Trouble: (A Bad Boy Mafia Romance) (Made & Broken Book 3)

by Nora Ash

  He nodded at the large man by Louis’ side, and panic exploded in my brain when I realized what was about to happen. Right now. I’d assumed the assassin would be here in time, I’d assumed everything was going to be all right. It hadn’t occurred to me that we might fail. Even after the cemetery, I’d had an unshakable faith that in the end, we would all be safe.

  That faith came crashing down as I saw Wesley slowly raise his gun. We were too late.

  No, no, no!

  I grabbed Liam’s arm, willing him to do something—anything—to make this stop, but I needn’t have.

  He slipped out from behind the boxes and raised the gun he’d taken from the guard whose neck he’d broken, aiming it at Wesley within the blink of an eye.

  But before either man could shoot, a resounding bang made everyone turn toward the warehouse’s front doors.

  It took me a little while to realize what had happened. More men stood in the now broken-down doors. Maybe twenty of them, guns trained on the people inside. It wasn’t until I spotted two distinct figures I realized help had finally arrived.

  I’d never seen the twins’ brothers before, but one look at the two raven-haired men leading the group of newcomers, and there was no doubt in my mind who they were. They were as big as both the twins and Isaac, one of them perhaps even more so, and their grimly set features were undeniably from the Steel lineage.

  “Nobody fucking move,” one of them, the slightly smaller one, shouted. “Anyone flinches, they get a bullet between the eyes. Do not draw your weapons. Do not be a hero. You will die.”

  You could have heard a pin drop, the silence spreading across the warehouse was that deafening. Until William Steel pulled his own gun faster than the human eye could follow and pressed it against Louis’ temple.

  “Blaine. Marcus,” he said. “How nice of you to join us, though I am unsure what you thought you’d accomplish here. You won’t be able to get a shot off before your brother is dead. You and I both know you don’t have the balls to sacrifice one of your own. An unfortunate taint left over from your mother’s influence, I’m saddened to say.” His eyes flickered to Liam. “Ah, and I see you didn’t take our little chat last night seriously, either. Who is it going to be, then, Liam? Wesley? Me? No matter who you shoot, your twin will die. But you can still live. You and that girl you seem so fond of. Lower your weapons—all of you. Only one of my sons has to die tonight. The choice is yours.”

  No one moved.

  I looked from the Steel brothers to their father, and across the sea of made men between them, and I knew this wouldn’t end well. The longer Liam and his brothers hesitated, the sooner someone in the crowd would snap and draw his weapon, and all hell would break lose. And I would lose Louis—and possibly also Liam.

  Moving carefully, I slipped out from behind the crates to stand by Liam’s side. He was too focused on his father to pay me any mind, which was probably for the best. However, I caught Wesley’s eye, possibly because I was the only one moving in his field of vision. He glanced at me—and I stared back. Willing him to remember what we’d promised would happen to his boyfriend if he didn’t comply.

  Something in my expression must have shone through, because he kept his eyes on me for several moments.

  I raised my hand and tapped my fingertips against my temple. Think.

  At that moment, I swore to myself that if either of my twins got hurt from this, I would personally find his lover. And I would end him.

  Wesley tore his gaze from mine, and my heart sank at the same time as my fury boiled in my veins. He thought my threat could be dismissed, that I didn’t have the strength to carry through—

  The gunshot echoed through the warehouse, like a singular thunderbolt. Deafening as it echoed off the metal walls.

  I—and everyone else—stared at the dais. William Steel lay lifeless on the floor, crumpled in a heap next to his tied-up son. A red mark leaking a thin trickle of blood was visible on his temple.

  Wesley lowered his gun without taking his eyes off his former boss’s body.

  Liam was the first to move. He walked to the dais in long strides, gun at the ready. When he got there, he turned to face the crowd.

  “William Steel’s reign over London has ended. It has ended because he caused harm to the Steel Family, to his own kin. He killed our mother, he killed our brother—and he tried to cull the rest of us, too. I want you all to remember this night. Remember that anyone who attempts to harm the Steel Family will die.

