AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No, I came to sell to you,” I say. “I can’t win. I will absolutely hate seeing you destroy everything I worked for, but at the end of the day… there’s nothing I can do about it. Your manpower alone will make you win this war. So why keep letting people die when the end result is going to be the same? Might as well save some people from dying. Let’s make the casino yours.”
He stares at me for a long moment, his surprise quickly overwritten by something unreadable. “Just like that?”
“Just like that,” I say.
“Hmm…”
Of course he won’t be happy. Norn is never happy. He was a street kid who was prepared to hurt, rob, or kill to get his way through life when my father stumbled across him. I didn’t know much about him, but my father loved bragging about his ability with a gun. My father would send him off and tell him who to kill and Norn would deliver every single time. It never mattered how skilled the opponent was, he always left the dead in his wake.
He quickly grew into the son my father always wanted, and that was his choice, but at the end of the day, my father’s preferred son sentenced him to death. Because when Norn hit a glass ceiling that allowed him to see what he could have while being unable to break through with my father standing on top, he realized that he’d do what it took to get there.
So he killed my father, only to find out that I’d taken it upon myself to keep Norn from getting the things my father once promised him.
By selling Norn the warehouses and the illegal side of the business that I wanted no part of, it kept him quiet for years, but not anymore. I knew he wouldn’t stay quiet forever.
Norn sets a piece of paper down and slides it over to me, and I realize that the wrinkled paper dotted in bloody fingerprints is the same one Len had written on last night.
“Offer’s changed. I’ll buy the casino from you for a very pretty price, but I want you to bring the guy who wrote this to me first.”
He wants Len? What does he want him for? Does he think he can use him? Norn has always collected the strongest in the city, but Len would never work for him.
That puts a grin on my face. The idea of Norn thinking that Len will work for him amuses me. This is the very kind of man that Len works to eradicate.
“He won’t work for you.”
“Whoever said I wanted him to work for me?” Norn asks.
“Oh? You’re going to kill him just because he stopped four guards from beating me up?” I ask skeptically.
“I’d think you’d want to kill him too. He is the one who killed your father, after all,” he says.
Thatsurprises me. Well… more accurately, I guess that makes me amused for some reason. It makes sense. Len’s whole goal is to kill those who make the lives of others miserable. And of all people, wouldn’t that be my father, the very man who dispersed illegal weapons that aided in the deaths of so many?
“Good,” I say.
“Good?” Norn repeats with a raised eyebrow. “Wow, you really are harsh.”
“Yeah? You think so? I think my father got what he deserved.”
Norn simply seems amused, and I know it’s all a power move. He wants to appear confident and cocky as he looks down on me. “I suppose that’s true. He was a pretty awful man. You know what, Kade? I love that hoodie you have on. That wouldn’t happen to be Kylen’s, now would it?”
I hesitate as I realize that something isn’t quite right here. “I thought you killed my father.”
“I did. But you see, when you’re smart like me, you don’t have to do any of the dirty work. That’s what people like Kylen are for. I’ve been good, you know, Kade? I tried really hard to just step back, let Kylen do his own thing because that one bites. And when he bites, it fucking hurts. And I guess… I mean, technically that’s my fault. He was always so strong-willed and stubborn; he always wanted to see the best in people, but he was too fucking skilled with a gun. He was so talented that it was just a waste, you know? So when I had a chance, I showed him that he has to fight when I say fight.”
He leans back in his chair, watching me with a cold expression on his face.
“I mean… honestly, should I have even been surprised by your father picking you over me? Probably not,” he says as he shakes his head. “But the idea of Kylen picking you over me? Well, that’s fucking enraging.”
The door behind me opens and dread washes over me as I turn my head to look at the ten guards filing in. Not because of what they’re about to do to me but because I know what this means for Len.
“It’s about time he came home anyway,” he says. “And when he does, I’ll have a special treat waiting for him.”
“I thought this was about the casino.”
Norn shrugs, like the idea of me handing over what I raised up from my father’s pile of shit is nothing of consequence to him. “It is. But I mean… you just told me I could have the casino. Yet I’ve never before had something I could use against Kylen. He keeps himself closed off from most people. Yeah, I’m sure he’s had a friend here or there, but to find someone that would make him actually threatenme. ME!” He smacks his hand down on the paper and crumples it up, rage consuming his expression. “Hewould threaten mebecause of you? Oh… I knew right then that I finally fucking had him. And then you show up with one of his hoodies on… fucking hell, Kade. You’re just making my goddamn day.”
I stand up, rage filling me at the very idea that he would touch Len. How can Norn use him like that? The Len I know is sweet and kind and he cares so much… maybe too much. “Don’t you dare touch him or you’ll get nothing.”
