by Nicole Fox
The people inside screamed, and he stepped back while patrons went flooding out the exits. He grinned to his men; things were about to get ugly. When the place was nearly empty, one man poured gasoline on top of the bar and lit it on fire. The waitresses who hadn’t yet left screamed as they headed into the kitchen. Xavier smashed the remaining windows, and he turned when the manager came running out of his office.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” He clutched at his hair, his eyes wide as he stared around him. The men were turning over the tables, ripping signs from the wall, and smashing bottles of liquor.
Xavier turned to him with a smile. He pointed his ax at the dweeb, leveling the blade of it only a few inches from his nose. “This bar is owned by Matteo Labriola, right?”
The man looked terrified, and his chin trembled as he nodded. “Y-Yes. It is.”
“Tell him the Reapers said hello.” Xavier swung his ax and smashed the big mirror behind the bar. The manager left, and the club members continued waging destruction. It only seemed fitting to Xavier that he should be taking part in destroying the bar. He had met Kenzie there, but he couldn’t be sentimental about it. It seemed to him that it was that night that had changed both of their lives, and burning the old building down to the ground was a suitable symbol for starting something new. He would get her out of her old life and help her build a new one, whether she wanted him to be in it or not. He would take everything that had held her back and destroy it. If that didn’t make him good enough in her eyes, then nothing ever would.
It was crazy to think that the only thing he had been looking for that night was some easy pussy. He hadn’t been interested in becoming a father or rescuing a woman from a terrible situation. He was a simple man, and he wanted a simple life. Or at least, he had wanted that. Now he wasn’t sure what he wanted. Clearly, Kenzie needed him to be something more, something bigger. As much as he was enjoying what he was doing to the bar, he couldn’t wait to find Kenzie and ask her what she thought about everything. Had she ever really been involved in the blackmail, or was she just an innocent victim? What did she want from him, other than safety? And then there was the baby. There were too many things to think about, to figure out.
When the flames were rising high and the thin wail of fire engines sounded in the distance, it was time to head to their next destination. Xavier and the other men headed back toward the heart of the city, noting the black columns of smoke that rose up on both sides of them as they went. That would be the Chinese restaurant, the nail salon, and the bookie’s office. Then there was another warehouse off in the distance that was burning as well. He smiled to himself. Not only would the individualized attacks keep the mob men running, it would have the emergency services completely tied up. He didn’t need to worry about his men getting caught and arrested for what they were doing.
It was two in the morning, and the city was in chaos. Xavier had to admit he felt a certain sense of power for being part of such a thing. He buzzed at the head of his pack to their next destination: the Labriola mansion. They parked out of the way in the shadows, waiting and watching.
There was little doubt that they had created a problem for Labriola. Cars zoomed in and out of the driveway, tearing around the corner and out onto the street. Most of the windows of the big mansion were completely lit up; the entire house was awake and moving. Xavier grinned; they had achieved the first part of their mission. Hopefully, it would make the second and most important part go better.
“We ready to move in?” Throttle stood just behind him as they waited, their bikes silenced for the moment. Xavier looked over his shoulder and saw the hairy man’s teeth flash in the night. “I’ve blown up half this city in one night. I’m ready to finish it off.”
Xavier shook his head. “I know, but not yet.” His focus was on the one window that was still dark, and he knew it belonged to Kenzie’s room. Either she was in there and pretending not to hear all that was going on around her, or she still wasn’t there at all. “I’ve got to figure out where Kenzie is.”
“So let’s just go,” Chrome urged. He was practically dancing in place as he tried to control his excitement. “We’ll find her once we’re in there.”
But Xavier wasn’t so sure. His men were dying to make this final siege, and he didn’t want someone pulling the trigger too early. There was always a chance she had been moved to one of the other buildings and had already been killed, but he pushed that thought away. Then, as though someone had known he was waiting for a beacon, a basement light came on. The window was a small one, and it wouldn’t even have been visible if they had been there during the day. But the basement was one place he hadn’t been during his time in the Labriola mansion, and it was as good of a shot as any.
“All right, listen up.” His voice was urgent, commanding. “You know what you need to do. I’ve shown you all the rough layout of the house, and you each have your jobs. Make sure you cause as much damage as possible, but be sure to watch each other’s backs as well as your own. We think most of the mobsters have moved off to help out with the other buildings, but it’s doubtful Matteo would have left Kenzie here completely alone.” Xavier looked to Throttle, his pale eyes sharp. “Don’t blow that bomb until everyone is safely out. This is the most difficult building on our agenda tonight, and we have to pull this off without a hitch.”
Throttle gave him a short nod. “You’ve got it, boss.”
“I have a feeling Kenzie is in the basement, so that’s where I’m going. Let’s do this.”
The Reaper’s Hearts spilled like ants into the entrance of the Labriola property, splitting off to attack from all sides. Chrome and his group went straight to the front door, while Throttle took others around the side to come in through the kitchen. Several more went through the windows, and Xavier headed around the back.
