Fall and Rise of the King (Kings Duet)

by Ruby Wolff

  “Alice.”

  I look up at Vinny, who tilts his head back toward the fight, making me look over at Angel. He meets my gaze as he slowly gets up and wipes the blood from his mouth. I have no idea how much he has left, but he needs to finish this. Standing up straight, Angel glares at the guy trying to kill him.

  His opponent stares back with cold eyes. “Why the fuck won’t you die?” the man shouts.

  Angel starts toward him. He moves to punch him, but the guy moves out of the way easily and laughs at the weak attempt. He doesn’t see Angel’s right hand before it slams into his stomach. A fast left hook follows, crashing to his face.

  Angel throws punch after punch in a frenzy, not giving the guy a chance to stand up straight or regain his balance. All I can see is the blood escaping the stab wounds, and spilling from his mouth, but Angel’s fighting hard, fighting for his life and mine. The moment the guy falls to the floor, Angel’s on top of him. He continues to punch him in the face. His hands are quickly covered in blood, but he refuses to stop.

  Reaching to the side, Angel grabs the knife and plunges it into the man’s chest. Ripping it out, he stabs him again and again, making damn sure the guy’s dead. When he has almost no strength left, he lifts his hand and slashes down, straight through the guy’s neck.

  Angel doesn’t bother pulling the knife free before falling to the side. I stand helpless, shocked. I watch Warren and Pike run over to him. Vinny pulls me closer, shielding me.

  “Keep her close,” Robert shouts as he runs over to Warren.

  I watch them holding Angel up. Robert wraps a jacket as tight as he can over one of the stab wounds.

  As they stand next to me, Carl walks over to us, and I lean closer into Vinny.

  “Vin-ny, get Harvey,” I hear Angel say through the pain, and the moment Vinny lets me go, Robert holds me.

  I watch Angel trying to stand by himself, but it’s not happening. Pike moves away, letting Warren hold his brother as they both take a step closer to Carl.

  “One day, I’ll be back, and I’ll burn you to the fucking ground,” Angel promises, each word coming out with fire. He means it, and he will do it, but right now, he needs to get to the fucking hospital.

  There are no other words said between them. Robert begins pulling me out, and I look over my shoulder. “They’re coming. It’s over,” he says.

  Relief rushes through me, and my body finally relaxes a little.

  As soon as we’re outside, Robert yells for Vinny to take Harvey to the basement at the house. Opening the passenger door for me, I climb in and wait for them to follow. Robert opens the back door, and Pike and Warren get Angel in. I look in the back seat and see that Angel’s eyes are closed and his breathing is barely there. He needs a doctor, and fast.

  Pike gets into the driver's seat while Robert and Warren climb into the back with Angel.

  “We’re on our way,” Pike says into his phone. “Bad… Three stabs… Broken rib or two… Just be fucking ready.” He ends the call and looks in the back seat, then back to me. For the first time since I’ve known Pike, I see nothing but worry in the eyes, worry for his best friend.

  Starting the car, Pike speeds out onto the road, and I grab the side of the door. This is not going to be a gentle ride back home.

  Chapter 33

  Angel

  One week later

  “I think… Why do you...?"

  I can hear her voice. Alice is here. I beat the guy to death. I breathe, and my body aches. I focus on her voice.

  “Well, I think I need someone better than you to come to look at him. He's been out for a week. A week!” Alice’s voice gets a little louder. “You’re the one who put him in the coma, and now he’s not waking up.”

  “Who’s she fighting with?” I ask, not able to see who’s sitting next to me. I know someone’s there because I can hear them tapping on their phone.

  “Fuck, man, so good to hear your voice!” I turn towards Pike’s voice. I look around and see that I’m in my sitting room.

  “She’s been fighting with Doc every day. Those babies are one hundred per cent you. Growing your own little devils. No one dares get close to her at the moment,” Pike says, then shouts, “Doc!”

  “I think someone would like to see him first,” Doc says as he walks closer to me.

