Atonement (Heart of Stone)

by Sidebottom, D H

  Nate was trembling with anger from beside me, his rage and fury smoking the room heavily, his wrath was potent and physical around us.

  “I’m fine.” She cast a heated glare at Nate before she turned back to me, her swollen eye and split lip becoming purpler with each passing minute. “You need to watch her Mason, these… these bastards hate her, they…”

  My body tensed with her words, her fear and anguish for Ava bringing forth my own apprehension, “They what, Liv?”

  Her eyes shot to Nate who nodded to her firmly before she swallowed and turned her frightened eyes back on me, “They said some real bad stuff Mason, stuff they… they are gonna do to her…” her voice trailed off to a quiet terrorised whisper with her last words and my gut clenched at the horror displayed openly in her eyes.

  Liv was petrified for Ava, their words and actions filling her with the fear of God for her friend. “What Liv? You’ve got to tell me, sweetheart. I need to know otherwise I can’t nail this bastard.” I fought to keep my voice soft but I knew Liv had heard the promise, the threat, and the pure physical hatred in my words.

  She swallowed heavily before a choked rasp echoed in her throat, “Liv, listen to me. I will not let anything happen to Ava, I promise.”

  Her teeth were nibbling furiously on her bottom lip as her eyes pooled with tears, “They said… they called her some real awful stuff but it was his promise that frightens me, Mason, he meant every fucking word that came out of his mouth.”

  Her eyes flicked to the floor before she said her next words, her whole body vibrating with dread before she looked back at me. “He said he had a message for you and I was to pass it on.”

  I nodded in encouragement, my hand slipping into her shaking one as I tried to feed her my confidence. “He said –You’re gonna pay for the blades. I’m gonna make you pay so painfully for the blades. Listen to your loved ones’ breaths tonight, relish them cos’ they won’t be audible for long, they’re mine, each single fucking breath belongs to me.”

  Her wide eyes watched my reaction as a sob choked its way up her tight throat. My entire blood system shrieked in anger as my heart beat rocketed with pure undiluted rage. My eyes glazed, a white mist blocking my view as each muscle in my body screamed in pain at the force of my revulsion with this fucking cunt. My nerve endings squealed as each hair on my body stood to attention, my gut clenched so tightly it caused a spasm in my bowel and my fists tightened in readiness for the fight ahead.

  I pulled in a calming breath, the cool air flowing into my hot lungs and relaxing me enough to dissect the information Liv had divulged.

  It didn’t make sense, what fucking blades? I didn’t remember any fucking blades.

  “Are you sure that’s what he said Liv?” I barked at her a little too sternly. Nate growled at me as he seated himself beside her and I closed my eyes to regain a thread of composure. “Sorry,” I rubbed my hands over my face and battled to pull my brain into gear. I took control of my voice and smiled as warmly as I could, “Are you sure those were his exact words?”

  She nodded, “He made me repeat them and if I didn’t get it right he…” she pointed to her lip and eye and I nodded in understanding.

  I blew out a breath, my brain still sorting through my memories like a computer software program as it raked through past and long gone recollections.

  I stood and cracked my jaw back into place, Liv’s message had seen it clench so tightly my teeth had cracked under the pressure. “I’ll get Sam round; you need to tell him as much as possible about this prick.”

  She nodded firmly, she knew how it worked, “Then I’m gonna get someone posted on you and the kids.”

  She shook her head, “No Mason, its fine. He won’t bother me again; you need to focus on Ava.”

  “Oh don’t worry, she’s taken care of. You and Layla, god help me when she finds out, will take the protection Liv, no arguments. Understand?”

  She nodded knowing it was a waste of breath arguing with me. “Nate.” I gestured towards the front door to speak privately with him.

  “Be right back, Angel” He whispered as he kissed the top of her head then followed me onto the porch.

  “I’ll get someone onto it but keep your eye out until he’s posted.”

