by G. Bailey
“What?” Elliot shouts, waking Hope up and she starts grumbling a little. I slide off Harley’s lap, gently rocking Hope.
“She isn’t well. I don’t think she ever walked out on us,” Harley tells them. Sebastian looks at the floor, and Elliot just shakes his head.
“You can’t believe that, Harley,” Elliot says.
“Tell us everything,” Sebastian says, placing a hand on Elliot’s shoulder.
“I’m going to find her some milk,” I tell Harley who gives me a nod. I walk out of the room and shut the door behind me, just as Allie and Emilia come running down the corridor.
“I heard something happened to Luke,” Emilia says, panic all over her face.
“Is Elliot in there? And, I’m so happy you have Hope back,” Allie says, giving me a small smile.
“Luke has been stabbed and is in surgery. I don’t know anything else. Elliot, Sebastian, Izzy, and Harley are having a talk in there. I would leave them for a little bit,” I respond, answering all the questions. Emilia runs around me and straight towards the reception desk.
“Do you need anything?” Allie asks me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders.
I look back at the door, and give her the only answer I can. “I want everyone to be okay.”
“Me, too,” Allie whispers.
Chapter 30
Harley
“To what do I owe the pleasure?” Arthur laughs as I walk into the office at the back of the Cage. I slam the door shut, and walk across the room. Arthur tries to pull the drawer to his desk open, to, no doubt, get a weapon out, but I get to him first. I slam my fist into his face, sending him flying off the chair, and I lean down, picking him up and slamming him onto the desk. I wrap my hands around his neck and start squeezing. He struggles against me, trying to move my hands, and mouthing words I’m not listening to. I loosen my hands a little and move closer.
“You may think you’re indestructible in here, but this is proof you are not. I know what you did, that you helped that shit-head Daniel. That my brother is in court tomorrow because of you. That my girlfriend went through hell because of you,” I lean closer, “Why shouldn’t I kill you? Get rid of your pathetic existence?” I say then let go, and he slides off the desk. I stand looking down at him as he gasps for breath.
“I . . . I will leave you alone. Nothing more from me,” he gasps out, and I laugh as I pull the gun out of my jacket. I unlock the safety and point the gun at his head.
“You spent years trying to make my brothers like our father and me, but you never realised that if you did succeed, it's likely I would kill you. My father tried to kill you because he was stupid, and you’re lucky I’m not.”
“Thank . . . Y-you,” he says, and I lean down, placing the gun next to his head. He goes very still.
“But, Arthur, I’m not fucking around. Now, you mess with my family once more, in any way, I’m going to kill you.” I push the gun into his head, making him lean his head to the side, “And, it won’t be quick.”
“I get it,” he says, and I stand up.
“One more thing, I want you to leave this town. If I see you around, you’re dead. That’s your price for everything. I know you have other businesses,” I say, and he nods, rubbing his swollen neck. I walk out of the office, slamming the door behind me and looking down at the four, knocked-out guards outside the room. Sebastian and Elliot are leaning against the entrance to the Cage. I slide my gun back into my pocket as I step over one of the men and walk towards my brothers.
“Alive?” Elliot asks.
“Yes, but he gets it. We won’t be seeing Arthur again,” I tell them both. We walk out of the Cage and get into my car before making the ten-minute trip to the nursing home I’ve put our mother into.
“You sure you both want to do this?” I ask them as I turn the car off.
“I am,” Sebastian says, getting out of the car.
“Elliot?” I ask him as he stares at the building.
“I’m staying in the car. I just can’t see her. I know what you told me. I know that she didn’t leave me, but I need Allie here. I just can't,” he says, shaking his head. I place my hand on his shoulder.
“I get it. No matter what, she will be here for a long time, and you can meet her when you want to,” I tell him.
“Go,” he nods his head towards where Sebastian is waiting outside the nursing home. The nursing home is a brick building, that only has twenty people living here and twenty-four-seven care for my mother. The outside is lined with flowers, the windows don’t have horrible bars on them, and overall, it’s nice.
“Elliot isn’t coming in?” Sebastian asks, and I give him a nod for an answer. I don’t have to say anything else, this is hard enough for all of us.
“Mr. King, she is waiting for you,” Susan, a middle-aged nurse says as she stands up from behind the counter in the entrance hall.
