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“How did you know that?” he gritted.
“How do you think? Sunny told me. He told me everything about you, how you all met— Athena: strip club. Makai: a different strip club. Xander: your father tried to trade your life to keep his dirty business. Now, does first kisses and unrequited love sound like something a hostage shares or a husband?” I got in Ryker’s face. “You better say the right answer this time, because what kind of weak-ass bitch did you think my Sunny was that he’d let anyone keep him like a fucking pet, and walk in here and take over the gang?”
His gun fell the rest of the way to his side. Ryker studied me—the shrewd, calculating right hand Sunny said he was. And to give him props, Ryker picked me out as a fake. Let’s hope his perceptiveness fell short of mine.
Ryker lifted his chin, eyes narrowing. “Even if I believe you were fucking Sunny, or that he up and decided to marry you in secret, why should I believe he picked you to take over? Sunny messed around with everything else, but he was serious about the Sons. He’d never name a random who didn’t have a clue about our gang.”
“Right,” Athena echoed. “Sunny knew we wouldn’t put up with this.”
“And you know only a Merchant can run this borough,” I shot back. “That’s me, sweetheart. The Sons of Saint are mine, and this isn’t a democracy. Everyone but the eight I named, back to work.”
No one moved. Looking around at the still crew, Athena grinned, arms folded. “You know what? I have a better idea.” Her hips swayed carrying her to me. “What do you all think about the Sons of Saint becoming a democracy?”
“Hell yeah.”
“I’m not taking orders from that chick.”
“Don’t even know her ass.”
“I say we vote,” Athena shouted. “We decide who runs the crew and the borough, and that’ll have to be good enough for Big Brother Bane—unless he wants to lose the crew and the whole business entirely.”
Where was Big Brother Bane? Leaning against the wall, even farther away, looking bored.
Feel that? That nauseated feeling? I imagined Sunny saying. That’s the balance of power shifting.
Oh, yeah. I felt it.
I glanced at Sienna. Her eyes widened a fraction, mentally screaming, Do something!
Bane and Sunny warned her that she couldn’t interfere or stick up for me if the crew turned. If they didn’t respect me at the start, they’d respect me even less if my little sister came to my rescue. I was the boss, they either learned to do what I said when I said it, or I run out with my tail between my legs before the shooting started.
“Cut the shit, Athena,” Ryker snapped. “We’re not voting.”
What? Is Ryker throwing his weight behind me?
“She’s right about one thing, this isn’t a democracy,” he continued. “This is about Sunny and respecting his memory. The guy told me everything. He trusted me, and it’s me he’d want to take over in his place.”
“Don’t get carried away,” Makai said. “Sunny trusted me just as much as you. We talked about what to do if anything happened to him, and he said there was no one better than me to run the Sons of Saint.”
Athena scoffed. “Funny how no one else was there to hear that conversation. I run the largest, and most profitable, part of the operation. Why should either of you step over me?”
I raised my brows at the three of them. Sunny’s plan was becoming less of a Hail Mary and more a genius stroke. His supposed body was barely cold and these three were fighting over who got the crown. Maybe one of them paid a bald man to help them take it, and if they did, Thatcher was right that they weren’t about to let me bust in and ruin the plan.
But which one of the three, ’cause they’re about to get everything they want unless I snatch control.
“Raise your hands,” Athena said, “if you’ll follow me.”
Hands crept toward the ceiling.
Do it now, Kenzie!
Wild, scorching energy flooded my veins, propelling me forward. Snatching Athena’s purple mane, I kicked the back of her legs. She swung and struck me in the mouth. Blood filled my mouth as I dropped her screaming to the ground. Her cry cut off with a choke as my blade pressed to her neck.
“Go ahead and vote,” I said, flashing a smirk so Sunny, I wished he was there to see it. “I kill winner.”
Twin barrels pointed at my face. “Let her go,” Ryker said.
Someone flashed out of the corner of my eye. Sienna kicked Athena’s hand, sending the knife she tried to conceal flying.
I smiled at my sister. “Thank you.” For Ryker and Makai, “Go on, shoot me. I’m certain I’ll slice on the way down, taking at least one of you traitors with me.” I twisted her hair, stomach twisting with it when Athena screamed.
