Page 24 of The Ties That Bind

“No one else knows this—at least I don’t think they do—but she’s been in charge over in Wilsonville for the last eight months or so. Old Royce is just a figure-head at this point. She’s the one calling the shots.”

“Shit man, sweet little Arabella’s a don?” He swiped his large, scarred hand over his closely cropped hair. “I can’t picture it.”

“Neither could I, but it’s true.”

“How do you know your intel’s good?”

“Do you remember the surveillance tape from the warehouse fire?”

“Of course. Fuck, those assholes covered their tracks good,” he answered with grudging admiration. “Not a trace of who they were or how they’d gotten close enough to do it.”

“That’s what I thought too. Except the last time I watched the tape, something jumped out at me, something that didn’t seem right. Those weren’t all dudes.”

I watched as understanding dawned in his eyes. “That little ninja shithead running point? Do not tell me that was Arabella.”

“Afraid so,” I confirmed. “Seems my ex-girlfriend has spent the last few years picking up some new tricks. Parkour and explosives, to name just two.”

“Holy shit,” he answered, laughing. “Go big or go home, I guess.”

“Pretty much,” I agreed.

“Okay, so Arabella was responsible for the fire, but I’m not seeing what that has to do with the other thing.” He cocked his eyebrow.

“I think Jayce knows about me and Arabella.”

“You mean from way back?”

Why did I get the impression he was asking me a whole other question?

When his eyes bored into mine I tried not to let the guilt show on my face. It was bad enough I’d admitted out loud that I was planning on killing the leader of our crime syndicate, never mind that it was to save the head of the family of our biggest rival. Ben didn’t need to know I’d spent the last two nights with my cock buried deep in Arabella’s sweet little pussy. That was, of course, when her lips weren’t wrapped tight around my dick while I fucked her face.

“Yeah, back then. You know, before,” I hedged.

“Huh,” he huffed consideringly. “If he did know, he never said anything to me about it.”

I rubbed my hand over my jaw. “The thing is, I have eight days to deliver proof that I’ve taken her out or he comes after the both of us.”

“Wait, what?”

“You heard me. He called me into his office and gave me orders.”

“Then he definitely knows it was her on the video and that she’s running the game, but why do you think he’s on to you?”

“Because of his threat. It makes no sense otherwise. I’m a good little soldier; I do everything he asks and I never question my orders. He’s testing me, I know it. He’s trying to see how far he can push me. And if he can’t make me do it, he’ll feel like I’ve lost my edge. I’ll be no use to him then and he can justify having me gone.”

“Shit man, nothing Jayce does anymore makes a lick of sense.”

“This time, it actually does,” I countered. “Think about it. If he believes for one minute that I’m sleeping with the enemy, he has a completely justifiable reason to take me out. But if I’m not, there’s absolutely no reason why I should balk at this particular order. After all, it’s not that different from any other he’s given me the last couple of years. I have more blood on my hands than I know what to do with some days, so it’s not like this should be any hardship. What’s one more check on my tally?”

“So what are you going to do?”

“I told you, I’m going to put an end to it.”

“I don’t know man,” he cautioned. “I’m no fan of your brother, but he has a lot of minions. What’s to say if you do this, they don’t retaliate as a matter of principle?”

I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose between my thumb and forefinger. “Because I’ll be the man in charge?”

“You seem to be forgetting something,” he cautioned. “If you take out the man in charge so that you become the man in charge, you’ve just told them it’s okay to take out the big man in charge.”

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