Page 78 of More Tricks

“Y-your niece?” he guessed.

“How the fuck have you survived this long being this stupid?” I asked.

Axel just gapped at me like a fish. Groaning, I grabbed him by the shirt and kicked out his legs, dropping him to his knees before addressing the crowd. “While this idiot might not be the mastermind behind what happened, I’m using him to make a point. You fuck with my family or my people I’ve put under my protection, I will hunt you down. No one fucks with what is mine. You do and you won’t live long enough to regret it. I promise you that.”

Grabbing his hair in one hand, I pulled back his head and slit his throat in one swift move. A surprised gurgle was all that could be heard from the kid as I dropped him to the floor. I waved my knife at Sprocket, who dragged a thrashing swearing Diego up into the ring. Diego spotted his son on the ground and looked up at me. A string of words in Spanish flew at me, followed by a wad of spit that missed and landed on the mat before me.

“It’s so good to see you again, Diego,” I greeted.

Moving forward, I grabbed his arm, shoving up behind his back as Sprocket let him go. I shoved the man toward the center of the ring and dropped him to his knees like his son. Only Diego might be older, but he was a fighter. He swung out with his other hand clipping me in the jaw and whipping my head to the side. I turned back to face him and slammed my elbow into his face feeling his nose crunch under the assault. This had him sprawling on the ground in his son’s blood. Which to me, only seemed fitting for how shitty he was to leave his whole family in the house as he saved himself.

Picking up the microphone from where I’d dropped it, I got down to business. “I’m not even going to ask if you know who this is because I know you do. You guys want me to get down to the meat of the matter? Here it is. Diego had been gunning for me since I came up in the world. I was happy to let him do his business if he left mine alone. Unfortunately for him, he couldn’t do that. Now, here we are on the brink of a world war among criminal leaders. You placed bets and made choices on where you stand in this fight. Tonight wasn’t just about seeing me fight or possibly die at the hands of one of your goons. Nah, it’s far more than that.”

I took a moment as the room fell silent, having gained everyone’s attention. “Tommaso, would you join me, please?” Shock filled the room as he stepped up and walked over to me. “If you don’t know who this is, Tommaso is Diego’s firstborn son of his first wife, who had ties to the Italian mafia. As such, he is the next in line to take over his father’s business. Recently, Tommaso has also become the leader of the Italian mafia in Boston with the blessing of the motherland. So I wanted to ensure you all knew two things.”

Reaching behind Tommaso, I pulled his gun I knew was stashed there and pointed it at Diego. I noticed one of the video cameras was coming in closer over the netting of the cage to get an unobstructed view. Shifting, I looked right at the lens as I spoke the next bit.

“The De León Cartel is now under new leadership,” I announced, pulling the trigger and hitting Diego right between the eyes. “And the Hidden Empire fully supports Tommaso as the rightful heir to the De León name and all that it brings with it. This is war, and I’ve made my move just as all of you have here tonight. Those of you who bet on me to win or to lose, I know who you are. If you’re smart, then I would be certain not to get in my way if you value your life. I’m not sitting back anymore, I’ve stepped out of hiding, and I’m not going to lose.”

Stepping closer to the camera, I squared up, knowing that on the other side of that lens, Marco was watching. “Play time’s over, Marco, and I’m coming for you next. When we meet in person, this is how I’ll greet you.”

Lifting my gun to the camera, I watched as it zoomed in and pulled the trigger sending the bullet right into the lens, shattering it into a million pieces. Just like I was going to do to his whole kingdom.

Just you wait, Marco. I’ll find you wherever you're hiding.

To be continued in Our Tricks

Chapter one

Dax

Stepping out of the shower in Eagle’s room, I toweled off and looked at myself in the mirror. I flinched at the bruises on my face that I’d gotten in the fight with Mastiff. The bastard hadn’t held back, but then again, neither had I as I stabbed him far more times than I needed to. At that point, I’d needed the reassurance he was well and truly dead and wouldn’t keep popping up like a bad penny.

The Mad Dogs were finished. The battle that happened earlier today had seen to that. A group mixed with my people and the Saints had gone out and made sure any stragglers wandering the desert had been dealt with. Cam had called the FBI and let them know we had a massive cleanup that needed to be handled. If I’d known how helpful having a Fed as a boyfriend would be, I would have done it sooner.

“Beautiful, as much as I love seeing you wander around the house naked, the FBI is almost here,” Cam informed me.

Speak of the devil—he always seemed to know when I was thinking about him.

I cocked a hip and raised a brow. “I didn’t realize a bedroom was a whole house? Have they started giving their agents X-ray vision or something?”

Cam stalked over to me, crowding my space until my back hit the bedroom wall. His fingers curled around my neck and gripped tight enough that I knew he wasn’t joking around. “Beautiful, as much as I love that sharp tongue of yours, the way it can eviscerate people where they stand, you’ve forgotten something important.”

“What would that be?” I asked, holding his golden-brown gaze, not backing down from his challenge.

He leaned in and kissed me ruthlessly, nipping hard enough at my lip, I actually tasted blood. “You’re grounded, and I was put in charge of you for the day,” Cam whispered against my lips, then licked the blood that seeped out of the corner of my mouth and moaned. “I forgot how good you tasted.”

I smirked at him. “Did you really think I was going to let the grounding stand? I’m well aware that you’re all pissed at me, but that doesn’t mean you all get to rule my life. How quickly you forget that I created the Hidden Empire, fought tooth and nail for it so I could be the top dog.”

“Hmm, I love it when you get feisty,” Cam murmured into my ear, pressing his whole body to me so I could feel how turned on he was. “But, now is not the time for us to play our favorite game. You still have to call Dani so we can speak with Eagle and catch him up on events. Then the FBI will have questions that we need to skirt around, all the while with you attached to my side.” He pulled back, pressing a kiss to my forehead. “Now get dressed, Weston made dinner, and we wouldn’t want it to go to waste. If I find you still not dressed in five minutes, there will be punishment and not the kind you enjoy. Don’t forget. I know all your secrets, Dax, so be a good girl.”

I stood there stunned that Cam had just ignored everything I’d just said, threatened me, and walked out, leaving me a panting mess. God, I was fucked in the head if that was one of the sexiest things he’s done in a long time.

Yanking open the drawer Eagle emptied for me to hold my stuff, I realized I’d left a ton of stuff back at the ranch house. “I seriously need to stop losing all my shit after each of these battles. No cell phone, no smartwatch, lost my favorite guns… again. Fucking hell, just when I didn’t think Marco would make me even more pissed at him,” I grumbled to myself as I pulled on clothes.

Bless Tilly for having good taste and knowing what basics a woman like me needed. I wriggled into my jean shorts and pulled on a T-shirt with a classic rock band name on it. It was a little big, but with how tiny I was, that wasn’t unusual, so I tied a knot in the front and called it good enough.

Padding out into the living room, I found Wes sprawled out on the couch, arm over his eyes. He had one bare foot up on the leather cushion and the other planted on the floor.