by Nora Ash
“Bullshit!” Audrey hissed. She’d been pacing back and forth in the living room like a caged lioness since we’d gotten home. “There has to be something, Liam. There has to be! We can’t just let him…” Her angry voice died down to a broken sob, and she collapsed onto the sofa next to me. “We can’t let him die. We just can’t.”
I didn’t respond, because what was there to say? We have to?
“Liam. Look at me.” Gently, she wrapped her hand around my arm, squeezing. “Look at me. Right now.”
Slowly I lifted my gaze to hers. Her beautiful eyes were red-rimmed and panicked, but there was also a fire in them that I knew no longer existed in mine.
“We cannot let him die. We won’t. You hear me? We’ll find a way.”
“What way, Audrey? We won’t be able to leave the flat, we don’t even know where he’s taken him. We have no way of getting in touch with my brothers. And I have to protect you.”
Her face twisted with renewed anger. “Protect me? No! This is bullshit, and we promised each other no bullshit. I’m not just going to sit here and let him die because I need to be protected from your world. I’ve had a gun aimed at my head, visited your brother in jail, and been chased through a cemetery by a hitman. Protecting me isn’t an option here. Not when his life is on the line!”
“I can’t lose you, too!” I hadn’t meant to shout, but it came out like a roar. “You’re all I have left! I can’t—I won’t lose you as well!”
Audrey cupped my face. She looked into my eyes, and in hers, I saw my own sorrow mirrored. “You won’t. I promise you, I won’t let your father take me from you. But we’re going to get him back, Liam. Tell me you’re with me.”
I placed my hand atop hers, savoring the sensation of her palms against my skin. “I am with you always, my love,” I whispered, my voice breaking under the weight of too much emotion. “And if there was a way to save my twin without losing you, too, I would do it in a heartbeat. But if I get you killed, his sacrifice will mean nothing.”
“You won’t.” Determination set in on her pretty features, and she stood back up to begin pacing once more. “Tell me about the… Smerts.”
I blinked. “The смертьs? They’re Russian assassins. They have no loyalty but to the person who pays them, and once you’ve been marked, they will end your life. There’s nothing anyone can do to stop them. If one fails, another will take his place until the job is done.”
“How much do they cost?”
“Audrey, no. We do not get involved with them. Ever. They’re too dangerous. If something goes wrong, they will turn on you like it’s nothing. And they will kill every man, woman, and child in a family. Entire bloodlines have been erased from history because some foolish man who thought he could get rid of his enemies stiffed them on payment or insulted their honor.” I got to my feet, too, the mere thought of bringing the смерть taint into my family—and hers—causing icy tendrils to creep up my spine. “You hire them once, they will always be a shadow hanging over your family name. For generations upon generations.”
She turned to look at me, and I saw steel in her eyes. “Then we don’t insult them, and we pay them what we owe. I don’t give a shit about either of our families’ names, Liam. What I care about is saving your brother. And you. You think either of us will ever get over losing Louis like this? And what will happen once he’s gone and you’re supposed to come to heel by your father’s side? The man who murdered your twin? I ask you again—how much do these assassins cost?”
Slowly, I exhaled and I looked at the woman in front of me. She was undeniably still the same woman I’d been so attracted to the first time I saw her, with her lush curves and pretty face. Even the fire in her gaze I’d recognized that first time she’d let me in between her thighs, but it’d been nearly hidden—muted embers smothered by her upbringing and attempts to live by society’s rules.
“You’ve changed, love,” I said softly, though I wasn’t able to keep the pride out of my voice.
“I have,” she said. “I’m no longer scared of what people think of me, because it doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is what I think of me. You taught me that. You and your brother. And I would not be able to live with myself if I sat idly by while the man I love dies for me. And neither would you—I know that much.”
Slowly, I nodded, because she was right. In the end, I would do anything for the people I loved the most. And that was her. And Louis.
Even call down the смерть taint.
“You’re right. I’ll call them.”
The Russian on my doorstep was as tall as me and as wide as my brother Marcus. His icy blue eyes were devoid of emotion, and when they flicked to my side, I had to quell the urge to step to the left and shield Audrey from his sight.
“Mr. Steel,” he said, a hint of accent in his deep voice. “Mrs. Steel?”
“No, no, we’re not married.” Audrey sounded a bit flustered, but she quickly gathered herself. “Please. Come inside.”
I stepped aside and the Russian walked in. His gaze roamed the living room before landing on me once more. “I believe you said the matter was of some urgency?”
“Yes. My brother—my twin—is being held by my father, William Steel. I need to get to him before it’s too late.”
The Russian arched an eyebrow at me. “We are assassins, Mr. Steel. We do not rescue people. If you do not have a target for me, you have wasted my time.”
“We do have a target,” Audrey said, her voice sharp. “William Steel. But we need him dead before he kills Liam’s twin. An organization with a reputation like yours is capable of working within time limits, I’m sure.”
The assassin cocked a brow at her. I wrapped an arm around her and stared him down, ensuring he knew she was under my protection. But he didn’t take offense to her sharpness.
“We do. For the right price.”
