Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 77126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Clearly he’s taking his orders from someone else. But who?
Falcon? My father?
Vinnie?
It could be any of them.
“Who are you working for?” I demand.
Again he says nothing.
“Answer me,” I say, “or I swear to God I’ll see that you never work again in the state of Texas. Hell, the whole country. The whole fucking globe.”
He doesn’t answer my question. “You’re not going anywhere. You’re going to stay right here in your father’s home. I shouldn’t have allowed you the indulgence with Gallo tonight. I’m going to catch hell for it.”
All right. That means apparently he doesn’t work for Vinnie.
He’s going to tell me the truth, or I’ll do the one thing he has to stop me from doing.
I’ll put myself in harm’s way.
26
VINNIE
“You,” I grit out.
Raven’s father stands over me, his grip tight around my wrist.
I wrangle free and then kick Jack Smith for good measure. He’s still in a fetal position, and won’t be getting to his feet anytime soon.
“Somehow I knew you had to be a part of this.” I shake my head. “Who got to you? Mario? Diego Vega?”
He frowns. “Not everything is as it seems, Mr. Gallo.”
“I’d say nothing is as it seems.” I shake him by the shoulders. “Where is Raven? I happen to know this man was sent to kill her.”
“She’s safe. Jared has her.”
“Why did you stop me from killing him?” I dig my nails into the shoulders of his blazer. “He wants to murder your daughter!”
He swats my right hand away. “Because as I said, not everything is as it seems.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “You need to start talking, Bellamy. You really need to start talking. Because you say you love that daughter of yours, but I can tell you I love her more. I would give my life for hers in an instant.”
“And you think I wouldn’t?”
I point to the assassin. “Who is this jerk?”
“A man who needs medical attention,” Bellamy says.
“He needs to be six feet under.”
Smith groans. “Help…” he rasps out.
“Yeah, I’ll help you all right.” I cross the room and leer over him. “Right into your fucking grave.”
“I’m going to call 911.” Bellamy meets my gaze. “They’re going to come and take this man to the emergency room where he can get help.”
“He’s just had the wind knocked out of him. He doesn’t need any help.”
Bellamy cocks his head at me.
I slowly turn back to face him. “You’re lying. You have no intention of calling 911. You know this guy. You stopped me from killing him.” I take a slow step in his direction, keeping a second eye on the man on the floor. “What is your game, Bellamy? I know about the deal. About the drug smuggling. I uncovered all of it when I was in Colombia.”
“I have nothing to do with that.”
I roll my eyes. “For God’s sake, would you just stop lying? Your cover is blown. You don’t have to act like the high and mighty big man of Texas with me. I know better. If you’re worried about me telling Raven any of this, don’t be. I won’t put her through that. But I will make sure she’s safe. And let me ask you this, Bellamy? Is she safe from you?”
He rakes his hands through his graying blond hair. “Of course she’s safe with me. Do you really think I would let anything happen to any of my children? Especially Raven, after what she’s been through? I went to bed every night for years wondering if she would be alive the next morning.”
“Then why did you stop me from shooting this fucking asshole when you and I both know why he’s here?”
“Because, as I told you—”
“Things aren’t always as they seem,” I finish for him. “God, you’re like a broken record, Bellamy.”
I’m tempted to pistol whip the jerk. He’s in his sixties. I could easily take him despite the fact that he’s tall and muscled.
“Then tell me,” I say. “Tell me how things truly are. Because right now it looks to me like you’re saving the life of a man who wanted to do your daughter harm.”
He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath in. “I’ve…made some mistakes in my life.”
I scoff at that. “Who hasn’t? Are you saying your mistakes led you to the dark side? Fuck you, Bellamy.”
“Do you really want to play that card?” He shakes his head. “You stand there, judging me, when I know you’re not a man of virtue either. You may indeed love my daughter—in fact, I believe you do—but that doesn’t mean you’re good for her.”
Another scoff. “At the moment I’d say you’re not much good for her either.”
He sighs. “My children mean the world to me. Do you think it was easy for me to watch—”
He stops abruptly.
But I’m not going to let this slide. He just let his mask slip.