by Nora Ash
“He’s hiring the смерть. If we don’t stop him before he drops off the payment tomorrow at noon, we’re all dead.”
34
Audrey
The ride back to London was as tense as our escape had been three weeks prior. The only difference was that this time, I actually knew what was happening.
They’d tried to keep it from me, to tell me that everything was going to be okay and not to worry, but I’d been through too much to take it this time.
So they’d told me. About getting their brother Isaac to talk being the only thing that might save them from certain death, about the futility in trying to run from a death sentence placed on you by this Smerts gang their brother had mentioned.
Perhaps in another life, if my heel hadn’t broken that day in the park, I would have watched the news one evening while eating my takeaway dinner and shuddered in relief at the announcement of London becoming a bit safer now that two made men were dead.
But as I sat on the backseat of the inconspicuous car they’d used to throw their father off their trail, I knew I would never, ever, let anyone hurt the twins.
It’d all become so painfully clear, somewhere in the tangle of limbs and multiple orgasms. I loved them. Both of them. I hadn’t been able to figure out who I’d fallen for, because it wasn’t one or the other—it was both of them.
My heart ached as I watched them quietly discuss their options in the dim light of the oncoming vehicles while Liam drove us closer and closer to the city we’d only narrowly escaped from. We’d had a careful truce, after our debauched afternoon of pleasure. It hadn’t been said in words, but we all knew that in that hut in the Welsh mountains we got to pretend like everything was going to be okay. It didn’t matter that they were mafia sons and that their father was looking to kill us all—and it didn’t matter that they’d both fallen in love with the same girl, who would never be able to choose between them. We’d just been. The three of us.
I’d never thought I’d miss that damn hut or the uncomfortable tarp and claustrophobia-inducing sleeping bags, but as I saw the countryside slowly give way to buildings, I wished with every fiber of my being that we’d had just one more night together.
Because even if we made it out of this alive… there would still never be a happy ending for us.
I wiped the tears sliding down my cheeks as discreetly as I could and took a deep breath. I had the rest of my life to mourn the loss of the two men who had finally shown me what it felt like to truly be alive. Right now, we had more pressing matters to focus on.
“I should go.”
Louis looked at me over his shoulder, a frown creasing his forehead. “Go?”
“To see your brother. You two need to keep a low profile.”
“Absolutely not!” Liam spat at the same time as Louis hissed, “Are you mad?”
“You say he’s rejected visits from your entire family since he was sentenced. Maybe he won’t refuse a stranger who says she has news about his girl.”
“There is zero chance we’re letting you waltz into a prison, Audrey,” Liam said. The possessive growl in his voice made my heart pitter-patter, but I shoved the idiotic emotion aside. This was too important to let them baby me in their effort to keep me safe.
“If your brother truly has information that can stop your dad, don’t you think he’s being watched? Your father’s men will be much more familiar with you—it’ll be easier for me to slip in unnoticed. Besides, how do you plan to get Isaac to even see you?”
“We’ll think of something. We’re not risking your safety.” Louis’ tone had the sound of finality.
“No. Enough’s enough. I know I’m not used to your big, scary mafia world, but I’m done being babied. I’m already stuck in the mud with you—it’s too late to try and keep me out of it. Besides, if you two idiots get yourselves killed because you were too stubborn to let me help you, then who’s going to stop your father from coming after me?” I made my voice as stern as I possibly could as I caught Liam’s gaze in the rearview mirror. “I am going to visit your brother. You two need to figure out how exactly your father is planning on delivering that money, and then you need to stop him.”
“Audrey, it’s too fucking dangerous. You’re not doing this, and that’s fucking final!”
Belmarsh Prison consisted of a multitude of stark buildings loosely connected behind a tall fence made of concrete and topped with barbed wire. I walked up to the gates and the guard building, the faint sense of victory over winning the argument with the twins evaporating at the sight of the guard’s grim face and the looming shadow of the compound behind the fence. I’d been able to convince Louis and Liam that it was too important to attempt to stop their dad from delivering the payment to the Russians for them to spend any more time trying to get into the prison unseen and get their brother to talk in the end, only because I emphasized the likelihood of what would happen to me if they weren’t around to stop him. It’d been a half-victory though, since Louis was somewhere keeping an eye on me, leaving Liam to try to stop their dad on his own. Not a solution I’d been happy about, but it was the only deal I got.
“Hi, I’m Lana Clarke, here to visit Isaac Steel.” I held up the fake ID they’d managed to get me at six this morning when they’d woken up some poor guy named Sam in the Southeastern part of town who they apparently trusted. He didn’t look particularly trustworthy to me, with his shifty eyes and food-stained vest top, but he’d produced the ID in an hour and given me some of his wife’s clothes so I wouldn’t look like I’d just come in from the wild. I’d also been offered a shower, but after glancing at the mold growing in his bathroom, I’d politely declined.
“Visitation slip?” the guard grumbled, and I fumbled the printed piece of paper out of my pocket and handed it over. He typed in the relevant number and finally handed it back to me. “Proceed to reception.”
