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)
“Fuuuuuck,” Nitro says.
I put my hand on his shoulder and there's no response. He rolls over easily, the whole front of his shirt soaked red. A bone deep gash straight across his throat makes the cause of death pretty fucking obvious. “Motherfucker,” I groan. “He's still warm.”
“Jesus fuck,” says Tank, grimacing. “That’s disgusting. Do you see a knife? Maybe he offed himself? It’s only been a couple hours.”
I have a strong stomach, but searching his lifeless, bloody body for a knife I might have missed earlier is a sensation that’s going to stick with me. “Nothing.”
Nitro crouches to get a better look. “Clean cut, straight across the throat. The door’s still locked from the outside. I think he knew his attacker, or at least trusted him.”
“Are you saying we have a fucking traitor?” Tank asks.
“What else makes sense?” Nitro stands. “Call King now. Kaylee’s with them waiting for the Giordanos. I trust the officers, but they’re not fucking handing her over to anyone but us. Whoever took out this asshole was trying to shut him up and we need to find out why. Fuck, what a mess.”
I nod, staring down at Scar’s glassy lifeless eyes.”Literally. She’s our fucking responsibility. Not just because of this, but because she’s her. I fucking like how she fits with us.”
We haven’t talked about what we want with Kaylee, and over a still dripping corpse is a shitty fucking time to bring it up, but I need to know if they’re on board or not. I have no fucking intention of dropping her off and not looking back this time around.
Tank nods. “Same.”
“She might want to walk away when this is over,” Nitro says, staring down at the corpse. “I wouldn’t fucking blame her.”
“Then we’re not doing our job,” I say with a grim smile. “Now go grab a bag so we can get this asshole off the grounds. The stink is making me fucking sick.”
Ten minutes later, standing in the alley behind the Roost, I pull the bag back from Scar’s head. King swears. He’d already been updated, but the body hasn’t gotten any prettier looking or smelling since we found it.
Arturo holds his hand in front of his nose with a disgusted look on his face. “This is your update? A dead man and a wild story that implicates us in our own attack? Cazzo! You’re making it very hard to trust you, King.”
“Give me a fucking break. You think I would slice a man’s throat just to stall for time? Come inside and watch the video for yourself.”
“If you're willing to murder three of my men, then what's one more?”
Back in the meeting room above the bar, we show Arturo and his men the interrogation room footage, where Scar strings us along with hints about there being a rift in the Giordanos that someone is trying to widen. They watch in stony silence, and I spend the whole fucking time trying to figure out who our traitor is and what their end game might be.
Viking scratches at his beard and leans back. “You said yourself that not everyone in the Family is happy about us working together. Can you really say with one hundred fucking percent certainty that this guy was wrong?”
“One of the dead was my fucking nephew, King!” Arturo snaps. He slams his palm into the table so hard the beer bottles jump. “Do you think we have been sitting on our hands for the past week? We’ve been looking into why our men stopped at that gas station when they did, and there was no good reason. While you tell me to clean my own house, perhaps you want to explain how your informant ended up dead in less than twenty-four hours.”
King looks ready to rip someone’s head off. “If we wanted to start a war, we would have just done so. What would we gain by all this playing around?”
“If nobody wants a war, then who the fuck benefits?” Tank asks, sounding like he’s talking to himself more than anyone else. When we all look his way, he seems surprised. “What?”
“Bring the girl in,” King orders. “I think we need to ask more questions.”
I go to the room next door where she’s waiting with Nitro. “They want to talk to Kaylee.”
“Do I have to?” She looks so fucking small and nervous. I hate putting her through this.
“Yeah, baby, but when this is over, we’re going somewhere nice. No blood, no torture, just the four of us and white fucking sand.”
“Promise?”
“We fucking promise,” Nitro swears.
Kaylee takes a deep breath and nods. In the meeting, we sit her down between us with Tank at our backs again, wanting to show both her and everyone else that she’s really fucking important.
“Miss Thompson,” Arturo starts. “You said there were three men involved in your time with the police. What do you remember about them? I want to hear everything, even if it’s something you think you’ve already told us.”