  “My brothers and I have taken over the Steel empire, and we expect absolute and complete loyalty from anyone who wishes to do business in our city. Traitors will be dealt with. Harshly. Does anyone have any objections to our claim? Now is your time to speak up. Now is your only time to speak up.”

  Only silence followed his words.

  “Very well.” Liam nodded at his brothers at the back of the crowd, then turned to untie Louis.

  The two dark-haired brothers moved through the throng. From my vantage point, it took me a moment to realize that they were gathering up people, and it wasn’t until they’d herded the small group of five men up to the dais that I saw exactly who they were: The Perkinsons.

  Loud murmurs rose from those who remained in attendance, one voice rising above the others to shout, “What’s the meaning of this?”

  “As my brother said—we do not tolerate traitors,” the Steel brother who’d spoken before said. “The Perkinsons betrayed us. We offered them forty percent of London for their support, and they accepted—only to sell us out to our dear father the second our backs were turned.” He kicked Gregory in the back of the knees, making him stumble to the ground. Perkinson senior went willingly, a look of grim acceptance on his face. A couple of the others struggled, but were quickly—and painfully—subdued.

  “I still expect payment in full.”

  I jumped at the lilting voice sounding right behind me and spun around to come face-to-chest with the Russian assassin. He leaned against the pallets Liam and I’d been hiding behind, both arms crossed over his chest without taking his cool gaze off the dais.

  I arched an eyebrow at him and forced my speeding heart to settle down—as much as was possible with the lethal killer this close. “You didn’t fulfill the job you were hired to do.”

  “I would have. But you contracted another to do my job. I do not appreciate being beaten to a kill, Miss Waits.”

  So he’d learned my name, then. I frowned, trying to ignore the unsubtle indication that he knew who I was now. “We didn’t hire anyone else. That man was his right hand.”

  “Yes. And he shot his master—the man he’s worshipped for so many years… because you told him to.” The Russian finally took his disturbingly cold eyes off the front of the room and settled them on me. “When he hired my organization to kill his sons, I researched the family. I always do. That man has been loyal to the point of idiocy for two decades. And yet one gesture from you, little bird, and he turned like a rabid dog. So yes, you contracted another to fulfill my job, and I will have my agreed payment.” His gaze flickered down my body once, but there was no heat in it when his focus returned to my face a second later. “Be thankful I find you interesting, Miss Waits. I could easily have taken offense to your lack of faith that I’d honor our arrangement.”

  “There’s nothing interesting about me,” I squeaked, my composure waning in the face of his chilling presence. As far as I was concerned, anything that would make him take notice of me wasn’t something I wanted. At all. Especially not when the twins weren’t there to save me from committing a potentially lethal faux pas.

  Something that could have been the ghost of a smile curved the corner of his mouth. “Oh, I disagree.” He reached underneath his coat and flicked out a small, white business card that he held out toward me between two fingers. “And so would my organization, should you be so inclined.”

  I took his card out of reflex. “Thanks, but, um, no offense, but I don’t really think the life of an a
ssassin is mine. Also, I don’t speak Russian. I am very flattered, though.”

  He snorted, and this time I was pretty sure a smile touched his lips. “The choice is yours, of course. You could attempt to choose one of your Steel men and see if they can bear to be parted. Their bond is quite famous in the underworld, you might say. My best guess, you will ruin them both. Or, you can go back to your old life. Get up every morning, put on your work attire, and travel to a job you know deep down will never fulfill you. I’ve seen your true face tonight, little bird. You’ve tasted the other side now, and you know this is where you belong. Between murderers and thieves. You’re good at it. And what’s more… you like it. That feeling of power when a man dies because you will it? When you find yourself craving another taste… call.”

  The Russian straightened up, his glacial eyes finally leaving my petrified face to sweep back over the crowd. “Remind your Steel men to pay what they owe before the sun sets tomorrow evening.” He didn’t bother looking back, and when I blinked, he was gone.

