Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 78696 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78696 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Noreen huffed in annoyance as I dismissed her without another word.
Justin didn’t look any more pleased at seeing me.
“What are you doing here?” He asked.
I walked to the stuffy bar in the back of the room and poured myself a shot of whiskey and downing it before I turned back to Justin.
“Explain to me about the bill,” I ordered.
Justin’s face blanched, and he looked at Noreen with worry before turning back to me. “I don’t know what you mean.”
Both of my brows rose.
“Oh really? That’s the way you want to play it?” I asked carefully.
His eyes narrowed on mine.
“Noreen, give us a minute,” he ordered.
Noreen balked, as she always did.
She’d always been that way.
She hated to be told what to do, and especially when it came to her own safety.
She was always oblivious.
And this time was no different.
If she didn’t get out of here in the next two minutes, she was going to witness me beating the absolute crap out of her husband.
“Now, please,” Justin said again when she’d crossed her arms and started tapping her high heeled foot.
She turned around in a rush of annoyance.
“Fine,” she hissed. “Just be ready to go in half an hour.”
With that parting comment, she left, leaving me with a man that was partially responsible for having my son killed.
“Time for you to talk,” I ordered. “Or I’ll make you.”
He didn’t seem worried, but he should’ve been.
Because I was about to ruin him, and not just his face.
“I don’t know that I understand what you’re asking,” he evaded.
I turned and poured myself another drink before throwing it back. Then I put my hands on my hips, breathed in deeply a few times in an attempt to reign in my temper, before turning around to face him once again.
“Okay,” I said, walking towards him.
I popped my knuckles as I went, not stopping until I was directly in front of him.
“You’re sure?” I asked once again.
His eyes narrowed.
“I’m sure I don’t know what…”
I didn’t let him finish.
My fist met his stomach in the next second, and he doubled over in pain.
The breath from his lungs exploded in a deep exhalation, and he started to wheeze.
“I don’t know!” He insisted wheezily.
The next shot was against his foot when I stomped mine down on his instep before quickly following it up with a knee to the face.
He dropped down to the ground, and I saw that the tan tuxedo he was wearing now had the blood from his broken nose all over it.
“You’re sure about that?” I asked.
“Yes,” he was crying now.
I smiled then.
I used the bottom of my foot to force him onto his back, holding him in place with some of my weight on his chest as I looked down at him.
“Well then, let me tell you what I already know,” I said, looking down at his blood-covered face. “I know that you were asked to back a bill and when you said no, they retaliated by shooting my son. Then, when you realized how far they were willing to go, you suddenly changed your mind and backed the bill.”
His eyes closed, his shoulders slumped, and I could’ve sworn he started to cry harder, but it was hard to tell since he was already crying pretty hard from the broken nose.
It had to sting like a bitch.
“I can’t tell you!” He whined nasally.
I got down on one knee beside his head and bent slightly forward to stare directly into his eyes.
“I don’t care if you die. I don’t care if Noreen dies. Y’all chose y’all’s bed, now y’all gotta lie in it. The person who didn’t have a choice was Tanner, and he didn’t deserve what happened to him. Now, I know you probably never thought they’d really take it that far, but you did know there was a threat – a possibility – and you didn’t tell anyone. Specifically, me. So now I’m telling you that you will tell me. Your life as you know it is over. Now all you can do is tell me the entire truth before you go down for it. I’ll make sure it’s a padded fall if you do that. But if you don’t, I’m going to make you wish that it was you who laid there dying in that school parking lot. Do you understand?” I said slowly to him.
He nodded, swallowing thickly.
“Justin!” Noreen’s shriek sounded form the doorway.
I didn’t look up, keeping my eyes connected to Justin’s.
“Oh, my God, what have you done to him?” Noreen wailed. “Broder, call 911!”
Broderick didn’t come, as I knew he wouldn’t.
He saw the look in my eyes before I walked in. He knew what I was about to do, and I’m pretty sure it was relief and gratitude that I saw in his eyes.
So I wasn’t at all surprised when I heard his car pulling out once I got inside.
Noreen and Justin were alone.
“Tell me,” I insisted.
His eyes closed, and he turned away from me to look at Noreen for long seconds before he said, “They threatened my wife if I didn’t sign, and I knew they’d do it. After they did that to Tanner, I knew they wouldn’t stop until I complied.”
“What are their names?” I asked.
Noreen pulled on my arm.
“Get off him!” She shrieked.
I threw her off me, and she hit the floor with a thud.
“Go sit. Your ass. The fuck. DOWN!” I roared.
Noreen blinked.
But she followed directions.
For fucking once.
She sat on the floor next to the couch with her knees up to her chest, watching me as I questioned Justin.
“Names,” I snapped.
He took a deep breath.
“I don’t know their names. I only have an address and a number,” he whispered painfully.
“Give them to me.”
“In my phone,” he whimpered. “Under notes.”
He pulled his phone out of his pocket and passed it up to me. I quickly went to his notes, forwarding the note to my email as well as Wolf’s.
I threw the phone onto the ground next to his face, and it bounced to hit him in the nose again.