“Better at what?”

“Planning.”

I wasn’t stroking his ego saying that. It was true. Ryker could effortlessly think on his feet. He was smarter than me. I may have been good with my fists, but that wasn’t going to get me far this time.

The wheels were turning in his brain. He flipped through the pages, reading the gibberish like it was perfect English.

“What you’re asking for,” he started, looking back up at me, “is big. Very fucking big, Heath.”

I nodded. “I know, bro. I know.”

He shook his head. “No, you don’t know. There’s no quick fix when it comes to boss and his men. If you want them to struggle, then you gotta have them turnin’ against each other. You gotta make Boss doubt his loyalty to everybody in his crew. Which means you’re going to have be a sneaky motherfucker.”

“I can do that.”

He eyed me closely, frowning a little. “This book is filled with addresses. You picked up money from a house, then that means you’ve invaded one of their cash houses. They probably think this is a one-off. But if you strike again, making sure there’s a bit of time in between, they’ll lose their shit. Knowing them the way I do, Boss will start violence for the sake of it. He’ll tear the town apart, breaking bones and demanding answers. And the power you’ve got is knowin’ he won’t get any.”

I paid close attention, nodding as he spoke.

“We hid them in the walls. Broke ‘em down, stuffed the money inside, and painted it over again. You’ll know what they look like when you see them. Brand new white coat of paint, bit of bubbles on the surface – that’s how we marked them.”

Holy shit, Ryker had been involved in some serious shit. He looked almost relieved explaining this to me, like it was nice to talk honestly with someone.

“But you can’t do this on your own,” he then said. “You need someone with you. A look out. Somebody you can trust with your fuckin’ life, and don’t you dare say Allie. You gotta keep her out of this. If I’m going to do this with you, Heath, then I need you to never open up about this conversation. You never tell her what you’re up to, because, believe me, you’re going to be busy trackin’ men and studying these houses. You’re also gonna need a spot to hide the money. And she can’t know.”

“You want me to lie to her?” I asked, bewildered by that. I couldn’t just lie to her.

“I want you to protect her,” he answered firmly, those eyes boring holes into me. “Protect her because this is dangerous. You eradicate the Syndicate and you’re ensuring her and Kayden will never be in danger again. Besides, why the fuck would you want her to know that you’re up no good? What if you fucked up and they find out about you? You give someone a little bit of information, and they won’t be safe. That’s just simple logic.”

I didn’t like the sound of that at all, but he was right.

“If you’re really going to do this,” he then added, his voice lowering, “then you need to also accept how much it’ll change you. Because you will change, Heath. Something bad will always happen. Nothing ever goes according to plan. And you might lose parts of yourself. For your fuckin’ sake, hold onto everything good inside of you so you could look after my boy.”

His eyes went red and he shed one tear, staring gravely at me with the most broken expression I’d ever seen in him.

“I promise, Ryker,” I told him. “I’ll always be a good father to him. I promise.”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

I exhaled shakily and leaned further in. Resting my hand on his shoulder, I gripped it hard and said, “Now tell me what the plan is.”

*

The shot went off and an angry yell sounded out. Boss hunched over and gripped his thigh hard. Matt went to grab at his gun when Reaper pressed his own against his head.

“Don’t think about it, fucker,” he barked at him. “Your head is next, anyway. So I’d be prayin’ about shit. Like what a fucker you’ve been.”

Bewildered, Allie opened her eyes and stared at me. I gave her a reassuring smile and turned to Ryker. He let out another gunshot, this time in Boss’s other thigh, and Boss collapsed on his knees.

“WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK!” He screamed at the top of his lungs. “You deceiving little shit!”

Reaper chuckled in the corner while Ryker took slow steps toward his boss. The look of indifference on his face rattled me. He had detached himself, the way I learned to do when I had to face something awful.

Boss reached for his gun, and when he pulled it out, Ryker shot him in the hand, sending it straight to the floor. He screamed again, holding onto his bloodied hand with watered eyes as he stared up at Ryker. He stopped in front of him and set the gun to his temple.

“Don’t you fuckin’ do this,” he pleaded. “Don’t! After everything I did for you, Ry, you don’t get to do this –”

“You didn’t do anything for me,” Ryker interrupted. “You fucked up my life. I walked straight into hell and you took advantage of me.”

He shook his head. “No, no. I was going to make you lead –”

“I didn’t want to fucking lead! I wanted my life back! You obsessed about turning me into you, and all you ended up doing was putting a target behind your own back! I’ve got you now. I’m going to kill you –”

“You don’t get away with it! My men will kill you for this!”

Ryker scoffed, a sick smirk forming at his lips. “No, they won’t. You seem to think loyalty depends on how much money you can give someone. That’s not the case. The second their leader falls and the money runs dry, they’ll move the fuck on.”

Boss knew he was right. He swallowed hard as the sweat began pouring down his face. “No, no, Ryker. No. Just listen to yourself! Don’t fucking do this –”

But the gun silenced him, and Boss fell back, limp and dead, his upper body hitting the wall. That dark moment of silence passed. He’d killed him. Just like that.

“You want me to take care of cupcake over here?” Reaper asked, nudging the tip of the barrel against Matt’s head.

Ryker shook his head. “Nah, man, take him outside.”

“Come on, princess, hold that piss in until we’re outside, huh?”