Amplify

by Anne Mercier

  I reach up and rub my jaw. "Yeah, thanks for that."

  "You betcha, baby," she teases with a wink.

  I chuckle. "You hit nearly as hard as some of the men I know."

  "I know," she boasts. "Grandpa taught us how." No matter how she tried, Lucy never learned to as hard as I do, much to her disgust.

  "Of course he did." I just shake my head. Is there nothing she can’t do perfectly? When her eyes begin to droop again I pick her up, thank Joan for dinner, and carry my girl to bed. I tuck her in and she reaches for me.

  "I just have a couple calls to make, Fee. I’ll be back shortly," I promise her with a kiss to her forehead.

  "Okay. Hurry," she murmurs before she lets out a very unladylike snore.

  I smile, not because she’s snoring, but because I know from the way she’s snoring she’s finally getting some genuine sleep. Then I remember Carina. Her barging in here while Sera and I were reconnecting this morning—how she nearly damaged the progress we’d made, and then this afternoon. What was she doing in my home while I wasn’t here—while she knew I wasn’t here and who exactly was she fucking?

  I take my phone and head to my office and close the door. I push the button beneath a copy of Great Expectations and step into the room revealed when the panel slides to the side. I close it behind me. I can’t know what’s gone on here while I’ve been away, not until we review the security tapes—something Carina doesn’t realize I have, though she should know better.

  I hit the number on my phone and he answers immediately.

  "Cage."

  "I think we have a problem."

  "Tell me," is all Giovanni says, so I do. I tell him everything about Carina.

  "This doesn’t sit well with me, Gio."

  "No, nor with me. I’ve noticed the difference in her but I thought it was because of you and Serafina."

  "What do you mean?" I ask.

  The old man laughs. "Come on, Cage. I know all. I see all."

  "Yes, Godfather," I tease, and he chuckles.

  "Still so defiant."

  I grunt in response.

  "I mean, since you and Serafina have finally begun to admit you’re in love with each other."

  "That’s her problem. She knows the rules," I bite out, pissed off.

  "And she’s breaking them," Giovanni finishes. "She needs to be dealt with when the time comes."

  "She does but we need proof first," I remind him.

  "That won’t be difficult. She’s not very smart. She’s made more than one mistake so far, including leaving that ice pick in her trunk the day of her flat tire," he informs me.

  "I haven’t forgotten. I’ll need to have some of the men review the tapes here at the house. Who can we be sure she’s not fucked into a deal? Because, according to Sera, she was definitely fucking someone in one of my beds." I let out a litany of curses.

  "Definitely not the class act she pretends to be, is she?"

  "Not at all."

  "I’m not certain she didn’t have one of the enemy in your bed today. It would certainly feed that oversized ego of hers."

  I think about that for a minute.

  "What is it?" he asks.

  "She was in Denver, Gio, when everything went down with Lucy and she was late for our meeting. The timing—"

  "God help her if it was her. She will beg for death before I’m finished with her," the old man promises.

  "I’ll be there right beside you. This has eaten at Sera more than she’s shown. She let it slip this morning that she thinks it should have been her. Whoever it is knows her weaknesses and the biggest of them all is Luciana," I say.

  "Yes. And you as well as the triplets."

  "I can handle myself. She knows this. And as for the babies and Lucy, they’re under heavy guard, both in the open and hidden. They’re secure," I tell him, knowing it to be true.

  "Good. Serafina needs the same."

  "She already has it."

  "Good. Have the men review the tapes and let me know."

  "Do we mention this to Carina? The fact that I know she was in my house and do I address the fact that she’s entering without permission?"

  "The permission, yes, because you were there. That will be known by both you and Serafina, but not the other. Let’s keep that to ourselves until we know more."

  "Done. I’ll get back to you as soon as I know more."

  "Likewise," is all he says before he hangs up.

  I dial Carina.

  "Yes?" she answers.

  "I want answers."

  "What’s the question?" Evasion number one.

  I grit my teeth. "The question is what gives you the right to enter my home without permission."

  "I assumed you were out with your toy." Evasion number two.

