Nemesis: Katie's story (Heart of Stone Book 15)

by D H Sidebottom

  “Up for a ride?” Danny didn’t do pleasantries. Then again, neither did I.

  “Oh?”

  “Job on, but need a hand. It’s a bit delicate.”

  “Isn’t it always where you’re concerned.” I rolled my eyes. Danny was capable of a clean hit, yet he always loved the drama of it. He killed for the adrenaline kick, and like any junkie, he liked to do it in company. But whatever, the job would hopefully give me the diversion I needed. “Usual?” I asked, referring to our regular meeting place. Nothing was secret, especially phone lines, and both Danny and myself appreciated the discretion needed.

  “Yeah.” With that he was gone, leaving me staring at the phone as if looking at it would make her call. “For sucks sake, Tris, you’re losing your shit!” Then, realising I had taken to talking to myself, I groaned and shook my head. “Fuck this shit.”

  She answered after the first ring and I couldn’t help wondering whether she had been waiting for my call as much as I had hers. Her voice was like nectar to the ever-present thump in my head, and I had to grit my teeth to stop the soft moan from escaping.

  “Mr Hope, what a pleasure.”

  Her sarcasm made me smile, and I clicked my tongue. “Pleasure is mine, sweetheart… Well, it will be when I’m balls deep inside you.”

  The very faint sharp gasp through the phone made my cock instantly hard. What the fuck was it with this bitch that got such an acute reaction out of me?

  “Well, I’m presuming you have a little dick, so that shouldn’t be a problem.”

  I laughed, her bite always amusing me. “You’re not disputing the fact that soon we will fuck. We both know it’s coming, tiger, and we both know it’s gonna be fucking explosive when it happens.”

  “Explosive,” she repeated. “Oh, I’m sure it will definitely be explosive.”

  My smile turned to grin and I shook my head. “I’m ringing for an update.”

  “I didn’t think you were ringing for my conversational skills. Nothing yet. I have a source on it, you need to learn to be patient, Hope.”

  “Not my strong point, sweetheart.”

  “Hmm,” she murmured. “That I had gathered. Impatience can kill. You need to step back and look, instead of running forward and blindly stepping on a trap.”

  “Insightful as well as beautiful, huh?”

  She sighed but I just knew she was smiling. “Is that all, Hope? I have another call waiting.”

  “I’ll be out of town for a couple of days. You have the secure email I gave you in case anything crops up but I won’t be able to log in until I can find a veiled connection.”

  “Is there something you’re keeping from me?” The suspicion in her voice made me roll my eyes.

  “Nooo. We have a deal, and like you, I value your word. This is something else what I have to deal with.”

  She was quiet for a while, no doubt weighing up my promise. I sighed, rolling my eyes at her reservation. “One of my contacts needs a hand with a job… I’ll even give you his name because that’s how much I’m with you on this. Danny Leonard.”

  Eventually she gave in. “Okay. I’ll let you know when my source gets back to me.”

  The loud click told me she’d ended the call, but I stood for a moment, with the phone pressed to my ear as if there was an echo of her voice. My dick was hard, and my head throbbed with the rush of blood through my body. This bloody bitch had got me good. I couldn’t understand, apart from her smoking hot body, what the attraction was. We were out to kill each other, primitive and hard revenge had been the very thing that had brought us together, but now, the very thing driving us together was chemistry. I knew once we’d fucked that this foolish need would move aside and the thirst for violence would return.

  I just wished it would hurry the fuck up before this reckless fascination brought us both down.

  Eight

  Katie

  Unease bit at my gut when I ended the call with Hope and I couldn’t put my finger on why. Strangely, I trusted him – well, to an extent. However, something felt off, a twist of anxiety in my belly and a heat in my veins that told me to be on my guard.

  “Kade,” I greeted when I accepted his waiting call.

  “Sweetheart. I have some info for you. It’s just basic stuff Grace managed to find on the database, but hopefully something in there will help.”

