The Vengeful Thief (Stolen Hearts Book 5)

by Mallory Crowe

  “I....” The words drifted off as he ran his cheek along hers until he could press his mouth against the side of her neck.

  Liv couldn’t help the little moan that escaped at the sensation. “This is....” Once again, she couldn’t seem to finish the sentence. At least not out loud. Her mind filled in the blank a hundred different ways. This is crazy, wrong, ridiculous, stupid, sexy as hell. Overwhelming. Overwhelming was what it was.

  His hands fell onto her waist and she stood there, waiting to see what was going to happen next. Was he going to lift her up and push between her legs? Was he going to run those hands up, beneath the top of her scrubs and touch her? Or even more, would he move those hands down, right to where the fires seemed to be burning higher and higher?

  But there was no momentum. Instead, a cracking noise pulled her out of Slade’s embrace. Before she could locate what caused it, Slade tackled her to the ground and she let out a grunt of pain as booms and more cracks filled the back room.

  Liv shuddered with each new assault. Her mind finally broke through the sensual haze he’d wrapped her in and she realized what was happening. Gunshots. Someone was shooting up the vet clinic.

  Jackson whined and Liv pulled away from Slade just enough to pull the dog close to her chest. Slade pulled her back against him, so the three huddled on the ground as the assault raged on.

  And then it was over. Liv clutched Jackson close and waited for any sign that the gunshots might be returning. But before she could even imagine being steady enough to stand, Slade pushed himself up and ran out of the back room and to the front.

  Liv wanted to follow him, but she found herself frozen in place. Gunshots.... Shooting.... Why would someone shoot up Armstrong’s? She knew the logical answer might be exactly what Slade thought. Thurrond’s thugs had seen Slade with her and gone after her.

  But that meant that Thurrond was officially after her, and that was almost more terrifying than the gunshots that she’d just narrowly avoided.

  She heard footsteps approaching and sat up right as Slade walked in, his gun still in his hand. The sight sent a chill down her spine. This was a man she was just kissing. Hell, kissing was an understatement. She had been just a few minutes away from letting him do whatever he wanted to her up on that exam counter. And here he was with a gun in his hand.

  She’d allowed herself to forget, but she couldn’t forget.

  Peter Slade might come with vows of protection and safety, but in the end, he was just another thug.

  Slade was filled with a rage he didn’t know existed. He wanted to get out there and kill and maim and make everyone who had ever wronged him pay, starting first and foremost with fucking Tiger Thurrond.

  Liv was huddled on the floor and held the scared dog close to her chest. She wasn’t shaking or crying, but he could recognize the look of shocked horror in her eyes. Totally understandable horror. Normal people didn’t have to live through gunfights like this.

  He wanted to go after whoever had the balls to shoot at him and Liv, but he couldn’t take her with him and he couldn’t leave her alone. He cursed to himself and picked up the phone to call the least helpful people he knew. The police.

  He was sure they were already on their way, considering the gunshots had to be heard by someone, but he wasn’t about to take a chance.

  Liv slowly pushed herself up and looked around her. “Did.... Did you see who it was?”

  “I got a plate number.” He looked out the door once more, trying to make sure no one was coming back.

  “And you called the police. Why did you call the police? I thought men like you didn’t want cops involved.”

  He didn’t want to know what she meant by men like him. “I don’t care if they’re involved, but there’s not much they can do. They’re not going to arrest Thurrond. If they could, they would’ve years ago. I just need someone to keep you safe.”

  She kept on stroking the dog’s head as if to calm him. But from where he stood, she appeared to be the one who needed calming. He wanted to reach out to touch her. To give her whatever peace he could. But he knew there was no peace from his hands.

  What had happened between them—what had almost happened—that was a mistake. A distraction. Dangerous.

  Who would have thought little, blonde, mysterious Liv would be dangerous? But she was turning out to be more deadly to him than any gun.

