Page 84 of Coercion

“He almost had you.” I say.

His eyes flash with fury. He stands up, takes aim and finally hits the man he’s been trying to kill.

And as the fucker falls backwards, we hear the roar of engines. Finally back up is here.

We’resat on the pavement, staring at the utter ruin in front of us. There’s still smoke billowing out and, as the fire brigade work to make it safe, all we can do is look on.

Around us, the ground is covered in rubble, no doubt from the initial explosion.

The police turned up conveniently right after our men did. They made a big noise, a big fuss and naturally they got fuck all from any of us.

We have them bought anyway but we’re still not going to cooperate with them.

Nico told them it was a gas explosion. The look on their faces was priceless.

“They were after you.” I say, like he doesn’t know it.

He grunts, picking up a small piece of debris that I’d put money on being once part of our bar. He lobs it hard into the smoking mess in front of us.

“You should check on Eleri.” I add.

“Already done it. She’s safe.” He says.

I nod, relieved that she is. The last thing we need is one of us seriously injured. As soon as I sorted backup for here I had Noah go to my house, to make sure it was secure, locked down, and nobody was anywhere near Ruby.

“Who do you think it was?” Blaine asks. He’d luckily been out all day, running errands as he puts it, when we all know he’s been ensuring the scum of this city know exactly who’s in charge.

“You don’t think it was Gunnar?” I say.

Nico frowns. “Seems too soon. How could he have planned this when he only took over yesterday?”

I narrow my eyes, thinking it through. I don’t believe in coincidences. I don’t believe in simple bad timing. My gut tells me this has something to do with the alliance, maybe it’s not Gunnar, maybe it’s something else, some other Don whose sensed a change in the wind.

“Who knows about Levi?” I ask.

Nico shrugs.

Blaine pulls a face. “Doubt the other families aren’t aware.”

Yeah, he’s right about that, shit like that spreads. I reckon most of them knew before the sun rose this morning.

“We need to clean this shit up.” Nico growls. “I want to know who’s behind it, anyone that even knew this was going to happen will pay the price.”

I nod. We have to be ruthless now. We have to shut this entire city down. No mercy. No reprieves. They come for us and by god will they suffer the consequences.

“I’m on it, boss.” Blaine says walking away, barking out orders.

“You should see a doctor.” I state.

“I’m fine.” Nico growls.

He certainly doesn’t look fine but I doubt I do either. My jaw aches from where he hit me. My ribs are throbbing from where he beat me. Maybe I should be grateful the damn bar was rigged, it saved me from being beaten to a pulp.

“So what are we going to do about Ruby?” Nico growls.

I draw in a low breath. “I love her.” I say quietly. “Just as you love Eleri, I love Ruby.”

He grunts, tossing another piece of rubble. “Have you told her that?”