  He nodded and grabbed my wrist as I turned back to my car, “Mason…”

  I turned and my chest tightened at the fear on his face. Nate loved my wife almost as much as I did, their friendship had stood a lot in a long time and I knew he worried about her. “I’ll get him, Nate. Don’t worry, the bastard is mine, he won’t get to her, he’ll have to go through me first. Not a word to Ava, you get me?”

  He nodded as he turned back to the door, his hand rested on the handle as he glanced back at me, “You make him pay for this Mason. Liv… I…”

  “I understand. He’s sorted. Slow and painful” I gave him a malevolent smile as my lips twisted with images of the slow torture I was going to administer to this fucking arsehole.

  He sighed then went back inside to console his wife.

  What the fuck was happening? I had nothing – nothing on this prick. Not one trace of an idea or hint as to who was doing this, or even why. I knew from Liv’s message that it was personal, something I had done to upset him. The blades reference still didn’t come up with any hint, still didn’t snap a clue as to what this was all about.

  I phoned Sam as I climbed in the car, telling him to get round here and piece together as much as he could from this. Sam was good, he knew what to ask, how to peel certain snippets of information that seemed irrelevant or trivial from someone.

  This was going too far now, Ava’s safety was uppermost and she would have to now be made aware of things. She couldn’t protect herself if she didn’t know she needed protecting. This prick wasn’t after my girls or my club, or really even Ava. He was after me; he wanted to hurt me by hurting the things close to me.

  But I would find him, and dear God when I did he would wish he had never started.

  You reap what you sow, as the saying goes, and this bastard would harvest my mercilessness, that I could promise.

  Chapter 30

  Ava

  I opened my eyes and stared around the room with bleary eyes for a while until I recognised where I was. The phone on the desk started ringing but I ignored it until my mobile started and I frowned as I hunted for it.

  It was bouncing across the desk in a furious attempt for me to answer it as I snatched it up and answered. “Hey, baby” Mason purred through the phone.

  “Hey,” I answered as I picked my clothes up from where Mason had dropped them under the desk. “What’s up?”

  “I was just ringing to say I love you” he said slowly and seductively, his passion and desire curling around my senses and lighting a fire inside me.

  I smiled as I searched for my knickers. “And me, you baby” I replied as I bent under the desk to see if they had been nudged under but came up with nothing. I frowned and scanned the room as Mason droned about something going off at Pulse.

  “Uh-huh” I murmured as I checked the small washroom at the rear of the office. A smile lifted my lips when I paused to listen to the raw sexiness of my husband, “Very funny, Mason.”

  He hesitated in his monologue about a new beer the brewery had put on special offer. “Sorry?” he asked and I smiled at the innocent tone in his voice.

  “Where are they?”

  He was silent for a moment, “Okay Ava, give me a clue baby cos’ right now I haven’t the foggiest.”

  “My knickers, Mason, where did you put them?”

  “They’re inside your jeans Ava; I didn’t have time to separate the damn things in my desperation to get to you.”

  “Try again” I laughed as I shook my jeans just to make sure he was telling the truth.

  His silence was alarming as I listened to the increased speed of his breathing and my skin prickled when I realised he wasn’t pulling a prank. “Never mind, they’ll be here somewhere” I
choked out a little too cheerily, desperate to hide my concern as my husband’s rage engulfed the static through the phone.

  “Look again, Ava… LOOK!”

  I jumped at his tone as my eyes scrutinised the whole area in the small office, “You know, maybe I wasn’t actually wearing any” I tried but knew it was useless.

  The phone died and I knew he would be ploughing through the door within minutes.

  I pulled on my jeans foregoing my knickers as I pulled my t-shirt over my head, the realisation that my bra was missing also hung deep in my gut. Whichever arsehole had pinched my favourite pink undies was going to buy me a new set… bastard.

  I picked the scattered papers off the floor and begun sorting through them as I waited for the arrival of my glorious bastard but as I shifted them together a file caught my attention.

  It was employee records and I flicked open the manila envelope and leant back in the plump leather chair and started shifting through everyone.

  I started with new and made my way to the oldies. Some of the pro’s had been here since the beginning; Olga, Jayne, Heather and Marlene being the oldest as a few newbies glued to the lobes of my brain as I opened it wide and let the information soak in. I was surprised to find that Gabe and Pete had also been here since Mason opened it twenty two years ago.

