by Lila Rose
He stomped right up to me as my heart went crazy, and laid his hand against my neck. “Where’s the bag, Malinda?”
“What bag? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Such a pretty little neck you have.” He placed pressure against my neck as he spoke. “Yes, a very pretty neck, I would hate to see it broken, Malinda.”
My eyes widened and while he moved his head closer to breathe me in, something moved near the kitchen and caught my gaze. I looked there and saw Nary on a phone. I tried to shake my head, but she just shook hers back. I mouthed, “Go.” She shook her head again as tears fell onto her cheeks.
Moving his head so his lips touched my ear, Oscar whispered, “I want that bag, Malinda, and if I don’t have it, I’ll have your neck. If that doesn’t scare you enough, I’ll have your kids as well.”
“No,” I cried. No one threatened my children. I pulled back my fist, and in the tight gap he allowed between our bodies, I punched him in the stomach. “You leave them alone,” I screamed.
“Fuck,” he roared and backhanded me so hard my body went sideways and I hit the TV cabinet, falling to the floor in front of it.
“Y-you need to leave,” Nary said, stepping fully into the living room. “I called people. They’re on their way. I called the police and they’ll be here too.”
“Nary, no,” I cried.
Oscar started for her. She let out a squeak, but I grabbed his ankle and tripped him up. When he was down, I quickly stood. I went to run to my daughter, wondering where Josh was, but I wasn’t fast enough. He grabbed my wrist and brought me close to him. My back hit his chest, his hand wound around my throat.
“Mum,” Nary yelled, before the front door was smashed in and five men ran through, guns out and pointed at Oscar and myself.
I caught the sob before it escaped.
I knew those men.
I had met them that afternoon.
“Move the fuck away from her and we won’t hurt you,” Talon, Zara’s man, ordered.
“No!” Oscar bellowed. “Stay where you are and I won’t take her life right now.” He applied pressure, causing me to choke on my breath. My hands went to his wrist and I tried pulling him away, but I was losing.
“Do you know who we are, motherfucker?” Griz growled.
“No, and I don’t give a fuck. I came here for one thing and I have to get it.”
“Talon?” Stoke asked.
Stoke…Declan Stoke. The one man who I wished hadn’t been there. He sent my heart wild and made my body tingle. He was more dangerous than the situation I was in with his steel-coloured eyes and dark brown hair.
“Not yet,” Talon replied.
“You leave here without the thing you want or there will be hell to pay,” Killer said.
“She doesn’t know what he wants,” Nary said.
“Girl, get outta here,” Stoke ordered on a glare.
“She doesn’t know,” Nary pleaded. “He can’t have something that Mum can’t give him because she doesn’t know,” she yelled.
“Sounds like the cops are coming,” Blue said.
The hand tightened again. He was panicking and in doing so, he put more pressure on my neck. I fought. I wriggled, but he wasn’t letting go. Pressure built in my face as I struggled to breathe.
“Stoke,” Talon barked.
I watched as Stoke looked back to my daughter and ordered, “Nary, get out of here, now.”
“But—”
“Now, Nary!” he yelled and then quieted his tone. “We’ll get your mum to you real soon. Go to your brother next door.”
I would have thought it sweet he was taking care of my daughter’s feelings…if my life wasn’t being choked from me.
She took one last look at me, nodded to Stoke and left the room.
When Stoke turned back, his eyes were wild. “Last chance, let her go,” he viciously snarled.
“You can’t shoot me. You’ll get her.”
That was when Stoke smirked. “You don’t know me.” And with that, he fired his gun. Oscar’s body jerked back. His hand falling from my neck, I stumbled forward into the arms of Killer.
“We got you,” he said.
“You shot me,” I heard Oscar say with surprise. In the next second, there was glass breaking and Talon was yelling, “After him.”
Heavy footsteps sounded around me as Killer helped me to the couch. He sat me down and stood in front of me as I controlled the breath fighting it’s was back into my body. The couch depressed as someone sat beside me. I glanced out the corner of my eyes to see Talon there. He took hold of my chin and turned my head gently. With his other hand, he ran it over my cheek where Oscar had hit me.
