Page 145 of Riot

He looked like death already. All I had to do was finish the paperwork.

“Well,” he wheezed, a dry chuckle bubbling up from somewhere between phlegm and madness. “Look who finally showed up.”

I stepped into the room slow, gun low but ready. My crew hung back in the doorway. This was personal.

“You betrayed me,” Boaz croaked, eyes sharp despite the decay. “Why did you snitch like a bitch. Your father would be disgusted.”

I raised a brow. “I shot my own father. Why the fuck would I snitch on you?”

He narrowed his eyes.

“I preferred the old-fashioned way,” I said coldly. “Like I’m doing now.”

“After everything I gave you…”

“You gave me money for a tiger.” I said. “You’re a disease. You’re a pervert. And your whole lineage is filled with perverts.”

He let out a laugh that turned into a wet cough. “So it was you.”

“What?”

“Raz. My son.”

I didn’t blink. “Yeah. I killed that sick fuck. It was easier than this and this has been a breeze.”

Boaz winced, but there was pride in his eyes too. “He was a monster. But he was mine.”

“And she was yours too, huh?” I took a step closer. “Allure. The Virgin. You kept her locked in that fucking compound like a rare bird. Watched her cook and clean and waste a decade of her life while your son tried to force himself on her.”

His jaw clenched. “Allure was special to me.”

“You don’t get to say her name.”

His fingers twitched reaching for a gun.

I noticed the glint of metal a second before he moved, hand jerking toward the underside of his chair.

I shot.

One bullet.

Straight through the back of his hand.

He screamed. The gun clattered to the floor.

He writhed in the chair, oxygen tube dangling, blood streaming down his wrist. “Fuck you!” he shouted, voice cracking. “You ruined everything!”

I walked forward, slow and steady. “And yet I feel just fine.”

He gasped, sucking through the mask. “You hit up my winery. That was low.”

His head jerked up, surprise slicing through the pain. “What?”

“You heard me. Was that your retaliation?” I growled. “You sent goons to my event. With press and buyers and senators walking around. Was that your play?”

He shook his head violently, coughing again. “That wasn’t me, you dumb fuck. You think I’d be that stupid with the fedscrawling up my ass? I’m on oxygen and house arrest. Ican’tafford a body count!”

I stared at him. Read him.

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