THE DEVIL’S BRIDE

by April Lust

  At this point Riley didn’t even know who Fiona was, let alone that he was supposed to be guarding her. Plucking at the buttons on Lucky’s shirt, he followed her into the room, kicking the door shut behind him.

  The second the door closed, Lucky jumped into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist and pushing his jeans down with her feet. Riley met her enthusiasm by unhooking her bra and taking her breast into his mouth, his tongue encircling the metal piercing.

  “Oh fuck, Riley. You know just how I like it,” Lucky said, smiling sweetly down at him.

  Riley dumped her onto the bed, chuckling as he climbed on top of her. “Of course. I know everything you like,” he said, looking deep into her eyes.

  Lucky let out a soft, satisfied sigh as he entered her. She hooked her arms around his neck, letting him fill her body. They moved together, Riley murmuring in her ear as Lucky climbed higher and higher.

  She came, Riley following barely a moment later. They pressed their foreheads together, panting as they smiled at one another.

  Riley rolled over onto his back, pulling Lucky in close to his side. “That was amazing,” he said, kissing her forehead. He closed his eyes. After the stressful week everyone had been having, that was exactly what he needed. He let out a deep sigh, satisfaction sweeping through his body.

  He drifted off to sleep, feeling the pulse of his lover’s heartbeat against his chest.

  ***

  Fiona cautiously opened the door, cringing when the hinges squeaked. Screamed, more like it, Fiona thought, glaring accusingly at the offending hardware.

  She paused outside one of the rooms, hearing the familiar noises of two people locked in the throes of a passionate tryst. Fiona’s stomach twisted, remembering how only a few days ago, Bobby had been sent to tell her and Ace to keep the level down on their own rendezvous.

  Fiona began to carefully make her descent down the steps when the stair beneath her foot groaned loudly. She froze, holding her breath, waiting to see if anyone had heard the seemingly deafening sound. At the base of the steps, a face appeared around the corner. It was Lianna.

  She held up her hands, motioning for Fiona to stay where she was. Lianna looked into the room to her left, then waved her hand for Fiona to continue down the stairs, holding one finger to her lips.

  Fiona got to the first floor without any more problems, thankfully. She looked into the side room to see Ace sleeping on the couch and suddenly she was very, very grateful for Lianna’s help.

  “Thanks,” she breathed once Lianna had led her past the living room, to the back door of the house.

  “Don’t worry about it—it’s nothing none of us wouldn’t do for each other,” Lianna said, checking over her shoulder to make sure Ace hadn’t suddenly materialized behind them. “Bobby’s parked in the alley at the end of the block. I’ll do my best to keep Ace occupied when he wakes up, but there are no guarantees,” she warned Fiona.

  “I’ll take whatever I can get,” Fiona said.

  “Then take this,” Lianna said. She opened the top drawer of the kitchen cabinet. Inside were two guns, the smaller of which Lianna pulled out and handed to Fiona. “Do you know how to work it?” she asked.

  “Make sure the safety is off and pull the trigger?” Fiona said.

  “Basically,” Lianna agreed. She leaned back to glance out the window; everyone was still outside, but Fiona needed to hurry. “Keep the safety on until it’s time to use it. Otherwise you’ll end up shooting your tits off.”

  “Thanks again, Lianna,” Fiona said, hugging her tightly.

  Lianna hugged her back until she heard movement from upstairs. Someone had woken up and was walking down the steps. “Go!” she whispered roughly, pushing Fiona out the front.

  Fiona stumbled across the back porch and down the steps, nearly falling flat on her face. Righting herself, she looked up the alley one way, then the other, trying to spot Bobby’s car. The early morning sun blinded her, making it difficult to pick out the old Toyota. A car at the end of the road started its engine, tapping its brake lights and catching Fiona’s attention.

  She jogged down to the end of the block, double checked that it was, in fact, Bobby behind the wheel, and hopped into the car.

  “Hey, Mrs. Connor,” Bobby said, nervously checking his rearview mirror.

  “Just call me Fiona, Bobby,” she tiredly replied. Fiona was terrified; she had no idea what she was going to do, or how she was going to do it, and the last thing she needed right now was to be constantly reminded of Ace and his betrayal.

  “Okay, Fiona,” Bobby said, her name feeling awkward and uncomfortable in his mouth. “Where are we going?”

  Fiona didn’t reply for a long minute—she needed to think.

  Niko won’t even be inside the city limits for another three hours. How do I get Alexei to come to me before he can hurt him?

  Her plan was simple: get Alexei to come to her, then blow his brains out. Fiona knew that as long as Alexei was out of the picture, Niko would be safe. Anything that happened after that was just collateral.

  “I need to go home,” Fiona said flatly.

  Bobby stared at the townhome as he pulled into the driveway twenty minutes later. The garage was demolished, the windows were boarded up, and bullet holes were lodged in the siding. “You’re going to stay here?” Bobby asked doubtfully. “I don’t know, Mrs. Con—I mean, Fiona. I never thought I would say this, but Mr. Connor’s house seems like a safer place for you to be.”

