by Nora Ash
So why the heck had he been following me?
No matter what outlandish scenario I tried to think up, nothing made sense, and in the end, I settled on the conclusion that he’d just been some creeper who’d taken a shine to me for whatever messed up reason some men had to stalk women. Who knew, perhaps he was into misery.
I’d almost put the incident out of my mind when later that evening, I happened to glance out my living room window, the one Liam had made love to me up against, and saw my stalker staring back up at me from the pavement down below. And he wasn’t alone. A big, burly man wearing a leather vest stood by his side, bulging arms folded over his chest as he stared up at my window, too.
Behind them, just down the road, a nondescript white van was parked.
25
Louis
“Liam—”
My twin shot me the same kind of nasty look he’d given me for the past week the few times we’d been in the same room. He’d hardly been home since then, and I’d only caught him this time because I’d camped out on the sofa and he just so happened to be on his way in to change his clothes. “No.”
It was the only thing he’d said to me when I’d tried to explain—no. It was really all he had to say, because I knew what he meant: No, he didn’t want to hear my explanations, no he wasn’t ready to forgive me… no, we weren’t going to be okay anytime soon, if ever.
I knew I deserved every fucking ounce of loathing he had for me right now, but it didn’t mean I was going to give up on him without a fight. I couldn’t go to Audrey and try to sort out the hurt I’d caused her before I knew Liam would be okay. Or at least until he knew why I’d done what I’d done. I owed him that much, and I had to believe it’d be enough. Maybe not right now, but in the long run… I had to believe he’d forgive me someday. The alternative was too painful to even consider.
“Look, I know you’re pissed at me. You have every right to be…” I began. But Liam just shot me another look of utter contempt and continued on his way to his room, ignoring me. I wasn’t going to give up that easily, though; not this time. It’d been a full week, and clearly giving him space wasn’t helping any. So I got up from the couch and caught him before he left the living room, stopping him by placing a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry, mate, we have to talk about this. Now.”
He spun around then, brushing my hand off in the process. “Oh, we do, do we? And you think you get to tell me when I’m ready to talk, after the stunt you pulled? Go fuck yourself, Louis.”
“If not for us, then for Audrey,” I interrupted him. “It’s been a week—it’s not fair on her. I know you care for her—”
He snorted. “She doesn’t want to hear it any more than I do—don’t you think I’ve tried to call her and explain it was my idiot twin’s idea of a joke? God, Louis! I was gonna… I was gonna find her again, once this fucked up mess with Dad’s been sorted. I was gonna marry her, and you—” He stopped himself from finishing that sentence, but I saw it all in his eyes as he glared at me. He thought I’d… cost him his true love.
I shook my head. “It’s not what you think—she’s not supposed to be your wife, Liam. I know what I did was shitty, and I’m sorry. It was never meant to end like this—”
“The fuck do you know about what she’s supposed to be?” Liam interrupted me with a nasty snarl. “You still think this is all about you and me, don’t you? That’s why you tricked her, isn’t it—to prove to me she’s just another piece of arse? Well, you can go fuck yourself, Louis. If you truly were my other half, you’d fucking know how important she is to me. But instead, you broke the one good thing that’s ever happened to me. I’ll never forgive you for what you did, Louis. Never.”
The vehemence in his voice hurt nearly as much as his words themselves, but in the middle of my despair, my own anger rose. Why was he so fucking quick to think the worst of me? Was his trust in me really that fragile, after all we’d been through together? From the day we were born, it’d been him and me against the world—and he wasn’t even willing to fucking hear me out?
“I know she’s not meant to be your wife because she’s gonna be mine, you fucker,” I yelled. “I fell in love with her, okay? Yeah, I was afraid you’d get yourself fucking killed, the way you were acting, so I was gonna show you she was just another girl. I didn’t plan for this to happen, but I can’t change it now. I love her, Liam. And she loves me, too. I’d give anything to have done this any other way than how it went down, but I can’t change what happened.”
Liam stared at me in shocked silence for two full seconds. Then his face twisted with absolute fury. “You? You love her? Get the fuck out of here!”
Whatever else he was about to say got drowned out by the sharp chirp of my phone going off. I glanced at the display, and my heart skipped a beat at the name that flashed against me.
Audrey.
I held a hand up to silence my twin and flicked the answer button.
“Audrey? I was gon—” My voice died at the sound of her broken voice.
“Liam?”
“It’s Louis, love,” I said, the sound of my twin’s name on her lips making my chest constrict unpleasantly. “You okay? You sound…”
“Someone’s watching my flat. He followed me home from work, and I… I’m sorry to call you like this, but I don’t know what else to do. I tried the police, but they don’t have time to come out. I wouldn’t have called, but… I’m really scared.”
I could tell she was, from the shaky note in her voice and just the fact she’d called me. She’d made it pretty damn clear she wanted nothing to do with either of us last Friday. Then the implication of what she’d said set in. Someone… someone followed her home.
