Love and Sacrifice: The Pierce Family Trilogy #2

by Chelsea Ballinger

  “I fucked up, man. I am a fuck up,” I laugh to myself as I down my fourteenth shot.

  “Not your fault,” Joey says, downing his.

  “No Joey. Don’t make excuses for me… because you’re my brother.” I finally acknowledge that he is my blood and I see a bit of comfort in his face. “Yeah, Mickey does recruit us when we’re kids, but it’s our choice in the end. I could have left once I realized I felt something for her.”

  “Yeah, but the problem with that Tommy is you felt something for her the day you first saw her.”

  “Who are you, Dr. Phil?” I pour another shot.

  “I’m just saying.”

  “So, are you going to arrest me?” I ask.

  “Are you going to give me information on Mickey’s organization?”

  I sigh. “I can’t do that to Mickey.”

  “Give me a break, Tommy. The guy is probably out there now with a hit on your ass. He doesn’t care about you. He’s going to come after you. That’s why we need to get you out of here.”

  “Why do you care about me?”

  “Because you’re my brother and I don’t care if I didn’t grow up with you. You’re my blood and that makes you an automatic factor in my life.”

  “People that care for me get hurt,” I say to myself as I get up and wash my hands at the kitchen sink, a distraction from the tears trying to fall.

  I grip the sink and rock slowly back and forth. “I was fine. I was fine until this happened.”

  “No, you weren’t.” I turn quickly and throw the shot glass at the wall.

  “How the hell would you know?!” I rub my face trying to get everything out. “You know I haven’t cried since my mother. I was scared to death in prison and I still didn’t cry. I was fine. But then she happened! A ─ A ─ And I ─ I realized that it was all bullshit!” I stutter my words, trying to hold back the tears while trying to get the truth out. “I was never fine. I was just existing in this fucked up world, and then she smiled at me and woke me up. She woke everything up. The memories of the pain, the guilt, everything! I broke her heart, but she gave me mine back!”

  I face the wall and hit it excessively, trying to hold back the emotional pain, but my brother rips me away from it and brings me into a bear hug as he clenches his fists, wrapping his arms around my back.

  “Just let it go,” he quietly demands, and I don’t fight it. For the first time, I don’t fight it. I just allow myself to break down and let it go. I let out the beatings from my father, the death of my mother, the people I have hurt, prison, and my father’s death by my hands. I just spill over and scream and cry over my big brother’s shoulder.

  ****

  I wake up on Joey’s couch with a terrible hangover.

  Fuck, my head is spinning and my body aches. I glance next to me and see a towel, a pair of jeans, and a white Hanes t-shirt. I look down at myself and see I’m still in the dress pants and white button up shirt I wore last night. I smell foul. Grabbing the towel and clothes, I go to the bathroom down the hall.

  I take about a ten-minute hot shower, reliving everything that happened last night. In some way, I feel like a weight has been lifted off me. Letting it all out in a good cry like a big ass baby was worth it. I needed to let it out.

  After I dry off and throw the clothes on, I head into the kitchen to see Joey rubbing his eyes and fixing a pot of coffee. I glance at a picture of his wife and kid on the refrigerator.

  “Where is your family, by the way?” I ask him.

  He looks at me. “At her mother’s in another state. I sent them there until all this clears out.”

  I look back at the picture of my nephew and niece. Something in me sparks. I have a family. I look at another picture and I know it’s my sister. She’s with a guy, must be the guy she is marrying.

  “Is this my sister?” I ask.

  “Yep. That’s her.” He smiles as he looks at the picture.

  I glance down and in that moment, I realize it’s time for me to do something. “You have crooked cops in your precinct. So, if any of them know where your mother in law lives, you should move them.”

  “Do you know who they are?”

  “Not by name, but by face. I know everyone by face.”

  “Tommy.”

  “Look, I will give you some information to protect you and Ella. Even though I’m sure Roman Pierce got his family covered.”

  “Then why help mine?”

  I sigh. “Because you’re my family, right?”

  He smirks and nods his head. “Yeah.”

  Looking at the kitchen table, I notice brown folders with pictures peeking out.

  “What’s this?”