  "Watch yourself, Carina. You know better. And whether or not I was out isn’t the question. You being in my home without permission is the question. Explain yourself. Now," I bite out, leaving no doubt she better start talking fast.

  "I’d left a pair of earrings in one of the bedrooms and I stopped by to pick them up."

  Lie number one.

  "You should have cleared it with me. As you clearly saw this morning, I demand privacy for a reason." I let the insult and insinuation worm its way deep into her venomous blood.

  "Clearly," she sneers.

  "Don’t make the same mistake twice."

  "I never do."

  "Never say never. I’ll be changing up security and you will give my key to head of security when they show up at your door in about," I pause looking at my watch, "three minutes. Is that understood?"

  "Completely."

  "Good," I bite out and hang up.

  I sit down in my leather chair and lean my head back and take a calming breath. Christ. We have a possible traitor and a high ranking one at that. That’s going to leave us wondering just how deep this rabbit hole goes.

  Sera

  Anywhere but here by Safetysuit

  Beautiful Disaster by Jon McLaughlin

  REMEMBERING LAST NIGHT, I lift my eyes to look at the man across the breakfast table from me. I reached for him in the middle of the night and he came to me without hesitation, taking me tenderly in a way he’d never done before and I gave myself the same way. Completely.

  Those black-rimmed glasses. That scent of pine and Cage. My hormones have me aroused beyond reason—until the nausea sets in and, when I move, that stupid ache in my side flares up again. Every now and again, I’ll get a shooting pain and I curse the gods for making me a violent enough puker to pull muscles in my body while dry heaving.

  "Fee."

  "I know. It’ll pass. I took the medication so I should be okay soon."

  He reaches across the table to put his hand over mine and gives it a gentle squeeze.

  "We can postpone the training today."

  This man. Giving me an out. I shake my head.

  "I’ll be alright. Once the medication starts working, it’ll ease up. If not, then I’ll let Frank and Mike take over."

  Cage nods his approval.

  "I know that won’t be easy for you."

  "No. But I don’t want to vomit on someone either, nor do I want to end up in the hospital as doctor—the doctor threatened." Shit. I almost slipped with the name.

  Cage nods.

  "We didn’t get a chance to talk last night," I begin. "After training today, will you have some time?"

  "Always. I always have time for you, Fee. We can talk now and make the others wait if you want."

  "No. That’s not a nice thing to do to Lucy. She’s a walking sweat factory carting around the Kingston litter."

  Cage chuckles. "Jesse hates that. You realize this, right?"

  "Of course I do," I tell him, standing up. "That’s why I say it every chance I get," I say before I give him a quick kiss. He pulls me into his lap.

  "You’ve got that look in your eye," he teases.

  "I don’t know what you mean," I hedge.

  He chuckl
es again. "Oh, you know exactly what I mean. What brought it about this time? And why is it you get that look every time we don’t have the time to do anything about it?"

  "What put it there is you in these sexy-as-hell glasses and that scent of yours... pine and Cage. Mmm," I murmur, burying my nose into his neck.

  "Fee," he growls. "You’ve already got me hard. Unless you want to be late, I wouldn’t keep doing that."

  I hesitate, contemplating, and he growls again.

  "Fee."

  "What? I was thinking about it. Responsibility and Lucy win."

  Cage sighs. "One day I’m going to get you to break the rules with me, my lovely Fee."

  "Didn’t you know, honey? I’ve been breaking my own set of rules every single day since I’ve met you."

  He nods and kisses the tip of my nose. We make our way to the bedroom to grab the rest of our things and when I tie my boots and fasten the gun holster to my thigh, Cage’s eyebrows go up.

  "Christ, that’s sexy."

  I grin, finger my Beretta, making sure the safety is on, then stow it in the holster.

  "You can take it off of me later," I promise.

  "I’ll hold you to it."

  "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN," I begin with a grin, looking at the Blush and Falling Down members, including Celeste, Spenser, Simone, and Carmen. "Today we’re going to teach you how to shoot a gun. You went through the different types on the table earlier, choosing the one that fit you best. Well, those guns are now loaded with live rounds."

