AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It’s nothing,” he says, giving her a look.
It’s pretty clear from their similar facial features and the way they hold themselves that these two are related, probably father and daughter if I had to guess.
She gives him a look right back, folding her arms and not budging.
Jonah sighs. “They’re here looking for help taking down Olivia Stanton,” he grumbles.
Quinn’s eyes go wide at that. “The one who… ?”
Jonah just nods.
With that kind of reaction, I can’t help myself anymore. “I’m sorry if this is a weird question, but… what happened?” I ask. “What did Olivia do?”
They both glance at me, and Jonah’s expression goes hard. At first, I think he’s going to refuse to answer, but then he starts speaking, his tone bitter. “Olivia tried to blackmail me,” he says. “Using my brother Casey as leverage. She had dirt on him, and she held it over his head. I didn’t want to do her bullshit, but I tried anyway. When I couldn’t make it happen, she had my brother put in prison, and he died there.”
The anger is clear in his voice, and this is definitely a personal grudge. One that’s not far off from the grudge we have against her.
I suck in a breath because yeah, I can relate very much to the anger of having Olivia hold people you care about over your head.
“She did something like that to us too,” I tell him. “So we get it. And if we don’t stop her, she’ll probably kill me and then do it to other people so she can keep getting what she wants. Nothing’s going to stop her because she doesn’t care about people’s lives. All she cares about is getting what she wants.”
Jonah nods, his hand curling into fists at his side. “She’s a bitch. She plays with people, treats them like chess pieces to be used, and then when she’s done, she just throws them away. Or leaves them somewhere to rot.”
“Help us stop her,” Vic says. “We can end this, but we need help.”
“Alright,” Jonah agrees finally. “Okay. I want nothing more than to see that cunt die for what she did to my family, so I’ll help you.”
“Thank you,” I breathe, relief surging through me.
“One thing, though. I’m not gonna bring my gang into this. They can provide support or work as a diversion, but I won’t volunteer them for the actual fight. It’s a personal thing for me, and I’m not putting them in danger for it.”
Quinn puts her hands on her hips, cutting in before we can say anything. “Except me. Of course you’ll let me help, even if you won’t ask anyone else to.”
Jonah turns to her, face already set in disapproving lines. “Quinn, no. You can’t be involved in this either.”
“Fucking hell, Dad. You need to start trusting me. I’ve trained. You’ve seen me in action. YouknowI can handle myself. I get that you want to protect me, but you have to cut the cord a little. Seriously. I’ve been asking for months for you to give me more responsibilities—”
“Going up against a woman with no morals and no problems killing anyone in her way isn’t the way to prove yourself, Quinn.”
She rolls her eyes. “No, according to you, the way to prove myself is to sit around doing nothing. I don’t need you to protect me all the time. I can handle myself.”
“I’m going to want to protect you forever,” Jonah shoots back. “Sorry. Just the way it is.”
The two of them face off, and it seems like this is an old argument. Jonah wants his daughter to be safe, and she just wants a chance to prove herself and to get to show that she can be a badass too.
“Dad—”
“You’re supposed to be working anyway,” he cuts in. “You’re needed out in the shop, so get to it.”
There’s a finality to his tone, and Quinn groans, rolling her eyes again. “Fine. But we’re not done talking about this,” she says and heads back out.
Once she’s gone, Malice leans forward, ready to get back to business.
“We can’t fuck around when it comes to Olivia,” he says. “We’ve gone up against her a few times before, and she always manages to come out on top. That can’t happen this time.”
“What do you know about her?” Jonah asks. “How well protected is she?”
Vic takes over then. “We have some information. Willow’s been inside her home and has seen her resources. We know she has security, even though we don’t know how many people she has on hand. We know that she’s trusting her station to make her untouchable. That’s why we can’t just kill her in broad daylight or something. This has to be low profile.”
