Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 69517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Sure, they have money, but they also have more dirty, dark secrets.
“What do you want?” Leo demands. “You have the building and my word that the media will be dealt with regarding your sex scandal and the promise I will leave your girlfriend alone.” He growls. “But that’s not enough, is it? Spoiled little shit. I should call your bluff and make you drag this into court. See if you like what secrets would be uncovered about your mother.”
Ignoring his dig, I shrug and polish off the rest of my wine. I flick two fingers at Lucian. “I want you to claim them.”
Lucian’s jaw clenches, rage rippling from him. “The Mannford triplets?”
“Now, Mr. Constantine,” the lawyer begins, huffing, “my client will not—”
“I don’t care how it’s done, but I want you to put the triplets under Morelli control. They’re your cousins after all,” I grind out, ignoring the attorney. “Right now, they’re useless with their idle threats because they can’t hardly fucking walk, but when they can again, rest assured, they’ll continue to terrorize Ash. Leo got the ball rolling when he conspired with them and now you’re going to finish what he started.”
Leo started this shit and we’re not leaving until they’ve agreed to deal with it. It’s strange that he’s looking at me with a satisfied gleam in his eyes, as if he actually wanted this outcome. As if he knows something that I don’t.
“What else do you have in your folder?” Lucian says, his tone hard. “What other surprises should I be looking forward to?”
“That’s all,” I say with a wicked smirk, “for now anyway.”
“We’ll have to verify these claims first. Paternity tests.”
“Take your time. They won’t be walking for a few weeks anyway.” I push my chair out and stand. “But once you confirm what we already know based on your uncle’s history with sleeping around, deal with them. They’re reckless and out of control. I don’t want them near my…girlfriend.”
No sense in denying it now. By claiming her officially, they’ll definitely be forced to back the fuck off or I will unleash every power to destroy them that I have in my arsenal.
I give the Morellis another minute before I walk around the table to stand beside Lucian. Two of their meathead musclemen take a step forward but I’m not worried about them. Xavier could handle them with his eyes closed if push came to shove. Leo’s shoulders are tense and Lucian glowers at me as though he can melt me with his glare alone.
Me.
The man frozen solid in cold, hard apathy.
There aren’t enough fires in this world to make that happen.
I hold my hand out to Lucian. Where Leo needed a written agreement and he still reneged on it, people like Lucian and me, prefer to shake on it. A man’s word is binding. We’re both the oldest sons in our families.
“I’m calling a temporary truce,” I tell him. “I will back off on all things Morelli once the Baldridge building is back in my name.”
“And…” Lucian implores, making no move to lift his hand.
“All you have to do is keep the triplet fuckwads in your territory, under your rule.”
“Is that all?” Lucian mocks.
“It’s very simple. If you don’t and those assholes come after my girlfriend, the truce will be off. Not only will it be off, but I’ll see it as an act of war. You do not want to go to war with me.”
I will make it my entire mission to destroy each of their lives one by one until they have nothing left but regret that they let a rare truce from a Constantine slip through their meaty grip.
Lucian makes me wait for almost a minute longer. I stand there, nonplussed, hand waiting in the air as he eyes it like it’s a loaded gun. Finally, he juts out a hand despite his attorney’s grumble of argument. I shake the hand of a man I hate—the family my dad hated too. This feels like a dirty deal and the urge to wash my hands is strong, but it’s necessary. Our parents may have started this feud, but it’s up to us to keep the peace.
Morelli is just another bastard in a corrupt city that runs on filth and greed.
The deal he made is with the devil who runs everything with an iron fist.
“Evening, boys,” I say after we shake on it. I drop a couple of hundred-dollar bills to cover the meal, letting them rain down on Leo’s cold steak. “Pleasure doing business with you.”
Perry follows me but Anthony lingers, probably to finalize any details on his end. Xavier and Todd remain with him in case he needs backup. It’s not until we’re in the elevator and going down does Perry finally speak.
“Holy fuck,” he breathes. “That was intense. What was that shit Leo was saying about our mother?”