Page 32 of Tainted Essence

“You ever let her in that ring again and I’ll snap your fucking neck and deliver your head to your mother.” Riley’s face pales, he swallows loudly and nods.

I feel bad for the guy so I cut in. “It wasn’t him who helped me strap my hands.” Taylan frowns, I flick my gaze to the group standing behind him. He spins around and I watch as all the muscles in his back tense in anticipation.

“Ohhhhh, you are my new favorite because you have so pissed my dad and grandpa off without even trying,” London singsongs. Royal, Chaos, Sin, Kacey, Artemis, Cronos and London all stand there staring at Taylan, all of them except for London and Sin look like they are ready to break every bone in Taylan’s body. I move forward so I’m standing beside him, ready to protect him against my family if I need to.

“You let her go out there against them?” he shouts, garnering the attention of the crowd around us. Chanel steps forward with a cold look on her face.

“She is a skilled fighter and can hold her own, did she not just prove that?” Her tone is laced with venom.

“She could have been killed! They are twice her fucking size,” Taylan snaps back. London’s face becomes a picture of outrage as she comes forward, stopping beside Sin.

“You think she’s weak because she has a pussy?” The five guys groan and mutter between their breaths, they should all know by now that London has no filter and will say whatever is on her mind.

“I never said I thought she was weak,” he says in a firm tone.

“The more important thing is why the fuck you brought her here?” Royal says in a deathly calm tone that is fooling no one.

“How did you even know about this place?” I ask my cousin.

He cuts his gaze to me for a second before looking back at Taylan. “Did it cross your mind that her car has a tracker on it?” I gape at my cousin.

“You put a fucking tracker on my car?” I yell.

“Yeah, I did,” Chaos answers, giving no fucks that he just invaded my privacy.

“Stay the fuck out of my business!” I snarl.

“Let’s move, too many eyes and ears,” Kacey says. I look around and notice we have every single person's attention on us. No one argues as we follow Kacey, heading back the way we came. Taylan refuses to let my hand go when I try to pull it free. He shoots me a warning look that has me relenting and allowing him this small win. Royal, Kacey, Chaos and Sin lead the way while Cronos, Artemis, London, Taylan and I hang back a bit.

“Dad is so pissed off and it is fucking epic to see,” London says happily. I shake my head, she is batshit crazy, there is no debating that.

“Does Uncle Bishop really know?” I ask her.

She smiles and shakes her head speaking low enough so only we can hear. “No, I just said that so I could blow my dad’s bubble. He thinks Grandpa is on his way and it’s pissing him off because he wanted to be the one to deal with this situation.” I can’t hide my smile.

“You’re a little shit, you know that?” She beams at me and nods.

“Artemis loves it.” The man himself wraps his arm around her shoulders and draws her into his side, placing a kiss to the top of her head.

“Yeah, I fucking do.” I can’t help the sigh that works its way past my lips, I envy what they have. I look back at Taylan to find his gaze laser focused on me, the look in his eyes has me turning away from him before he can see more than I am willing to share.

“Heads up,” Artemis says ,drawing our attention to him as we near the edge of the woods. “Royal has no idea about who runs the underground.”

Taylan’s face is a mask of indifference. “And you do?” he claps back.

Artemis pins him with a dry stare. “I have my ways, your secret is safe with us but you better have a good fucking reason why you took her there.” Our conversation comes to a halt when we break through the tree line. Three SUV’s are parked by my car that I can’t help but glare, I can’t believe Chaos put a fucking tracker on my car. Taylan brings us to a stop a few feet away from my cousins. Chaos and Royal stand there with their arms crossed over their chests while Kacey stands behind Chanel with his arms wrapped around her waist and his chin resting on her shoulder.

Fuck, I never thought I would ever envy Chanel, but I do.

“Start explaining before I start tearing you apart,” Royal threatens.

Taylan scoffs, earning a glare from the three guys while Chanel just smirks. “You could but we all know you won’t do that because you would violate the treaty and that would start a war.”

“Did you miss the part where you are here because we can’t trust the RDS or the DCF?” I roll my eyes, the Re Della Strada and the Da Luca Crime Family have proven themselves trustworthy but my family has their heads up their asses and refuse to see that.

“Nope, but I got a tip that intel on the Russian fucks could be found here tonight so I put my feelers out.” I whirl on Taylan staring up at him in outrage.

“Are you kidding?” My tone is layered with betrayal and anger.

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