AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Mostly, I’m Gunner, and I’m running down those stairs again when what I really want is to grab onto Libby and never let go.
“Griffin.”
Olly’s chuckle feels like home. It’s ridiculous to miss the only man I considered my brother, when I know he’s not truly one of us.
“Theodore Griffin,” he laughs. “Gunner Bishop. Bastard child, prick of a boss.”
“Olly.” I back away from the crowd slow enough to let Soph keep up. She works one-handed, since the other is supporting a laptop until one of the many men here take a hint and hold it for her. For as long as I stand, she either works one-handed, or she needs someone to help. “I don’t understand what’s going on right now.”
“Of course you don’t.” What started out as sound in my ear turns to surround sound when Soph does something on her end. Now dozens of men can hear everything my second-in-charge says. “You were so fucking obsessed with yourself, you never paid attention to what was happening around you.”
“Please, Olly, explain to me where I fucked up, because I’m really confused. I thought…” Against my wishes, my eyes go to Kane’s. “I genuinely thought we were family. I’ve known you since you were just a kid.”
“The irony,” he hoots. “So much fucking irony.”
“I don’t… I don’t understand.”
“You say ‘kid,’ Griffin, and you mean you’ve known me since I was a hungry twelve-year-old approaching you like a stray cat in an alley.”
“Well… yes.”
“But you don’t remember the child in Hayes’ club? The boy you completely ignored, because you were so busy talking to the girl?”
I look to Soph.
“The boy? I don’t…” A memory from forever ago flashes through my mind. “The toddler. You were playing with blocks in Hayes’ office…”
“Give the man a medal.” Clapping hands literally make me jump when they crack through the speakers. “So easily ignored, so easily forgotten.”
“Olly… where’s Libby?”
“Oh, she’s here.” Olly’s eyeroll is almost audible. “Surprise surprise. Griffin is still obsessed with the girl.”
“She’s my family,” I answer in my defense. “Of course I ask about her.”
“And what am I?” Olly screeches. “Why aren’t I family? You walk into a room and decide only one of thefourpeople in there are worthy? My father was banished from the Bishop empire, so what happened to me? I became a fucking soldier. A child was handed a gun and told to kill or be killed. Why don’t I get to be a part of your family, Griffin?”
“You are! You were family. I trusted you to watch Libby. I trust you with my company, with my home, with my everything. I trusted you!”
“You trusted the soldier, the boy that came to you as a man, and only after I proved my worth. But that child, the toddler in Hayes’ club; he was nothing to you.”
“I mean…” I look around. “I didn’t know you. You were someone else’s kid, and you were playing blocks. What the fuck was I supposed to do? Knock them over and ask if you wanted a nap?”
“You’re an asshole,” he seethes. “You think you’re so fuckin’ funny.”
“No, I really don’t. I don’t understand why you hold animosity toward me. If you’re mad at Hayes, then fine, get in line. So am I. If you’re mad at Bishop, you aren’t the only one. But taking the Frankston girl was wrong and stupid. She wasn’t even conceived yet. She did nothing to deserve this.”
“But she did,” he taunts. “She’s like you, a bastard child who got lucky. Now she has–”
“Where is she?” Aiden snaps. “Where’s Evie?”
Unbothered by the fact someone else enters our conversation, Olly answers, “She’s here, Rocky. She’s fine.”
“Put her on the phone,” Alex demands. “Prove she’s fine. We’ll talk when we know she’s okay.”
“Girl.” We hear footsteps, whispers, and then a whimper. “Speak.”
“Biggie?”
