Page 70 of Everest

It can't be.

He’s dead.

Broussard draws a gun, swinging it toward my woman before I can react.

The detective laughs again. “You fucking bikers are all the same,” he sneers. “But I didn’t think it would bethis easy.” He keeps his gun aimed at London and his eyes on me.

I’m staring at the ghost himself.

The puppeteer.

The motherfucker behind all of it.

Velasco himself.

I move.

“Take another step, she dies,” he warns.

My woman stands there, staring down the barrel of a gun, naked and unflinching.

"But, then again, she’s worth more to me breathing.” He flicks the gun from her to me, but I don’t flinch. “Too bad you put those bullets in the wrong body last night. You see, Tito was loyal. But he was also greedy and started skimming off the top.” The bastard grins. “He made good bait. Thanks for saving me the trouble.”

The air in the room shifts. Heavier. Colder. But the heat in my chest is nuclear.

“You think I’m afraid of death?” I growl. “You came after my family. Make no mistake, I’ll take you to hell with me.”

Velasco’s jaw ticks.Good. I’m getting under his skin.

“On your knees like the dog you are,” he snaps. “Now, or I put a bullet through the bitch’s throat.”

I drop to one knee.

“I’ll gut every one of you. Your women. Your club. The King Legacy,” Velasco seethes, fixated on me, on wanting to see me bleed. “All of you will pay for my father's death.”

Velasco doesn’t see London moving.

Then the shot.

The blast echoes like a thunderclap.

A thick spray slaps across my face, warm and metallic, the bullet punching through Velasco's forehead. He drops like a dead weight, his gun clattering across the floor.

Then…

… silence.

London locks her eyes on mine, fierce and unyielding. “I wasn’t about to let that piece of shit put a bullet in my man,” she growls, her gaze burning down at Velasco. “This was for Catcher too,” she adds, her voice steady yet laced with adrenaline as she slowly lowers the weapon.

I push myself off the floor and close the distance between us.

I can’t believe she’s mine.

And at this moment, I know with every bone in my body, London is my ride-or-die.

My future.

And one day, I’m going to fucking marry her.

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