Pawns In The Bishop's Game

by Emilia Finn

  Shyly, almost like she’s lost, Jess wanders down the hall. I see pale hands first, then jeans. Long blonde hair hanging low. I’ve spent a week running my hands through that hair while I made silent promises of a lifetime of servitude.

  I didn’t make my promises out loud, because she can never know that I’ll still be watching.

  Even when I’m dead, I’ll be watching.

  Bright blue eyes lock onto mine, almost in shock, like she never expected to find me here. Instantly, Flynn’s photos pop into my mind. The tears in her sad eyes. The welts on her body.

  So much fucking pain and devastation.

  I reach between the bars before she runs and hook her around trim hips. Yanking her to the bars, I pull her in until the breath explodes from her lungs.

  “What t–”

  “Why are you here, Blondie? I told you to stay with your friends until I came for you.”

  “Let me go!” For the first time since we met, she works to push me away. Even when I was a murderer, a scary thug with more ink than skin, she never ran away.

  She was a magnet that was stupidly drawn to me.

  Stupid, because I was the most dangerous person she would ever know.

  This night, right now, might be the last time I’ll ever hold her. It might be the last time my hands will be on her hips. The last moments I’ll have with her. I’m under police watch, which means Abel’s done with me. Whether I nark or not, he’ll assume I did. Which makes me a dead man. But despite my desperation to touch her, to promise my heart and all my worldly treasures, tears spring to her eyes as she pushes away from the bars.

  Tears, just like in the pictures.

  “Please stop. Please let me go.”

  “You need to get away from that guy, Blondie. You need to stay away from Infernos.”

  She stills. Bottom lip wobbling, her bright eyes spill over. “Infernos…” Her breath hitches. “How did you know?”

  “I know everything. I’m not mad at you, baby, I promise. But you need to get away from him. He’s dangerous, and that club will kill you. Get away. Leave him. He won’t let you go, so you have to be strong enough. You have to show me the fighter inside you, you need to take your ass back out to that office, and you need to file reports. Have him charged.”

  I’ll give her the option to do it the legal way. To stand up and help herself. But that man won’t reach trial. He won’t live long enough.

  She no longer fights my hold. Instead, her chest presses to mine, and iron bars are the only things that stand between us. “He won’t let me go. He said he’d kill me.”

  He won’t touch her again. “I’ll take care of him, I promise. You know me now. You know I’ll make you safe. Run away.” A second set of steps echo in the hall and come closer. I have a million things I want to say to her. A million promises I can’t keep. A million requests I want to make.

  Kane Bishop can never truly be with Jess Lenaghan.

  But he can save her.

  I was put here, in this place, in this time, to make her safe.

  I close my eyes and yank her closer before the chief’s deputy gets here. Winding my hand into her hair, I pull her in until our lips clash and her breath slams into my lungs. Bringing my second hand up and squeezing my arm through the bars, I bring her in until our hips touch and her breasts press to my chest.

  This is my last chance to ever touch her. My last chance to ever kiss her.

  I slide my tongue past her lips and frown at the way she freezes up.

  At the lack of heat.

  At the lack of anything.

  Not once since I met her have we lacked heat.

  “Kane?”

  I stumble back like I’ve been shot. Jess’ hands shake as she presses them to her lips, her chest heaving as her eyes spill over.

  Then I look to my left and find another Jess with murderous rage sparkling in her eyes.

  Back to the Jess in front of me. Terrified, tears, shaking.

  Jess to my left, so much fucking rage I might die tonight, but not at Abel’s hands.

  “What…” My brain can’t compute. One with hair down and messed from my hands. The other with her hair up, sleek and beautiful. “I don’t…”

  “Is there a reason you’re making out with my sister, Kane Bishop? While behind bars?” Storming forward, Jess slams her hands on the bars. “What the fuck, Bishop?”

  “Your sister?” My eyes inevitably snap back to the first woman. The scared one. “Your…” My eyes go to the angry one. “Twins?”

  “Yes, you stupid ass! I’ve told you about her a million times.”

  “You never said you were a twin!”

