The Fall of East

by Nana Malone

  "You're welcome to try. Your mate, East, has been trying for years. Haven't you, lad?"

  "Fuck you, Jameson."

  "Uh, I thought you already knew. My name is not Jameson. It’s Warlow. Oddly, it’s as spectacular as Jameson though, right?"

  I tried to keep him talking so that Nyla could come up behind him. She and Amelia were armed and were coming from the opposite direction, so Garreth’s back was facing them. They could put an end to this.

  "Okay, so you hate me. I understand. How long have you known the truth about your father? If you're going to escape and kill us all anyway, tell me, how long?"

  "Since I became Elite. In case you haven't noticed, there's no love lost between me and the old man. He ruined my life. He forced me to keep this secret too. He thought he could train me to be a thief like him. Little did he know that I was one of the world's best forgers. I went to art school like he wanted. Not just to learn about the masters, but to create my own. And of course, he didn't support that. He had a whole other plan in mind. Old geezer never even had a clue that I replaced the Wilson Collins painting outside of his office. God, it was such a fucking rush every day, knowing that he had no idea I’d painted it."

  Emma struggled in his arms. Telly, seeing where I was going, also tried to help calm him. "That must suck. I feel sorry for you. Your father is the worst, but why? Why not just take your money and run? You would have made an excellent living as a forger."

  "Yeah, but forgers aren't billionaires, are they? The old man ruined my life by trying to manipulate my very existence, so I needed to stick it to him. Besides, I wanted to inherit the title when he dies."

  I saw a shadow, and I sensed it was Nyla before she stepped into the light. Gun raised she said, "Easy does it, Jameson. Hands up. No one needs to get shot today."

  His eyes flared. I could tell he hadn't been expecting that. And then Amelia flanked Nyla and said, “Nyla, I have to say, billionaires, they’re really the worst.”

  Nyla laughed, even as Amelia trained her gun on him.

  He inclined his head as he turned slowly.

  Emma used that opportunity to try and deliver an elbow, but she miscalculated because Jameson wasn't giving up. Bridge knew what was happening before I did, and he launched for her and yelled, "Emma."

  And then there was a gunshot.

  I cursed, as Emma fell on the ground howling in pain. And then Jameson aimed at Amelia. Nyla jumped over her friend to push her to the ground. And Jameson once again made a run for it while Bridge tended to Emma.

  I didn’t even care about what he was doing. All I saw was Nyla on the ground, covering her friend, and I lost it. "Fuck." I reached down for Nyla. "Are you okay?"

  She brushed me off. "Yes. Don't let him get away.”

  I ran to catch up with Telly, who was already giving chase, calling for security the whole way.

  As we hit the main thoroughfare, I saw the taillights of one of the gardener’s trucks pulling down the lane at rocket speed. To catch up, we'd have to run back to the house to get a car. Jameson was gone. Fuck. He had escaped yet again.

  There was panting behind me, heavy breathing. When I turned, it was Nyla. "He's gone?"

  I coughed. "Yeah, he's gone. But we'll find him later. Right now, we need to deal with Emma."

  She murmured something inaudible and ran back with me to where Emma was.

  Bridge was leaning over her, looking haunted, his hands pressed on her side. "It’s through and through, but she's losing a lot of blood."

  Telly, who was a bit shaken from the gunshot, regained her wits and suggested, “Let's go and put her in the van. Get her to the hospital."

  Ben, who’d arrived with Drew from the other side of the property, clapped Bridge on the shoulder. "Let me see it. Shouldn’t we just take her to the house and have a doctor come in?"

  Bridge glowered at him. "She's fucking shot, Ben. I'm not going to let you be the judge on this matter. It’s fucking Emma.”

  Ben held up his hands. “All right, mate. I suppose it’s your call. Let’s go to the hospital then. I’m sorry.”

  Bridge relaxed. "I—I’m sorry."

  Ben nodded. "No, I understand. You're looking out for her."

  Bridge was shaking as he reached down and picked her up, and then he cradled her against his body. "Let's get her to Evanston."

