“I only put two in the chamber.”
“Purposely?”
“I knew that whoever remained alive was going to take the fall for killing the other two. If she had killed them both like I told her to it would have been Irina which was the ideal outcome. I’d made us a sweet deal for us to get a good chunk of her profits, and I thought she’d do anything to save her son. But plans change, so now we deal with who we’ve got left–Sergei.”
“Yo, Cam, you’re a diabolical motherfucker and I mean that in the most respectful way, brother.”
Cutter grabs me around the neck and kisses my head.
“The favor Joseph pulled with Ivan was only going to get us so far,” I explain further. “We needed insurance that we wouldn’t get any blowback from this. The Russians need to believe that they did this to each other and for that we needed a fall guy.”
“You think Rome will be okay with us allowing this one to still breathe?” Stone asks. “Isn’t this the one he’s got the hard-on for?”
“He won’t be breathing very long,” I assure them both. “This dude is low on the totem pole. One of the Russian families will take care of him to tie up loose ends and if we’re lucky, maybe even Ivan will do it.”
“Well, either way, one of us has to break the news to Rome.”
“And one of us has to deal with the bodies.”
“Ugh, I hate clean up. Can’t we hire someone?”
“You know we can’t. No one can link this back to the club or us. Even a cleaner.”
All three of us look at each other, waiting for the other to step up. None of us do, so Cutter comes up with an alternative solution.
“Rock, paper, scissors?”
“Fuck it, let’s do it.”
“One, two, three shoot!”
All three of us simultaneously place a hand forward.
All scissors.
Damn, this may take a while.
21
ROMAN
“Is it okay for us to come in?” I hear Juliette cautiously ask Jade at the door.
“Yeah, he’s awake. Come on in.”
Then suddenly I’m assaulted by a mound of curls and soft jasmine scented curves. The pain is agonizing as Elizabeth showers my face with kisses, paying special attention to the scar on my face, oblivious that she may be injuring the new ones.
It doesn’t matter though.
I’m happy as fuck to see her.
I tighten my eyes shut and thank whatever higher power is looking out for me and my family. Then I wrap the hand without tubes going into my veins into the base of her skull, gripping her hair as tightly as I can, considering the pain I’m in, and pull her in for a much-needed kiss.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” she murmurs after we break. “I can’t even imagine if I had lost you. Ifwehad lost you.”
Our foreheads touch as our eyes meld into each other. Everyone’s attention in the room is on us but it doesn’t matter because all I can feel is a sense of relief blanketing my bones. My girl and my son are safe and they are right here with me. I will never let them go again.
“What took you so long to get here, baby?”