  Fiona opened the car door and got out. “I’m not looking for safe. I’m looking for my brother.” She leaned onto the car door, peering at Bobby through the open window. “Thanks for everything, Bobby. I hope we see each other again.”

  Waving goodbye as he backed the car out of the drive, Fiona sighed and turned to go inside, carefully checking to make sure she still had the gun in her bag. Even though Alexei wasn’t supposed to be back for another couple of hours, Fiona wanted to search her home top to bottom for the man, just in case.

  Once she was satisfied that she was the only one in the house, Fiona began to scope out the best vantage point for her to carry out her plan. The problem was it all depended on which way Alexei decided to enter the house, and Fiona didn’t know how to predict that.

  She was sitting in her bedroom, trying to get inside the mind of a sociopathic Russian mobster, when she heard a car outside. Fiona panicked immediately, thinking it was Alexei come early.

  Calming herself, Fiona remembered that Alexei still didn’t know she was here. So who could it be? Not Ace, or I would have heard his bike instead of a car. Bobby? Did he forget something?

  Holding the gun at her side in a tense grip, Fiona carefully tiptoed her way to the front entrance. There was a small window near the top of the door which allowed Fiona to see the top of someone’s head—someone who had very shiny, straight black hair.

  Fiona threw open the door, grabbing Melanie’s wrist and yanking her inside.

  “Hey!” she protested. “Watch it, I bruise easily.”

  “What are you doing here?” Fiona hissed. “You can’t be dropping by whenever you feel like it! It’s not safe!”

  Melanie abruptly stopped rubbing her pained wrist and gave Fiona a cold look. “Funny, that’s exactly what I came here to tell you.”

  “How did you even know I was home?” Fiona asked, peeking through the door window for overly observant neighbors.

  “I didn’t,” Melanie said, annoyed. “When you didn’t call me, again, I made my rounds. I stopped by Ace’s, but when Lianna answered the door, she just slammed it in my face, the fucking bitch. I took that to mean you weren’t there.”

  Fiona sighed. “Sorry. It’s not Lianna’s fault. She probably just didn’t want Ace to see you.”

  “And why would that be a problem?” Melanie asked confusedly.

  “Because I sort of escaped this morning,” Fiona confessed.

  “Why are you escaping from your boyfriend’s house?”

  “He�
�s not my boyfriend!” Fiona snapped, her eyes flashing. Melanie raised an eyebrow, and Fiona’s lip began to tremble. “You were right, okay?” Fiona said. “Ace was just using me. He made that very clear last night. So, go ahead, say ‘I told you so.’”

  Melanie wrapped her arms around her friend. “I think you’ve had it bad enough that you don’t need me rubbing your face in it.”

  Fiona cried on Melanie’s shoulder for a few minutes; the stress of her brother, the confusion with Ace, everything was so overwhelming. Fiona didn’t know if she could handle it. Finally, her tears subsided, and Fiona surfaced, wiping her wet cheeks with her sleeve. “Thanks, Melanie,” she said.

  “Of course. That’s what friends are for.” Melanie smiled warmly at her. “So is that why you’re at home? You and Ace…?” She trailed off, not wanting to say something that might wound Fiona.

  When Fiona didn’t say anything for a long moment, Melanie thought, perhaps, she had managed to upset her anyway.

  “No,” she finally said. “That’s not why I’m here.”

  “Fiona,” Melanie said in a strained voice, “I’m a nervous fucking wreck over here. I need you to tell me everything, right now, all at once.” She loved Fiona dearly, but her friend had the annoying habit of telling a story bit by bit, and not always in the best order.

  “Alexei has Niko, and I’m the only one who can help him now,” Fiona told her. “That’s why I’m here. I’m setting up a trap for Alexei.” She walked over to her kitchen and pulled the gun out of the top drawer, setting it on the counter.

  “Why do you have a fucking gun?” Melanie asked, staring at the weapon.

  “I think you know why, Melanie.”

  “You’re going to kill Alexei?” Melanie said disbelievingly. “What—you think you’re gonna just call him up and ask him to swing by before killing your brother?”

  “I’m going to tell him that I’ll tell him how to get to Ace in exchange for Niko,” Fiona replied.

  “Let me guess,” Melanie rubbed her eyes with one hand, “you don’t really have any information that will help Alexei with Ace. You’re just hoping he walks in here, into your trap, with no protection or backup of any kind, am I right?” she asked sarcastically. “Have you thought about what will happen when Alexei sees through your terribly obvious plan and kills you? Or, let’s say a miracle happens, and your plan does work—what then? Even if you manage to kill Alexei, one of his little cronies will just come right in after him and kill you himself,” Melanie pointed out.

  Fiona said nothing.

  “Oh my god.” Melanie slowly realized what Fiona was thinking. “You don’t even care, do you? You know there’s a high chance you won’t live through this, don’t you?”

  “There’s nothing else I can do,” Fiona said calmly. “I’ve tried everything I can, except for this one last thing.”

  “Alexei is going to know something’s up right away, Fiona,” Melanie said, trying a softer approach. “What good does this do if it’s basically suicide? That doesn’t help Niko.”

