Page 7 of Explode
I won’t lie, I found a sick satisfaction when I used the knife to carvethe word ‘Coward’ into the flesh of Jacob’s forehead. With every line I carved, it felt like a small step towards victory.
“I’m good,” I told Miles. He glanced over at me, his brows pulledtogether as if assessing me. He gave me a nod, clearly deciding I was being truthful.
“Miles, Riley,” a voice called as we approached the porch thatwrapped around the house. We both stopped and waited for Jack to reach us.
Jack Ericson was the head of a team of mercenaries who worked forApollo, a private security company Kai had hired the services of. Initially, it was to protect Angel and me when I made the stupid decision to leave him. When I came to my senses and returned to him forty-eight hours later, Kai hired their services again to protect his family home while we were staying there. But as things started developing with Max, they’d taken our side.
After Kai died, the head honcho of Apollo agreed Jack and his teamwere at our disposal for as long as we needed them. There were only eight of them, but they were savage, and quite frankly, I would never want to get on the wrong side of them.
When news spread that Kai had died, we’d been forced to run,despite my protests. Kai had drummed his mantra into me- Wolfes don’t run, and they don’t hide. So when the news broke, and Hendrix ordered The Stags to move in, I’d been determined to stay in Hollows Bay and fight back.
Miles, however, he’d been more sensible. He knew the danger wewere in if we stayed. Not only had he seen firsthand how many of Kai’s men had switched sides after the shootout at the warehouse, but he started receiving calls from his informants telling him Hendrix had put a hit out on both him and me.
Apparently, the word on the street was Miles and I had been havingan affair, and Miles had killed Kai in a jealous rage. It was laughable, but people bought it, especially when Hendrix offered ten million dollars to whoever hand-delivered me to him alive, along with Miles’ severed head.
Miles knew we needed to get out of the city if we stood any chance offighting back in the future. With the help of Jack and his team, we went to ground. A week after leaving the city, we arrived at the house we were now at, miles away from Hollows Bay, and completely off grid. We knew we couldn’t take on Hendrix and Max and the entire gang they had created without a plan.
The problem was, we only had Miles and me, and the team of eightmercenaries, and even though none of us wanted to wait, we bided our time. We watched as Hendrix took over all of Kai’s assets. We watched Max Thorne emerge from wherever he’d been hiding to recoverweekslater.
We watched, we waited, and we planned, because we weren’t justgoing to kill Hendrix and Max, we were going to destroy them first. And now, six long months later, we had taken our first steps in reclaiming the city.
“What happened to your nose?” Jack asked as he reached us, noticingthe crusted blood on Miles’ face.
“Someone went psycho on me,” Miles retorted, smirking.
Jack’s eyes whipped to me, an impressed smile creeping on his lips. “I’m impressed, Riley.”
“Thanks,” I muttered, trying not to be too happy with the compliment, Iwasn’t exactly feeling great about busting Miles’ nose.
“What’s up?” Miles asked, returning to why Jack had called us.
“I’ve just had some information come through, thought you’d ought toknow,” Jack replied, his features turning serious.
Jack was a handsome man, he was ex-military, and had the build of asoldier. With emerald green eyes, and stubble growing along his chiseled jaw, you would have thought he’d be a hit with the ladies, but Jack was married to the job. Or at least, that’s what he had told me one night.
There was a story behind his eyes, one that told of loss and regret,the same look that was no doubt in my eye, but it was none of my business, and ultimately, I had no more room for extra heartache.
“Go on.”
“It’s the Bianchis. They’re fed up with Hendrix refusing to pay the 5%as per the treaty. They’re planning on launching an attack on Hollows Bay, and when they win, they’re going to claim ownership of the city.”
Chapter 2
Riley
Bollocks.
This was the last thing we needed.
It was hardly surprising though, the Bianchi family earned 5% fromthe sale of the Wolfe supply of drugs and weapons. Kai used to make a fortune from these ventures, and the Bianchis took their share without lifting a finger. They wouldn’t like being cut off from that.
I didn’t know much about the Bianchi family other than what Mileshad told me a few weeks ago when rumors started swirling that Hendrix had refused to pay them, no doubt under Max’s instruction. Apparently, Kai’s great-grandfather, Theodore, got too big for his boots and thought he could take on the Italian Mafia, which only resulted in lives being lost.
When his grandfather, Nicholas, took over, he’d managed to get thehead of the family to agree to a kind of peace treaty. Both families agreed they’d never step foot into the other’s territory or all hell would break out. It was also agreed that whoever was in charge of the Wolfe family would continue to pay the Bianchis 5% as an ongoing apology for Theodore’s arrogance.
It all seemed like bullshit to me, or rather, a lot of politics I didn’tunderstand, and had no intention of ever understanding. It sounded very much though that Max and Hendrix were taking a leaf out of old Theodore’s book, and their boots had gotten too big.
But if the Bianchis were planning their own war, there was a chancethat when all was said and done, there would be no Hollows Bay for the Wolfe family to rule over, and the realization sat heavily on my shoulders.
