Total pages in book: 37
Estimated words: 34381 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 172(@200wpm)___ 138(@250wpm)___ 115(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 34381 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 172(@200wpm)___ 138(@250wpm)___ 115(@300wpm)
Alfonzo
I've always lived by my own set of codes, and code number one in my book form no attachments.
But forming one with him was inevitable.
When Rico dropped Maksim Arsenyev's file onto my desk with orders to eliminate him, I wasn't surprised.
The Russians had been playing at our backdoor for too long, and while they were good friends with a local biker club Rico was in cahoots with, that didn't mean Rico would idly stand by and let the Russians continue to spread into our territory.
But when I lay eyes on Maksim in person for the first time...
I can't bring myself to pull the trigger.
I let him run.
A game of cat and mouse begins, but like Tom, I don't actually want to harm Jerry.
~*~*~
Maksim
The Bratva took me in when I was nothing more than a starving boy on the streets of Russia. Anatoly, the Pakhan, saved me, and Rurik, his best friend and consigliere, mostly raised me.
I owed them everything.
So, when I'm given orders to scope out one of Rico Martinez's properties, I do so without question.
But I'm not sneaky enough, and I'm spotted. My cover is blown.
When Rico's second in command, Alfonzo Aguado, appears in front of me like a ghost, I know it's over for me.
But he lets me go.
A game of cat and mouse begins, but somewhere in our little game, a third player slips in, and we're unaware until they almost take me out.
Now, I'm standing on the Martinez compound grounds, bleeding out, and begging Alfonzo to come out and help me.
And when he does... may God have mercy on whoever touched me.
Alfonzo is out for blood.
Characters in this book are featured in the Ghost Born MC series by T.O. Smith and Layne Daniels. Alfonzo is introduced in Rico by T.O. Smith.
**Please read the author's note at the beginning of the book before deciding to read. Thank you.
**Previously known as Slay Bells and Silent Nights
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
Prologue
Alfonzo
The sound the blade of my knife made as it moved over the sharpening block was fucking music to my ears. Should I have been working on the massive amount of paperwork Rico had dropped on my desk last night? Definitely. But it could wait. I wasn’t in the mood to work. I was feeling antsy and restless, which meant I needed field work. Not to sit on my ass at a fucking desk.
But Rico didn’t have shit going on at the moment. Things were peaceful, and no one needed us. There were no guns to trade. No drugs to run. No one to unalive or torture. Absolutely fucking nothing to do.
Rico pushed open my office door. I glanced up at him, pausing the sharpening of my knife to arch an eyebrow at him. “One day, I’m gonna have a fine piece of ass laid out on this desk and be all up in it. Bet you’ll learn how to fucking knock then,” I drawled.
Rico grunted. “Doubt it.” He dropped a manila folder onto my desk. “You look like you’re avoiding doing the work I gave you.”
I grabbed the folder and pulled it to me to see what the fuck else he’d decided to drop onto my already huge workload. “If you’re here to reprimand me, save your breath,” I warned him. “I’ll get to it when I don’t feel like I’m crawling out of my fucking skin.”
Rico huffed. “You need to see Nicholas about some meds for your ADHD,” he said, referring to the family doctor, Dr. Nicholas Allman.
I rolled my eyes. He and I both knew that would never fucking happen. Went on them once and never again. I could barely fucking eat, and I lost a lot of my muscle mass because I couldn’t bulk up on my protein. Couldn’t exactly protect Rico and his adorable husband when I wasn’t feeling like myself.
I flipped open the folder, blinking in surprise at the goddamn gorgeous man staring back at me, all pale skin, blue eyes, buzzed dark hair, and a close-cropped beard. Tattoos lined his left arm, and while he was slim, he was definitely toned, muscles lining every inch of his body that I could see.
I glanced down at his name next, forcing myself to rip my eyes from the picture which effortlessly captured his beauty.
Maksim Arsenyev.
“He’s Russian,” I mused. Rico didn’t fuck with the Russians, despite the alliance the Bratva had with the Ghost Born MC, a motorcycle club that Rico was in cahoots with. The Bratva had been snooping around for a little while, but not enough to make Rico want to make a move. But the fact that I had a file now lying in front of me meant Rico was done playing games.
“Yeah, he’s Russian,” Rico confirmed. “He’s been sneaking around the property and our warehouses. Niran finally got me a positive ID. Now, your job is to take him out.”
I leaned back in my seat and twirled my knife between my fingers, the glistening blade glinting in the overhead light. “You’ll start a war,” I warned him. I, personally, didn’t fucking care. A war meant I was kept busy, and I was away from this godforsaken desk. But Rico had a boy to worry about—his husband.
“If a war happens, we will deal,” Rico told me. He pointed at the folder. “Make him disappear, Alfonzo. He’s too close for my comfort, and anyone who even looks like a threat near my boy gets taken out, tú entiendes?”
I nodded once. “Got it.”
He left the room, and I slid the folder closer, admiring the man again. Pity he was a problem because he was pretty enough for me to want to keep. Maybe make him bleed a little. Sure wouldn’t have minded marking him as mine.
But he was Russian, and no matter what, none of us laid with the fucking enemy, especially if they were an enemy threatening the family.
“Pity,” I murmured, tracing the tip of my knife down his slender throat. “I would’ve liked to keep you.”
Standing, I grabbed the file folder, then headed to Niran’s office. I knocked because the last time I didn’t and just barged in, he’d had Bento, his husband, bent over his desk and was railing him like Bento was nothing more than a two-cent whore he’d paid for.
When I got a, “Come in,” I entered and tossed the file on Niran’s desk. A smirk curved his lips as he looked down at it. “Rico finally took it to you?”
I nodded. “Tell me everything we know,” I ordered, dropping into the chair across from his desk.
Chapter One
Maksim
When I took the rise in ranking a few months ago, I’d thought it was a blessing. A sign Anatoly Balakin, the Pakhan over the Washington chapter of the Bratva, finally trusted me as more than just a soldier. But the moment he pulled me into a meeting and told me I was to take out Alfonzo Aguado, the right hand man to Rico Martinez, who was easily one of the wealthiest, most powerful men in the US, I began to think that maybe Anatoly wanted me dead and just didn’t want to do it himself.