by Ruby Wolff
"He's underground," Pike says.
I look between my dad and Uncle Ronnie, and they both shake their heads at me.
"If you go down there and kill him, they’ll kill you. Nothing we have to say will save you. Down there, it's a life for a life," Uncle Ronnie says.
I turn my head to look at Pike. "Kill a member of all the families who didn't phone back.” He nods and gets his phone out to give the order. I rub my forehead. The pain is unbearable at the moment. Harvey has gone under-fucking-ground so I can't touch him. How am I meant to kill him now? "I need you to find me a way to get him out," I tell Uncle Ronnie. I don't give a shit how he does it, but he has to find a way. I won't rest until we find a way. I turn back to Pike. "Where are the other Midlands’ men?"
"Mitch is back, and Bruce is in Wales. I’ve got eyes on both of them. When you’re ready, we can make a move," he replies.
I look over at Ellie, who’s holding her emotions together as best as she can. It’s easy to tell she’s been crying. That should make me feel something, but not towards the woman in my basement right now.
"No, I want to kill them myself," I tell Pike as I get up and grab my jacket from the back of the chair.
“Angel—"
"Not now, Dad," I cut him off, then leave the office. I hear footsteps behind me as I make my way down to the basement. I’m about to kill someone I never thought I would.
The moment the door opens, I see my mother staring back at me. She’s not the confident woman who walked around the city once upon a time. No, this is a woman who knows she’ll never leave this room.
"Ellie—"
"You don't get to talk to her," I interrupt. She’s only going to play Ellie. I don't think so. "I only want you to answer one question. Why did you do it?"
“I-I was…” she stops and looks behind me at my dad and Warren, then back to me. "I was always the whore in your eyes—nothing else. I wanted to show you that if you gave me a chance, I could be a powerful person for you—"
"So, you killed Elijah?" I demand.
"That wasn’t meant to happen. They said they wouldn't kill anyone.” She stops when I start laughing. "They were meant to just scare you. Elijah… Elijah was an accident,” she whispers the last part.
"An accident. A fucking accident? You murdered my husband," Gwen shouts at her before punching her in the face.
I stay put for a moment, letting Gwen release her anger.
My dad walks around me and pulls Gwen off her. I watch my mother wipe the blood from her lip; she looks up at me with a cold expression.
"If you would’ve given me a chance, if you just let me work with you, I could have taken this family to heights no one would dare touch us at. You—"
"No one fucking touches us now!" I shout. "The only reason they got close to us now was because the one person who should’ve looked after her family was giving them all the fucking information they wanted. They used you. They used the whore. It’s the only way you were good enough. Once you were no longer needed, what did they do?" I wait for her to say something to me, but there’s nothing. "They did what they do will all whores… Told her to fuck off.” Taking in a deep breath, I rein in my emotions and ask, "What about Alice?"
"She was the poison in your life. You didn't see things clearly with her. I could see that if she told you to leave this life, you would. You would’ve dropped everything this family has built for her. I wasn't going to let that happen. I wasn't going to let my son, my baby, lose his crown to this world—to her," my mother bites back.
I clench my hands into tight fists to keep from hitting her. "You lost me as a son way before Alice was in the picture.You lost me the moment you fucked another man," I shout. The room goes silent for a moment, and I hear my dad behind me, telling Ellie and Gwen that it's best if they leave.
"Your father wasn't man enough to look after this business, and he had—"
"Shut the fuck up!" Warren yells from behind me. "You killed your own son. You sold your own family to the enemy, and you stand there saying Dad did nothing? You’re a fucking bitch. We never take a step without talking to him. You might not have seen it, but he's still the big man in this family.”
She looks back at me and says, “I'll stand here and say that Elijah’s death was a mistake. But Alice, I still believe I did the right thing. You deser—"
BANG!
I watch as her body hits the floor. I stand there for a moment, just staring at her lifeless body. Then, without a word, I leave. I leave that part of my past where it fucking belongs… In the past.
