Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 109086 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109086 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
That was the reason for this call. Because Ashton betrayed me.
I drew in a breath before saying, “I’m not calling to catch up.”
Ashton grew quiet on his end. “I wouldn’t think you would. What’s the reason for this call, Worthing? What did you do, Jake?”
I murmured, “It’s more what you did, Ashton. You fucked up.”
He was quiet again before saying, “I fucked up? Okay. Tell me how I fucked up. Tell me the reason you’re shifting blame for whatever the fuck you did. I’d love to hear this.”
It was so simple really. I didn’t understand how he couldn’t realize it. I told him, “I asked you for help with saving my woman’s life. You said no.” I cringed, hearing the laughter that came from him that day. “You laughed at me.”
“I did not,” he returned, so smoothly.
“You did.” It was the day I didn’t know if I could save Sawyer’s life. I would never forget that day. “You should’ve helped me that day.”
Ashton was quiet again before he exploded, “I already had! What are you talking about? I’d done too much. I couldn’t do any more without risking a full-blown war between us and your cousin.”
There it was. The truth.
I noted, softly, “There was already a war, remember? You’d already been waging it against my cousin, but you wouldn’t help me that day because I was your first wave. Wasn’t I?” I figured it out later. If Creighton had known, then there was no reason Ashton hadn’t also. “You knew what my family trained me to become, didn’t you?”
There was silence for a bit. And that was my answer.
“Jake,” he started. “You were a cop—”
“There’s a difference between what my family had me doing and what I did for the force. A major difference and you know it. That’s what you were banking on. You knew he had Sawyer. You knew the lengths I’d go to save her. I was the first wave. You were hoping I’d kill my cousin. And if I went with him, if that was the only way I could kill him, then that just meant I was collateral. Right? That was your plan?”
My chest filled with anger and bitterness. Ashton had power and control. I came from a position of no power.
“I asked for your help against Lane. You told me no.”
“You were asking for too much—”
“I wasn’t. He had my woman. He had my son.”
“I didn’t know.”
I didn’t believe him and it didn’t matter anymore. “You fucked up, Ashton. You lost sight of what was in front of you. You were my family’s enemy and I chose your side.”
“You used my side to keep yours in check. Do not change the script on what fucking happened in the past.”
It didn’t matter. Not anymore. “I struck a deal with my cousin. I’m calling to give you notice.”
“With Lane?”
Here was the kicker, the real part that Ashton never considered and what he should’ve.
I said into the phone, “You’re under the impression that my family’s operation is solely in Maine and that my cousin only tried to push his way into the city. You think we didn’t have any hold already in the city. You’re wrong to make that assumption.”
He was quiet again before asking, “What are you talking about?”
“We have assets set up throughout the entire city. Manhattan. Brooklyn. Tribeca. Soho. Red Hook. Queens. Harlem. The Bronx. We have a distribution pipeline that’s used for transport of all goods. We have trucks in the city. We have men in the city. We have nightclubs that we use as camouflage for our other operations. We have businesses that we use to clean money for clients. My family is a lot bigger, a lot more powerful, and a lot more dangerous than you think. When our families went to war, you did not wipe us out. You only made a dent.”
Ashton went quiet. “What the fuck did you do?”
“You knew my cousin would have too many men. You knew I wouldn’t be able to take all of them out, but I just needed the one shot. Right? Just the one.” If only he had helped . . . But he hadn’t.
“What. Did. You. Do?”
“The deal was for my life. My woman’s life. My son’s. Everyone that Sawyer loves and everyone my son loves. That’s what I bargained with Lane for our lives.”
He’d grown quiet. Waiting.
“I stepped aside, Ashton.”
“What?” he asked, curtly.
“This call was a courtesy. Through the years, your family’s name gave Justin the ability to be normal for a while. Because of that, I’m giving you a heads-up of what’s coming your way.”
“You still haven’t said what the fuck you did—”
“I gave him my family.”
Ashton stopped talking, abruptly.
This was it. This was what I did. “I stepped aside and I gave him the keys to my family’s business. He knows the locations. He knows the passcodes. I gave him every piece of information he would need to move in and seize control of my family. My uncles have already either been killed or they’ve been immobilized. I don’t care. He needed a stronghold in the city, and I’m the one that gave it to him.”