Vicious King Preview
CARSON
Present Day
My plane touches down in Vegas, and I feel the restlessness creep its way through my shoulders, down my spine, and into my gut.
The only reason I still live here at all is because of my family. My brothers and their wives, our men, our city. I have a life here that needs me. But I also have to get away as often as I can, so I take jobs around the world and travel to get those jobs done.
And by job I mean I kill people. I’m a contract killer. An assassin.
I’m a bad fucking man.
But let’s be honest. They had it coming. The men I assassinate are the scum of the earth. Child and women traffickers, corrupt people who kill innocents, who destroy families and try to take down entire governments. Not one soul that I’ve destroyed was innocent.
Well, just one.
Just one perfect woman was killed because of me. Not by my hand, but because she was mine.
And Vegas, my city, is the one place that I can’t forget. It’s been seven years, five of those spent in prison hell, but every time I close my eyes, she’s all I see.
Rina is the ghost that I can’t shake, and I don’t want to forget her. Because she was the last thing in this world that made me human.
I care about my family, and my brothers’ wives are sweet. I’d give my own life to protect any one of them.
But I’m a shell of a man. I’m reckless because the consequences don’t fucking matter. I could die right this instant, and it would be a relief.
I wouldn’t be reunited with her because she’s an angel, and I’ll spend eternity burning in hell. But at least this daily torment would finally be over.
Spider, my number two, is waiting for me when I step off the plane. He’s in a black suit not unlike my own. He’s bald, with a spiderweb tattoo over his scalp. In fact, the only thing not covered in ink is his face.
And I’ve never seen a bigger softy when it comes to the girls in this family. On the other hand, he’s also as ruthless as I am and can kill a man with his bare hands.
He’s versatile.
“Boss,” he says with a nod. “You’re just in time.”
“Don’t want to disappoint Lulu,” I reply as I climb into the back of the armored SUV. Spider joins me. I have a driver, Leo, and another guard, Bacon.
I don’t fucking know why his name is Bacon. All I know is that he can hit a target with any weapon and he’s been with me for a long fucking time.
I might have spent five years in prison, but my men never abandoned me. My organization ran smoothly, my resort was renovated, and it was all waiting for me the day I got out.
Well, except for the one thing I wanted more than anything else.
“Lulu had the cook make chicken parm,” Spider informs me, and I lift an eyebrow.
“Keeping tabs on the menu?”
He shifts and shrugs a shoulder. “A man’s gotta fucking eat.”
Eloise, Lulu, is Rome’s wife. From the day he met her about a year ago, that woman has made it her life’s work to feed us.
All of us. The brothers, their women, and our number twos are always included because Lulu doesn’t know the meaning of cooking for a small crowd.
It’s against her religion. But she’s so pregnant right now that she makes us all nervous, and she’s been told she can’t cook huge meals until after the baby comes and she’s recovered.
We all feel better with this arrangement.
Well, everyone except Lulu. As a compromise, we still meet every Sunday for what she calls family dinner, and if you don’t show up, you face Lulu’s wrath.
I’ve killed monsters. Fuck, I am a monster.
But even I don’t want to face that sweet woman’s ire.
“Did it all go as planned?” Spider asks me, and I simply nod.
Yeah, I assassinated four men in the past four days. Three by sniper rifle and one with my own hands, making him bleed out slowly.
The last was the most satisfying.
After my wife was killed and I was thrown in prison, I couldn’t work through the rage that would never simmer down.
I don’t fucking want to work through it.
The anger is what keeps me alive. The only thing that calms me is destroying others.
My fury is what fuels me to keep hunting for the one responsible for my wife’s death.
Damien may have evaded me for seven years, but his days are numbered.
I’m definitely excellent uncle material for Rome and Lulu’s baby.
We pull up to a stop in front of the home that Rome had built for his family, and I climb out, fasten the button on my jacket, and walk right inside with Spider directly behind me.
None of us knock on each other’s doors when the others know we’re coming.
I can hear the commotion from the entire crowd back in the kitchen, which is where everyone usually seems to gather, even when Lulu isn’t the one working her magic.
“They’re here!” Natasha is Julian’s wife and is the prettiest little thing, with long blond hair and big blue eyes. “It’s about time.”
“I didn’t realize I had to punch a clock, little one,” I reply with a wink.
She simply rolls her eyes. No one but the women in this room would ever get away with rolling their eyes at me.
Anyone else would be eating their own eyeballs for dinner. Including Spider.
And they know it.
It’s a full house tonight. Even Rose is here, which surprises me.
My brother Mateo married Rose’s sister, Violet, a few weeks ago. Rose was missing for a long fucking time, a victim of being trafficked herself by the man I’m trying to find so I can rip the skin from his body one disgusting strip at a time. Damien has many crimes to pay for.
We rescued Rose, and since then she’s been very shy. Unsure. The only people she truly trusts are Violet and Diego, Mateo’s number two.
In fact, she’s sitting next to Diego right now, holding his hand.
“Let’s eat,” Lulu says as she offers me a smile. “The baby’s hungry.”
“Then we’ll feed you,” I assure her with a wink, following the others into the dining room.
Even though rage and destruction are my new factory settings, I’m always surprised by how calm I feel when I’m with this group.
The women are funny and soothing, not unlike the way I feel after I tear a trafficker’s throat open.
Of course, I’ll keep that information to myself.
I sit between Spider and, to my surprise, Rose.
She doesn’t even shy away from me as she sits in the chair next to mine, and I act like there’s nothing at all abnormal about the usually scared woman sitting next to someone like me.
Most people cower from me. I know I’m good looking, with a tall, muscular body and plenty of ink. Women usually look twice.
But that second look instills fear, and they usually run away. Because although I might be what they think they want on the outside, one look at my eyes gives away the fact that I’m nothing but a soulless son of a bitch.
The dining room is loud with several conversations happening at once, when Rose casually says, “Carson? Can I ask you a question?”
I glance down at her and force myself to smile at her because I don’t want to scare her. “Anything you want.”