Hart of Darkness

by S. B. Alexander

  I should thank Dom for his compliment. I had an important question for him, though. “Any signs of Grace?”

  He placed his rugged and calloused hand over mine. “Nothing. Fi hasn’t seen her either. I hope she’s okay.” He gazed out into the somewhat busy street as though he were remembering a lost love.

  “You like Grace.” It was more of a statement than a question.

  We reached the entrance to Tapas. A lady in a sharp business suit hurried in.

  He unhooked my arm from his. Those bottomless eyes had a filing cabinet full of secrets. “I do like Grace.”

  “Dom, if you know where she is, tell me.”

  His phone rang.

  We were locked in a stare-down.

  His phone continued to ring. He blinked as he fished it out of the back pocket of his black jeans.

  I wondered if it was Grace calling him.

  He lifted the phone and strutted down the street in the opposite direction we’d come from.

  I wasn’t sure what was happening, but that bad feeling I’d had earlier was slowly rearing its ugly head. Dillon would be furious if Dom knew where Grace was and didn’t tell him when he’d had the chance. I’d seen the rage in Dillon when we’d gone to Duke’s penthouse. I had also seen how he’d held back from seriously hurting his own brother. With Dom being a stranger, Dillon wouldn’t think twice about smashing his skull through the wall, an action I was sure Dillon had held back at the Crow.

  I wished I had my phone. For some odd reason, I felt safe with the stupid piece of technology, and I wanted to call Dillon. I was getting worried since he wasn’t there yet.

  I clutched my messenger bag and lingered near the entrance of Tapas. It was probably best if I waited for Dillon out front anyway. It was rather stuffy inside, and the aromas would only make me hungrier.

  Dom was talking animatedly, waving his free hand around as though he were arguing with someone. I didn’t have time to guess who was on the other end of his phone.

  Headlights drew my attention away from Dom. At first, the car was rolling slowly as though the driver were looking at the addresses of the buildings lining both sides of the street. Then the car accelerated as though he’d found the address he was looking for. It took me a second to realize the car was the black Jeep.

  Two gorilla-looking men—strong, huge, and with mean expressions—jumped out, darted in between a truck and a Mercedes, and hopped the curb as if they were firefighters there to put out a fire. For a brief second, I thought they were running inside to get someone until they scooped me up. I barely had time to scream before something stung me in the arm.

  Then the city went black.

  28

  Dillon

  The inside of Duke’s SUV was filled with nothing. No one was talking. Duke was driving, and from where I sat, which was behind him, I could see the pain on his face. My brother seemed to be in agony. Whether it was me, Grace biting her nails beside me, or all three of us together, it didn’t matter. Whatever Grace had to say or whatever family feud we were about to get into, it needed to be done.

  I reached over and placed a gentle hand on Grace’s leg.

  She stiffened before turning from looking out the window to setting her tear-filled eyes on me.

  “Why didn’t you want me to know you were alive?” I asked.

  Duke’s gaze was more in the rearview mirror than on the road. He was moving slowly through the side streets. “Tell us already, Grace. I’ve been patient with you.”

  My sister looked to me for help like she had when she was a kid and our father was scolding her for some stupid reason.

  “You’re an adult, Grace. Whatever you have to say, Duke and I won’t judge.” I was trying to be calm, cool, and collected, but my insides were knotted and mangled.

  She slumped, the fight leaving her. “When you guys left me to fend for myself with Dad, I hated both you and Denim.” She lowered her gaze to her lap.

  Nausea crept inside me like a slow-moving train.

  “I decided that I was better off living somewhere else. Where Dad couldn’t beat me, tell me I was nothing but a whore, and make my life miserable. Anywhere in this city had to be better than living in that house with an alcoholic. But I had blinders on. At first, I crashed with friends. I had a little bit of money I’d stolen from Dad’s wallet. It didn’t get me far. I couldn’t keep scrounging off my friends, so I decided to find a job, or I should say the person found me. All you have to do, he said, was go to dinner with a rich client of ours. All you have to do is dress pretty, act nice, and keep them company. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.” Grace shuddered.