  Spenser and Simone gasp. Meggie bounces and Trace smirks.

  "Don’t worry, the safety is on."

  "Oh thank God. Serafina Manzini, don’t do that to me again or I’ll dye your hair an ugly shade of blonde," Spenser threatens.

  "Spenser! I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you were that afraid of guns. There’s no need to threaten my hair. I’ll personally help you today," I tell him, hoping to calm him.

  I take a breath and continue. "There are a lot of people in the world who are afraid of guns and that’s both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because that means they have respect for the power of the weapon in their hands. A curse because if you’re too afraid of it, you’re not going to be able to use it properly if you need to. So, we’ll teach you a bit about the weapons you chose, then we’ll start target practice in the other room."

  I head over to Spenser while the other members of security, Lucy, and Cage help everyone else.

  "You’re looking pale, Sera," Spenser tells me.

  "I know. Do you have any Tylenol?"

  He raises a brow.

  "I think I pulled a muscle in my side when I was puking the other day. It’s aching and I think I overdid the physical activity yesterday."

  He hands me two pills and I take a sip of my water.

  "Do tell."

  I snicker. "It’s not what you think."

  He lifts his eyebrows again. "Don’t you dare lie to me. I saw you and Mr. Hot and Sexy Bossman when you walked in. Anyone who’s looking can see the change."

  "Okay, that part is what you think. I was referring to my sparring match with a dummy."

  "You really shouldn’t talk about Xander that way," Spenser says a little too loudly and I snicker at Xander’s glare.

  We go through discussing the weapons and how they function, then allow them to shoot. Spenser, for as afraid as he is of the gun, shoots like a pro as do Meggie, Trace, Jesse, Ben, and Celeste. Lucy’s sitting out the target practice and guarding her baby belly.

  "You alright?" I ask her, even as a sharp pain runs through my side. Damn. I may have to call Dr. Brickner. I should have mentioned this muscle yesterday but with the ulcer and the pregnancy, it slipped my mind—until it started hurting again.

  "I’m good," she lies with a fake smile.

  "Liar. What’s wrong?" I ask, pulling her into a hug.

  "I’ve been having some cramping. Nothing major and Xander’s dad thinks it’s just some stretchy thing or something going on, but you know me. I worry," she tells me sadly.

  "Aww, Luce. Those babies are a mixture of Kingston and Russo. Do you really think they’re going to let anything stand in their way of making Jesse’s life completely miserable for the next eighteen years?" I snicker, and Lucy laughs.

  Jesse scowls. "Not nice."

  I shrug. "Deal with it, bro-in-law."

  He kisses Lucy’s forehead.

  "You ready to get your ass stomped into the ground?" I ask him, and he chuckles.

  "Oh. He didn’t," I say to Lucy.

  Her eyes widen. "Jesse."

  "What?" he asks.

  "She can take you," Lucy tells him.

  "No fucking way."

  She laughs. "This is going to be so fun to watch."

  We head over to the mats and we go over self-defense moves. Lucy’s the instructor because she’s the best.

  "Normally Lucy’d be the one kicking your asses, but since she’s got the Kingston litter on board," I say pointedly to Jesse, who flips me off, "she appointed me Queen Ass Kicker for the day. So, who’s first?"

  Jesse, idiot that he is, steps up first and, as we predicted, I kick his ass. My side pain escalates and I take a deep breath, bending over to pretend I’m tying my hiking boot.

  Fuck, fuck, fuck. That can’t be just a muscle. That shit hurts. Left side, not right. It can’t be appendix.

  I stand up and Cage frowns. I give him a wink but he’s not reassured.

  "Who’s next?" I ask and Meggie steps up. I don’t beat her up but rather instruct her on how to kick my ass, and when she flips me over her head, I laugh, then groan when I hit the mat.

  Meggie lets out a whoop.

  "Damn, Megs. Brutal," I chide, pretending she’s why I’m slow getting up when it’s really the pain in my side. I get to my feet and I stagger when a wave of dizziness hits me.

