Queen of Wild Cards novel Chapter 393

Julius reached out and gently pinched her cheek, sighing in fond exasperation. "Stop teasing. Just stand back and wait. I know you're a badass, but I don't want you bruising your knuckles. Let your husband make himself useful."

They were unarmed; he could handle street thugs in his sleep.

His wife might be an incredible fighter, but he couldn't just let her do all the heavy lifting. It made him look completely useless.

Stella beamed at him. "Alright, go play the hero. You've got this!"

She'd just stand by and watch. If things got out of hand, she'd step in. There was no way she'd let Julius actually get hurt.

One of the thugs with bleached blonde hair sneered. "Hey! What's with all the flirting? Are you looking down on us?"

Stella threw her hands up innocently. "Well, yeah. We're definitely looking down on you. Isn't it obvious?"

"You're asking for death! Get 'em, boys!"

The blonde guy taking Spike's place roared, and the whole crew surged forward, trying to encircle the couple.

Julius gently nudged Stella out of the way, rolled up his sleeves, and went to work.

A left hook sent the first guy crashing to the asphalt. A right cross dropped the second.

With a series of brutal, sweeping kicks, he took out two more in rapid succession.

Discounting Spike, who was still wheezing from Stella's initial strike, there was only one thug left standing.

Julius beckoned him forward with two fingers. "You're the last one. You want the fists or the feet?"

The final thug stumbled backward, frantically shaking his head. He wanted absolutely nothing to do with either.

This guy in front of him was terrifying—he fought like an absolute machine!

He scrambled over to Spike. "Boss, we can't take him! Let's just get out of here. We'll find a way to deal with them later!"

The others groaning on the ground finally managed to scrape themselves up. Battered, bruised, and completely humiliated, the entire gang tucked tail and ran.

Stella walked over to Julius, clapping her hands enthusiastically. "My hero! So impressive!"

Julius wrapped a protective arm around her shoulders. "Is there anywhere else you want to go?"

"Not really. I used to live in Port City, so I've already seen all the sights. I have no particular itinerary. What about you? You rarely come here. Anything you want to see? I can play tour guide."

"Drake, I know my intel is rock solid. Are you really going to refuse to talk? Aren't you afraid your newly legitimized phone business is going to suddenly crash and burn?"

She really hadn't wanted to resort to blackmail, but unless she went nuclear, he was never going to crack.

Why was he hiding this so fiercely?

Had something sinister happened behind the scenes all those years ago?

Drake's voice came through the receiver, so cold it could freeze water. "What exactly do you want?"

In all of Port City, you could count on one hand the number of people who dared threaten him. This little girl was practically begging for a death wish!

"I just want you to tell me what happened to the old man."

"Didn't I already tell you? I don't know any old man named Todd!"

"Alright, Drake. Then I guess I have no choice but to turn over all the evidence of your tax fraud and smuggled phones to the authorities." She had already threatened him once; a second time wouldn't hurt.

"Fine. You've got guts. Come up to my office. Alone." Drake practically snarled the words before violently hanging up.