“And that is?” Audrey asked, sounding every ounce the businesswoman she’d been trained to be. An errant thought that she could do quite well for us once we’d taken control of London again flickered at the back of my mind.
“What is the deadline?”
Audrey glanced at me.
“Two hours. He’ll want to display Louis to the Perkinsons and the other families to show them the true power of his wrath before he kills him,” I said.
“Then our price is five million pounds,” the Russian said. “Up front.”
“I can get you five hundred thousand up front. The rest I won’t be able to get to before he’s dead,” I said, a knot of ice forming in my gut. Of course they wanted upfront payment—it’s why our father hadn’t managed to secure the hits on us. If that payment had made it to them, we’d be having an entirely different meeting with the смертьs than we currently were.
“The price is five million up front,” he repeated, voice impassive.
“Five hundred thousand now—six million and five hundred thousand after,” Audrey said. “You know it’s a better deal than what you’ll get if you turn us down. And you know the Steels are good for it, especially after their father is gone and they inherit the empire.”
The Russian narrowed his eyes ever so slightly at her. “The смертей do not negotiate.”
“I’m sure that’s not true,” Audrey countered, as calmly as if this had been a regular business meeting. “You are an organization who takes monetary compensation for your services. I am certain you will want the best price possible for your work. What we are offering is the best price. The alternative is you leave here with nothing—an outcome neither party will be pleased with. I take it you already expended some effort getting past William Steel’s men guarding this building? It would be a shame if that was in vain.
“Of course, the alternative is you take the deal, and the guaranteed seven million we are offering, and everyone benefits. Well, everyone but William Steel… Tell me, did you not have a business deal with him fall through yesterday?”
The assassin stared
at Audrey with a blank expression for three long seconds while the silence stretched between us, and my adrenaline spiked as I prepared myself to defend her, gunshot wound be damned.
Then he turned his head to look at me. “How much for the woman?”
Audrey went pale as a sheet next to me, but despite the circumstances, I couldn’t hold back a grin. “Sorry, she’s not for sale. I plan on marrying her once this matter with my father is settled.”
“Pity.” He looked back at her, his eyes sliding up and down her curvy figure once. “She could be useful.” He looked back at me. “Seven million. Five hundred thousand now.”
I shook his hand, suppressing a wince as the firmness of his grip sent bolts of pain up my wounded arm. “Deal. Wait here.”
When I left the room to find the five hundred grand Louis and I’d stored away in case of an emergency, Audrey practically stuck to me like glue. Once we were out of earshot in the kitchen, she whispered, “Did he… did he really offer to buy me?”
I smirked. “Sure did. You should be proud—it takes a lot to impress a смерть.”
“But why?” She still sounded horrified, but I guess she wasn’t exactly used to a world where human flesh was traded as commonly as drugs and weapons. Not that we’d ever partaken in the slave trade—even mafia Families had limits, and that one even our father hadn’t crossed.
“Who knows? Either he wanted you to do business negotiations for the organization, or he found your bossiness as hot as I do. Wanna ask him?” I playfully lifted my brows before I knelt down to reach up under the cabinet that hid our safe. It was a bitch to get to, but it was well enough hidden that no one would think to look for it there.
“God, no!” She was silent for a little while while I struggled with the combination.
“Liam?”
“Yeah, love?”
“You said… you planned on marrying me.”
I paused, my fingers stilling on the dial. “I do.”
“I—”
“We’ll talk about it after,” I said softly. I knew what she was about to say. That things were so complicated between the three of us, how could I possibly talk about marriage? But everything we’d been through, the night the three of us had shared in the bothy in the Welsh mountains… it changed nothing. There would be heartache, I knew that, maybe even a lifetime’s worth, but I would always want to say my vows of forever to this woman, of that I was certain.
But right now, I had to focus if I wanted any chance at saving my brother, because if he died, nothing would ever matter again.
“After,” she agreed. “Once Louis is safe.”
“Why is it always warehouses?” I muttered.
Audrey looked at me from behind the wooden pallet where we were both crouched.
Even in the shadows shielding us from detection, I could see the question on her face.
“Every time there’s a liquidation planned, it’s always in a fucking warehouse,” I explained, though I was aware my irritation with the location was ridiculous. And not really the point, regardless, but it was a lot easier to focus on than the knowledge that somewhere in there my twin sat, hurt and alone, with a gun aimed at his head.
“Easier clean up.” The way she said it, so matter-of-factly, I couldn’t help but snort.
“Fucking mafia princess indeed.” I gave her another glance, this time more appreciative. In some ways, she was calmer about the darkness in our world than Louis and I were—and she’d only been privy to it for a measly few weeks.
She smiled grimly, not taking her eyes off the front of the warehouse where a couple of my dad’s men were standing guard. “I’m done being a delicate flower who’s too scared of the world to bite back. They took Louis from us. They’re going to pay.”
“Yes,” I agreed. Her deadly tone fueled my own anger, fanning it through my blood until it blessedly quelled the fear and uncertainty that’d been gnawing at my gut since Louis surrendered to our father. “They are.”
