Total pages in book: 38
Estimated words: 37123 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 186(@200wpm)___ 148(@250wpm)___ 124(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 37123 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 186(@200wpm)___ 148(@250wpm)___ 124(@300wpm)
“Sit,” he hisses furiously, the whole jokey smiling look from seconds before vanishing.
“Owen—!”
“Sit!” he booms. “Right fucking now, Killian!”
“Owen! What the fuck are you—!”
“Now, asshole!” the older man snarls.
Killian hisses, his teeth bared, his muscles tight and coiled, and his huge hands tightened to fists at his side. But he glances at me, he growls, and then he moves back to sink onto one of the stools in the kitchen.
Owen shakes his head. “Goddamnit, man. I didn’t want it to be this way. Not with you, Kill.”
“I fucking knew it,” Killian growls ferociously. “You fucking traitor.”
Owen rolls his eyes. “Oh fuck off man. Don’t get high and mighty.”
“Fucking why, man!”
“Times are changing,” Owen grunts. “And the Bastards are a dying breed in a town like Boston. I tried to talk sense into Grey, but he wouldn’t listen to reason, so I’m doing it myself.” He narrows his eyes at me. “Kill, an alliance is what we need. To survive.”
“An alliance?” Killian snarls. “An alliance that puts your brothers I jail?”
“Gotta break some eggs, Killian,” Owen mutters. “But not all of them.” He pokes his gun towards Killian. “You? I want you in, man. I need guys like you when we make this happen. Grey’s out. I mean, he won’t ever change. But a man like you could make some serious bank for himself with this new—”
“Fuck off, Owen,” Killian snarls. “Just fuck off.”
“Killian,” the older guy growls dangerously.
I bite my lip, looking up.
“Dad?”
I’m looking for reason. I’m looking for guidance, or a rational voice, or something to let me know this is all going to be okay. But my father just shrugs.
“This is how the world works, Nicole.”
I stare at him, feeling my pulse thundering.
“Are you fucking serious?”
“You’re young, honey,” he says flippantly with wave of his hand. “You don’t understand.”
“I don’t understand?” I hiss incredulously. “Dad! I understand right and fucking wrong!”
“There is no right and wrong!” he roars back, making me blink in shock at his rage. “Talk to me after you’ve been a lawyer in this fucking system for thirty years, Nicole. You do what you have to. You figure out who’s really in charge, and you play the game.”
My lips curl, my nose wrinkles.
“You disgust me,” I hiss.
“Yeah, well, deal with it, honey,” he growls back. “It’s how you have this entire life, you ungrateful bitch.”
My dad’s never been the overly affectionate type and has been downright cold to me plenty of times. But this is something new, and it hits me like a slap in the face.
“You wanted for nothing growing up, Nicole,” he mutters. “Brand new Mercedes at sixteen? All the clothes and shit you ever needed? You think every kid gets that growing up?”
“I know every kid doesn’t get that,” I spit back. “If I’d known when I was a fucking child that you made your money this way though, I’d never have taken a dime from you.”
He rolls his eyes.
“The best private schools, the best college, an in with a dream job at the courthouse? A now Harvard fucking Law, Nicole?” he sneers. “Where exactly do you think that money comes from? A fucking tree?”
“Keep your money,” I hiss.
“No!” he roars. “No! Listen to me, Nicole. Whatever this little…” he glares at Killian as he wags a finger between us. “This little fling of yours? We’re going to never speak of it, and it won’t hurt you when you finally find a husband.”
Killian snorts, and my dad whips his head around to glare daggers at him.
“Yes? Something funny, you fucking ape?”
“Yeah, there is,” he growls, grinning at my dad. “I’m just amused how little you understand your own daughter.”
“Like you do?”
“Yeah,” I whisper heatedly, looking at Killian as I say it. “Like he does.”
Owen sighs. “Okay, enough with the family bullshit, Leonard?” he turns and levels his gaze at Killian. “It’s crossroads time, brother. You want in or out, Killian?”
“Fuck you Owen.”
“In or out,” he snarls. “Brother.”
“In with your little pathetic mutiny?” Killian sneers. “Fuck no.”
Owen growls. “Out doesn’t end well for you, just as a heads up.”
Killian nods slowly and then leans forward, looking Owen dead in the eye.
“Fuck. You.”
“Goddamnit, Killian!” Owen hisses through clenched teeth. He swears, shaking his head violently before suddenly, he whips his gaze up, cocks the hammer back on the gun, and jams it right in Killian’s face, and my heart stops.
“I’m counting to three, Killian. And then I will put a bullet in your fucking head.”
Killian swallows, and his eyes move to mine, holding my gaze and letting something wild flash between us before he turns back to Owen.
“I owe you a lot, I know,” he growls. “But I owe the Bastards everything.”
“So help them! Help us!” Owen hisses.
“This isn’t the Bastards, asshole,” Killian growls. “This is you grabbing power.”
Owen takes a deep, measured breath.
“I’m done with this, so this is the last time I’m fucking saying it, Killian. Are you in or are you out?”