by Nina Levine
“Where?” I asked, feeling more fucking hopeful than I had all day. I’d come this fucking close to Kent earlier, but someone had tipped him off.
“I dropped him off at the warehouse about half an hour ago. He’s restrained and waiting for you. A word of caution though: he’s Salvatore Bianchi’s cousin.”
Fuck, that was why we’d failed to locate him. Bianchi was a kingpin with a network of allies that stretched to every fucking corner of the country. If he wanted to hide someone, you’d never find them.
“How did you find him?” Cole asked.
Havoc unscrewed the lid of the whisky bottle on the desk. “When you’ve been on the road for as long as I have, you meet a lot of fuckin’ people. And if you give them enough liquor, soon enough they start talking.” He poured a drink and threw some down his throat before looking at me and saying, “You’re lucky he’s still alive. The motherfucker gave me enough hell that I wanted to take my own fuckin’ knife to him.”
Scott eyed me. “You want any help on this?”
I poured myself a whisky and drank it in one gulp. “I’ll take Hyde.” But first, I had someone to see. Glancing at Havoc, I said, “Good fucking work, brother.”
He nodded and I left the office to find Wolf.
Locating him in the clubhouse bar, I took the seat across from him. His exhaustion had set in harder than when I’d seen him this morning. Grief was strangling him in much the same way regret had its claws in me. That it had taken Lily to make me open my fucking eyes weighed heavy on my mind. I’d sworn I wouldn’t make this kind of mistake again after I’d let Nitro down, and here I was, repeating fucking history.
Wolf lifted his chin in greeting and murmured, “King,” as I sat.
“You’ve got a flight to catch in two hours. Nash will take you to the airport.”
His brows pulled together. “What’s going on?”
“Kick will be waiting for you in Sydney when you arrive. He’ll drive you down to Wollongong where Cherie and the kids are with her parents.” I slowed my words as I said with determination, “I want you to take some time off and spend it with your family. I also want you to find someone to talk to about your father. The club will pay for whatever you need.”
What I said irked him and he fired up. “I don’t fucking need to talk to someone, King. This isn’t shit that’ll be fixed after I tell someone how I fucking feel. And I sure as fuck don’t need time off.”
“Yeah, you do, Wolf. And you’re not coming back until I say.” I stood. “I’ll make sure your bike makes it home safely.”
As I headed out of the bar to look for Hyde, Lily sent me a text.
Lily: This wedding can’t happen on Saturday.
Me: Why not?
Lily: No dress, no location and it’s fucking flooding.
Me: You sort the dress. Leave the rest with me. This wedding is happening this weekend.
Lily: You are the most difficult and painful man I know.
I didn’t respond to that. Instead, I checked the weather forecast on my phone. Turned out she was right about the flooding. Parts of Sydney were going under, as were parts of the coast road.
“Hey.” I glanced up at Hyde’s voice. “I heard that Havoc found our guy. You ready to take care of him so we can get the fuck home before this rain closes the road between here and Sydney?”
Another text came through.
Lily: Seriously, check the bloody weather, King! Even you can’t control that.
“Fuck,” I muttered, looking at Hyde. “Does Monroe give you grief over shit that doesn’t need worrying over?”
His mouth curled up in the kind of grin I never saw on Hyde’s face. “Fuck me dead. Never thought I’d see the day you bitched about a woman.”
Nitro joined us, looking as ready for blood as I felt. “We leaving now?”
Hyde shifted his attention to Nitro. “Yeah. King’s just dealing with a situation at home first.”
“What kind of situation?” Nitro asked.
I rubbed the back of my neck and stretched it. “The kind that gives me headaches.”
Another text.
Lily: King! Are you even reading my texts? I’m about to cancel the wedding FYI.
I worked my jaw. “Gimme a minute,” I said before stepping aside to call Lily.
She answered as fast as I hit the phone to dial her. “Did you check the forecast?”
“Yeah, I checked it. The rain’ll be gone by the weekend.”
“You’re making shit up, King. There’s no way you know that.”
“Lily—”
“At this rate, you won’t even make it home in time. They’ve started closing parts of the coast road.”
“They—”
“And I doubt—”
“Lily!” I barked. “Calm the fuck down and listen to me. I’ll be there. I don’t care what the fuck I have to do to ensure that, but I will be there. And I’ve almost sorted out the venue, so you concentrate on the dress and stop fucking worrying.”
“What venue?”
“A venue you’re going to fucking love.”
“Well I need to know where it is so I can choose a place for the reception that’s not too far.”
“Jesus, woman, I’ll figure that out too. For the love of Christ, where’s your sister?”
“She’s here, but—”
“Put her on.” When she started to argue, I barked again, “Lily! Put Brynn on the fucking phone. Now.”
The sound of rustling and swearing filled my ears, but a moment later, Brynn came on the phone. “Yes, your highness.”
Brynn could be a fucking smartass, but for the way she could pull Lily into line, I ignored her shit. “I need you to help Lily find a dress. That’s all she has to do. I’m taking care of everything else. Can you do that?”
