Page 92 of Deceit
“Mr. Wolfe, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you,”the dick holding the knife toSofia’s throat said.“It’s a shame we aren’t meeting in better circumstances, but I didn’t think you’d agree to hand this little cunt over willingly.”
At his insult, I reacted before thinking, attempting to stand again so I couldkill the motherfucker. My efforts earned me a whack to the back ofmy head with the butt of the gun from the man behind, adding to the throb already pulsing through it.
“Let her go,”I gritted through the pain.
The man chuckled.“No, I don’t think I will. See, I’ve got a score to settlewith this one,”he said, licking the side of Sofia’s face, her eyes closing in disgust.
“Her father’s debt isn’t for her to pay,”I growled, somehow holding onto myrestraint.
The man’s brows lifted.“I’m afraid you must have me confused withsomeone else. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Hugo Kent.”His dark eyes flashed with pride as if his name should mean something to me.
“He’s Owen’s brother,”Sofia said, her shaky voice barely audible over thecrashing of the waves.
What. The. Fuck?
Hugo smirked.“She’s right. And it was because of this bitchthatmy babybrother got himself killed. If he hadn’t been so fucking obsessed with her, he would never have madethatdamn agreement with your friend.”
My mind spun with the turn of events.“Former friend,”I hissed as ifthatwas fucking important at a time like this.“And your brother’s stupidity got him killed. Let her the fuck go, and you and I can deal with this.Justthe two of us.”
He chuckled again, a soundthatwas grating on my already fraying nerves.“I can’t disagree with you onthatpoint, Mr. Wolfe. Owen’s stupidity led him to working with the Bianchis in the first place. He thought he was a big, scary, badass, when in reality, he was an idiot. But he wasmykid brother. And I know how loyalty means a lot to you and your family, so I’m sure you can understand why I’m doing this.”
I cursed under my breath. Yes, loyalty was something we prided ourselveson, but we’d never fucking hurt innocent people along the way.
“You’ll be pleased to know, though, I’m not like my brother,”Hugocontinued.“I don’treallylike blood and gore, so I’m not going to blow her head off like what happened to Owen. Nor am I going to slit her throat so she bleeds out right here.”A devious smirk pulled at his lips.“That’s what happened to your cousin, right? Had his throat slit right here at the docks?”
My features twisted into a snarl as a memory of the morning I discoveredTheo’s body tried to push its way into my head. I’d lost one person I loved at this goddamn place, I wasn’t going to lose another.
I needed to think, dammit.
But my focus was on Sofia and how close her feet were to the edge of thejetty. One gust of wind and she’d go over, and I knewjusthow deep the water was at the end of the jetty.
“Let her go. Take me as punishment for Owen’s death. As you said, itwas because of my friend thatOwen was killed.”
Hugo’s lips curled into a one-sided smirk.“No can do. You see, she isn’t theonly score to settle tonight. Why don’t you say hello to Arnold? He’s the one holding the gun to your head, and if I’m not mistaken, I do believe you were responsible for killing both of his brothers, Markus and Adrian Powell.”
Oh fuck.
After the incident at Bar Forty-Four, Kai had ordered me to hand myinvestigation into Adrian Powell over to Ash. I’d checked in with him a few times after the wedding, but he was having as much luck trying to figure out who Adrian had been working for as I had.
I’d left him to continue while I tried to get to the bottom of what Georgio had been up to with the cartel.
A mistakethatwas now biting me on the ass.
The barrel of the gun dug deeper into my head.“Nice to meet you, motherfucker,”Arnold growled from behind me.“Don’t worry, I’m not gonna kill you. Yet. Me and my boys have got a whole heap of plans for you before your heart stops beating.”
“Right,”Hugo grinned.“Well, it’s been a pleasure doing business with you,Arnold, but I have what I want, so how about we move this along?”
Several things happened at the same time the words left Hugo’s mouth.
With a violent shove, he pushed Sofia backwards, and her piercing screamfilled the air, followed by an almightysplash.Fear crawled through my veins, turning my blood to ice, and as I yanked with all my strength against the two bikers holding me, a gunshot rang out as the revving of a motorbike engine drew closer.
Arnold toppled over me, and the two bikers holding me released my arms towithdraw their guns, along with the other bikers. I rolled out from underneath Arnold’s body, a gaping hole between his lifeless eyes.
The bikers fired at the newcomer, their attention fixed on whoever myunexpected ally was. Bullets skimmed past me as I took off at a sprint toward the jetty, hoping like fuck I didn’t catch one in the back of my head.
I had no idea who the newcomer was; I knew it wasn’t Kai or any of our men, as far as I knew, they didn’t ride bikes. But it was something to think about another time; rightthen, my sole focus was on getting to Sofia.
Hugo rushed along the jetty, his face twisted into utter panic, and his eyesdarting all around as if he was trying to assess a safe route past the chaosthathad erupted.
