“I need your help.”
She scowled, the expression drawing lines down the sides of her face. “Fuck off.” The door swung towards me as she stepped back and I jammed my foot into its path before it could close.
“I’m leaving,” I hissed into the crack of space, leaning closer as I lowered my voice. “You want me gone, right? Then help me.”
Silence and then … the door opened again and Jackie’s face appeared, a sparkle of curiosity in her gaze. “Well, then…” She grinned, swinging the door open. “Come on in.”
I swallowed roughly as I stepped into her room and spotted the wrack of weapons hanging on her wall. It was a definitively masculine aspect to her bedroom, but I’d long since stopped wondering about the strange curiosities of my sister. To know would be to put myself in danger, and it was hard enough to live with her, knowing her inclinations with the bloody world we were born in.
When running from a monster, though, one needed to use all of the weapons in their arsenal. Jackie could be that weapon. She could tell me how to protect myself. She could tell me how to get out, and in the end, we would both get what we wanted. Me, my freedom. And her … the sole line of succession.
Chapter 10
Gaven
Adarkness was stirring within me. Something I'd always known had been there, but until that moment—the moment when Angel's life had hung in the balance—I'd never realized just how deep it ran. I’d raised myself up from nothing—little more than an errand boy to the one who cleaned up the messes of others. Recovering bodies and wiping a crime scene down to hide the disappearance of yet another enemy of whichever family I was working for at the time.
I’d seen more money in being the actual killer than cleaning up their messes. It was simple, profitable work. One bullet could garner me half a million. All I had to do was give up a soul that hardly existed in the first place, and my lack of background made it all too easy. There were no parents or siblings—no connections beyond the foster system and juvenile detention hall I’d been raised in. Killing became my business, and I was damn good at it. I’d never actually considered it evil. Just a job.
I’d made my fortune on death and destruction and had nothing to risk. Nothing that could be taken. Not until now. In the split second when I thought my prize was about to be ripped away from me, a crashing wave of rage hit me.
Her wide eyes. The air of innocence that radiated from her. Her very fucking existence was mine. And to think that someone had plotted to take it away from me...
Anger was not a worthy description of my emotions. Untamable. Dangerous. Ready to commit the vilest of acts merely to ensure that what was mine remained alive and within my grasp. Those were closer to the truth, though even they struggled to convey the rage inside.
I inhaled and lifted my gaze to meet Raffaello's as he sat across from me in that giant wing-backed chair of his.He wants a protector for his daughter?I thought.No problem.
"Then let me protect her," I said. "Move up the date."
Raff's face went slack with shock. "What?" he sputtered, shaking his head as he glanced from me to the door and back again. I knew why. Because somewhere on the other side of that door, my future was being taken care of. The Price Family's private doctor was treating her, but soon, no one would have the right to touch or even look at her without my permission. Raff shook his head again. "It's already happening quickly," he continued, his tone placating. "We've got everything set up and scheduled for a month out."
"Move it up," I ordered. “To the end of next week.”
"The end of next week?" he repeated. "Are you insane? Do you even realize how expensive that will be? It'd be better if we simply held Angel here at the estate for the time being. She'll be safe under constant guard?—"
"Not safe enough," I snapped, cutting him off. "I want her to be my wife, Raff.Now.Fuck the money. I'll pay for it." It wasn't like I didn't have the fucking money.
The unease of the other men in the room filtered toward me. As mercenaries and mafia men themselves, they likely felt the shift in power. Raffaello wouldn't have survived this long in such a bloody criminal world without strength and money, butthere was a reason he'd chosen me for this proposal, and I was determined to exceed those expectations no matter the price.
I was just as powerful. No, I didn't have the background of a respected and feared mafia family to back me without conditions, but I had the next best thing—the connections to one. More than that, I had connections to multiple people of similar backgrounds. A laundry list a mile long of favors they owed from things I’d done to earn them over the years. And when I would come calling, theywouldact. The power of one family was great, but the power over many was even better.
"You're sure about this?" Raffaello asked, eyeing me with quiet scrutiny.
"Yes," I answered without hesitation.
Raff released a breath and nodded. "Fine then, we'll move it up."
"Good." Now that we had that out of the way, we could move on to another important matter. "Tell me about the motorcyclist."
He snapped his fingers, and one of his men stepped forward, producing a folder and handing it to him. Raff flipped it open and began to speak. "The man we traced using the license to the bike lives several states over—he's not involved. The bike was reported stolen last week."
I wasn’t surprised. No one who went after the daughter of Raffaello Price was stupid enough to use a bike registered in their own name. "What else?" I prodded.
The man hovering at Raff's back flicked his eyes up to me once. By the pinch of his mouth and the cut of his gaze as he glared at me, he wasn't happy with my tone. Tilting my head back against my seat, I stared at the man for a long moment. I hadn't yet been given the opportunity to say something to the guards that had been with Angel and me when she'd been attacked. It was something I knew I shouldn’t do in front ofRaffaello since he might object, but it was something I would ensure happened. They needed to understand just where they’d fucked up and just what I would do to them if they fucked up again. The sooner they got that, the sooner I could lessen the risk to Angel.
“We’re tracking the true culprit,” Raff said, his voice hardening as he snapped the folder shut. “We’ll have the bastard soon.”
“Good,” I said. “As soon as you have him, let me know.” I pushed to my feet, and the man at Raff’s back tracked my movements with his gaze, narrowing his eyes on me. I smirked.
