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“Fuck me.” Mac’s gaze snaps to me as she slowly turns to give him the next lock. He knows what I know; there’s not enough time. There’s not even enough time for Evie, unless someone can disarm the vests. “Hurry, Smalls. Turn, but stay calm.”
“Drop the vest when you get the third undone, then you guys run.” I inch closer to the stage door and pray Olly stays distracted. “Run fast, and run far. The rest of us will follow.”
Mac nods and bites his tongue until it bleeds as he tries to snap the next lock.
“Give us the remote to deactivate the vests,” Gunner says. “Those explosives will take out the whole town. There’s no time for you to run. Switch them off, and we can talk.”
“No, I don’t think I will.” Olly dangles a keyring from the middle finger on his right hand, and with a taunting smile, pockets it and goes back to leaning over the gun like this is a game to him.
The sour-sisters have remained invisible to the Bishops, but three sets of brows shoot up in surprise as Stella finds her feet and meets their eyes.
“Hayes.” Gunner’s lip curls back in disgust when Zoey climbs up beside her sister. “You haven’t changed one fucking bit. Still like to suck dick for favors?”
“You don’t know us!” Zoey’s brows should be creating a wrinkle, but the Botox she injects on the regular makes it impossible. “Filthy little street rat. We thought you died.”
Gunner takes an arrogant step forward as a distraction as Evie’s next lock snaps open. “Didn’t you hear, Barbie? Bishop boys are like cockroaches. We just don’t die.”
“Pity,” Olly drawls. “So, here’s how this is going to play out – this club is our metaphorical chessboard, and now I’ve collected all of my pieces.”
“What’s the girl got to do with this?” Jay asks. He draws the gun toward his chest, but Gunner only repositions himself and takes the point. “Why the girl?”
“Because the firstborn son of every rich man should be his heir. Frankston made the wrong call the day that club whore died, he was banished and sent to work his own empire.”
“He was still successful,” Gunner interjects. “He had loads of money.”
“Yes, I know. He didn’t need Bishop. He did it on his own name, on my grandfather’s name, but it was still unfair. He shouldn’t have had to make his own way, and he shouldn’t have chosen that new bitch over my mother. Out with the old, in with the new. He tossed us out like trash.”
“He was sent to prison.”
“A real gangster would have made plans for that eventuality! I was made out to be a fucking foot soldier in my own compound, whilehermother,” he points toward us and makes Evie freeze up in fear, “was living it up with her riches and silks. I served her fucking shrimp and salad, and I held the baby more than once, and though the bitch stared right into my eyes, she couldn’t see me.” He slams a fist against his chest and spits, “She didn’t see me! I was supposed to be the prince, but instead, I became the help, and when he was sent away, I was forgotten, and that bastard child was named beneficiary.”
“So you sought me out?” Gunner’s hands slowly begin to lower. “You played a fifteen-year game, when you could have just told me who you were? We’re all victims of this bullshit empire, Olly. We were all cast aside.”
“Not them,” he sneers toward the other two brothers. “They weren’t cast aside. They were celebrated. They were honored. You said it yourself, didn’t you, Griffin? You came to town ready to eliminate them because of how they were celebrated.”
“Yes, I did.” He looks back to Kane. “I did. I came to take them out, because I thought they were like Colum, but–”
“We didn’t know of your world,” Jay says. “We were celebrated as sons, as agents, but it was all an act. We were Colum’s front, his legitimacy. We were sent through proper schooling and careers, and we didn’t step foot into a club until we were grown adults. We were army brats, but we were shielded from the world you knew, because our ignorance made him invincible. We knew nothing, and therefore, he was nothing but the story we knew. It was bad luck for him that we were assigned to the Infernos case that brought Hayes down. He can’t change our missions, he can’t influence that shit, so once it was assigned, it was too late.”
“He knew,” Zoey interjects as though proud of her knowledge. “He knew, and Daddy knew.”
“Dirty coke,” Kane murmurs. He turns to Jay. “That’s why we got the dirty coke. It’s why you were fed batch after batch. It’s why we were separated all the time. It’s why he threw me into the alleyway.”
“It’s all so poetic, isn’t it?” Olly croons. “We all end up in an alleyway eventually. If you’re part of our world, you end up in the fucking alleyways.”
“Last one,” Mac whispers. “Evie, give me your hand. I gotta cut the cuff.”
The rattle of Evie’s cuffs draws Olly’s attention. He turns to us with mild curiosity playing in his eyes, and is caught off guard when he finds the steel frame of her vest open.
“What—” He swings the gun around with zero remorse, and half a second later, fire explodes around us as bullets race around the room. Shots come from the level above us, drawing my eyes up to see Romeo standing on the balcony with his eye pressed to a shiny new scope. Kane leaps forward when the sour-sisters squeal, and Jay jumps on Olly when Romeo’s shot knocks the heavy gun off the bar and Olly’s hand explodes with blood.
The sour-sisters scream.
Olly screams.
Evie screams.
Mac shouts at Evie to shut up.