  Slowly, and dazed from the surreal encounter, I turned back to look at the dais. Liam had gotten Louis untied and was supporting him as they stood next their two other brothers, with the five Perkinson men kneeling in front of them, all facing the crowd.

  “Under my father’s rule, all five of these men would have died for their crimes,” the Steel brother who’d forced Gregory to his knees said, his voice echoing through the warehouse. He tapped the back of my former nightmare client’s skull with the barrel of his gun. “Surely they were part of the conspiracy, no? If and when we find proof of this… That will still be the case under our new leadership. But…” He moved the gun to Brian’s head. “You cannot always blame a son for his father’s sins.”

  The second gunshot of the night rang through the warehouse. I cringed as Brian Perkinson fell to the floor with a thud, half the back of his head missing.

  The raven-haired man turned to the remaining four, who looked visibly nauseated. “You have a choice to make. Seek revenge for your patriarch’s death and end his days like him—on your knees—or take the mercy you’ve been shown tonight and realign your Family with the Steels.”

  “We—we choose you.” Gregory’s voice was hoarse and hardly recognizable with the new tone of servility that’d certainly never been there during any of my meetings with him. “The Perkinsons will serve your Family now, and forevermore.”

  A shout went through the crowd, like a wave of sound as the fathered mafia Families let their support be known:

  “Steel! Steel! Steel!”

  40

  Audrey

  “Well, that’s what you get when you run off like a damn hero to sacrifice yourself. What the fuck were you thinking?”

  I sat in the comfortable armchair in the twins’ flat, looking on as Liam cared for Louis’ injuries with far more gentleness than his words let on. His hands moved over his twin’s bruised and battered flesh as carefully as if he’d been a newborn, pouring peroxide on wounds and smearing ointment on bruises.

  “You know I couldn’t lose you. Either of you,” Louis said. His voice was still cracked and hoarse, and the thought of what’d been done to him to make it sound like that made me want to cling to him and sob into his neck like a child. But something held me back. Something had been holding me back ever since we’d left that warehouse a few hours ago. I wanted to kiss them, confirm with my own hands and lips that they were both going to be all right and that we’d truly made it through this nightmare. But I hadn’t.

  “Do you think I’d survive losing you, you fool?” Liam asked, his voice too raw with emotion to hide the pain. He dabbed disinfectant on the two stitches he’d put in his brother’s eyebrow to close up the gash there. “It’s always been you and me. Always.”

  And there it was. The reason I couldn’t give in to my desperate urge to climb onto the couch with them and tell them how much I loved them.

  The Russian’s words echoed in my head as I stared at the two twins who’d changed me so fundamentally I could barely recognize myself. The men who’d stolen my heart and broken it into two equal parts.

  You will ruin them both.

  As I looked at them on the couch, their bond was so visible it may as well have been a physical entity. They truly were two halves of a whole. An entity. I’d gotten between them, an outsider who didn’t understand, and it’d nearly broken both of them. In the end, if I ever chose one and not the other, they would both wither and die, and the life and laughter I’d first felt when I met them would be gone. Because of me.

  “We’ll need to get you to the hospital with that shoulder,” Liam said, breaking my inward spiraling thoughts.

  “It’ll be fine on its own,” Louis protested.

  Liam leveled him with an unamused stare and a cocked eyebrow. “It’s bad enough we both have to add to our tattoos with all these new fucking scars—I am not adopting a hunchback so we are still identical when your shoulder sets wrong because you’re a massive knobhead and didn’t go to the fucking hospital.” He looked at me, his face smoothing and his voice gentling. “You wanna come, love? Or do you need to sleep? The flat’s secure—we’ve got men watching it.”

