Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 113056 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113056 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
Tommy Ferrano, aka Thomas Ferrano Jr., he’s a harder nut to crack. I managed to earn his trust and he’s not happy to find out that he was wrong about me. Neither is Dario. But, where Dario is gonna be willing to play ball to a degree because of the fact that his new bride was hurt by that place and he wants to end the association, Tommy is gonna be a challenge at every turn. It’ll be like pulling teeth. From a rabid dog. A rabid dog who wants to pay me back for my deceit.
Great. As if I needed another enemy.
Somehow, I’ve got to get things done. My reputation and my trade secrets depend on it. My trade secrets keep me in this game, and they are also what keeps me from having a price put on my head.
The task force believes that the upcoming Kruna resort’s annual partner summit, with Dario and the blushing bride Felicia Ferrano, aka Angelica Macleod, in attendance is just the ticket to get this done.
Rocco came into my office on a Tuesday morning and sat down in the leather chair in front of my desk. I looked up from my computer screen and gave a jerk of my chin.
The chin jerk didn’t get him talking. He looked nervous. Rocco doesn’t get nervous.
“What?”
“I dug, like you asked. Zachary Jacobs is nosing around for information because the son of the late Tom Ferrano took possession of a Kruna slave whose sister was kidnapped from Alaska.”
That got my attention.
Zack Jacobs was asking the kinds of questions that set my teeth on edge. I knew about the Ferrano family. I knew that their decision to take revenge against my uncle had been rather fortuitous for me. It seemed our paths were destined to repeatedly cross and maybe even merge.
“Which Ferrano?” I suspected I knew this answer but needed to confirm. I knew the older one had just recently gotten married to the girl who my uncle had kidnapped several months ago, before he was murdered in cold blood by Tommy Ferrano.
“The younger one. Dario. It seems that he took his new pet from Kruna and is getting ready to marry her. He’s trying to find out what happened to the pet’s little sister.”
I clenched my jaw. Fuck.
“Are Kruna aware he’s digging into his pet’s past?”
“Does not look like it.”
Dario Ferrano wasn’t on my radar until a few months back when Jesse turned up dead. Jesse had been blown up and was after the Ferrano boys in the name of vengeance for Juan Carlos. Dario Ferrano liked to cause explosions. Another fortuitous thing for me.
Not fortuitous? The fact that Kruna’s senior partner team were being sloppy. Considering that Delgado was on that team? Not a surprise.
“Do you think Jacobs knows you have her?” Rocco asked me.
“No. He doesn’t play like that. If he already knew, he wouldn’t poke around. He’d be straight up about it. What we know about Zack Jacobs, he’ll figure it out soon enough.”
Zack Jacobs was a fucking bloodhound and exceptionally good at his job. He’d been an asset to me on a few occasions already.
“So, what can I do now for you? To help?”
“Get me everything you can on the Ferrano family. Who their friends are, who their enemies are, what their big deals are right now. Make it a priority.”
1
A Few Weeks After Dare’s Wedding
Tia was asleep, her cheek on my belly, her silky oats and honey-scented hair fanned out across the chest tattoo that bared her name and displayed her symbol. An owl on an olive branch. Wisdom. Forgiveness. Thinking about the symbolism made my gut churn, go sour.
My left hand was tangled in her hair and I was staring at the ring that sat on my finger. Gold and black. Light and dark. Good and evil. Right now, there was more black than gold to me because I’d spent a sleepless night plotting. Plotting the next moves that had to be made. It all went round and round in my brain all fucking night long.
Take down Kruna, being the fucking gophers for the goddamn Feds without getting ourselves killed.
That fucking Zack.
If I had my way, when this was over, the footnote would be a gaping hole in his forehead. Dare was acting like he was leaning toward giving Zack a pass. I didn’t fucking think so.
Bastard didn’t earn my trust overnight. He worked at it, the motherfucking liar. And he’d pay for fucking us over. I never forgot betrayal.
We had to first confirm and then if she was there, (I suspected she was), get Angel’s sister Holly back from Alessandro Romero’s hellhole down in Mexico. Zack said he had it on good authority that this was where she was and it would be a tricky proposition. He wasn’t useless. A lying Fed motherfucker but he was resourceful.