Queen of Quarantine (Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep #4) - Caroline Peckham Page 0,193

need to leave then so be it. But you and I have an empire to run, Kyan."

"I don't agree," I said mildly, reaching down to unzip the bag I'd dropped at my feet and at a look from Liam, Niall drew a revolver and pointed it at my head.

He grinned at me and spun the barrel as I slowed my movements. "I'm not drawing a weapon." I pulled my laptop out to prove my point, but Niall pulled the trigger anyway. There was a dull click and I blinked, realising I would have been dead here and now if that thing had been loaded. This family really were a bunch of insane pricks.

"Christ, yer a cold-hearted motherfucker, aren't ya?" Niall laughed as he failed to get more than that slight flicker of a reaction from me. "I bet I'd have to spend months breaking you if I wanted any of your secrets."

"I'd take them to the grave," I replied earnestly, and his eyes flared like he was wondering if that was true.

"What would I have to do to crack a stubborn fucker like you?" he said conversationally. "Is there any kind of torture that would work, or would you just go to death without ever speaking a word?"

"We're in the middle of a conversation," Liam said, shutting him down and Niall rolled his eyes before leaning back in his chair and flicking the barrel of his gun open, letting a single bullet fall out into his hand.

"Wait," Kyan snarled as his eyes fell on the bullet and he shoved to his feet. "Did you just fire a loaded gun at my brother?"

He lunged towards Niall who laughed as Kyan took a swing at him and he was knocked back out of his chair.

"Enough!" Liam barked, stopping the fight before it could really start.

Niall was already on his feet, his eyes alight with excitement, a feral glint in them which spoke of untold horrors.

"Relax, nephew, I knew the bullet wasn't in the chamber. I just wanted to see if I could make him shit himself," Niall said, pulling a knife from his belt before leaning back against the wall and using it to pick at his fingernails.

Kyan muttered something about him being a crazy bastard before dropping back down into his chair beside me. Niall shot me a wink which I was pretty sure meant he'd been certain of no such thing. I clucked my tongue, unwilling to cause more of a scene over a bullet which hadn't even ended up in my skull as I turned my attention back to Liam.

"You were telling me that you seem to think you're leaving your family to run off and help yer friend's father," Liam said loudly, turning cold eyes on Kyan as I leaned forward to open my laptop.

"I am," Kyan agreed. "I think it's time I made it clear to you that I want to choose my own life, Grandpa. I'm not turning my back on the family, but I don't want to help run your empire - I want to rule my own kingdom. And it's time for me to start charting that course."

"And what makes you think I'd agree to such nonsense?" Liam asked, drawing a fresh cigarette from the pack on the table and lighting it up.

"That would be me," I said, drawing his attention back to me as I opened up the first file on the laptop and pushed it closer to him. "Before we go any further, I'd like you to know that this information will be released to the FBI if anything were to happen to me or my friends and we don’t check back in with my associate within the next hour - just in case you get any crazy ideas about having us killed here and now."

"What am I looking at?" Liam asked, but the way his face had paled said he knew well enough.

"That right there is a file on you personally. It documents the way your organisation works, how you launder your money, where it comes from and how it ends up in your pocket. There is more than enough evidence there to send you away for life - which in your case wouldn't be that hard considering your age - and to make it even cleaner cut, I have a video of you personally killing a man called John Cormack which dates back three years. I also had his body relocated from the shallow grave you gave him so it