  “The case I was building against the Valentine organization.” I open one of the folders and see pictures of guys I’ve never seen before.

  “Who are they?”

  “You don’t know them?”

  “No.”

  “They’re Mickey’s sleepers. I thought you knew them.”

  “No, he keeps us separated. We’re all a secret, some more than others.”

  “Yeah, well, I can understand that. These are kids who go to college and get an education. Some of them are actually studying to become lawyers and cops. I was lucky to find out about them.”

  “How did you?”

  “Well, sometimes a cop has to do a little blackmailing of his own. Mickey’s lawyer is one big fuck up.”

  “Should have known that idiot would be the one.”

  I shake my head and continue looking through the pictures. There has to be about thirty guys here.

  Oh my God.

  “What’s wrong?” Joey asks me.

  “Who is this guy?”

  “This kid?” He stares at the picture in my hand. “That’s Russell Averman. I found him last year, but then he disappeared again. He grew up in Brooklyn and went to all the top private schools.”

  Russell, the coworker at the catering company. The frat boy who told me that his mother owned the catering company. The fucking annoying kid who called me HK. Now it all comes together. Terry wasn’t the one following me. Russell was. He was the one who told Ella where to find me, that’s how Terry found out. Something isn’t right. Ella already knows him, meaning he could easily... shit.

  “Shit,” I say under my breath and slam the picture on the table. “Fuck!”

  “What’s going on?” Joey asks me. I grab my gun off the kitchen counter and check to see how many bullets are in the chamber.

  “What the hell are you doing, Tommy?”

  “I know that guy. He knows Ella. Mickey is going to use Ella to get to Roman and probably to get to me,” I say as I grab Joey’s muddy cross trainers by the door, hoping they fit me. They do.

  “How do you know that?”

  “Because it’s Mickey! He hates it when things don’t go his way. I need the keys to your truck.”

  “Wait, I’ll go with you. I’ll call it in on the way there,” he says, running upstairs.

  I can’t wait for him. Joey is a cop and he’s going to try to go about this in a safe way. There is no other way; I see his keys on a hook next to the door and swipe them.

  Ella

  I still feel like shit, and sleeping in the lobby didn’t help. Sitting up and stretching, I look around at our bodyguards standing and watching the area. My parents must have gone to Claudia’s room where Donovan slept. I’m going to join them, but first I need a drink. I stand up in my sneakers, sweat pants, white tank, and denim jacket.

  “I need to go get something to drink,” I announce. Seeing we have a mad man after us, I need a bodyguard at all times.

  The guards stare at me, then look at each other, wondering which two should go. Maurice and Craig are the winners, and they follow me to the waiting area down the hall where there is a coffee machine. Two people, a woman and a guy whose face I can’t see because his hands are covering it as he bends over, are sitting there crying. Getting a coffee cup and placing it under the machine, I look
through the selection of coffees, but I can’t concentrate because of the woman crying. I glance at her and see her run out. I feel so bad for her. I look at the entryway and see Maurice and Craig following it. Focusing again on the coffee selection, I hear footsteps behind me. The guy from the table is standing a little too close for comfort, so I peek at him. It’s Tommy’s so-called coworker. Ugh, just saying his name in my head hurts my heart.

  “I know you,” he says, rubbing his eyes.

  “Um... yeah.” This guy knows Tommy, so I can’t trust him. I scoot away from the machine. “You can go ahead, I’m indecisive.”

  “Yeah, I don’t even know why I’m drinking this stuff, I hate coffee.” He grabs a cup. “So, did you ever find HK?”

  “HK? Oh, yeah I forgot your nickname for him. Yes, unfortunately, I did.”

  “Cool.”

  “You’re his friend?”

  “No, I never saw that guy again after your party. He quit after you came looking for him.”

  “That doesn’t surprise me.” I roll my eyes. Just thinking about all the times Tommy told me he was at work makes me want to punch something. “Who are you here to see?” I decide to dig deeper.

  “My mom. She got in an accident on her way back from work. She works at a law firm.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Yeah, the doctor said she will be okay, but it still sucks, you know?” he shrugs.