  Eyes wide with sass, she bounces on the balls of her feet. “You’re kissing my sister, but somehow I’m the one in trouble right now?”

  “I wasn’t kissing your sister. I was kissing you!”

  “Obviously not!” She reaches through the bars and yanks me forward by the collar of my shirt. Winding her arm back, she slaps my forehead and shocks the fuck out of me more than any punch to the face could manage. “I’m over here, dumbass. And that’s my sister! Stop kissing my sister!”

  “I was kissing you!”

  She literally growls the way she did when I said she had to practice at the shooting range. Turning to the other clone, to the crying twin, she links their fingers and pulls her in close. “I know he’s big and scary lookin’, but don’t let him freak you out. He’s doesn’t normally grab unsuspecting women in the street and kiss them.”

  That’s her sister. Her twin.

  With narrowed eyes, I allow myself to truly look at them. To find the differences. One single thing to tell them apart. “Jessica Ann, lift your shirt.”

  She scoffs. “There are cameras here, Kane. And Alex watches them twenty-three hours a day. I’m not lifting my shirt.”

  A new kind of dread sits on my chest as I storm forward. Grabbing the brave one, I pull her forward until she slams against the bars and the scared twin yelps.

  Jess is strong.

  Jess is never scared.

  Jess watches me with furious eyes.

  I tilt her head to the side and find the silvering scar on her neck. The mark Lance left behind. Then with narrowed eyes, I slide my hand along her body and fist the soft fabric of her shirt. “Show me your stitches, Jessica.”

  “Kane.” Teeth gritted, eyes screaming a million things, she gives the teeniest little nod toward the crying twin. “Discretion, please.”

  “I don’t give a fuck about discretion!” One of these girls knows the inside of that club, and I need to know who. I pull the fabric up and slide rough fingers along the bumpy flesh.

  For the first time in my life, I’m happy for that scar.

  The crying twin gasps at the sight of the ugly stitches, but when I turn to her, she sucks it in and clamps her lips shut.

  “I’m sorry I kissed you. That was my mistake, but in my defense, Jess forgot to mention she was a fuckin’ twin.”

  “Okay…”

  “But that stuff we talked about…”

  “No.” Backing up, she trips on thin air and stumbles against the wall. “No. Don’t say anything.” Her eyes flicker to the real Jess with the same desperate plea. ‘Discretion please!’ “Please don’t.”

  “That’s two sisters. And two giant ass secrets.” Despite the fact I’m inside a cage and they’re free, I still find myself in more control of this conversation than they are. “You two need to get your shit straight.” I point to the real Jess. “She’s Jessica. She’s dating a criminal. She’s been sexually assaulted twice since I’ve known her. She almost died both times.”

  “Kane!”

  “But don’t think the stupidity belongs only to her.” I point at the crier. “You have an abusive boyfriend that I will take care of, images on the internet I promise to have deleted, and some fuckin’ therapy sessions you need to attend.”

  “Abusive?” Jess turns and squeezes the other blonde’s hand. “Images? Therapy
? Laine!”

  “Did you fuck someone other than me this week, Jessica?”

  “What?” Her angry eyes come back to me. “No, you jerk!”

  “No. So that means she did. That ain’t my business, you can fuck whoever you want, but the images I saw were not consensual.”

  “You saw?” Laine’s eyes spill over.

  “You saw pictures of my sister?” Jess’ eyes don’t. “Kane! What the hell is the matter with you?”

  “You look exactly the same, Jessica! I didn’t even know it wasn’t you until just now. I thought you’d broken my fucking heart!”

  “And yet, you kissed my sister?”

  “Yup! I kissed her. I thought I was kissing you. My bad. Next time, instead of saying ‘my sister’ this, and ‘my sister’ that, you should mention an identical fucking twin. A sister isn’t the same as a twin, especially not when she’s identical!”

  “What does it matter?” she throws back. “Why the hell am I in trouble right now?”

  “Because bad people want to hurt me! The only thing I have in this world worth losing is you. Now there’s two of you!”