  “I love you.” A slow smile twisted my lips, the first one in a few days. I’d had nothing, absolutely zilch, to go on as far as Stillman was concerned, and I was starting to worry that this one wouldn’t go my way. “And tell Grace I owe her.”

  “Oh, she knows,” he chuckled. “She’s already put an order in for one of your damn Fiery Foxs’.”

  I laughed. I had concocted a potion of various spirits and fruit drinks one night while having a girls’ night in, and after a multitude of errors, the Fiery Fox was created. It was as lethal as it was delicious.

  “She’s on, I’ll even throw in some of those disgusting chilli nuts she loves.”

  He laughed. “Sending info through now. It’ll take ten minutes to bounce around every different safety net Grace sends it across.”

  “Safety is everything, Kade.”

  “I know. Also, the file will be scrambled so you need to get your man on it if you can’t decode it. Love you.”

  I returned his endearment and hung up. Logging into the secure email, I sat and waited for Grace’s file.

  “Hey.”

  I looked up and smiled when Graham walked into the room. It hadn’t escaped my notice how pale and tired he looked, and I knew it was down to Mark’s death. The two had bickered like children but I knew they connected like no one else on my team. They were two peas in a pod, yet so different at the same time, and that kind of connection gave them a bond like no other.

  “Gray. You okay?”

  He nodded, taking the chair next to me and glanced at the screen. “What’s going on?”

  “Grace managed to obtain some info on Stillman.”

  He smiled, yet it didn’t reach his eyes.

  Leaning over I gave his hand a squeeze. “You need some time off?”

  Shaking his head, he scowled at me. “No. That’s the last thing I want.”

  I understood that. The mind played too hard when you gave it enough quiet time. I couldn’t allow mine to lower the dam and let in the flood of emotion, not before I had dealt with the ever-growing acts of revenge on my bucket list.

  The file landed in my inbox and Graham did his thing, removing the encryptions Grace had secured the folder with. Within minutes a record of everything the government had on Stillman opened – his financial status, known associates, even down to every piece of land and asset he owned. I wasn’t sure whether anything would help me figure him out, but I couldn’t help but smile when a few emails to various people told me that Henry was under the careful eye of the country’s security services. In other words, they suspected him of a variety of misdemeanours. And that meant I wouldn’t be up against the government on this one. It wasn’t uncommon for high profile people like Henry to be under the protection of the authority, and it appeased the slight quake in my gut to see that Henry wasn’t one of those. The last thing I needed was to be involved in taking out one of their safeguarded associates.

  Hitting print, Graham made a couple of physical files for us to filter through and I sent the folder to Hope’s secure email. I wasn’t bothered about sharing the info with him. Two heads were better than one and maybe he could spot something I would miss.

  Stillman had gone underground after my team had gotten us out, and that angered me. He hadn’t been at the warehouse at the time of the hit, and there had been no sign of him since. He was a coward, in simple terms. He expected his men to do his dirty work for him, never once getting his hands dirty.

  Me and Graham spent the next couple of hours reading, checking and filtering through the mass of pages but nothing stood out. He had an array of overseas property, and calling in a few favours fro
m contacts in each specific country, I put the feels out for each to be checked for signs of life. There were various cloaked debits and credits to his bank account and Graham set to work on establishing where each transaction came from and went to. But other than that, nothing gave me a clue as to where he had run to.

  Graham barely flicked me a glance when I snatched up the list of Henry’s allies, and went to brew more coffee. Waiting for the kettle to boil, I skimmed over the list. My eyebrows rose a few times when I came across the name of someone I knew that I would never have linked with Henry, but there was nothing that peaked my attention.

  At least I would be able to visit the people that both Henry and I had an association with, and that was a start.

  The back door opened and Nola smiled as she stepped inside. Mark’s death had hit every one of my team hard, and my heart clenched tightly at the thought of how loved my best friend had been. I missed him with all of me, yet I knew he wouldn’t want me to fall apart without him. He would expect revenge, and I was damn fucking sure I would give it him.

