Carter came next to him and placed a knife in his free hand. Nathan didn’t know where she had gotten the weapon, but he was thankful for it. The sound, feel, everything about the moment he pierced Cole Steele’s stomach with a knife was thrilling. Cole screamed as loud as he could manage with Nathan’s hand wrapped around his throat. Unaffected by the man’s cries, Nathan dragged the knife upward, watching the veins in Cole’s now red face nearly burst out of his forehead. Nathan loosened the hold on his neck as blood began to sputter from his mouth. Soon the life left Cole’s eyes and he released his hold, letting the body fall to the ground.
The silence surrounding him allowed him to hear his own heavy breaths. It always took a second for him to calm back down after such a significant kill, but because he knew they were pressed for time he pulled himself together quickly. He looked up at the many armed men now staring at him in silent interest; some with smiles, and some with blank expressions.
Nathan lifted his blood-covered hands. “Does anyone have a towel?”
Chapter 32: His father’s son
Nathan didn’t understand the Steele clan, but he was pretty sure he understood why the motherfuckers were so feared. They just came off … well, Nathan didn’t know how to explain it, not even in his mind. However, had he met them before going to war with them, he’d have thought twice before fucking with them. Yes, he would have ended up going to war with them still, but he would have at least been aware of the fact that he was going to war with some … very strange individuals. They did things that weren’t normal; such as blindly following a woman they didn’t even know. Even though it was because Carter was the closest thing to Silas they’d get, it was still odd.
Nathan and the men followed behind his crazy wife. Once they made it to the door, Nathan went ahead of her and used the emergency code to open the door. He was more than sure it was the reason why Carter had chosen for them to meet at the Salerno Building. Once the emergency code was entered, Nathan’s father would be alerted that something was wrong at S.O. and he would come with the reinforcements they needed to stop the inevitable face-off with a rebellious bunch of bastards. As usual, Carter was a genius. When Nathan had told her to take leadership of the Steele Clan, he hadn’t known it’d be this easy.
Everything was a little too easy for comfort, and Nathan was now waiting for the big shock. The thing that would knock them off of their feet and obliterate all of their plans. Something told him he wouldn’t have to wait long.
Once the light switched red, Nathan opened the door, allowing Carter to walk in first. He admired how well put together she was despite everything they’d been through tonight. The dinner party, the shooting, the car crash, nearly drowning, the battle on the bridge, and the encounter with her perverted brother would have shaken a lesser woman, but not Carter. Even dressed in a damp, oversized dress shirt, with shoeless feet and tangled hair, she appeared unaffected by the events of the evening.
Nathan quickly fell in to step next to her, sensing the need to because she was speeding up. “Carterina,” he whispered after her.
She didn’t slow down. “We need to figure this out or we’re dead, Nathan” she said in low voice, never once glancing in his direction. “These men are dead. Whoever orchestrated this attack is going to kill them. He won’t be happy we’re here. I chose this place; he’ll know they obeyed me because I’m Silas’s daughter. I need to think. Just being Silas’s daughter isn’t enough. They’d still shoot us with their leader here …”
He frowned. “Wait, I thought it was Aziz that—”
“Did you not hear what Cole said about his new leader, Nathan? He wouldn’t have spoken of Aziz that way. He would have just said Aziz’s name. Did you use the code?”
“Of course I did.”
“How long do you think it’ll take them to get here?”
“I don’t know. Ten or fifteen minutes.”
“Shit!” she whispered sharply with a fearful look on her face. Her eyes glossed with tears. “God, Nathan. We won’t be alive in five minutes … It’s probably a fucking army. We can’t fight them all before they inevitably kill us. Our kids, bubby, we’re parents. Aleksandr and Maksim shouldn’t have to grow up without their mother and father.”
Nathan sped up to keep pace with her and placed a hand on her back. “Baby, I’ll figure this out, I promise. We’re not dying here—”
“No, we’re not …” She swallowed her emotions and her expression once again became impassive. “We need to figure out something. We need to stall.”
Nathan’s face wore an expression of confusion. “But how?”
“Exactly. But how? By any means necessary …”
What? Nathan didn’t get it. Sometimes Carter really scares me.
The moment they neared the reception desk they both turned to face the Steele men behind them. Neither Nathan nor Carter had any clue what the hell they were going to do now that the plan they’d had was pretty much shot to shit. Now their only option was to wait and see who the hell was running this operation, and pray that Angelo showed up soon.
Abruptly, various unrecognizable men walked through the revolving doors into the massive lobby of the Salerno Organization. Only seconds after entering they raised their guns and killed every one of the men that had arrived with Nathan and Carter, just as she had predicted they would. Nathan peeked over at Carter while the murder took place. He’d expected her to at least grab on to his arm or grab him, urging him to run and hide behind something, but she didn’t move. She stood still while her eyes darted back and forth and her brows furrowed into a frown.
She had something, Nathan knew it. That was her, ‘Don’t mess with me, I’m putting something together’ face.
As soon as the shooting stopped all guns were aimed at them. Carter placed a hand on Nathan’s wrist and took a step in front of him.
“Trust me,” she whispered to him in Russian.