He cursed himself for not thinking about a basement. It hadn’t been an obvious choice, but any big house like this was guaranteed to have an underground level that was more secure than the rest. He only hoped he could find it in time, and that Matteo wasn’t concentrating his forces around his daughter.
Most of the mafiosos that were stationed at the house were going in and out of the garage, leaving one guard near the back door. He was a skinny man whose messy hair suggested he had been roused from his sleep and put on duty. Xavier moved down the fence line until he had the perfect shot, where no tree branches or other landscaping would be in the way. He pulled his pistol from its holster and removed a silencer from the back of his belt. The Labriolas would know soon enough that the Reapers were inside, but he needed the advantage of surprise for the moment.
It was difficult to slow down his breathing and ensure he had the correct aim. Xavier wanted to run up, knock him off, and be on his way in the door, but that was only going to draw attention. Instead, he squatted in the shadow of the wall and aimed carefully. The guard yawned, reaching his arms above his head to stretch. His head bounced backward slightly as the bullet entered his skull, and he fell to his knees. The body toppled forward, leaving the back door free for Xavier to enter.
The biker ran forward and stepped over the guard, expecting the door to be locked again. But the guard had left it undone, probably with the hope of returning to bed soon, and had left Xavier easy access. This time, instead of heading toward the front of the house, where he knew he could go upstairs, Xavier stayed toward the back. The basement door was likely to be over here somewhere, near the kitchen and the garage. It made sense, and he hoped he was right.
As he advanced down the back hall, weapon at the ready, he could hear the other bikers making their entrances. They smashed windows and toppled furniture. Their shouts carried through the big house as they encountered Matteo’s men. A chill went down Xavier’s spine as he fought the urge to go help them. They were his brothers, and they were doing this for him. He only hoped he didn’t owe them too much by the time they returned to The Scythe.
The first door he tried was a p
antry, but Xavier stepped inside for a moment to check for any trap doors. With no results, he moved on and found another closet, this one for cleaning supplies. Logic dictated that there would be a guard at the top of the basement stairs, but he had yet to see anyone other than the man who lay dead on the back porch. They had probably all taken off to investigate the other blown buildings, as he had hoped.
Finally, as he reached the far back corner of the house, he found a door that was a little wider than the rest. He held his breath as he flung it open, revealing a staircase that led down into a concrete walled basement. Xavier knew that as soon as he started down, he would be seen. He would be at a disadvantage until he was at least halfway down, because he couldn’t see into the rest of the basement. There was nothing for it but to go, and he did, running down the stairs as fast as he could.
The basement wasn’t a finished one, and there were stacks of boxes off to the left and right. Some of them were marked innocently as toys or dishes, but Xavier knew better. Most of them probably held black market items that the Labriolas sold at a high markup. One crate lay open near his feet, the handles of several knives sticking out of the Styrofoam packaging. The lid had been labeled as canned goods.
The far end of the basement was walled off, leaving a thick steel door for access. This was either where Kenzie was being kept, or it was Matteo’s underground bunker. Maybe it was both. A man stood in front of the door. Xavier recognized him instantly as the man who had been staring at Kenzie back at the bar on that first night. He had also been around when Xavier had come back to the house to confront Matteo and his daughter. A stab of jealousy ripped through Xavier as he wondered what kind of connection this gangster had with Kenzie and why he always seemed to be the one guarding her.
Angelo’s eyes suddenly grew wide with alarm as he reached for the weapon at his side. “Well, well. If it isn’t Xavier Flynn. I’ve been waiting for you to show up. For a minute there, I thought you might be too chicken.”
“I’ll give you one chance to leave with your life.” Xavier didn’t care if this man lived or died; he was too busy assessing whether his bullet would go through the wall behind Angelo. He knew he would have to shoot, and he didn’t want to risk hurting Kenzie.
The other man narrowed his dark eyes, the scar that ran down his face giving him a wicked look. “Why would you be so generous? I wouldn’t afford you the same courtesy.”
Xavier squeezed the trigger. “All right. Then I won’t, either.” Blood spattered on the steel door behind Angelo, and he sank to the hard floor. Xavier strode forward and reached for the knob.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Kenzie
Startled awake, Kenzie lay in bed for a moment trying to process what was going on. Heavy footsteps crisscrossed the floor above her, punctuated by muffled shouts. Something was definitely happening. She waited a long moment, hoping to catch a snatch of conversation, but she was too closed off from the rest of the house to determine what was happening. She almost expected her father to come storming in at any moment and blame her for whatever had gone wrong, but there was no sign of him.
Tensing under the covers, she tried to distract herself. Eventually, she would be let out of this prison. If Matteo was true to his threats and sold her as a slave once the baby was born, then so be it. She would find a way to get away from whatever sick bastard bought her. She would do exactly what she had always planned to do and become a cop. She would never be caught defenseless again, with weapons always at her side. Maybe she would take some martial arts courses while she was at it. Kenzie had always been strong, but nobody would ever want to fuck with her again.