  It was a big mess to clean up, and we'd almost lost one of ours.

  Nyla's face was shuttered. Completely devoid of emotion. I knew she was thinking about her father and the bullet he'd taken for someone else.

  My heart broke for her. I reached for her, and she came into my arms easily. "I want Jameson’s head on a spike.”

  "I promise you we'll find him. In the meantime, let's take care of Ems. And then the lads and I will take care of what's going on in there." I nodded toward the house where the rest of our members were still waiting.

  Her gaze lifted to mine. "Is it almost over?"

  "Yeah. It's almost over."

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Nyla

  This was our last shot.

  But instead of Amelia and I bringing in Garreth Jameson, we’d lost him.

  And he had shot Emma.

  I tried to shut down the flashes of memory of sticky red blood as Telly and Bridge worked to stem Emma’s bleeding overlapping with my memory of my father being shot. I just wanted this to be over. And Not Hazel was standing in the way of that happening.

  When I walked into her holding cell, she scowled at me. "Oh, don't tell me, the princess has lost her prince."

  "Now Not Hazel, let's not play. Where is Jameson?"

  "If you misplaced your toy, it's not my problem."

  "This is your chance to barter for some leniency. Tell us how we locate him. Where would he go to hide? Are you expecting him to help you?"

  "Him? No. I expect no help from him. Men are not known for their usefulness.” She huffed a laugh. “What is it with you? There's something about you that makes men want to take care of you."

  Her question took me aback. "I don't need anyone to take care of me."

  She laughed. "Maybe that's it. Maybe that's what I've been doing wrong all this time. I acted helpless. Sure, Denning took care of me, but he always seemed to resent it. Always treating me like a child. Maybe that’s the magic trick. They should see me as if I don't want anyone's help. And lo and behold, help shall arrive. Men are interested in you for your strength, or whatever."

  "Is that what this is? You're mad at me because I'm too strong?"

  "I'm not mad at you. You don't matter to me."

  "Okay, I don't matter to you. Fine. Then help yourself. You have a murder charge hanging over your head. You will go to jail. The difference is if you get charged with manslaughter or murder. That will inform the time you serve and your accommodations."

  She lifted a brow. "You expect me to believe you?"

  "I can make it happen. So talk to me."

  She scowled. "You should understand Garreth. His whole life, Garreth has only wanted his father's approval. The old geezer always made him feel inferior. You’d know something about that, wouldn't you now, Nyla?"

  I frowned. I would. I did.

  "No matter what he did, his father didn't love him enough. He never said, 'Good job, Garreth.' But he kept on wanting to prove himself to the old man. All he wanted to do was go home to that place where he never felt like he belonged. He's a wounded animal. Wounded animals always return home. Even when they know better."

  The Jameson estate. He’d gone back there. "Thank you for your help."

  "Don't thank me. It's not you I'm helping. I want a reduced sentence and a chance to get out of here."

  "What would you do, Not Hazel, when you one day get out of prison?"

  She laughed then. "I always had an escape hatch. One way out. Always."

  I nodded. "Okay. If you say so. But just in case you don't have one, just know you don't have to be like this. When you were pretending to be my friend, I saw a
part of you. Someone who actually cared about other people. But somewhere along the line, someone told you that you couldn't do that and still succeed. That you have to be all alone. And you know what? I’ve learned that's some bullshit.”

  As I left her, she glowered at me. "In my next life, I'll have to remember to act strong, and then everyone shall love me."

  "The difference between us is that I’m not acting."

  Then I left her in her cell without a glance back. Because I really didn’t have time for chit chat. Besides, we needed to get surveillance on the Jameson estate. ASAP. It was a longshot, and I was pretty damn sure that Krista was lying. But if there was even a chance that she was telling the truth, then I needed to make it work. I had people counting on me.

  East

  I leaned on the balcony, sipping my scotch, the wind blistering around me. Ben found me out there. "Mate, it's bloody freezing out here."

  "Yeah, the freezing cold. I need it to clear my head."