Reluctantly, Nathan nodded his head. He didn’t know exactly what it was she planned to do, but knowing Carter it would be something that would most likely push him closer to a heart attack.
“You would betray the man that has given you everything?” she asked the army of men in front of her.
No one responded.
“What will all of you say to him when he sees what you’ve done? You are all traitorous men—”
“We are not the traitors!” a man standing in front of the others shouted.
Nathan guessed he was from Germany, just like the Steeles they’d attacked a while back. The man lowered his gun and took a step forward.
“Your father has deserted us, leaving us with only the wages that he felt we earned. After all that we’ve done for him. After all we’ve given up to be a part of his vision—”
“You haven’t given up shit,” Carter said calmly, silencing the man. She took a menacing step toward him. “You had nothing until he gave you something. Had Silas not welcomed each and every one of you into his vision you’d have nothing to be pissed off about. You’re an ungrateful piece of shit. You can’t fight for what doesn’t belong to you.”
“But he said—”
Holding up her hand to once again stop him, Carter shook her head. “I don’t want to hear what he said back then. I want you to tell me what he’d say now, knowing of this betrayal. What would Silas say to you?”
This time, a different man spoke up. “He’d say many things. And then he’d say nothing. Silas will no longer love us for what we’ve done,” he muttered with his eyes to the ground and a frown on his face. “He will consider this treason and will execute us all …”
“Shut the fuck up, Zuri,” the first man yelled again. “Silas has already shown how much we mean to him by leaving. Our loyalty is to Roe now.”
The man called Zuri stepped forward, shaking his head and looking at the others behind him. “What were we thinking?”
“I mean it. Stop this talk before Roe hears you, and gives you the same punishment he gave them.” He pointed to
the dead men on the floor. “The instructions were simple. Never listen to the fucking girl … she lies. She is a manipulator just like Anastacia Stone!”
Zuri pointed a shaky finger at Carter. “That is Cecilia fucking Steele, Zeek! Cecilia! Silas’s daughter. We were a part of a plot to assassinate Silas’s offspring. Do you not remember what he did to the Stone family? He wiped them out without our help. We didn’t even know he’d done it until he returned to Germany.”
“And your point is?”
“He did it for them; that’s my point!”
Nathan and Carter didn’t say a word. It seemed the man’s fear was beginning to spread throughout the small army of men.
“When it comes to Anastacia Stone and the children they created Silas couldn’t care less about us. I tried to tell you this before you convinced us to listen to Roe. We will all die, Zeek. We cannot beat him—”
“We can, and we will …” a familiar deep, heavily French-accented voice said from behind the men.
Heavy footsteps could be heard as the man responsible for the evenings events came forward, walking through the army of men.
“Silas has taken too much from us all. And now, it is time for our revenge. I will get his life, and they will receive what is owed to them …”
Nathan and Carter stood as still as a statue, staring in shock as the man speaking made his way to the front of the small army.
“Un-fucking-believable,” Carter whispered. “Impossible …”
“How?” Nathan asked in disbelief. “I saw you die.”
Nathan replayed the ambush on the bridge over and over in his head. Shadow Walker had been killed, so how was it that the man was standing in front of him now?
“You thought you saw me die, but you saw nothing. You shielded your wife like any strong man would.” He smiled. “You two weren’t supposed to survive the shooting, but just like always, you both survived and you’re still in love. Because I admire your love, and because I truly care for both of you, I will do you the courtesy of killing you together. Neither of you will have to live second on this earth without each other. I wish not to cause you heartbreak, just to finally have what is afforded to me for the pain I have suffered at Silas’s hands.”
“How could you do this, Shadow?”
“My name is Roe, dear girl.”
“I don’t care what your name is,” she snapped. “You work for my mother. How could you betray her like this? She loved you.”
He came forward, but stopped when Nathan tugged on her arm so that she was standing behind him. He raised his hands. “I mean her no harm, Nathan.”
“You take one more step toward my wife and I’ll break your neck.”
A dark shadow fell over his face. “You are in no position to make threats, young Salerno. The fight that you and your wife find yourselves caught in the middle of has been building since you were in diapers. Silas must pay for what he’s done.”
“And what exactly is it that he’s done?” Carter asked.
“Mercilessly killing my father. Dmitry.”
Carter and Nathan could immediately tell by the silence that they weren’t the only ones hearing this news for the first time.
“I was his only son. The only blood relative he had left,” Shadow continued.
“Why didn’t Silas tell my mother?” Carter asked.
He shook his head. “Once upon a time, Silas and I were brothers, dear girl. Dmitry never told anyone that I was his biological son to protect me. Many men were out to kill my father. When Silas found out I was Dmitry’s son, he promised me that he’d never tell. He told me that he owed at least that much to Dmitry for saving him and Rob from their cruel master. Even after he killed my father he kept his promise, but never did he explain to me why he took away the only family I had left. After all that my father did for him and the rest of those boys, Silas turned them all against my father. They murdered him, took claim of all of our assets and property, and built an empire.”
“Sounds like a smart move to me,” Nathan said with a shrug. “Every rise to power has its casualties along the way. A man who’s been active in this world for as long as you have should already know that. Your father died so that Silas could rule. It is the circle of underworld life. What the hell do we have to do with your grudge? We don’t give a fuck about what happened between your father and Silas.”