  I slipped the file into my bag as I heard Mason’s noisy approach. “Where the fuck was you?” he bellowed at someone as the office door flew open and Mason scurried in with a contrite Gabe close behind.

  My eyes slipped between them as I felt Mason’s fury at this gentle giant surround the whole air in the room, his anger swallowing the oxygen as he demanded it possessively. “You were told Gabe… I FUCKING TOLD YOU!!”

  I pursed my lips as I stood to Gabe’s defence, “He was told what?” I asked Mason as I demanded his attention.

  His gaze flicked to Gabe in warning before he tried to hide it, but I hadn’t already caught it, seen the cautionary look directed at the poor man paying for someone else’s twisted idea of fun. “Mason…”

  His dark expression flipped me an advisory retreat but I ignored it, as I usually did. “What’s going on? What did you tell Gabe to do?”

  Gabe screwed up his face as he sensed the approaching conflict, his guilt mixing with his embarrassment as he looked between us.

  Mason remained silent so I turned to Gabe, “What were your orders, Gabe?”

  He swallowed heavily and cringed as he glanced at Mason then me, “I was told to stand guard, Mrs Fox.” His words were quiet as he bowed his head and locked gaze with the pattern on the carpet “And I’m so sorry I, uhh I needed the toilet.”

  His remorse was thick with his culpability but I shook my head at him and smiled, “Everybody needs to pee Gabe, I’m okay, nothing harmed.” I glared at Mason; his anger at something I would soon be finding out about was heavy and laced the room with stifling smog. “Could you give us a minute?” I asked the huge but currently meek man.

  He nodded and left the room quietly, his upset and self-hatred dragging behind him with his wounded pride.

  I hesitated for a moment, dragging in the tremble in my gut before I turned to my still silent man, “Sit down.”

  He crooked an eyebrow cockily and I leant forward, slamming my hands on the desk as I glowered at him, “He’s after me isn’t he?”

  The crooked eyebrow lowered as he closed his eyes and the distress across his face answered my question without any need for words.

  I nodded slowly as I swallowed and slumped into the chair. “Again,” I scoffed bitterly as I rubbed my hands over my face.

  Mason was crouched before me instantly, his hands grabbing mine but I shook him off and moved back, “Why do you lie, Mason? You know by now I can handle the truth, so why fucking lie to me?”

  He shook his head in frustration as he regained his upright position, his sombre face looming over me as I sighed heavily, “Fuck!”

  “I will find this bastard Ava, I promise you.”

  I snorted and curled my lip with malicious mockery, “No you won’t Mason because it’s too close.”

  He reared back and stared at me. “What the fuck does that mean?” he spat out, his temper slowly rising with my sarcasm as his eyes dipped to deep pools of sin.

  “Because it’s me again, Mason and you don’t function when I’m threatened. I’ve sorted it, just hang back and wait.”

  He tipped his head and barked out a bitter laugh, “You’ve sorted it?”

  I narrowed my eyes on him as I stepped from behind the desk and stood in his personal space, my own anger with him as potent as his with me. “Yes, I have sorted it.”

  I turned and snatched up my bag but his hands grabbed the tops of my arms and spun me around. His face was red and angry as his jaw tightened and his lips thinned to a scowl, “What the fuck have you sorted exactly?”

  I struggled under him, his grip become painful and harsh “Let go, Mason” I warned slowly.

  He exhaled heavily as he released me but then my back slammed against the wall as he empowered me in his huge and dominant frame, his large hands slapped on the wall beside my head as he controlled every movement I made. “Tell me Ava, tell me what you have done.”

  My nerve wavered slightly as his intense eyes shifted over my face and my belly tightened with anxiety. “TELL ME!” he roared and I flinched at his rage. “So help me god, Ava. Tell me!”

  “I uhh…” Oh shit, what had I done. The reality of the situation hit me with the weight of regret. I knew he would be so angry and why I had done it wouldn’t be accepted by him as reason enough.