I head back to the office. There’s nothing to say to anyone, and they have nothing to say to me about this. They knew what I was going to do about her, and I've done it.
As I get into the office, I walk straight past Ellie and Gwen to get myself a drink. I fill up three more glasses when I hear footsteps behind me.
"Angel, what do you—"
"I don't care. Throw her in the fucking river," I say, stopping Pike from asking me the question.
"She was still your mother!" Ellie shouts at me, forcing me to turn around and face her. "She was still our mother, and you're ready to just throw her in the river like she means nothing?” I stay quiet, leaning on the desk behind me as I drink my whiskey. Ellie continues to stare at me, waiting for me to say something, but I choose to stay quiet. The women are not worth the breath it takes to speak. "Angel…"
"She killed my brother. She killed our brother. You think I give a fuck what happens to her? I say throw her in the river. If you want to do something else, tell Craig and do it," I snap. I turn to my dad, waiting for him to say something.
I know I'm always going to be the bad guy to Ellie now, but I did the right thing. I don't care what anyone thinks about it.
Chapter 27
Angel
One Week later
Uncle Ronnie has tried everything to find a way for me to go underground and get Harvey. Every option leads to one thing… Them shooting me without asking why I'm there.
I told them I’d face the risk. What the fuck do I have to live for anyway? My life without Alice is getting to the point that I forget to breathe. I know if she were here, I’d be able to do things and focus a lot more than I am right now. I would’ve found a way to get to Harvey, but there’s nothing without her.
My chair swings from side to side as I listen to my family talking. I stare past them at nothing, into space, staring out of the large window that looks out at the bar.
"Angel, what do you think?"
I hear the question, but I don't answer. I have no idea what they're talking about.
I'm waiting for Uncle Ronnie to walk through the door to tell me something to get closer to Harvey. I've been keeping a close eye on the underground world, seeing if there’s anyone else like Uncle Ronnie who comes in and out. Maybe I can torture them into giving me some answers.
"Angel!" my dad says. I look over at him, his voice pulling me out of my thoughts. "I know you’re very focused Harvey at the moment, but you can’t forget we have a business to run." He walks over to the desk and places a drink in front of me.
I take it, then look over at the door when Warren walks through.
"The club’s been busy, and I need to sleep," Warren says, dropping into the chair. "I've been looking at Elijah’s system about the trafficking, too. I'll dig into that more. Once I find something, I’ll let you all know," he says.
I’m not sure why I didn't ask him about this earlier, but it's good to finally see him stepping up and doing something without being told what to do.
"Do you know where the girls are coming from?" I ask. I need to take my mind away from Harvey and Alice.
"Not yet, but I was wondering if I could get the devil out to bring some fear…"
"I don't mind killing someone to get some answers," I say with a smile on my lips. It’d feel nice to hurt someone, get some of my tension out.
Alice gave my dad the USB stick she found, and we’ve been trying to
break the codes to get into it. My tech guy said he’d work on it, but her dad put a virus on it. If it’s not done the right way, everything will be cleared from it. I’ve told him to work slow and be careful. I only gave it to him a few days ago, though. Maybe when that opens, we’ll know more about the trafficking world.
We all look over at the door as Uncle Ronnie walks through. I stand up, hoping he has something for me.
"Harvey isn't leaving the underground, and if you go down there, you won't be allowed back out." Uncle Ronnie looks over at my dad, not wanting to look at me. I don't blame him. Right now, I'm so full of rage that I'd easily hit one of them.
"What do you mean? That isn't giving me any new answers. Why the fuck is it so hard to get him out of there?” I shout. Why can't I get someone to tell me something fucking new?
