To Redemption (Whitsborough Chronicles Book 4)

by C. A. Rene

  Carm sees no need in reforming it, despite the fact that the Rampage distributes drugs, whores, and assassinations, he likes the income and doesn’t deem it worthwhile to change. I strongly disagree but unfortunately, if I did want that change I would need to pull a Raphael and kill my brother.

  “I’ve upped the training on combat for the guards and doubled them in the ring for this weekend. It’s going to get messy.” Trent tells Emmett as the rest of us follow behind.

  “Nice,” Emmett nods. “How are you getting him in there?”

  “He thinks he’ll be watching another Blur fight to the death.” He chuckles and shakes his head.

  The first time I met Trent, I thought he was a grade A asshole. He basically gave me a once over and found me wanting. When I needed to spar before my fight, he tried to convince Carm to let him do it and Carm vehemently disagreed. I don’t like letting people get away with assuming I’m weak because I own a pair of tits and a pussy. I love proving them wrong with at least a broken nose. I still want to break his fucking nose even though he’s apologized multiple times. It’s just who I am, I’d rather punish than forgive. Emmett loves him though, and for that reason alone I have to bury the hatchet and to everyone’s preference, not in his back.

  “I want to go in as the Black Slaughter.” I say.

  “What?” Emmett turns quickly almost causing me to collide with his chest.

  I pop my fist out and jab him in the stomach, “watch it.”

  He coughs and looks up at me with a grin, “you want to go into the ring with your makeup on?”

  “Yes.” I nod. I’m not asking, if this is how I want it done then that’s how it will be.

  He sees the look on my face and knows it brokers no room for negotiation. He nods and turns back around to resume his talk with Trent.

  “The Black Slaughter.” I hear Adri hum behind me. “I like it.”

  “Wait until you see her in her makeup. You’re gonna like it even more.” Vin chuckles.

  My Black Slaughter face is only for people I kill on jobs or for myself and my family. Wade is one of those jobs. He tried to have me killed and it’s time I repay the favour. The Heads are already here and our meeting begins in about an hour. I need to get to my room and apply my makeup because I am going in there for the sole purpose of setting someone up to die by my hands.

  “How did you get the guard to confess?” I ask Trent. According to Carm, one of his guards was paid to slip my opponent the knife by Wade.

  “I didn’t.” Trent looks back at me. “Carm got all the pleasure. From what I heard, he didn’t take it too easy on the guy.”

  “Carm got his hands dirty?” Emmett asks, sounding surprised.

  “Yeah, he refused to let anyone else in that room with him.”

  “I’m so lucky to have such a brother, huh?” I slap Trent on the arm and walk by.

  “Yeah, you are.” He says behind me, his voice holding a hint of humour.

  I get to the room I was once held prisoner in and Vin follows closely behind me. I know you’re probably thinking it’s weird that I want to be in this room whenever I come here and fuck, I am weird. I stay in this room because my mother was held here and I refuse to ever feel victimized by an object or in this case, a fucking room.

  “Are you pissed you didn’t get to question that guard?” Vin asks me.

  “Not really,” I shrug. “It would’ve been nice but I know Carm can do the job.”

  “I see.” He answers and flops down on the bed.

  I sit on the counter in the small bathroom and begin to apply my Black Slaughter makeup. I’m going into that meeting to call Wade out for trying to kill me. I need to be as intimidating as I can be.

  The white makeup coats my skin like paint, blocking out all colour in its path. When Adri found out I was using Halloween makeup, she nearly threw a fit. The next day she had ordered a bunch of special effects makeup and top makeup brand products. I don’t know too much shit about makeup but I can give her the respect she deserves, this shit is pretty amazing.

  I begin with drawing the spider webs on each jaw and the corner of my forehead in black. Next I work on the skull’s eyes, cheeks, and nose. The pattern flows from my hand like my mind knows it’s part of my heritage. I paint a blood red rose on the top left corner of my forehead, right above my eyebrow, then apply the same colour to my lips. When I’m done, I sit back and admire my work. It’s frighteningly beautiful.

  I get dressed in black leather pants and a matching corset top. Around my neck I wear a satin choker with a knife pendant hanging in the hollow of my neck. Every detail matters because after today, every motherfucking Head in that room will know to fear me.

  “You look so fucking hot.” Vin groans from the bed as he reaches inside his pants and strokes his cock. “I feel so morbid.”

  I laugh at him and blow him a kiss, “when I get back, I’ll mess up this makeup all over your dick.”

  There’s a quick knock on the door and then I hear Trent’s voice, “Ember, I have to escort you to the meeting.”

  I open the door and revel in the quick flash of fear in his eyes. He covers it and smirks, “that’s a bit fucking creepy.”

  “Trent,” Vin calls from his place on the bed. “Make sure my fiancée makes it back here untouched.” The threat in his voice is clear.

  “Fiancée? Congrats.” He nods, “I’ll have her back here without so much as a hair touched on her pretty, evil head.”

  I follow him out the door and down the hallway to the large double doors that house the Head meetings. “Are they all here?”