  I look over at Alice standing next to him. I’ve missed looking at her beautiful eyes.

  “How about you do what you’re meant todo , and make sure he’s okay,” Alice snaps at him.

  My gaze moves to my family behind her. They’re all smiling. I think Alice has been driving a few people crazy this week, but I’m happy she’ll step up if she needs to with the family.

  “Where’s the pain?”

  “Everywhere,” I tell Doc with a smile. I’m just fucking happy to be alive.

  Doc starts checking me over, and I keep my gaze on Alice. She just watches him. She clearly hasn’t slept this week; I can see it on her face.

  “Well, the good thing about you being out is that the wounds have healed, but you still need to take it easy. I’ll get your painkillers. I think you should take it slow for a few days,” Doc says. He walks over to my dad, and I watch them talking for a moment.

  “Alice.” I look over at her and gesture for her to come over, which also signals my family to leave us. She comes, but stops at the end of the bed. “Why are you standing that far away?” I ask. I slowly manoeuvre up to sitting. It’s a lot harder than I thought it would be.

  “You scared me. I wasn’t sure if—”

  “Can you please come over here?” I put my hand out for her to take. When she does, I pull her to sit on my lap, but she stops herself. Tilting my head at her, she softly sits down with her knees pressed to my side. “I’m awake and back to protect you.” I take in a deep breath then lean back for a moment. I close my eyes as Alice’s hands run through my hair.

  “Have some water,” she says.

  I look at her as she opens a bottle of water. My thumb wipes away the tears coming down her cheeks. “I’m here.”

  “I know, and I’m so happy you are, but I was so scared. I was scared that I wasn’t going to see you again. Now you’re awake and… I just don’t know.”

  “Alice, let’s just be happy that I’m awake,” I say, then drink the water. I didn’t realise how much I needed that. “How are my babies doing? I’ve heard they’ve taken after their dad,” I say with a smile, which Alice returns. It’s so nice to see her smiling again.

  “Doc said I’m good and healthy. I know I’ve been a little crazy this week, but now that you’re up, you can take over that role.” She smiles as she softly leans into me and gives me a kiss. “As much as I’d love to have you all to myself, I think your brother needs to see you.” Alice looks over to the kitchen and then back to me.

  “How’s Warren been?”

  “Shut off. He’s not really spoken to anyone. I think he just needs to talk to his brother.” Alice gives me one more kiss, then walks out of the sitting room. I hear her tell Warren I want to talk to him.

  I get more comfortable on the sofa. I press a hand to my stomach when I move. It’s still hurting, but not as much as I thought it would. Doc did a good job, making sure I healed before I woke up.

  Warren sits on the table in front of me, and we just stare at each other for a moment. I always knew he was the softest out of the three us, but he’d never back down from a family fight. I knew if he needed to do something, he’d do it. But maybe he’s not ready to take over the family yet.

  “Talk to me. Alice said you’ve been shut off.” I lean forward and take a cigarette from him. Fuck does it feel good to let the smoke settle in my lungs.

  “I’m not ready to lose another brother. I didn’t handle it well, and I’m sorry,” Warren says.

  I keep my gaze on him for a moment as I try to read him more clearly. “Why are you sorry?” I ask.

  “I let you down. I wasn’t there to look after the family—I wasn’t loo
king after Alice.” Warren lights a cigarette and bows his head so he's not looking at me.

  I’ve always hated when people don’t look at me when they speak, so I clear my throat to get him to look back up at me. “Do you know why I never spoke to you before I went to fight?” Warren shakes his head. I lean forward. Well, as much as I can. “I never spoke to you, not because I didn’t think for one second that you couldn’t take care of the family, the business, or Alice. I knew if anything bad happened to me, you’d pick yourself up and take care of business.” I stop, needing to get my breathing back to normal. “Warren, you’re my brother. I never doubt you. I’ll always trust you. After Elijah, I’ll be honest, I didn’t know how to talk to you,” I admit. I never knew how to sit with Warren and tell him everything. I couldn’t tell him there was a chance he would lose another brother. “Warren, I’ll never be disappointed in you. You need to start stepping up and become my right-hand man, the man I call when I need something. I need you to be what Elijah was.” I pat his leg to make sure he’s listening to what I’m saying to him, and not just nodding his head.

