Moses’s grin has caused plenty of men to piss themselves, but I sure as fuck am not one of them.
Not back then. Not now. Not ever.
“You win this fight, boy, and you lose everything anyway. Whatever you think you have right now, it’s only because I allow it. I can take any fucking thing from you anytime I want. That’s how it works when you’re me.”
“How long have you known?” I don’t need to voice the rest of the question, because Moses gets what I’m asking.
“I’ve had my sights set on you for years. Been waiting for you to come back and try to fucking kill me, but you never did. Surprised me with that, Gabe. I thought you loved that bitch. You were willing to risk everything for her. Guess she wasn’t really worth that much to you if her dying meant nothing.”
His words slice through me, eviscerating me like he’s just gone at me with switchblades.
“I was biding my time.”
Moses’s dark eyebrows shoot up. “The hothead grew up. Who the fuck knew that was possible? Now, we got a deal? Or do I need to remind you what you got to lose if you don’t play the fight my way?”
Take a dive. Moses gets paid. I lose everything.
Or . . . win the fight, then prepare to fight for my life—and everyone I care about—against the man who has been hanging over my head like a guillotine for fifteen years.
When I don’t answer right away, Moses lifts the pistol away from Bump’s head and trains it on Scarlett. I jump to my feet and throw myself in front of her, my arms out.
Moses’s fucking grin widens. “That’s what I thought. You’ll do whatever I say, because you know exactly what I’ll take from you if you don’t. Shit, maybe I’ll even keep this one. See if she’s a better fuck than Jorie. Might be tough, because she had a cunt like solid gold. Then again, you know all about that.”
Bump lunges at Moses, but Moses is quicker, and presses the pistol right between his eyes.
“One more move and you die. And I mean all-the-way dead this time. I won’t graze you like those motherfuckers who put a bullet in your head in Mississippi.”
When Bump raises his hands in the air and drops to his knees again, Moses’s gaze lifts to me.
“I’ll give you one thing, Gabe. Your taste in women has improved. This bitch looks like she’d rather slit my throat than take my cock down hers. I’d hate to see something bad happen to her.”
I reach out to pull Scarlett directly behind me so he can’t see her. “She doesn’t exist to you. Threaten her again, and I’ll skin your ass and use it for a fucking lampshade.”
Moses’s chest shakes, and booming laughter fills my office. “Nice try, Legend. I’ll see myself out. You get to training. Get those fucking odds right. If I have to, I’ll pay you another visit. Just to remind you what you got on the line.”
He backs away from my desk, his gun trained on me now, and a panel in the wall opens behind him.
My fucking hidden entrance. How the hell did he find out about my fucking hidden doors?
Another man pokes his head through, but that’s not where my attention is focused. He’s got a TEC-9 in either hand. Probably fully auto. He’d kill us all in seconds.
“Now, be good little bitches and don’t follow us.”
But Bump doesn’t listen. He charges.
“No!”
Moses lashes out, catching Bump upside the head with the back of his hand holding the pistol. Bump crumples to the floor.
“Don’t do anything stupid, Gabe. That’s your last warning.”
Moses backs away through the door. It closes slowly, until all I can see are his fucking eyes glinting before he disappears into the darkness.
Four
Scarlett
My knees give out. I can’t help it. As soon as the door closes, I sink to the floor. My head swims, and everything feels like it’s happening in slow motion.
I have to get to Bump. But Gabriel is already ahead of me. He launches himself at Bump, and I crawl to them.
A trickle of blood leaks from Bump’s temple where he holds his head. “I’m okay. I’m okay. I’m okay.” He repeats it over and over, like he’s trying to convince himself.
“You’re okay,” Gabriel says, agreeing with him. “You’re totally fine, bud. You did real good. Real fucking good.”
I pull myself together and grab my clutch where I dropped it. Yanking it open, I pull out a small packet of tissues and take them to Bump.
“Here you go. Just a little blood.”
“I’m bleeding?” His eyes go wide. “I thought I was okay.”
“You’re fine, bud. Just fine.”
A knock comes at the door, and we all freeze. Gabriel moves toward his desk, and before I have time to comprehend what he’s doing, there’s a gun in his hand pointed at the door.
“Who the fuck is it?”
“Me and Roux,” Q says from outside.
Gabriel’s chin drops to his chest, and he lowers the gun. “Get in here.”
Q opens the door, and shock rips across his face as he sees Bump on the floor with bloody tissues to his head. Then he sees the gun in Gabriel’s hand and stills. Roux barrels toward Gabriel, and he shoves the gun in his pants before giving her a pat to calm her down.
“What the fuck happened? Is he okay?”
“Moses was here. He had Bump at gunpoint. He wants his money.”
Q’s olive-toned skin goes pale. “What? How? When? Where did he go?” He whips his head from side to side, like he’s afraid Moses might still be in the room hiding, and then pulls out his cell. “I’m calling the cops.”
“No,” Gabriel barks out, shaking his head. “Shut the door and put down your fucking phone. We aren’t going to the cops with this. No fucking way.”
“What?” Surprise rips the word from between my lips. “What do you mean, we’re not going to the cops? We have to. This is literally what they’re for.”
Bump shakes his head. “Can we go home now, Gabe? I want to go home.”
“What a fucking mess,” Q says, leaning back against the door. “How the hell did he get in and out?”
Gabriel helps Bump and me to our feet. “Hidden entrance. He must have been watching us for months, or paid someone off to get the access info.”
“Fuck. What did he say?” Q scans all the faces in the room before locking on Gabriel’s again.
“He wants me to lose the fight. Wants me to throw it.”
If I thought Q’s swarthy skin couldn’t get paler, I was wrong. “No fucking way. Fuck me. What the fuck do we do now?”
Gabriel throws his arm around Bump’s shoulder and pulls me into his side. “We go home and regroup.”
The drive to Jersey is silent. Even Bump seems to realize that now is not the time for chatter. Q called in extra security and promised to come by as soon as the club closed. He tried to send Zoe home with us, but she refused to leave.
I want nothing more than to hold Gabriel’s hand, but he’s got both of them locked around the Bronco’s steering wheel. Hal follows behind us in the SUV. He agreed to work overnight, just in case.