  He heard sirens in the distance and knew their time together was coming to an end. “Liv, I need to ask you something and I need an honest answer. Do you trust the police force?”

  “They’re cops. Of course I trust them.”

  “They’re Thurrond’s cops. Now tell me, if I leave you with them, will you be okay? At least until I can get some reinforcements?” He could only imagine how upset Liv would be once Hunter and Tristan also descended into Laurie Falls, but at least now she’d trust him when he said the threat was real.

  “Wait. You’re going to leave me?” She blinked a few times as she realized what was really bothering him. “You don’t want the cops to know you’re here.”

  “I need to keep Josh safe and I can’t do that if they lock me up.”

  “Lock you up? You didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “Cops on Thurrond’s payroll won’t care about that. It’s a small town. They probably know and like you. You’ll be okay for now.”

  He started to stand, but Liv reached out and grabbed his wrist. “I don’t want to be okay for now. I want to be okay.”

  He reached out and set a hand at the base of her neck, tilting her face so he could look deep into her eyes, willing her to see how serious he was. “I’m going to make that happen, I promise. Because I’m going to find Thurrond right now and end this once and for all.”

  The drive away from Liv was almost painful. This was what he did for a living. Planned. Strategized. Coordinated. Balanced risks. It was easy when the stakes involved Sterling’s interests and money.

  But now it was his family on the line. Liv was on the line. And she was an unacceptable loss.

  He wasn’t going to be reactive any longer. He wasn’t the same punk Thurrond had forced out of town with his tail between his legs ten years ago, and it was about time Thurrond realized that.

  Slade knew exactly where Thurrond would be. Funny thing about guys in power. They didn’t need to hide. They didn’t need to lay low. That was what power afforded you. The ability to stay right out in the open and not have a single concern that you would be in danger.

  It was about time for Thurrond to realize that all power had its limits. Slade pulled his bike into the parking lot of Antonio’s and put it in park right in front of the entrance. It wasn’t a legal parking spot, but it wasn’t as if Thurrond was going to call the cops on him. Once the bike was stopped, Slade pulled out both of the Glocks he had on him, checking to make sure they were loaded with one in the chamber, and put four extra loaded magazines into his pockets. He also had three different knives on him and one minor explosive device. Not exactly enough to wage war, but enough to get his point across.

  Without hesitation, he got off his bike and headed for the front door. Before he reached the handle, the door was pulled open for him. A pretty hostess smiled at him with a hint of fear behind her eyes.

  They knew he was here. Not surprising. There were probably cameras all over this place.

  Antonio’s looked like a normal family-friendly Italian restaurant from the outside, but he knew better. In fact, pretty much everyone in the small town of Laurie Falls knew better.

  Thurrond liked to use this restaurant as his home base. No one really knew whether it was because he liked the food so much or whether it was because he was a wannabe mobster, but from the time Slade was just a kid, he knew you didn’t go to Antonio’s unless you wanted to risk a run-in with Thurrond.

  Which was why he’d walked through those doors so many years ago. Then he’d been a skinny little runt of a kid with a sister he needed to take care of and parents who did nothing b
ut bring him shit. Back then, Thurrond and his criminal empire had seemed like a godsend. A chance to change his life for the better.

  The fact that he’d be in debt to Thurrond for the rest of his life had seemed like a small price to pay. Back then, he’d had nothing to lose.

  And the second he started to collect loved ones, Thurrond had thrown his weight around, proving exactly what he was capable of.

  It was a lesson Slade would never forget.

  The restaurant was mostly empty, as usual. Slade suspected Thurrond was the main source of funds for the place. He knew for a fact it was one of the few ways he laundered his dirty money to keep the government from getting suspicious. There were two tables that had rough-looking guys sitting around and nursing some drinks, but no one was talking. Everyone followed Slade’s progress as he made his way toward the back room.

