AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Talon watches me for an uncomfortable moment that goes on for too long. “You know the way to the office. I’ll be right behind you.”
The threat is technically unspoken. Yet it’s thickly laced through every word. I wish I’d been wise enough to follow Fiona’s suggestion to bring some muscled backup. I’ve rarely felt this vulnerable.
The thought is shaken off. Whatever Talon and Jared have in mind, if they wanted me dead then I would have already exhaled my last breath.
Anyway, they aren’t bold enough to face the consequences of killing Aric Marchenko’s daughter. My father still has the connections to rain the fires of hell on their heads from prison. I’m also confident that my Uncle Estes would never cooperate. Desmond and his sons can’t afford to get on my uncle’s bad side.
However, I do wish my homicidal cousin wasn’t following at my heels on the brisk walk down a corridor. At the end of the hallway a slant of light comes from the door, cracked open an inch. I don’t bother knocking before kicking it wide open. My good mood evaporated when I was ordered to report my ‘slutty ass’ to this shithole.
Jared lounges at the head of the table, my father’s seat, with his feet up on the desk. He’s put on some weight lately and the red-eyed puffiness in his face shows he’s also been hitting the bottle. He was clearly waiting for my entrance. “Haven, so good to see you.”
“Bullshit.” I scan the room, which is notably empty. “Your father isn’t here yet?”
“Dad couldn’t make it. He delegated this task. Have a seat.”
“Thanks, I’ll stand.”
The words have hardly left my mouth when Talon shoves a chair underneath me, painfully clamps down on my shoulder and forces me to sit. He pushes the chair until my ribs collide with the edge of the table. I don’t even get a chance to react before he’s gone, briefly skulking behind his brother’s chair, finally landing in the seat directly across from mine.
A couple of deep breaths are vital to my sanity as I try to stop my blood from boiling.
Jared sends a slimy grin my way. “Now that we’re all here, we can deal with business.”
I’d like to bury the pointy heel of my shoe in his right eye. “We could have dealt with business over the phone.”
Talon clicks his eyesore of a ring on the table. The metal M, upside down from my vantage point, winks off the overhead light.
Wicked. Wicked. Wicked.
No, that’s them. Not me.
“This is a family matter.” Jared rubs his jaw. “Not appropriate phone conversation.”
“What family matter?”
“Your new fuck toy.” Talon slides his phone across the table. On the screen is the photo of Conner kissing me on the red carpet.
I roll my eyes, not caring if the gesture pisses them off. “Jealous? Sorry boys, he’s mine.”
Talon has produced an engraved switchblade and toys with it between his fingers. “You should have consulted the family before turning us into public property.”
A fresh wave of wariness takes over. My cousins aren’t smart men. But they are dangerous men.
It’s a miracle I’m able to shrug and remain calm on the surface. “Don’t be so dramatic. If I leave here in a good mood I’ll see about getting you an autograph. Maybe I can even manage some game tickets.”
“Don’t mistake us for fools, little girl,” Jared warns.
“I was just making an offer. I assumed you liked football.”
Talon drops his knife into the pocket of his blazer. He lazily reaches for a crystal paperweight sitting on a nearby file cabinet and fires it against the wall, smashing it into shards. I’m sure I flinch at the crash.
Talon kicks his chair away and leans across the table. “Listen up, cuz. Nobody gives a shit how often you spread your legs or what kind of bottom feeder is willing to crawl between them. But what you’ve done so carelessly is shine a spotlight on the family. We’re not fans of the spotlight.”
“Sorry you’re not getting enough attention. Try a dating app. Leave me out of it.”
He chuckles. “Sure didn’t take long for you to get all full of yourself. The clean cut quarterback and the degenerate gangster princess. Adorable story, right?” Talon shakes his head, hisses with disgust. “You stupid bitch. Within hours our territory will be crawling with softheaded social media influencers scoping out every corner connected to our name and trying to coax the neighborhood into talking. We can’t have that. Just can’t have it.”
I refuse to lower my head no matter how much my heart pounds. “Too bad we don’t work in a corporate office. You could go whine about it to HR. But as it stands, you have no fucking recourse.”
