Page 56 of Filthy Savage

Conrad pushes down on the arms of the chair and slowly rises to his feet. I’m not sure what exactly he’s going to do. Bracing myself, letting my arms fall down to my sides, I hold my hands loosely, ready for what is coming.

Because somethingiscoming.

I suck in a breath, hold it for a moment, then let it out slowly as he stands in front of Atomic. Thankfully, he doesn’t make anysudden moves. Instead, he tilts his head to the side. He presses his lips together, then purses them slightly before he speaks.

“There was a treaty?” he asks.

Atomic jerks his chin. “I’m going to reach into my cut and take out the paperwork for you,” he says as he slowly opens his cut with one hand and reaches inside with the other, producing an envelope. I didn’t expect him to have it with him, but good fucking thinking on his part.

He extends the papers for Conrad to take. I watch as he opens the envelope and slides the papers out of it, then unfolds the documents and scans them. When he reaches the final page and sees the signatures, he lets out a grunt.

“That’s Albert’s signature,” he murmurs.

“Did you think it would be forged?” I ask, unable to keep my mouth shut for another second.

Conrad clears his throat. “Not necessarily. However, you can never be too sure.”

“It’s real,” Atomic assures him. “Now, do you understand why we’re so pissed? One of our own is in federal prison for three years.”

Silence washes over the room. I hear a couple of Conrad’s men clear their throats, no doubt thinking about being locked up themselves and not liking the thought. He flicks his gaze back up from the papers to meet Atomic’s.

“The retaliation for this?” he asks.

“Already paid,” Atomic murmurs.

Conrad nods. “You will hear nothing more from us. The Southern Mafia will stick to the business we have. However…” he begins, then his words trail off.

Ahoweveris not what any of us want to hear right now. It’s so quiet in this room a pin could fucking drop, and we would all hear it and probably reach for our guns at the same time.

“However?” Nash asks.

“I must take advantage of this opportunity,” he says as he turns his back to us and walks over to the window.

His strides aren’t long. Rather, they’re almost catlike as he moves. I don’t understand anything about this man, but at the same time, I can’t stop watching him. He is commanding in his own way, and he is charismatic.

He is dangerous.

Conrad turns away from the window, his gaze flicking up to meet Atomic’s before he jerks his chin in a nod. “The opportunity that I propose to the Dark Horse MC is one that I’m sure you won’t be able to turn down.”

This fucker. It makes me wonder if all of this was on purpose. As he begins to speak, I can’t help but wonder if this was a game.

A big fat fucking game from the jump.

Because this motherfucker is the type to play chess and not checkers. And just judging by the gleam in his eye when he speaks, I can’t help but truly believe that this was the fucking plan all along.

Goddammit.

CHAPTER

TWENTY-TWO

SPENCER

The woman sitsacross from me. I don’t know her name and don’t care to know it. She doesn’t seem to care too much about me, either. I’m good with that. Her slim fingers wrap around the coffee cup that I’ve given her, and I watch as her black-painted nails tap the ceramic.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

I want to rip the cup from her hands and smash it into a million pieces. Unnecessary noises bother me, or maybe it’s because they’re coming from this woman, and I am jealous as hell. I am not stupid. I have known that Evan was with other women. His life, his world, that’s just the way things are.

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