"Because the underground isn’t a place where they fear Angel Frost. Not the same way they fear you here. Down there, when your name is said, people will whisper it in fear. But down there, the rules won't be bent for you." Uncle Ronnie slams his hands on the table to get me to look at him. "Angel, we all want to help you. We all want you to get your hands on Harvey, but maybe—"
"No. I'm not going to rest until I kill Harvey." I walk away from the desk and over to the window. I look down at the bar, watching how everyone is here dancing away, letting their hair down from the hard week. I've not had a good sleep in weeks. I've been killing and beating men like a hobby, yet I'm nowhere close to where I want to be. I take in a deep breath, shaking my head. "I've lost my queen—I’ve got nothing else to lose. I'm going to kill Harvey. If that means breaking their rules, then so be it." There’s only one thing I see at the moment, and that’s Harvey's blood on my hands.
"And what about us?" Pike asks from behind me. I know they’re all going to try to talk me out of it.
"Time for everyone to do things without me. I'm not letting Harvey live. If that means spending the rest of my life underground, then that's what I’ll do." I turn around and see them all looking at each other, but avoiding me. I know I won't be able to let this go. That’s not me. I'm the man who’ll finish what others start with me.
My dad walks to stand in front of me. "I've lost Elijah, I'm not about to lose you too. We’ll find another way." I look into his lost eyes, eyes that are pleading with me not to do this, eyes that cry for me to think this through.
Not answering my father, I turn around and look out the window. “You'll all survive," I say quietly, but they all heard me.
No one says anything back, and I continue to stare out the window. My mind’s busy working out all the details of what I have to do. If I go underground, I might not be coming back, so I have to get things ready.
"And what about me?"
I drop my head, too scared to turn around. I've been hearing her voice. I've been seeing her everywhere. I'm terrified of turning around and realising it's all in my head again. I can’t resist, though, and slowly turn.
I see the most beautiful woman in the world, and my heart nearly stops. "You're really here? I’m not imagining this, am I?" I ask. I've had this moment happen to me so many times now.
She walks closer to me. I take in a breath the moment her hand touches my cheek. Before I can stop myself, my lips crash against hers. I pull her closer to me, never wanting to let her go. Alice has finally come home. I'm not letting her leave me again.
Chapter 28
Alice
Angel's grip tightens around me, his tongue dancing with mine. I’ve missed him holding me. I've missed him so much. I needed a break from everything that was happening here. From being taken, Ben dying, finding the mole, then getting shot. I needed time to recover physically and mentally. Once the hospital discharged me, I told Vinny I wanted to go to America with Uncle Stuart. I didn't talk to Angel before I left, because he was going to tell me everything was going to be fine and he’d look after me, but he needs to work on his own demons first.
I told Vinny to tell Angel he needed to give me time away. I needed to recover, and he needed to kill the mole. He had to kill the person that killed my brother.
Angel pulls his lips away and leans his forehead against mine. "Please tell me you're back," he pleads, his voice coming out broken, hurt, and questioning.
Looking up at his eyes, I say, "I'm home. I want all this finished. We have a growing family and—" Angel cuts me off with another kiss. "I thought I’d give you some news," I say with a small smile.
When I found out I was pregnant, the worry went through me that it wasn’t Angel’s. In my head, I knew it was. The timeline fits better with Angel, but I wanted to be sure. So, when I went for my scan, I wanted to double-check how far along I was. I found out that I got pregnant when we went to Scotland, and I cried with relief and joy. I told Vinny to send over the scan and paperwork to Angel, even though he never asked, and I knew he wouldn’t. I still wanted him to know.
"You standing here right now is the best news. I needed this today," Angel says as he takes a step back from me and walks me over to the chair.
"I thought you’d like to know that we’re going to be a family of four," I say. I can't help but smile as he looks at me with the most confused expression I think I've ever seen on him. "Think about it, Angel. Me and you make…"
"We are not getting a dog."
I burst into a full fit of laughter. “We're not getting a dog, Angel, we’re having twins," I explain.