  “No matter how hard life gets, we’l talk to each other because brothers don’t let each other wander in the dark alone,” Warren says.

  I let out a small laugh. “Never wander in the dark alone,” I reply. “Are you going to let the rest of the family in? It’s time to find out what’s been happening.”

  Warren waves his hand to let everyone know they can come in. The first person to sit next to me is my little sister.

  “You can get back to scaring away the boys,” she laughs.

  I look over at Warren questioningly.

  “Don’t worry, the last guy who came close to her left with a broken hand,” Warren says.

  Ellie rolls her eyes at me.

  I lean back into the sofa and wrap my arm around her. Alice’s on the phone with Drew close to her, so I assume she’s speaking to her family in America.

  My dad sits on the other side of me. “Never scare me like that again, okay?” He rubs my hair like a five-year-old child, but I let him have this one. I can’t remember the last time he was this happy.

  This year has been all over the place, but it’s time to get things back to normal. Well, as normal as I can make it. There’s always going to be a family out there who wants to take us down or bring trouble our way, but I need to finish this chapter first. I need to talk to Warren about the trafficking ring and see what’s been happening with that. Even though I’m not going to get involved with that, I still want to know what's happening.

  I glance over at Pike, about to ask for an update, but I can’t find Vinny anywhere.

  “Vinny’s been having some fun with Harvey,”Pike says. “He’s in the basement. Ash has been keeping the bar running, and I’ve been keeping an eye on things. Craig said the fights have been running smoothly. The guns have slowed down. They all say they’ll only do business with you, so I’ve told them all to fuck off.”

  A smile forms on my lips because we all know that the moment word gets out I’m awake, they’ll want to do business with us.

  I watch Alice and Drew walking out. I start to stand up, but my dad tells me to sit back down, and says the girls have gone to order food. I’m not a man who sits down and does nothing. I know Harvey’s in the basement, and my family won’t even let me get up to go kill him.

  I have a lot of plans for Harvey and all the Midlands, but I suppose that’ll have to wait until my dad thinks I’m ready to get back to business.

  “You know, son, you had us all scared there for a moment. But I have to say, I’ve never been so happy to see those blue eyes looking at me again.” My dad looks over at me and smiles.

  Everyone knows that family means the most to me, but what a lot of people don’t know is that my dad is my weakness. He’s the one I’d be more than happy to give up London for. I’d give up my business for him. My dad is my hero, and I make sure no one knows that.

  “We both know it’s going to take more than a few knife wounds to get rid of me.” I let out a laugh and pain rips through my stomach, making me place my hand on my wounds.

  “How long can I keep you down before you want to get back to business?” my dad asks with a laugh.

  I look over at Alice as she joins the family in the sitting room. I glance over at her when I feel her watching me. I see a smile form on her lips, but she thinks no one is watching her. I can see the relief in her. “As soon as I can walk without being in pain,” I tell my dad.

  My eyes move back to Alice when she stands up and walks away. I listen to her talking, then I hear Vinny’s voice. I can’t really make out what they’re saying. I still have too much medication in me to be back to normal.

  “Good to see you awake. Did you have a good sleep?” Vinny pats my shoulder softly, and I hear everyone laughing.

  “Vinny,” Alice chastises him.

  “It’s the most I’ve slept in a while, and I don’t think I’ll be sleeping like this again soon,” I say as he sits next to Alice. They both stare at each other as though they’re having a private conversation.

  “They’ve been doing that a lot this week,” my dad whispers to me.

  I continue to watch them. “What’s it about?” I ask.

