Total pages in book: 34
Estimated words: 31905 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 160(@200wpm)___ 128(@250wpm)___ 106(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 31905 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 160(@200wpm)___ 128(@250wpm)___ 106(@300wpm)
Jean turned out to be a highly intelligent woman. And a rich, spoiled, high society bitch who was as cold as ice and meticulously careful. She had daddy and mommy issues and a clear dissatisfaction with the silver spoon she’d been born with in her mouth. So she took advantage of people—not because she needed their money but because she could.
When I had what I needed, I conferred with Ace, then we called a meeting.
King, Blaze, Ace, Ink, Shadow, Kevlar, Cross, and I were all in King’s office when Echo arrived. We were sitting at the conference table to the right of the door, and he grabbed one of the other chairs and sat down, ending any conversations happening around him.
“Wizard?” King prompted.
I pushed a folder in each of their directions, then leaned back in my chair and tapped the keyboard of my laptop, where I had all of the same information pulled up in front of me. “That’s pretty much everything we know about this group,” I said, beginning the briefing. “There’s also a chart for the hierarchy and an info sheet on each of the key players.”
I walked them through everything, with Ace jumping in from time to time while mulling it all over in my head. From the thoughtful expressions on everyone’s faces, I had a feeling we were all digesting the information and forming ideas about where to go from here.
When I finished, they asked several questions before we began to brainstorm. Suggestions were tossed out randomly while some of us analyzed the data more thoroughly and worked the problem from every angle we could see, attempting to come up with a plausible solution.
“Hold up,” Shadow murmured, staring at one of the sheets of paper in his hand. “Jean has been married six times?”
I nodded. “Younger men. No prenup.” Honestly, from everything I’d learned about her, I was a little surprised that they were all still alive. Jean definitely seemed like the Black Widow type.
“She was already filthy rich when she started this shit?” Kevlar blurted, tossing his folder on the table with a disgusted huff.
“Yup,” I replied, with a pop on the P.
“She does it for the thrill then,” Shadow surmised.
“Fair assumption,” King agreed, his gaze locked on Shadow. “You think it would work?”
“Would what work?” Ink asked, his eyes darting back and forth between the two of them.
“Maybe,” Echo grunted. “Only if there is a compelling reason for her to get back in the game.”
I stopped typing and frowned as I tried to puzzle out the cryptic conversation.
“The fuck are you three not talking about?” snapped Blaze, voicing my thoughts.
Shadow scratched his chin, then set down his folder and tapped his finger on it. “If we want to take down the entire organization, we have to get Jean. Not just the underlings because she’ll just hire new ones.”
“We need to catch her in a con,” Echo added as he sat back and propped an ankle on the opposite knee.
“Exactly,” Shadow agreed.
King folded his arms over his chest and leaned back against his chair. “How do we get her back in the game?”
“Bait,” Cross tossed out. “A fish so big and illusive that she can’t help herself.”
“Appeal to her ego and her love of the thrill,” Echo mused.
Ace rapped his knuckles on the table twice, then snatched my laptop out of my hands.
“What the hell?!” I bellowed in outrage.
Everyone stared at Ace, absolutely dumbfounded at his temerarious action. Touching my equipment was tantamount to treason in my mind. And the motherfucker had just stolen it. He was a dead man.
“Chill the fuck out, man,” Ace said distractedly as he quickly typed. “Not like I stole your kidney or something.”
I was so irate that I couldn’t even form a sentence. My face was probably turning purple as I seethed, glaring at Ace venomously. My hands curled into fists so tight my knuckles turned white and cracked.
“You gonna save his ass?” I heard Echo ask quietly. Probably to Blaze, who was sitting next to him.
“Nah,” Blaze responded lazily. “Fifty says Ace ends up in the hospital tonight.”
A pretty safe bet, I thought.
There were several murmured agreements, and King chuckled, making me glance at him with astonishment.
He watched the two of us with amusement, something we rarely saw from the prez unless he was with his old lady or son.
“You have a death wish, Ace?” Cross murmured, watching me warily from the treasurer’s other side.
He grunted and tapped hard on one key, then slid the laptop back over in front of me. Saving his life for the moment.
Taking a deep breath, I slid my eyes to my computer screen and scanned it. Irritation bloomed in my gut when I had to grudgingly admit, “This is good.” Then I gave him another death glare and snarled, “Not gonna save you from being stabbed in your sleep when you’re least expecting it, though.”