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Blood slid down my arms in a rain of horror. Screams and gunshots rang out, but all I wanted to see was Saint. She was shot. Even though I knew instantly it was a flesh wound, I was well aware she was slowly slipping into shock. I moved across the room, kicking the body of the hooded boy on the floor and making my way back to where she lay when I last saw her.
It was empty. I found Bishop behind me, his eyes wild and filled with rage. He swung between me and the empty spot on the ground then back to me, before turning to the exit and pointing. “Go! I will handle this!”
I did. I ran to the exit and out into the alley where Eli had the Bugatti idling on the spot. He pushed open the passenger door and I threw myself inside. “Go!” Eli zipped out onto the road and flew through the lines of cars. We were all good drivers, but Eli was better than all of us. “Did you see where he took her?”
“I’m taking wild guesses right now, but I don’t know. Something tells me out of town, so we’ll go that way.” My anger bubbled beneath my skin, but my rage? Oh, my rage was like gunpowder, waiting to ignite.
“Find that car, Eli. Fuck.”
“We will, bro. We’ll get her back.”
“Are you thinking about that night?” Hector interrupts my thoughts, and I instantly snap up to him.
“Oh, you mean the night I killed you?”
He laughs, flicking the ash off his newly lit Cuban cigar. “Hmmm, I have felt more like a ghost since that night.” His index finger and thumb rub together. “Am I dead?”
The corner of my mouth tilts up, flashing a smug grin. “I don’t know, Papa Hayes, what did I say would happen if you fucked with my girl?”
“There!” Eli floored it forward and I shot back into my seat. Everything but that black city car blurred out of focus. As we neared closer and closer on the highway, my pulse quickened. Beads of sweat slid down the bridge of my nose, and that rage was slowly being tipped onto the burning fire of my anger. “How are we going to stop it?”
“Hit him,” I said, teeth clenched while reaching for my gat.
“Bro, Saint is in there.”
“Fuck!” I slammed my fist into the dash of the car. “Drive beside it. He’ll see he’s been found and will pull over.”
“Then what?” Eli asked, doing as I said and dropping it into third gear to shift up to the side of the car.
“Then I kill him.”
I ignore the ringing of my phone as I stand off with one of the most powerful men I have ever known, ever will know.
“Are you going to answer that?” Hector asks with genuine intrigue. A clock ticks down the hallway, the sun setting in the sky. Orange hues bounce off building tops, falling behind the Brooklyn Bridge.
I ignore the call. This conversation needs to happen and he knows it.
“Have you told Bishop what my plans were?” Hector asks, unbuttoning the top of his shirt. “I’m guessing no since he hasn’t got a gun pointed at my head.”
It took one minute for the town car to pull off onto the shoulder of the highway. I flew out, ignoring cars zooming past me and headed straight for the back door. Hector was already climbing out of the other side, but this side was locked. Motherfucker.
“Son…”
I strolled straight to him, clenching my fist before it was flying into his face.
“Don’t fucking son me!” Blood sprayed everywhere. Hector stood back up, fixing his suit while swiping the blood from his lip. “Where is she?”
“She’s going somewhere safe.”
“Hector, I swear to God, I am not one to fuck with right now!” Rain began to pelt down on my face. It did nothing to put out the fire inside of me.
“Brantley—” A voice. Familiar. Burned. Hot.
I turned toward it. “I will take her.” Long black hair, bleak eyes, and enough swagger to put every model to shame.
Veronica.
I winced, narrowing my eyes back on Hector. “What the fuck are you playing at?”
Hector blinked at Veronica in shock. And before he thought I could catch it, he corrected himself. “That’s right. I wasn’t changing the plan. Veronica was here all along.”
I tilted my head to where Veronica stood outside the driver’s side door. “I will be there in the morning to check.”
Veronica nodded. “I will wait.”
Hector slid back into the car and I watched as it drove away.
“We good?” Eli asked as I slipped back into the passenger seat.
“Yeah,” I murmured. “We good.”
“You and I both know that you didn’t plan on Veronica being in the driver’s seat of your car.” It’s true and he knows it. The question is, does he think I know she was there all along, maybe arranging the hostile takeover of his plans?
“Hmmm,” Hector murmurs. My phone blares off again and I swipe it unlocked, bringing it to my ear. “What?” My blood turns cold, and I find myself floating to my feet. I squeeze my phone, my teeth clenched together.
“What is it?” Hector asks, but I’m already almost at the door before I can answer. I turn around at the last minute. “The reason why I haven’t told Bishop is because I want to be the one who puts the bullet between your eyes if I find out you have any ill intent toward her, not him—and believe me when I say, he will.”