Page 89 of Royal Pain

“Now take a look at the meeting that’s going on. One of the guys was lucky enough to catch it.”

Valerio still had a lilt in his voice, as if he’d discovered something significant.

Perhaps he had.

The group of guys going into what had to be the community clubhouse was interesting. “Wow.”

“And from doing a little sleuthing, it would appear they use the location on and off, often with the golf club they all belong to.”

“We’ve made arrangements to have the power grid cut to the entire community tomorrow night.” Braxton was more than pleased with himself.

“You guys really went all out. So did I.” I motioned for Jeff, who sauntered closer immediately.

“Jeff. How close are we are blocking the accounts?” I asked, keeping my eyes on my brothers.

“It’s done. Within fifteen minutes, they won’t have access and won’t be able to figure out who did it. I took another step and the funds are currently being drained.” He was beside himself.

My brothers glanced at each other, smiles increasing on their faces.

“How much money are we talking?”

“Two point eight billion.”

Now I was grinning. “Perfect,” I told him. “That’s all I needed.”

When he walked away, Braxton almost choked. “You stole their money?”

“I did. Why the hell not?”

Valerio lifted his glass. “Little brother, you’ve learned more than we thought you had. You just might be the most merciless brother of all. Now, we have a war on our hands. And we will win.”

CHAPTER 23

Evangeline

“I’ll never forget when I reached one hundred thousand subscribers on Instagram,” I said to no one in particular. I was standing on a lovely deck overlooking lush greenery and trees for miles. The wind was blowing, making it a little chilly. The clouds were tumultuous, a combination of black and gray, the thick formations swirling and moving as if there was a horrific storm coming.

That suited the situation perfectly.

The house was incredible, filled with soldiers but they were doing everything in their power to stay out of my way, which was silly. I wasn’t fragile, no matter what I’d gone through. Yep. I’d been terrified when a crazed man had come into the room, managing to get his hand across my mouth before I could scream. However, I’d used the self-defense classes I’d taken within days of leaving the bastard a couple of years ago, gaining some headway almost immediately.

At least I’d known the bastard hadn’t been prepared for me lashing out. Two fingers in the eyes.

A punch to the groin.

One to the face.

By that point, the dude was mad and turning over furniture, but honestly, his fury likely had saved my life. In seeing the carnage both on Gage and in the room, strings of blood covering the walls, my reaction had been to laugh.

Now what kind of person did that make me?

I knew the answer.

One who was fed up with bullshit and lies.

So, here we were. I wasn’t going to back out of listening to the plans. Especially since I was going to the festivities tonight.

“And?” Gage asked as he walked closer to the outside door.