Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 76203 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76203 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Basic shit you needed to be able to spend a lot of time in a place, but not necessarily live there.
I remembered Slash saying that Erion had his eye on a house on Millionaire’s Row. I wondered if he was somehow there without me realizing it. Because he clearly wasn’t living here.
“This is an… interesting development,” Erion said as Colter slammed the door behind me, placing his body in front of it, so no one could come in or head out. “What have I supposedly done now?” he asked.
“Where is she?” I hissed, pressing the muzzle of the gun harder into his neck.
“This again? Who’s been kidnapped now? Why can’t you Henchmen keep an eye on your women?” he asked, tone bored, if somehow a bit amused.
“Where is Everleigh?” I growled, my finger itching to slide to the trigger, even if I knew that was completely irrational.
“Everleigh?” he asked, racking his brain, trying to place the name. “From the gym?” he asked, brows scrunched. “The fuck would I want with her?”
“Because she’s taking the charge for your crimes?”
“Is she? I should send her a fruit basket,” he said.
“You mother fuck—“
“Hey,” Colter said, voice calm, hand grabbing my forearm, and pushing it down. “This is getting us nowhere,” he said. Rational. Solid under pressure. I would have to tell Slash about this when it was all over and Everleigh was safe again.
“Smart man,” Erion said, reaching into his pocket, and coming back with a pack of cigarettes, slipping one into his mouth, then retrieving a lighter to light it. He took a long drag then exhaled before speaking again. “What crime is this girl involved with?”
“She’s not. That’s the problem,” I said. “She’s charged with distribution of heroin. As is her boss.”
“Gav?” Erion asked, gaze dubious. “No.”
“Exactly,” I agreed. “But there was heroin. And it was moving through the gym. So she is wrapped up with it. And since you are the one dealing H in the area…”
“Oh, come on. It’s not that I’m offended you think I’d let someone take the fall for me. I would. Yes, even your innocent, Taylor-Swift-loving girlfriend. And her boss. But I don’t deal through the gym. The fuck kind of business model would that be for me?” he asked.
“What about Czar?” I asked.
“What about him?”
“Could he be doing it?”
Honestly, now that I had a minute to think about it, I really didn’t think so.
Sure, Czar had linked up with Erion to start their own organization. The former Albanian and Bulgarian mobsters. And, yeah, I did think Erion was capable of being a cold, calculated, heartless bastard. But Czar?
No.
Czar Petcova was Nyx’s ex. A man who, by all accounts, loved her and tried to protect her.
She wouldn’t have been involved with someone who would mistreat innocent women.
“If you think that, you don’t know the players in this town as well as you should,” Erion said, taking another drag of his cigarette.
“But would he let Gray do it?”
“Gray?” Erion repeated, and I instantly knew, fucking knew that they weren’t in bed together. “That fuck,” he said, exhaling so deeply that a growl escaped him.
“You’re not working with him?” I asked.
“No. He wanted in.”
“Then why isn’t he in?” I asked.
“Because I’m a businessman,” Erion said. “And it’s bad business to have a former user dealing your drugs.”
That… made perfect sense.
“Well, he’s dealing now.”
“That explains it,” Erion said, the only sign that he was irritated being a muscle ticking in his jaw.
“Explains what?”
“Business being slow. Former clients dropping dead all over. I don’t cut my shit. He must,” he said.
Whatever he was going to say next was cut off by the sound of my phone ringing.
I reached for it with my free hand, swiping the screen.
“Yeah?”
“He’s not here,” Sway said. “Looked all over, but he’s not here.”
“Fuck,” I hissed. “Any luck on finding someone with an M he’s in contact with?” I asked.
“He’s a fucking slob. There’s nothing but old food wrappers and piles of laundry all around his apartment. Nothing personal.”
“What about a t-shirt press?” I asked.
“What?”
“A t-shirt press. He runs a merch company. Where are the supplies?” I asked.
“Not… not here,” Sway said.
“Get Rook working harder,” I snapped before ending the call. “What?” I barked at Erion whose lips were curved up ever so slightly.
“Was fucking a girl for a while,” he started. “Used to love taking pilates classes at the gym. A strong core makes a lot of positions a fuckuva lot more fun.”
“The fuck do I care about that for?” I asked.
“Just thought you might be interested,” he said, taking a dramatically long drag of his cigarette. “Because her instructor was named Melissa.”
Melissa.
M.
Melissa?
A woman?
I mean, yeah, of course it could have been a woman. Hadn’t I known enough women in the criminal world to stop thinking that we were all men?
“What’s going on here?” a voice said as the door opened.