“There are so many things I could say to that question right now, King. For example, the fact you even asked rather than just told me—”
“Brynn, I asked you one simple question. I only need one simple answer.” Fuck, these Bennett women were testing me today.
“Well the answer is yes, but you do know that she has Tatum and Monroe helping her organise everything already, don’t you? I don’t think they need you to do anything except help figure out the venue.”
I wasn’t aware of that, but I could work with it.
“Put Lily back on. And don’t let her worry over this shit all week.”
As she handed the phone to her sister, I heard Brynn mutter, “Are you sure you know what you’re getting yourself into with him, Lily? No way in hell would I be able to put up with him.”
“What did you say to her?” Lily demanded.
“I have to go. And I won’t be anywhere near my phone for hours, so don’t call.”
I ended the call and immediately phoned Tatum.
“King,” her voice came on the line, “Why are you calling me?”
“Trust me, Tatum, it wasn’t my preference either, but I need a favour.” Fuck.
“This should be interesting.”
I then rattled off everything I wanted her to do for the wedding. By the end of the call, I knew this would probably be something I’d regret. Asking Tatum for anything always was.
When Havoc restrained someone, he did a good fucking job of it. We found Kent hanging upside down, legs tied together at the ankles, hands zip-tied together, arms secured by his waist with rope, and tape wrapped around his head, covering his mouth.
Hyde and Nitro cut him down while I dragged a chair over to sit on. Kent blinked rapidly as he watched me. He grunted and groaned in an effort to talk, but the tape restricted him.
When they had him on the cement floor, Hyde took a handful of his hair and yanked his head up to look him in the eyes. “You ready to talk, motherfucker, or do you need some encouragement?”
Nitro wasn’t as patient. While Hyde had his face angled up, Nitro delivered a ferocious punch to his jaw. Another few followed, and more after that, hard and fast, inflicting maxi
mum pain and bewilderment.
I crossed my arms and enjoyed the show.
“Who the fuck are you working with?” Hyde demanded as Kent’s head hit the cement with a crack. Blood pooled where he landed. Nitro had stopped for now, but in a short amount of time, he’d put Kent in a world of hurt, and he looked ready to continue if we didn’t get the information we were after.
Kent growled with that pain when Hyde finally tore the tape from his mouth. His top lip curled up in a snarl, though, and he bit out, “Get fucked. I’ll die before I tell you that.”
I grunted as I shot up and stalked to him. My boot connected with his stomach on a heavy thud as I kicked him. “It’ll be a slow and fucking excruciating death.” I kicked again before putting my boot to the side of his face and pressing down hard. “So I suggest you reconsider.”
He attempted to curl his legs up against his chest, but he struggled. Spitting again, his mouth curved into a crazed grin and he laughed. “Do your best, King.” His breathing was laboured, his words slow to come out.
I usually got a good feel for people and whether they were bluffing or not, and I had a suspicion this asshole wasn’t. I suspected he wanted to die.
As Nitro’s fists clenched, ready for round two, I stopped him. Crouching, I tipped Kent’s chin up to bring his gaze to mine. “You want us to kill you, don’t you? Because you think it’ll be a walk in the fucking park compared to whatever torture waits for you out there. That’s what this is about, isn’t it?”
The fear I hadn’t seen in his eyes yet surfaced. He tried to hide it, but I saw it. And I had my answer.
Standing, I jerked my chin at him. “Untie him. We’re putting him back out there for whoever wants him more than we do. Once we find that cunt, we’ll take care of everyone involved.”
My demons roared to life at the thought of watching Kent while he waited for his day of reckoning. Witnessing that kind of suffering wasn’t as satisfying as inflicting it, but it came fucking close. And knowing it would lead me to who I really wanted caused my demons to get their fucking dancing shoes out.
Havoc’s warning from earlier came back to me: he’s Salvatore Bianchi’s cousin. Salvatore Bianchi had been untouchable for years. He’d never been on my radar, though, because he’d never stepped on my fucking toes. If he had now, I didn’t give a fuck who he was or what power he thought he had; he would pay with his blood for coming after my club.
10
Lily
“He’s going to make it,” Tatum said as she placed her hands on my shoulders and pushed me to sit on my couch. “
“Yes, I know,” I said, earning me a confused look from her.
She sat on the coffee table in front of me. “Okay, so what happened to the stressed-out Lily I spoke to on the phone an hour ago? Not that I wanna see her again, but I need to know if you’re bullshitting me here or not.”
Monroe sat next to me and hit her cousin with a smile and a glass of wine. “I gave her some pot. It was the only way to calm her down.”
I rolled my eyes. “She didn’t give me pot. I just came to my senses.”
Tatum drank some wine and encouraged me, “How so?”
I shrugged. “This is King we’re talking about. It might be Friday night, and it might be flooding across half of the state, and he might have been on the road for two days trying to get home with no luck, but I know my man, and he’ll be here.” I lifted my glass of wine and added, “Oh, and this helps. A lot.”
Tatum shook her head, took a long sip of wine, and said, “Okay, I get the picture. We’re all just gonna get trashed tonight and pray that God forgets what an ass King can be and remembers what a good person you are and as a result decides to let King home. Does that about cover it?”
