Page 18 of Devious Kingpin
Wynter was just as protective of her brother as I was. It was still hard to believe that Wynter and I shared a sibling. It had been a year since that revelation, and it was just as incredible now as it was back then.
Priest’s blue eyes turned my way. “Jealous?”
I snickered, my chest tightening slightly. I wasn’t exactly jealous, but I did worry. I didn’t want to see my brother hurt if word of what he did on a regular basis got out. I accepted that part of him. Would others?
“No, I’m not jealous,” I said. “Just cautious.”
Silence followed. Ghosts stood in the shadows right along with us, taunting us. I wished I could murder them, make them dissipate into the atmosphere. Although I suspected it wouldn’t work. They’d stay with us for the remainder of our days.
“Are you sure she’s the one?” Priest questioned.
I nodded. She was theonlyone.
Buses passed, the loud honks startling passersby. Neither Priest nor I flinched. It took a lot more to startle us. The buzz of the city was all around us. A baseball game. The constant sound of an air-conditioning unit whirring. The smell of hot dogs, drifting from a nearby food truck.
“We should grab something to eat after you’re done stalking her,” Priest said, breaking the silence.
I had planned on heading to my favorite joint for my favorite burger. Right after Juliette left this dude. My appetite was the only thing that remained intact since meeting Juliette.
My dick suffered. It wanted the mahogany-haired woman with porcelain skin and blue eyes. My thoughts also suffered, because they all revolved around her.
If our fleeting interaction at the last wedding was any indication, Juliette would fight our attraction. It was at Alessio’s wedding that I made the decision to be more devious moving forward and make that woman mine through any means necessary.
So I devised a plan. She wouldn’t be able to escape me once I trapped her.
And she’d never see me coming.
CHAPTER10
Juliette
Brandon Dole.
He was the only reason I’d come to New York after Kian passed on his whereabouts, and I couldn’t believe the fucker was in my father’s city all along. Kian was godsent. The best recommendation I had ever gotten. The fact that I could hire him incognito worked perfectly.
After I had a mediocre late lunch with Brandon—my soon-to-be victim—I took a cab and went home.
Supposedly.
Brandon had no way of knowing that my phone synced up his information, allowing me to track him from that moment forward. When I showed up at his building, it was dark. He lived in the shitty part of the city, the one you never saw on postcards.
I’d already checked the cameras on this block. There were none—aside from traffic cameras. I kept my face down and stuck to the shadows as I made my way down the alley, then up the fire escape.
Clank. Clank.
Each step made a clunking noise, but every apartment window I passed looked empty. Everyone was used to city racket and didn’t spare me a single glance. It was fine by me.
Once I made it to the top floor, I peered through the window into a shitty apartment. Old, worn-out furniture. Yellowing walls. Broken chairs. It was dirty and disgusting.
I checked my knife holster. My gun tucked in the back of my pants. My taser. All there.
With that I slid through the open window, landing softly on my feet and shutting it behind me. It was risky. I could be shutting my way out.
My eyes drifted around the living room. This guy was a pig. There were dirty dishes everywhere. Open cans. The stench of rotten food.
I’d need a long, hot scrub in my own shower—with bleach—to clean off after this.
Speaking of showers, the sound of running water registered.I could kill him in the shower. It’d be cleaner than waiting for him to come out… but I didn’t want to be cornered in a small space.
