Page 37 of Burning Bridges

“It’s not a little thing, though, and you know it. If those two families start fighting, there will be innocent people caught in the crossfire. Hannah included.”

“Be smart about it then, dear sister. I know you can work it out.” He disconnects the call before I have a chance to tell him I’m not on board. Or even ask him what he knows about the Kings and their involvement with Euphoria.

I throw the burner phone across the room onto the couch. He makes me so angry. I’m sick of following his instructions, and for him to threaten me the way he did makes him sound like our father more than ever. I just feel so trapped in this situation now, like I have lost all control over what’s happening to my life. I want to run to Leo, ask him to help me, tell him that Tony is still alive and what he’s up to, but I don’t know what the consequences with him will be. I might be risking more than my own life if I do. And what Axel said to me the other day is playing heavily on my mind. I have to protect Hannah first of all.

“Is everything all right, Mommy?” comes Hannah's sleepy little voice from the doorway.

I pick up the burner phone, making sure it's not broken, and force a smile onto my face. “Yes, of course, monkey. I just dropped my phone. I was about to come and grab you. You've been asleep half the afternoon, you must be getting hungry. I’ll fix you some dinner,” I tell her, my voice chirpier than I feel.

She comes over to me, hugging me around the waist. I kiss her soft hair, holding her tight. I would never let anything bad happen to her. “Did you have a nightmare?”

“No,” I say, not wanting her to worry about me.

“You fell asleep watching the movie, and you were whimpering, I heard you, Mom. You sounded scared, so I thought I better snuggle up with you so I could keep you safe.”

My heart constricts. This kid kills me with her kindness. “That was very kind of you, baby.” And it breaks my heart a little to know she thinks she needs to take care of me. I get another flashback of me taking care of my mother, and I know something has to change. She is not responsible for me, and I won’t let her feel like she is. I need to get my shit together. “Let’s get you some dinner,” I tell her, getting out the frying pan to cook up some burger patties.

Chapter 21

LEO

AsIstepinsideQueen of Hearts, a rare sense of ease washes over me. Piper's company over the last few weeks has been a welcome respite from the relentless demands of my business and the constant scrutiny that comes with it. For once, I'm not weighed down by the pressure to be in control of everything. She’s a nice distraction from all the chaos of this place and the responsibility of having all eyes on me, looking for their next instruction. Even if she did try and push me further than I was willing to go with her, it’s worked out to be so much more than I ever thought it could be.

It's only midday, and I haven’t even bothered to follow up with the missed calls I’ve had from my brothers yet. I don’t want to hear their opinion on me and Piper. I’m surprised to see the club is abuzz with energy. Some of the men from Jett’s security team are stationed around the place, as well as cleaning staff who should be long gone before we get there for the day. Instead of heading for my office, I stop in at Jett’s, seeing Kobe is with him.

“What the fuck is going on downstairs?” I question, already knowing I’m not going to like the answer.

Jett looks up from his monitor, slurping on one of those disgusting green smoothies he likes. “Had to call in an extra clean-up crew this morning.” He huffs, unimpressed.

I look to Kobe for answers, and he fills me in. “While you were back at home entertaining Piper, the Kings were making sure our streets were stocked with Euphoria. Three people died here last night, Leo. Two of them were regular girls and the third a paying client. This wasn’t a mistake, either. From what my contact tells me, there were lethal doses found in their systems. The Kings did this to fuck with us. We look all kind of guilty having this happen here in our club.”

A cold shiver runs down my spine at the mention of that drug. More innocent lives lost. “The same dose that was found in Rosemary Acevedo’s system?”

“We believe so. Friends of the girls are saying they were offered ten grand to sample some new product,” Kobe says, looking devastated. Knowing him, he knew the girls intimately.

“Euphoria X, it was supposed to be a high greater than anything they’d experienced before, and apparently it is. Right up until your heart stops,” adds Jett, looking up from his computer.

I narrow my eyes at the two of them, trying to process what they’re telling me. “Axel’s tipoff was right, it just wasn’t what we thought. They were waiting for us all to be distracted at the fight, then they took their opportunity to get their product into our establishments. I’d say this is their way of letting us know they don’t agree with our new rules.”

“You think? They are shitting all over our rules, Leo,” Jett snips. His mood this morning is worse than normal, and by the way he’s glaring at me, I can see he is somehow blaming me for this interruption to his training schedule.

Guilt eats at me. I was distracted with Piper when I should have been doing my job. If I was paying attention to what was going on and not messing around with her, this could have been avoided. That is what he’s saying without so many words. And he's right. I’ve fucked up, and innocent people died because of it.

“The cops will be here at ten. They think we have something to do with all of this,” Kobe informs me. “Just like the Kings would have planned.”

“What cops?” I growl, getting angrier by the second. The last thing we need is them sniffing around here.

Kobe shrugs. “I got a tipoff this morning from one of our police informers. New boss in the narcotics department, he wants to meet us. Jett’s looking into him now.” He points to Jett who is concentrating on the screen in front of him. He will have this guy’s full background within the hour, but some good it will do if we can’t clean up this mess in time.

I light up a smoke, inhaling deeply. These fucking King cunts have set us up to look like the ones bringing Euphoria into our town. “Whenever I find out who is behind all of this, he’s a dead man,” I seethe, feeling the rage I haven't felt in so long bubbling over inside of me. This all feels so personal. Like they are not just trying to get this drug back in our town, but they're coming after us.

“Or woman?” Jett adds.

I flick my murderous gaze back to him. “What the fuck are you implying?”

“Piper's been sniffing around for weeks now. You know as well as I do that little Princess Piper is up to no good, and I wouldn’t put it past her to pull a stunt like this to get us locked up and out of her way so she can take back everything we took from her,” the cocky fucker says, knowing he can get away with it. No other man outside of this room would dare to say anything so stupid about a woman I’m clearly infatuated with.

“Might be why she turned up at the fight when you told her not to?" Kobe suggests. "Maybe she was the distraction the King boys needed to distribute the product. You know, like they are using her as bait to get to you. Sure looks like it while the two of you were tucked up in bed…”

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