  Thurrond was always in the back room. It was where he sat in comfort while his men put their lives and freedom on the line. And if those guys ever got taken in, they knew better than to squeal on Thurrond. Tiger had too many cops on his payroll, even outside of the small town. And if Thurrond thought you needed to be silenced, it would happen.

  Slade went right to the back and pushed open the swinging door and there the son of a bitch was. Tiger Thurrond himself sat behind the small four-person table. He sat alone, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t protected. Ken and Ray were on either side of the door, weapons drawn and aimed right at Slade.

  He quickly sized up his two old friends. They were beefy enough, but he could tell by how each held their guns that they weren’t expert marksmen. The guns also had a fair amount of powder residue around the barrel, signaling that they weren’t cleaned often. Another sign that they didn’t respect the weapon enough. It would be tight, but he could probably disarm both of them before they had a chance to hit him.

  Thurrond, however, was an expert marksman. Slade remembered the various meetings he’d had with his boss out at the gun range. That was what inspired so much fear. Thurrond had an entire army to do his bidding, but he didn’t need them. Sterling was too neat to really do any of the dirty work himself, but Thurrond was more than happy to roll around in the mud if he needed to.

  Thurrond was an oddly imposing man. He was just under six feet tall, so not all that short or tall. His head was shaved bald and had been ever since Slade knew him. It could be because he thought it made him look tough or because he was hiding premature balding, but now it was just his signature look. A lot of folks who didn’t know Thurrond all that well thought it was a skinhead thing, but they’d be wrong.

  Thurrond didn’t hate minorities. He didn’t really hate anyone. The joy of being a sociopath was that he didn’t really give a damn about much. If the Nazis came to Thurrond with a deal that would make him money, he’ take it. If the Nigerians came to him with a deal, he’d take it. He worshiped one god and his name was money. The only exception that Slade knew about was Thurrond’s feelings toward Lacey.

  And they all knew how that had ended.

  “Peter. Didn’t expect to see you here.”

  Slade kept his mouth shut as he pulled one of the chairs out and took a seat across from Thurrond. It was a weak position for him. If Ken and Ray started to fire, he wouldn’t be able to as easily duck out of the way. But power was what Thurrond cared about, and Slade was determined to make sure he showed his own. And the most basic power came from projecting confidence. Considering he was sure he could handle Ken and Ray, no problem, he didn’t have any trouble projecting all the confidence in the world.

  “I’m surprised. I seemed to get your invitation loud and clear.”

  Thurrond considered Slade, calculating his next course of action. Slade knew Thurrond wanted him dead, but he was obviously curious about how he’d faked his death all those years ago. And he was going to use that curiosity to his advantage.

  “I seem to recall inviting your son, not you.”

  The words were shot to induce a reaction. Make Slade crack and give the guards a reason to shoot. Most importantly, they were to gauge Slade’s mental state. He swallowed back the rage and emotion and kept his cool gaze on Thurrond. “My son is off-limits, Tiger. He has nothing to do with us.”

  “I happen to think little Josh is the embodiment of our struggle. A living reminder of what you took from me.”

  “You’re the one who ordered the kill.”

  “The kill was you. Not her.”

  “Then I guess we’re both to blame.” The words were all cool and collected, but each of them had the raw emotion of the loss of someone they loved burning behind their eyes.

  “You know I don’t forgive and forget.” Thurrond leaned back in his chair.

  Slade let out a laugh. “I see the confusion. You thought I came here to ask you to take it easy. To forgive me for earning Lacey’s love.”

  “You didn’t earn shit!” snapped Thurrond.

  Slade raised a brow. He’d landed a blow on the immovable Thurrond. Good. It was the first of many. “I’m not here to beg you for forgiveness or mercy. I’m here to offer you a reprieve.”

  Thurrond barked out a laugh. “You’re going to offer me a reprieve? What? I leave you alone and you don’t kill me?”

