Page 276 of Chaos Kills

Now.

I begin to turn toward the door, when Emilio decides for another shot at redemption.

“Have it your way,” Emilio grumbles then points a thick and menacing finger at me. “But that boy does one more fucking thing without listening and he’s through. I won’t ask next time. Do you understand me?”

Fuck you, you stupid piece of shit.

“And don’t ever question what I’m building with you or anything around me,” he goes on chiding. “I assembled this town before you were even out of diapers, Haven. I know what the hell I’m doing.”

And you expect me to believe you.

Emilio Wildes has gone and lost his fucking mind over here.

“Anything else?” I solicit flatly, taking a page out of Cairo’s book and speaking with a cool demeanor.

“An acknowledgment that you understand would be nice.”

“I heard what you said. I just don’t think you’ll follow through.”

“Consider it a warning,” he states, leaning back in his chair and folding his hands across his pressed white dress shirt. “And if you feel the need, which I know you will, tell Cairo that his Titan seat will be on the chopping block if he tries to fuck with me. He won’t like the news. However, out of all of them, he’s the most level-headed.”

“And this one?” I jerk my thumb over my shoulder at Ozzy. “I think he’s the most dangerous one of them all.”

Emilio doesn’t give away if he knows that or not. He just continues to stare openly at me. “You tell me.”

As if.

Not that I would know personally. However, I am privy to him taking out some of Emilio’s men the night with the ice cream truck.

“Have a good rest of your day, Mr. Wildes,” I prompt, almost feeling the petty need to lift my middle finger but take the mature route. “I’ll see you next Friday.”

I’m out the door within seconds, with Ozzy hot on my trail. I pluck my phone from my back pocket and then think better of it.

The thought of Emilio’s men watching my every move has me on edge, so I opt for plan B.

“Oz,” I mutter, and he’s at my right within the next breath. “I need to speak with Cairo ASAP.”

He doesn’t reply, and he doesn’t need to.

Cairo will be at my house by the end of the night.

SIXTY-THREE

torin

If I could ignore him,I would.

The pages of the book I’m reading,The Terminal Listby Jack Carr, don’t make Ozzy disappear from the study in our house or the impending feeling he’s here to tell me something I’m not going to enjoy.

And I was enjoying this fucking book.

“What?” I grind out, not bothering to look up from the thrilling—or was—pages of my book.

No response.

This motherfucker.

Flicking my gaze over the edge of my paperback, my cousin slowly ambles in the room with a laptop open in his grasp. “I’m not watching porn with you to explain what sex feels like.”

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