  “I’m waiting, Ava.”

  His laboured breaths brushed my face as I lifted my eyes to his, “I hired someone to take care of it.”

  His eyes narrowed in confusion then widened slowly as awareness hit him, “Oh dear God, no Ava, tell me you didn’t, please tell me you didn’t.”

  I rolled my lips and pulled back my shoulders defensively as I stood my ground and stared him down, “I did… I hired Simon Bell.”

  I watched the dip in his throat as his eyes fluttered faintly before he screamed with a roar of rage and the desk received the full force of Mason’s fury. I stood motionless and in shock as he picked it back up and threw it across the room as though it was a pillow, his strength feeding his wrath as he trashed the poor wooden piece of furniture.

  “Do you even realise what you have done?” he thundered as he swat the last splinter of wood across the room.

  “I did what needed doing Mason, we needed help with this. The girls were suffering because of something you have done to upset some lunatic and I couldn’t sit back and watch any more innocent lives be taken so… so carelessly.”

  He laughed, loud and extremely as his head flung back and his body shook.

  My finger slipped to my mouth as I nibbled furiously with nerves, my gut clenching at Mason’s obscene reaction. I had just done what I thought would help, that was all.

  He turned to me slowly, his jaw clenched as his eyes blazed, the fire in them intensifying with each step closer to me, “Do you know how Simon works, Ava? Do you?”

  I nodded and shifted back a little, pressing myself further into the plaster of the walls, Mason’s calmness terrifying me more than his rage. “Yes, I know.”

  He scoffed and shook his head as he reached me. I flinched as his fingers lifted and he ran them down the curve of my cheekbone, “No Ava, you have no fucking idea. Do you know what happens when Simon corners the bastard doing this to us?”

  “He kills him” I answered with puzzlement, wondering where Mason was going with this.

  He chuckled darkly, “How much did you pay him?”

  I frowned but answered honestly, “£50,000.”

  He clicked his tongue and leaned further into me, his hot torrent of controlled breaths causing a chill within me when the sinister King of the Underworld stared back at me with ice in his eyes, reminding me very much of whom I had married and who ruled this dar
k organised criminal world I lived in - I married into. “And what happens when our man offers Simon £100,000, Ava? What happens then, baby?”

  My eyes widened as his words hit home and my knees buckled as my heart slammed against my ribs and the blood drained rapidly from my face. He caught me immediately, his face softening when he realised his nefarious personality was dominating his behaviour with me, and carried me back to the sofa for the second time that day.

  “Mason, I…”

  He shook his head and kissed the top of my head, “Don’t worry, baby. I’ll sort this mess out, I promise.”

  “I’m so sorry, I… I thought…”

  “I know. Ssshhh…” he whispered into me as his arms enveloped me protectively and pulled me in close.

  “But we have a deal, he can’t do that, Mason, he can’t go back on his word. That isn’t good in our world, he should know that.” I argued as I peered up at the beautiful face that was so full of love adoration. He smiled gently and ran a finger along my cheekbone as his eyes grew serious.

  “We need to talk Ava, stuff… things have progressed and now you need to be aware.”

  I flinched at the tone in his cold voice, his dark side once more fighting to get out. “Okay.” I nodded as I pulled away from him and curled my feet under me, letting him know I was ready for it.

  He sighed deeply as his tongue swept across his dry lips and I dropped my gaze to watch it with envy, “I’ve placed a tag on you.”

  My eyes widened as I stared back at him with incredulity, “You have done what?”

  “You’re being targeted Ava, and now Liv’s been… approached.”

  I swallowed back the need to climb off the sofa and beat my husband to a pulp, make him pay for whatever shit he had brought into my life now, brought into the life of my friends. I gave him a slight nod to continue, I needed the information about everything, I needed to know the where’s, what’s and how’s of everything.

  “He left a message with Liv. It’s me baby, it’s me he’s after and he’s going through you to get to me. You need Wes with you at all times, you hear me. Do not let him leave your side. If I find out you’ve been difficult Ava, there’ll be trouble.”