  He nodded. "It's almost over."

  "Is it? This whole time, we'd been going after Van Linsted and Jameson for what they did to Toby, but God, I never expected any of this."

  "I know. It’s getting complicated. But it’s almost over. We can’t stop now."

  "I know. I'm just knackered, mate. Knackered."

  He nodded. "But listen, in all of this, at least you got Nyla out of it."

  "I know. It's easy to wonder what if. What if I hadn't made this choice? Or that one? What if I made one wrong turn? What would have happened to AJ? To Margaux? Nyla could have just as easily been shot.”

  “But it was the right choice to make. I promise you.”

  “Yeah, maybe. It just doesn't feel like that at the moment though."

  "I know. And it probably won't for a while."

  "Do you have any word on Emma?"

  "The surgery went well. Bridge went to see her this morning.”

  The look on Bridge's face haunted me. He still hadn't forgiven us for letting her join the team, still hadn't let it go. And now, with Emma getting hurt, he wasn’t our biggest fan. I loved my mate, but he'd locked down his emotions so far beneath his implacable exterior that I wasn't sure he knew how to access them.

  "Everyone else here?" I asked.

  Ben nodded. "Yeah, Lucas too, in case we need him."

  "You know, for a prince, he hardly spends any time in the Winston Isles."

  He shrugged. "I think it's awkward for him to not have much to do. And he's got cravings for the thrill life."

  "Yeah, but when he's around, you're always checking your wallet."

  Ben laughed. "Isn't that the truth?"

  I followed Ben back into the penthouse and shut the door behind us. Nyla was laying out trays of food and beverages for everyone. I watched her as she smiled at Amelia and chatted with Livy. Somehow, in all of this, I'd managed to find the one thing on earth that I never expected. Love.

  This woman, who was more than capable of taking care of herself and didn't need me, was mine. I’d never felt secure in my life, secure in my position. But with Nyla, I absolutely did. She was mine to keep, mine to hold. And I needed to finish this so that she would be safe. When all was said and done, I just needed her to be safe and happy and content.

  Ben turned his attention to Drew. "All right, what do you have?"

  "There were a couple of Elite members that Jameson was close to, and one of them has a house in Scotland, so I’m looking at travel logs. We’ll put out some feelers just to see if that might be a possibility. But I don't have anything else right now. East, what about you?"

  I scrubbed a hand over my face. "The problem is Henry Warlow is his father, so he’s had a masterclass in how to stay hidden his whole life."

  Nyla shook her head. "I don’t know about that. I don't think Warlow trained him on how to hide. And I also think he resented his father, so we might have an easier time than we think. Honestly, I think he'll go back home."

  Amelia laughed. "But Interpol is still crawling all over the estate."

  "Not really. Think about it. If you, say, had a hidey hole, some place to go, some place to hide on a property you'd lived on your whole life, and you know your ins and outs to that place, wouldn’t it be a big possibility that you’d go there to take refuge? Look at that estate. It's huge. He could probably hide in there for a week and we'd never find him. And it’s also possible that there might be places on the estate that aren't part of public record. What I’m saying is, he might actually be hiding on the property in plain sight."

  Ben rubbed his jaw. "How likely is that?"

  She shrugged. "It’s as possible as anywhere else."

  He frowned. "If it's possible, then we need to go back."

  "Yeah, I say we go back and sweep the place with a fine-tooth comb.”

  I watched her as she spoke, and I couldn't help myself as all kinds of emotions rushed in. She was mine. All mine. And I felt like a selfish git just staring at her, wanting them all out so that I could have her to myself.

  She looked up and gave me a confused smile. Her gaze slid down my body, and I coughed and then changed the angle of my stance so that it wouldn’t cause any difficult-to-explain situations. She gave me a feisty grin and turned her attention back to the others.

  I sighed. "All right, let's say you're right and he's gone home. Let's have a little look at their security systems then."

  Telly jumped up. "Yes, please. I've been dying to hack something. This whole running-after-criminals thing is starting to grow on me."

