Page 107 of Treacherous

His hand clamped down on my shoulder, nails biting into my shoulder blade, and I had to force myself to remain still and not pulverize the creep into next year.

There was no doubt in my mind that I could. George knew that as well as I did. But the bastard held the trump card – the one thing that assured my submission – and he wielded it over me any chance he got. "And how was your pretty littlemommy?" he sneered, green eyes narrowed and full of poison. "I heard you paid her a little visit over the holidays."

"Like you don’t know," I hissed, roughly shaking his hand off. "Her nurse told me about thevisitor." I shook my head in disgust. "What was it this time, meth or coke?"

"What can I say…she called me begging for it," he chuckled. "Your sweet little momma's crazier than a bag of frogs, Messina, but she's one hell of a great fuck."

"You make me sick." My fists clenched with the urge to knock him out. "You're scum, George. Fucking scum." I was shaking with temper as I watched him step out of my reach.

"Sooner or later I'm going to get her away from you," I vowed. "Someplace you and your scumbag cronies can't get to her – can't poison her body."

George's eyes lit up with amusement. "But what would be the point in that, Noah?" he asked in an innocent tone. "Now that I know about your little soft spot for the doctor's niece and can easily use her instead of your mother to keep you in-line."

My blood turned to ice in my veins. "Don’t even think about involving Teagan in this…"

"You already did that, you little shit," George snarled. "When you fucked me over with Gonzalez. Be glad that your body's not rotting in the fucking mountains next to your father's."

I watched George walk across my bedroom. "You fight Gonzalez's boy, Javi, Friday night – the thirteenth," he informed me and my stomach churned.

Gerome Javi was a fucking butcher. No onesurviveda fight with the guy, let alone beat him. Javi was a fight to the death kinda guy – no remorse and no way out. Step into the ring with him and you were signing your own death certificate. I didn’t have a prayer of beating him and George knew it…

"This is different, isn’t it?" I husked, feeling more fear than I had felt in years. "This is it – my punishment." I could feel the vein in my temple throb as I glowered down at the man I hated more than anyone else on this planet.

George nodded his head, confirming my worst fears, and my legs felt weak.

This was bad…

This was so fucking bad…

"The rules have changed, Messina," he told me. "Because of your defection I can't trust you anymore."

"My defection," I repeated flatly. "I fought to make some extra cash and get my car fixed – I'd hardly call it defection."

"That's because you don’t have a loyal bone in your body," George snarled, red-faced, as he stepped towards me and poked my chest. "You don’t have a clue of what loyalty means – just like your piece of shit father."

"I'm not my father," I snarled.

"Not yet," George sneered. "But lose against Javi on Friday and you'll be spending a whole bunch of time with him."

"So that's what this is?" I hissed, forcing my voice not to shake even though the image of Teagan's face was making me feel faint with fear. "You want rid of me, but you want Javi to do your dirty work for you?"

"I demand allegiance from my men," he roared. "And you, my boy, knew exactly what would happen when you took that job for my fucking arch rival." Marching past me George turned when he reached my door and smirked. "Oh, and be sure to bring your little girlfriend Friday night, you know, for moral support…or for a final farewell."

"No goddamn way," I snarled, chest heaving. "She stays out of this, George."

George threw his head back and laughed. "What's wrong, Messina?" he goaded. "Don’t you think you can win?"

"She's not going," I seethed. I could feel my temper piquing and I urged myself to calm down and breathe. "Leave her out of this, G. I mean it."

George studied my face with an amused expression. "You were always weak, Messina," he croaked. "Same as your father. He lost his head for a blonde."

Shaking his head, George opened my bedroom door and stepped onto the hallway. "Bring the girl," he sneered. "Let's see how focused you are with your piece of ass in the crowd."

"One of these days I'm gonna kill you," I vowed, jaw clenched, eyes locked on his fat fuck of a face. "I promise you that much."

"Famous last words, Messina," he taunted. "Oh wait – those really were your father'slastwords – right before I put a bullet between his eyes."

****

---