Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 151765 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 759(@200wpm)___ 607(@250wpm)___ 506(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 151765 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 759(@200wpm)___ 607(@250wpm)___ 506(@300wpm)
Angel was leaning against one of the cupboards, his arms crossed over his shoulders. I tried to gauge his mood for a clue as to what was going on, but he only tipped his chin up to me. “Scout.” His eyes slid over Ramsay, but nothing showed. Angel was like that. He killed at poker.
“What’s going on?”
“Why am I getting papers delivered to me that state I broke my father’s wrist?”
Ramsay stepped closer to me, her hand coming to my back.
“There are pictures and X-rays proving his wrist is broken, and you’re a corroborating witness?”
“The fuck?”
My uncle ignored me. “Why is my father telling me that if I don’t sign over the very few shares of the company that I have—and I cannot express enough how few of these shares are or that they were hidden by my brother for me—then he’ll press charges against me. What is going on?”
“Shares?”
“What is going on, Scout?” Miles lost all control, shouting at the top of his lungs.
Angel’s arms came undone, but he didn’t move from the cupboard. “Brother.” That was all he said, the one word.
Miles’s eyes closed, and he drew in a long and deep breath, fighting for control. Before he opened them, he said, “I swear to God, Scout, if you don’t start telling me what’s going on, I’m going to—”
“He’s being a dick!” I exploded. “What else do you want to know? He’s a dick of the biggest dick proportions there are.”
“Are you kidding me?” He opened his eyes. “Are you jerking me around here?” He thrust one of the ripped pieces in my face. “Why are you a corroborating witness?”
“Because I did it.”
Now Angel straightened from the cupboard, but he still didn’t move away from it.
“Say again?” My uncle cocked his head to the side.
“I broke his wrist.”
“Why the fuck would you do that? When did you see him?”
“Cohen called me,” Angel said. “He told me about a conversation he had with Scout, that he told him about the new Chelton hotel being built up by Wembley Creek. They call it Dragon Abyss.”
“The what?” Miles twisted around to his best friend. All blood drained from him.
It’d been the same reaction I had.
Angel, who spent the last fifteen years as a cop, wasn’t fazed by anything. He was fazed now, but only a little. He raised an eyebrow. “Why do you think I came to find you tonight?”
“You could’ve told me this. You didn’t say a word.”
Angel lifted a shoulder, leaning back against the counter. “I beg to differ. I asked where Scout was, and you were already seeing red.” He nodded toward the paper in my uncle’s hands. “I figured you’d find out in a few more minutes, why should I be the one to break the news?”
Miles raked a hand over his face, muttering a curse under his breath. “Morons. I’m surrounded by morons.” He asked Ramsay, “You have anything to share as well?”
Her fist balled my shirt up, pressing hard against me. “No.”
He grunted. “Jesus. Scout. What is going on? I’ve had these shares for years. My brother hid them from our dad, and now this? If I don’t give them to our father, he’s going to press charges against me for something you did?”
“He’s not going to do shit.” Why was the room suddenly so small? My shoulders felt so heavy.
Ramsay moved even closer, her entire front plastered against my back. “Scout.”
I moved a hand back, sliding it under her shirt, needing to feel her skin there. I told him everything.
“Oh, shit.” Angel half cursed, half laughed when I was done, and this time, he moved from the counter. He went to stand behind my uncle.
Miles didn’t move. For a full minute, he stared at me as if he couldn’t comprehend what I just told him. The room was getting more and more tense. The pressure felt like it could snap at any moment.
I found myself holding a breath.
I think everyone was.
“Get away from me,” a low growl came from my uncle, his head slightly down. He was talking to Angel.
“Like fuck I will.” His response was just as low. “You’re my brother. I’m not letting you do something stupid right now.”
“Murder wouldn’t be stupid in this case.” Miles’s nostrils flared. “It’d be justified.”
Angel met my gaze over my uncle’s shoulder. His eyes were grave. So were mine because we both knew Miles wasn’t talking about my death.
“You can’t tell me it wouldn’t be.” He kept on, not facing Angel, but everyone knew he was talking to him.
Angel was the detective here. He would also give his life for my uncle.
“Miles—”
“Don’t!” He flung a hand toward me. “Don’t fucking say a word. What were you thinking? You hurt him. You can’t give him anything. Anything. He will use everything within his power to ruin whatever he needs to in order to get what he wants. My god, Scout, what were you thinking?”