Of Kings and Aces

50| New York, New York

"Ace, hurry your ass up, or we'll miss our flight!" the gray-eyed bear growled from my living room. It was a warm, early afternoon in November. The sky was blue with wisps of pure white clouds, the sun was warm and bright, and even though the air conditioning in the condo was only at medium speed, it was enough to keep to unit chilly. It would have been a pleasant day if it weren't for all the growling.

"We have three hours before our flight, for crying out loud," I complained as I wheeled my luggage out. I made sure I turned off and unplugged all electronic devices, took out the trash, and turned off the water. I would be gone for two weeks, and I didn't want fire or any water leak to wreck my condo while I was away.

We were flying to New York for the opening of another of Jaxx's brother's bars. God knows why he had to open in November when it was freezing. Since we were there, we decided to give ourselves a vacation. Coincidentally, Seb was there for some competition, Val had a Dermatology convention, and Chino decided to take a vacation, too. However, we endlessly teased him that he was there to cheer on his best friend. Even Seb was teasing him.

Cara, well, she's stuck at the hospital for residency training. And even if she weren't, she and Jaxx were still not on talking terms.

"About time," he scoffed, and we both headed to the basement where he parked his car. As I was about to lift the twenty-something kilo bag to his car, he picked up the other end to help.

"Jaxx, thanks, but I'm fine," I chuckled. "The doctors said I could resume lifting a decade ago." He just shut the trunk and didn't say anything—typical Jaxx.

Ten months ago, I had to undergo an emergency surgery when Beau's bullet hit me straight to my chest, missing my heart by a few millimeters. However, it nicked the pericardium, that sac that envelopes the darn thing and keeps it in its place inside the ribcage. It lodged between the heart and one of the vessels necessitating a major surgery to extract it.

I was still lucky it stopped where it did because the trajectory was going straight to my spine. If it continued, it would have severed my spinal cord, and I would have been paralyzed from the chest down.

The only reason why the bullet's velocity significantly slowed down was that it had already passed through Jacob's chest, puncturing his right lung along the way, before exiting in the front and hitting me. And for that, I would forever be indebted to the guy.

Alvaro kept his word. They did not kill Beau immediately. They made his life miserable and quickly acquired all his assets. The CFG group of companies made a lot of announcements on the paper about mergers and acquisitions. After that, I have no idea what happened to the guy. As part of his goal, he also closed down the poker palace though I still do not know the real reason why he hated that place so much.

News also broke out that the admiral was lethally injured when a deal to cover up the crime at The Blitz went south. Scene of the crime officer Lacson and his accomplices were also charged for falsification, tampering with and withholding evidence, nepotism, extortion, kidnapping, frustrated murder, and a whole lot more that resulted in the stripping of their titles, losing their jobs, a huge fine and jail time. During the appeal, the footage was brought to court, and Carlo was subsequently and hastily released from jail. However, he had to be treated for physical injuries and PTSD.

Brigham was released from the hospital after a week of confinement following the warehouse mayhem. The entire duration of his captivity, which was almost two weeks, he was hardly given food or water. He had a lot of physical injuries, but none were so serious as compared to his dehydration. His kidneys were damaged, but the doctors said they could still recover.