Queen of Hearts, page 19
I say nothing as he stands, shouting about “Fucking autocratic bullshit.”
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” I warn as Carl reaches into his jacket for his gun. His eyes are focused on one of my new bodyguards, who’s sitting in the booth behind me since Eli is away investigating The Cartel for me, not realizing that he’s not the threat here.
His lips twist into a snarl. “Fuck yo—”
The words die in the air as blood begins to trickle from the corner of his mouth.
“Esme, clean up on table three!” Rosie shouts as she drops Carl’s body to the floor, her blade protruding from his ribcage. She may not carve out chests anymore, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t an expert at getting her knife right in the sweet spot.
“Cato, add the DeLuca estates to the re-distribution lists,” I call over to my assistant who’s been sitting at the counter, and they take out their phone to make the necessary arrangements.
“I did warn him,” Rosie says sweetly as she slides onto my lap, her hands coming around my neck.
“You did,” I agree as I kiss my Queen of Hearts, ignoring the body by our feet.
A few moments later Cato’s phone rings, their face shifts into an expression of panic as they turn towards us.
“What’s the matter?” Rosie asks as we both stand.
“It’s Creed,” Cato’s voice trembles. “Elijah’s been arrested. They’re sending him to Ogmore Grange. Judge Walters signed the paperwork an hour ago.”
Acknowledgments
J as always, thank you for being the domestic god you are and taking care of me while I was sick, encouraging me to rest and cheering me on while I struggled to get the words down between coughing fits. You helped keep me sane, get better and smash out the final words.
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Ash, thank you for letting me use your thesis idea board as a murder board. WHERE IS DADDY VOLKOV? Who killed the Walrus?!
Annamarie, you’re a star. Thank you for nagging me for this book. Firebird 2 will happen. At some point. Lizzie, thank you for helping me pull this together when we’re both ill. I owe you! I wouldn’t have finished this without the Filthy B**ches Sprinting group. Genuinely couldn’t have done it without you! Glenna, you’re a machine. I have no words.
About the Author
Alice La Roux is a dirty minded, mouthy Welsh author who likes to write strong women, the men who support them and the people who fill their lives with sarcasm, love and snacks.
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She’s a bookworm who reads anything: her comfort reads are dragon mpreg books and she finds dark reads palette cleansers. Ohhhhh, she’s also the owner of Indie Love Wales and will be hosting a book signing in Cardiff in 2023.
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Also by Alice La Roux
Firebird
Two’s Company
Sinclair
Master
Addicted to Love
The Good Girl
Breeding Lilacs
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Also coming in 2022
White Rabbit
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Survival Games written under the name AJ Everheart
TAG
Hide & Seek
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Read on for an exclusive look at White Rabbit – coming October 5th 2022!
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Note: This is unedited and subject to change.
Creed
I’d fucked up big time. This was not where I was supposed to be. Metal jangles around my wrists as I sit silently in the back of the transport truck. It rocks gently side to side as we head down a dirt track into the middle of nowhere. Prison. Fucking prison. How could I have been stupid enough to get caught? I was supposed to be investigating a lead The Jabberwocky sent me about some hotshot The Cartel were fawning over. Instead, I was here.
I put my head in my hands and groan softly, causing the officers either side of me to glance over suspiciously. There had to be a fucking rat amongst my men. A traitor. I was always meticulous, something my father taught me. I never left any stone unturned. Burn it all, bleach it, wipe it down, dispose of it―I did them all to ensure that not even a smudged partial print could be found. Rat. And when I found out who it was, I was going skin them alive. But first I had to clear my name. I was guilty of my crimes, there's no doubt about that but there's no way in hell anyone should have been able to prove it. Men like me didn’t just get caught by chance. I’d been groomed for this role since I was ten. I’d spent a short stint in a Juvenile Detention Centre when I fucked up at fourteen and never looked back. My father made sure I’d learned my lesson. Idiots get caught. Incompetence and stupidity were two things he could not tolerate. He was a hard man, Augustine Creed, and I had to face some harsh truths about the world from a young age but it made me who I am today, it elevated me to The Left Hand.
We finally pull up outside Ogmore Grange prison and I can feel a chill in my bones. I’d never been here before; we always ensured that any of ours were taken care of in Kenfig Prison back in Newtown. We ran that shithole. But this, this was new territory. I needed a plan, I have enemies. Lots of them. All dying to be the one who teaches Elijah Creed, The Left Hand, a lesson. Being in The Family wasn’t like the movies, those stereotypes barely scratched the surface. It was bloodier, dirtier and the risk of death was higher. Julian, my boss and close friend, ran Newtown mostly undetected and off the radar. He hid in the shadows of the city that never slept like his father and his father before him, using his wealth and his public persona like an invisibility cloak.
I was being shipped out to the suburbs, to where the authorities assumed I'd be too far out of reach to cause trouble. They were clueless. They underestimated who I was. I was The Left Hand not only because I was smart, reliable and from a mafia family but because I was also ruthless, merciless and violent. The bloodier, the better. Messed up was often a word used when people spoke of me in hushed tones and I didn’t give a shit. It’s one of the reasons I counted the Queen of Hearts as one of my closest friends, she understood how I worked. She appreciated the tactics I used.
We move through security and check in quickly. They call it processing but I prefer to think of it like a hotel, I won't be a guest here for long but needs must for business. We head through yet another metal gate and I get a glimpse into a community work room. A petite woman in uniform with big brown eyes and long dark hair is standing at the front delivering a workshop of some sort. She wears a smudge of blue paint on her cheek and a look of exasperation on her face. She bites her lip nervously when she sees me, and I grin. There’s something about making others uncomfortable that gets me off, just a little. I like to see the fear in their eyes, their mind ticking away trying to find an escape route. I am every inch the predator. And she was all prey.
“What's that?” I ask nodding at the door as we shuffle past, my feet now shackled too.
“It's one of the workshops we deliver at Ogmore.” The officer checks his watch. “I think 3pm is art with Officer Bishop.”
“Art huh,” I drawl, a plan already forming in my head. Officer Bishop could be a useful distraction, especially if I was going to be stuck in here for the foreseeable future.
I say nothing else as I’m stripped, searched, stamp my fingerprints on a piece of paper and assigned to a cell. It wouldn’t do to cause trouble just yet, I needed to get my bearings first.
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Coming October 5th 2023
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Alice La Roux, Queen of Hearts
