Page 68 of Between Passion and Revenge: Part Two

“If you fucking touch a hair on her head, I will kill you so slowly and so painfully, our ancestors will weep.”

I have enough power in my muscles to snap the phone in two, but when I look back at my friends, Riale’s jaw is set tight, hisarms crossed over his chest, looking away from the trainwreck happening in front of him.

Axel looks…pleased? Maybe even a bit giddy. But the energy on the other end of the line is palpable. I’ve just wrecked the operation, shown all my vulnerabilities, and aired out my dissent against Lakeland. He knows I’m not loyal.

And I’ll pay for that.

“Hm. You’re awfully emotional about this one,” Lakeland says, then he laughs—an evil sound.

“Thank you for making this easy, Storm.”

Click.

I stand, walking away from the speakerphone to the far end of the room and back.

“Well,thatwas a fucking good time,” Axel grouses.

“Man, shut up. We don’t have time for your bullshit,” Riale shouts.

“Yo, who thefuckdo you think you’re talking to!” Axel yells back, standing to get chest to chest with Riale.

Riale shoves Axel, who pushes back just as hard, so I yell, “Shut this shit down! Nobody has time for you to get into a pissing contest.”

Riale grunts and takes a step back, his jaw working as he stares Axel down.

“Let’s go,” I bark, spinning on my heel.

Shae. I need to get to Shae, make her understand what’s happening, and why playtime is over. I need her with me so I can protect her.

I don’t even know what protecting her looks like, but?—

I hit the doorjamb and pause. Axel’s two steps behind me, but Riale’s rooted in the same spot.

“Riale, we don’t have time for this.”

My gut clenches when I’m assaulted with the vision of masked men raiding Shae’s apartment, abducting her, harming her….

“Storm,” Riale says, sighing. “I know what you’re thinking, but it’s best you stop meddling and leave her the hell alone.”

I can’t even make sense of what the fuck he’s saying.

“Listen, Storm. I’m trying to be the reasonable one here. The reality is, we’re not ready to take the next step in our plan. That means you have to hold out a little bit longer. If you go running off after Shae, you’re gonna end up in the ground. All of us will.”

I shake my head. I understand what he’s saying, but I alsodon’tunderstand what he’s saying. At all.

If it ever came down to my life or Shae’s, I’d choose her.

Every time.

“It’s too fucking late for that, Riale,” I grind out.

“Storm, stop thinking with your dick and get some perspective!” he shouts, and that causes me to snap.

“Nigga, what is yourproblem?” I rush toward Riale when he doesn’t answer, but as soon as I’m a foot away from him, he explodes.

“My problem? It’syou, nigga!” He marches over to Axel’s vacated desk. “I knew this was a fucking bad idea. I knew you couldn’t handle it. And now, you just blew everything we’ve worked for, all the sacrifices, over some old pussy.”

It’s not until Axel’s pointed, “What the actual fucking fuck!” that I realize that I’ve got a gun pointed directly at Riale’s head.