Revenge is Best Served After Reborn (James) novel Chapter 1919

So intense, so commanding.

I'd never seen anyone from the Costello family act like this before. Is this really the Devonport Costellos from two decades ago? These aren't the roughnecks I remember meeting. Tricia, uninterested, simply said, "Lock them up."

"Yes, ma'am," came the response as several folks had already pinned Alec and me down. If we got caught by this crew, the outcome was pretty clear. Alec and I shared a look before springing into action, slipping right into battle mode. Our initial plan of getting caught was just a ruse to see my parents. Now that it flopped, we weren’t about to just sit there and take it.

Tricia was momentarily taken aback by our skills, convinced she'd seen such moves somewhere before. In the thick of the fight, a woman’s voice suddenly cut through the chaos, "Stop."

The voice was clear, melodic, yet packed with authority. I spun around and there she was—my mom, standing behind us. She was wearing a vibrant red dress, her hair cascading down her back, makeup flawlessly applied, and she looked much younger than I remembered. I was momentarily stunned. Who knew my mom could look this bold and striking?

In that brief lapse, a fist came flying my way. If Alec hadn’t noticed in time, I'd be missing a couple of teeth.

"Didn’t you hear me? I said stop," Sophie commanded, her gaze as sharp as knives slicing through the bodyguards.

The bodyguards quickly defended themselves, "Ma’am, these two kids hit hard. I don’t know who trained them, but if we don’t take them down, they might hurt you."

"Yeah, if you get hurt, the boss will have our heads," the other bodyguards chimed in. They'd never encountered kids this tough before.