Wattys Shortlist 2022 -
When she isn't looking, they call her the Princess of the Ghouls, but they haven't seen the assassination order on her secret identity: viper.
Stuck in Lake Darling, ruled by her father's gang, Vi has one objective... run awa...
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VIOLENCE WARNING
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"Lookie lookie!" None other than Wilkes exclaims from behind me. Bile rises up my throat when his silhouette looms in my peripheral. He cuffs me, and I struggle to control my terror, trying to breathe through the ache in my lungs from Trent's brutal fly tackle.
Wilkes bends over and plucks Trent's knife from the ground, holding it up so he can make a show of examining it in the light, "Someone, has been caught, with contraband!" He shouts for everyone to hear. Terribly, my phone starts vibrating in my pocket and I go stiff.
Fuck. Fuck. Scor not now.
I try to twist my hip so the vibrations don't rattle against the ground, but the soldier restraining me forces his knee into my back.
I start trembling but I press my eyes closed, forcing myself to regain my nerve.
Incoming Call – [Scorpius Voytah] or also [Scorpion]
The text flashes across my eSight, the phone buzzing furiously. I try to get a look at my soldier to figure if he's gon' notice.
Wilkes turns to Hito, but then his elated grin drops and he makes a theatrical display of disappointment, gesturing the knife callously, "Well fuck!" He flicks his hand at the soldiers restraining Hito and just like that they let him go. Hito smirks, rising smoothly before he palms his buzz-cut hair, then crosses his tattooed arms over his chest.
The phone stops, and I ease a breath.
Hito watches as Wilkes turns back to everyone, before he clicks at each of Hito's men to which the soldiers subsequently release them. I lay low, so pumped on adrenaline that my fingers quiver. The lights flick, signalling the end of curfew, submerging the hall in darkness.
Wilkes grimaces up at the sparse lighting, "Alright, let's move this on. Vin's boys get seven hundred credits and three days solitary."
Soldiers pick the Dockside gangers up, "Come on, move em' out." Wilkes gestures, "You's made a mess of my fucking hall by the way!" He kicks a chair aside which sends food in Ezza's face.
I fail to breathe.
Wilkes laughs, looking at Hito's men, "You's are free to go, or watch. I don't fuckin' care." The Yakuza men all stay, looking to Hito for orders, but Hito just stares at me before him and Wilkes share a silent conversation.
"Save Myers." Hito tells Wilkes who grins in silent satisfaction. Reid glowers up at Wilkes and a chill runs through me at the utterly fearless defiance that crackles across his masculine features. Gone is his reserved intolerance from before.
My heart drills in my chest, but then Wilkes starts dismissing soldiers until all that remains is eight men in uniform. Terrible suspense grips me as I slowly realise that he's eliminating witnesses. Dread clenches in my gut.
