Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 95906 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 480(@200wpm)___ 384(@250wpm)___ 320(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95906 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 480(@200wpm)___ 384(@250wpm)___ 320(@300wpm)
I forced myself to my feet despite the pain slashing through my side. “How about we play a little game first?” I said. “Let’s see who knows who best.”
I didn’t give the man time to respond. My eyes shifted to Micah as I spoke but didn’t stay there long because I needed to keep my wits about me. “Your name is Richard Wade Willis and you grew up in a double-wide in Bakersfield. Your mom was a teacher and your dad sold car parts. Your childhood can be classified as uneventful at best and you nearly flunked yourself right out of high school. You lost one shitty job after another because you had a habit of stealing a few bucks here and there. Of course, you weren’t even a good thief because you got caught not once, not twice, but an eye-popping seven times before you spent a year behind bars. I think it was a guy named Gus who made you his bitch in there—”
“Stop it!” Dick snarled. He took a step forward like he was going to hit me, but coward that he was, he backed down and then signaled his goon to do it for him. This time, though, I grabbed the fucker’s arm before it could connect with my side and twisted it until I heard bone snapping. I ignored the dozens of weapons being cocked and aimed at me just like I ignored Micah’s sob of fear.
“You went on to try your hand at gambling in Vegas but that get-rich-quick scheme didn’t work out either, did it? You ended up owing your predecessor a pretty sizeable chunk of change and worked it off by hustling his girls back and forth between tricks. But then your luck changed and the old fucker up and died of a heart attack while he was screwing his mistress and you set up the scene to make it look like you were the one who’d taken him out, not some little blue pills and a fucking heart condition.”
“You can’t know that!” the man yelled. He grabbed the gun from the goon at his feet and aimed it at me.
“You want to know where your mistake was, Dick? I mean, aside from daring to lay even a single finger on my man?” I continued. “You looked at me and saw just another guy who only knew how to play the game inside of a ring. You figured I was just some cocky, arrogant asshole who’d be stupid enough to come here unarmed and alone. If you’d bothered doing your homework after Marty gave up my true identity in exchange for you looking the other way when it came to his gambling debts, you would’ve known who I really was.”
I stepped forward until the gun was pressed against my chest. “I knew five minutes after you took him who you were and what your plan was,” I growled. “But I’m willing to bet my life on the fact that you can’t say the same thing about me.”
With that, the men surrounding me were quickly surrounded themselves by more than two dozen men who’d managed to silently get the drop on all of them. I never took my eyes off the man before me as one weapon after another was thrown to the ground in surrender. I didn’t need to look up to know that Micah was safe.
Because my brother had promised me he would be.
And King always kept his promises.
“You like playing the role of Godfather, right? Well, Dick, you’ve introduced me to your family. Now meet mine,” I said as I motioned to the dozens of men that now had complete control of the fuckers who’d dared try to take what was mine.
“Put it down,” I heard a familiar voice say.
Dick’s hand began to shake as he took in the sight of the gun pointed directly at his temple.
The gun my brother, Vaughn, was holding.
The coward didn’t even try to resist. He dropped the weapon without hesitation.
I ignored his whimpers of fear as I stepped past him and hurried to reach Micah. King had already untied him and removed the gag so as soon as I reached him, Micah threw his arms around me.
“Shhh, I’ve got you,” I said as I held him tight. The adrenaline that had been keeping me going began to crash and it was all I could do not to lose it then and there.
“I’m okay,” Micah said against my chest. “I’m okay, Con.”
“Fuck,” I growled and then I dropped my head to his shoulder. “I’m so sorry—”
Micah’s mouth was on mine then and I kissed him back with everything I was. “I love you so much,” he murmured against my lips.
“Love you too,” I whispered and then I kissed him again. I was oblivious to what was happening around us until my brother, Luca, patted my back.