Page 90 of The Broken Queen
I ran as fast as I could back to the manor, and once I made it tothe armory, I reloaded my weapons and added clips to my vest. My feet were swift as I made my way up the stairs and into the manor.
Silence greeted me, which again made me nervous about where Juan and the others were. The twins had mentioned going over the plan with our family, but I knew something had gone wrong. I had to stay focused on Scotty and trust Kingston and Gio as much as I was asking them to trust me. I turned the corner, lifting my assault rifle, and entered the gym.
Chapter 32
Kingston
Gio was holding off five men when I finally got to him.
He was on the porch, kneeling while taking each shot. A few of the men had torches and were indeed attempting to burn the farm to the ground.
Flanking the men, I shot the ones my brother hadn’t gotten to yet. After that wave, it seemed there weren’t any more. It was silent again as my brother nodded toward me.
“Henry is on.” He threw me his cell, and I caught it midair, bringing it to my ear.
“The fuck is going on, Henry? Where is everyone?”
There was an eerie silence in the background. “Half your men were bought off, Kingston. Scotty bribed the men with half a million dollars.”
I stopped walking. “And the other half?”
“They’re loyal to me.”
My stomach dropped out as my eyes bounced up to my brother. He didn’t know what was being said, so he still looked hopeful.
“You honestly thought you and your brother would just be handed something as powerful as El Peligro just like that? Men hadbeen loyal to this gang for decades before you were even a thought. They were loyal to your father because he understood the danger of it. He respected El Peligro. You and your bitch brother treated it like an ATM machine.”
I spun around and began running toward the manor, already knowing Gio would follow.
“But this war with Markos is beneficial for El Peligro because of the power shift. Aside from us, why wouldn’t you want to take him out?” I asked.
Henry yelled at someone in the background while other sorts of commotion took place. “Oh that. You never did piece it together, did you?”
Sweat broke out on my brow as I pushed closer to the manor. My stomach churned painfully. What had I missed?What the fuck was there to miss?
Gio was next to me, his brows drawn in tight while he checked the property through his scope.
Henry laughed. “The tattoo you saw in the picture when we invaded the Mariano residence. You looked at it as if you’d seen it before.”
Fuck. The image flashed in my head, the hourglass with a knife cutting through it.
It finally hit.
“You work for Markos?”
“Ding, ding, ding. Fuckin’ brilliant. There was so much shit you missed because you were distracted by that cunt, Presley. You’ll enjoy what her sick fuck of an uncle has planned for her. Markos will be taking your sister as a bride, but Presley, he’s giving to Scotty to whore out with some alliance. Word has already spread that she’s untrustworthy, so he’ll force her to demonstrate she can play well with others.”
“You’re dead.” I seethed while anger surged through me. “Fucking dead.”
I heard him laughing again, “So dramatic. You ever ask whyScotty wears so many layers? Ever consider he might be hiding a similar tattoo?”
He hung up before I could respond.
Gio assumed what had happened. “He double-crossed us?”
“Yeah, they all fucking did. Scotty bought off half the men with a couple million dollars.” I had no idea where he’d gotten that kind of money, but hadn’t Pres mentioned something about Scotty randomly visiting Carter and asking about her billionaire grandfather?
“We need to go check on Dad and the family. They should have been out here with us.”