  “Well, I hope everything works out.” I’m not thirsty for anything anymore. Everything that reminds me of Tommy is causing me to lose my grip. I start walking away, but it hits me. I thought Tommy told me that Russell’s mom owned the catering company?

  “Hey, Ella?” I slowly turn around and face him, watching his kind smile suddenly turn sinister. “I’m sorry I have to do this.”

  “Guys!” I yell for Maurice and Craig, but Russell quickly drops his cup of coffee and pulls out his gun that has a silencer on it, shooting past me at both of them. They both fall to the ground. I start to run, as a shot whizzes by me again.

  “Ella. Now you just stay right there,” he says politely. “We don’t want to harm that pretty little face of yours, do we?” he says as he walks up and points the gun at my head.

  I glare at him. “So, you really are a friend of Tommy’s”

  He smacks his lips. “No, I’m at a higher ranking than him, therefore he didn’t even know I existed, sweetheart. But Mickey is pretty displeased with Tommy and his change of heart and disloyalty. He also wants to kill your father, but it’s only one of me, thirty… well, twenty-eight now, of them. So I figured I take the easy way out and take you as a bargaining chip. Kill two birds with one stone, because they’re both going to want to save you.”

  “What makes you think Tommy is going to want to save me?”

  “Aw, come on, you’re a smart girl. Besides, I’ve been watching you two since the moment you met. He’s in love with you. Unfortunately, that love is going to be the death of both of you.”

  I can’t even factor what he says as he punches me in the face, knocking me out cold.

  Tommy

  I pull up in front of the hospital and see I’m too late. Cops are everywhere, questioning people. I head to Mickey’s factory across the Brooklyn Bridge with a hidden safe house under it.

  Slamming the buzzer on the gate outside the factory, I glare at the security camera on top of the gate as it turns my way. The gate opens and I drive up to the factory. When I step out, two men slide the giant metal door open.

  I walk into a room full of men and guns pointed at me. Terry shows up with a bruise on his face, probably from Claudia defending herself against him. Mickey walks up and behind him is Russell. His smile annoys me more than Terry’s.

  “You really disappoint me, Tommy.”

  "What do you want?" I ask him.

  “What do I want?” he laughs to himself. "What do I want?” he asks me. “I want you to do what you promised!" he screams. "I want you to bring Roman Pierce, dead or alive."

  "Okay."

  “Just like that, huh? Damn Russell, you were right.”

  “Yep, HK got it bad,” Russell says. I really hate that damn nickname.

  "Terry, you drive him," Mickey orders him.

  "Gladly, boss," Terry says, walking over to me.

  "You have four hours. Every minute late after that, I cut a limb from the girl."

  And with that motivation, Terry and I exit the building and get in his car. While we drive, I can feel the smirk on his face.

  "Don't worry Tommy boy, everything will be okay," he lies. "You know that Claudia chick was a feisty one. I'm so pissed I didn't get to have her. You think Ella's a fighter? I mean, was she rough in the bedroom, or on the kitchen counter?"

  Motherfucker!

  "Russell informed me of the fun places you two liked to fuck. Must suck knowing those moments weren't special." He pats my shoulder, causing my eyes to blur. "Don't worry about it, buddy."

  ****

  Surprisingly, it’s not that hard getting to Roman. It’s like the guy told his guards to go home or something. We just hopped the gate and walked right in.

  “Something isn’t right about this,” I tell Terry.

  “Shut up. This guy isn’t going to do anything stupid if he wants to see his daughter again.” It takes everything in me not to shoot Terry in the back of the head right now.

  Terry breaks into the side door that leads into the kitchen. We walk through the main floor of the house until we get to Roman’s office, where he is standing and looking out the window. He turns around and sees us with our guns out, pointed at him. He just stands there, calm and waiting, like he knew we were coming and that he knew he wasn’t going to survive this.

  “I assume you’re here to capture me, alive,” he says.

  “Well, Mickey’s orders were to bring you dead or alive, so I guess it just matters how I feel.” I shake my head at Terry’s arrogance.

  “Me for my daughter,” Roman says, staring at me.

  “Of course, Tommy boy has already made that deal for you, you for his lovely friend. She will be safe and sound once you come with us.”

