Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 44963 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44963 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Focus, I roar in my head again.
“Reckon we can split up,” the man in the crimson jacket says.
I’m stalking closer and closer, rifle butt pushed against my shoulder, flashbang grenade in my other hand.
“We’ll come from the front and the back. Aim for Luke first. He’s the real danger. Then we’ll do the man and his girl. Nice and clean work, no drama.”
His girl. That’s what they call her, and they think they’re going to do her. Kill her. End what we’re building before it has a chance to really begin.
I pause as I think about the first moment I saw her standing in her PJs in the semidarkness and our first kiss after she dashed into the forest. All her sassiness, all her understanding, all her heat, and these pricks want to take it away.
Pulling the pin to the flashbang, I crouch behind a tree, getting ready to duck out of sight the second I throw it. One clean toss sees it landing in the center of their group.
“What the—”
Bang.
I rush around the tree the second the grenade explodes, storming like a force of nature. Nothing could stop me, not with the slideshow of Violet playing in my mind, not with every muscle in me straining with protective impulses.
The shaggy-haired man yells when I smack him over the head. Another man raises his gun, blind, and fires a few feet to my left.
“Stop,” the leader yells. “Stop shooting.”
Crack! I snap the shooter’s hand at the wrist with a violent, wrenching motion. He yelps and collapses to the earth, joining his friend, and then I leap at the remaining two. Just as they’re recovering their vision, I grab their heads and slam them together so hard they both slump to the ground.
Quickly, not having to think, I gather up their weapons. I move like I always do at times like these—subconsciously, the process drilled into my savage’s mind.
As the men start to recover, groggily sitting up, it’s already over. They’re all on the ground, their guns gathered behind me, my rifle aimed at them. The man in the crimson jacket raises his hands slowly. He’s got a silver tooth flashing at me as he grits his teeth, his hands trembling.
“You must be Luke,” he says.
“All of you, hands up,” I growl.
They do as they’re told, reaching up, looking pissed like they want to try something. The man with the broken hand whimpers as he raises it. If they try anything, it’s the end for them. My finger’s on the trigger. I’m ready if it comes to that.
“How did you find this place?”
“You know we can’t talk to you,” the leader says.
I step forward, raising my rifle, getting ready to smash him across the mouth. He makes a whimpering sound, then bites down, as if annoyed at himself. Then he tells me.
“Massimo tracked you here a couple of months ago.”
I laugh gruffly. So, the middleman for the mob has been playing games longer than I realized, but I don’t care as long as my woman’s safe. I want to bury this part of my life and walk into a new beginning.
“I heard right in the forest, then?” I say. “This is the only one you know about?”
It would make sense, since this is the one I’ve visited most recently. I had a job down here, so it was good to have a base of operations. I didn’t know Massimo, the worm, had put a tracker on my vehicle.
“I asked you a question,” I snap, gesturing with the rifle.
“This is it,” he says, nodding vigorously. “How many have you got?”
I smirk, shaking my head.
“You’re going to take a message to Massimo for me. Then he can talk to the boss.”
“We’re not your messenger boy, hit man,” the shaggy-haired man says.
I aim an inch above his head and fire off a single shot. I’m completely calm as I pull the trigger, but he throws himself to the ground, yelling, his hands covering his ears.
“You’re going to send a message,” I growl, staring at him.
He leans up slowly, trembling, nodding. “Okay, okay, we’ll send a message.”
“Tell him I’m done with the life. I’m happy to sever ties on good terms. The mob leaves us alone. We leave the mob alone. We’ll relocate. The mob never bothers us again. If they do, it’s war.”
The men exchange glances, the color draining from their cheeks.
“I’m not sure our boss will go for that,” the leader mutters.
“He will when he sees what we’ve got on him,” I snarl. “Financial records that could put the whole upper echelon away for years. If anything happens to me, Andrew, or Violet…”
My voice hitches on her name, the thought of her coming to harm drilling hate into my head.
“The information goes straight to the police.”
“So, you’d rat?” the leader says.
I step forward, looming over him. “I’d do anything to keep them safe. Turn around and walk away while you still can.”