Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 107608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 430(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 430(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
“Probably,” I note. “Let’s wait until we have a decent setup.” The first job I need her to do is figure out who framed me for David Fairfax’s murder. How had anybody found time to throw that knife in the pond—and make sure my fingerprints were on it? They might’ve been planted, or perhaps that was just bad luck since I was there so often. It had to have been somebody investigating the crime, who worked with the judge and prosecuting attorney. As well as my dead attorney. “How good is she?”
Garik shrugs. “I don’t know. Just heard rumors, but say the word, and I’ll have her available to work for us.”
Power finally begins to flow through my veins again. I don’t think anybody knows about my need to get back to my servers. I’m sure Hendrix has them well protected now that he knows about my backdoor tunnel, and it’s going to be all-out war. In this game, at least from the outside looking in, Caine is going to kill Abel again.
So be it.
I look around. “I’m sure I’m being watched, and Hendrix will know you came here. You’re all in danger.”
Not one of them looks scared or even bothered. Jac speaks for the group. “We’re taking precautions and are ready for war. There are many inside the organization who will make the jump and return to you if there’s a show of strength.”
Meaning I need to kill Hendrix. I don’t like the idea of murdering my father’s son. We do share blood, after all. “I understand.”
The group stands and files out, all heavily armed and watching for threats. I like that. Jac is the last to leave, and he hands me a folded piece of paper.
I take it. “We’re passing notes now?”
He shrugs. “It was taped to the front door of the bar. I read it. Doesn’t make sense.”
Ah. The kill list from Urbano Reyes. I’ve been waiting for this. “Don’t worry about it.” I shove the paper into my pocket to read later.
Jac nods, following the others out and leaving Garik and me alone.
“How many of them do you trust?” I ask.
“About half. I’ll make a list of who we want to watch—who I think Hendrix might’ve sent. But betrayal always comes from the inside.”
True words.
We have a couple of drinks of the good vodka, and both of us turn when the front door opens. I sit back and blink. Well, this is a surprise.
Lillian Sokolov walks inside dressed in a casual black dress with her hair down and a lot grayer than I remember. Her jewelry sparkles with more diamonds than I can count, and the flats she wears look comfortable. However, her shoulders are slightly stooped and her skin looser than I remember. She has not aged well these last seven years.
“We obviously need to talk,” she says, moving behind the bar and looking more like a grandmother than the bombshell I remember.
Garik leans down and lifts up the good bottle of vodka. With a look at me, he turns and strides through the back door where I can hear his footsteps ascending to the apartment.
Lillian pours two glasses and nudges one toward me. “Welcome to freedom.”
I lift my glass and down the contents as she does the same. “What do you want, Lillian?” I fear that every exit to my place is now covered by men with automatic weapons. Even so, I have to admire her grit in walking in alone. I could kill her with my bare hands and she knows it.
“I thought we could end this thing for now. For good,” she says, her voice trembling slightly. Apparently, losing her youngest son has taken a toll I haven’t considered.
I cock my head to the side. “You’re ready to give up Hologrid Hub?”
“Of course not.” Even in obvious mourning, she’s all woman, and I can see what my father saw in her. Although their age difference had created quite the fodder for the gossip rags. She has blue eyes and a delicate bone structure. Both of her sons inherited much of her attributes—including ambition. She’d become pregnant right away with Hendrix and then Cal to better secure her place with my father.
“Leave town,” she says. “I will release your trust funds and you’ll have billions to go play with. You can go anywhere in the world, but it will be out of this country. Please, Alexei. Grant me some peace.”
She looks as out of place behind the rickety old bar as a princess would in a dungeon. Yet, I know of her humble beginnings, and she has risen high above them by marrying my father.
“Hologrid Hub is mine.” I try to keep the need out of my voice. If I don’t get near the large amethysts again soon, my skin is going to fall off.