  Roman sighs coolly. “You do know that when you take me to Mickey, he will kill her.”

  Terry laughs at Roman’s words. “Tommy isn’t that dumb. He knows Mickey.”

  “Yeah, I do.” Without hesitation, I point the gun at Terry’s head and pull the trigger. He falls flat on the floor, his eyes wide open as blood appears on the carpet, surrounding his head. I’m just glad I finally got to kill his ass.

  I place my gun on the table and stare Roman in the eye. “She’s at one of Mickey’s factories across the Brooklyn Bridge. It’s called Eckhart Inc. He has about fifteen men in the warehouse, thirty outside of it. You’ll need all the men you can get. You can contact Detective Joey Manning, my brother. He’s not crooked, I swear. He can help if you want to go about this legit, but Mickey will kill her no matter what. He wants you to suffer. You could go in underground, there’s a hidden hatch under a shed on the property. You’re smarter than Mickey, so if you make him think he has the upper hand, he’ll get arrogant. He’s vulnerable when he gets cocky.”

  “Mickey Valentine has always been a selfish and arrogant son of a bitch. It almost makes me wish I had killed him instead of his brother. So, what now, I kill you?”

  “Yeah, come on. I lied. I slept with your daughter. Kill me.”

  “Even though you just admitted that you slept with my daughter, I’m not going to kill you because you can be of some use to me, help me get Ella back.”

  “You don’t need me.”

  “You’re right, I don’t. And I don’t trust you, but for some reason I trust your feelings for my daughter, regardless how beneath her you are. And you’re not beneath her because of what you do for a living or the place you come from, you’re beneath her because you threw away the best thing of your life and you will forever have to live with that. But first, let’s go get my daughter back. I do have one questi
on for you Tommy. What are you willing to sacrifice for my daughter?”

  I only know one answer to that question. “Everything.”

  Chapter 22

  “Sacrificial Showdown”

  Ella

  They remove the bag from my head and I look around the bright room and see the guy who took me, Russell. I look to my left and see Mickey Valentine. I've only seen him once in my life and that was at a party when I was eight. He looks the same, except older, still creepy and scary.

  "So, you’re the one that turned my boy against me, huh?"

  "My father is going to kill you," I spit at him.

  "Is that right?"

  "Yeah, just like he killed your punk ass bitch of a brother."

  Mickey backhands me and my head flings back. I feel the sting from the slap, but cannot revel in it as he grabs and yanks my hair, wrapping his fingers around my neck.

  "Listen, you little bitch!" he yells in my ear. "I'm going to enjoy cutting your sweet ass, limb by limb while your father watches! Assuming Tommy and Terry bring him back alive!"

  He lets go of me and exits the room, leaving me and Russell alone.

  Taking a huge army knife out and setting it down on the table, he takes off his jacket and drags a chair from the corner of the room in front of me and sits down. He smiles and presses the blade of the knife on my knee, gliding it between my legs.

  "You know, you’re very beautiful. I totally get why he became so infatuated with you. Along with beauty, you’re a feisty one. I like that."

  "So how come Tommy didn't know about you?"

  "Well, Mickey is kind of a paranoid guy. Always been, so he decided to recruit boys from broken homes. He takes them in, clothes them, feeds them, and becomes the father they never had. Did Tommy tell you how they meet? I guess not, but it was around the time Tommy killed his father. He had this horrible lawyer and one day, in comes Mickey with this hot shot attorney to take over Tommy's case. Mickey felt that anybody who could kill their own father had to be the most unlucky son of a bitch in the world. Mickey thought Tommy was just like him, but it turned out he was just like his brother, Eddie. But apparently, Tommy will sacrifice his loyalty for love because when Eddie was told to kill Roman’s mother, he did it. But Tommy can't hurt you; his heart has always been his weakness. Me, I have no heart. That's why Mickey keeps guys like me hidden. We’re the ones that can blend in with anyone and anything; the ones that will become your best friends, confidants, everything. And when the time comes and we’re given those orders, we are the ones that will not hesitate to take you out. Mickey thought Tommy could do that, but when I saw him stare at you that night at the party, I saw pain written all over his face, pain of having to hurt the one thing that made him rethink his corrupt world."