  Duke eyed me, breathing fire.

  I was gritting my teeth so hard, it hurt. I knew where she was going. I knew what she was about to tell us, and if she gave me a name, then I was about to go hunting. I had no doubt that Duke would accompany me.

  “At first, everything was cool,” she said softly. “I ate well. He put me up in a nice apartment. I had a bed, pretty clothes, and true to his word, I didn’t have to have sex with anyone unless I wanted to. The men I went out with were polite and didn’t make me do things I didn’t want to. Until one day when things took a drastic turn. I was plucked from my bed in the middle of the night, drugged, and thrown into a cage.”

  Duke took a sharp left into a boarded-up gas station then came to a screeching halt. He swiveled in his seat. “Who? Who threw you into a cage?” The fury pouring off my brother was far greater than any madness he’d shown to our old man.

  Grace let out a throaty noise. “Why do you care now? Huh? You didn’t come home to check on me. You didn’t bother to find out if I was okay.”

  Duke’s knuckles were snow-white as he gripped the back of the passenger’s seat. “You could’ve called me.”

  She released a laugh that sent shivers down my spine. My baby sister, the little girl I knew, was in that moment someone I didn’t know at all. I hated to even think about it, but she’d been raped and held against her will.

  “The only way I knew how to protect myself was to run from Dad.” She swiveled her head to face me. “That was your advice before you left home.”

  My heart stopped. I always knew I’d said the wrong thing. It had gutted me every minute of every day and still did. Even as my heart broke for her, even though she was sitting next to me, I couldn’t erase the past or what had happened to her. I wished like a motherfucker I could. I wished I’d never walked out that door and left her behind.

  “I didn’t mean away from home.”

  Her nose wrinkled. “What would you have done? I’m not a guy. I didn’t have the strength at twelve years old or even at sixteen to fight off Dad.”

  “Did Dad rape you, Grace?” Duke asked, holding back every ounce of fury he had in him. I could see the restraint in the way he was clutching the top of the passenger’s seat. “Tell me now. I swear that man is dead.”

  Her jaw tightened. “What Dad did to me was a walk in the park compared to what I’ve been through.”

  My old man was a lot of things, but I didn’t think he was a rapist. “Answer his question,” I ordered, not sure if I was right in my assumption. I was done feeling sorry for myself, even though my heart was not done shattering into a gazillion pieces.

  “I don’t have to do squat.” She grabbed the door handle and pulled.

  Duke plastered on a cold smile only reserved for someone he was about to unleash his wrath on. “Child locks, sister. I’ve given you time to heal. I’ve given you lots of money. I’ve bitten my tongue so many times in the last few months that I have cuts on it that haven’t healed. I even let you give me the black eye. So continue.”

  She spit in his face. “Go fuck yourself.”

  While I didn’t disagree with Duke that she needed to tell us where she’d been, I knew Grace needed help. She was dealing with a ton of shit that I couldn’t even imagine. “She gave you the shiner?” I asked Duke.

  “It was an accident,” Grace add
ed.

  I flicked off my seat belt that was squeezing the breath out of my lungs. “How did you get away from the person who promised you the world? Where did you go during the day when you were staying with Dom and Fi? Why did you go to Dad’s house? Why were you using Mom’s name? Why haven’t you contacted me? Why are you afraid of me? What in the hell is going on, Grace?” I started the first question in a low voice, and from there, my voice ramped up, much like a song reaching its crescendo. I inhaled the air filled with fury, helplessness, shock, pain, and so much more.

  Her chin quivered while she looked at her legs. “Dad never touched me like that. He might be a lot of things, but he isn’t a rapist.”

  Duke’s hard features loosened.

  I didn’t know how I felt yet. Our father still hurt her. Dad was still responsible for Grace’s fate. He’d forced her out of the house. He’d forced her to make decisions she shouldn’t have had to make at sixteen.

  “Let’s start again,” I said after taking a deep breath. “When you say he gave you nice things, who is he?”

  “Miguel Rivera,” she said with disgust.

