There was no reason to believe that Hunter still had contact with Destiny Arehart, but I wasn’t about to leave any stones unturned. I could say my dedication to finding her was solely for Coby’s sake, but why lie to myself? For now, my curiosity about Hunter Parrish was just that. A curiosity. She was a puzzle I couldn’t resist solving, and the hold she had on Coby would need to be severed sooner or later. Coby’s little speech about Hunter made thatveryclear to me.
I wasn’t about to share my wife’s heart with anyone.
“It’s probably just another dead end,” I whispered to myself.
“What’s that, boss?” Paul asked.
“The warehouse,” I answered tightly. “Take me to the warehouse.” It was where my gut was steering me, and it had never led me wrong before.
Twenty minutes later, I was standing in front of a message written in blood with bodies strewn all around me. Abel was busy cross-checking the inventory to see exactly what was taken. There weren’t any cameras because the risk outweighed the reward. Whoever did this was quick and efficient. They’d use theFola’s own hubris against us. In truth, the culprit did me a favor by taking out most of the crew because letting this happen in the first place had earned them a bullet.
One.
One person was all it took.
One reckless girl hellbent on reclaiming something that was never hers.
I studied the three words written on the wall and grinned.
The threat behind it was just as clear as the angry letters on the wall: Give my wife back, or the next person’s blood on the wall would be mine. Swiping my finger through the pool of blood under my feet, I wrote my response on the wall.
She’d never see it, but that was okay. I planned to deliver my answer in person. Done with this shit and ready to hunt, I turned away and gave the dead men no more than a cursory glance. I’d make sure their families were taken care of before erasing them from my mind completely.
“Fuil a-steach, fuil a-mach1,”I uttered like a prayer on my way out.
And whether Hunter liked it or not, after this stunt, she wasin. You don’t destroy potential like that for something as petty as dick measuring. You nurture it.
Hunter Parrish was mine.
The first stop I made after leaving the warehouse was Glamis to inform my father of what happened. Of course, he wanted to know who was responsible, and I told him, with great pleasure, that it must have been the same person hunting Michael Black, and stressed what a shame it was that we couldn’t interrogate him.
I wasn’t stupid.
I knew that my father knew exactly where Black was. What I didn’t know was why he was going to great lengths to keep the man hidden.
After leaving Glamis, I popped up on my baby at the restaurant where she was having lunch with Chiara and Priscilla. They were going over the very exclusive guest list since our wedding was a forbidden secret that could end like the Red Wedding inGame of Thronesif we weren’t careful.
“Oceeeean!” Coby’s eyes widened when she saw me, and then she greeted me with a drunken smile. “Whassup, my brotha?” She and Chiara started snickering at the former’s imagined joke while Priscilla rolled her eyes in exasperation.
“Too many Bloody Marys,” she explained. “They’ve been like this for an hour.”
I nodded at my cousin before regarding my wife. “Having fun?”
“Sooo much fun.” Leaning over, Coby wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me. I could taste the tomato juice and vodka on her lips. “I missed you.”
“Missed you too.” I pecked her cold lips a second time while she rubbed the side of my face.
“You’re so handsome.”
“And you’re so drunk.”
“I am not.” She hiccuped. “You were supposed to say I’m handsome too.” Pinching my bottom lip, she started moving it up and down before I could say a word. “Coby…mo aingeal,” she mocked in a deep voice. “You’re so handsome. Marry me, woman. Give me lots of babies.”
Across the table, Chiara clapped and cackled. “Oh my God, cuz! She sounds just like youuuu!” She squealed that last part.
“All right.” I batted Coby’s hand away from my face. “Time to go home.”
“Can Chiara and Pri come?”