  “Something about Vinny saying he wants to stay here. Alice told him to go to America, and we’ve heard Becky’s name thrown in there sometimes.” My dad leans back, and I try to think back to a conversation Alice had with Vinny about a Becky. I think that can wait for another day.

  “What did you order?” I ask Alice. I have to say, I am hungry. I feel like I’ve not eaten anything in months.

  “Pizza and Chinese,” she replies.

  I turn to Pike and laugh.

  “And?” he asks her, and everyone starts laughing.

  “I sent Warren out to get me a chicken kebab.” Her voice comes out quiet, and I raise my eyebrows at her. “Hey, I’m carrying two babies. Leave me alone,” she snaps.

  I press my lips together as she continues to shoot daggers at me. “You can have whatever you want,” I tell her.

  I thought I’d be able to stay awake and sit with my family, but my body’s shutting down, telling me I still need to rest. Resting my head on the back of the sofa, I close my eyes. I’m finding it hard to sit up right now. I listen to the conversations going on around me. Everyone’s getting on with what they’re doing.

  Chapter 34

  Angel

  One week later

  It’s taken a week, but I’m finally back to myself. Nothing is hurting. I feel so much better, and I’ve had a week to plan out every step of how I’m going to kill Harvey.

  “I still think it’s too early—”

  “If I were in bed for a month, you’d still think it’s too early. I have a bar to run,” I tell Alice as I let her tie my tie for me. “Plus, it’s been driving me crazy sitting here, knowing someone’s in the basement that I can’t wait to torture. I need to get guns out, fights need to get back on track, and I also told Warren I’ll take over Elijah’s half in the club.”

  There’s a lot to do, and I can’t just sit at home and not do it. The business runs a lot with me being in the front. I’m going to slowly start pushing Warren to the front on some things, so families know they don’t just work for me, they work with the Frost family.

  Warren was starting to find the club a lot of work, and Elijah was the one who was the frontman while Warren did all the paperwork. I said to keep giving Gwen half of the profits, and I’ll do the jobs Elijah did.

  I’ve got two new men on the door to keep trouble out. Things are looking good for the club, which is good. It’s the one family business that’s running nicely. I just need to get the guns shipments back up and running.

  “I know, being the king isn’t easy, but I’d still like you to rest. I’m sure the plans you have for—”

  “Don’t say his name,” I interrupt. “His name does not leave your lips.” There’s no way I want her even thinking ab
out that man, never mind saying his name. “Alice, I love you, and everything will go back to normal as soon as I end this.” There’s nothing I want more than to put this shit behind us so we can go back to what I do. Sell my guns, set up fights, and keep my streets clean.

  “I better let the devil wake up then, so he can scare everyone,” Alice replies with a smile.

  I knew she was made for me, but even the devil inside me loves her.

  We both leave my room, and I meet Warren, Pike, and Vinny in the kitchen. Without saying a word, I start making my way down to the basement. This is what I fought for, to get the man who touched my queen and thought I’d do nothing about it.

  Pike opens the door, and I see Harvey curled up on the floor. They told me Vinny was having fun with him, and it looks like it was a lot of fun.

  I smile as Harvey looks up at me, and fear spreads through him. That might bring me more joy than what I have planned for him—him knowing there’ll be no one coming to save him, no matter what his family gives me. I’ll not let him leave this basement until I’m ready. His family has tried, and my dad has told them to fuck off every time.

  “So, it looks like Vinny has been keeping you company.” I take a step closer to him. Harvey tries to stand up, but is too weak, which is perfect for the first part of what I have planned for him.

  “Fuck you,” he spits out.

  I can’t help but laugh. “Now, now, Harvey, I have a lot planned for you. First, I want you to remember something. Remember how you touched my queen, remember how many times you touched her.” I take a step back as he looks up at me, placing my hands into my pockets. “The thing about being in prison is that you meet some very fucked up people. I met a man in there who told me why he was there. I felt sick, sick to my fucking stomach, and I told him that if he came close to me, I’d make sure I killed him the moment I left.”