Kingdom Fall
Terri E. Laine
First Edition
Copyright 2020 Terri E. Laine
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used factiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. The scanning, uploading and distribution of the book via the Internet or via any other means without permission is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchased only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support for the author’s rights is appreciated. For information address to SDTEL Books.
Michele @ Michele Catalano Creative - cover design
Author’s Note
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Contents
THIS IS NOT A STANDALONE -
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Epilogue
Thank You
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by Terri E. Laine
THIS IS NOT A STANDALONE -
This CANNOT be READ as a STANDALONE.
You MUST READ Kingdom Come FIRST.
One
The words “my wife” rang in my head. Even I was surprised I’d said it. After the judge had suggested Lizzy sleep off her intoxication, she’d protested wildly. She’d gone as far as performing an unrequested sobriety test by walking in a straight line and touching her nose with her eyes closed, which convinced the judge. We’d been married on the spot.
What came the next day had changed everything. When she found out who I was, she was pissed. The marriage license had been on the judge’s desk, but she’d been focusing on my unusual middle name of O’Conchobhair and drunk enough not to notice the rest.
After her declaration that we were done, I’d expected a letter from a lawyer requesting an annulment. When that hadn’t happened, I didn’t know what to think. I didn’t know why I hadn’t gotten a lawyer to end the farce of a marriage either.
“Your wife? You’re married?” Kalen asked while Griffin gave me a hard stare.
My keys bit in my palm as I squeezed my hand into a fist. I didn’t owe either of them an answer. More importantly, we were wasting time. Lizzy had been taken. I marched toward my car, prepared to take any action necessary to get her back.
I released my fist, not wanting to draw blood. The keys dangled in my hand and that was how Kalen was able to snag them away from me.
“You are in no condition to drive, Connor,” he said, and my glare had no effect. “How many drinks have you had? Do you want to get arrested and sit on the sidelines while Griffin gets your lassie back?”
“Wife,” I grumbled, knowing he was right.
“Wife. I’ll drive you—”
“To my place,” I said, reaching my Dodge Viper.
It was weird getting in on the passenger side. For the first time, I was riding, not driving.
“I might have to get one of these,” Kalen said as he settled behind the wheel. “Is it still a one-of-a-kind?”
He was a car collector and mine was a concept car I’d been able to get my hands on. But that didn’t matter. “Just drive,” I groused.
He said something in Scottish Gaelic I couldn’t understand. I wished I spoke more of the Irish Gaelic my mother hadn’t bothered to teach me so I could say something back he wouldn’t get, and we’d be even.
Thank fuck, Kalen drove with purpose. Then again, he, out of anyone, would understand the fear I felt, considering what he’d gone through with his new wife.
“Griffin will meet us there.” Before I could object, he continued. “There’s nothing there. I don’t know what you heard, but Griff and Lizzy are just friends.”
I wasn’t sure I believed him. I also didn’t think he was lying. Though Griff had grown up with Kalen like brothers, something I hadn’t had, I trusted K. My guess was he didn’t know the extent of Griffin and Lizzy’s relationship. It was even possible Griffin hadn’t told him all of it.
At boarding school, I’d had a few allies, but never friends. My fate had been sealed on my very first day. That day, I’d been taught to trust no one. After Eliza’s betrayal, my circle of trust was down to just three: me, myself, and I. If it wasn’t for Bailey, Kalen and I wouldn’t be where we were today. He’d never admit it, but I was sure the woman had thawed his heart with her golden one. She’d likely nudged him to work on being the brother I’d never had. He’d gotten lucky with her.
“Connor,” Kalen said.
I glanced up to see we were at the security gate of my garage. I handed him the card key and rattled off the string of numbers he needed to gain us passage inside. As the gate closed behind us, I smiled. Griffin would be forced to look for parking. At a time like this, it was the little things that kept you going.
Only I spotted Griffin ducking under the gate before it fully closed. He’d grabbed his car and caught up with us in time. I sighed and caught Kalen’s grin.
“Sorry, little brother. We’ve got your back.”
I didn’t think Griffin did, but he was a professional. Otherwise I wouldn’t contract security for my club out to him.
By the time I exited the Viper, Griffin had caught up to us.
“Your presence isn’t needed,” I grumbled before eating up the distance to the elevators.
“I could say the same,” Griff said, catching up to me.
Kalen held up a hand. “Stop. This is for Lizzy.”