  My heart clenched as I looked into his gray eyes. The love in them was unhindered by the exhaustion painted across his handsome face, and I wanted so much to give in to my stupid heart begging me to stay. I wanted nothing more than to climb into bed and sleep the horrors of the past few days and weeks away, only to wake up in a warm embrace and a world where everything was okay—where I’d get my happy ending, because that’s how fairytales turned out. You slay the dragon and get the prince, and live happily ever after.

  But that wasn’t how our story would end.

  “I…” I looked from him to Louis, and fuck, it hurt. It hurt more than anything I’d ever had to do, but I had to do it. If I was selfish, if I stayed, then it would only hurt them both infinitely more in the long run.

  “I’m not coming with you. And I’m not staying.” I drew in a deep breath and got to my feet, locking my knees when my legs wobbled. “I think it’s best if we end this now, before it’s too late.”

  The look of shock on both twins’ faces was identical.

  “Audrey, no—”

  “I know it’s been brutal, love, I do.” They both got to their feet, Louis a little slower than Liam thanks to his broken and battered body. They reached for me, trying to assure me, but I stepped back. I couldn’t stand the thought of their hands on me, because I knew if they touched me, I wouldn’t be able to find the strength to break away. Not now, not ever.

  “But it’s over now. I swear on everything that’s holy you will never again be put through what you’ve been these past few days.”

  “We can protect you now, Audrey. You’re safe. We don’t have to hide anymore. No one will touch you.”

  I looked down, unable to keep looking at the desperate plea in both sets of gray eyes, and fought against the tears threatening to spill over. “It’s not that. You know it’s not.”

  “Then what? What can we do?”

  I looked back up, losing the battle against the tears. They slid down my cheeks, fat streaks of translucent pain. “This doesn’t end well. I can’t choose between you. I love you both… so much. And I can’t bear to see you fall apart. If I come between you, this… your bond—I’d ruin you, both of you, and I couldn’t live with that.”

  “Audrey, no, that’s not—” Louis reached for me with his good arm, but I flinched away.

  “You of all people know it is,” I said, looking at his many injuries. “You knew it at the cemetery—you gave your life because you knew there’s no way the three of us could ever be happy. Do you think he could be happy knowing you were broken? Could you? If I choose you, can you live with the knowledge that your twin is hurting because of us?”

  I saw it in his eyes, the moment he understood the truth in my words. Pain so intense it echoed in my own twisting gut flashed across his face. He didn’
t say anything, but he didn’t have to. He knew I was right, and the evidence was written all over his beautiful, broken face.

  Drawing in a deep breath to give me the strength I needed, I turned and walked toward their front door.

  “Audrey.”

  It was a whisper. I didn’t know from who, and I didn’t turn around to find out.

  “I don’t think we should see each other again. It… it would hurt too much,” I said, my voice as broken as my aching heart. “Goodbye.”

  “Honey, why don’t you call your old job. I bet they’d love to have you back. Maybe you’re not feeling well because you need to get back to your old life.”

  The thing about returning after several weeks of being a missing person is that your parents tend to get pretty clingy.

  Not that I could blame them, or minded, when they asked if it “wouldn’t be better” if I moved home for a little bit. I’d predictably lost my job after not giving them any notice about my extended absence, and with no income, I’d happily accepted moving back home with my parents for a little bit while I figured out what to do next.

  It’d also been nice to have someone doting on me while I tried to get over the heartbreak I’d caused myself. They weren’t particularly understanding about that part, having decided that “that boy” was the reason I’d gone missing. Both my mother and father got in a huff just at the mention of Liam’s name, so I didn’t talk about him. Or Louis. At least it made not thinking about them, and how much I missed them, a little easier.

  However, I hadn’t been back a week before both my parents began trying to push me back into my old job. My old life. The old Audrey-mold they’d so carefully crafted while I was a kid eager to please everyone around me. And I… I found it no longer fit.

  The Russian had been at least partly right—one thing that’d come out of my brush with London’s underworld was that I knew I no longer belonged in an office. I didn’t belong in the corporate world, and I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life bending over backwards to please people who would never respect me or my work.