Total pages in book: 50
Estimated words: 46461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 232(@200wpm)___ 186(@250wpm)___ 155(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 232(@200wpm)___ 186(@250wpm)___ 155(@300wpm)
“What if he brings law enforcement?” I didn’t want to meet with my dad’s lawyer, but more importantly, I didn’t want anyone else to get hurt because of my mess.
“We suspect he will.” Thorn shrugged. “Got that covered, too. Trust me, Emmanuell. Everything will be fine, and Goldstein will pay for your father’s death.”
“You’re sure he had a part in it? That it wasn’t an accident?”
“It’s all circumstantial, but given everything we finally got out of Beaner and the money trail… yeah. He staged it.”
I winced, unable to hide my reaction. It was just one more betrayal in a line of them. For me. For my dad. “Why are people so hell-bent on taking things that don’t belong to them?” The question was more rhetorical than anything else.
“Good Goddamned question, baby,” Gideon said, tightening his arm around my shoulder briefly in a hug. “Good Goddamned question.”
As if on cue, Thorn’s phone buzzed. The president glanced at Gideon before reading the text. “He’s on the way. Says he expects to talk to you and for you to be unharmed.” Thorn sneered the last. “As if we’d ever hurt an innocent woman.” He muttered the response with a scowl on his face like the very idea was not only distasteful but insulting as well.
“Don’t say anything about the girls,” Gideon said, looking down at me. There was a sudden, fierce light in his eyes. Like he’d just had a thought that had him wanting to kill someone, but he was trying to rein it in. “Not a word.”
I nodded. “I understand. I’m glad you thought of that. There’s no way he knows unless Devan told him?”
“No,” Thorn said immediately. “I monitored that phone call myself. He has no knowledge of your girls, and Beaner doesn’t know they’ve been born. We can keep it that way.” Thorn pushed back from his desk and stood. “He’ll be here in fifteen minutes. We’ve cleared out the common room for the meet.” He grinned. “Expect the unexpected.”
“Great,” I muttered.
The common room was eerily silent. There were fifteen or twenty men in various places throughout the room. No one made a sound. Thorn, Beast, Havoc, and Justice stood in the center of the room, talking quietly. Gideon led me to a leather couch near where the men stood and urged me to sit before squatting in front of me.
“I need to talk with my brothers,” he said softly, rubbing his hands soothingly up and down my thighs. “I’ll be right there. I’m not going anywhere. When Goldstein gets here, I’ll be right back by your side.” Then he reached for me, cupping my face between his hands. “We’re in this together.”
I was so scared, I couldn’t speak. I just nodded. I tried to be brave, but the truth was I just wanted Gideon to take me back to our girls and for all of us to cuddle together under a blanket in the bed where we were safe. There was no telling what Mr. Goldstein would do or say, but I was under no illusion he would be thankful I was back. Even if he was completely innocent in my father’s death, he wouldn’t be happy about control of LimeLight Division going to me.
It took longer than the fifteen minutes Thorn had expected. An hour and a half later, two cars were spotted coming up the road to the compound. The prospects held them at that gate while Thorn sat in stony silence.
“I hate rude behavior,” he muttered.
It was another hour before he agreed to let the Goldstein party in, and only once he’d received a text message from someone. Thorn nodded to Gideon, then to me. Gideon moved to my side and sat on the couch with me, his left arm draped around my shoulders. His right hand rested on the gun he’d placed on the cushion next to him. He was between me and the door, his larger frame likely blocking me from view. I couldn’t help but duck into him, resting my head on his chest.
Gideon kissed the top of my head. “I gotcha, sweetheart. It’s all gonna be fine.”
“I know,” I whispered. “I trust you.”
Not long after that, Mr. Goldstein entered the room with three other men. All of them were dressed impeccably and looked very full of themselves. Well, all but one. One of them was all business and looked as dangerous as any man in the Bane clubhouse.
“Good evening,” Mr. Goldstein said, greeting Thorn. He walked up to the other man and extended his hand in greeting. Thorn didn’t take it.
“It was,” Thorn said in return. “State your business.”
It was hard to reconcile the Thorn I’d grown used to in the months I’d been here with the man confronting my father’s lawyer now. That man was crazy scary. But then, so were the other Salvation’s Bane members. Up to this point, all I’d seen were the family men here, taking care of their women and children. The side I was seeing now was the side that protected everything they held dear with ruthless abandon.