Our silent truce lasted until we stepped on the elevator.
“Does Bailey know where you are?” I asked Kalen. “It is your wedding night.”
He glared at me and held up his phone. Apparently, he was texting his bride. “Even if she didn’t, I know my wife. She’d want me to find her best friend above anything else.”
That was true, especially since Bailey had firsthand experience with danger.
“You know if it wasn’t your wedding night, I would give you shit about checking in with the missus,” Griff said, but with a grin.
Kalen glared at his friend. “You’ll see. The two of you aren’t far behind me.”
“No, he doesn’t know a thing about loyalty,” I said to Kalen. To Griffin, I said, “Does Lizzy know about Sara or vice versa?”
“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” Griffin snapped.
“Oh really? The Dubai submissive from the club—I have video of the two of you.”
Grif
fin’s eyes widened. He probably assumed I wasn’t that hands-on with the security at my club since I contracted it out to his company. “I sent her to you.”
Kalen shifted between us as I said, “And how would you know the daughter of Haddad, the kingpin of Dubai…” My words trailed off as I put it together. “He wouldn’t want his people to know what his daughter was up to. He contracted out her security detail. The guys he brought with him—”
“You were never in any danger,” Griffin said.
It had been his security team. One had tricked Eliza into letting them in.
“Yet you sent her to me. Let me spank her. Let her come all over my lap,” I said, baiting him. “Did she know she was being traded?”
I drew my own conclusions about his gift to me. Had Griffin offered Sara to me so maybe I’d leave Lizzy alone? Sara was a gorgeous woman and more my traditional type, with hips and breasts that didn’t end for days.
“You fucker,” Griffin said, along with a string of Gaelic curse words.
Lucky for him, Kalen had a hold of him as the doors opened. I was spoiling for a fight, but Lizzy’s safety was more important. I unlocked my door and walked in.
They weren’t far behind when I said, “Take off your shoes,” to distract them as I pushed a hidden button on my wall. Textured wallpaper I’d been told was very much in style hid the seams of the opening. There was the faintest of pops as the wall moved.
Griffin lost some of his bluster as he looked inside. His expression changed to one of appreciation. “A safe room.”
“I never knew this was here,” Kalen added.
“You weren’t supposed to,” I said over my shoulder. Because they were looking everywhere but at me, I hit another hidden button that wouldn’t allow the door to close behind us.
“Holy shit,” Griffin muttered.
He only had eyes for my command center, with multiple monitors set horizontally and vertically. I sat and initiated security protocols. First there was a scan of my face through the facial recognition software. Then I put my right ring finger on the scanner. It was only then a log-in screen appeared. I entered a string of alpha-numeric characters that would only make sense to me before I gained access to my system.
“Yer little jobbie,” Griffin said, louder this time.
Kalen had mumbled enough Scottish slang over the last few years for me to translate. Griffin had called me a little shit.
I ignored him as I hacked into New York’s DMV system. What I’d failed to tell the pair behind me was that I’d gotten the license plate number as they sped off. I worked against the clock to get in, grab the information, and get out. Breaking in was the simple part. Leaving without a trail that led back to me was harder.
“Got it,” I said, but didn’t answer the questions hurled at me until I’d covered my digital footprints. I didn’t face them until after I initiated the second part of my plan.
“You didn’t need my security, did you?” Griffin asked.
“The muscle, yes. The cyber part, no.”
Kalen proved he knew me better than I thought when he said, “You didn’t want anyone to know what you were capable of.”
“And I want to keep it that way.”
Part of what I did outside of running the club was information gathering. Over the years, several three-letter government outfits had approached me to help them in that area. But I also used my abilities to keep the sinners of my past within reach. When they stumbled, I would be ready to make the kill, literally or figuratively. It didn’t matter either way, as long as justice was served.
“I should charge you more,” Griffin muttered.
“And I’ll find another firm to assist me.”
“Cut the shite, Griff. Connor, what did you find out?”
A bell chimed on my computer, and I spun my chair to face it again. I pointed at the screen on the right. “The car was a rental.”
The camera I had facing my back so no one could surprise me—displayed in the smaller screen I had discreetly hidden on the bottom left—showed the two of them stepping forward.
“Not surprising,” Griff said.
“Cameras show that vehicle ending up here.” I tapped the screen in the middle, which had a map.
“Where were you when Bailey went missing?” Kalen groused.
I faced my brother. “You didn’t ask for my help.”