  “Yeah, just as you asked. You are the last.” He turns before opening the door and looks at me, “you remind me of your father, I know you hate hearing that but you do. I can also see how you’re different but it’s slight. It’s not a bad thing to be like him, he was tough, respected, and feared. He ran an empire that one man shouldn’t have been able to command all on his own and he killed like it was his favourite hobby. All I’m trying to do is warn you, don’t let it fuck with your mind. That’s where he was weak and in here.” He taps his chest over his heart. “Continue to love the people around you and never let the pleasure of killing embrace you like an old friend, the more you revel in the high, the longer you stay there.”

  I’m not offended to be compared to my father, I already accepted it a long time ago. Maybe even before I met the asshole. I understand what Trent is telling me and I appreciate his words. Not many people I surround myself with knew the man and Carm refuses to speak of him. So it’s good to hear how not to turn into him completely.

  “Thank you, Trent.” I tell him genuinely and he pats my back before opening the door.

  I walk inside slowly and let everyone get a good look. The hushed conversation stops abruptly and everyone’s eyes slowly widen as they take in my face and attire.

  “I’ve been more quiet and subdued for the last few meetings. I’m new and wanted to get a feel for the position and the people I am now associated with.” I stand at my usual spot at the table, directly to Carm’s right and lay my knife down on the polished wood. Then I walk to the head of the table and stand behind Carm, his shoulders stiffen a bit but he doesn’t move. “Most of you are straight forward and call things how you see it.” I place my hand on his shoulder and move on to the man next to him and do the same.

  “Some of you are more ruthless than others and like to play with your food before you eat it.” I get to my fat fellow Head, the one that disregarded me in the beginning until I told him I killed his mark. “We may be leaders in our area but in this room we are equal, not one of us is any better than the other.” I stop behind Wade and place my hand on his shoulder. He doesn’t move and if anything he seems completely at ease. Cocky fucker. “We should protect each other and help each other. Because a win for one is a win for all.”

  I squeeze his shoulder and the guy finally stiffens. “You tried to have me killed, Wade.”
/>
  “What?” He has the audacity to sound shocked.

  “You set me up to fight one of your guys. Who even knows if he was actually plotting your death.”

  “This is absurd!” He tries to stand but I squeeze the pressure point in his neck until he sits again.

  “You gave him a knife and when he was almost beaten, he pulled that on me. He slashed me across the belly and if he had been less than an inch closer, my entrails would have been splattered across that mat.” Carm’s face crumbles into a look of pain.

  “I did not give him that knife.” Wade says, sounding completely sincere as he looks up into my face.

  “Yes, you did.” Carm’s voice rings out loud. “My guard confessed to accepting payment from you to do so.”

  “Which guard?” Wade bellows, “bring him in here so I may question him myself.”

  “He’s been taken care of. I do not house traitors.” Carm smoothly replies.

  “Convenient.” Wade sneers then turns his sight onto me. “How do you propose we correct this?”

  “I propose a fight in the cage.” I keep my face free of any emotion even though my lips fight to form a grin.

  “Fine, I cannot refuse unless I want to be portrayed as a liar. Tell me Blur, what are the stakes?”

  “Black Slaughter.” I correct him. “The stakes are to the death, Wade.”

  I watch his face pale and he swings his gaze from me to Carm. “This can’t be right, you can’t murder a Head.”

  “Yet you tried just that.” Carm grits out between his teeth.

  “I did not!” He finally stands and yells across the table.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow night, Wade.” I say as I walk back towards Trent and the door. “May the best man win.”

  I hear his voice behind me, begging Carm to make me reconsider. He sounds earnest and sincere but I can too if I need to be. I think my presence within the Head organization intimidated the fuck out of him and he would rather see me as a fighter than a leader.

  The others look confused and slightly fearful as they watch me leave and the door swing shut. Perfect, they need to understand I am not one to fuck with.

  Ember lays naked beside me, her hair fanning out over the pillow and her fucking makeup all over the bed and me. I finger over the pattern she tattooed under her left breast, an infinity symbol with our initials inside of it. An exact match for the one over my heart on my chest.

  “He looked like he was telling the truth, is my fucking mind playing tricks on me?” She whispers as she looks at me.

  “Do you think Carm’s guard acted on his own?”

  “I don’t know,” she shrugs. “Maybe if he was offered enough money?”

  “Even knowing it would definitely come back to him?” I question. “If it were something I agreed to, I would ask for help to get out of here and never look back. Why would he stay?”

  “And Trent?” She asks in a hushed voice. “He has no loyalty to me, but when he speaks to me, he seems like he truly cares.”

  I see her inner turmoil flashing through her features. This is hard shit, the most likely person to want her Head is Wade and obviously he is getting what’s coming to him but I can see that Ember saw something to make her doubt that.

  “If it wasn’t Wade, then it’s Trent.” I tell her. “If there’s something bothering you then you need to get answers before you take a life undeserving of death.”

  “I know.” She whispers, sounding tortured.

  “Do what your gut tells you.” I kiss her head and pull her into my chest.

