Page 66 of Cruel Savior

"My equipment picks up more than sound and sight. I don't take chances that I'll miss anything." Right then I wasn't sure if Tel was brilliant or a fucking maniac. Probably both. I was just really glad he was on our side.

His confidence, however, wasn't enough. Houston and I were well aware that no one had to get close to take any of them out. If this was some kind of trap so Mazzeo could get to her, I didn't believe for a second he would use a sharpshooter to take her out. His interest in all of this was too personal.

No. When he killed the people he considered key, it would be done up close. He was going to try and get her face-to-face. Which meant he and I would be face-to-face instead. Mandy's assessment of his psychotic behavior had been the same.

We were silently ushered into a big conference room with three men already sitting at one end of the table and a whole army of others standing around the perimeter of the room with their weapons in their hands at their sides.

"This is bullshit," I said. "There isn't a goddamned friendly thing about this little get-together." I turned to JD. "Let's get the fuck out of here. Let the Feds deal with them."

JD didn't bat an eye or blink at my rehearsed objection. Instead, he nodded in the direction of the three men. "Gentlemen," he drawled. "Your lapdogs already divested us of weapons, so this,"—he waved around the room—"is overkill. If this meeting has a chance in hell of continuinganddoing anything useful, they need to stand down. Or we're out of here."

"You seem to be mistaken." One of them muttered, a deep scowl etched across his face. "You no longer have a choice. You are now here at our will, not your own."

"So that's how you want to play this? Start off with threatening us? Okay go for it. Kill us and see what happens next. If you think the governor is a thorn in your side now, just wait."

One of the men shrugged as if he didn't give one shit about the outcome of all this. "A bullet to his brain will solve all of our problems. It's no big deal to us."

No one was going to fall for that bullshit, otherwise we wouldn't be here.

JD laughed. "You are an even bigger fool than I thought if you believe that."

The man who'd spoken last started to stand, but one of the other men cut him a look that halted him in his tracks. He gave JD a vicious look that made it clear he would be all too happy to kill someone, but he returned to his seat regardless.

Okay then.Now we knew who was in charge. That was easier than I'd expected.

For a few seconds longer we all glared at each other. I was livid and unwilling to hide it, while JD looked, cool, calm, and collected. He was the master of his emotions and as far as these assholes were concerned, he could take them or leave them. Although after what happened to Sasha, I had no doubt any of them were long for this world if they didn't find a way to make this right.

Finally, the man in charge made a noise that sounded a lot like a grunt, and all the men lining the room came to attention and then filed out the door, leaving the three of them and the two of us. We were technically outnumbered, but these stuffed suits probably did nothing other than talk about violence—they couldn't hold a candle to the two of us if their lives depended on it. And it might.

"All of tonight's commotion was completely unnecessary. It serves neither of our interests for the government to employ such tactics against us. I guarantee the end result will impact us all in a negative manner."

"You reap what you sow." JD's recital of our club motto echoed through the spacious room. "You should have thought of that before your man decided to come after us, in our own home. Nothing we've done warrants that. Frank Mazzeo got what he deserved and his son is next."

The one man who'd yet to speak smiled, and it unnerved me. I didn't like the look of any of them, but he, in particular, gave me a bad vibe. If any of them would give us trouble over getting what he wanted, it was going to be him. The others looked tired and frustrated.

"Frank was a stupid fool who let his thirst for more power overrule his imagination."

Finally, something we could all agree on.

"That he was," JD agreed. "A sick bastard, too. And it seems his son didn't fall far from the tree at all."

A slight grunt erupted from the man in charge. "Unfortunately, his death created chaos in the organization and tied up a lot of his assets until we found his rightful heir."

I bristled against the fact that they didn't consider Isabella the one who had all the rights. It was she who'd suffered at his hand and her father's demented partner. It was enough to make me wish we could kill him all over again.

I didn't give one shit about his son's story. Nor did I worry about whether psychos were made or born. He'd killed one of ours. He'd killed the governor's aide, and he'd killed an FBI agent. Three fucking people were dead because of him, and two more in the hospital still fighting for their life.

And those were only the ones we knew about. I had a hunch, as good as this guy was at getting in and out of tight places, that these were not his first kills. And they would not be his last if we didn't put an end to him.

"Not a one of us has any skin in that game. Not even his daughter, who is under our protection by the way, so don't even think about making a move on her, wants anything to do with his assets. She signed away her claim to his entire fortune."

"Not hisentirefortune, it would seem."

"Is that what this is about? Fuck," JD swore again, letting a little of his anger slip out. "Fine. You want to make this about money, go for it. We're leaving. You want to keep letting that fucker come after us, go for it. The consequences will be on your head and at your fucking front door."

"You seem to think you have all the power here."

"And you seem to think we don't. I have no idea what you were trying to gain by asking us here under false pretenses. It's clear you don't plan on negotiating anything."

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