  “You okay?”

  She nodded, settling into one of the chairs at the table and took the steaming cup of coffee from me when I handed it her. “Yeah. Things are just a bit quiet and I’m not sure how to deal.”

  I felt her pain, and swallowed back my own. “I have a few foreign feelers out for any signs of Stillman. The job is yours if I get any comeback.”

  “Cheers, boss. An overseas trip might do me good.”

  Pursing my lips, I narrowed my eyes on her. “Somehow I can’t imagine you with a tan.”

  She laughed. “Yeah, vampirism suits me. The pasty look makes me look tough.”

  “Even with a tan I wouldn’t take you on down a back alley.”

  “You can take my back alley any damn time you want,” she quipped, giving me a wink. Nola flirted constantly with me. We both knew nothing would come from it but it was now as familiar to us as the banter had been between Mark and Gray.

  “Listen, I have to sort some stuff out at Pulse tonight, you fancy a night out?”

  She nodded instantly, a grin lighting her pale eyes. “Yeah, why the hell not. In fact, let’s ask the others along and make a night of it, for Mark. We haven’t given him a send-off yet…”

  We both sobered but I pushed out a smile, determined to force away the depression that had suddenly descended. “Yes. Let’s do it.”

  My best friend deserved that if I couldn’t give him anything else… yet.

  ***

  Six hours later I smiled at Greg when I shoved him up the booth he was slumped in and took the warm spot he’d been sat at for a long while.

  “Katie!” he beamed, flinging his arms around me. I blinked at the hit of alcohol that blasted me when he leaned in to kiss my cheek. “How are you, baby?”

  Greg was another problem I had to deal with. Wendy, who managed Pulse for me, had informed me that Greg was a constant, propping up the bar every night. He was struggling, and since my parents had left, it was my job to make sure he was alright.

  “Hey, you. You doing okay?”

  He nodded slowly and steadily, the concentration it took for him to direct his drunken movements making me sigh. “I’m fucking…. Wonder-f-ful.”

  “Wonderful, huh?”

  “Wonderful.”

  His eyes told me a different story, and I gave him a sad smile. “It appears you’ve ran up quite the tab here, Greg.”

  He blanched and reared back to stare at me. “You have a problem with that?”

  I clicked my tongue and shrugged. “Not financially. But as far as your drinking habit goes, then yeah, I have a huge problem.”

  Hearing the warning in my voice he narrowed his eyes. “What the fuck, Katie?” He shook his head angrily when I just stared him out. “You’re getting like your fucking cunt of a father.”

  His eyes widened when my fingers found his throat and the back of his head pressed deep into the plump seating. “Watch your mouth, Greg. You know I love you, you’re family, and that makes you my responsibility.” I leaned closer to him, camouflaging us from the rest of the room as to not humiliate him. “But I won’t tolerate your bitter fucking vendetta against my dad. He looked after you. Without him you would have spent the rest of your life in and out of the nick, any petty job the only way to feed your belly. He gave you a job, a life, and damn, if you won’t show some fucking respect. As much as it will kill me, I’ll make sure that no bar in the country will ever serve your habit again. And believe me, I can also make your life sheer hell.”

  His eyes widened more and more with every venomous word that I spat at him. I wouldn’t keep to the promise I made him, but he didn’t know that. It was about time he had a wakeup call. Yes, he’d lost the love of his life. But who hadn’t? Some had lost much more, and this self-pity of his was starting to fuck me off.

  “What about Little Mason, eh? Where the fuck is he tonight, and who the fuck is doing the job you should be and giving him his bedtime bath and story? That little boy has lost his mother, and you’re adamant he will lose his dad too.”

  He shook his head, glaring at me as pain filtered into his eyes. “That has nothing to do with you.”

