Page 40

Brice

I sat, listening to the phone ring, until it was picked up.

I spoke, not waiting for her to answer. My caller had been the head of the Mexican Cartel for as long as we’d all been in the game.

She was the one who facilitated Devin’s reign.

For a while, she fronted her operation behind her brother until three years ago, when she had Devin kill her brother as payment for their release out of the game, effectively ending the original One, Two, and Three monikers.

“Ice.”

“As you know, we eliminated the local problem we had with the Italian Mafia, or our problemas familiares, you so eloquently said.”

“Let me guess, you want out,” she drawled in English coated with her Hispanic accent.

“That guess would be correct.”

“Well, I don’t plan to let you go,” she said, voice laced with venom, with the undertones of a threat. I fucking hated threats .

“I figured you’d say that. Do you think I should let you eat that delicious-looking Pozole the waiter just placed on your table?

Third table from the right in front of the window,” I said as I looked on through a pair of binoculars.

We were on a yacht in the middle of the ocean off the coast of Mexico.

We were far enough out that even if they’d spotted us, they would never reach us in time.

I watched as she frantically looked around before she picked up the glass of water, bringing it to her lips.

“I don’t know if I would drink that either, there might be something in it,” I said confidently. She placed the glass back on the table and huffed a deep breath into the line before speaking again.

“What do you want?”

“I told you. We want out. We will never contact you again. You don’t look for us, and we won’t come back here to finish the job.”

“Is that a threat?”

“Do it,” I said, removing the phone from my face while I spoke to Lynx.

She lay beside me on the bow as a gunner on a sniper rifle with Lioness as her spotter.

The yacht had been outfitted with a stabilizer because the shot she was about to pull off was damn near impossible on land and would be even more so on the sea.

Rock was operating the yacht and handling our security on this mission.

He’d ensured we couldn’t be tracked by radar or satellite as we sailed the seas.

The weapon was directly aimed at her chest. At this distance and caliber, it would rip through her, ending her immediately .

“Yes. Do you have any more questions?” The line went silent while she mulled over her options. To expedite her decision, I offered her another option.

“Or it can all be over now,” I said as the bullet ripped through the window and hit the glass that moments ago she’d brought to her lips. She gasped and flinched as the water from the glass flew into her face.

“The next one is going through your forehead,” I said confidently.

“Your men won’t even know where to begin once your body hits the table because you have so many enemies,” I said, and paused.

“What will it be?” I asked.

“Hmph, One taught you well, too well,” she grumbled into the line.

“Fine, who’s your replacement?” She asked, as if I were about to continue handing her more keys to her empire.

“That’s for you to decide. I’m sure your next One is out there waiting for his moment.

Goodbye, Isabella Morales,” I said, and she gasped again as I hung up the phone.

One, Two, and Three may not have known who they were working for, but Rock had made it his mission after we’d taken over.

For the three years that we’d been tops, he’d been leaving the US and traveling to Mexico to gather intelligence on the Cartel.

He stopped when he met Jourdan, but he had so much information that it no longer mattered.

The three of them together were able to fill in the rest of the puzzle.

We knew everything about her and her family.

Right after we’d taken out Costa, we’d decided collectively that this needed to be the end forever.

The streets would remain the same because the game was the game, but we wouldn’t be a part of it.

As long as she abided by the rules we set, we would forget she fucking existed.

“Let’s get the fuck out of here,” I spoke into the earpiece to Rock. The boat started slicing through the ocean in minutes, and we were back to our honeymoon festivities, effectively retiring Rock, Ice, Lynx, and Lioness. Our resort was four hours away, where we were returning.

When we were about two hours out, Steph joined us on the bow.

He walked right over to where Jourdan sat, lifted her, and placed her in his lap.

A week after our honeymoon on Isla Mujeres, they joined us.

They were perfect for one another, and I would forever take credit for their union, no matter how many times JoJo told me she’d chosen him before I knew they’d met.

When Tay said that I was up to something, it was because I was.

I smiled at her intuition because she knew me better than anyone else.

Tay stood at the forward pulpit, gripping the rail. I walked up behind her, bringing her body into mine as I placed my hands beside hers.

“It’s beautiful out here, Brice.”

“I can agree, it definitely has some views, damn,” I said as I leaned back looking at her ass sitting high in her bikini.

“Brice,” she said through a laugh as she looked over her shoulder. “I didn’t think we’d ever be here, Brice,” she exhaled .

“We were always going to end up here. Here in this moment, this space, and with this family in this unequivocal, unconditional love. I was never going to settle for anyone else. Only You,” I said as I turned her chin to face me.

I kissed her lips gently before I added my tongue to get my fill as the world melted away around us.

“Only you.”

The End