  “Nuh-uh, thug.” She folds her arms with attitude. “We’re close, we love each other, but I already told you, we don’t roll like that.”

  “No! Jesus, I don’t want both of you. But I just kissed the wrong girl. I mean, shit, it’s the kind of mistake someone else might make, no? Not everyone knows to look for the scars, so if Abel wants to hurt me, he’s going to come for you. Now he has two targets.”

  Heavy boots stomp along the hall three seconds before a snarling face appears. Alex Turner, chief of police and angry big brother, stops just in front of his second, Deputy Oz, and folds his arms across a thick chest. “We have a whole fuckin’ lot to talk about right now.”

  “Alex.” Face draining white, Jess’ bad attitude goes forgotten when Juliette stops behind her husband. “Oh my God. Jules.”

  “Seems we need a come to Jesus talk. All of us.”

  “It’s not wh–”

  Jules nods to a security camera at the end of the hall and quirks a perfectly waxed brow. “Not only did we hear every shouted word, but we have it on camera. We also have footage of a kiss between one criminal and a twin. A boat load of secrets. An admission that might end a career. A man to kill. And a set of ribs to inspect.”

  “Jules, no–”

  “Boardroom, now.”

  “I’m just gonna–”

  “Both of you!” Alex snaps. “Both blondes. Move your asses before I beat them.”

  Jess’ eyes, angry a moment ago, turn to me to save her. My job has always been to save her. I turn back to Alex. “I want in on this meeting, too.”

  “Thanks, Bishop. But we’re good with sending you away for life. You stay here. You.” He shoves Jess along the hall. “Don’t make me call your brother.”

  “Alex, stop.” She pushes back against his hold, but he’s twice her size. Stronger. Pissed. “Let Kane out. He’s not our enemy.”

  “He’s a fuckin’ murderer, Jess! He shot at me tonight. He’s our enemy.”

  “He shot at you?” She spins back with those angry eyes. “You shot at him? He’s my brother! What the hell is the matter with you?”

  I didn’t shoot at him.

  Chad shot at him, but seeing as I was the one left holding the gun, I simply shrug.

  “Laine, move it. You don’t get to go home until I have my answers.” Oz takes the second twin by the arm and shuffles her forward.

  In an odd twist of fate, the crying twin turns to me the way her sister does. Like they both have this magnet inside them, and this stupid inclination to think I’m their savior. I’ll save them, but they need to fix those fucking magnets and find a healthier survival mechanism.

  “Don’t tell…”

  “You tell.” I nod toward the deputy. “Tell them. Save your own life. I’ll fix the rest.”

  “He’s not fixing shit.” Oz pushes her along. “He’s not our friend. You know who your family is, and it ain’t a two-bit criminal who likes to take advantage of your sister.”

  29

  Jess

  Interrogation

  “Sit down.” Alex pushes me into a chair and scrapes my still tender side. Oz pushes Laine through the door and sets her down in the chair beside mine. “Speak, Thing 1, and don’t lie to me. We had dinner last week; not once did you mention the criminal you’re dating.”

  Silently, disapproval dripping from her every pore, Jules pulls out a chair opposite mine and simply pushes her hair back.

  She’s pissed. Super pissed.

  “Kane Bishop is not a bad man.” I lift my chin and meet Alex’s eyes. Normally the guys are the last people I’d want to talk to about this, but right now, Jules scares me so much more than Alex and Oz combined.

  “He’s a criminal. He’s a fuckin’ murderer!”

  “He’s a man that deals with criminals. He has never hurt me. He has saved my life more than once.”

  “He was assigned to you to investigate. To bring down. Not to date!”

  I shrug with faux casualness and pretend my heart isn’t bleeding for a man we left in the cells.

  He promised he’d never go to prison. He said he’d die first.

  “I didn’t set out to date him, X. I was doing my job. I went to the club to try to get inside, then I was attacked outside.”

  “You were attacked?” Steam billows from his ears. He doesn’t sit, but instead, he laps the room and runs his hands through his hair.

  As an afterthought, Oz takes out his cell and sets it on the table with the microphone app on.