  I scrubbed my hand down my face. “Come again? The man running the Black Knights?”

  Duke sucked in his bottom lip. “Where did he keep you? Did he sell you to someone? How did you get away?” Duke was practically foaming at the mouth.

  I couldn’t blame him. My mind was a bit overwhelmed as I slowly processed what was happening in the confines of the car.

  Darkness was setting in, and so was the nausea in my stomach. The only reason I didn’t open the door to puke was Maggie. Regardless if I was running late, she was safe. She was in a restaurant full of people. But then something Bruce had said hit me. Maggie was chasing a lead. She’d wanted to go back to that house where Nadine had run from. Then acidic bile rose, quick and hot. If something did happen to Maggie, she didn’t have her phone.

  Nothing happened to your girl. She’s fine. She’s waiting for you. The clock on the dashboard blinked 8:10. I wasn’t that late.

  “Answer the question,” Duke prodded Grace in a toxic tone.

  “I killed my owner,” she said without any remorse, sitting up straighter. “Where Miguel kept me doesn’t matter because he changes places like he changes his underwear. Every day he’s looking at real estate. Every day he’s buying some new house or some new abandoned building. He needs both. He keeps his drugged-up women in a warehouse and then uses the home to have lavish parties or quiet dinners, where he introduces his clients to the girls. I didn’t run to you, Dillon, because I wasn’t ready to face you. And I wasn’t ready for you to look at me the way you’re looking at me now, with revulsion written all over your face.” A tear slid down her cheek.

  “Grace.” My voice broke, and my heart hurt. I could tell her how angry, worried, and everything else I’d been feeling for the last four years, but she was there now. She was alive. “I don’t know what you see on my face, but I’m so sorry for what you’ve been through. And you probably see a bit of shock. I’m still processing that you killed someone.” I didn’t know what I would do if I’d been in her shoes.

  She dashed away a tear. “So am I.” This time, there was a small amount of regret in her voice. “During the day, I searched for Duke. It took me a month to find him. When I did, he told me about your shelter. He told me to stay with you.”

  Duke’s eyes were glossy. “I’m not a complete dick,” he said to me.

  Grace laid her hand on my leg. “I couldn’t risk Miguel finding me and putting your shelter in jeopardy. Duke’s businesses are different. Still, I was cautious with Duke.”

  “And the money I gave you?” Duke asked.

  “I used the money to pay Dom for letting me stay. I used it to buy some essentials for living. And I gave some of the money to girls on the streets who need it.”

  “Dom said he hadn’t seen you in two weeks. Where have you been?” I asked.

  She gave Duke and me a weak smile. “I’ve been hiding. One of Miguel’s men found me, and that’s when I dropped off the radar. I couldn’t lead them to Dom.”

  Her hand was still on my leg as though she didn’t want to remove it. So I covered her hand with mine. Four years of tension slowly left my body. “How do you know you weren’t followed to Duke’s tonight, or even the shelter?” I held my breath. I couldn’t let anything happen to the girls at the shelter.

  “Because the man Miguel had on my tail got hit by a car, chasing me. He’s not dead if that’s your next question. He was hurt, though.”

  I let out a sigh, relieved she hadn’t killed him.

  Duke rubbed his temples. “Why not go to the cops?”

  Grace removed her hand from my leg. “No way. I would be dead before I even opened my mouth. Miguel has some cops in his back pocket.”

  I couldn’t disagree with her. Nadine had been frightened to go to the police. Hell, she hadn’t even talked to the cops, and they’d killed her. But Grace couldn’t keep hiding and running scared.

  “And Mom’s name?” I asked.

  She picked at something on her jeans. “When I got away, I had to disguise myself. So I cut my hair, changed my name, then used some of the money Duke gave me to get tattoos.”

  My phone rang. I fumbled it out of my pocket in hopes it was Maggie calling me from the restaurant. “Yeah.”

  “Dillon, it’s Dom.” His voice was panicked and loud enough for Duke and Grace to hear.

  I put him on speaker. “My brother Duke is in the car, and Grace is sitting with me.