I cocked my head and squinted one eye shut so I could see her without seeing double. “I didn’t think you believed in God?”
“I fucking don’t.”
I giggled, my head spinning a little as I took another sip. Before I could get that sip, Tatum stole the wine glass from me with, “Okay, you’re giggling and I’m putting my foot down. No more wine for the bride. I do not need to deal with King’s cranky ass tomorrow when he turns up to discover you’ve got a fucking hangover at your own wedding.”
I pouted. “I don’t know why you two don’t get along better. You’re both as bossy as each other. And grumpy.”
“That is fake news, Lil,” Brynn said, entering the lounge room. “There’s no one alive who is as bossy or grumpy or assholey as your man.”
“Amen,” Tatum said, nodding at her. “Right”—she stood—“we’ve got the dressmaker arriving in about fifteen minutes with the dresses. After that, I’m heading out to get the flowers while you get in the bath, and Brynn and Monroe organise dinner. Evie can’t make it because she can’t get a sitter for Elizabeth, but Hailee said she’d try and come over. I’m not holding out hope, though, because the streets around her are still flooded.”
I rested my head against the top of the couch and did my best not to think about the fact half of Sydney was still flooded. I’d come to the decision about half an hour ago, that if the wedding didn’t happen tomorrow, it wasn’t the end of the world. I mean, I wasn’t the one who wanted to bring it forward, anyway. Either way, King and I would be married. It just might take another week.
As the girls scattered, my phone rang, and I smiled when I saw King’s name flash across the screen.
“Hey you,” I said. “Where are you?”
“Not too far away now. I’m just checking in to see how everything is going there? Did Linc come through for you?”
An unexpected feeling of serenity washed over me. All week I’d been stressing and having meltdowns over the phone with King, and all week he’d moved mountains to ease my stress and get home in time. Sure, he’d been his usual moody, bossy self doing it, but the fact was, he always had my best interests at heart. And the thing I’d finally come to understand was that when I just allowed him to care for me, that in itself was one way I could care for him. Because when King knew those he loved were okay, he was okay.
This realisation didn’t mean I was about to always just blindly let him take over our lives, but I was going to pick my battles with him more wisely.
“Yes, Linc came through. The kids are with him while we take care of the final preparations here, and then he’s going to bring them home early tomorrow morning to get ready for the wedding.”
“Good. I’m hoping this road is going to open soon, which should put me home by morning.”
I gripped the phone tighter. “I miss you.”
He turned silent for a moment. “Yeah.” It came out on a gruff rumble, and I knew that one word conveyed so many more words that didn’t come easily to him, but that he felt. My man was economical with his words, but I felt his feelings from miles away.
“King,” I started and then stopped.
“What?”
“I don’t need any more boundaries surrounding our love. I love us just the way we are. And I love you just the way you are.”
Silence again, and then—“Fucking hell, I should go away more often.”
I smiled, bigger this time. “You should not.” And then, to play with him a bit, I said, “Just so you know, I’ve never been hornier than I am this week. I’m really freaking hoping you get home before the morning, because I’m not sure I can wait for you to fuck me tomorrow night.”
“Who the fuck said anything about waiting until tomorrow night?”
Lust flooded my veins. “Okay, we need to end this call now because I’ve got a house full of people and can’t do what I really want to do.”
“Is your mother there?”
I sighed. “No.”
“Lily. Get your ass over to her place and fix this because the wedding isn’t going ahead if she’s not there.”
That surprised me. I didn’t think there was anything that would stop King from marrying me. “Turns out you like my mother, huh?”
“Fuck,�
�� he muttered, “One of you will be the death of me, and I’d rather it be you than her, so sort your shit out and let me know once you have.”
“I love you even more for loving her, even if you won’t admit it.”
“Get some sleep tonight.”
They were his final words before he ended the call. I dropped my phone on the couch and savoured the moment.
I was happy.
The happiest I’d ever been in my life.
It seemed that even in the storms of life, calm existed. In amongst the chaos and turmoil of relationships, peace existed. And it seemed, happiness weaved its way through it all. We just had to allow it in instead of fighting against it.
“I’ll wait out here while you go in and talk to her,” Brynn said half an hour later as we sat outside our mother’s house.
“Why?”
“Ah, because you’ve both been awful to deal with this week and I don’t want anything to do with this conversation. You know, out of all the fights you two have ever had, this one feels like the worst. I’ve never seen Mum so upset.”
As much as Mum had driven me crazy over the past couple of weeks, I hated that we weren’t talking. We never stopped talking for longer than a few hours when we argued. Usually, she turned up at my place and acted like nothing had happened. And if she didn’t, I made the effort to bring us back together. But this time, neither of us had waved the white flag.
I opened the car door. “Okay, wish me luck, Brynny. I think I’m gonna need it this time.”
Mum came to the door almost as fast as I knocked. “Lily,” she said, her tone a little short. A lot hurt.
“Mum.”
She didn’t move to let me in, and I wondered if maybe this time it might take us a little longer to find our way back to each other.
“Can I come in?” I asked, noting her closed-off body language. A rush of fear sliced through me at the thought of my mother saying no to me.