You can't dig without getting dirty...Covenant Series, book six...
“24287 Wencourt st. #7b. I’ll beat you in this alley and leave you broken so all you can do is moan and beg. Mira and little Sammie, you’ll never see either one of them ever again, you’ll get there and find their bags packed and their beds made.”
"It’s a sinister threat and it runs counter to my initial offers of trying to help him out of the life, of trying to get him to flip easy on the decaying remains of the criminal empire he’s entrenched in. He’ll call bullshit, so I have to sink the deal."
“Don’t mistake me. I’m talking about telling Mira about Veronica and Luca, that’s the problem with having kids with your side chick huh? Double lives are a bitch and you and I both know that Mira will finally leave your stupid ass for good this time.”
"Research. Digging into pools of murky, mysteries looking for tiny nuggets of valuable intelligence. Knowledge is power and knowing the weaknesses of your enemies and how best to exploit them is worth more than all the riches in the world."
"I get a gasp, a sudden and honest reaction that has nothing to do with immediate discomfort. Why not lead with that gem then? Because I need this piece of shit to know that I already have him owned on every other and lesser front. Defeating an opponent, really defeating them, can’t be about coming over the top for the cheap shot. Winning is never easy."
"He knows I’m willing to hurt him, work him over, dry drown his ass in an alleyway, now he knows that I know where he lives and how to ruin what’s left of the shitty façade of his normal life."
"Most criminals live fractured lives, most of them have to so they can keep that veneer of having a reason to do what they do. I don’t steal for myself, I steal to keep my family fed. I don’t hurt and murder people because I like it, I do it to keep food on the table. Attacking that veneer, threatening to strip it away, and you corner them. Of course, most animals come out biting when they get cornered. Hence taking away his teeth ahead of time."