Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 76082 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76082 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
"I just don't know…"
"Fucking trust me. As one older sibling to another. I fucking understand. I understand so fucking hard, but we gotta do this right so we don't fuck it up. So you don't get fucked up, because none of us want that. You're fucking precious, honey."
"So what's the plan?" she asks.
“We pull out the big guns,” Animal says with a sly smirk. “Meet me in Prez’s office in ten.”
30
NATALIE
“But we just talked to him and he said we had to wait.”
“Yeah, but the situation’s changed and he knows it,” Badass says as we walk back up the stairs to Eagle-eye’s suite where he overlooks the common room.
Quickshot hammers on the door.
"Jesus fucking Christ, keep your goddamn pants on," yells Eagle-eye from inside. "Come in before you break my damn door."
Badass throws it open and we step in to see Eagle-eye with a classy looking woman about his age and a younger woman closer to mine. Animal is there playing keep away with Jupiter. He drops the chew toy when he sees us and straightens up.
“Took you long enough.”
Eagle-eye sighs. “Okay, someone wanna tell me what all this is about?”
I step forward. “They have my sister. I can’t wait for months to see how this pans out. Anything could happen to her. Anything could be happening to her right now.”
“I feel for you, honey,” he starts, in that patient Dad voice that I can already tell isn’t going to say what I want to hear. “But—”
"Dad," says the young woman, rolling her eyes. "What if it was me? Or Miriam?" She gestures at the older woman. “We wouldn’t be standing here right now if you hadn’t done what needed to be done.”
“It’s not the same, Faith.” He points at me. “They’re not ours. She’s only here until we get this settled, and as much as I feel for them, we can’t save everyone who gets mixed up in dirty shit.”
Badass coughs. “Yeah, about that…”
My three men move to stand by me. Quickshot steps forwards. “We’re fucking claiming her right now. Natalie’s not going anywhere.”
What!? Is he serious? Or is he just saying that to win Eagle-eye’s cooperation?
“God damn it,” the grizzled president snarls. “You couldn’t make this easy, could you?”
“If we wanted easy, we’d be selling insurance or some shit,” Animal interjects.
Eagle-eye sighs. “Jesus fucking wept.”
“Honey,” Miriam says, putting her hand on his shoulder. “I don’t want to risk anyone either, not with Emily so close to giving birth, but maybe there’s another way.”
The other girl, his daughter, I guess, nods. “I didn’t like this whole situation when my guys told me what was going on, and it sounds like it’s just getting worse. I’ve lived through one club war. I don’t want to see another one. Especially not here.”
“None of us do, that’s the fucking point. Without knowing who’s backing the Unwanted, we don’t know who we’re fucking taking on, do we?”
“Who could it fucking be that we can’t handle? As much as I fucking hate the mob, it’s not the Giordanos. Our truce is rock solid and Luca would revolt if they moved on us with Alessa pregnant and in the middle of everything,” Quickshot says.
I don’t know half the people they’re talking about, so my attention starts to wander and so do I. In the corner of the room is a corkboard with notes and pictures pinned up. Some of the pictures are of various Unwanted members, but it’s one particular man that catches my eye.
“Who’s that?” I ask, pointing.
Everyone stops and looks at me.
Especially Eagle-eye. "What was that?"
"That guy. He was at the auction. He was the one bidding against Animal."
Animal frowns. "Was he? I didn’t get a good look at him from where we were sitting. That’s the same guy that was with Crusher at the Roost the other night. He looked a little slick to be an Unwanted, but fuck, I don’t know ‘em all on sight, do I?"
"Fuck," growls Eagle-eye. "Motherfucking goddamn… I should'a fucking just asked you first. You're sure it's him?"
I nod, shivering a little at the memory of his cold eyes focused on me. "Definitely. He scared the crap out of me."
"Under our fucking noses,” Eagle-eye snaps, steel grey eye sparking with fury."
Badass and Animal step forward at the same time. "Who is it?"
"Fabbri. Alessa passed me some pictures of their lieutenants for me to look over when I sent out some feelers to make sure we weren’t getting double crossed. There hasn’t been much noise from them since the business with that Dario fucker, but Giancarlo Fabbri is this fucker's name, and if he's hanging out with the Unwanted, we can’t rule out that they are trying to build up again using that shit club as a cover.”
Animal literally snarls. "Just give me the word, Prez. I’d love to fucking shred those mob fuckers. They're coming for us? We'll fucking show them who rules around here."