Page 23 of With This Ring

Gavin wrenches the wheel of our car to the left, barely avoiding the SUV as it falls to the ground. “Out of the car, now!” he yells when he slams on brakes.

I do what he says, stumbling out of the car, grabbing my gun as I run across the pavement. The warning came not a momenttoo soon. I’m barely ten feet away when our car suffers the same fate, erupting into a ball of fire.

I’m thrown onto my back, the fiery air singing my face and racking against my lungs.

With effort, I roll onto my back, trying to find where the attack came from. I make out two figures running towards a sleek sedan, one with a rocket launcher over their shoulder. They have on masks, covering any identifying markers I could pick up to try to suss out what family they belong to. The license plate of the car is also covered, so I can’t make that out either.

How the fuck did they know we were here? We’re on the back roads going back to Yorkley. A road we always take.

Fuck, we always take the same route, so it’s not hard to deduce where we’ll be when we leave town. How did neither Gavin nor I realize we were being followed? I looked through the rearview mirror and side mirrors often. How the fuck did they get the drop on us?

Clambering to my feet, I flick the safety off my gun and aim at the tires of the sedan. I fire off shot after shot, hoping to flatten one of the tires so I can catch up to them. I’m not sure how, but I’ll find a way. I hit one tire, and the car spins out, but the driver is able to regain control of their car quickly and speed off.

“Fuck!” I shout to the air. I slide my gun back into the holster. Turning around, I see Gavin standing beside the road, surveying the damage while also checking our surroundings. The men in the lead car are beyond saving, the SUV an inferno of twisted metal.

I pull out my phone to call Dante. He’s only about twenty minutes away. He and some of his men can get here faster than my family.

After I tell him what happened and he promises to send some guys to help us out, I call Dad to give him the news. “I’m not surehow they knew we were here, but they’re fucking with us, Dad. They almost killed me and Gavin.”

His voice is tight with emotion as he asks, “Are you okay?”

“Fine. Might not have any fucking eyebrows, but I’m good.”

“Get back here as quickly as you can. You’re not the only one that got hit. The St. Clair’s did too. Indigo Arc Casino was hit with Molotov cocktails. The restaurant is burned to the ground, as well as the entrance to the main floor. Luckily, a waitress saw the person before he threw the cocktail, and she got everyone away from the doors. The restaurant was closed, so no casualties.”

“Son of a bitch,” I curse wildly, wanting to hit something. It would be easy for whoever is trying to take our territory to just off us and be done with it. So why are they playing these games? To fuck with us, that’s why. It’salla game to them. They want us to know that they can do what they want because we can’t do anything about it. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

Dante and his guys show up a few minutes later. They’re able to extinguish the flames and use a tow to get the twisted clumps of metal that used to be our vehicles on the back of the bed. I say a silent prayer for the men I lost today, remembering their names so I can pay my respects to their families. All arrangements will be taken care of by our family, of course.

Clean up takes almost three hours. Dante loans us one of his guys, having him drive us back to Yorkley. We don’t speak the whole ride, my mind going a thousand miles an hour. I almost died. If Gavin hadn’t ordered me out of the car, I would have.

I don’t see any emergency vehicles when we pull up to the casino, but yellow tape is still stuck to the doors of the building. We head to the back entrance, trudging through the filthy alley.

We make our way to the small conference room, finding it packed with my family and the St. Clair’s men. Voices bounce off the wall as everyone tries to be heard over the other.

When Dad spots me, he breaks away from conversation with Charlie, coming over to wrap his arms around me. He hugs me tight, sighing against my shoulder. “How are you, son?”

“I’m good, Dad. In one piece.”

He pulls back and holds me at arm’s length, nodding as he folds his lips in. “Yeah, you are. Good.”

I look over his shoulder and see Kai watching me and Dad’s exchange. His eyes hold a curious expression, as if what he’s seeing doesn’t make sense.

A pang shoots through me as our gazes clash, his gray eyes flashing with…something. He’s so fucking hard to read. He holds his emotions close to the vest, and it fucking sucks because I need to know what’s on his mind.

I force myself to look at Dad, to give him the rest of the bad news. “The money from the deal is gone. We lost almost three million today.”

He curses, shaking his head. “Fuck. They really hit us hard. I’m glad you’re okay though. That’s more important than the money.”

“Yeah, but that three million is coming out of my account.”

“You bet your ass it is,” Dad says with a bark of laughter.

Charlie comes over, looking angry. “I’m glad you can find humor in all this, Dominic. My fucking casino is fucked.”

Dad turns to him with a raised eyebrow. “And my son almost died. I could give a fuck about your casino. You can rebuild.”

“Use Kai’s company,” I pipe in. “It would save you millions instead of going with someone who will charge you an outrageous price.”

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