Page 2 of Devil’s Promise

“Where’d she go?” Vigo slurs out. “After fighting today, I’m ready to fuck.”

I seriously doubt he could keep it up, and what he did today was not fighting. Rush Smith let my uncle win.

I saw the video that has already been distributed to all the New York families who run the drug trade. Rush never even threw a punch. He didn’t fight back. Just stoically took a beating.

Rush’s message in sending the video…

Vigo is getting what he deserves.

But I don’t argue my uncle’s assertion as I stand. Rock stands too, each of us taking one of Vigo’s arms.

I don’t have much time to decide, but I know I can’t let the Smiths fake a suicide. How my uncle dies is imperative to our future.

“Where are we going?” Vigo asks, stumbling as we make our way to the back door.

I grip my pistol, tucked in the back of my pants, as I prepare to enter the back parking lot.

It’s protected on all sides, closed off from windows, and we have guards patrol the rooftops so that we have a safe place to meet when needed. I’d bet my future that Rush is waiting there now.

“To find you a good woman to fuck,” I answer, grasping the door.

Vigo snorts out a laugh. “You turned out all right, Angel. Had to beat the weakness out of you, but you made it.”

I look over at him, my eyes narrowed into slits. What I am today had nothing to do with Vigo Sinclair. I’d been beaten plenty before him, and my fair share after. My desire to be on the very top of this pile comes with the desire to lift myself above this pit of vipers, where we can live a life out of the dark and in the light.

I’ll drag my brothers with me.

But our exit is definitely built on a pile of bodies.

The next one.

Vigo Sinclair.

The moment we enter the alley, Rush steps out of the shadows.

Vigo stops, taking several seconds to process before he slurs, “Kill him. Weak piece of shit deserves to die the way he fights.”

“He let you win,” I grit out through clenched teeth, done hiding how much I hate this useless piece of shit.

“He didn’t let me win,” Vigo stumbles again, away from Rock, and this time, Rock lets him go. “I kicked his ass because he’s weak and pathetic. Hiding in his big building. Fucking my wife.”

“My wife,” Rush rumbles with such ferocity, one of my eyebrows lifts. Giulia is a beautiful woman, but Rush can have any woman he chooses. Why he’d take on the trouble of Giulia is beyond me. But that’s his problem.

Rush reaches out and grabs Vigo, pulling him forward, even as Killian steps out from behind his brother, lifting a pistol to Vigo’s temple.

On Killian’s hands are Vigo’s black gloves.

I have one final second, and taking it, I lift my gun and fire. But it’s not Rush or even Killian I hit.

Vigo drops like a sack, his dead body splayed out on the ground. I don’t feel anything. Maybe I’m the remorseless killing machine they’ve accused me of being. But as my eyes meet Rush’s, I smile. “You’re welcome.”

He glowers back. “You want me to thank you for a job I was about to do myself?”

“I’ve saved you the trouble. And I’d like to think that this is the beginning of a beneficial friendship.”

Rock looks at me with a question in his eyes. I love my brothers. I’m here for them always. But, like I’ve said, I’ve got plans to lift us up from the hellhole we’ve been in our entire lives and let us walk in the light.

Everyone, including Rush, is getting on board with my plan.