  I scoffed, shaking my own head. “You know what? I lost the love of my life too. And shit, that hurts, it hurts like nothing ever has before. So, I get you, I do. But what I would give to have a piece of Steed at home, waiting for me to just love. I would give anything to have my husband’s child, to carry with me a part of him forever. You have no fucking idea how damn lucky you are to have Harry and Mason! None!”

  He twisted his lips, my words hitting him full on. However, when he tried to push past me I let him go. There was nothing else I could say to him, and I wasn’t even sure how to help him anymore.

  Nola and Jared joined me, the sadness in Jared’s eyes as he watched Greg stumble through the club making me sigh.

  “I don’t know what to do with him anymore.”

  “Nothing you can do but let him hit rock bottom, then the only way is up.”

  “Is it?” I asked, doubting Jared’s advice.

  Sam waved to me when he tackled Greg by the front doors and helped him out. I loved my parents’ friends as if they were my own, and they loved me just as much, but I was grateful for Sam and Marcy’s help. Nate and Liv were now living in America, Kade and Grace were still in Portugal, so apart from Layla and Lucas, only Sam and Marcy really remained of the original Fox crew, and that saddened me. I did the best I could stepping into Mum and Dad’s shoes, but the constant weight of the job was pulling me deeper and deeper down.

  ‘After you wreak your havoc, I need you to promise me something. I need you to sit, with your favourite whisky and time, and I need you to think. To think hard about this life me and your mother led you to.

  It’s a disease, Katie, an all-consuming, soul-eating infection that only the high of blood-spill and pain can ease its symptoms.’

  The words from my dad’s letter came to mind, and for the first time, I understood. There was nothing but pain and heartache here, the thirst for violence and revenge the very things that were determined to break me. But just as much as I craved the peace, I hungered for the pain and the thrill only slaughter could bring.

  The fact that I now had to find a successor for the Fox ‘business’ since Mark’s death was also playing on my mind. I wasn’t a fool, I knew my time was up soon, and I had to wonder if it was worth handing down this shit life, or allowing all the other Faces to dissect what my father had built for the entirety of his lifetime.

  However, vengeance came first. It always did.

  My phone rang, pulling me from my thoughts, and I quickly answered when I saw Graham’s name flash up. He’d stayed behind to sort through Henry’s bank transactions, determination keeping him away from our drinking session.

  “I’ve managed to find most of the transactions, boss. I’ve sent a copy to your email to flick through. I’m gonna stay on a bit longer and see if I can
sort through the rest.”

  “What would I do without you?”

  He laughed, terminating the call as an alert came through for a new email.

  The list contained a multitude of incomings and outgoings to companies, people and services, some huge amounts, some minor.

  But it was the bottom one that caused my heartbeat to stutter.

  Fifty thousand had been transferred from Henry Stillman’s account.

  To a veiled account.

  In the name of…. Danny Leonard.

  Nine

  Tristan

  Something was wrong. Danny had told me to hang back, wait for his signal before I joined him in the rundown warehouse he’d driven us both to. He was after a specific guy, the contract he was abiding to specifying the extraction of information was to be done cleanly but with the maximum amount of pain. This wasn’t unusual, yet I did wonder why Danny needed me. He was skilled at forcing whatever he needed from someone, so the fact that he was adamant he had my help didn’t make sense.

  But, it was a job, and it had taken my mind off Stillman, and Katie.

  Finally, a small flash of light came from the warehouse window and I quietly made my way down, scanning the vicinity as I went in case Danny had missed anyone.

  The whole area was deadly quiet, and although the place was secluded, it still didn’t sit right in my gut. My mouth dried as apprehension twisted my belly, the thud in my chest making super alert.

  The metal door was slightly ajar, and slowly pushing it open, I searched the dark depths over my shoulder as I stepped inside.

  Stupid move.

  If I’d expected anyone to turn on me, it wouldn’t have been Danny. We’d known each other a hell of a long time, and on occasion we’d worked well together. I was now nursing a throbbing temple, and the ties holding my wrists together behind the rickety chair I woke to find myself bound to were already chaffing my skin.