  “I have to try,” Fiona said stubbornly.

  Melanie shook her head. “How can I help?” she asked.

  Fiona smiled. “Thanks for the offer, but I don’t think you can. This is something I need to do alone. If you got hurt…I don’t know what I’d do.” Melanie opened her mouth to protest, but Fiona put up her hand, silencing her. “Please. If you feel like you have to do something, can you check on Bobby? The poor kid seemed a little shaken up.”

  “Welcome to the club, Jimbo. We’re all a little shaken up,” Melanie muttered to herself. “Fine. I’ll go. But I’ll be back in a couple of hours to check on you,” she insisted. Melanie threw herself at Fiona and gave the smaller woman a giant hug, using more strength than anyone looking at Melanie would think she rightfully had.

  “You sure you know what you’re doing?” Melanie asked one more time before opening the door.

  “Yes,” Fiona said more confidently than she felt. The truth was she had no idea what she was doing, or if any of it would work, but like she had told Melanie earlier, she had to try.

  Stepping outside to walk Melanie to her car, Fiona made sure to wave to her neighbor, the one who lived in the other half of the townhome. The woman stared at her, rightfully terrified, having heard gunfire and rampant property destruction on the other side of their shared wall no less than three times in the last two weeks.

  Fiona watched the woman hurry back into her side of the building; hopefully she was calling the police right now. Fiona wouldn’t know for a while, so she walked back inside and settled down to wait. She looked at her burner phone and made sure the volume was on high.

  Sure enough, less than a half an hour later, the phone rang loudly. Fiona knew that when her neighbor called the police, it meant William would be notified, and he would call Alexei immediately to tell him Fiona was at home, alone.

  Taking a deep breath, Fiona answered. “Hello?”

  “Hello, Fiona,” Alexei said on the other end of the line. “Are you feeling homesick?”

  She ignored him. “I have information that you might want.”

  “What could you possibly have that I would care about? I have your brother.” Fiona heard rustling as Alexei pulled the phone away from his ear and passed it to someone. There was a dull thud, then a loud groan.

  “Fi…” Niko’s voice was muffled.

  “And soon, I will have you,” Alexei continued, bringing the phone back to his ear. “You have nothing I want.”

  “I have Ace,” she replied evenly. “I can get you Ace.”

  Alexei said nothing for a long moment. “You have him, or you can get him?” he asked. “Those are two very different claims.”

  “I can get him for you,” Fiona clarified. “Whenever you want, however you want. I can get him for you.”

  “How?” Alexei asked suspiciously.

  “He’s in love with me,” she said, lying her ass off. “He’ll do anything for me. If he wasn’t, he would have given me up to you when you gave him the chance, but he didn’t.”

  Ace has his own code of honor, but that doesn’t mean he’s in love with me—it just makes him obligated to me, Fiona thought bitterly.

  “Let me guess: you want you and your brother to go free in exchange for Ace?” Alexei asked.

  “Can Niko hear this?” If Niko overheard what she was about to say, he would flip out and ruin everything.

  “No,” Alexei said slowly. “Only me.”

  “I’ll give you Ace, and…I’ll take Niko’s place,” Fiona said.

  She had absolutely no intention of giving up Ace, or herself for that matter, but Fiona needed to make a reasonable offer, or Alexei would know something was off. He might figure it out anyway, but if Fiona didn’t at least try, Niko would never even have a chance.

  “Please, I’ll do anything,” she said, echoing the very words she had once directed at Ace only a week ago.

  “Very well,” Alexei agreed after a short pause. “I will come to you. And, Fiona? Don’t do anything stupid,” he coldly warned her before immediately hanging up.

  A chill ran down Fiona’s spine, and she tucked the phone into her back pocket. She arranged her demolished couch as best she could and sat down, looking at the gun in her lap. She flicked the safety off and raised the weapon, testing the weight of it.

  A good pick, Lianna, Fiona thought. Thanks for this, girl.

  She ran through her plan in her head repeatedly, checking her watch every ten minutes. Fiona didn’t know exactly when Alexei would arrive, which left her in a high state of alert. She took a deep breath to calm herself. All she could do right now was wait.

  Chapter 11

  Ace woke the next morning, or perhaps afternoon, judging by how high the sun was already. He felt like he had spun out on the highway, but he knew it was just a massive hangover—quite possibly the worst he’d ever had.

  He sat up, wondering why he had been sleeping on the couch. Usually when he passed ou
t anywhere other than his bed, Smalls would pick him up and tuck him in.

  Memories of last night came back to him in a slow trickle. The biggest and brightest of which was the one of Fiona telling Ace she loved him, and him telling her to move on. Ace rested his head in his hands and let out an exasperated sigh.

  The image of her face, filled with hurt, shocked disappointment, had followed him around last night, always swimming in the edges of his conscience. He had drunk beer after beer in an attempt to forget the look on her face, eventually switching to whiskey when the beer failed to help.

  After the whiskey…who knows what happened after the whiskey, Ace thought. He had a tendency to get pretty wild when he was drunk; he just hoped he hadn’t done anything stupid. Well, stupider than usual.