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Ah, so that’s how Miguel planned on keeping the Cobra in line. Dangling Shay in front of him. The dirty motherfucker. Of course, that wasn’t to say Miguel wouldn’t betray him once it was all said and done.
“You want me to kill them,” I whispered.
Miguel smiled at me, though it wasn’t a smile of mirth. More like deception. “I want your help in killing them all, yes. My… associate on the Hand has gone missing. I can safely assume he’s dead somewhere, rotting in an alley or perhaps even the river. The rest of the Hand is now on high alert because of that—and they will be even more so from your escape, so my plan has to change a bit. We can’t shoot them like fish in a barrel, one by one—it needs to be all at once.”
I said nothing. I had the feeling Miguel already had a plan in place.
“I can think of only one way to get everyone together—together and with their guards down,” Miguel went on. He smiled a stiff smile before taking another drink, finishing off his glass. “I was planning on waiting until after the birth, but seeing as how a wedding would be the perfect occasion to get everyone in a tight, enclosed space, I think I need to move up my timeline.”
A wedding. He planned on marrying Gianna and annihilating the Black Hand there. Maybe even the Cobra, once it was all done, and that way he’d have the perfect scapegoat for the crime. He could assume the Black Hand’s mantle for himself.
“Money opens up a lot of otherwise impenetrable venues, as I’m sure you’re well aware of,” Miguel said. “I can have everything ready within a week, assuming that priest has an opening—I want him dead, too. Anyone who’s loyal to the Black Hand as it stands now must either be wiped off the board or shown the error of their ways. You were a prisoner for months. Is one week enough time for you to… do what you need to?”
Was one week long enough to get ready to kill the entire Black Hand, the heirs, and anyone else who might come to this wedding that Miguel wanted dead?
“It’s more than enough time,” I told him, to which he chuckled.
“I like the enthusiasm, Cobra. Just remember: we only get one shot at this, so it needs to be done perfectly. There can be no mistakes.” This time, when he smiled, it was the smile of the devil himself. “We’ll have our own red wedding.”
Miguel got up, cradling his empty glass against his hand as he went on, “You will need to make yourself scarce until then, however I will need to contact you to finalize everything.” He went to put his glass down only so he could pull out a small, cheap phone from his pocket. “Here. There’s only one number in it: mine. I would offer you a roof and a bed here, but I have the feeling you’d turn me down.”
I was slow in walking around the couch and moving to stand before Miguel. I was on high alert, just in case he tried to pry the mask off, but as I reached for the phone in his hand, he made no moves to.
“Do not let yourself be seen just yet,” Miguel advised. “If you decide to go on your own, to do your own thing, well… let’s just say I found you once. I can do it again.” A man of many threats, it seemed.
I said nothing to that. I said nothing at all to him as I turned to leave, tucking his phone into my pocket.
I wasn’t stupid. That phone probably had some kind of tracker in it, so I couldn’t bring it with me when I went back to Giselle. I’d have to find some empty house to pretend to bunk in for the next week.
Miguel wanted to have his own red wedding. I think that was something Giselle would be more than happy to give him.
Chapter Sixteen – Giselle
“A wedding? For real?” Jett whined. “God, I hate getting dressed up and shit.” He slumped on the chair he sat in, leaning his head back on it. “The ties, the cufflinks, the cummerbund thingies—there’s nothing fun about getting dressed up like that. That’s why I didn’t want to be the heir, and I let Dex do it all.”
“Never mind the fact that I was born first,” Dex huffed beside him.
“Doesn’t matter now anyways, since Nix is technically the heir,” Jett spoke with a quick look to Nixon, who leaned against the wall nearby.
I stood at the head of the table, my arms folded over my chest. Shay, Jett, Dex, Nix, and Slade had all come. Atticus was still gone, taking the Cobra wherever. Piper was a no-show, probably because she was too pissed about the Cobra thing. Slade didn’t seem particularly happy about any of this, but at least he was here.
On the other half of the table, Cade sat with Luca and Damian. Ezekiel couldn’t make it; he’d already gotten contacted by Miguel to do the wedding, so in addition to watching Rocco, he had that to get ready for.
Shay spoke quietly, “He wants to massacre us all at his wedding. How fucking twisted.” And yet, even with that, not the most twisted thing he’d done.
“He’ll have his own people coordinating everything,” I said, “but Ezekiel is our way in. Once he finds out the time and the place, we can work on infiltrating it. Miguel has a lot of loyal men, but I figure, between all of us, we have more than enough to replace those men.”
It was Luca who asked, “What are you saying? You want us all to go to this wedding, pretend we don’t know anything’s happening, while behind the scenes, we’ve already taken over?”
Damian leaned forward, a smirk on his face. “I think what our girl is saying is that she wants to surprise Miguel when he’s least expecting it.” He shrugged “I think it’ll be fun. Loads of fun for the whole family.” He clapped his hands. “I want a front-row seat.”
“Uh, don’t take this the wrong way, dude, but with those tats, you’re kind of the opposite of inconspicuous,” Jett deadpanned.
Before Damian could respond, I said, “Miguel will tell Cade everything, when exactly he wants to flip the switch and start the killing. Obviously, everyone needs to come prepared. He’s banking on everyone being so engrossed with the wedding that they don’t notice being surrounded.”
“Speaking of being surrounded,” Cade started, “I might have some people who can help. As long as they’re not on jobs right now, I know my brothers would help.” He ran a hand through his brown hair—and just for a split-second, I let myself get wistful over his natural blond locks. I missed them, just like I missed mine.
But, as it turned out, this dark hair of mine would come in handy at the wedding.
