by Apryl Baker
“Now, tell me about this fucker who touched you.” She jumped at the venom in his voice.
“I…” She cleared her throat. “It was an old friend of my brother’s. He used to come over to the house a lot before Kade started hanging out.”
“I need a name, sestra.” Conner’s hands clenched, and she shrank away from the anger vibrating off him.
“I think you’re scaring her.” Kade came over and sat on the bed, taking her hand in his. “Is he scaring you?”
Angel nodded, gripping Kade’s hand so tightly she was surprised he didn’t wince.
Conner relaxed so fast, if she’d blinked, she’d have missed it. He even slouched a bit. It was amazing and terrifying.
“I’m a scary motherfucker. I know it.” He sat in the chair Kade had vacated and took her other hand. His touch was gentle despite the coldness seeping out of his eyes. “You will never have need to fear me. You’re my sister, my family, and I will protect you with every breath I have. I’m sorry I scared you, but the thought of that bastard…” He stopped and took a deep breath. “I will make them suffer for taking your son and for threatening you. I swear it.”
Angel knew he was telling the truth, but it didn’t stop the unease from taking hold. This man was dangerous, but maybe that was what they needed to get Matthew back. She would trust him because Kade did, but she’d never fully be comfortable with him. It was a simple truth. The darkness in him scared her too much.
“Now, we need to get this show on the road. Kade, you might want to call your contacts in the FBI. Sometimes it’s easier to deal with the feds than it is the local police force. You said you already had men on the ground?”
“Yes, Dylan went down last night, and our best tracker should be landing shortly.”
“Will she be safe here for a few hours by herself?”
Angel bristled. They wanted to leave her behind? Oh, hell no. Before she could even open her mouth, Conner shushed her.
“We’re not leaving you behind, sestra. You deserve to be there when we make the bastards pay for taking our boy from you. I need to visit some friends and collect our arsenal. I need someone to watch my back.”
“You get my husband killed, and you better hope God can hide you where I can’t find you.” Despite how much Conner scared her, he better damn well protect the man she loved more than anyone except her children.
Conner didn’t even crack a smile. He nodded curtly. “I won’t get him killed.”
Kade told him to go on and he’d follow him in a few minutes.
Angel let out a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding when he left. “I don’t like this, Kade. Not one little bit.”
“Conner knows what he’s doing. We have to be prepared in case shit goes sideways. We aren’t coming home without our child.” Kade took her face in his hands and kissed her softly. He looked her in the eyes, his forehead pressed against hers. “I promise.”
“I love you, Kade Kincaid.” She pressed her lips to his again. “Come home to me. If you die, I will kill you.”
He chuckled and pulled away. “I love you too, moye serdste.”
She remembered the first time he’d told her she was his heart. They’d just made love, and he thought she was sound asleep. He’d whispered moye serdste and pulled her close. She’d used Google Translate the next day and found he’d called her his heart. It was the moment she’d started to fall in love with him.
“I’ll be back soon. Watkins is right outside, and I have more men throughout the hospital.” He gave her another quick kiss and left before she could stop him.
What would she tell the nineteen-year-old girl who’d looked up into those laughing black eyes on the beach all those years ago? Would she tell her to run and never look back, or to hold on tight because the ending was worth all the pain they both suffered?
She would tell her to hold on tight and never give up hope, even when it felt like she was drowning and would never come back up for air. The end was worth all the pain.
Angel hoped her happily ever after would be just that, though. It had to be. She couldn’t lose everything again. She wouldn’t survive it.
God had better not let her down.
***
Kade tried hard not to show any reaction when Conner drove them down a back alley that looked like something out of a horror movie. He was ninety-nine percent positive they were about to get murdered and chopped up, the pieces strewn throughout the dumpsters that littered the city. Where in fuck’s sake were they going?
“You sure you know where you’re going?” Kade gripped the oh-shit handle, as he called it, when they narrowly missed hitting two guys huddled together against the wall of a crumbling, abandoned building. He was pretty sure they were sharing needles, but he didn’t look too long.
“Would I be going this way if I didn’t?”
“How the hell do I know?” Kade tensed when they started to slow down. Crack house. That was his first impression of the building with two very built black guys standing at the entrance. Several people of various ethnicities roamed around the front of the building looking very much like strung-out junkies.
“Look, I did some checking. Los Muertos has a major hold in this city now. There are very few who don’t owe allegiance to them. This guy is one of the last holdouts.”
“What makes you so sure they won’t hear the name Kincaid and turn us over to ensure they remain the last holdout?” Kade was nervous. He admitted it freely. Walking into gang territory without police backup was not cool. It reminded him of how he’d felt every single day he’d been undercover. The fear of being discovered as a police officer had been as real as the fear of being turned over to Los Muertos now.
“They probably would if they knew our names were Kincaid.” Conner got out of the vehicle and left Kade to follow him.
Dammit. Kade got out. They didn’t bother locking it. If the people here wanted to steal it or strip it, locking it wouldn’t deter them.
