On the Edge of Love (Mama's Brood Book 1)

by Rucker, Shay

  Slipping into the backseat of the charcoal-gray town car, he sat in silence, looking out on a city that, though not frozen over as New York was in April, looked more dismal due to the obscuring fog that had yet to burn off.

  As the car slid down the streets of a city filling with eager tourists willing to face the wet chill and the homeless nestled in tarp cocoons on entryways of still-closed businesses, Maxim undid the only fastened button on his suit jacket and relaxed against the heated leather seat. His personal assistant, Reed Miller, sat next to him. After years of employment, his assistant was well trained in the needs of his employer, one of them being to remain quiet until Maxim had addressed him first.

  Despite all the chaos surrounding this situation, it would be a good day. Before it was done, he would be in possession of an elusive and long-sought-after prize. Sabrina. A woman he had not stood face-to-face with in over seven years. He hadn’t known her last name when they’d been together in New York; she was simply Sabrina. He’d come to know many things about her: her bravery, her spirit, her tolerance for pain, and the generosity of her flesh. He had lacked the maturity and sophistication he presently demonstrated when dealing with his most intimate liaisons. He’d unwisely overlooked things in the past, believed her when she told him her name, been so certain of her loyalty when she’d promised so many times that she wanted only him, that she would never leave him, that she would love him to her last breath.

  But she’d lied.

  “Where is the truck, Reed?”

  His assistant flipped open his tablet cover and tapped the surface several times before passing the device over to him.

  “It hasn’t moved for several hours. It’s located in a remote area that has no immediate access to public transportation. If she’s not there, it’s unlikely she hitched a ride and was picked up. With all the news broadcasts and missing person reports, some authority, be it the hospital or the police, would have been informed. She may be sleeping or unconscious in the truck, Mr. Kragen. Either way, we will have more information soon.”

  If this hadn’t been a private matter, an easily resolvable matter since he knew who she was, where she lived, where she worked, he would have used some of the Consortium’s ample resources to manage the situation. But between him, Reed, and his bodyguard-driver Eddie, they would have the matter of Sabrina Samora resolved.

  “Has the cliff house been prepared?”

  “Yes, sir. Everything will be ready for your use as soon as you arrive.”

  “And it’s fully equipped?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Maxim focused on the red flashing dot on the screen. The truck was approximately twenty-five minutes away, and given the early Saturday-morning hour, he didn’t expect to be slowed by traffic.

  “You know, I had thought by not going to London, I’d be able to avoid all this fog.”

  “It’ll be behind us the moment we’re out of the city, sir.”

  “That’s as it should be. One needs clarity of vision when embarking upon a destined path.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Sabrina was harmed. Why?”

  “I’m…uncertain, sir. Except for the security guard, Basir provided the manpower. Had he known of our connection to Sabrina’s retrieval, maybe he would have ensured her safety. My contact warned the men to handle her with extreme care.”

  “Yet they did not,” he said, recalling the reports of blood and destruction inside her apartment. Because he was highly intelligent, there would be no way the authorities could link the inept men with Maxim, as none except Reed knew of Maxim’s involvement. Not even Basir.

  “No, sir. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem they did, and that means the police are searching for your lady as diligently as we are.”

  “Surely not quite as diligently or as efficiently as we,” he said, humored by the absurdity of any police force succeeding where he had not. The town car slipped free of the clutching mist, and into sunshine and blue skies as they made their way across the Bay Bridge. If one were to guess, solely based on the current weather in San Francisco, one could believe the world was perpetually cloaked in chilling fog. It was a blessing to discover a warm, welcoming world awaited in the distance.

  Despite all he had achieved over the years, his life had seemed gray and cold since Sabrina’s departure, leaving him with the weight of his weaknesses. But he had gotten stronger, become the man she could once again respect, no longer one to be controlled but one who controlled much. Since her departure he had stepped into his power and, in doing so, gave himself the means for bringing her light back into his life.

  “Do you suppose she beat the odds and killed all four men? There were four bodies found in the warehouse,” Reed said.

  “The Sabrina I remember was kind, soft, easily led.”

  “Even the most timid can fight if they’re afraid for their life.”

  “She wouldn’t.”

  “If you’re certain, sir.”

  “I am, Reed.”

  And it was the truth. Sabrina had never struggled against him. She’d easily accepted his will, then his love. Yes, she’d run eventually, but she’d endured, she’d acquiesced, she’d even reveled in the attentions he’d given her, but Reed wouldn’t know that. It had been before his time.

  “If those men were not already dead, I would kill them very painfully,” he calmly promised.

  “They would deserve it, sir. It was a simple retrieval, and they turned the matter into a complicated mess.”

  Maxim nodded, sensing rather than seeing his assistant’s anger. He’d always liked Reed’s ability to candidly evaluate a situation. The younger man was lean, with compact musculature. He’d always had a hungry wolf look about him despite the expensive, sharp cut of every outfit he owned. Reed had the pale winter skin of his Black Irish heritage. Black, short-clipped hair, near-black eyes.