Griffin almost smiled when he said, “What’s your plan?” There may have been grudging respect in his expression.
I steepled my fingers. “This is how we’re going to get my wife back.”
Two
Lizzy
If not for my brother’s calm, I might have been hysterical or using sarcasm as a weapon. As it was, I stayed silent, trusting Matty had a plan. He didn’t need to worry about me goading our assailants into taking drastic measures to shut me up.
But that gave me too much time to think. I was building up my anger for being in this situation. If Striker could have kept his dick in his pants, maybe I wouldn’t be here. On the other hand, I had reason to thank him. If this was about my brother and they’d taken him without witnesses, I wouldn’t have known.
I was also glad Striker was safe and not here. If he were the son of the president of a biker gang, he could have been useful. As it was, he was the son of a billionaire. When Kalen had needed help in a situation like this, he’d called my brother.
Griffin, I thought. He would be useful. But no one had been around. No one knew we’d been taken. Griffin would assume I was pissed off about the man he knew as Connor.
I still had trouble processing that. If I allowed myself to merge Striker and Connor, there was no chance for us. Not that there was anyway. Lying was a big no-no for me. As much as I’d tried to forget the smooth-talking sexual god, he was never far from my mind.
The car stopped, and I listened for clues since the smelly black bag was still over my head. The four-man crew was efficient and silent. They startled me when I was roughly grabbed and dragged out of the SUV.
“Where are we?” I demanded, unable to remain silent despite the futile nature of my question. The likelihood they’d answer was nil.
“The better question is what are we going to do to you?”
Laughter sounded all around as the speaker shoved me forward, letting me stumble as I went, unable to see what was in front of me. I was pushed into a chair, and my arms and legs were secured to it. Then the hood was snatched from my head, along with some hair. I let out a little yelp.
It took several blinks before the small room we were in came into focus. The only furniture in it was the two chairs my brother and I sat in and a table shoved against the wall in front of us. A man, probably the leader, with folded arms leaned against it while studying us.
I looked beyond him, past the open door. It appeared we were in a warehouse or maybe an abandoned factory considering the rusted equipment we’d passed. The roof was missing in places. I caught a peek of the night sky if my eyes weren’t deceiving me.
The guy by the table stood straight and walked over to my brother. In horror, I watched him nail Matty with a fist square in his face.
“Stop!” I cried as the man drew back his arm.
My cries were ignored as my brother took blow after blow; his stubborn chin lifted in defiance.
“Where is he?” the man with the balled fist yelled.
Just when I thought I knew what kind of trouble we were in, I didn’t. The man could have easily said “where is she” because his accent was that thick. I couldn’t pinpoint it, but I didn’t think it was Spanish or Chinese. Then again, what did I know?
The next blow sent blood splattering on the man’s yellowing shirt. Matty spit out more as his face swelled. I felt the tears before I knew I was crying.
“Please,” I begged, but was ignored. As futile as it was, I scooted my chair toward Matt until someone stopped me.
A different man caught the lower half of my face in his meaty hand and squeezed. “Sit still.�
� He had a similar accent to the man working over my brother. “Or we’ll be forced to use other tactics to get information.” A gun appeared, and he pressed the muzzle above the neckline of my dress and drew it down to create a gap.
“Don’t,” my brother croaked.
“Ah, you care about this one,” the leader said.
Matt gave me a derisive once-over. “No, but she isn’t a part of this.”
“But isn’t she?”
What the hell did that mean? The leader pulled his phone from his pocket and answered it. It sucked he didn’t use English. But when the call was over, he shook his head at the one who held me at his mercy. Then he barked an order I couldn’t understand.
After the other men left, the leader said, “You are lucky. For now.” Then he was gone too.
“Mat—”
My brother shushed me before I could finish. I might have continued, but he inspected the corners of the ceilings and I caught on. My last time in Chicago, I’d gotten a crash course about concealed cameras and listening equipment.
“Look, Lily,” he said, making it clear we were still pretending not to be siblings, “I plan to negotiate for your release.”
“I’m not leaving you,” I said, a knee-jerk reaction, forgetting the character I should be playing.
“Why not? You don’t give a shit about me,” he said, maintaining his cover.
“Maybe not, but that doesn’t mean I’m a heartless bitch,” I said as I stared daggers at my brother. He had to know I’d never leave him.
Kingdom Fall: A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance (Kingdom Come Book 2) Page 1