AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I fucking hate nonces.” He nods to his men to go clean up the mess. “I was planning on a three-day torture bender until you showed up.”
“Viper—”
“I’ll do it on two conditions because I owe you.” He shoves a bloody hand through his dark hair. “You came back for me that night when you could have run with Ada. I don’t forget that kind of sacrifice.”
“One,” I say, holding his gaze.
“Give me back the East End when it’s over.I’m not looking for another war. I want our city peaceful, like your father wanted. If you say that means cutting a deal with Santiago, I’m in.”
I can tell he means it by the look on his face. Living in exile makes you hungry, but it doesn’t make you stupid. He knows we don’t have the men or the weapons to win this thing alone.
“Done. And the other?”
“Bambi’s coming with me.”
“Are you serious?” My brows shoot up in disapproval. “Where we’re going isn’t safe for a twelve-year-old, Viper.”
“She’s thirteen, nearly fourteen, plus she’s family.”
“Whose family? Chucky the killer doll’s?”
He shakes his head, fighting back another laugh. “I tried to do right by her. I sent her to an eighty-grand-a-year boarding school where the food didn’t taste like piss, but she kept running back. In the end, I put a laptop in her hand, taught her some tricks, and told her to pay attention. She’s a good kid. Streetwise. Sees things about people that even my best men miss. Hey, Bambi!” he yells again. “Tell me what you’ve got on Frankie so far.”
“Six-foot-four and smokes cheap cigarettes,” she replies, reappearing behind us.
“What else?”
“His Glock’s empty but the Beretta strapped to his ankle is still loaded and there’s a knife on his belt. The private jet in Malaga is his. He just bought it off some man called Aiden Knight, but his car’s a shitty rental with leather seats that look like cat’s puke.”
Viper meets my eyes again, our silence peppered by a couple of triumphant bubble gum pops from Bambi. “Like I said, Lastra, she pays attention.”
My gaze flicks towards her again. “Okay, Pink, I’m impressed, but you missed the switchblade in my left pocket.”
“Not missed.” She holds it up in one hand, with my car keys dangling from the other. “But they’re not such a threat now, are they old man?”
What thefuck?
Viper thrusts a bottle of whiskey into my hand to cool the burn. “Listen, she’s my problem. Not yours. I’ll keep her out of the way.”
“She’s trouble,” I grit out.She’s a complication.
“We’re all fucking trouble, mate. Otherwise, we’d be punching cards and sinking half of our wages in Starbucks and Café Nero like every other good, law-abiding citizen.”
“I’m still fucking here, you know,” she pipes up, clearly annoyed at being tossed between us like an unwanted kitten.
“What the hell did I tell you about bad language?” Viper snarls, making his men grin. “Go and wait for us in the office.” He snatches the bottle from me and takes a swig, muttering “kids” under his breath. “Tell me one thing, Lastra, how did you manage to talk your way out of an eight-by-six prison cell nineteen years before your first parole hearing date?”
“How did you manage to escape that basement?” I counter swiftly.
When I came around, I had twenty-three broken bones, Viper, and you and Ada were gone. I haven’t seen her since that night. It’s been fourteen years of purgatory. Fourteen years of the kind of agony a hundred thousand broken bones couldn’t match.
His smirk vanishes, and he takes another swig of the bottle. His longest yet. “That kind of evil is best left in the past, Lastra.”
“Then turn it into fuel for a reckoning. We leave for London tonight.”
CHAPTER 15
ADA