“Boss.” I heard growled.
“Easy, Stoke, I’m just checking.”
“The cops are close,” Killer announced.
“Malinda,” Talon said. When I met his eyes, he added, “Don’t talk okay? It will only hurt. We’ll do all the talking.” He looked over my shoulder and said, “Tell me that’s one of Vi’s guns?”
“It is,” Stoke replied. I knew it was Stoke because, for some reason, only my brain would know, his deep voice was lodged into my memory.
Talon let go of me and stood. “Wipe the prints. I’ll call Vi and tell her what’s going on,” he said and walked off into the kitchen.
Someone walked through the front door, but I didn’t have the energy to look or care…until I heard that someone being slammed against a wall. My head spun there and I cringed as it hurt. Stoke had a big man, just a fraction larger than Stoke’s formidable size pinned to my wall, just inside the front door with an arm against the guy’s chest.
Near nose-to-nose, Stoke barked, “Where in the fuck were you, Pipe?”
“I-I, get the fuck off me,” the big guy snapped.
“I said where in the fuck were you?”
“What’s going down?” he dumbly asked.
I saw Stoke’s body lock before he growled, “You were supposed to watch her. Keep her safe, fucker. Yet we get a call from her frightened daughter saying a man was in the house threatening her mum, and when we get to her, brother,” he spat, “that man had a hand around Malinda’s neck choking the life out of her. So I’ll ask you one last time. Where. In the fuck. Were. You?”
“I had to take a dump.”
Stoke visibly pulled back in shock. “You had to take a dump. You—”
“Brother,” came a warning from Killer.
“If you need to leave, you know the drill. You call someone in. You stupid fuck.” Stoke pushed forward and then moved away, turning his back on Pipe.
“Boss,” Pipe said, looking toward the kitchen.
Talon was standing in the doorway with a look of disgust on his face. “Get the fuck outta my sight before the cops get here. We’ll deal with you later. Just fuckin’ pray it won’t be Stoke doing the dealin’.”
“Fuck,” Pipe hissed before he walked out the front door.
“Vi’s on her way,” Talon announced to Killer and Stoke. His eyes moved back to the still open front door and said in an annoyed tone, “Cops are here.” He then leaned against the kitchen doorframe, crossing one leg over the other, and his arms over his chest. Killer moved to the door and Stoke moved to sit next to me on the couch.
“Everything will be good. Just go with it, yeah?”
My throat was still tender so I nodded my reply. He sat back and placed his arm along the back of the couch as two police officers stormed into the living room with guns drawn.
“Nobody move,” the younger, smaller man yelled. He looked over his shoulder and moved aside. Stepping up behind him was one of the most amazing men I had ever seen.
And I say one of the most, because the other one was, right now, sitting tense beside me.
“Riggs, put your gun away, you too, Stanley,” the mountain of a man ordered in a rough bedroom voice. He stood just inside the door and took in the room as I took him in. Dressed in jeans and a dark blue shirt, his gun hol
ster was to his side and a black belt that held up his tight jeans had a large cowboy buckle at the front.
I turned my head enough to look out the corner of my eyes to Stoke. He jaw was clenched, his eyes narrowed.
Why, oh, why did I feel as though I was cheating on a man I didn’t know, by looking at a fine specimen of man?
What I’d also like to know, was why in the heck I was so calm after the situation I was in?
I could have died.
Oscar was ready to take my life.
And if he did, he could have harmed my children.
All over something, I knew nothing about.
Tears filled my eyes as it all hit me.
Great, it was finally hitting me while I was in front of not one, but two men who I didn’t want witness to my break down.
A sob tore through my throat. I winced. What I felt first was Stoke’s hand grip the back of my neck in a gentle gesture. What I felt next and saw was hot cop-man crouch in front of me, with his hands on his knees. He gave me a tight-mouthed smile. My heart skipped a beat.
“Hey,” he said warmly, “I’m detective Lan Davis, before I know anything, I need to know you’re okay?”
That was sweet.
Through watery eyes, I saw his dark blue eyes soften. Mutely, I nodded.
“Good.” He nodded and I missed it when he smiled. I missed his perfect, sweet smile because I was too busy looking at his perfect, dark blond, stylish hair.