Did that mean Isaac had agreed to see me? I thanked the man and followed the arrows leading to the visitation center once the heavy gates clanked open.
I waited in line with the five other women who’d shown up this early on a Monday morning for a female prison guard to pat us down and check our pockets and bags for offending items such as hair clips, bracelets, and gum.
“Do not leave the assigned table until asked to do so by a guard. Keep noise levels low. Any aggressive behavior will lead to immediate removal and your visitation privileges being revoked indefinitely. Do not pass the prisoner any items. You must comply with any and all instructions from members of staff,” the woman droned in a voice as engaging as an infomercial as she patted me down. Once we were all checked, she opened the metal door separating us from the visiting area. “You have one hour.”
It was a large room with a high ceiling, painted pale green with the exception of the upper half and ceiling, which were both a depressing shade of beige. The floor was covered in blue institution-strength carpet that was uncomfortable to step on, even through the soles of my shoes. There’d been a clear attempt at modernization, but there was no escaping the depressing weight smothering Belmarsh like an invisible blanket. It was a max-security prison, and no amount of cheap paint could hide that.
There were a good thirty tables set out across the room, and I sat down at the one allocated to me. A few minutes later the door at the far end of the room buzzed open, and men in gray uniforms began to file into the room.
My nerves, which I’d managed to keep in check up until then, broke through my iron control and I clenched my fists in a desperate attempt to calm them again. I couldn’t afford to lose it now—if I didn’t manage to convince the twins’ brother to give up whatever information their other brothers thought he possessed, I risked the two men I loved getting killed. And likely me along with them.
He was one of the last to walk through the doors, but I recognized him instantly. I’d thought he would look like the twins, but that wasn’t the case. Apart from his height, the obvious strength of his body despite the shapeless pris
on garb concealing his wide shoulders and narrow waist, and the sharpness of his jaw, Isaac Steel looked nothing like Liam and Louis. His hair was jet-black and his chiseled face devoid of any and all emotion. Where there’d always been a nearly visible energy crackling off either twin, their brother was a void. And yet I knew he was a Steel from the way he moved—self-assured yet softly, like a stalking panther.
When he sat down in the chair opposite me, I noticed his eyes were as gray as theirs, but they couldn’t have been more different from the men I knew. There was no happiness, no mischief in his gaze as he stared at me. Just silent, dark danger.
Suddenly, and with a rush that went straight to my lizard brain, my nerves were on high alert from more than the importance of this meeting. I’d gotten so used to the twins, I’d never stopped to consider that maybe not all mafia sons were as gentle as them. It wasn’t until I saw their brother that it dawned on me how truly safe I’d felt with them, even when I’d first learned what they were.
Yeah, there was about a zero percent chance I’d have let a man like Isaac Steel take me to the middle of nowhere, no matter who was after me.
I felt his eyes on me, scrutinizing me. Looking for deceit, I guessed, as I pulled myself together and returned his gaze.
“Isaac Steel? I’m Audrey Waits. Thank you for meeting me.” I was proud of how even my voice sounded, despite my heart pounding in my throat at his unsettling stare.
“Visitation form said Lana Clarke.” His voice was a deep timbre, with the same cockney accent as the twins.
“I know. I had to use a fake name. Your father might be on the watch for me.”
If he was surprised that his father was looking for me, he didn’t show it. “If my father is looking for you, a fake name isn’t going to keep you safe.”
I nodded, wetting my lips. “I’m starting to get that.”
A small pause and then he asked, “The visitation form said you had news about Ellie. Is she dead?”
The way he said it, with no emotion whatsoever, I could almost have believed he didn’t care one way or the other. But when I shook my head, he exhaled softly, and I realized he’d been holding his breath waiting for my answer.
“I was told to tell you that she’s safe.”
His eyes narrowed. “By who?”
“Marcus. I am here on behalf of Liam and Louis.”
He cursed under his breath and made to stand up. “We’re done here.”
“No, wait.” I reached forward to put my hand on his tattooed forearm in an instinctive response to the panic flaring in my chest. If he left now, we were doomed.
Isaac stared down at my hand, and it took everything in me not to flinch off him.
“We need your help. Please, please don’t go.” I spoke as quickly as I could, the pleas bubbling from my lips as fear gripped my spine.
To my great relief, he paused, but his eyes were narrowed to slit. “You’ve got thirty seconds.”
“Your dad—your brothers found out that he killed Jeremy and got you sent in here. They were working on finding a way to get rid of him and get you out, but… he found out. We all had to flee London while Blaine tried to use his spies to keep tabs on your father. That’s how we learned he’s going to put a hit on us all. Some gang called Smerts?”
“Cмерть,” Isaac corrected. He sighed deeply and rubbed a hand through his dark locks. “They’re not a gang, love. They’re the most dangerous assassins in the world. Sorry to be the one to tell you, but if you’ve been marked already, you’re as good as dead. Nothing I or anyone else can do about it.”
“But we haven’t—according to Blaine’s spies, it won’t happen until midday today. Marcus said… Marcus said you could help us. That you know something that will get him to back off before it’s too late,” I said, gripping his arm as if clinging to him would somehow make him care enough to tell me what I needed to know. “This girl—this Ellie. Is she why you’re in here? Did your father use her against you somehow? She’s safe, Isaac. But your brothers are not. I’m not. Please.”
