Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 50820 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 254(@200wpm)___ 203(@250wpm)___ 169(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 50820 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 254(@200wpm)___ 203(@250wpm)___ 169(@300wpm)
“They tried, remember?”
“We don’t know who tried to get rid of you in that chopper, Kane, but back to Roberto. We have no idea why he came back or what drove him back in the open. If he ran to stay alive, he’s surely back to stay alive.”
“Did you ask him?”
“He says the Society had a hit on him.”
“And they don’t anymore?”
“He didn’t say either way. Just a bunch of stuff about revealing himself being the only way to control the Society and that by pulling you into my father’s fold, they’ve castrated you and the cartel.” I hold up a hand. “And of course, that’s not true, but we both know he’s right. You need the cartel to apply pressure on the Society.”
“And you want to let him take it?”
“I want him in the hotseat while you’re in control,” I explain.
“Easier said than done, bella.”
“The men are loyal to you.”
“Some,” he warns. “Not all. And when they see him and fear him, they’ll follow him. They’ll have no choice.”
“The bottom line here, Kane, is that until we destroy the Society, really dig in and find the demon heads, and cut them off, we need the cartel. Pocher fears you and it.”
“Which is why he can’t see my father as in charge,” he reminds me.
“So find a way to make him a figurehead as you’d planned to make Raz, and then Raz can be your third, but in all scenarios, you have to be the main decision maker.”
“You want me to run the cartel? That is everything we never wanted.”
“You’ve ultimately been the one not to piss off for a very long time. Nothing changes. That’s what I’m talking about. And in the process, convince the right people that Raz is trusted and powerful enough to step up when we’re done with the Society.”
“This plan of yours forgets one thing, Lilah. My father needs to go away. I’m not playing games with him. He’s too volatile. He’s too dangerous.” He steps into me and catches me right under the jawline, his grip biting, his gaze piercing when it meets mine. “He’s too dangerous,” he repeats, and I like this part of him. I like his roughness. I like the look in his eyes. All of this tells me he’s invested, he’s hearing me. Even if he doesn’t think my plan is the right move, I’ve hit the kind of nerves that wakes him the fuck up before we all end up dead.
“Damn it, Lilah,” he bites out, and then he kisses me, a rough, demanding kiss that tastes of a bitter mix of anger and fear, and fear is not familiar in Kane. He thought I wouldn’t win a matchup with his father. He thought he’d find me up here dead.
I shove against him and force our mouths apart. “Don’t underestimate me, Kane.”
“Do not fuck with him again,” he orders, his voice roughened up with emotion. “He is the man who ordered those heads chopped off you gave me hell about when you came back into town. I don’t do that shit. He does. And I will not give him the power to do any such thing again.” He releases me. “I’m taking him out of here. Now.”
I’m not sure what that means. He’s getting him out of our apartment because he doesn’t want him in our personal space or he’s taking him somewhere to kill him. All I know is he’s at his limit and that’s not a good place to operate from, not with a parent, when parents manage to hit the biological markers that build us up and tear us down. I lived that shit when Ghost wanted permission to kill my father.
I close the small space he’s placed between us, step into him and catch his waist on both sides, my chin lifting to meet his stare. “You’re not in the right headspace to make decisions that can’t be undone. You know it. I know it. Stop a minute, take a breath, and think before you act.”
“I don’t want to think, Lilah. I want him the fuck out of here.”
“And take him where?” I challenge. “To a graveyard?”
His hands come down on my shoulders and he steps me into the wall. “He belongs in the Mexico wetlands with the crocodiles. He’s a mass murderer, bella. What part of that do you not understand?”
“I understand him better than you might wish, Kane, but when he’s gone there’s no way to use him. He’s not in control here. You are. And you don’t need him to be dead to prove that.”
“It’s the cartel. Of which I have intimate knowledge and thank fuck you do not.”
“Fair enough, but set that aside for moment and focus on how you gain full control with him standing in front of you and them. We need to know why he ran away, and he did, I saw that in his eyes when I was talking to him—what scared him and why is he back now? Those two questions might hold answers we need to deal with the cartel and the Society. Can we risk not knowing what he knows? If he’s dead, we won’t know.” I don’t wait for his reply. “Step back. Think about this.”