More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
What Riko was suggesting was impossible. The Butcher was one of the biggest names on the eastern seaboard. He made Baltimore his home, but his territory extended from D.C. to outer Newark. He had a fiercely loyal syndicate and a penchant for grotesque executions. No one told the Butcher what to do. But Riko's incensed reaction didn't seem like an act and he had nothing to gain by lying to Neil, especially considering how easily Kevin could set things straight.
the Moriyamas really were powerful enough to keep a man like the Butcher under lock and key Neil was so far in over his head he might as well be six feet under.
"Your father was Lord Kengo's right-hand man, the most trusted weapon in Lord Kengo's arsenal. The territory he held, he held for the Moriyamas. He was the force that kept the empire in line and the name that would take the fall if the government ever caught on. "His power made you a loose end. You could never inherit his syndicate," Kevin said. "Lord Kengo handpicks his people very carefully to bolster his throne. Nepotism fractures that upward loyalty and leads families to think of their own successes first. He could have had you killed to keep things simple, but he gave you a chance to earn
...more
over: an initial scrimmage with us to show off your potential and a second scrimmage to prove you could adapt to and implement his instructions and criticisms. If afterward he decided you weren't worth his time you would be executed by your own father."
"It's unmistakable. You'll see next summer whether you want to or not. He's off his program in May and should finish rehab by the time we start June practices." "Finally," Kevin said, sounding
"No, you have it backwards. I went to juvie because she wanted to adopt me. But she didn't give up on me. She thought a stable home could straighten me out, she said. Her biological son wanted to join the Marines after high school, so she even offered to reallocate part of his college fund to me. She wanted me to have a future. My own Stephanie Walker, of a sort." Neil only recognized that name
or maybe that sound was Neil's world crashing down around him. He didn't know.
Worse than the bruises and cuts was the brilliant smile Andrew still wore. Neil saw it and wanted to be sick.
He escaped because he had family to run to." "Andrew?" Neil guessed. "I said family, you hard-of-hearing imbecile," Jean said. "His father. Your coach." It took a moment to sink in. When it clicked Neil recoiled from Jean in shock. "What?"
