Total pages in book: 34
Estimated words: 31778 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 159(@200wpm)___ 127(@250wpm)___ 106(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 31778 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 159(@200wpm)___ 127(@250wpm)___ 106(@300wpm)
“There’s a big bag of Bing cherries in the fridge.” Courtney stood and crossed the room to dig through the produce bin for them. “I had a craving for them a few days ago, so Pax stocked up in case I wanted them again.”
“Only so he wouldn’t be stuck going out for them in the middle of the night,” Onyx mumbled.
I pointed a wooden spoon at him. “Keep riling the pregnant women up, and you won’t get any cobbler.”
He pretended to zip his mouth shut and toss away the key, making me giggle. Then I got to work on making three kinds of cobbler—peach, cherry, and a mixture of both. When I pulled them out of the oven, I felt closer to my mom, knowing I did her recipe justice.
“Who wants a piece?”
Once again, everyone in the kitchen yelled, “Me,” in unison.
I dished up six plates. “Next time, I’ll make some homemade ice cream to go with this. Luckily, we had a tub of vanilla in the freezer that I could use.”
Matteo’s club brothers and their women were much more appreciative of my efforts than my uncle had been.
“If this tastes as good as it smells, you’re not going to get a single complaint about the perfectly fine ice cream in the freezer,” Courtney assured me.
“Holy fuck, this is amazing,” Onyx mumbled around a spoonful.
“Mm-hmm,” Violet agreed.
Echo flashed me an appreciative smile after seeing how much his wife was enjoying the cobbler, then took a bite of his and murmured, “Damn good.”
Thea just nodded and spooned another bite into her mouth.
The kitchen was quiet while we all polished off our servings. Onyx was the first to finish. He patted his stomach with a wide grin. “I gotta admit, I appreciate the benefits that come with my brothers claiming their old ladies.”
“What the fuck did you just say?” Echo demanded, glaring at him.
Onyx held his hands up in a gesture of surrender. “I meant the food, man.”
“Then get your own woman,” Echo grumbled.
Onyx shook his head. “Not anytime soon.”
I found myself hoping that Matteo’s friend had just tempted fate.
12
INK
Isent a text to King as I jogged downstairs to the lounge. Rafa’s call had been shitty timing. Although, twenty minutes earlier would have been even worse. But no matter how much I would have preferred to spend the rest of my day worshipping my woman’s naked body, I wanted this crap dealt with.
Ace met me at the door to King’s office and lifted his chin in greeting. “Found the bookie,” he said as we walked inside.
“So you know who he owes?” I assumed.
“Yeah. Guessing you talked to Rafa?”
I nodded.
King sat at his desk with Blaze sitting in a chair next to it. Wizard and Kevlar were at the conference table with a few of our enforcers, while Ash and Echo were talking in the small sitting area on the other side of the room.
“No identity on the pro, yet?” Blaze asked.
Shaking my head, I moved to stand against the wall, too restless to take a seat. “But he got us something else.”
“Uncle’s location,” King stated.
“Yup.” After confirming, I waited silently, knowing that King would give the orders when he was ready.
After some contemplation, he looked over at Ash. “Got anything?”
“I can put him away. Permanently.”
“You’re one hundred percent?” King pressed.
Ash jerked his chin up and down. “Got enough to get him locked up till he’s dead and buried.”
Picking up on their conversation, I frowned. “You want to hand him over to the police?”
“It’s the fastest way to untangle the legal shit,” Ash explained. “Going to prison voids the agreement between him and Annika’s parents, as well as the parameters for guardianship over her trust. If Alec disappears, she’ll have to wait until he’s legally declared dead. Since she’s an adult, guardian abandonment no longer applies. Or she’ll spend who fucking knows how long gathering all the evidence of his actions while trying to navigate a court system that moves about as fast as a fucking inchworm.”
“I have some of it,” Wizard interjected. “But the money trail has been a nightmare for Ace and me to document since the bookie is a dinosaur, and all the transactions were done in cash with handwritten receipts.”
“Might be a dinosaur, but you gotta admit that it kept him off our radar for longer than it would have taken with anyone with a digital presence,” Ace reminded him.
I ignored them, still stuck on the fact that King hadn’t given me the green light to put Annika’s uncle in an urn. “Am I hearing you right, Prez?” I growled. “You want me to stand the fuck down on this?”
Despite my efforts to stay calm, Cerberus picked up on my tone and lifted his head from where he lay near King’s desk. He rumbled a low warning in his chest.