Page 41 of Wicked Empire (Knight's Ridge Empire 3)

His tone of voice clearly ticks Theo off as well, because he sidesteps Alex and gets right in Daemon’s face.

“Do you want to fucking remember who you’re bossing around?”

Daemon’s jaw tics, his eyes darkening with anger.

“Remember your fucking place, soldier,” Theo scoffs, highlighting, and not for the first time, that he’s always going to be higher up the Family than all of us. No matter how many years or kills we might have under our belts.

“Enough with the dick measuring,” Alex mutters. “How about we just get the fuck out of here before the cops show up?”

The bright blue flashing lights in the distance hint at the fact that they’re not far away.

“Get the fuck in,” Evan booms, overriding any authority Theo might have, and all of us immediately follow orders.

I just swing the back door closed as the first cop car races around the corner of the burning building. Without waiting for us to even sit down, Evan floors the accelerator, taking off across the city.

We can’t see anything back here, but we don’t need to to know where we’re going.

All of us might be young and relatively new to this, but we all know what’s coming next.

So do the stupid fucks we’ve now bound and gagged beside us.

If they weren’t already regretting going up against us, then they’re certainly going to by the time the night is out.

It only takes us ten minutes to get the men inside the old warehouse and strapped to chairs while both Evan and Galen watch, more than happy to let us be the ones to get our hands dirty.

“So,” Evan starts once they’ve been sitting there waiting for something to happen for long enough. Part of me wants them to squeal like fucking pigs just so I can get back to Stella. But the other part, the part that remembers everything from the past hour, wondering how she looks after climbing through a window full of broken fucking glass, wants them to keep their secrets, to make us work for it.

I crack my knuckles, ignoring the ache in my shoulder.

I was already gunning for some action after watching the fights. But now? Now I’m fucking desperate for it.

“Care to tell us why you decided to blow up a Circuit fight on fucking neutral ground, you Italian fucks?” Evan barks. Although anger laces through his voice, his face is a stone mask, giving absolutely nothing away.

Each of them holds his eyes firm, no words falling from their lips.

Fucking fine by me.

Evan doesn’t even get a chance to glance back at me. I surge forward, slamming my fist into one of the stupid fuck’s faces.

The sound of his jaw crunching under the force of the hit fills the room, sending a rush of adrenaline through me.

He doesn’t react, though, just flexes his jaw when the immediate pain from the hit fades.

“Need more?” I mutter. “I can go all fucking night, motherfucker.”

My second blow lands on his nose. Blood explodes, soaking into his white shirt and spraying my arms.

“Dirty cunt,” I spit, shaking the warm splatters from my skin.

“Anyone want to talk yet?” Evan booms.

They’re still silent.

“Nico, Alex. Care to join the party?”

They don’t need to be asked twice. Both step forward to land a few painful blows on the other guys while Theo and Daemon stand back, watching us get our prisoners warmed up.

“O-orders came from above,” one of them finally gurgles, spitting a mouthful of blood by Nico’s feet. His face is swollen and bleeding from Nico’s steel knuckle dusters.