“I’m here to see Andrew about a purchase.” Conner stared hard at the man in front of him.
“Who the fuck are you?”
“The Executioner. Who the fuck are you?”
The big man shrank back from Conner. What the fuck? And why did he call himself the Executioner?
“Go on in.” He moved aside and allowed the brothers entry.
Inside, it was like walking into a memory. He’d been in a few manufacturing houses down in Miami. They seemed to be the same everywhere. Rows of tables were set up with people cutting powder and filling small distribution baggies. Another long row of tables held stacks of money being counted and sorted. On the opposite end, armed men lounged, laughing and joking, their whores being quiet or entertaining whichever man whose lap they sat on.
Conner bypassed all this and headed for the staircase at the back. Kade followed him, trying not to stare too much. It would make them nervous, and they’d start asking questions.
They hurried down the darkened hallway at the top and came to a stop at the door at the end, guarded by two more men. Conner told them the same as the first two, claiming to be the Executioner. He and Conner were going to have a serious talk about that name and why it terrified hardened drug dealers.
Inside, Kade was shocked to see a very nice office. No crumbling walls, but new plaster. It was clean, efficient, and tidy. The black man who sat behind the desk, looking at his laptop screen, wasn’t what he thought the leader of this particular organization would look like. It wasn’t a gang, necessarily, but a drug distribution ring that probably did business with most of the gangs in the city.
“Andrew.”
Andrew looked up, the diamond stud in his ear winking in the light. His head was shaven clean, and the barest hint of a five o’clock shadow outlined his face. He looked more like a Wall Street trader in his expensive suit than a drug dealer.
“You have me at a disadvantage.” His voice was cultured, deep, and his tone warned any fuckery would be met with hostility.
>
“I’m the Executioner.”
Something flickered in Andrew’s eyes, but Kade couldn’t place the emotion. It wasn’t anything good.
“And what brings you here, Executioner?”
“None of your people.” Conner sat, but Kade remained standing behind him. “I need weapons that can’t be traced.”
“What kind of weapons?”
“The kind I can’t get off the street. I need heavy artillery, automatic weapons that are clean. They can’t be attached to any other crimes.”
“Why would you need…”
“None of your business. I came here because you were highly recommended by mutual friends. If you can’t provide the service I need, I’ll look elsewhere.”
“I didn’t say that. I was just curious.”
“Curiosity killed the cat.” The flat, cold tone made Kade shiver. Who was this man, and what had he done with his little brother?
Andrew tilted his head in an acquiesce. “So it did. When would you need the weapons?”
“Within the next few hours.”
Andrew’s nose flared. “I can have everything you need by nightfall.”
“No.” Conner stood and tossed a scrap of paper on the desk. “You have three hours, or I move to the next person on my list. A list of everything I need is on that paper along with an untraceable cell number. Call before time is up, or the deal’s off.”
He turned and walked toward the door. Kade wasted no time in hurrying after him. They strode down the hall, the stairs, and out the door. Their SUV sat where they’d left it, in one piece. He breathed a sigh of relief. He really hadn’t wanted to replace the vehicle. There were a lot of extra bells and whistles that were extremely expensive.
Conner drove away and headed down several more side streets before emerging into the flow of traffic.
“What the hell was all that, and why did you call yourself the Executioner?”
“Nickname I picked up in the service.” He rolled his window down to let in some fresh air. “That was a business negotiation. Andrew Tolliver is someone who can get what I need when I need it. He just needs motivation to do as he’s told. Losing that much money is motivation enough.”
“We need to go back to why the word ‘executioner’ scared the shit out of those guys.”
Conner shrugged. “I’m a scary-ass motherfucker. You know this.”
“That…”
“Leave it alone, Kade.” His brother glanced at him, those black eyes looking more like those of a demon than the person he knew. “I’m not going to answer you, and it’s only going to piss me off. Leave. It. The. Fuck. Alone.”
Kade was quiet the rest of the way back to the office. Conner asked if he could borrow one of the company cars to take care of a few more errands. He said he’d swing by the hospital and get Kade when it was time to pick up the shipment.
No wonder Angel had been scared of his brother. Kade was a little afraid too. What happened to him in Afghanistan? Executioner was a nickname. God only knew what he’d done to earn it. At this point, he wasn’t sure if his brother could come back from the dark place he was in…or if he even wanted to.
His head spun with all the problems currently invading it. He pushed everything out and focused on one thing. Matthew. Once they got his son back, he could figure out a way to help Conner. Make him remember the man he used to be. Kade knew his brother would never be the same man as before, but if he could find a way to bring out glimmers of the old Conner, he’d live with it.
That was a problem for next week, though, and one he’d need all his brothers’ help with.
Today was about Matthew.
And they would be bringing him home.
Chapter Thirteen
The smell of food woke Angel. She was starving, having only picked at the food Nikoli brought her. She’d been too upset to eat. Now, though, her stomach growled.
“I’d recognize that growl anywhere.” Kade leaned down and kissed her. “Hungry much, little mama?”