If I’d been even halfway convinced it was a run-of-the mill stalker, I’d still been over there in a heartbeat to make sure she was safe, but the timing of this incident was way too convenient. A week after our underhanded partner discovered her ties to us and suddenly someone was hanging around her work and following her home? Yeah, there was zero chance this was a coincidence.
“I’ll be there in twenty. Don’t open your door for anyone else, got it? And if they try to force their way in, you call me immediately. Not the police—me.”
I was already moving toward my bedroom when the call disconnected.
“What’s going on?” Liam called after me just as I closed my hand around the gun I kept stashed in my underwear drawer. His voice carried the sick dread currently roiling in the pit of my stomach.
“Fucking Perkinson’s put a tail on her,” I growled as I stormed out of my bedroom and headed for the front door. “Someone followed her home.”
“Bloody hell.” I didn’t have to look behind me to know he was following as I headed down the stairs to the parking garage. Seemed making sure our girl was safe was one thing we could still work together on.
“I don’t see anyone,” I mumbled to Liam as I slid out of the Jeep’s driver side.
“Let’s check ‘round back,” he said, waving me along as he snuck up to the side of the building.
We moved soundlessly along the side of Audrey’s high-rise, making it to the communal area between it and another building. The space was covered in darkness, and I squinted into the shadows, searching for a clue.
“There,” Liam hissed, nodding his chin in the direction of some shrubbery. One of the shadows broke free from the bushes and I saw the outline and first one man, then another. They’d spotted us, too.
“Oy!” Liam shouted, breaking into a run. I was right behind him, the weight of the gun in my hand a solid comfort. I’d always hated shooting people, but knowing these pricks were hanging around Audrey’s made me feel a hell of lot calmer about the prospect than usual. Whatever they were here for, it wasn’t anything good.
The two by the bushes didn’t wait for us to catch up to them. They turned around and sprinted off into the night.
We took up pursuit, but they had too much of a lead. They made it to a white van parke
d up on the side of the pavement and drove off with screeching tires before we could catch up to them.
“Fuck!” Liam pulled the fingers of both hands through his hair as he stared after them. “Fuck! I should never have let her alone when I fucking knew Perkinson would look into her!”
Neither of us mentioned the other option—that it was our dad’s men scouting her out, still. As bad as it was that our supposed ally was spying on our girl, it would be infinitely worse if Dad hadn’t bought our fib about her just being a bit of arse.
I didn’t respond, just turned around and walked with long strides to the entrance to Audrey’s building. She answered the door phone after a few moments, her voice shakier than normal.
“Yes?”
“It’s me, love. And Liam. Let us in.”
The lock buzzed open, and I followed my twin up the stairs. Audrey opened her door as soon as we knocked, but with the chain on. Smart girl—even if that wouldn’t have stopped a made man determined enough to make her an insurance policy.
Her wide, brown eyes flickered from Liam’s face to mine before she closed the door again. We could hear the chain rattling, and then she opened it again. There was so much doubt and pain on her face at the sight of us, but right then, it didn’t matter. Not when we didn’t know if those men were gonna return with reinforcements.
“Grab your toothbrush, love.” Liam pushed in past her and cast a look around the flat—and instinctive reassurance that her home was safe enough for now. “You’re coming with us.”
26
Audrey
Of course, I refused.
All the way down the stairs and while one of the twins basically lifted me into the backseat of their parked Jeep. I still came with them—the two men who’d ripped my heart out not a week ago, whom I’d sworn I’d never call again when I curled up to cry late at night in my lonely bed.
But I had called them when I was scared and didn’t have anyone else to turn to. And they’d come. Both of them.
So I followed them when their faces told me things were so much worse than I feared, even as they refused to answer any of my questions and only kept repeating that it would be okay.
“You know who they were, don’t you?” I asked as the twin behind the wheel pulled away from my building. It was the only explanation I could find to the way they were acting—that they somehow knew who had been following me, even if it made no sense.
“We have a pretty strong suspicion,” the non-driving twin said from the front passenger seat. His voice was as grim as I’d ever heard either of them.
“You don’t have to worry, Audrey,” the other redhead said. “We’ll sort it.”
“I don’t have to worry?” I repeated, incredulous. “Some creep followed me home and… and stared at my windows all night, like a complete psycho, and then his buddy shows up. And now you two are insisting I drop everything and just flee with nothing but my toothbrush… excuse me if I find it pretty fucking hard not to worry! For the last time—would you please tell me what’s going on?”
I saw them exchanging looks, but neither said anything.
Feeling both irritated and powerless, I fell back against the backrest with a frustrated sigh. “Fine! I guess it’s not like you’re in the habit of being honest with me anyway.”
The twins’ flat was in one of the old converted industrial buildings along the river not far off where I’d met Liam that morning my heel broke.
I hadn’t seen either of them flash their money at any point in the time I’d known them, but when I stepped into their shared flat, it was pretty obvious their net worth was way above mine. Way, way above.
The flat was spacious and effortlessly trendy, with bare brick walls, glowing parquet floors and a view across the Thames that would have taken my breath away if I’d been even a little less out of it. The decor, however, spoke clearly of the amazing space being occupied by two bachelors. A large, black leather sofa dominated the living room we stepped into, and most of the wall facing it had been taken up by a flatscreen TV.