  Slade drummed his fingers on the table, not even close to his gun. He didn’t want a gun to scare Thurrond. He wanted his damn self to put the fear of God into the man. “No. I’m not going to promise that. What I’m here to offer you is a head start.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I’m here to take you down. Your contacts. Your operations. Your weapons. And then, right when you have nothing else to lose, that’s when I’m going to kill you, Tiger. What I’m here to offer you today is a chance to run. I’ll find you eventually, you can be damn sure about that. But those few months, weeks, or days might be all you have. Why not enjoy them?”

  “You must be out of your damn mind.”

  “You made me!” he snapped, finally letting Thurrond see a hint of the rage simmering beneath the surface. “You took everything. You took my life. Even now, I’m nothing more than a ghost to everyone I cared about. Now it’s time to pay the piper, Tiger. You leave my son, my sister, and Liv Marton alone or I will kill you right here and now.”

  “You’ve overstayed your welcome,” warned Thurrond as he stood. Just then, the door opened and four more guys spilled in, surrounding the table, each pointing a gun right at Slade. “Because I’m not the only one who’s willing to end this here and now. Welcome back to Laurie Falls, Peter. I’d ask you to say hello to Lacey, but we both know you’re not going to the same afterlife as her, are you?”

  Slade took in the new threat. Six guys, seven including Thurrond, all armed. He could do this. He’d have to....

  The door pushed in again and he turned around, ready to see how many more guys Thurrond had called in, but his eyes widened in shock when he saw Scott Hart in the open doorway. “Oops,” he said nonchalantly as he looked over all the guns in the room. “I apparently interrupted something.”

  Slade tilted his head but kept all his questions to himself. The questions that only grew when the little blonde head poked over Hart’s shoulder to look into the room.

  “Oh, shit,” said Toni as she looked in. “This doesn’t look good at all.”

  Slade could see the confusion rippling through Thurrond’s men as they tried to figure out what to do with the odd newcomers, and Slade had to admit he didn’t know what to do with them either.

  “Who are you?” bit out Thurrond.

  “Sorry. Rude.” Scott reached into his jacket. Immediately, every weapon was pointed at him and he pulled out a little business card. Toni smiled at the reaction, and he knew the two were very aware of the danger they were in and just didn’t care.

  “You wanted to know who we were.” Hart held the card out.

  One of the guards plucked the card from his hand and walked it over to Thurrond, who studied it carefully. “Hart Securities. Never heard of it.”

 
“That’s the point,” said Toni. “We get in and out before anyone has to know.”

  “And you’re here why? Are you trying to solve a problem?”

  Toni laughed and Scott tsked his tongue. “Oh, buddy. I hate to break it to you, but you’re the problem we’re here to solve.”

  Thurrond narrowed his eyes. “Who the fuck do you think you are? You come into my place and threaten me? All of you! If you think three fucking morons are enough to take me out, you’ve got another think coming!”

  Toni rested her hands on Hart’s shoulders and looked out at Thurrond. “Oh, honey. You think there’s only three of us. That’s so cute.” Just then, a sudden beam of light appeared on all of the guards on the far side of the room. There must have been seven of the lasers hitting various parts of the guards’ chests, and even one on Thurrond’s upper arm.

  The guards jumped in fear but Thurrond held his ground. “What do you want?”

  “Well, that’s up to our client.” Hart tilted his head to Slade.

  He finally stood cautiously and then stepped back until he was closer to Hart. He didn’t want to bunch together because that would make them an easier target, but Hart and Toni happened to be closest to the door, which was the easiest escape route.

  “You? You hired them to take me out? Bad move, Peter. You’ll never make it out of this town alive.”

  “He didn’t hire us,” said Toni, the joking tone finally out of her voice. “We’re here because we owe him. Loyalty and all that. But I’m guessing a guy like you doesn’t know much about loyalty, do you? I see the way your guys’ eyes lit up when they realized they’re one tiny order away from a bullet to the heart. They’re not willing to die for you. When push comes to shove, you’re all alone, Thurrond. And that makes you more vulnerable than any of us. Good luck sleeping tonight, buddy.”