Page 81 of Filthy Devil

“You won’t, and certainly not at the fucking Southern Mafia’s hands.”

The silence stretches between us, and that’s when Elvis’s voice comes out in a low, rough tone. “I’m worried, Dad. Whoever this small group of them are, they have been underground for a long goddamn time.”

“Waiting to take over,” I say.

“That’s what I think.”

“Then I’ll meet with this suited asshole because I have a feeling he’s connected to them.”

Elvis clears his throat. “Must be. The rest are dead.”

“And the Demon Guns?” I ask.

“Dead.”

The confirmation is what I need to be able to move forward. I can’t believe that such a large group was easy to take out, but at the same time, they had already started taking each other out before we began coming after them. It was the easiest thing we’ve ever done as a club.

“Good.”

“Dad, be careful,” Elvis murmurs before we end the call.

Shoving my phone in my back pocket, I turn my head to watch James. She’s standing in the kitchen, a glass of water in her hand, her eyes on me. She doesn’t say anything, likely because she heard everything Elvis and I talked about and got the gist of what’s going on.

“Nashville,” she calls out softly.

Smiling, I jerk my chin in her direction and close the distance between us. I reach out and wrap my fingers around the side of her neck, feeling her pulse beneath my thumb. It’s beating a million miles a minute. She’s either nervous or excited, maybe both.

“James,” I respond.

“Should I be scared?”

I should tell her the truth, but I don’t. “No, sweetheart. There’s no reason to be scared.”

JAMES

Nash assuresme that there is no reason for me to be scared, but I don’t believe him. I can see it behind his eyes. He is not entirely confident, even though he’s saying the words. Lifting my hand, I cup his cheek, my eyes searching his worried ones for a moment.

Without a word, he lowers his head, and his lips brush across mine, then he lifts his head and takes me in again.

“I’m taking that meeting with the suit tomorrow, but only one of us is walking out of it alive, and it won’t be him.”

My heart races even more, pounding harder against my chest. I don’t want him to take that meeting, not in the slightest, but I know that we can’t move forward if he doesn’t. Because if they’re hiding underground, then we’ll never be able to find them. And I want that whole group gone.

I want them to disappear so that they can’t take any more women. So that they can’t manipulate anyone into the life I was almost sold into. So that they can’t sell another soul into a life of sexual slavery because that’s what they’re doing. As much as I don’t want to believe it, that’s what it is.

“Take the meeting. But, Nashville?”

He tilts his head, his eyes focused on mine. “Yeah?” he asks when I don’t continue.

“I want them all gone. Every single one of them. I don’t want them to be able to hurt anyone else, ever.”

Nash’s lips curve up into a grin. “Your wish is my command, sweetheart.”

And that is that.

Fuck them all, wholly and completely. I don’t tell him that I don’t just want them gone, but I want them to suffer, too. I don’t say that because not only is it not necessary, it’s also not very nice. And at the end of the day, I’m a firm believer in karma.

So, I want them to be gone in a way they deserve.

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