Genre Ranking
Get the APP HOT
A vow of Violence
img img A vow of Violence img Chapter 5 A Welcoming Committee
5 Chapters
Chapter 15 The Golden Lure img
Chapter 16 The True Betrayal img
Chapter 17 Steel and Fury img
Chapter 18 The Bloody Truth img
Chapter 19 The Executioner's Blade img
Chapter 20 The Descent img
Chapter 21 The Final Gambit img
Chapter 22 The Master and the Student img
Chapter 23 Water and War img
Chapter 24 The Aftermath and the Coup img
Chapter 25 The Price of Sovereignty img
Chapter 26 The Global Response img
Chapter 27 The Ghost Hunter img
Chapter 28 The Sovereign's Debut img
Chapter 29 The Key to Aether img
Chapter 30 The Blackmail of the State img
Chapter 31 The Price of Absolute Trust img
Chapter 32 The Architecture of War img
Chapter 33 The First Domino img
Chapter 34 The Hammer Falls in Rotterdam img
Chapter 35 The Uneasy Balance img
Chapter 36 The Sovereign Standard img
Chapter 37 The Ghost in the Rail Yard img
Chapter 38 The Global Scope img
Chapter 39 The Erosion of Trust img
Chapter 40 The Coordinates of Aether img
Chapter 41 The Sovereign Fleet img
Chapter 42 Control Room in the Eye of the Storm img
Chapter 43 Beneath the Waves img
Chapter 44 The Crush Depth img
Chapter 45 The Sovereign Throne (EPILOGUE) img
img
  /  1
img

Chapter 5 A Welcoming Committee

)

Julian left Isolde's apartment building by the side exit, stepping out into the London drizzle. The city smelled of wet pavement and exhaust fumes-a sharp contrast to the jasmine and fear he had left behind in the penthouse.

He didn't call a car. He walked. He needed the cold air to cool the heat in his blood. Touching Isolde, smelling her, seeing the way her pupils dilated when he exerted dominance... it was a dangerous drug. He wanted to go back up there and finish what he started, to tear that dress the rest of the way down.

But he had work to do. And he had a tail.

He had sensed them three blocks back. Four men. Heavy footsteps. Poor discipline.

Julian turned into a narrow alleyway behind a row of high-end boutiques in Knightsbridge. It was a dead end. A trap. Or rather, a slaughterhouse of his own making.

He stopped near a dumpster, lit a cigarette, and waited.

The four men rounded the corner. They weren't security guards like the ones at the gala. These were street muscle-East End thugs paid to break legs and ask questions later. They wore leather jackets and held varied lengths of pipe and knives.

"Lost, mate?" the leader sneered, tapping a lead pipe against his palm. He had a gold tooth and eyes that were too close together.

Julian took a long drag of the cigarette, the ember glowing orange in the gloom. "Harrison really has lost his touch. Sending amateurs? It's insulting."

"Harrison paid us five grand to put you in a wheelchair," Gold Tooth grinned. "Easy money."

"Five grand?" Julian sighed, flicking the cigarette butt into a puddle. "I'm worth at least fifty."

The leader lunged.

Julian didn't step back. He stepped in.

The lead pipe swung down, aiming for Julian's skull. Julian caught the man's wrist mid-swing with his left hand, his grip crushing the radius bone. With a sickening snap, the pipe clattered to the floor.

Before the scream could leave the man's throat, Julian drove his right elbow into the man's nose. Cartilage shattered. The leader dropped like a sack of cement.

"One," Julian counted calmly.

The other three rushed him.

It was a dance of violence. Julian moved with the efficiency of a machine. He ducked under a knife slash, grabbed the attacker by the back of the neck, and rammed his face into the brick wall. Thud.

The third man tried to tackle him. Julian sidestepped, tripped him, and stomped on his knee. The joint bent the wrong way. The scream echoed off the wet walls.

The fourth man-the youngest, barely twenty-froze. He held a knife, his hand shaking.

Julian straightened his cuffs. He wasn't even out of breath. He walked toward the boy, who dropped the knife and backed away until he hit the dumpster.

"P-please," the boy stammered.

Julian stopped inches from him. "Go back to my brother. Tell him the price has gone up."

"W-what price?"

"The price of his life," Julian whispered. "Now run."

The boy scrambled away, slipping on the wet cobblestones in his haste to escape.

Julian checked his knuckles. A little bruised, but functional. He pulled out his phone.

"Kai," he said into the receiver. "Trash has been taken out. I'm coming to the safehouse. Make sure Jax is awake. We have a company to dismantle."

Previous
            
Next
            
Download Book

COPYRIGHT(©) 2022