Raiden: A Stand Alone, Irish Mob Crime Romance (The Kent Brothers Book 2)

by A. M. Hargrove

  “I, uh, have to tell you something,” he began.

  “O-okay.”

  “It’s not bad, so no need to be alarmed.”

  The tension in my muscles eased. “Go on.”

  “I am deeply in love with you, to the point I constantly think about you.”

  My hand reached for his as a huge grin spread across my face. “I know.”

  “You know?”

  “Well, sort of. It’s the way you speak to me and, well, the things you’ve been saying. I kind of gathered it.”

  He tilted his head and asked, “Well?”

  “Raiden, you must know I feel the same way.”

  “I didn’t, but I’d love for you to say it.”

  “Raiden Kent, this girl is madly in love with you.”

  His tongue poked the inside of his cheek.

  “That’s it?” I asked.

  “No. I’m thinking.”

  “About what?”

  Then he dropped a bomb. “Marry me, Scottie Sullivan. Marry me and become my permanent partner in life. I want to travel the road of life with you.”

  My jaw hit the mattress as my mouth formed a huge O. He wanted to marry me? Wow, this was a shocker.

  “I don’t know what to say.”

  “Yes, was the answer I’d hoped for.”

  “Y-yes, I’ll marry you. I have one condition. We wait until this Aiden O’Brien thing is over. When you and I tie the knot, I want it to be the happiest time possible, with no black clouds shadowing us.”

  “I agree.”

  “One other thing. Let’s keep this to ourselves. We have a genuine issue facing us and that is where the hell is Cruze? We can’t expect anyone to be happy for us with him missing.”

  “I’m in agreement with you. I wasn’t planning on making some big announcement. And on that note, we need to get our asses back downstairs to help search for him.”

  “Right. I feel guilty as hell now.” I shook my head. “How the fuck did this even happen?”

  “We trusted the staff, that’s how.”

  He was right. That wouldn’t be the case any longer. From this point forward, the only people I trusted were family, Drex, Gem, and Huff.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Raiden

  The idea of being married to Scottie was a dream. I’d never given marriage a passing thought before meeting her. She had changed all of that. I now had visions of coming home from work, to a wife and family. Maybe I should discuss the family part with her first. If she didn’t want children, that was fine. She’d been through a traumatic time with her daughter and having another child might be unbearable for her. I’d let her decide on that.

  For now, we needed to concentrate on getting Cruze back. The others were in the living area when we rejoined them.

  “Where have you two been?” Acer asked, anger lacing his words. “We’ve been trying to come up with solutions and you two have what? Been having a good time together somewhere?”

  “Acer!” Isla said, touching his hand. “You’re upset and it’s understandable, but shouting won’t help.”

  “No, but maybe their input would.”

  Scottie still stood next to me and asked, “Any word from Aiden?”

  Gem shook her head. “Huff is still trying to locate him.”

  “What about those locations Sinead gave us?” I asked.

  “We’ve sent three teams out to investigate them and are waiting to hear. If you ask me, they’re bogus,” Drex said.

  “How far away are they?” I wanted to know.

  “One is in upstate New York, one is in western Pennsylvania, and the third is in Maine. He stuck to the east coast, if they’re genuine hideouts. I doubt he’s there though.”

  I silently agreed. Why would his daughter give him up so easily? Then I asked, “Hey Isla, you’re a mother. If Olivia’s life were threatened, would you give up your father, if you were close to him?”

  “That’s a tough one to answer, because I’m not. I can say I’d do anything to keep my daughter safe, including give up my life.” I noticed how she and Scottie shared a look. Scottie had told me that Isla, Drex, and Gemini knew about her situation. I threw my arm around Scottie’s shoulders and pulled her against me.

  “Then what if Sinead is telling the truth?” I asked.

  “We’ll find out soon enough, won’t we?” Acer said.

  Huff was tapping away on a computer when he said, “Hey, check this out!”

  Drex and I walked behind him to look over his shoulder. He was looking at a series of IP addresses that bounced all over the world.

  “Okay, explain this,” Drex said, pointing to the screen.

  “Right. This one here goes from DC to China, to Russia, to Belfast, and then to New York,” Huff answered.

  I leaned closer, checking it out. “Shit, you’re right.” He zeroed in on it and we saw how the IP address kept being rerouted. “He has a great security guy on this.”

  “It’s using several VPN routers.”

  “True, but not just anyone would be wise enough to set that up.”

  “And it was mingled in with hundreds of others. His phone was VOIP, so that’s why it was more difficult to trace. It wasn’t bouncing off cell towers,” Huff said. “When I couldn’t track anything off it, I went this route.”

  “Going by this, the place in New York might be accurate,” Drex said.

  “Let’s hope. She may have given us the right area but the wrong location,” Huff said. “Drex, tell the New York team that if he’s not there, to search nearby areas. In the meantime, I’ll try to zero in on the exact location this is pinging.”

  “I’m on it.” Drex left the room, his phone to his ear.

  Scottie moved closer to the seated group of people. “I have an idea.” She had their attention. “We need to question Sinead again and get her to describe the New York hideout.”

