Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 108119 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 432(@250wpm)___ 360(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108119 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 432(@250wpm)___ 360(@300wpm)
“Fuck you!” Aldo screamed. “How dare you think you can do that to my—”
I sucker punched him in the gut.
He couldn’t say her name.
Or that she was his sister.
Regardless of the way he talked, he could still make out the name enough for the Italians to question me.
Phoenix cleared his throat behind me.
“Make your choices,” I demanded as the door shut, keeping us all in.
“You are weak.” Ivan gritted his teeth. “Your father would be ashamed of you!”
I grinned up at him. “Do you really think I live for a dead man’s approval? That would be a wrong assumption, considering I was recruited against him the day I turned eighteen.”
Ivan paled.
“Ah, now you understand, these men are more family than my father will ever be. It would be wise to stop talking before I take another tongue. I’ve developed a sentiment for taking pieces of every man I conquer, and believe me, before your dead body leaves this room, I’ll take something, maybe your eyes, your tongue, maybe the tip of your nose, or a finger, as a reminder to those who know me, who fear me, that I don’t fuck around when it comes to my business and my empire.”
Ivan stared straight ahead and whispered, “Death. I choose death.”
“And you Aldo? What have you picked off the menu for the evening?”
Aldo glared. “I won’t tell you shit.”
I tsked. “Chase, did you want to do the honors?”
Chase grinned. “With pleasure.”
Aldo struggled as Chase punched him across the face, and then kicked the chair away so Aldo hung by his bloody wrists. He screamed out in agony.
And I watched.
I enjoyed it.
Because I couldn’t protect her then.
But I could save her now.
I could get her revenge.
I could take his life.
And I would.
“We know it’s you. Elena was Very informative. we just need a name for your contact, an address even of where you keep the girls before they’re delivered and then we’ll make it as painless as possible.”
Ivan opened his mouth. “We’re dead anyway.”
“Smart man.”
The Italians waited in silence.
It was my club after all.
My business.
My respect for them grew tenfold.
“Well?” I crossed my arms.
Ivan hung his head. “Viktor Stasevich is our contact, an old friend of your father’s. He keeps the girls until we make the pick-up. He and his team work with a—”
“Shut the hell up!” Aldo roared.
Ivan barked out a laugh. “We’re dead men! Do you know who these men are? We will not walk out of here alive, and I will not have my eyes lost to me when I am dead!” He was superstitious, interesting. “He and his team worked with Alexander, the De Langes took your contract Andrei, and when they started making more contacts within the family…” His eyes flickered from Chase back to me. “They asked for a meeting.”
“They?” Chase said with clenched teeth. “Or she?”
“Sh-she.” Ivan hung his head. “I gave it to her behind Andrei’s back and gave her Viktor’s number. The money the operation brought in was tens of millions. Alexander made sure that even in his death, the family would be taken care of, but he could no longer trust anyone, so when she—”
“Mil,” I corrected.
Chase looked ready to kill every single man in that room.
“When Mil met with him, she was promised protection along with the money and the new contracts.”
I knew Mil had gotten in deep.
I didn’t know it was that deep.
And by the look on Chase’s face, neither did he.
“What else?”
Aldo barked out a laugh. “This is rich. You don’t know, do you? For being so powerful, you don’t know shit that went down in our family!”
“We’re about to.” I glared. “Ivan continue…”
“Mil knew it was dangerous, and she didn’t want anyone finding out. She just wanted the money to funnel back into the De Langes, but it was too much money all at once…” His face was ashen like he was afraid of what we would do if he said more. “…so she reinstated three of the prostitution rings that her father had connections with and laundered the money with drug trafficking.”
The room went silent.
And I could feel the hate for every single De Lange in the bloodline build into a boiling point that even I knew I couldn’t control.
I needed to get Chase out of there before he did something like start blindly shooting.
As it was, his chest rose and fell, his eyes crazed.
Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Tex grab his gun. Nixon did the same and pointed it directly at the back of Chase’s head.
“Ivan,” My voice was hoarse. “One more question before I give you that bullet you’ve easily earned.”
“Yes.” He hung his head.
“This Viktor… who did he report to?”
Ivan’s lips trembled. “Mil De Lange.”
Phoenix swore under his breath. I knew this was hard for him; it was hard for every single one of the men who’d trusted her. Chase, her ex-husband and Phoenix, her half-brother, the one who had pulled the trigger.