Page 86 of Shâhzâdeh

“I don’t know, but the main person I worked with wasn’t even here. He was just sending out orders and we were to make sure they got executed.” The man who’d been left alive was barely recognizable. I wasn’t sure who whooped his ass, judging by the size of his wounds it was Yacouba, but they’d been thorough as hell. Another sign it was Yacouba. Which was good for him because it was going to save Jasmine from getting knocked up tonight.

“I need a name.” My fucking arm was aching and I wanted myziba. Since I didn’t know how long this would take, I asked Quentin to take her to the penthouse. I’d have to expedite the moving process for the both of us.

“Alpha.” That one word sent everyone on edge for multiple reasons. The name seemed to echo in the room haunting us like a wraith that needed to be extracted.

“What does he look like?” Smoke spoke up from the corner, something I wasn’t used to but he was turning into a real person right before our eyes. I wasn’t sure if I needed to be happy or worried, but there was fuck all we could do about this metamorphosis now but roll with it.

“Tall and bald.” His once peanut colored skin was already starting to bruise. He wouldn’t live long enough for the process to complete.

“Fuck.” I glanced at Smoke who gave me a nod before he pulled out his phone. I’d left Midas out of the situation with the shooting for now because he and Nev needed to get to her UCAA meeting in Manhattan. But there was no way Alpha was involved in this and he and Omega weren’t made aware of it. Which meant we had a whole other host of problems on our hands.

One foreign government after our asses wasn’t enough, huh?

“Vhat vas your assignment? Because I doubt zhis type of splash vas how you normally work.” I crossed my arms in front of myself to not reach out and choke him to death.

“Shoot you or get the girl.” He was muttering through what was probably a broken jaw and was definitely swollen lips.

“Get the girl how?” Priest was asking for clarification that I didn’t need. My family thought this was a game and I needed to remind them I was the commissioner of this shit and nothing moved without my approval. Flags on the play and bodies on the ground when I got done. I laughed softly beneath my breath and Priest’s brows shot up. He, like everyone else, knew what the fuck that laugh meant.

“Take her with us if she came out by herself. We had her lines blocked so she shouldn’t have been able to call out to anyone.” He was speaking remarkably well for someone whose jaw was dislocated. I wondered if he was telling us everything he knew as some way to lessen his guilt before dying.

I was silently praising Dom yet again for the depths and thoroughness of his mind because it had just saved Vanya’s life. His cell phone didn’t work on a normal network, so she’d been able to still use it to reach out to me.

“Take ‘er where?” Liam was looking just as angry as I felt and I knew it was because of how much he knew Frankie loved Vanya. Hell, he did too.

“There was a private car waiting to take her somewhere but where I don’t know.” He humped his shoulders and I knew he was running out of information to feed us to save his life.

“It vouldn’t be to zhe airport. It vould’ve been a decoy car and zhe real one. Probably a fake flight manifesto to zhrow me off. Zhey should’ve known the second I didn’t see her vhen I got zhere I vould’ve gotten her back in an hour tops.” I was speaking more to my family than to this man.

“Should’ve had someone on the lookout for cars. Doesn’t matter now, there are plenty of cameras so we’ll be able to find them.” Couba was being reassuring, but I knew whoever Alpha had on the ground was long gone. It had been over two hours since the gunfire erupted. I’m sure they got away as soon as the first bullet flew. And nothing we did would equate to Alphas’ punishment for failing. If they were smart, they were hiding out from the world.

“I need to call my cousin.” I sighed because a call to him meant a call to my elder and my mother was going to cuss me out when the time came.

“For what?” Quentin looked like I was questioning his position or his work ethic but neither was the case.

“Besides him being my second, he needs to be on guard.”

“Big brother ain’t gone like his twin being mixed up in any of this.” Smoke was rubbing his chin and I knew he was trying to balance his emotions on his brother being in the thick of all of this.

“Damn I forgot all about his ass. I thought you’d already killed him and it’s why you hadn’t done shit past what he did at the lil Christmas shit in Beacon Grove.” Yacouba looked disappointed that Smoke hadn’t handled the problem yet. Smoke just glared at him with that blank, psychopathic look on his face.

“Zhis shit just got deeper.” I was completely aggravated because my father’s people were pulling others into this mess. It was only going to make it harder for me to just kill them.

“And I’m wondering for what. If Alpha is trying to start his ownOrder, he’s too far behind and has burned too many bridges. His reputation proceeds him in our world.” Priest, like us, was wondering what the angle was because there was always something else going on. We wouldn’t figure that shit out tonight, but we had to soon enough.

“But maybe ‘e’s just good enough fo’ those who want a weapon to unleash on the masses and they dinna care who they ‘urt.” Liam had his sgian dubh out and flipping around again.

“None of this speculation is going to get us anywhere without involving all the players.

“Sweets is on her way. She’s already said she needs somewhere to stay or a stipend if she’s going to be here for a while.”

I was confused because when had anyone decided that Jada was getting paid? “Vhy she acting like you broke?”

He smirked briefly before his face went back blank. “Same thing I said.”

“Since she’s coming to wedding plan, I’ll be more than happy to pay whatever fee she has in mind.” If the wedding was still on, I was definitely going to need help.

“Remember that when she run your pockets.” Yacouba, Liam and Jahmir were laughing at Smoke’s statement because she’d planned all their weddings. Having attended them all, she was more than worth whatever she charged.

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