Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 74214 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74214 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
“Then?” Dom prompted.
“Then he grabbed her. I told her not to move. Your guy started spilling his guts. Talked about a guy who chased her. Figured that’s what happened to her face.”
“What about him?”
“He was some kind of hacker. Was just supposed to break in, get the account codes off the work computer and get out. But he went rogue.”
“Did you get a name?” I asked.
“Nah, man.”
That wouldn’t be too hard. We’d seen him on the cameras. If we could add in the tidbit about him being a hacker in our search, it probably wouldn’t be too difficult to find him.
Then he’d pay.
Long and ruthlessly. Like he’d put Hazel through.
“What then?” I asked.
“I got Hazel to look quickly down, so she could lock the knife with her chin, then I rushed forward. She ran out. I handled shit.”
My gaze slipped back to the body again.
A lot of blood.
A lot of violence.
He’d handled it, alright.
There was a soft knock on the door before Hazel inched it open. “All the employees are gone. But I didn’t tell any of the other guards because… well…”
Yeah, that was an angle I hadn’t given any thought to yet.
What if this went beyond the two men? Were we going to need to interview every soldier and associate? That would be a huge undertaking. But potentially necessary, given how blindsided we’d all been by this.
“I texted Luca and Lucky. They will get everyone else together.”
“Good,” I agreed. “You got this?” I asked Dom, waving to the body and Ant. “Just so I can talk to Hazel.”
“Yep. Got it,” he agreed as Ant leaned back against the coffin, ankles crossed, casual as could be. Like he hadn’t just killed a man. Brutally, at that.
“Thanks. I’ll be right back. Babe?” I asked, walking up to her.
“You’re not worried about Domenico?”
“Nah. Dom can handle himself.”
“I’m really okay,” Hazel assured me as we moved around the building to head into the shop, both of us ignoring the curious looks from my men gathered around.
“Okay. I just want to make sure,” I said, locking the door behind us as we made our way into the shop. “You just saw a man get murdered, babe.”
“To be fair, I didn’t actually see him get murdered. I was out here getting your help.”
“You saw a body.”
“Is it wrong that this one freaked me out less than the first one?”
The first one
Fuck.
This was the kind of life and situations she would be exposed to if she decided to stay with me. Somehow, that suddenly felt incredibly selfish.
“It’s not wrong. But it might be more shock you’re dealing with. It might settle in later.”
She nodded at that.
“He was probably going to kill me, though,” she said, drawing my attention back to her neck. “So it’s harder to feel upset about it.”
“I got Ant’s story. Can you give me yours, just so I’m sure all of Ant’s facts line up?”
She slipped back into it, giving almost the exact same blow-by-blow that the kid did, plus a few more details that Ant had either left out or hadn’t noticed when he’d been trying to find a way to save a woman with a knife to her neck.
By the time she was done, I expected more of the disgust or fear to creep into her voice, but if anything, she was even calmer about it.
And at that point, the whole Family was showing up. We had shit to discuss. Then work to do.
“I can stay locked in here,” Hazel offered.
“It could be hours.”
“I have nowhere else to be. I can start looking at catalogs for Christmas decor,” she added, eyes going bright.
I reached for my wallet, found my credit card, and passed it to her.
“Go wild.”
“You’re going to regret saying that,” she warned, practically bouncing behind the desk to wake up the computer.
I really, really didn’t think it was possible to regret anything with Hazel.
So I placed my gun on the counter, then locked her into the shop with visions of sugar plums and mistletoe running through her mind.
And got back to the Family business.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Hazel
If there was one thing about me, it was that I could get lost in an online shopping hole almost endlessly. And when it was with someone else’s credit card? There was no limit.
I had carts full of stuff in eight different storefronts when my eyes finally got too dry from strain to keep looking at the computer.
I swiveled in my chair, blinking some moisture back into my eyes as I glanced out the glass windows of the shop.
Men were milling around everywhere.
Over near the opening of the maze, Ant was stripped down to his boxer briefs and was rubbing down his body with baby wipes, dropping them all into a lined bucket someone had placed beside him.
It was the first time I’d seen him without his makeup on.