  “No.” I shake my head. “I’m talking to my family. I’m not talking to the cops.”

  “We are the cops, Jessica!” Alex turns to me. “We are the cops. We went out tonight to catch criminals, and one of them shot at me! Would you still be snuggling up to him even at my funeral? Bullet in my brain, Jules left all alone with a baby, but he has pretty tattoos, so you’ll choose him?”

  “You’re being dumb.” I snag Oz’s phone when he refuses to shut it off, hold the power button, and wait for the screen to go blank. “You’re being stupid. Family comes first, X. But he’s my family now, too.”

  My heart gives a final squeeze as realization slams over me. Everyone in the room turns paler. Alex’s frantic breaths slow, and his angry eyes turn wary.

  But I push on. “He saved my life, X. Multiple times! He protected me from bad people. He protected me from himself. He sent me home a million times. He didn’t take advantage! He saved my life, then told me to go home.”

  “He killed a man tonight! He’s a bad man.”

  “Not to me! To me, he’s brave and smart and protective and loving and kind.”

  “Is this like a Stockholm thing? Has he brainwashed you?”

  “No!” I wind my arm back and toss the cell at Alex’s head. “I was in Britt and Jack’s house tonight, dumbass. I’ve been at work, and I was in my apartment yesterday. He’s not keeping me captive! He keeps me safe. He makes me happy.”

  Alex leans over the table between Jules and Oz, bringing his eyes down to my level. “He will go to prison, Jessica. He shot and killed a man tonight.”

  “Whatever he did, he was doing it to protect me. He never hurt anyone that was good.”

  “Are you willing to trade your career on this?” Jules’ quiet voice makes far more impact on my soul than Alex’s screaming. “You don’t get to date a criminal and be the professional you want to be. Not in my firm. Not in anyone’s. The world doesn’t work that way.”

  “Are you firing me?” I work hard to hide the quiver in my voice. “Are you asking me to resign, Jules?”

  “No. I’m asking you to run far, far away from the man we know is a criminal.”

  “We don’t know–”

  “We do know.” Her expressive eyes pierce mine. “Let’s set aside the fact he killed a man tonight. He works inside that club; that automatically makes him a criminal. They ha
ve illegal firearms in that club. That’s one strike. They sell and consume drugs in that club. Strike two. They sell women. That’s your third, baby girl. It doesn’t matter if he’s not the one selling the women. It doesn’t matter if he’s not the one handing the guns over. Ignorance is not a legal defense.”

  Laine cries on my right. Wringing her hands together, she watches the table as tears streak down her face.

  “I’m not trying to hurt you, Jess. But I’m saying he will go down when Abel does. There’s no way around it. The inevitable downfall is coming, so you can jump ship now, or you drown later. Save your career. You don’t get to keep him either way.”

  For the first time tonight, tears well in my eyes. The finality in her tone cuts me.

  There’s no threat in her words, only a promise. A promise of heartbreak.

  “I love him, Jules. Help me save him. Don’t send him away.”

  “This isn’t a love story that’ll end well! He could squeal on Abel’s entire organization, but he’ll still go away, at least for a little while. And when he gets out, do you honestly think you can keep an ex-con and your career? The world doesn’t work like that.”

  I shake my head and consider my options. If he squeals on Abel, he says Abel will kill him. Even from the safety of prison, he’s still a dead man. If he doesn’t squeal on Abel, he goes to prison, and Abel will still assume he squealed, which makes him a dead man.

  “Can we get him protection?” I meet Alex’s eyes. “If he talks about Abel and helps take him down, can we get him protection?”

  “You gonna go into WITSEC with him, Jess? Gonna ditch your family, move to Kentucky, live on a farm, and raise chickens?”

  “Yes! If I have to, that’s exactly what I’ll do.”

  “Just like that?” He looks between me and Laine. “You girls find it so easy to latch onto a man and ditch your family?”

  “Hey!” I shoot to my feet when Laine’s breath comes out on a sob. “Don’t be an asshole!”

  “What?” Alex throws his hands up. “She ditched too, didn’t she? She got a man, he says jump and she asks how high.”