39
Audrey
It took several minutes before the men guarding the entrance to the warehouse turned their backs in favor of a couple of approaching cars, and Liam waved me forward.
In a shock of recognition, I noticed Gregory Perkinson in the passenger side of the front car just as they pulled up. To see my nightmare client under such circumstances was beyond surreal, but I didn’t have time to waste on the rush of emotion the sight of him inspired.
I hurried after Liam in a bent-over run and threw myself around the corner of the warehouse just as the the sound of opening and closing car doors announced the newcomers’ arrival.
Liam put a hand on my shoulder and wordlessly told me to stay put. Then, quickly and soundlessly, he crept forward, still in a crouch, toward the far end of the warehouse. I could see the outline of a man pacing down there, oblivious to our presence.
Quicker than my eyes could follow, Liam leapt up from behind the man, put both hands on his head, and twisted.
A bolt of nausea shot through me at the faint crack. The man dropped like a sack of potatoes.
Liam turned to where I was hiding and waved me forward.
It was an odd sensation—while I’d known they were mafia for some time now, and they’d told me they’d killed before… somehow actually seeing Liam break that man’s neck rammed home how little I’d truly known of the man I’d fallen in love with.
But the truly surprising part was that, as I stepped over the body on the ground to join him, it didn’t bother me. I’d seen a man get killed, and I felt nothing but a passing moment’s discomfort, my focus still solidly on saving Louis and casualties be damned. This man, though nothing more than a grunt, would still have caught and hurt us if Liam hadn’t taken him out.
It’s funny, the things you never have to learn about yourself when you work an office job and spend your nights in front of the TV. I’d always considered myself a compassionate person, but as I snuck in the side door the now dead guard had been standing in front of, I realized that I was the kind of person who’d feel nothing at taking someone’s life if it was between them and someone I loved. It was an oddly liberating sensation.
The side door led to the main room, but fortunately someone had stacked several pallets and crates around it, creating a perfect hiding spot.
Liam waved me over to a crack between two crates and I bit my lip at what I saw. The warehouse was very big, but it was nearly halfway full of grim-looking men. Mafia, I assumed. All here to see the twins’ father show them what happened to anyone who crossed him. Even his own blood.
It took a little while for me to spot Louis, the angle of the crates narrowing my view of the other end of the warehouse, but when I did, my heart dropped.
He sat on a chair on top of a small dais with his arms and ankles tied. Blood dripped from a split eyebrow and a busted lip, and pain was etched across his face. Next to him, Wesley had a gun casually pointed at his head. He said something we were too far away to hear, and Louis grimaced in return, his lips moving in reply. Whatever he’d said, Wesley didn’t seem to appreciate it. He thwacked the butt of the gun against Louis’ shoulder, hard, making him cry out before he clamped his jaw shut in defiance.
That cry silenced the room. Everyone turned their focus to the dais, hushed silence gathering over the crowd of what looked to be at least fifty people.
And then I saw him. The man who’d caused so much evil.
William Steel was a handsome man for his age, with iron-gray hair and the same square jaw and broad shoulders as his sons. I hadn’t had time to appreciate how much of their father was in the twins the first time I’d met him, and it’d been too dark to really tell. But the physical appearance was all they’d inherited from him. As much as they might be capable of killing, I knew without a shadow of a doubt that neither Louis nor Liam would ever be capable of the kind of evil their father had unleashed upon their entire family.
He strode up on the dais with confident steps, stopping on the other side
of Louis to where Wesley was standing, and turned to face the crowd.
“Friends. I want to thank you for coming here on such short notice. Tonight is a historical night for London, and I would hate for any of you to miss it. I know relations between many of us have been tense for some time now, and so I thought it important for you to see with your own eyes how I will stomp this…. rebellion out once and for all.
“The Steels have ruled London for decades, and while I’m sure many would love to see us de-throned, I also know most of you would agree that we have run the city with a fair hand. Until my sons took it upon themselves to ruin the empire my Family’s built from within.” William reached out and grabbed a handful of Louis’ flaming mane, yanking his head back. “Lies. Corruption. Deceit. Treason. This is what I’ve put up with from my own kin these past few years. Everything for the Family. It seems my sons have forgotten their code of honor, along with their principles. And so it is with a heavy heart that I announce a death sentence on my youngest child. It is my hope that his brothers will see reason and come to heel once they understand that William Steel does not suffer betrayal from anyone—not even his own blood. If they don’t… they will suffer the same fate.
“And as for the rest of you…” He released Louis’ hair and pointed over the crowd with two fingers. “There have been whispers of overthrowing the Steel empire for two years now. Yes, of course I know. And I know that every single person in here has been a part of these conspiracies.”
Murmurs rose from the gathered men. William silenced them with a hand gesture.
“It ends tonight, or you will find that I am not the only one to lose a child. Know that any conversation you have about overthrowing my rule, I will learn of. Know that the punishment will be swift and merciless. Too long I’ve allowed this bickering, even in my own house. No more. It is my hope that tonight’s execution will underscore just how serious I am—and that we can all walk away from here with a new understanding and a prosperous working relationship going forward. Wesley?”