  Lucy walks to me with a bottle of water.

  "You alright?"

  I nod. "Yeah. Just a little dizzy."

  "Drink. You’re still recovering from dehydration, loving sister of mine."

  "Yes, mother," I tease but gratefully accept the water. Mike steps in for me while I drink, working with Ben.

  I whine. "Damn. I wanted to kick his ass."

  Lucy laughs. "Both Kingston brothers in one day from the same girl? I’m not sure their egos could handle that."

  I snicker, then gasp as a breath-stealing stab of pain hits my side. I double over in pain and that’s when I see the red liquid coating my thighs.

  "No—Cage!" I call.

  He’s already there. "Fee."

  "Call 911. I can’t—"

  "Already on it," Jesse says from beside Lucy.

  "What’s—" Cage asks but stops when he sees the blood.

  "I wanted to tell you last night but I fell asleep and this morning—" I gasp.

  "Shh, Fee, it’s okay. Just breathe. Relax and breathe. It’s okay," he soothes but it’s not okay. It’s not.

  "It’s our baby. It’s only been you since—" I cry out in pain.

  "Shh, please, Fee." He cradles me in his lap and Celeste runs up with towels.

  "She’s hemorrhaging," Celeste says calmly.

  Cage nods once. "Fee, it’s okay. It’s okay."

  "No, no it’s not," I sob. "It hurts so much." I bite back a scream.

  "God, how long?" Cage barks.

  "Two minutes," Jesse says, holding the phone to his ear.

  I look into his worried eyes. "I’m so sorry."

  "For what? You have nothing to be sorry for."

  I sob. "For losing our baby."

  He gasps and squeezes me tightly. "Nothing matters but you. We’ll work through the rest later. Just hold on, Fee. Hold on," he pleads as I close my eyes.

  "I—" I try to talk but I can’t. Pain overwhelms me. I curl into Cage, clinging tightly, so tightly I refuse to let go when the paramedics arrive.

  "She’s miscarrying," Cage shouts, "and I’m not putting her down, so you can do what you need to do while
I hold her on that fucking cot in the back of your fucking ambulance, you got me?"

  I want to snicker at my man’s take-charge attitude but I can’t.

  "Hurts."

  "...giving her something for the pain right now..." is the last thing I hear.

  Cage

  Glass by Thompson Square

  Zzyzx Rd. by Stone Sour

  CAN’T THIS DAMN AMBULANCE go any faster? She’s losing so much blood—so much blood we’re both covered in it.

  The paramedic is on his radio calling ahead to the hospital, relaying all the information I gave him about Sera. I knew she was pregnant and I wanted it to be mine. Now I know. I just don’t want it to kill her. God. Without her there’s nothing. I’ll go back to darkness.

  I clawed my way out of that darkness when I met her. It had been suffocating me so much I found superficial ways to add light to my life, like making Nichols Records the golden building. Even then I couldn’t escape the darkness—the black elevator. It’s always there. Unless I’m with Fee.

  "Sir, she’s unconscious. You could put her down—"

  I give him a glare. "Not until I have to."

  "If her heart were to stop—"

  "It’s not going to. Mine will beat for hers."

  When we arrive at the hospital it’s utter chaos. I carry Sera into the ER where they’re waiting for us. I have no choice now, I have to set her down so they can do their job and help her.

  "Fee," I whisper into her ear. "Fight."

  I set her down onto the bed and the staff immediately moves in, cutting away her clothes, talking about how much blood she’s lost, hanging IV bags of liquids and blood. I slowly back up, my hands and clothes and body covered in her blood. Jesus. It’s going to take a miracle and I’m not above praying for one.

  I sit in the chair in the corner—no one dares make me leave—and watch as they work to save her—the woman I love more than life itself. The woman I never told how I feel about her. I have to believe I’m going to get that chance.

  There are two teams working on her and they’re talking so fast I can only catch bits and pieces.

  "... ultrasound..."

  "... baby..."

  "Two units in but she’s bleeding out faster than it’s going in. We need to get her to the OR," the doctor barks.