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The entire moment changes.
It goes from me confronting Clay, on the verge of severing his ears with my knife, and my men on standby, to everybody looking over at the club entrance.
Ernest has wandered inside trying to present his stoic, perfect law-abiding front, but failing once he notices how many men fill up the club. His gait loses steam and he almost trips on nothing.
My grin only grows. “Could this be more perfect?! Ernest, you’ve shown up just in time! Lock the doors.”
Two of my men rush to do as I say. Another grabs him by the arm and escorts him over to where I stand with Clay.
“I’m assuming your pal Clay called you over?”
“Afteryou had Andre lie to me!” Clay snarls, irritated.
I stare at Ernest with sheer amusement. “Is that right? Ernest, were you showing up thinking you were clinching the victory too? What would that be—me dead? Phi kidnapped? You realize Dom was with me right?”
Ernest breathes heavily, revulsion crawling onto his face. “I never asked for my grandson to be involved! How dare you?!”
He’s not speaking to me, but to Clay.
An interesting twist to the situation.
I decide to step aside and let them hash it out—watching them interact will tell me more than demanding answers of them.
Clay produces a noise that sounds a lot like a scoff. “Ernest, you asked me to take him out. You don’t get no say in any other shit that goes down.”
“You had my grandson chased down the street!”
“He shouldn’t’ve been out with his father you want dead.”
“MY GRANDSON!”
Clay seems indifferent as Ernest’s temper bursts free. He wrenches himself from my guy that’s clutching his arm and rushes at Clay. The two men collide and then drop to the ground in a sudden wrestling match.
Ernest draws his fist back and punches Clay in the mouth.
My men close in to pry them apart, but I raise my hand and signal for them to hold on.
“You weren’t supposed to hurt my daughter and grandson!” Ernest roars. “You overstepped and you know it, Clay! Just like you always did! Just like you did with Leontine!”
“She was where she wanted to be before you came along!”
“She made her choice and that was me.”
“That’s what you think—you think she didn’t really want me?”
The two men’s history spills out before me as I let them brawl. Both get their licks in, but Ernest’s anger can’t be outmatched. He takes a shot to the jaw by Clay before quickly recovering and finding a way to overtake him.
“You piece of trash, I should’ve known better than to trust you!” he roars.
“Enough!” I say, any entertainment gone from the fight. My men understand my command and rush over to rip them apart. “You’ve each had your say. You’ve each fucked up beyond what you can possibly understand. You’re going to regret coming for me and my wife and son. The next twenty-four hours will be your last on earth. Take them away.”
21
salvatore
Delphine won’t letme and Dominic go the second she sees us again. She runs straight into my arms and scoops Dominic up to hold in her own. Overwhelming relief takes over her in a wave of sobs and body shakes. Half of what she says makes no sense.
I tighten my arms around her and let her do what she needs to do—expel any emotion that’s been bottling up over the past few hours.