  It had been years since Maxim had watched Reed, then a seventeen-year-old boy, kill Matt Orley, Maxim’s then bodyguard, for attempting to retrieve the cell phone and wallet the young Reed had stolen from Maxim’s pocket only moments before. Instead of having the semi-indigent boy killed, Maxim had educated and employed Reed. Rather than living in a dump of a house with his mother and three younger brothers, Reed currently lived in a penthouse in Manhattan and had bought a three-level home in Brooklyn for his family, whom he continued to support, just no longer by street thievery.

  They rapidly made their way toward the blinking red dot. Unexpressed anticipation coursed through Maxim the closer they came. He returned the tablet to Reed. The thing was making him more on edge, and he needed to be relaxed when Sabrina was reunited with him. She was injured. Probably afraid. Again. Because of him.

  He was not a man conditioned or willing to express love or caring emotions easily, but he never lied to himself, and he knew Sabrina would always own a piece of his soul. She had been the first and only woman he had lain himself bare for. She’d accepted him, cherished him. Then one day she was simply gone. No one before or since had come close to satisfying the need she’d inspired. Maxim had found her again, and soon she would return to his side. He would never let her go. He knew his mind, his heart more clearly. He wouldn’t bend to the prejudice, fear, and shame of his parents. He knew their interference had something to do with her decision to abandon him, but they would never admit it.

  “Your father don’t like me, Max. I can tell by the way he looks at me like I’m not worth seeing.”

  “My father looks down on everyone, even me, even my mother. Ignore him, Sabrina. That’s how he and I have managed most of my life. Ignoring each other.”

  He remembered her sad, uncertain smile. Remembered pressing his lips against her softer, fuller ones. Remembered the unyielding force of his desire igniting each time he touched her, the way she screamed his name as he took her again and again, always begging him for more, always holding him as he trembled from the force of his release.

  All he’d had for years were his memories of her,
of them, but soon, due to his diligence and dedication, they would create new memories. Better memories, because he was stronger, stronger than his father’s threats and stronger than his mother’s histrionic tears or her bemoaning the shame she would carry due to his relationship with Sabrina. Maxim knew he’d become the man Sabrina needed him to be.

  “Are we close, Eddie?” Maxim asked his driver.

  “Little more than a mile, sir.”

  They were in an area no more than five miles away from the warehouse site. They were close. She was close.

  “Right there,” Eddie called out a few minutes later. Directly ahead of them, on the dirt area along the right side of the road, was the truck the dead men had used. Eddie pulled the car to a stop five feet away. Reed exited the car and came around to open the door for Maxim. Eddie was already approaching the truck, his right hand reaching behind him, moving toward the gun Maxim knew rested there.

  “Easy, Eddie. I don’t want her frightened any more than she already is.”

  He knew he was putting Eddie in a precarious position. It was his duty to see to Maxim’s safety over all others. But that was before. Sabrina had come back to him. All care had to be taken to protect her. There would be family, friends, and enemies alike who would be all too happy to permanently erase her from his life. He would not allow it to happen. Not again.

  As Eddie continued to approach the truck, Reed cautioned Maxim to stay behind the open door of the bulletproof car.

  “Perhaps you should wait inside until Eddie gives the all clear, sir.”

  “I’ll remain here. She won’t know who Eddie is. If she looks out and sees me, she’ll know she’s no longer in danger.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Eddie knelt on the ground and checked the undercarriage of the truck. When he stood, the only face reflecting against the black-tinted windows of the truck was his own. Reaching for the door, Eddie pulled the handle, weapon drawn. Eddie leaned inside, searching the front and rear seats.

  He ducked back out of the truck. “It’s empty.”

  Maxim’s heart stuttered over the despair he felt as he strode forward. He opened the rear door as Reed walked to the front of the passenger side. There was blood within. Not large amounts, but it was there, and despite the reports about the state of her apartment, for the first time he felt fear for Sabrina’s safety. She could be hurt and dying. Dead. To lose her permanently after all this time… It was too much to think about.

  “Sir,” Reed called to him.

  Maxim stepped around the back door. Measured steps, controlled. He blinked and felt the anger and frustration as he pulled alongside Reed.

  “You’ve found something?”

  “Yes, sir,” Reed said, holding out a five-by-seven photo. It took Maxim a moment to realize he was looking at a photo of Sabrina. A bruised and bloody Sabrina lying unconscious on what he suspected was the floor of the warehouse he was supposed to have retrieved her from. It seemed impossible, but even beaten, her beauty was more compelling than he remembered.

  But she could be dead based on the formless way her body was splayed out over the floor. She could also be alive and hiding in the surrounding rock formations, bushes, or trees.

  “Let’s spread out and search the area, Reed,” he said as he shrugged out of his suit jacket.

  Reed stopped him. “Turn it over, sir.”

  Maxim frowned at him and turned the photo over. Four black words, written with bold penmanship, mocked him. Look what I found.

  In less than a millisecond, rage flared, consumed him, turned the steel in his blood molten, and cooled, making his will harder. He folded the photo and placed it in the interior pocket of his jacket, against his heart.

  He walked back to the town car and slid inside.

  Over the years he had become adept at helping people understand why it was an unwise idea to cross him. But people were people, and so the lessons would have to keep coming apparently.

