Page 57 of Lawless God

“Michael,” she cries as Sam pulls out his gun and presses it against her temple.

“You don’t understand,” he tells me, voice trembling.

“I do understand,” I say flatly. “Drying tears, snot, the redness of your cheeks. Your pulse is beating so hard that the skin at your throat is moving along with it. Your hands are shaking, your shoulders hunched, your leg bouncing. You’re terrified.”

I turn to Sam, proudly showing him how good I am at this.

He rolls his eyes. “Rach and Lik hate when I’m late to dinner. Will you move this along?”

I shrug, turning back to my victim. “See? I understand. Now sign. We wouldn’t want Sam to be late for dinner. I don’t care about his other two partners, but he won’t make my sister wait for him.” I make sure to throw a deadly look his way before tapping the papers again. “Go on, Mr. Campbell.”

“You don’t understand,” he repeats. “The W—The Wolves, if they learn I signed the hotels away…you don’t understand.”

“For fuck’s sake,” Sam growls. “I’m going to be so late.”

I scratch behind my ear, looking down at the shaking man in front of me. Tilting my head, I try to squeeze my chest, to put pressure against my eyes, forcing myself to feel something. Anything.

It doesn’t come. All I feel is irritated that Sam might be late for dinner with my sister. All I feel is excitement that the Cascade Hotels chain is about to be added to my portfolio of riches.

“Mr. Campbell, I thought our two days together made our agreement very clear. Sign the transfer of ownership.” I release a huff, pretending to actually care. “Because, do you know what I would really hate?”

He shakes his head, avoiding looking into my eyes. “Bringing your daughters into this.”

“Oh god,” his wife whimpers next to me.

I notice his eyes shining with tears again, and in a swift gesture, I grab his hair, pulling his head back. “Don’t you cry on that contract. No blood. No tears. Now sign.”

“O-okay. Okay.”

“Atta boy. Let’s move this along.”

I let him go and watch him put his signature on the document.

“Here. I signed. Please let us go. Please. My…my daughters.”

I close the manila folder, making sure to pull it away safely and into the briefcase we brought.

“It truly was a pleasure doing business with you, but I have to say, your greed will keep bringing you trouble. My advice? Stop dealing with mobsters. You don’t have what it takes.”

I uncuff him, and Sam frees his wife.

“I’m sure your daughters will be delighted to come home to two very alive parents. Have a lovely evening.”

It takes forever to drive back to Stoneview. The evening traffic on the way from Washington D.C. slows us down, and when Sam’s phone rings, my eyes stay stuck on the car screen.

Lovebug.

That’s his nickname for my sister.

“I want to kill you,” I say simply.

He hangs up on her, and a laugh bubbles in my throat. “Good luck when you get home.”

“I told you I couldn’t be late for dinner. There are rules to make a polyamorous relationship work, Nate. Having dinner together is one of them for us.”

“So what? They let you get away with being a hitman, so long as you wash the blood off your hands before you sit down to eat?”

“Precisely.”

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