  “Dom, I’m fine,” Grace said.

  A whoosh of breath came out of his mouth. “Dillon, I’m calling with bad news. The Black Knights took Maggie.”

  My vision blurred before rage cleared it.

  Duke spun around and got on the road.

  “Tell me where you are,” I said.

  “Tapas. But don’t come here.”

  What the fuck is he doing at Tapas?

  “Don’t call the cops either,” Dom continued. “I know Maggie is friends with Detective Hughes. Grace, honey, bring your brother to the factory.” Then the line went dead.

  And so did my heart.

  29

  Maggie

  My head lolled, or maybe my whole body was rocking like a ship on high seas. I was having an out-of-body experience. I felt light, as if I were walking on air, almost like I was drunk. I lifted my hand but found I couldn’t move it. I tried the other one with the same result.

  Wherever I was, the room was warm and had a faint odor of dead earth.

  I struggled to straighten in the chair I sat in as I oriented my vision, searching, scanning, and trying to make out what was around me. I saw two figures, but I wasn’t sure if they were short or tall. I swiveled my head from right to left. Dizziness, strong and sharp, almost made me throw up.

  Voices buzzed in the distance.

  I blinked my heavy lids several times then opened my peepers as wide as I could. I licked my bone-dry lips. Water, I needed water.

  “Water.” I sounded as if I had downed a bottle of hard liquor and smoked two packs of Ted’s Pall Mall cigarettes. “I need water.” I thought I’d seen two figures, but maybe I was hallucinating.

  As my head hung freely, I took a road trip back in time to see if I could remember what had happened. I had nothing. My brain was empty.

  Think.

  I did what I usually did when trying to locate something. I retraced my steps. My body continued to sway as I tried to get the neurons in my brain to come to life.

  Think hard.

  My name was Maggie Marx. I was a reporter. I was also on a date, or maybe not. Date. Yeah. Dillon Hart. I squeezed my eyes tightly shut as if that would help me remember. Tall, physically fit, broad shoulders, tatted arms, shoulder-length hair. I smiled as I continued to bring up images of my hot and virile man. Is that the reason I’m here? Where is here? The restaurant. That’s it. I was waiting for Dillon when two big gorillas grabbed me.

  My ey
es flew open. My heart rammed against my ribs. I began to perspire.

  Heavy footfalls approached.

  I shook my head, hoping to clear the fog from my vision as well as my brain.

  The stench of cigarettes invaded my nostrils as the person drew closer.

  I narrowed my focus to see who was before me. “Ted?”

  “No, sweetheart. Ted isn’t here.”

  The word sweetheart jolted me as if the male voice had shot me. I knew that voice. The man sounded vaguely familiar, but it wasn’t Ted. And it wasn’t Dillon.

  Slap. My head swung to one side. Slap. Then my head swung to the other side. “Wake up, little one.”

  I was awake. I was lethargic, but my eyes were open. The problem was my vision.

  Blink. Blink. Blink. Then I shook my head once again.

  Slap. Slap. I barely registered the pain when he hit me again. If his hand touched me one more time, I would… A hysterical laugh broke out, loud and echoing. I couldn’t move, let alone try to fight back.

  “They gave her too much of that drug when they knocked her out, boss.” A new voice, brittle and more grating than the one who had hit me, trickled in from somewhere in the room.

  I blinked one more time, and a man’s face started to come into focus. Icy claws crawled down my spine, and I shivered.

  Hooknose examined me intently. I’d seen Hooknose before. My head flopped back like a rag doll. Cobwebs hung from the rafters, giving me the feeling that they were reaching down to save me.

  The man’s hands gripped my ears and righted my head. Then he blew his vile breath in my face. It was exactly what the doctor had ordered to clear my vision and sharpen my senses.

  His hooknose stood out like a beacon in the night. Only this beacon wasn’t going to guide me to safety. I dragged my gaze slowly down and found his flat chin.

  He had ice-blue eyes, a hooknose, and a flat chin.

  Quick and sharp, a pain gripped my chest. He was the man who’d tapped on my window while I was watching that gang house.