  I rolled my eyes. "Oh Tell, you still don't think that you can beat me, do you?"

  Livy rolled her eyes. "My God, you two. One day, I'm going to lock you in a room together until you start playing nice with each other."

  Telly just guffawed. "Kinky. I like it. I mean, it won't be kinky for you, East, because you have more equipment than I need, but it will be kinky for me."

  I snorted a laugh. "You're not serious."

  "I am. It's what makes me best friend material."

  I looked into her dark eyes, and I couldn't help but smile. This annoying, feisty, damn-good hacker had become part of the family. As had Amelia and Emma. It started out with just my mates. Just the people I could count on. And now, I had a whole brood to look after, which I quite liked. My thoughts about what made a good family had changed.

  Lucas came out of the kitchen then. "Please, God, tell me there's somebody that we're stealing something from. I’m really dying for that right now."

  We all just laughed and ignored him. Bryna rubbed his back. "Babes, they don't need a thief this time."

  Lucas pouted. "But I'm bored."

  Ben laughed. "Mate, not everything is about robbing someone. Besides, you lifted Warlow's prints. That was big."

  "That was barely scratching the surface of what I can do."

  Bridge's phone rang, and he glowered at it. When he picked it up, he answered tersely, and we all watched the tension roll into his shoulders. He murmured something into the phone and went out on the balcony as I studied him closely. Who was on the phone? And why was he looking so stressed out? If it was Mina, that would account for it.

  When he returned, he met Ben's gaze and then mine. "Emma's awake. They said she’s kicking up a storm. She wants to be let out, but I told them to hold her for a few days for observation."

  Ben shook his head. "You have a death wish?"

  Bridge just shrugged. "If she can't keep herself safe, maybe a couple of days in the hospital will get her brain working."

  He really did have a death wish. I continued my line of thought. "So, let's just say that Nyla is right and that Jameson went back to the property. Telly, see if we can break into the security. I'll see if I can find any record of the building plans for us to get an accurate view of what's in there. Because if there's a panic room that we don't know about, it could be tricky to get him out."

  Telly nodded. "Yup, can do. And this time, I think we have to call Interpol in officially."

>   I sighed. But I knew she was right. Emma had gotten hurt. It could have been serious. Yes, we had the means to take care of her, and yes, we had the means to also keep her doctors quiet. But there were only so many incidents we could absorb. It was better if we did this the official way. And that way, Nyla and Amelia would get the accolades.

  Nyla turned and looked at me. "Are you coming with us to the Jameson property?"

  I shrugged. "Oh, yes. I owe Garreth a nice long conversation."

  She nodded. "Whatever you need to do, I’ll back you."

  I wanted to kiss her. "Let's get on it then. If Jameson's on that property, we'll find him. Telly, do you want to do this?"

  Telly pulled out her laptop and grinned at me. "Catch me if you can." And then I instantly regretted trying to race her. She was ready to prove herself, which meant, God, she was going to give me a run for my money.

  "All right, we're on." And then I leaned over my computer, knowing that Garreth Jameson was close enough to touch. All he needed to do was make a mistake.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Nyla

  They swarmed the Jameson estate like ants. Everywhere I turned was an Interpol agent, along with police. There was an attack team on standby too, in case we should need it.

  Denning took charge of all of us. "No showboating. We're here to capture, not kill. Bring him in, quietly and efficiently."

  He assigned two of the agents to guard the back side of the main house then directed me, Amelia, and the rest of the agents to the front.

  Amelia and I took our positions, clearing the house room by room, doing as we were told. When it became clear Garreth wasn't in the house, Denning pulled me aside, and Amelia was right on his heels. "Where the fuck is he? You're the one who brought the intel that he would be here."

  I scowled at him. "Look, we all got the same intel from Hazel. Oh, wait, now that's not her name is it? Krista Wilson said a wounded animal returns home. He's here, but there are a hundred acres on this estate, and a million ways to slip off this property too. If we don't do this right, he's going to slip through our fingers and possibly be gone forever."