Page 77 of Sapphire's Gem
Sapphire hung up. I held her gaze as anger and worry warred for dominance on her face.
“The Royal Ink was attacked alongside Harlot’s Garage and the Royal Gardens. I need to leave,” she stated.
To my sheer surprise, Sapphire bent over and kissed my cheek. My skin tingled from where her lips had touched it. Before I could say a word, Sapphire had left, completely distracted.
“There’s a war coming,” Cassidy said.
“Yeah. This gang isn’t letting up,” I replied.
“Attacking the Harlots is suicide. I know we’ve no proof, but I feel it in my gut; they’re behind these attacks on gang members.”
“I ain’t disagreeing, Cassidy, why do you think I was watching them? Problem is, I don’t really have an issue if they’re taking scum off the street.”
“Can’t say I do either, even if they’re technically breaking the law.”
“Different shades of grey, Cassidy,” I muttered.
He nodded in agreement.
Sapphire
The wheels of my bike squealed as I slammed on the brakes. I hadn’t headed for the Royal Gardens as Vengeance had assured me everything was fine. A prospect was on the way there to haul the two gang members whom Vengeance had captured. Birdie was already hauling ass back to the place we did our wet work. She’d caught three gang members and had brought them down. Birdie had no qualms borrowing a client’s van to transport her captives in.
Which left the Royal Ink, and there were police barriers up preventing me from getting any closer.
I swung off my bike and jogged over to the barrier. “I need to get through.”
The uniform stared at me and shook his head. “Nobody’s getting past. This is a crime scene.”
“Look, dude, I’ve got no problem with you, but I will have. My shop is down there, as is my sister. You either let me through or else.”
The officer puffed up. “Are you threatening me?”
“Let her through, Addison,” Hatton called, and I sent Addison a smug look and ducked under the barrier.
“Hatton. My sister?” I called.
“Lantern is fine but dazed. The streets are a mess,” he said. I stopped and looked around. Shit. Hatton wasn’t lying.
“A fuckin’ bomb?” I gasped.
“You can’t go any closer, Sapphire; you’ll contaminate the evidence. But yeah, a car exploded outside the shops. We’ve got one dead inside the car, and we think the explosive triggered early as he was exiting it. Luckily, the fallout wasn’t as bad as it could have been. Maybe they didn’t use enough explosives.
“As it stands, Lantern was cut by glass. The lady in the flower shop was badly hurt and is on her way to the hospital, and the jeweller was also knocked flying. Seven pedestrians were cut by flying glass and are also en route. We have another suspect in custody; he was near the car and was knocked down, and is wearing gang colours.”
“Shit!” I hissed. “Was the bomb aimed at us?”
“We’re unsure at the moment. But the jeweller was hysterical. Kept saying she should have provided the protection money, which prompted the florist to say the same. Without any evidence or statements, I can only guess, Sapphire. I think this was a warning to those who haven’t paid the protection money, and the Royal Ink was a bonus,” Hatton said.
I ground my teeth. These fuckin’ assholes were like weeds. They kept growing.
“Can I see Lantern now?”
“Yeah. She’s in a mood; two of her artists were also cut, and the receptionist banged her head. I’ll take you to her because I can’t have you stampeding through a crime scene.”
I nodded as I tried to control my temper. The Royal Harlots needed to buy shares in the hospital because of the amount of time we were spending there lately. We’d make a killing just on our own visits.
Lantern was sitting on a curb when I arrived, and I gasped in horror. Her face and bare arms were cut to shit, and there was a deep gash across her chest. She had a massive bruise covering one side of her face as well.
