The F King: A Bad Boy Romance(56)

I buried my face in my hands, then slid my palms to the side of my head as if trying to hold my skull together. The idea of Sarina as a cop after all this time threatened to blow it apart. The fucking love of my life? I groaned.

“They sent some soldiers to kill your mom. I’m so sorry we didn’t get there in time to stop them. They’ve sent others to kill Sarina, and anybody who knew who she was.”

I sat bolt upright as if struck by lightning. “You gotta stop them!”

Jace raised an eyebrow. “Why? Let them do your dirty work for you.”

“No! I... I’ve got to hear it from her with my own ears. Please…”

Jace stared at me for a frustratingly long time while I tried not to scream my request again as if he hadn’t heard. Finally, he turned to the strong-silent-type.

“Alright, Eric. Since you’ve got some free time, go get her, bring her back if it’s not too late. Cumberland Dorm, room… four-fifteen, right?” He looked to me.

“Yes.”

Jace turned back to Eric. “Go. Right now.”

“Yes, sir.”

Eric didn’t walk, he ran to the elevator and disappeared a moment later. I hung my head for a moment, then lifted it again, only to let it flop backwards. I stared at the ceiling. Fuck this day.

“It never rains but it pours, huh Ryan?” Jace said.

I managed to bring my focus back to him. “What does that mean?”

“It means everything always fuckin’ happens at once. We’ve been infiltrating this city for months now and all this shit happens today, when we were going to take the Acardis down anyway. That’s why we were stretched so thin. I didn’t have anybody close enough to the hospital to stop it.”

“What are you, like, a shitty fairy godmother failing to look out for me or something?”

“I think you’re already dealing with enough that I’m not going to get all puffed up with my own self-importance at the way you’re talking to me.,” Jace said. “No, I’m not your fairy godmother. I was thinking about being your employer, though.”

“Not interested,” I said.

“Hear me out. You’re the whole reason I’m here. I was looking for you. I found out you were the F King a few weeks ago. Even the cops don’t know that. Your girlfriend hasn’t reported it if she knew it.”

“She didn’t.”

I felt like my body suddenly weighed a thousand times more at the mention of her name. I struggled to readjust myself in my seat.

“Austin, you got the keys for these cuffs?” Jace asked.

“Yeah.”

“Get them off him.”

Austin reached behind my back and I heard a click. He took the cuffs away and took a seat near the elevators and the exit to the stairwell.

“I’ve been thinking about you a lot,” Jace continued. “I was wondering if you’re loyal to them, or if you might be convinced to work for me. After what happened today, I know you ain’t loyal to them, but you say you don’t want to work for me either.”

I watched him with dead eyes.

“So, let me lay out my benefits package for you to consider. Believe it or not, I know what you’re going through. I saw my own mother get killed by… well, not these fucks, but fucks a lot like them. I made it my mission in life to take them down. First, I took Port Magnus from the Picollis, then we took New Ashby from the Bertolinis. After that, it became apparent that all these old mafia families are one and the same, interconnected. The only way to make sure they don’t grow back is to fucking kill them all. I had to make sure my next move hit them in the biggest single money-making operation any of them had, and that’s you and your F. They buried you deep. They’re not exactly like the other mafia families where you can sneak into their house and steal their fucking Rolodex. My guy Dan here,” he gestured at the man at the computer, who waved without looking, “can hack anything from anywhere, but in the end it was easier to buy this building right across the road from Trafford Tower, so we could get mainline access to the data cabling under the street.”

I looked at the windows, which were covered by vertical Venetian blinds. “We’re…?”

Jace nodded. “Right across the street. Anyway, the benefits package. The first thing I’ll promise you is that, if you work for me, I’ll make sure you get all the revenge you can handle. You will make them hurt on a daily basis, and I’m not just talking about in the wallet. I’m talking about every kind of pain that you’ve felt today, and more. Nothing will bring her back, and I can’t promise any amount of revenge will even the score in your mind.”