Cops weren’t supposed to be so good-looking.
Which was maybe why he was a detective.
“You can back the fuck off now,” Stoke hissed.
Turning my head to Stoke was out of the option. He held the back of my neck in a steady grip. It didn’t hurt at all, and with the way he ran his thumb up and down the side of my neck it gave me comfort. However, I also didn’t turn to Stoke because I got the vibe that he was pissed about something and Stoke being pissed was…scary.
Instead, I kept my eyes on Lan and saw the detective turn his head to Stoke and grin, “Declan, good to see you, cousin.”
Stoke snorted. “Yeah, fuckin’ peachy.”
Lan stood from his crouch before me and turned to Talon. “You want to explain what went down? Why the police get a phone call from Mrs May’s daughter telling us her uncle was here and hurting her mother?”
“It’s exactly as you said,” Talon answered.
Someone behind me, an officer no doubt, scoffed.
“Okay then, you want to tell me what you three are doing here? And where the perp got to?” He moved and walked around the living room.
“I can explain that.” Looking to the door, I saw a short, slim woman wearing black slacks and a white silk shirt. Behind her was Blue and Griz. I wasn’t sure if the detective noticed, but I did as Griz sent a head shake to Talon.
My stomach dropped.
He’d got away.
Oscar was still out there somewhere.
Fuck!
My gaze went to Lan as he snorted and then swore under his breath. “Violet, fancy seeing you here. I’d heard you’d taken your brother back into open arms. Then again, I also heard you’re getting hitched to Travis, the biggest kingpin in Melbourne’s prostitute game.”
Oh. My. God.
I shifted on the couch to watch Violet’s response and I was glad I did when I saw an eye roll. “Get fucked, Lan. My personal life isn’t any of your business.” She entered the room. Blue and Griz walked off to have a quiet word with Talon as Violet came to stand next to Lan. “To answer your first question. Mrs May’s daughter had called Mrs May’s—”
“Malinda,” I uttered and both turned to me.
“Sorry?” Violet asked.
“Y-you can call me Malinda.”
She gave me a small smile. “As I was saying, she called Malinda’s friend Matthew, who is Zara’s brother and you know Zara is married to my brother. It just so happens that when she called, we were all at a barbeque, which Malinda had been to earlier that day. So when Nary called Matthew, I came over, you know, just in case the police didn’t arrive in time.” She smirked. “I came with these men here. When we entered, Oscar May, Malinda’s brother-in-law had her over there,” she pointed to the spot near the television, “with his hand around her throat. We could tell she was losing consciousness so I took matters into my own hands. To save the life of Malinda, I shot him once in the arm. He jumped out of the window and that was when I, with Blue and Grady, pursued him. Unfortunately, he got away.”
The lies fell easily from Vi’s mouth as I sat there and watched on. Worry marred my thoughts for the fact she was lying to a detective. However, I also wasn’t fazed by it, because if it hadn’t been for those bikers, I wouldn’t be alive and Nary’s life would have been in the balance as well.
Chapter Five
Stoke
I watched as Malinda closed her eyes. I knew she’d seen the look shared between Griz and Talon, so she knew he’d escaped. But hearing it made it more certain. My thumb continued to stroke her neck. She opened her eyes and looked to me. I sent her a reassuring smile, but she quickly looked away. I wasn’t sure what that was about, but she didn’t move away from my hold so I stayed close to make sure she knew she wasn’t alone.
And she wouldn’t be, not until we got that fucker.
Pipe was a motherfuckin’ moron. There was no doubt about it and he was gonna fuckin’ pay for not doin’ his job right.
“Malinda,” my arsehole of a cousin said.
She opened her eyes and looked up.
“How’s your throat, honey?”
She took a breath and opened her mouth. “S-sore,” she whispered.
“Don’t fuckin’ make her talk, you dick. Just ask her yes and no questions and get the fuck outta here,” I growled.
Lan glared down at me. I wanted him to bite back. I wanted him to make an idiot out of himself. But he didn’t, the arse.