“Don’t push me to my limits, Mr. Salerno,” Shadow warned. “I have been kind to you thus far.”
“Fuck you,” Nathan and Carter said in unison. That motherfucker hadn’t been shit to them.
Shadow’s jaw clenched tight with anger. “I didn’t wish to kill anyone but Silas in the beginning. For decades I’ve been following your mother around, helping her build her army in hopes that one day she and I would go after Silas together. We’ve been like-minded ever since I came back to her after your father attacked her, but now things have changed. Silas has decided to become the good fucking father and Anastacia has forgotten the goal.” Sighing, he pinched the bridge of his nose. “I was disappointed when I heard about your sin against your family, Carterina. I never thought you’d do something as stupid as to believe Silas’s lies.”
“I’ve believed nothing,” Carter objected.
He shot her an accusing glare. “You accepted him into your life.”
“I extended him an olive branch. I gave him a choice.”
“You are a coward,” Shadow snapped. “You’ve fallen into his trap, just like your mother did, and look where that got her.”
Carter said nothing. For a long moment she just stood there, staring at Shadow with a stoic expression on her face. Suddenly, she shot forward, forcing Nathan to hold her back.
“Carterina,” Nathan yelled. What the hell is she doing?
She lunged toward Shadow again, and this time Nathan nearly lost hold of her.
“Carter, stop!” Why the hell would she try to attack a man that had an army of armed men backing him up? Angry or not, that was just unwise. “Be calm …” he said to her in Russian. They only needed to stall for about five more minutes, and if Carter didn’t calm down like he’d said, she could possibly provoke Shadow into action. Of course, his wife had absolutely no plans of listening to him.
“How dare you call me a coward? There is no fucking trap you pathetic parasite,” she screamed like a deranged woman. “Silas made a choice. He chose his family.”
“Because you offered it to him. Even after all that he’s done to your family.”
“Not that it’s any of your fucking business, but my mother and Gabriel are just fine with Silas sending my children a gift every now and then. Regardless of the things he has done in the past, they are his blood. As am I!”
“You are a fool. He cares none about you or your sons—”
“He is my father,” she screamed, still fighting against Nathan’s hold.
Jesus Christ! Nathan strengthened his hold on her, determined to keep her from running into gunfire, and prepared to lift her and run if Shadow decided to tell his men to shoot.
“And he killed my father,” Shadow shouted back. “He took everything for me. My land, my money, my name, my power. I am the true leader of this family. The Steele family blood runs through my veins—”
“I could give a fuck about the blood that runs through your veins! You stand before me and cry like a spoiled fucking child and expect me to sympathize with you. Give you my life in the name of revenge for your father’s, a man who may have deserved the brutal death he was given.”
Shadow closed his mouth the moment Carter screamed the words coldly.
Her emotionless, hazel eyes darkened until Nathan swore they were black. The look he saw there surprised him … venomous, empty eyes. He’d never seen her in such a state before; it was like she’d been possessed. Nathan was actually a bit frightened by it. He had no idea who the woman he was holding back was because there was no way in hell it was his wife. He’d seen Carter at her worst before and this wasn’t it. It wasn�
��t her …
The muscles in Shadow’s jaw ticked. “How evil of you to speak of the dead in such a way. Have you no respect, girl …”
“Have you no brain, Roe?” she taunted with an eerie smile on her face. “Do you want to know a funny thing about fathers, friend?” She shook her head. “They are never who you think they are … I bet your father was the same.”
“What exactly are you implying?”
She laughed. “What do you think I’m implying? Maybe there’s a possibility daddy wasn’t quite the angel you remember.”
“I will only tell you this once, Carterina,” he warned through clenched teeth. “Watch your fucking mouth …”
“Watch your fucking mouth, he says to the cowardly, foolish girl” she spat. “But how could the words of such girl effect the almighty Roe. It’s not like I said what I was thinking—”
“I said quiet. You are in no position to test me.”
“I never said that there may be a possibility that Roe’s daddy might have had more than a few dirty little secrets …”
“Shut your fucking mouth!”
“I will do no such thing! You’ve chosen to live in blatant ignorance your entire life merely because you can’t stomach the truth. I know nothing of your father, but the little knowledge that I know of mine tells me that he does everything for a reason. So instead of searching for the reason why Silas killed your father and plotting your revenge, you should have been asking exactly what act caused young men, who Dmitry supposedly ‘saved’, to murder him mercilessly. Scandalous behavior perhaps?”
Shadow’s body shook furiously. The veins in his head and neck looked as if they would burst through his skin at any second. “Enough, child,” he growled.
“A child I am not, Shadow. But I’ll tell you who was a child, Silas … and every other vulnerable young man your father collected from those whorehouses—”
“My father was their savior! Not their captor. He would never do anything so perverted.”
“To you, Shadow. He’d never do anything so perverted to you, his son, but to an exceptionally handsome young man like Silas he would. Your father was no fucking savior, he was a predator.”
Dangerous Beauty: Part Three: This is War Page 60