  Her huge heart is pounding against mine and I know as sadistic as Ember can be, she also would never want someone to die if they didn’t deserve it. It’s the boundary she laid out for herself from the very beginning and she hasn’t once deviated from that.

  I feel her breathing even out and look down to feel her heavy with sleep in my arms. I match my breathing to hers and drift off as well.

  I feel her rustle as she gets out of the bed, since we’re underground I can’t determine the time but I have a feeling it’s still night or early morning. Ember is creeping around, so she’s trying not to wake me and I let her continue without alerting her to my knowing. She pulls on a pair of sweats and swipes her hair up into a bun on the top of her head. She sneaks out the door and I throw the blankets off my body. I also scramble into clothes and hurry to open the door behind her.

  I catch a glimpse of her turning the corner to my right and begin to follow. A couple turns later and I see her talking to a guard outside of Carm’s office. He permits her entry inside and I blow out a breath of relief. She’s probably going to talk shit out with him and figure out what he thinks about the whole situation. Now that I know she isn’t putting herself in any immediate danger, I turn around and go back to our room. I may let Ember fight her way through life as I sit and watch, but I am watching, and if at any point I feel like her life is in jeopardy, I will step in and berserk the fuck out.

  About an hour later she comes back into the room. In her hands she hold a file that she immediately pops into her bag. I watch as she removes her clothes and crawls back into bed beside me.

  “Everything okay?” I ask her.

  “I had to talk to Carm.” She says. “But he wasn’t in his office. I found some shit though. I will tell you about it tomorrow.”

  I nod and kiss her cheek.

  4

  I don’t get the chance to speak to Vin about Wade in the morning because Emmett comes through like a motherfucking tornado and demands our attention. We spend the day with everyone at Coney Island and it brings back memories of my mother and also memories of when Emmett and I went there, as well.

  The day is fun but all too soon I have to go and prepare for my fight with Wade. I found a few interesting things in Carm’s office, one of which was about Wade. He has been linked to a kidnapping ring in Long Island. Mostly snatching up teenage girls that come from broken homes, runaways, and homeless. Drugging them for a few days then selling them overseas. Am I surprised? Fuck no, this is nothing new. I knew the Head organization was a dirty one and I have plans to gradually change that but this is killing two birds with one stone.

  Wade inherited his position from his father-nepotism at its finest-and instead of cleaning up what his corrupted old man was doing, he decided to keep capitalizing on the lower income families in his area. Pushing drugs to single moms and then taking their children to be sold to sex trade or to sell more crack to other disadvantaged homes.

  Whatever reservations I had about him yesterday have flown out the window, even if I’m still questioning if he had anything to do with the knife that almost gutted me like a fucking fish.

  I’m warming up my muscles when Carm comes into the gym.

  “Hey, one of my guys said you came by the office last night?” he asks.

  “Yeah,” I nod. “I forgot my knife in the meeting room yesterday. I can’t sleep without it near me. Especially here. I figured you put it in your office.”

  “Yeah, I thought you’d have realized sooner that you forgot it.” He grins.

  “It’s been fucking hectic,” I scrub my hand down my face.

  “Just focus on the fight for now. Wade is trained, Ember. This one may be your toughest yet.” He looks at me with worry in his eyes.

  “I figured. It has to be done, Carm. I can’t have people doubting the strength I have. I need to take down anyone who even thinks they could take me or my family out.”

  “Fuck, you sound like him a lot sometimes.” He grunts.

  I don’t say anything because I know I sound like the homicidal maniac who helped create us. It’s rare that Carm mentions it though and I don’t dare correct him.

  “He became really paranoid at the end, calling for anyone and everyone to be killed. Someone questioned him, they were killed. It was gruesome when he got out, like he knew while he was gone his hold had slipped. Then he asked us about Emberlise Craven and how
well she was working for us.” He looks at me with sad eyes. “I was the one that spoke so damn highly of you, the girl I had never set eyes on, who refused to meet here and fought her battles in abandoned warehouses or empty parking lots. I had not a single clue who you were.”

  “It’s not your fault.” I shake my head.

  “In a way it is, his eyes brightened at my praise and he just had to see you. I hunted you down, twisted Tommy’s arm to tell me where you moved. I told him and we were on the road within minutes, he was that eager to get to you. I should’ve known it was something more. When we reached Toronto, he finally confessed to who you were and why we were picking you up.”

  “Why was he picking me up? What was his endgame for me?”

  “He wanted you to sit next to him. Be his second.”

  “Your position.” I narrow my eyes.

  “Yeah.” He agrees.

  “And you were okay with that?”

  “Of course not and to be honest, I really didn’t think you would live up to the hype.” He chuckles, “even after you attacked that guard outside of your school the night we grabbed you. I thought you were just a kid. A great fighter and talented as fuck, but just a kid. You proved me wrong while you were here. I decided I was going to help you and if you were more suited for the position, then I would let it be.”

  “And?” I raise a brow. “Am I?”

  “Yes.” He answers honestly, “you would’ve ripped the Eastside Rampage apart and made it something better. Eliminated anyone that was deemed a threat and do it all with ease and precision. The only thing against you? You’re a woman and a fucking young one.”