She laughed and opened her eyes. “Starved.”
“Good. I picked up your favorite from Joe’s. I still can’t believe Nik convinced him to move his shop here to New York.”
Joe’s was a restaurant Nik fell in love with back in Boston. It was his and Lily’s go-to place when they wanted to have good food and not be bothered. Angel remembered Nik telling her he’d taken Lily on their first date there, not because he thought she’d like it, but because it was the one place he figured none of her friends would be. Much to his disgust, her best friend, Adam, had shown up.
“Well, when you have millions of dollars and offer to invest in the restaurant to get the owner, who is also your good friend, to move, I’m betting it doesn’t take too much persuasion.”
“Kid was a multi-millionaire by the time he was twenty.” Kade shook his head and rolled the little hospital tray over to her bed. He’d set out the classic Reuben sandwich, fries, and a bottle of Coke. Her stomach let it be known quite loudly it needed to be fed.
“He earned it, though.” And he had. Nikoli worked his ass off for every ounce of success he had. Her stomach growled again when the smell of the food hit her nose.
“I forgot how much your stomach talked when you were pregnant.” Kade pulled up a chair and unwrapped his own sandwich.
“Hey!” Angel stuck her tongue out at him. “I’m eating for two. I’m allowed to be starved all the time.”
“You eat as much as you want, baby.”
“So, you’re still going to love me when I look like a whale from all this food you’ve just given me permission to eat as much of as I want?”
“I will always love you, no matter what you look like. You could gain four hundred pounds, and I’d still love you. I might haul your ass to the gym every day, but I’d love you.”
And that was why she loved him. He would love her no matter what. It was the simplest truth there was. He’d proven it time and time again.
“You’re perfect, Angelique Renee Kincaid.” He took her hand, kissing the palm. “Don’t you know that? You are absolutely perfect to me.”
Her heart melted. This man. God, how she loved him.
“You’re going to make me cry.” She blinked back tears.
He smiled, the warmth bleeding out of his expression forcing the tears to erupt. Had to be the hormones.
Angel took the tissue he handed her and blew her nose. She’d been prone to crying at the drop of a hat the last few weeks. Combined with her queasiness, she should have guessed she was pregnant. Her gaze landed on two suitcases standing against the wall across from the bed. “What’s with the suitcases?”
“We’re booked for the ten o’clock flight to Miami in the morning. I packed a few things earlier for both of us. I thought we go straight to JFK from here when they release you.”
“I thought you might try to sneak off without me.” She wiped her eyes with another tissue.
“I thought about it.” He took a swig of the root beer he’d gotten for himself. Nasty stuff. She had no idea how he could stomach it. “But then I knew you’d just lose Watkins and come by yourself.”
“You got that right.” She would have done exactly that, calling Kade a bastard the entire way. It was her favorite curse word to describe him. When he’d first come back into her life, that was what she’d called him. He’d forced her to let him keep her safe under police protection, never bothering to tell her he planned on being that police protection. At least it had forced them to deal with the past and for the truth to come out. It ended up with them back together as it always should have been.
“Why fight the inevitable?” He shrugged and bit into his sandwich. “I thought maybe we could swing by the old house and then the graveyard while we’re there.”
She froze, fry mid-way to her mouth. “Is it safe?”
“No, but I plan on having police protection while we do it.”
Kade watched the hope spring to life in her eyes. He’d called his old boss at the B
AU and explained the situation to him. The man had agreed to send two agents to help him and coordinate with Miami PD. Since Mathew had been kidnapped, his boss said it fell under the BAU’s field of expertise. The agents would meet them at the Miami police department tomorrow.
“I really get to visit Peter’s grave?”
“Yes, baby, you really get to visit your brother’s grave.”
“But what about the police here? Won’t they want to question me before we leave town? I did see that poor nurse…” She broke off, wrapping her arms around herself. It pained Kade to see how much she blamed herself over the nurse’s death. It wasn’t her fault, though. The cartel didn’t leave witnesses behind.
“I already called and spoke to the detective. He’ll be here first thing in the morning to take your statement. Watkins kept them from questioning you when they came by earlier.”
“You did a lot while I was asleep. Did you and Conner get your business taken care of?”
Kade nodded. He wasn’t going to tell her about the crack house or going back to collect more weapons than he’d ever seen in his life. And how the fuck Conner came up with that much money blew his mind. No, he wasn’t telling Angel any of that. She’d only get upset, and then she’d blow up on Conner. His brother scared her, but when it came to protecting her family, she was a holy terror herself.
“I got dessert too. Milkshakes from McDonald’s, but I thought it would do.” He pulled the envelope from his jacket pocket. “I have something else for you too.”
He handed her the envelope and watched her forehead crease as she tried to make sense of what she was reading. “It’s the DNA results. He’s ours.”
“I didn’t need this to know he was mine.” Angel folded the paper, put it back into the envelope, and handed it back to Kade. “I knew it the minute I saw him. I should never have doubted myself.”
“A mother knows her child.” Kade smiled softly. “Scoot over.”