Page 125 of Desperate Games

We move in perfect synchronicity, and it is a thing of fucking beauty.

Junior, Ono, Atlas, and Liam raise their weapons and scream at the victims, the men and women half-dazed, used, and abused by these wretched assholes, to get the fuck out.

They do. They scurry.

Even the one that has to be dragged out the door by her friend.

I see Atlas handing them cards, and I don’t know what he’s up to, but that’s his business.

Andres and Connor have three human trafficking drug dealers on the floor with their hands raised in the air.

Soldiers. Casualties of fucking war. Low lives. Criminals.

Only they won’t be getting a trial. They’ll be getting dead. Real soon. Like any fucking minute.

Julio comes out of the back room, all swagger and smirk, until his gaze meets mine.

Then, the color drains from his face.

He knows.

He knows exactly why I’m here.

“You—” he starts, but I cut him off, a single step forward making him stumble back.

The room is thick with tension.

Connor, Liam, Junior, Stavros, and Andres spread out behind me, keeping Julio’s men on the walls at gunpoint.

No one dares move.

Not with this much firepower aimed their way.

It’s just him and me now.

“You sent packages to my house,” I snarl. “To my wife. To my little girl.”

Julio shrugs, that slick grin slipping back into place.

“It was just a warning. You can still make this right. Pay up, and I’ll forget the whole thing.”

I stalk closer, pulling the curved blade from my thigh holster.

The metal gleams under the flickering bulb overhead.

“You think this is about money?” My voice drops to a lethal whisper. “You came for my family. My daughter.”

His smirk wavers. “She’s not your daughter, Falco. She’s mine. Blood doesn’t lie.”

“Wrong fucking answer, douchebag.”

Then I lunge.

The blade flashes.

His scream tears through the hovel as the tip slices across his forearm, clean and quick, shallow enough to keep him upright but deep enough to make him bleed.

He stumbles back, clutching his arm, eyes wild. “You fucking psycho! Callie is my daughter. You married that fat bitch for her money, I just want a taste?—”