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Sadie glowered at me; her green eyes narrowed to a slit in a look I’d seen bring grown-ass men to their knees. As her son, I grew up on the receiving end of that look a lot. It barely fazed me.
“What the fuck is going on, Jasper? This is a big night for all of us. It’s bad enough Calvin isn’t here. You could at least pretend to be happy with the outcome.”
I shrugged off her angry question and the reminder that Calvin hadn’t shown up to celebrate the re-opening. “You want to run things again? Say so.”
“You run the shit, Jasper. You run it all. I’m just the face of the business, but no one is confused about who’s in charge, so I don’t know why the fuck you are.”
I sighed at her words because she was right, and she knew I knew it, but we were Irish, and we were Ashby’s. Arguing and fighting were second nature to us. But this was her big night, and she was my mother.
“So, you and Thomas?” The last thing I wanted to think about was my mother dating or falling in love or fucking anyone. But at least Thomas was no stranger, and his loyalty wasn’t in question.
I indulged them in an apple cider toast to their success and hid a smile when Sadie, the toughest bitch in Nevada, paled at the notion of going out to talk to the press.
“Do I have to?”
“Yes.” Thomas and I answered at the same time. She rolled her eyes.
“Fine. Let’s go.” After dealing with Agent Beck of the FBI, Sadie was a little camera shy, and that was a good thing. She was the face of the organization, of the family, but the press brought too much attention.
“Wait.” Thomas’ grip tightened around Sadie. “I spotted the ginger bitch in the club. She’s small and can get around virtually unnoticed, but I spotted her a few times.”
I let out a low growl, annoyed because Beck was more trouble than she was worth. After everything that went down with the undercover priest and Bonnie, putting a bullet in her wasn’t an option. Although I thought about it often. I nodded and set down the champagne flute. “I’m on it.”
Addison Beck was smart. She was also a goddamn pain in my ass. Unfortunately, she had a lot of hate for the Ashby family, which meant we were all targets. The legitimate business as well as the drugs, guns, whores, and everything else at risk because of her.
I wanted to just tell her the truth about her father, Jack, but Sadie thought we should find another way to get rid of her. Can’t kill her and can’t tell her the truth, so what the fuck else is left?
I spotted those red curls at the bar, pink lips wrapped around a straw as she pretended she wasn’t a cop, that she wasn’t trying to find some way to catch us up in her web. I made my way over.
Pop. Pop.
Two shots rang out. I froze a split second before I started in the other direction, walking before I remembered Sadie was outside, and my legs kicked into a full run.
“What the fuck was that?” I asked Evan who was on the door tonight, but I kept going before he could answer.
I saw some shit that made the blood drain from my face. Blood streaming down the side of Sadie’s face, her eyes lifeless as her knees buckled. Thomas held her in his arms, a devastated expression on his face.
Sadie had been shot.
“What the fuck?” Terry appeared at my side, chest heaving, eyes wide when they landed on Sadie. “Where did the shots come from?” He directed his question at Thomas.
Thomas shrugged. His eyes never left Sadie’s for one moment. “From the right, likely from the top of one of those buildings. Come on, babe. You’re tougher than this. No fucking bullet is going to take you out.”
“Ma!” Virgil barreled out of the club and straight to Sadie and Thomas, angry tears in his eyes. “What the fuck happened? Who the fuck did this?”
“I’ll find out,” I promised. “You and Terry follow the ambulance. Thomas will ride with her.” I turned to Evan, who stood with his fists clenched, an intimidating glare in his eyes. “You and Hulu clear this motherfucker out. No one but family and employees inside.”
Evan nodded and got busy obeying my orders.
I made my way back inside as soon as the ambulance took off, with the two men I trusted above all others to make sure she arrived safely at the hospital. I ran into Agent Beck first.
“If I find out you had anything at all to do with this, I’ll fucking kill you myself.” That was a promise I intended to keep, especially if my mother didn’t make it out of the hospital.