She reveled in the fantasy of kicking ass and not even bothering to take names, but the clamor in the house was too much to ignore now. “Angelo?” she called out tentatively as she slid out of bed. Her bladder was beyond full, which seemed to constantly be the case these days. “Are you out there?” If Xavier had shown up, the guard might have gone off to help Matteo. She knew she still couldn’t get out, but it would make her feel better to know that one of her father’s men wasn’t stationed on the other side of the door.
“Shut up and go back to sleep,” he barked. “I don’t have time for you.”
“Is something happening?” She clicked on the light near her bed and checked the clock. It was two in the morning. Matteo was known to keep odd hours, but there never would have been this much noise so early in the day.
Angelo cracked open the door to glare at her. “If it was, do you think I would bother telling you?”
She took a step backward, uncomfortable with the idea that the two of them were basically alone. She had never liked Angelo, and she had often worried why he was the one who was always guarding her door. Did Matteo trust him that much, or had he volunteered for the job because he had other motives? She’d never asked, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to know. “Maybe there’s something I could do to help.”
His eyes swept down her body, clad only in a thin nightgown. “I don’t think so. Just go back to bed and shut up.” He slammed the door shut once again.
Flipping off the door, Kenzie padded across the room to the bathroom. The light was too bright, and the concrete floor was cold under her feet. She paused to look at herself in the dingy mirror that had been screwed to the wall over the sink. She looked pale and drawn, with dark circles under her eyes. Her dark hair fell in messy waves around her shoulders, the only redeeming factor of what the pregnancy had done to her body so far.
Kenzie did what she had come to the bathroom to do, but she paused when she saw a streak of red on the toilet paper. “No. No no no,” she whispered as she stared at that bright scarlet mark. It blurred as her eyes filled with tears. She wanted to dash back to her bed, but her body wouldn’t carry her. Kenzie felt weak and dizzy, terrified that if she tried to move she would only pass out and hit her head. The noise above her was increasing, but she paid it no attention. She had her own problems to attend to.
Slowly rising, Kenzie splashed cold water on her face and looked in the mirror once again. “It’s nothing,” she muttered to her reflection. “It’s not a big deal, and you can ask Matteo to bring a doctor in again.” But her features rumpled as she began crying fully. The baby was gone, she just knew it. She had finally come to terms with having a child and maybe even letting Xavier into her life, but now all of that was slipping out of her fingers. What if he came for her—what if he was coming for her right now?—and he discovered the baby was no longer part of the plan. Would he just leave her there to rot in Matteo’s basement? What need would he have for her if she was no longer carrying his child? She didn’t want to know.
Kenzie slowly made her way back to her bed, leaning on the wall for support. There was nothing for her to do but try to get some sleep, even though she knew that was a joke. She didn’t make it back to the shabby mattress before her stomach lurched inside her, forcing her to stop at the trash can and hurl every bit of food and hope into it.
Crying over the mess, Kenzie knew her life was over and she hated herself for it. She had always tried to be a strong person, and she’d thought becoming a cop would be a good way to use that. There were other people out there who were even worse off than she was, and she would be able to help them. But now there would never be a chance to do so. She had become so weak—both emotionally and physically—that she was letting all of it bother her instead of taking it in stride. Maybe it was because of Xavier, maybe it was because of the baby, but she was no longer the same person she had been just a few months ago. Kenzie was just a victim, and she would never get the chance to show the world who she wanted to be.
She couldn’t wait for morning or for her father to come. There was something wrong, and she needed to get it taken care of. She didn’t care if Angelo and the other thugs shoved her in the back of a car and took her to the strangest alley doctor they could find as long as she had someone who could tell her what was going on. “Angelo?” she called out, her voice strangled by her
tears. She wiped her face, trying to compose herself. “Something’s wrong. I need you to get Matteo.”
But when the door burst open, it wasn’t Angelo standing on the other side of it. The tall man in the doorway had wide, strong shoulders, ready to carry her away from all of this. His fiery hair skimmed the lintel as he entered the room, and his pale eyes snapped with anger. Xavier rushed to her side and lifted her to her feet. “Kenzie! Are you hurt?”
There were so many things to say. But as soon as she saw his face, the only thing she could do was sob. Being near Xavier brought out every raw emotion that she had worked so hard to hold back. She leaned into his arms as he put them around her, soaking up his strength and warmth as though they were life itself. Her mouth moved, trying to tell him about the blood, the doctor, her father, and the way she felt about him, but it all refused to come out.
“It’s all right,” he soothed, picking her up as though she weighed nothing and carrying her toward the door. “I’m going to get you out of here.”
Those words were like nectar to her, and for once she didn’t have any doubt. Xavier was here; he was actually here and had come for her. If he said they were leaving, then they would be. There hadn’t been enough time to get to know him well, but she had to believe that he would take care of her. If he had spent so much time and effort in getting her out of her father’s house, then he had to be a good man. He just had to be. She sobbed harder as he swooped her up into his arms and ducked through the door. Kenzie buried her head in his shoulder.