  Acer was off the couch, followed by Isla. “Acer, wait. We need to have a plan before we go down there.”

  “Why can’t we just ask?”

  “She won’t give it up that easily. We need to goad it out of her.” Isla continued, “But I may have a better idea. Let’s see if we can get it out of Aisling.”

  Gemini, Scottie, and I went up there to do the questioning. When we got there, she was sleeping.

  “Aisling?” Scottie called out. She took the tape off her mouth.

  “What? Are you here to try to scare me again?”

  “No, we might be able to take you to your grandfather.”

  “No, you can’t. You won’t find him.”

  She was smart. Street smart.

  Scottie went on. “If you help us, we can. We can take you there.”

  “What about my mammy? I want her to come too.”

  “We can do that too.” It was a blatant lie, but at this point, we had to try everything.

  “I don’t know if I can find it. It’s out of the town.”

  “Do you know the town’s name?” Gem asked.

  “No, but they have a lake that Mam takes me swimming in.”

  Lake. Upstate New York. Great. There are dozens there.

  “Okay, is there anything else?”

  “Mammy likes to go to the town and drink the wine there. And they have an ice cream shop that she takes me to.”

  “Is your grandfather’s house big.”

  “No. It’s just a house.”

  Scottie looked at Gem. I wasn’t sure why, though.

  “Is there anything else you can remember about it?” Gem asked.

  “Mammy goes skiing. I go too. In ski school.”

  That was something. I texted Huff what we had so far. Lake, skiing, wine.

  “Mammy said the town was famous.”

  “Okay, that might help. Thank you.”

  Why was the kid being sweet? They claimed she was the worst brat ever, but this kid wasn’t showing signs of that at all.

  “I’m hungry and thirsty.”

  “I’ll be back with somet
hing for you,” Scottie said.

  “Okay.”

  We left and Huff told us it might be near Lake Placid, which wasn’t close to where the guys had gone.

  “Can the flight divert there?” I asked.

  “Drex is calling now.”

  He came back into the room and told us the flight had changed destinations. Now we had to wait for their call.

  Chapter Forty

  Scottie

  Being tied up for the morning tamed the little hellion. Raiden and I carried up food and water for her, and at the last minute I added a cookie to the tray.

  “Feeling sorry for her?” he asked. His smirk sent a horde of butterflies to my belly. I shuddered.

  “Stop looking at me that way. You know how it affects me.” The comment only earned me a raised eyebrow.

  “I won’t apologize for lusting after you. And you didn’t answer the question.” He smacked my ass.

  “Okay, yes. She’s a brat, but how would any kid act in this situation? After all, her grandfather is a ruthless criminal. Can we expect her to behave otherwise?”

  He chuckled. “You’re soft because she’s a kid.”

  “That and my bruised shins are healing.”

  I handed her the water after unscrewing the cap off the bottle as Raiden untied her. The door was locked, and if she ran, she wouldn’t get far. She guzzled the water, and I told her to take it easy. “You don’t want to make yourself sick.”

  “I was so thirsty.” She swiped the back of her hand over her mouth.

  Raiden offered her one half of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich I’d made. She took a bite and smiled.

  “Mmm, this is good.” The garbled words brought a laugh out of me as she spoke with her mouth full. Peanut butter coated her teeth, and the picture was comical. She demolished the first half, and he offered her the other.

  I held up a small plate full of potato chips. “Want some?”

  “I love crisps!”

  What kid didn’t? When she polished the plate clean, I showed her the chocolate chip cookie. “Do you like cookies?”

  Her eyes sparkled. She really was cute. Dark hair and green eyes, she resembled her mom but must’ve inherited the dark hair from her father because her mother was a redhead.

  “That was good. Do you have any more?”

  Raiden glanced at me, and I nodded. He left to go retrieve another. “Are you a bottomless pit?” I asked.

  “What’s that?”

  “It means your tummy holds a lot of food.”

  “That’s what my mommy says. Did you give her a cookie too?”

  “I’m not sure because I’m not the one who took her lunch.”

  Raiden was back and handed Aisling her other cookie. “Can I have some milk too?”

  “Um, maybe with dinner,” he said.

  She nodded and chomped on her cookie. When she finished, she asked if she could watch a movie. There wasn’t any way to do that here, so I wondered about returning her to where her mother was. We couldn’t keep her tied up here forever.

  “Let me check.”

  I motioned for Raiden to come out in the hall with me. “Can you check with the others about what we should do with her?” He agreed and left, only to return and say it was fine to take her back downstairs, but not to where her mother was.

  “They want Sinead to think she’s still being mistreated.”

  “Good idea.” We took her down with us and set her up in one of the smaller rooms that had a TV so she could watch a movie. Dana, Raiden’s mom, sat in there with her, and we instructed her not to tell her anything about what was going on.

  Everyone milled around as we waited to hear from each of the teams. We figured the Maine and Pennsylvania teams would have nothing to report, but we were eager to hear from the New York team.

  Finally, Drex announced, “Hey everyone, this will take a while. Why don’t you take a break? Hanging around like this makes everyone edgy.”

  Raiden nudged me and asked, “Wanna take a walk outside?”

  “Why not?”

