“Don’t kill him yet,” I mutter to Julian, who’s body is so tense, so coiled to destroy this motherfucker, and I can’t blame him.
“Tell me about Rose.”
I’m staring at his face when I ask, and I see recognition flicker, but he says, “Who?”
“No, don’t do that. Don’t get all shy and coy now, after you’ve already told us where Lincoln is. Tell me about her.”
“There’s nothing to tell. She’s the boss’s old lady.”
“How long has she been there?”
He scowls. “Who the fuck cares? She’s just some whore that he fucks and takes with him everywhere.”
“You need to care,” I reply, the knife still in my hand. “See, I don’t buy that you’re a foot soldier like the kid next door. I think you’re higher up in the ranks and you know way more than you want to tell me. I already know where he is, and I’ll be going there shortly to kill that motherfucker, but I want to knoweverythingyou can tell me about the girl.”
“I told you, she’s his woman. One of several, actually. He gets bored easily.”
“Charming,” Rome says.
“She’s been around for a long time. I’ve been with him for ten years, and she came around a few years later. Usually, when he brings girls in, we can pass them around, but he took a special interest in the redhead. Didn’t let anyone else touch her. Still doesn’t.”
“And is she with him tonight? At that compound you claim he owns?”
“She’salwayswith him. Yeah, she’s there.”
“Why didn’t he go to the gala with her tonight?” Rome asks.
“Got word that it was a setup. So he sent us in instead to kill everyone so he could take over all the families.”
“Who’s the mole?”
“I don’t know, and that’s the fucking truth. Lincoln has a guy that works for both teams, that’s all I know. We were just sent to the Four Leaf to kill a bunch of mobsters.”
I snort at that. “Notonefamily head was killed tonight. You’re all a bunch of fucking idiots.”
I turn to the others.
“Let’s go kill him.”
“You won’t,” the soldier says, making me pause. “You won’t be able to kill him. You have no idea what you’re walking into.”
He starts to laugh now, and Carson grips him by the throat and rips his trachea out of his body, instantly killing him and making ahugefucking mess.
“God damn it,” Julian says when he’s caught in the blood spatter. “Why are you always so fucking messy?”
“It’s fun,” is all Carson says as we walk out of the cell.
“We keep the other one alive until we know for sure that this intel is right,” Rome says, and we all nod in agreement.
“I need to go up to see Violet and tell her that we’re going to get her sister.”
“We also need weapons and to assemble the army,” Julian reminds me.
“We’ve got that,” Spider says, and Diego’s already on the phone. “We’ll go to the armories here in the city and gather what we need. We’ll be ready in less than an hour.”
“This is what we fucking do,” Luke agrees.
Yeah, we have a strong fucking empire.
