Page 46 of Kingpin

As he slammed the door in my face, tears dripped down my cheeks. I looked down at the phone in my hand and wondered what kind of game my uncle was playing. I heard the enforcers laughing before more punches were thrown. Groans and grunts filled the space around me as my tears flooded my neck. I had two choices. Two options. One genuinely saved my life, and one sacrificed it.

Do I make a break for it with my money? Or do I go upstairs and wait?

For once, I didn’t know which move to make anymore.

But—also for once—it didn’t matter anymore. My goal had been to woo Israel. To get him to love me. To get him to cherish me like I knew he was capable of doing. That would never happen, though. Not now.

You should have run when you had the chance.

So, I turned on the balls of my feet and sprinted down the hallway toward the stairs.

20

Israel

I wipedmy hands off on my pants before I made my way into the kitchen.

With the smell of blood trailing behind me, I used it to force me to root myself. One step at a time. My father had always taught me that. When it felt like the world was upending itself just to swallow you whole, take it one step at a time. So long as I was putting one step in front of the other, I was progressing.

I just didn’t know what I was progressing toward yet.

I picked up the phone in the pantry, and it automatically began ringing. I stood there, breathing deeply. Trying to control my anger as best I could. My eyes slid closed as the line on the other end clicked. I waited for three beats before I heard the beep, and I knew things were safe.

“Body count?” the woman asked.

“Three. Two in the interrogation room, one upstairs in the bedroom.”

“Main?”

I nodded. “Yes.”

“Cleaning?”

“Level four. Blood in the white carpets, blood on the hardwood floors. A couple of bullet holes in the walls of the main bedroom.”

I heard her typing away before she cleared her throat.

“Thirty minutes. It is requested that you sleep in one of the other bedrooms tonight.”

I nodded. “It will be done. Just make sure to thoroughly clean the upstairs. A lot has happened tonight.”

“Thirty minutes, Mr. Israel.”

Then, the phone call disconnected.

I sighed as I hung up the phone, then I turned my eyes toward the ceiling. I’d heard Bonnie backtrack up the steps, but I hadn't heard her since. I didn’t know how I was feeling. Fuck that. I knew exactly how I felt.

Betrayed.

Disgraced.

Utterly fucking conflicted.

On the one hand, I should have known she was telling me the truth all along. I didn’t sense a lie in her. I had questioned my own instincts because of the plot to murder me that snaked right beneath my nose. Now, I had confirmation. Confirmation without doubt.

“Fuck!” I roared.

I slammed my fists into the pantry wall and leaned my forehead against the cold plaster. As I stood there, trying to breathe deeply, a gasping chuckle fell from my lips. I shook my head as I stood up, raking my hands down my face. I emerged from the pantry, not knowing whether to laugh, cry, or kill.

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