“Lovely to see you, Susan.”
“You must be one of the other sons she tells me about, Sebastian, Elliot, or Luke?”
“Sebastian,” he answers.
“What has she said?” I ask Susan.
“Well, since we have weaned her off that high amount of drugs she was on, she never stops talking. She tells me stories of you as babies, what you liked to play with.”
“So, she is normal?”
“Normal is a complicated word. You mother still has episodes where she gets petrified, and we have to sedate her. I hope, with time, there will be less and less,” she tells Sebastian, who gives her a tight nod. We all have an idea of what happened to frighten her so much and cause these episodes. It must have been something our father did.
“How are your lovely girlfriend and baby doing?” she asks me. We brought Hope here last week to see my mother, with Tilly.
“What normal three-month-olds do, chew everything and never stop eating,” I chuckle, loving how Hope is far more settled at home with Tilly and me. Following the weeks after she was taken, she was not sleeping and unsettled, but I think it was because Tilly was so on edge and watching her all the time. When Tilly started to relax, so did Hope.
“He means the baby, I’m sure that’s not what Tilly does but who knows what goes on behind closed doors,” Sebastian says, making her laugh, and I glare at him.
“Lighten up, bro,” he says, hitting my arm. Susan opens a door for us.
“She is in here and having a good day.”
“You ready for this?” I ask Sebastian, who nods.
“I’m a King, and you taught me how to be ready for anything,” he says with a smirk and walks in.
Epilogue
Luke
5 years later…
I get out of my car, slamming the door shut and looking up at the house I haven’t seen in five, long years. Everything has changed, but the house still looks the same. The same brick walls and large windows, the same front door. I pull my suit jacket on and walk up to the door. I lift my hand, knocking on the door of my old home. I don’t think I’ve ever knocked before.
“Luke?” Maisy asks as she opens the door, shock all over her face. Maisy doesn’t look older, she is still beautiful with long, black hair and big, blue eyes. She holds the door open as I walk in, and she stands, keeping it open, and not saying a word. The last time I saw her was with all my family when I was charged and went to prison for two years. Not that I spent the whole two years there; I never did. Only the price of being out of jail early was never seeing my family. Pretending I hated them all. Pretending for five years to be someone I’m not.
“Who is it?” I hear my sister shout, just before she walks out of the living room in her wedding dress. Her long, blonde hair is up in a complicated bun, and her long, white dress looks amazing on her. I’ve seen photos of them all over the years, but it’s still strange to see her so grown up.
“Luke?” she whispers, dropping the flowers she was holding on the ground before running over to me and wrapping her arms around my neck. I let her hug me for a second before stepping away.
“Where the hell have you been? It’s been five years since . . .,” she says, her green eyes locked on mine.
“Izzzzzyyy!” I hear a male-child’s voice, and then I look up to see a small, dark-haired boy running down the stairs, with a little, red haired girl next to him. They look the same age, but I don’t know who he is. I recognise the five-year-old girl as Hope, but the boy isn’t Jake, the only boy in the family. I’ve kept my eye on them all enough to know what they look like. The boy and Hope run over to Izzy, both of them dressed for the wedding.
“Luke . . . what the hell?” Harley asks, walking down the stairs and stopping on the last step as we stare at each other. Harley has cut his hair, it's shorter and stops around his ears now and shorter at the front. All the years of being married and having Hope to look after has made him look happy. I saw photos of their wedding in Spain. It was just him, Tilly, and Hope.
“I know I have a lot to explain, but I wouldn’t miss my sister’s wedding,” I reply with a small smile.
Authors Note
Hello and thank you for buying my book! You’re amazing, and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your support. A big thank you to Michelle, Taylor, Anna, and Meagan. The next book in the King brothers series is Tristan’s Redemption (#4.5). Come and say hello on my Facebook page, Twitter or my website listed below. I post teasers, new covers and giveaways on my Facebook group… Bailey’s Pack.
A review would be amazing, and I would love you for it as every review helps me a little bit, and I love reading them all!
Thank you to all my family for their support as I wrote this book. Thank you to my husband for feeding me when I forget to eat, and my children for not destroying the house.
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Please keep reading for an exclusive scene between Blake and Izzy, and an excerpt from Strip for me…
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