in the way he said, “I remember.”
Happy stood to the side, leaning against the wall, and he jerked his chin to the boyishly styled woman. “What did you find, Luna?”
“Actually,” she began, throwing a co-conspirator look to her sister, “it was Pav and Fernanda who gave me the idea.” She glanced around at her peers. “It’s no secret now that Ling and Aslan were a couple, and after he ended it, things went sour. So after a bit of inside research, I simply looked up all of Sadik’s prospective property hauls. It took some time, but I managed to track down some of his losses.” She shrugged, completely undermining the extraordinary work she had done. “They all lead back to the same offshore account.”
Julius spoke low, folding his arms across his chest. “Those accounts should be untraceable.”
It was then Luna let some of her pride show. “Should be, yes.”
Happy, now curious, came over to take the spare seat next to Luna and pulled her laptop closer to him, going through her findings. “She did well trying to cover her tracks. Bounced transfers from multiple accounts from different countries, but she fucked up in a very small, very stupid way.”
Luna peered at Happy a long moment before a slow smile spread across her lips. And Zep did not like that. “Oh, yeah?” he muttered, breaking Luna’s spell. “How’s that?”
Happy exchanged a knowing look with Luna. “The originating account was kept the same. Rookie mistake. Also dealt in Australian dollars. It’s a massive giveaway. Should have dealt in Euros or US Dollars. It would have made the search that much broader.”
Evander stood behind Manda, his brow low. “How many properties are we talking here?”
“Fourteen,” specified Luna. “But we’ve narrowed it down to three.”
“Three?” Manda frowned. “That’s all?” She peered around the room, confused at the hold up. “What are we waiting for? Let’s go.”
Evander nodded in agreement. “I’m ready when you are.”
Pav held up his hands, and uttered, “Now wait a second. We’ve only got one chance at this. She sees us coming, you think she’s just gonna try to escape and move along? Nah.” His lips thinned as he shook his head. “She’s gonna take out her hostage and then herself. So we need to be smart about this. Set it up right.”
No one expected Lexi to speak, let alone say what she said. “We’ll do it your way, Luka. But I’m warning you. All of you.” A pregnant pause followed. “At the first opportunity, I’m taking her out. Me.” She turned her serious expression to me. “I get to kill her.”
I pulled back from my woman enough to look her in the eye. “You’re not coming.”
She smiled then, so serenely that my stomach cramped, and when she uttered, “You think you could stop me?” my heart sank.
Because I couldn’t stop her. Wouldn’t stop her.
And there was safety in numbers.
***
A.J.
A.J. couldn’t sleep. It was the first night she’d left him to sleep alone, and he wondered why he slept easier with her in the room. It made no sense.
He should have felt safer without her, but even a boy as young as he could see that the bad lady didn’t mean to harm him, only claim him as her own. Be a mother to him.