by Ashley
“Of course!” she said. “Nothing like dancing out the sunroof.” She hit the button and they stood on the seats, sticking their heads out the sunroof as they pulled to a red light. They could see the venue up ahead and Beamer shouted, “There is West! West, over here!”
He waved his arms as the music blasted and Honor laughed.
“August!” Beamer shouted, seeing him from across the block. They lowered to their seats and the light turned green; but before Leslie could put his foot to the gas, a black car pulled up beside them. The windows seemed to roll down in slow motion. When Honor saw the barrels of the semiautomatic rifles, her heart stalled.
“Get down!”
She threw her body over Beamer as gunshots rang out.
RAT TAT TAT TAT TAT TAT TAT
Bullets pierced the vehicle, over fifty rounds. Leslie lost control of the SUV and it went rolling into the intersection until a car from oncoming traffic T-boned it.
Honor felt her body as it was pulled from the back of the car.
“Call 911!”
It was August’s voice. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t do anything and as the voices around her began to fade, she wished she could take it all back. She wished they had thought this thing out more because the cost was high. Revenge would be theirs, but it would cost them her life.
* * *
“What do you mean they didn’t find anything?” Sutton asked. “I spoke to Sire. He was on his way to the rig.”
“Well, something changed because the coast guard searched the boat and came up empty-handed,” Luna said.
“Damn it!” Sutton shouted as she hit her steering wheel. “I’m on the way to Beamer’s welcome home dinner. I can’t miss it, especially if I still need to be on the inside. This didn’t work, but I’m going to find a way to bring their shit to the ground. Meet me afterward, you and the girls, at Ashton’s.”
Sutton hung up the phone and took her eyes off the road for a millisecond as she put it on the charger. When she looked back up, red taillights stared her in the face as an all-white Maserati cut her off. She slammed on the brakes, abruptly stopping her speed.
“What the hell?” she shouted. When another car veered into her lane from the right, she turned the wheel hard, too hard, sending her car skidding off into a ditch. Her head hit the steering wheel as the vehicle made impact.
She reached for her forehead and blood greeted her. She was so dazed she couldn’t think straight. Her door was snatched open suddenly and she was jerked from the car. Before she could even protest, her mouth and nose were covered. Then a black pillowcase was thrown over her head and her hands were zip-tied behind her. Fear erupted in her body but all she could do was give into the darkness as she felt herself being tossed like a rag doll into the back of a trunk. The last thing she heard was the screech of tires before her eyes closed.
* * *
“I know you’re afraid. I’ve been where you are. It’s dark. You can barely breathe under there. Your heart is racing. You’re panicking. The zip ties on your wrists and ankles are cutting into your skin. I always wondered what it felt like to be him. See, my weapon of choice is normally a gun, sometimes a knife or a razor blade when I’m in a position where I can’t carry. But to beat someone to death? To use your hands to beat the life out of someone? That’s a different type of kill. That takes a different kind of malice. You might want to start praying. It helps. The Lord’s Prayer should suffice.”
“Just tell me what you want!” Sutton shouted. She tried not to panic, tried to remain in control, but she was terrified.
When she came to, she was bound to a chair. She had no idea how long she had been out or where she was. Even worse, she had no idea who had taken her.
“You see the problem is you’re too smart. I’ve done my research on you and your sisters. You find these men and you put down a corporate trap. I respect that part. It’s genius, actually, but you fucked up. You crossed over into the streets, but you have no muscle to back you up.”
Someone snatched the pillowcase from Sutton’s head and Sutton stared into the face of a woman she had never seen before. She was beautiful, a little hardened by life it seemed, with eyes as dark as night and a tattoo of cursive letters on the side of her neck. A name. Carter.
Confusion flooded her. “Who are you?” Sutton asked.
“Ashton knows who I am. Why don’t we call her so she can make a proper introduction?”
The woman produced Sutton’s phone from her back pocket and then held it up to Sutton’s face so facial recognition could unlock it.
She FaceTimed Ashton and kept the camera turned toward Sutton.
“Sutty?”
“Ashton, whatever she wants, don’t do it. Just leave. Get the girls and leave town!” Sutton shouted.
“I swear to fucking God if you hurt my sister—” Ashton’s threat fell short when the woman turned the camera toward her face.
“Oh my God! No, no. No! Please, I’ll do anything,” Ashton whispered as tears prickled her eyes.
“If that were the case, you would have done everything I asked you to do and we wouldn’t even be here. Your actions led to this moment. Your betrayal.”
“Ashton, leave town!” Sutton shouted. She let her head fall back and stared at the ceiling before closing her eyes.
The woman tossed the phone aside and picked up the long security chain that lay at her feet.
“If you’re going to kill me, at least tell me who you are,” Sutton said through clenched teeth.
“The connect you tried to set up tonight … the one who supplies Sire? He’s my son. He’s all I’ve got left to prove that I loved the greatest man that’s ever walked this earth. You crossed a Murder Mama, Sutton LaCroix. The penalty for that is always death.”
TO BE CONTINUED IN MONEY DEVILS 2
Don’t miss the next novel by Ashley Antoinette
BUTTERFLY 3
Coming soon from St. Martin’s Griffin
ALSO BY ASHLEY & JAQUAVIS
The Cartel 7: Illuminati
The Cartel 6: The Demise
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Ashley and JaQuavis are New York Times bestselling coauthors and currently reside in Michigan, where they’re working on their next project. Learn more about these two at www.ashleyjaquavis.com, or sign up for email updates on Ashley here.
Sign up for email updates on JaQuavis here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Also by Ashley & JaQuavis
About the Authors
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously.
First published in the United States by St. Martin’s Griffin, an imprint of St. Martin’s Publishing Group
MONEY DEVILS 1. Copyright © 2020 by Ashley Antoinette Coleman and JaQuavis Coleman. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Publishing Group, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271.
> www.stmartins.com
Cover design by Joshua Wirth
Cover photographs: hundred-dollar bill © Iurii Kuzo/123rf.com; texture © Algirdas Urbonavicius/123rf.com; diamonds © yienkeat/Shutterstock.com; graffiti numeral © mrPliskin/Getty Images
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-1-250-19767-2 (trade paperback)
ISBN 978-1-250-19768-9 (ebook)
eISBN 9781250197689
Our ebooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by email at [email protected].
First Edition: 2020
