Prologue #2
“Sorry I’m late, boss.”
“As I was saying, I want to know how that bitch”—I pointed to the woman dead on the floor—“got through all of you.” There were shrugs around the room. No one seemed to know the woman. “Find out and dispose of the bodies,” I ordered.
They took the dead with them, wrapped up in my Persian rug, which pissed me off even more since I’d have to order another one in the morning to replace it.
That night, I’d come away with a knife scar that was now healed but required fifty stitches. You would think I despised it, but it added to my charm.
At the time of the attack, I didn’t know it was someone on my security team who was involved.
But in my line of work, information of that nature doesn’t stay buried long.
What I wanted to know was who hired Taylor and if he worked alone.
Who on my team couldn’t be trusted? I supposed it was what I got for hiring boys from the old neighborhood instead of professionals.
I observed Taylor. The boys roughed him up pretty well. Both of his eyes were almost swollen shut. There were a few bald patches in his dirty-blond hair. His broken nose was crooked and spewing blood. But what he endured from them was nothing compared to what I was about to do.
I reached for the knife I carried on my hip, pulling it from the sheath. I walked toward Taylor, stopping directly in front of him, his head lolling. He barely lifted it to look me in the eye even though he couldn’t see shit.
“So defiant, aren’t you?”
I trailed the knife down his neck, careful not to dig too deep but still drawing blood. I didn’t give two fucks about his screams. I wanted to know who tried to kill me. I swiped straight through his shirt, cutting his chest. He jerked on the chains, holding him upright.
“Tell me who you’re working with.”
Taylor’s heavy breathing echoed throughout, no longer competing with Mickey’s moans and groans. He’d grown silent, more than likely dead.
Good.
He smiled at me, then spit. Blood splattered across my expensive shoes. “Fuck you.”
A laugh erupted from my belly. This bitch was funny.
“You think this is a fucking game?”
He screamed when I buried the knife in his thigh.
“You let that bitch into my home to try to kill me, and you think this is a fucking game?”
I ripped the knife from his thigh and thrust it into his bicep, then twisted the knife. Grabbing the back of his hair, I tipped his face up so he could see my eyes and see his death.
“Tell me who the fuck hired you!”
“I don’t know the name.” A sob ripped from his throat. “Please…”
“Please what?” I yanked the knife from his arm.
“Please,” he whispered. “No more.”
I regarded him for a moment. It was possible he really didn’t know who hired him, but he certainly knew who fucked me over on my security team.
“You tell me who is in on it, and I’ll stop.”
Taylor weighed his options, even though it didn’t fucking matter. I would kill him regardless. “Ryan and Mickey,” he muttered.
Anger bubbled to the surface. My face grew hot. “What about Josh?”
I needed to know if Joshua had anything to do with this. As my cousin, he’d been with me on this journey since the beginning. We grew up in the same house. If he was a part of this…I shook my head. I didn’t have time for sentimental bullshit.
“No.” He sucked in deep breaths through the pain. “We knew he’d tell you.”
Relief swept through me. The room was quiet except for his heavy breathing, occasional moans, and the constant drip of water from the rusted pipes running along the walls up to the ceiling.
“Tell me who hired you,” I said through gritted teeth. The thought of this shit going on right under my nose had me seething.
“I told you I don’t know,” he groaned. “I was contacted on my phone.”
“How much were you fuckers going to get for my life?” I wanted to know what my life was worth since I was hated in both my domains, the streets and the business world.
“Five hundred thousand,” he mumbled.
I shook my head. Half a million dollars to kill me. I was insulted. It didn’t seem like a lot of money to wipe me out. Not if I had to share it.
“Who was the woman?”
Taylor’s head dangled to the side, too heavy to hold up on his own any longer.
“Someone we met at a bar.”
I remained quiet while I processed what I’d learned tonight.
“Please let me go,” he whispered, bringing me out of my musings.
“I did promise you, didn’t I?” Slowly, I moved forward. “All of your pain is about to go away,” I whispered in his ear, then plunged the knife into his neck. I stood back and watched as the breath slowly left his body and the light left his eyes.
Once Taylor was dead, I called for Ryan and Joshua. There were now two more bodies they had to get rid of. As Ryan dragged Mickey out of the room, I stood beside my cousin while he unchained Taylor from the wall.
“Ryan doesn’t come back with you tonight.”
His eyes jerked to mine. He stopped trying to work the shackles off Taylor’s arms. “What do you mean?”
“These bitches tried to kill me. You think I’m going to let even one live?” I asked incredulously.
His eyes narrowed as anger pooled there. “No, I know how you do things.”
Joshua was the clown and jokester of the group, but his fury for my betrayal helped me see the loyalty my cousin had for me.
“I just can’t believe it,” he said.
“Believe it. Everyone but you.”
Joshua stared at me as emotions I couldn’t read flittered across his features. “I’ve been riding with you since we were toddlers at Grandma Margret’s. You think I’m gonna bail on you now?”
Despite my cold disposition, this man was my blood, my family, and I would die for him. Right then, I knew he would die for me.
I held out my hand, and Joshua grasped it. I pulled him in for a hug and slapped him on the back. I didn’t know who hired them to kill me, but I knew Josh would be with me every step of the way.
“Glad to hear it,” I declared, letting him go. “Call me when it’s done.”
I didn’t wait to see Taylor pulled down from the wall. Ryan would help him when he came back in. His final job working for me. I walked out of the room and headed to the back of the warehouse and out into the alley.
My car wasn’t far from the warehouse. I never drove the same vehicle for more than twice a week.
And I rarely traveled alone when I did drive.
It was a way for me to throw off my enemies and to always have protection around me.
But having someone on my own team come for me, that shit was next level.
It let me know I couldn’t trust anyone except Joshua.
Whoever this son of a bitch was, I would find them, and I would end them. No matter what it took.