Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 75406 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75406 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
“Listen to me. I’m going to make you a promise. If you trust nothing else, trust the three of us, alright? I can’t tell you what the fuck’ll happen, but we’ll do our fucking best to make sure you see the other side of it. You got that?”
I look between the three of them, from Wraith’s dark brown eyes, to Nitro’s green, and finally to Tank’s clear blue gaze. The only thing I can do is trust my instincts, and right now, they are telling me that these men might be violent and dangerous, but in a world like this one, that’s what I’m going to need to keep me safe.
I nod. “Got it.”
12
WRAITH
“I’d say it was a pleasure to see you again so soon, but it wouldn’t be entirely honest.” King sits across the table from Arturo. “I wouldn’t have minded doing this in the morning instead of shit o’clock in the middle of the fucking night. Your trust is overwhelming.”
It’s three AM, but as the club promised, as soon as we had Kaylee, a call was made and the Giordanos demanded a meeting immediately. Everyone is bone fucking tired, but we’ve dragged our asses back to the Roost to get this over with.
“And give you all night to coach her on exactly what to say? You’d do the exact same,” Arturo responds dryly. “Let’s get this moving. Where’s the girl?”
King nods to Tank, who leaves the room for a moment and brings in an exhausted looking Kaylee alongside Nitro. She sits next to me, with Nitro on the other side, and Tank stands behind us.
She didn’t have time to clean up much aside from washing off the worst of the dust, and we managed to find a pair of sneakers that almost fit, but she looks so damn young. When she walked into Haunted Ink, she had a fresh innocence about her that isn’t completely gone, but it’s a dim fucking shadow of what it used to be. Knowing I’m indirectly to blame for killing that spark kills me.
Bear and Viking sit on either side of King, and next to Bear is Alessa. It’s fucking strange to have so many women in a meeting like this, but as a Giordano, Alessa could be the key to keeping this from turning into a bloodbath, and Kaylee’s at the center of everything. Luca, Alessa’s father, is with Arturo, along with a younger member of the Family I haven’t met before, Nicholas.
Three bodyguards stand behind the Giordano side, mirrored by Quickshot, Animal and Badass. Me, Nitro and Tank have been members for a while now, but this is the first major move that we’ve been in the inner circle for. I’ve kept my head down and done my job, but I don’t think Kaylee’s life was the only one that changed when she met us.
“This? This is who’s supposed to have a clue about what happened?” Arturo says, disdain dripping from his every word. “She looks like a street rat you found sleeping at the bus station.”
Tank actually fucking growls. “If you don’t trust us, what the fuck are you doing here?” He gestures to the three of us. “We can vouch for her. She saw what fucking happened. Why do you think the cops had her?”
“Let her talk before you jump to conclusions,” Alessa says, leaning in. “We’re all tired and we wouldn’t be here if we didn’t want answers.”
“Fine.” Arturo crosses his arms on the table and leans forward. “Who are you and what do you know?”
Under the table, I reach out and wrap her small, cold fingers in mine. She takes a deep breath and nods. “My name is Kaylee Thompson. A few days ago I…”
Kaylee surprises me with how steady her voice is as she talks about what happened the day of the shooting. The interview that brought her to the area, her stop at the gas station and then the horror of being caught up in what sounds like a fucking execution.
“Why were your men there?” King cuts in, looking at Arturo.
“We were looking into some rumors. I personally contacted your president to let him know in case there were questions about why we were in your territory and they had every right to—”
“What sort of rumors?”
Arturo’s face shuts down and he snaps into perfect, pole up his ass posture. “That is Family business. It’s unrelated, I assure you.”
“Yeah, because we’re all so fucking trusting in this room,” Viking mutters.
Luca sighs and leans in. “I give you my word that to the best of my knowledge, their visit had nothing to do with this. It was an internal matter.”
“Okay, so say we believe that. Your were driving through town and just happened to be stopped at the gas station where a bunch of unknown bikers just happened to be waiting to fucking blow them away. Kaylee, you said you pulled in, filled gas and went into the station. That took what? A few minutes? Max?” King asks.