Page 97 of Ruthless Beasts

“You don’t say,” Adam answered dryly.

“Scout's honor. I speak the truth.” I held up my finger. “She kicked me.”

That got both Adam’s and Ace’s attention. Ace tilted his head. “She kicked you?”

Adam was crowding me in seconds, pushing me out of the way to touch Bellamy’s stomach. Sometimes I forgot that he’d been through this before, been through what it was like to have a pregnant woman around. But for Ace and me, this was all new. We were all learning as we went, right alongside Bellamy.

It took thirty seconds of his hand resting against her skin before his brows shot up. “There it is! Fuck if that isn’t the sweetest thing. Thanks for making this shit day a little better.”

Adam leaned in to kiss her, ignoring Ace as he tried to move Adam’s hand so he, too, could feel the miracle just under Bellamy’s skin. When it was clear that he would not share, Bellamy’s finger circled Adam’s wrist and pulled. Parting from his lips, she reprimanded, “You need to share.”

“I had you first,” he grumbled.

“Are we five or are we big bad mafia men?”

This girl was going to be the death of us. I knew that for fucking sure. With a sigh, Adam relented, “We’re men.”

“Hard to tell sometimes.” She smirked as he pulled away. The spot against her skin was instantly occupied by Ace’s palm.

“Watch it little girl, or we’ll be forced to show you just what big bad mafia men can do,” I threatened.

“If you’re trying to scare me, maybe try different tactics.” She beamed, her smile so wide with taunts I wanted to show her what else she could do with that mouth.

Ace was low against her abdomen, talking with her stomach and giving it kisses, begging the baby to move for him. Honestly, I’m not a softy, but it was something to see men I’ve watched take lives go mushy over a new one.

Adam cleared his throat. “We’ve got some left-over food from the service. I figured we could eat that for dinner, then maybe a movie?”

Bellamy readily agreed. If only she knew Adam’s true intent. Our girl couldn’t keep awake during a single movie. It was her kryptonite. But on nights like this, where we only had revenge on our mind, we needed our girl occupied.

Her focus was on Ace, who was still so close to her stomach as he waited. “That sounds great. What movie are we?—“

“Holy shit!” Ace shouted, cutting her off.

She laughed, her fingers running through Ace’s hair as she held him close to her, and at this moment, the joy on their faces… I hoped it never fucking ended.

A few hours later, Bellamy was tucked into their bed, Lady at her feet. We gathered in Adam’s office, our mood solemn as we addressed everything that needed to be said. We gave it two weeks. We let our men mourn their friend, and now, it was our turn to show Accardo our drive to see him dead.

And he would die. There was no other option now. Not after he threatened our girl. Hell, he’d never had a chance. Adam was just biding time. But in the end, there was always going to be retribution for what he did, the pain he caused, the lives of our family lost. We’d accept nothing less.

“I’ve done some research,” I announced. “Dived deeper than I’ve dived previously.”

Adam leaned back in his chair, the leather squeaking. “What did you find?”

“He has a brother a few towns over. They are quite close.”

Ace smirked. “Because losing his son wasn’t enough.”

I grinned. “I like the challenge. A life for a life seems fair, don’t you think?”

“What’re the odds that taking his brother would push him over the edge too quickly?” Adam’s brows furrowed.

“He’ll lose his shit, but we’ll have time. He never acts rashly and always has plans.” I leaned against the wall. “It will give us time to fortify our front.”

“What if…” Ace’s face was pinched with tension. “What if we attack his properties first? Distract him. Hit him from multiple angles at the same time we take his brother out? We’ll start with the property attacks first. He’ll be too distracted to even think about the possibility of the true target.”

Adam’s interest was piqued. “What properties are we going after?”

“Let’s get personal.” I smirked. “His garage with all his personal vehicles, flame it. The auto shop on fifth, slash all the tires. Only damage what he has to pay for, not damaging the body of the customers’ vehicles. The bingo hall, cut the wires and let loose a crate of rats. His corner store on El Dorado, pay someone to rob it. Rough up the inside, tip over the racks. All of it done at once, in unison. It’s all low key when you think about it, small fucking shit. But annoying as fuck. That is until he realizes that the icing on the fucking cake is his brother in a pool of blood.”

---