Total pages in book: 161
Estimated words: 154882 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 774(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154882 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 774(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
“Nope.”
Grinning, I bumped his shoulder, taking longer than needed to pull back.
“Just fuck already,” Nathan muttered.
“Not on my couch, if you please.” The doctor entered the living room, sliding the doors shut behind him. “Your friend is doing well. I stopped the bleeding—”
“Bleeding?” I broke in, jumping up.
He inclined his head. “His liver. A slow bleed, but serious. He’ll need to take it easy and come back if there are any problems. I also suspect he sustained a mild concussion. I wasn’t able to get very much information when he woke up.” The doc rubbed his neck. “But there’s nothing else wrong with him that I can see. I’ll send you off with painkillers and extra dressings.”
“Wait. Did you find out his name or anything about him?”
“As I said, we had little time to chat.” He walked off. “You can see him now. Though I ask that you don’t wake him...”
I thought I heard him say “for your own safety” at the end of that sentence. I dismissed it and went in to see my charge, River on my heels. He looked nothing but at peace lying on the operating table.
“Thank you for this, River. I can never repay... What’s wrong?”
River slowed, stopping dead in the entrance. His natural, affable grin melted as he beheld the man on the table.
“Kenzie... do you know who this guy is?”
I didn’t understand the hard edge creeping into his voice, any more than I understood the flinty steel coloring his eyes.
“No. Should I?”
River did not answer. He didn’t say anything, do anything for a full minute, meanwhile ignoring my repeated questions.
River closed the distance. He turned his chin toward him, eyes narrowing as if assuring himself he was who he thought he was, and getting pissed the answer was the same.
“Him,” River said. “I’ll take him.”
“Excuse me?”
“We’ll settle up right now, Kenzie. I’ll take over from here. You and Sienna head out. If you do, I’ll consider your favor paid in full and then some.”
“No.” The request didn’t warrant a thought. My reply was automatic.
“No?” he repeated, fixing that hard gaze on me.
“No. I’m not walking off and leaving you alone with anyone when you’ve got that expression on your face. Especially not without an explanation. Who is this guy?”
“A dangerous man,” River said softly.
“Dangerous as in how? I guessed he wasn’t a law-abiding citizen going by his request to stay away from the cops. Is he a criminal? Fugitive? Gangbanger?”
“I believe when the level of organized crime becomes as organized as him, you’re granted the title mobster.”
“He’s in the mob?”
“He is the mob.”
I frowned. “River, stop speaking in riddles and just tell me who he is.”
“Shit.” He shoved away, going to the door and slamming it shut. “Sunny, Kenzie. He’s known on the streets as Sunny. How do you not know who he is? Everyone under and aboveground knows his family. They fucking rule Cinco City.”
I stared at him blankly. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed that I’ve been a bit preoccupied the last twenty-three years.”
“Too preoccupied to have heard of the Merchants?”
My expression didn’t change.
“Forty years ago, a gang called the Merchants came on the scene. As in one day they didn’t exist, and the next they were everywhere. They ripped through Cinco like tissue paper, Kenzie. Murdered the governor and ignited the—”
“Night of Tears,” I whispered. “Yes, I remember that much from history class.”
“It was chaos. The gangs of the city spilled out of their holes, laying waste to everything in their path between the Merchants and the ledger. Dozens of people died that night. The National Guard had to come in and take control,” he said. “You’d think that would be the end of it, but the Merchants weren’t done.
“They opened the ledger and dumped its secrets on the internet, going public with every murder, rape, hired hit, bribe, affair, and parking ticket. In the time it took for the warrants to be issued, half the government, police force, and moguls were cowering behind their lawyers. They destroyed everyone powerful enough to stop them, and then grew too big for new players to try.”
“What does Sunny have to do with it?” I didn’t remember taking Sunny’s hand again, but my fingers curled around his. I squeezed him tight. “He didn’t exist when all of that went down.”
“He’s their son, Kenzie. Mommy and Daddies ran their empire for three decades, then up and decided retirement sounded nice. They passed the crowns off to their children, including their youngest son”—he waved a hand over him—“Sole Bellisario.”
I considered his words carefully. “So, what’s Sunny’s deal? Has he done more than simply take over the family business? Has he hurt anyone? Killed anyone?”
“What? Kenzie, are you serious right now? That’s what you’re asking me?” He flicked to our clasped hands.
My face heated. “You said he’s dangerous, but he’s getting thrown off bridges, instead of doing the throwing.”