Instead, he crouched down in front of Malinda and laid a hand on her knee. I wanted to fucking rip his arm from his body and beat him over the head with it. Then maybe shove it up in arse for good measure as well. However, because it was Goddamn illegal, I didn’t. Instead, I stared daggers down at it instead.
“Malinda,” he started and I was sure that was out of protocol. Shouldn’t he be calling her by her surname? “Do you know why Oscar May was here?”
I snorted. Of course she fuckin’ didn’t. Lan glared at me, but quickly turned soft eyes back to my woman as she shook her head. I gave her neck a squeeze.
Christ. My woman. Seriously?
Hell, I’d think about that bold, motherfucking, statement later, when my Goddamn cousin wasn’t poaching on my territory.
And there I go again. Jesus.
“Does Oscar come here often?” Lan asked.
She shook her head.
“Were Oscar and your husband close?”
She held out her hand and shifted it from side to side, meaning sort of.
“I need to explain something to you, Malinda, and I don’t think you will like it.” He waited for her nod. “I have been watching Oscar May for some time now. We believe he has been in some trouble with Anthony Graham. Do you know who that is?”
She didn’t. I could see in on her face. But as soon as that name left my cousin’s mouth, I stiffened and in doing that Malinda’s eyes came to me. She had felt it. We stared at each other for a moment. She was studying my face, and then she turned back to Lan and shook her head.
He nodded, and then I wished he hadn’t because it would scare a lot of people, but he explained who Anthony Graham was. “I believe Oscar has been working for Anthony, but recently some…things Anthony was supposed to get didn’t show. Malinda, Anthony Graham is one of the lead mobster bosses in Melbourne. He runs many underground things. He’s mean, ruthless and nasty. You would never want to be on his bad side, and recently, Oscar slid right into his bad side in a big way. Whatever Oscar wants from you, I have reason to believe, is what Anthony is after from Oscar. I
also believe…and I’m sorry to say, that your husband was also involved in this. Which is why we believe the item Oscar is in need of, to save his life, is here, in your house.”
I could see, it and I wanted to punch Lan in the fuckin’ face for it. Malinda was reeling heavy, hard thoughts, and I didn’t like it.
Strong goddamn feelings were overriding me. Why was there a need to protect a woman I hardly knew? She was a brother’s wife for fuck’s sake.
The feelings sucked arse.
I needed to step back.
“Do you mind if we searched your home, Malinda?” Lan asked.
Fuck.
My gut clenched.
She looked devastated as she stared blankly at my cousin.
“Tomorrow,” I barked. “Enough for tonight, cousin. She needs rest. She needs to think and take all the shit you just spewed in. So tomorrow, I’m sure Malinda will let you lot through.” I sat forward and released her neck to catch her eyes. Once she turned to me, I said, “You’ll allow that, yeah, love?”
She nodded and again I saw there was no thought in it. I honestly didn’t even think she knew what she was agreeing to.
“Okay, let’s get you to your kids.” At my words, she blinked life back into her eyes. Widening, she nodded twice. Lan moved out of the way as she stood. I quickly stood next to her.
With my hand on her elbow, I started to walk her to the kitchen. There was no way I wanted her walking out the front for the neighbours to see her in that state.
“Declan,” Lan called. I stopped us both and looked over my shoulder. “I need a word. Is there someone else to take her?”
“Killer, Blue?”
Killer was the first to answer. “Sure, brother.” He strode toward us and soon had Malinda swept out the back door off the kitchen, with Blue for backup. But fuck…I wanted to be the one to go with her; to see her to her kids safely.
Lan ordered the officers out to their car while he stayed and I moved back to Lan and Vi. Talon walked with me and Griz quickly joined the huddle.
“The only reason I told that information to Malinda and in front of you all is because I think she will need all the help she can get. She’ll need to be watched twenty-four seven. Not only her, but her kids. I could take her into protective custody, but even that won’t be safe enough. We have a leak in the department to deal with besides all this shit. Anthony had a hard-on for Oscar. He wants him and wants him bad. I don’t know how Oscar keeps escaping Anthony’s thugs, but he has. Which un-fucking-fortunately means it’s no doubt brought attention to Malinda’s doorstep.”