  “Call New York, Reed. Have my men brought over. Let’s find out if whoever took Sabrina knew all they’d be sacrificing when they made this unfortunate decision.”

  Reed pulled out his phone, hit a button, and brought it to his ear. Maxim sank back into the leathered interior of the car.

  “Derek, Mr. Kragen wants the team here in…” Reed looked to Maxim.

  “Now.”

  “The length of time you need to gather, equip, and get to the jet, then subtract three hours. Yes, Derek, it does mean have your asses on the plane within the hour. Yeah. See you soon.” Reed disconnected.

  “What do you want me to do with the truck, sir?” Eddie called out.

  The truck his Sabrina had bled in, suffered in. The only intact evidence linking Sabrina’s abductors to the men from the warehouse. “Take it up high and drive it over a cliff. And Eddie, I need that truck to burn.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Reed slipped back into the car, this time in the driver’s seat as Eddie retrieved a canister and flare from the trunk of the town car, then returned to the truck, somehow securing the items toward the back of the undercarriage, near the tank. Eddie quickly drove the truck up the hill, Reed trailing a safe distance behind him. When Eddie stopped the truck, Reed drove up farther, passing him, and made a U-turn. Maxim watched as Eddie sped down the hill, braked, and swerved, jumping out of the car as it went over and into the deserted ravine. The explosion was sublime.

  Once he was back in the driver’s seat of the town car, Eddie drove down the hill toward the main road that would lead them back to the freeway. Noticing how overcast the sky had become, Maxim realized how much of its vitality the day had lost.

  “What happens from here, sir?” Reed asked.

  They would return to the St. Regis, where he’d go back to his suite alone and meditate on the photo in his pocket until his team arrived. Then they would make plans to extract Sabrina and rain vengeance upon the person or persons who’d dared to take her.

  * * * *

  She felt so good.

  This is what peace feels like, she reminded herself. The few times she had experienced it, she’d had to name it. It is real, she thought as she snuggled deep. It was warm, and it was quiet, and it was as compelling as a rainforest coming alive with the first rays of morning’s light. It made her believe everything could be right with her, with the world. This feeling was so rare she wanted to hold on to it. Wanted to pretend her sister wasn’t dead, her infant niece had been born alive seven years ago and was a thriving child, that her mother was clean and dancing in the kitchen of their old apartment with a cigarette hanging out the side of her mouth like she did when Sabrina and her sister, Sam, were girls.

  Tears welled behind her closed eyelids. Her mother was dead, her sister was dead, her niece had never taken her first breath, and she was alone. She exhaled as the feeling of peace slipped away. It was a weak emotion that always retreated too soon, too fragile to stand against bitter memories and a lifetime of soul-numbing experiences.

  She shifted, pressing her cheek against the cushion of warmth beneath her, letting her legs splay open. She wasn’t able to hold on to peace, but she would hold on to this warmth just a little longer.

  A band of steel hardness settled across her lower back, locking her body against the cushion beneath her.

  “Don’t worry; not letting you go.” The words rumbled through her, pushing her completely from the nebula of semisleep to alarmed wakefulness.

  She lifted her head and opened her eyes to eerie gray ones. “Zeus.” Oh, hell. He was the last person she wanted to wake up in bed with. Flattening her hands against the muscles of his chest, she straightened her arms until their upper bodies were no longer touching.

  He frowned up at her. “Lie back down.”

  “Why are you lying beneath me, Zeus?”

  He shrugged, closing those molten gray eyes. “I wanted to be in you. I’m in your bed because it’s where I need to be to get what I want. Plus, you’re the one that crawled on top of me in the mid
dle of the night.”

  Her behavior while asleep wasn’t the issue; his being in bed with her was. “It’s so simple, huh? You have a need, and you just do whatever you want to satisfy it.”

  “Yep.”

  She lowered her upper body and rested her chin against his chest, the warmth of him more compelling than her concern over having him beneath her. “Sometimes other people have needs too. You can’t just disregard that.”

  “Yes, I really can. Not responsible for what other people need or don’t need. That’s their job. I take care of me. That’s my job.”

  Well, she couldn’t really fault his reasoning. She’d lived most of her life thinking the same way. When she’d left Ernesto’s abuse and run to her sister in Louisiana, Sabrina had begun to shift, to realize life was better with someone you loved in it, but then Sam committed suicide and Sabrina had vowed she’d never allow another person to hurt her just by loving them.

  Life, in the form of her neighbor Randy, had made a mockery of that vow once she’d moved to Oakland. Randy had determined she would come to love him, and despite his habitually sorry choice in boyfriends, eventually, she had. Then she’d found a job where she actually liked the people she worked with, and she’d accepted that she couldn’t disregard others as she’d learned to do growing up. Zeus obviously hadn’t learned those same lessons.

  “Where am I?” she asked, settling her head back on his shoulder and closing her eyes, too lazy and uninterested to look through the shadows and make out the details of the room they were in. Warmth had the potential to be a destructive addiction, she determined. It made you not care for much more than basking in it. Even when it radiated from an obviously unstable man.