Page 56 of Incoming Layne Shift

Joey did a quick check to make sure that there wasn’t anyone else in the house before coming back to standby while Layne had her conversation.

Russ shook his head. “You stupid little bitch! Didn’t you learn anything from the last time you came barging onto my property?”

She pursed her lips in thought. “Hmm, it seems not. It also seems you didn’t learn anything either.” Layne stepped in front of him, her striking green eyes staring at him. “I promised you a war. The sad thing about war is that it comes with casualties. Your psycho-bitch daughter was the first of what I imagine will be many more to come.”

He made a move to come at her, but Gage shoved him back against the wall and Joey stepped up to assist in pinning him there. With one hand on Russ’s shoulder, Joey dug the end of a handgun up underneath Russ’s jaw. “Give me the tiniest excuse to blow your fuckin’ brains out.”

The ding of her phone went off in her pocket, followed by another one and another. She pulled her phone out and smiled to herself. “You see, Russ,” her finger flipped through a few messages on her phone. “I have my men all over the city tonight taking over your assets one by one.”

He scoffed at her. “You don’t have the resources.”

She gave an indifferent shrug. “No, you’re right about that. However, I had quite a few friends step up to the plate to provide some assistance. While you were so busy focusing on picking off my assets one by one, I was having talks with other factions. It turns out, you’re not as much of a well-liked guy as you seem to think.”

Russ scowled at her and tried to maintain his confidence that this was all one huge bluff. “They’ll all turn on you the moment you close your eyes. Even if they don’t, my employees will feed your corpse to a bunch of rabid dogs.”

She placed a hand on her chest, feigning the hurt of his words. “Oh, wow. That hurts nearly enough to make me change my mind.” Layne shook her head and smirked. “Tell me one thing, Russ, who’s going to give the order to come at me if I don’t let you walk out of here tonight?”

Layne pulled up a photo on her phone from a message that had just come in from Ethan. She showed it to Russ and the way his face fell and the color drained from his face had been worth all the stress and sleepless nights the past few weeks. There on the screen was a photograph of his second-in-command, lying in bed with two fresh holes in his head.

She turned off her phone and slid it back into her pocket. “What happens next is up to you, Russ. I have some questions that I’m dying to know the answers to.”

“Yeah, like what?” He struggled to get comfortable with both Joey and Gage tightly gripping onto him and the ever-present threat of the firearm lodged up against his neck.

Watching his face carefully to see how his expression would change, Layne spoke casually like they were about to discuss who won last night’s hockey game. “When did you first meet Eric Ellis?”

The question seemed to throw Russ, unclear of where she was heading with this. “What?”

Gage tightened his hold painfully. “The lady asked a goddamn question.” He said through clenched teeth.

Russell seemed to take a moment to count back the years. “It was well over ten years ago. Why the hell do you care about Ellis? He’s fucking nothing but worm food now.”

She pressed her lips together in a hard line knowing the next question quite possibly had an answer that she didn’t want any of them to hear. Not because she wanted to live in ignorant bliss, but because she knew that it would be one that either confirmed years of pain and brought healing or left them at a loss with more unanswered questions.

“Did you take a job from him? One that involved taking an innocent woman and physically collecting a debt from her that left her for dead?” She swallowed hard as her chest tightened.

The reaction from him didn’t satisfy Layne and she stepped closer so her face was up near his. “Did you?”

“I tossed Eric a favor every now and again, so it’s possible. If you’re talking about some blonde cutie that my guys picked up, then yeah, she was easy money. Too bad she broke a little too easily though, I had to ditch her to get her pussy sewn back up at the nearest vet.” Each of his words lacked remorse.

Layne shook her head in disappointment and stepped back. “I am more than happy to let you walk out of here tonight, Russ. I want you to see how it’s me taking all your assets from you and letting you get swallowed up by the rest of the scum in this city.”

She looked at Joey and Gage, giving them both the look they had been waiting for. “But it’s not about what I want. These two,” she motioned to the masked men standing before him, “won’t be allowing that to happen. They’re going to be collecting a long overdue debt from you.”

Joey shoved his pistol into his thigh holster so he could use two hands on Russ. They both yanked him away from the wall and dragged him through the house until they got to the kitchen.

Layne followed behind, watching as Russ cursed at all of them and attempted to wound them with insults. She leaned back against a wall and comfortably crossed her arms in front of her stomach. Her eyes were void of any empathy for the man who had scarred both her guys so many years ago.

What transpired next ended up being a kind ending to Russell Spencer’s life in comparison to what he had put Rosie through. Both Joey and Gage took turns using him as a punching bag, allowing all their years of accumulated pain to be taken out on the man responsible for it. After that, things got a little more creative with the use of the garbage disposal destroying each one of Russ’s hands at a time. The heavy stainless steel fridge door was slammed against the man’s head until the door itself broke.

Finally, just when Russ was losing consciousness from the brutal attacks, Gage tossed him to the floor and pinned him there underneath the weight of his boot. “Goodnight, motherfucker.” He pulled out his semi-automatic and fired three shots into the back of Russ’s skull.

Layne slowly released a breath as it all came to a bloody conclusion. Standing there witnessing them both avenge Rosie’s murder filled her with a mixture of feelings. One of which had her understanding both the guys on a different level. Her panties were growing damp with desire and arousal as each of them unleashed their fury.

She hoped that tonight could help them both heal and find their peace. More importantly, she hoped that this would be a clear message to anyone who fucked with her or anyone that she loved that Chaos and Wrath would follow. If anyone found themselves in the presence of Luck, may it be her good side.

CHAPTER THIRTY

The night they sent Russell Spencer to his grave had gone off smoother than even Layne had expected. While she didn’t have half the city’s criminal factions at her back as she had promised Russ she would, she was slowly building up her rapport and gaining respect from the other families across all of New York. There was still going to be a long way to go before she elevated herself beyond her father’s legacy, but she was confident it would happen someday.

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