Chapter One
Blade
Eight Years Ago
Aged Twenty-Five
The steady drip of a leaking tap somewhere in the warehouse was the only sound I heard as I watched the scene unfold in front of me. That and the roar of blood rushing to my head as anger took hold.
“You really wanna go there, Blade?” Leroy snarled, his lethal gaze focused solely on me.
I thought about what he’d asked even though I’d done nothing but think about that very question for the past few weeks. This was the man who’d taken me under his wing when I was a naive fifteen-year-old out dealing drugs for little more than pocket change; the man who’d taught me everything I knew today about how to survive in the dangerous underbelly we existed in. I’d lied, stolen and killed for this man. Fuck, the first time I’d taken my blade to someone had been to save Leroy’s life. Ten years in his gang and I’d risen to the top, but I’d lost my humanity along the way. I didn’t even question the shit I did for Leroy anymore. The darkness within had totally consumed me.
Until I met Ashley.
I took a step closer to Leroy, the adrenaline pumping through me. With a nod of my head, he’d easily be taken care of by my boys, but I wanted to be the one to do it. I needed that vengeance for what he’d tried to force upon Ashley, and for what he’d already forced upon countless other women. “Yeah, motherfucker, it seems I do.”
Leroy had his loyal gang members backing him up, but I had far more of our members behind me. Once we’d discovered how Leroy was filling his brothels, we’d decided we could no longer support a filthy pig like him; a pig that refused to treat women with the respect they deserved.
His eyes were wild, his body taut; he was just as ready for this showdown as I was. “You do remember who took your sorry ass off the street and showed you what you were capable of, don’t you?” He pushed his face towards mine. We were so close now that when he spat his next words out, I could smell his foul breath. “I fucking own you, Blade. You don’t get to fucking challenge what I do.”
The calmness that always took over whenever I was about to kill descended upon me. My breathing remained steady, sure. “That’s where you’re wrong, Leroy. You don’t own me, and I sure as hell don’t owe you a damn thing. Not anymore. That debt has been paid. But you and I have a huge fucking problem if you think it’s okay to force women into selling their bodies so you can make money off them”
“They fucking owed me for the drugs they’d been buying off me!” he thundered, as if that made it all right. His thinking was so fucking screwed up he didn’t know right from wrong anymore. Hell, in his world, there was no wrong. Only what he wanted, and that was always right.
“There’s going to be some changes around here,” I stated with the calmness I felt in my bones. This was the right thing to do.
“You’re fucking dreaming if you think you can take me out and keep this organisation running, at the level of profit I’ve achieved, without the women.”
“And you’re fucking deluded if you think I’m going to let you live, so I guess I really only have one option here: kill you and find a way to make it all work, because I sure as fuck have no intention of running drugs or women anymore.”
In the blink of an eye, Leroy gave his men the nod, and a second later I had five guns trained on me. In return, Leroy had twelve on him. I waited for his next play. After all, patience was my strong suit.
“If you think you can kill me with no repercussions, my boy, you might want to think again,” he threatened with the confidence of a man who never made promises he couldn’t keep. Leroy most certainly had shit planned for this exact outcome, but he underestimated me.
I pulled my blade out and took another step closer to him. In a low voice, I said, “It’s a good thing you taught me to always keep one eye behind me, then, isn’t it?”
His eyes widened slightly, and I took in the sheen of sweat on his forehead. He knew his breaths were limited. My pulse quickened as I savoured his fear and anticipated sinking my knife in his gut.
Merrick, my right-hand man, moved to speak into my ear. “Let’s get this shit over with, Blade. I don’t want to risk anything fucking this up, not when you've got him right where you need him.”
Merrick was right, as usual, and without giving Leroy any warning, I sunk my knife into his stomach. He roared with pain and staggered back. I pulled the knife back, yanking it from his body, only to plunge it back into his stomach. My blade connected with his flesh over and over as I sought retribution for the crimes he’d committed against the women in his organisation. I heard gunshots as our boys fought it out, but all I was concentrating on was Leroy’s blood. I needed more of it on my hands.