  We donned our jackets, since it was September in the mountains. The autumn air was crisp, clearing our heads. It was a breezy day, and the wind whipped my hair around.

  “Dang, I should’ve put my hair up.”

  “I love it when its messy. You have that just fucked looked.”

  “I should because we just fucked not too long ago.”

  “I’m ready again if you are.” He winked and flashed a sexy grin.

  “Hell, yeah.” He took my hand and led me to an outbuilding. The gardening and lawn equipment were stored in it. “Here?” I asked.

  “Unless you want to go to our bedroom.”

  “No, it’s fine as long as no one joins us.”

  “That wouldn’t be ideal.” Raiden searched the room and motioned me to follow. He entered a side door which opened into an office. Inside was a desk, chair, and some bookshelves. The property caretaker must’ve used this when the owner was in residence. A hired company handled everything now. Raiden closed and locked the door.

  We both took our jackets off, even though the room was chilly. He removed my jeans and underwear next, pulling them down to my ankles. Then he lifted me up and set me on the desk, spreading my thighs. His tongue explored all of my secret places, lingering on the most sensitive bits. I was near orgasming when he stopped and unzipped his jeans until his cock sprang from its confines. I reached for it and guided it inside of me.

  He inched in, slowly, until I begged for more. Raiden didn’t listen to my pleas. He took his time, and it was sweet, aching torture. A thumb pressed on my clit as he slid in and out. His glistening cock speared and stretched me as I moaned and begged him for release. But the torturous pleasure continued. Each time I thought I’d come, he’d stop and remove his thumb. My ragged breath eased, and he’d repeat this cycle of orgasm denial. Finally, finally, he caved, and I came, and came in an endless climax, practically screaming out his name. When we were both sated, and our breathing returned to near normal, I said, “What was that?”

  “Epic. Sensational. Me being patient and making you wait longer.”

  “Fucking tease.”

  “Was it worth it?”

  I scraped my teeth over his jawline. “What do you think?”

  He crashed his lips onto mine and kissed me like it was our last. The kiss was intense, full of lust and passion, and aroused a hunger within me I didn’t think was possible after that last climax.

  “If you keep that up, you’ll have to fuck me again.”

  “Not possible yet. I’m drained.”

  “You have fingers and a tongue.”

  He stared at me for a moment and barked out a laugh. “That I do and they all work, thankfully. Even after being burned.”

  I took his hand in mine and kissed each of his fingers. “Yes, thank God, they do. And they’re magical. I love you, Raiden.”

  “I love you too, Scottie.”

  We dressed, returned the office to the way we found it, and left. Then we resumed our walk.

  “When all this is over, I want to take you somewhere.”

  “That would be wonderful. Where?”

  “My cabin in northern Canada. It’s beautiful, isolated, and it would be just the two of us, plus the staff.”

  “Sounds like a dream.”

  We went back to the house where the others waited. But first we ate a snack in the kitchen. When we met up with the rest of the crew, they were still waiting. This would be an unpleasant afternoon.

  Chapter Forty-One

  Raiden

  Nothing was settled after an hour. My anger soared so I removed myself from the room and initiated a plan. I refused to sit and do nothing. My brother was missing and there was no urgency to find him. Law enforcement wasn’t my forte but sitting around wasn’t either.

  Before I considered any other options, I ran down the steps and stood in front of Sinead.

  “Where is he?”

  “I alrea
dy told you his hideouts,” she claimed.

  Fury dictated my actions. “I’m not talking about your father. I’m talking about my brother.” My hands clenched the bars of the cage that held her prisoner. Her head popped up, and she stared at me. Was that astonishment in her eyes? She was a talented actor, so how could I know for sure?

  “I don’t know. What happened?”

  My scowl must’ve conveyed something to her.

  She rose to her feet. “I honestly don’t know. I swear.”

  “Then find out. Do you know what cyanide poisoning is?”

  Now I really had her attention as she ran toward me. “I’ve heard of it, but why?” Panic laced her tone.

  “Your daughter just drank a cup of milk laced with it. She doesn’t have long before it works its way through her body. Now talk.”

  This was the first time I’d seen the true face of Sinead. Tears dripped down her cheeks, and she begged.

  “No, please. She’s an innocent child.”

  “True, but my brother is innocent too. Your father destroyed our homes, he ordered the kidnapping of my other brother. It was a miracle we found him and he survived. He was innocent too. Your family has done its best to destroy mine. I’m done being nice. I’ve taken off the gloves and now I demand information.”

  “But I don’t have any,” she cried.

  “Then I suggest you get some.” I held out my phone.

  She took it and her trembling hands tapped in some numbers.

  “Put it on speaker.”

  “O-Okay.”

  The phone rang, and Aiden answered.

  “What is it, Sinead?”

  “Release him.”

  “Who?”

  “You know who. They’ve poisoned Aisling and if you don’t, she dies.”

  He was silent.

  “Da. Please,” Sinead begged.

  “An eye for an eye. I’ll release him in an exchange.”

  “For what?”

  “Aisling.”

  “No! That’ll take too long. She’ll die before that happens. Let him go! Can’t you see I’ll lose my daughter? Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”