He just stares at me, until slowly a smile forms on his lips. "Right, twins… This is going to be—“
"Hard. I'm going with the word hard," I say as we both start laughing. "Even though you're laughing, I know you're very stressed at the moment. It seems like you have a plan that no one agrees with.” Vinny’s been talking to Pike while we were in America.
What I know is that Angel hasn’t been sleeping. He’s been killing or beating everyone he can until he finds Harvey. He’s also locking everyone out of his head.
"You don't need to know about—"
“Harvey's underground. That much I know," I interrupt. He takes my hands in his and just holds them for a moment, staring at me. I've missed looking into his eyes. I've just missed him.
"Alice, I’ll talk to you about all this. I promise, I will. Right now, all I want to do is take you home and be with you. I thought I’d lost you forever. I want to spend time with you," he says.
I look at him for a moment. He has a plan in his head—a plan I don't think I'll like. He doesn't want to talk to me about it yet. I'm just scared what lengths Angel will go to, to kill Harvey.
I give him a small nod, not wanting to push the subject with him right now. I can tell from his expression that he has so much going on in his head. He needs to rethink his plan now that I'm back home.
"Did Vinny come with you?" Angel asks me as he walks around the desk and grabs his jacket from the chair.
"Of course." I stand up and watch him for a moment. His eyes roam over me and stop at my stomach. "Get ready for me to be huge," I say, laughing at him.
Angel opens the door for us to leave the bar. “You're going to look so fucking beautiful." He pulls me in closer as we make our way down to meet everyone else.
Robert gives me a kiss on the cheek, then Warren pulls me into a hug. "I’m so happy to see you again. The devil has been horrible," he complains.
I start laughing at Warren and look over at Pike. "Did you miss me?" I ask him.
"Never leave again." Pike leans down and gives me a kiss on the cheek.
"Dad, can you call a family meeting? I want to share some news and my plan." Angel says the last part a little quieter. He knows whatever he has planned isn't going to get the family’s blessing.
"Will Gwen be there? I can't wait to meet the little one." I look at Robert. I was so excited when Vinny told me she had a healthy baby boy. She named him Elijah Junior, which I thought was a beautiful name.
"I think the girl would go mad if I didn't invite them. I’ll call everyone now." Robert starts to t
ake his phone out but stops when Angel speaks.
"Call Max, too. He might want to know what's happening too."
Everyone around us tenses. All eyes are on Angel. I can only think is that this is not good. This is not good at all.
Chapter 29
Angel
I had a plan. I had everything ready to go. Whether the family was behind me or not, I was going to do it. Now, I’ve been sitting here for an hour working on a different way. There isn’t one.
I’d continue this plan, but then I see Alice sitting on the other side of the room, playing with Elijah Junior. It makes me reconsider everything. I want to be here when my babies are born; I need to be here for them. Most importantly, I need to be here for Alice.
I take in the smoke as I listen to everyone talking. For a change, it’s not family business. The conversation has been around Alice and how her family in America are doing.
I look over at Pike and see him watching me. He looks over at Alice, then back at me, and shakes his head. He knows me well enough to know that the plan in my head is the only way for this to end.
Getting up, I walk over to Alice. “I thought we could share the news,” I say. She passes Elijah Junior over to Ellie and stands next to me. “So, family, before the conversation turns to work, we wanted to share some good news. As you all know, Alice is pregnant, but today she’s told me we’re having twins, and—” Before I can say anything else, Ellie and Drew run up to Alice and wrap their arms around her.
With a smile on my face, I move out the way so they can hug her as much as they want. The guys come to me and say how happy they are. I turn to Alice, who’s talking to Vinny now. His face is that of a proud man.
“Has the plan changed?” Pike asks as he comes to stand next to me. “You have more important things to think about now. Maybe—”
“You know me better than that. My plan hasn’t changed. I just need the family to be on board,” I say, walking over to Max. He gives me a handshake and congratulates me. “Things might go down. I need to make sure she’s set and has nothing to worry about.”