“I’ll call Blaine, give him an update,” one of the twins said to the other. I didn’t know who—seeing them next to each other like this, without being able to check their hands for scars, I couldn’t tell the difference.
“And Perkinson?” the other asked, quirking an eyebrow. “I don’t much feel like swinging by and asking him what the fuck he’s playing at. Can’t trust he won’t cut his losses and have us executed if we show up without backup.”
“And with backup, Dad’s bound to find out,” the first twin mused. “Fuck.”
Perkinson? I blinked—twice. My Perkinson? “E-executed?” I croaked.
One twin reached out, stroking a hand comfortingly up along my back. His touch felt so natural, it took me a moment to remember we weren’t like that anymore. I pulled away from his comforting hand with a glare, and a flicker of pain crossed his handsome features before he pulled his focus back to the problem at hand.
“You’re going to hear a lot of things that won’t make a lot of sense to you. We get it’s scary, love, we do, but the less you know, the better.”
“Don’t you think it’s a bit too late to hide it from her at this point?” the other twin broke in. “They showed up at her fucking flat.”
The first twin glared at his brother. “She didn’t ask for this shit, Louis.”
“No, but she got it anyway, didn’t she?” Louis snapped. “This is what fucking happens when you’re a part of our Family, and the sooner she knows the full truth, the sooner she’ll know what’s at stake here.”
“She is not a child,” I said, my tone about as frustrated as I felt at being kept in the dark. “And if you know why those creeps have anything to do with my client, I think I have a right to know.”
The redheads exchanged a long look, and I got the distinct impression they were coming to some sort of agreement.
In the end, Liam exhaled deeply and sank down on the backrest of the sofa. He rubbed his hand across his face before he looked at me. “Fine. Just… know that I never meant for you to get involved in any of this.”
“Brian Perkinson, Gregory’s father, is the patriarch of a mafia Family. We’ve been working with them, but after they saw you at the vodka launch last Friday, they must’ve realized they could use you to get an upper hand over us. At least, that’s we think,” Louis said.
“That’s the good option,” Liam muttered.
Fear so intense it reduced my irritation and general worry about my own safety to ashes swept through me as I stared at them. As angry and hurt as I was from what they’d put me through, the part of me that’d fallen in love with their light and vitality was shocked to the core that they’d gotten mixed up with mafia types, of all things.
“Jesus fuck,” I whispered, pressing my hand to my mouth as my mind raced for any knowledge I had about the kind of criminals they’d gotten themselves tangled up with so I could try and look for a way out for them. Unfortunately, my spotty knowledge of the criminal underworld came from TV shows. “How did you get messed up with the mafia? Why? There’s gotta be a way to get you out. Do you owe them mone—” The dark look that passed between the twins made my frantic thoughts still. “What?”
“Audrey…”
“We’re not messed up with the mafia.”
They both looked at me then, the expression on their faces identical masks of complete and utter seriousness. It looked so alien, so wrong on them.
“We are the mafia.”
“What?” I whispered, sure I must have heard wrong.
“The Steels are one of the strongest Families in London’s underworld.”
“Our Family used to rule the city, but… There’s a war coming. The Perkinsons were our allies.”
“But we suspect that’s not the case anymore, if they had you watched.”
I looked from one to the other as they talked, looking for even the slightest hint of insincerity. I found nothing. My head was spinning, and I slid down o
n the backrest next to Liam when my legs threatened to give in.
“You told me… you owned nightclubs,” I whispered.
“We do,” Liam said resignedly. “Louis and I… we try to spend as little time as we can with the bad shit. We spend most of our time with the nightclubs.”
“But… but you do… do the ‘bad shit,’ too?” I asked. I looked at them and tried to reconcile the happy, gentle man I’d thought I was falling in love with with two mafia sons. “You… hurt people?”
A look of regret was mirrored in both their eyes.
“Sometimes.” Louis’ voice was soft. “When we have to.”
“Oh, my God.” How could I have gotten them so wrong? I’d thought… but of course, they’d fooled me with who they were as well, so why not what they were?
They hurt people.
I got up from the backrest and walked toward the front door.
“Audrey…”
“Don’t.”
I ignored their calls, intent on the doorknob. I couldn’t be a part of this—I couldn’t get any further involved, no matter how much my soft, stupid heart was refusing to believe they were truly evil. Even if their own words confirmed what they were: criminals. And not just hackers, or identity thieves, or perpetrators of some white collar crime like that. They were mafia, of all things.
A large hand closed around my shoulder the second my fingers touched the door handle.
“We can’t let you leave, Audrey.”
I spun around and looked up into Louis’ gray eyes. They were darker than their normal silver, and the emotion in them pulled at something deep inside of my chest. I pushed it aside.
“What, am I your hostage now?” I sniped, wrapping all my hurt and anger with them for all the lies they’d told around me like an armor. “Are you going to hurt me if I leave?”