“You say you’re here on behalf of the twins. What are you to them?”
I was taken aback by the directness of his question, but as much as I didn’t want to get into the complicated relationship I had with his brothers, he had a right to know. “I’m their… their girlfriend.” Or as close to a girlfriend as a woman could be when stuck in a love triangle.
Isaac hummed, as if it was the most natural thing in the world that I’d not specified one twin, but included them both. “And from the looks of you, you’re a typical middle-class working girl, aren’t you? Take your career seriously, never broken the law. Had dreams of a white picket fence and barbecues in the garden with your neighbors, before those two off-railed your life.”
How on Earth he could read me that well I had no idea—I’d just gotten back from living in the wilderness for weeks, and my current attire borrowed from Sam’s lady friend didn’t scream middle-class, to put it politely.
When I just stared at him, he obviously took it as confirmation and continued, “If you’re here, talking to me, you’re the girl they expect to marry. They trust you. But I’ll wager the twins never meant for you to get involved in our family shit, and that they’re both pretty fucking panicked at how much danger you’re in. Probably tried to hide you away when you said you’d come see me so they could avoid my father’s eyes and ears a little longer. Am I close?”
I nodded mutely. Apparently, he knew his brothers well.
“You know what I’d do in their place, Audrey?” Isaac leaned in over the table a little, fixing me with gray eyes that should have reminded me of the twins but didn’t. “I’d fucking lie through my teeth to save my woman. Even to my own brother. I’m sorry they were stupid enough to get you involved in our family shit, I truly am. They should have known better. But I’m not risking Ellie’s life for you.”
“And your brothers’ lives? Do they mean as little to you? Because they’re out there, risking their arses to save you. They could’ve taken your father down when they realized how evil he was, but they didn’t… because that would leave you to rot in prison for the rest of your miserable life. Instead, they’re risking everything to try and stop the man who put you in here. Your brother Blaine—he’s got a wife and a child. And still he didn’t take the easy route. Liam and Louis could’ve left the country, but they didn’t. No one abandoned you—and you’re telling me you’re refusing to help them because they might lie to you? I wonder what Ellie would think of you, if she knew what a coward you are.”
I hadn’t meant to lose my temper at him, but the unfairness of his claim that the twins would lie about something like that made my blood boil. I moved my hand from his arm and stared him down, too furious to be rattled by his disturbing gaze.
“He told me he would peel her skin off.” Isaac’s voice was soft, but devoid of emotion. “Strip by strip, while she was still alive. And video it for me to watch. Have you ever met my father, Audrey?”
I shook my head, mute from horror.
“He doesn’t look evil. But you can still tell—that part of us who recognizes monsters will know him for what he is. I am in here because I know my father’s secret, and I was stupid enough to tell him I knew.
“Have Louis or Liam ever told you how he used to beat us? So brutally we’d have bruises for weeks and months? How he used his belt for any slight, perceived or real?”
I shook my head again.
“I guess they wouldn’t. Maybe they don’t remember. They were very young, and we tried—my brothers and I—we tried to interfere when he went after them. You think I don’t love my brothers enough to sacrifice my life for them? I do. But not hers. Never hers. So if they don’t put him down, and if he finds her again… I will kill you. And Mira and Evelyn. There is nothing and no one who will be able to stop me. So tell me, Audrey. Do you still want me to tell you his secret?”
The complete sincerity in his stormy eyes made a shiver of ice travel down m
y spine. But his threats didn’t matter. If he didn’t tell me, we were as good as dead anyway. “Yes.”
Isaac leaned back in his chair, hands clenched into fists on the table. “He had our mother murdered. She was working with the cops to try and get him locked up for good—because of the beatings. He didn’t touch her, but she wanted us to be safe. And since you don’t divorce a mafia patriarch… she went to the police. He found out. This is why Jeremy’s dead, too. I was stupid enough to tell him, and he didn’t have a weakness to be exploited. So our father set me up on a drug deal, had Wesley shoot a man with my gun, and told me to take the fall or he’d come for Ellie.”
“Who’s Wesley?” I did my best to keep my mind clear, despite the horror of his tale. To have grown up in a home with so much violence… But I had to keep my head on straight if I was going to figure out how we could use this information to get out of this mess.
“My father’s right hand man. He’s been with the Family for the past twenty years. Done all the horrible shit dear Dad didn’t want to do himself.”
“Do you think he was involved in your mother’s murder?” I asked as the first threads of a plan began weaving together at last.
“I know he was. It was in the files of the detective who was working with my mother. Dad eventually found out who he was and had him killed, too, but I got to the files before he did. Everything’s in there. Every dirty family secret.”
“And where are those files now?” I asked, unable to conceal the urgency churning in my gut.
Isaac breathed out, a small huff of air. His lips pulled up in a wry, joyless smile. “The one place that son of a bitch never dared to desecrate. They’re buried at Highgate Cemetery. In my mother’s grave.”
35
Liam