Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 102833 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102833 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
Without letting him finish his sentence, I punch him in the face. The chair flies back, and he knocks his head on the concrete.
“It doesn’t fucking matter whose girl it is,” I bark, lifting the chair back up. “You took a job that involved kidnapping an innocent woman.”
I punch him again, this time in the stomach, and he gags and then throws up all over the ground.
“Please,” he begs. “I fucked up, but I needed the money.”
“Yeah, so you could buy some more drugs instead of taking care of your girlfriend and baby. I know.”
I grab him by his hair and yank his head back. “Who hired you?”
“I don’t know. I swear, I don’t know.”
“The person who was talking to the woman you had bound up—was it a man or a woman?”
He shakes his head. “I never saw him. I’m assuming a man, but he was dressed in all black with a ski mask on his face. His voice was fucked up, like a robot or some shit.”
“How did you get paid?”
“I haven’t,” he cries. “I was supposed to get it once we left, but you showed up quicker than we’d thought, and he told us he’d be in touch.”
“How?”
“Through my friend Steve. He’s the one who got me the job before—”
He clamps his mouth shut, but it’s too late.
I pull my gun out and raise it to his head, just between his eyes. “What job before? And before you think about lying, I’ll know, and I’ll kill you.”
Usually, bullshit threats like this wouldn’t work with someone who is used to them, but this guy is an amateur, pulled off the streets. Whoever hired Ross didn’t care if he got caught because he doesn’t know anything. He—or she—needed a job done and knew he could find desperate guys on the streets of South Harbor Point, and if they died, it’d be no skin off his back.
“The fire last year,” he admits. “He hired us to set the warehouse at the port on fire. Said it was to cause a distraction.”
I glance at Dominick, and his jaw clenches. He obviously remembers the purpose of last year’s fire—to take us to the other side of town while Anthony was kidnapping Damien. Which means Anthony wasn’t working alone, and it wasn’t with Enrique because whoever Anthony was working with is still very much alive.
“What else?” I ask, clicking the safety off so he knows my intent.
“Nothing, I swear. A friend of mine was hired by him to fuck up some businesses, but I had no part in that.”
I consider sparing this guy’s life, not wanting unnecessary bloodshed, but the thought of him taking my woman, scaring her and tying her up, has me putting a bullet in his skull. He did two jobs for this guy, and with him being broke and an addict, there was no guarantee that he wouldn’t take another job.
“You got his phone?” I ask Bosco.
“Yeah.” He hands it over to me.
“Thanks. Call for a cleanup.”
I tap on his phone, but it has a password. I’ll have to get Eddy to crack it open.
Dominick and I walk out, and once we’re in the car, he says, “Whoever this is, they aren’t going to stop until they get what they came for.”
“They want Harbor Point.” I glance at him. “You willing to give it up?”
He swallows thickly and then shakes his head. “We’re in too deep. We can’t just walk away. They know this. I don’t believe they want Harbor Point.” He locks eyes with me. “I think they want a war.”
30
Daniella
Since Matteo picked me up from Peyton and Dominick’s home, he hasn’t once looked at me. Not when he told me we needed to go home. Not during the car ride back to our condo. Not when we walked inside and he asked if I would be okay alone because he had shit to take care of, and then he disappeared down the hall.
I don’t know if he’s mad at me for getting taken or if he’s pissed that he didn’t get to fight. Or maybe it’s all just too much, having to protect me while dealing with whatever the hell is going on.
According to Peyton, someone is coming after their family, and they don’t know why.
When I told her and Bri what the person had said to Matteo over the phone—that they want Harbor Point—their eyes went wide. Bri cursed under her breath, and Peyton excused herself to check on her babies.
I don’t know what’s going on, but what I do know is that Matteo is my safe place, and the fact that he’s retreating is breaking my heart.
He’s done this before, I remind myself.
He pushed me away, wanting to protect me, and if I were to guess, that’s what he’s doing again. But I’m not going to let that happen.