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

by D H Sidebottom

  “Our mother loved us, Sis. She loved us throughout everything we did. We’re not as steadfast as her. We don’t have her patience and strength. You’d kill him, Katie, with your brutality and your selfishness. The side of our father that lives in you.”

  “I know,” I whispered, staring at the form of my unborn baby. “I know.”

  But he was wrong. Dad had loved us, both of us. Whatever George had done to him, Dad would still have laid his life down for his son, despite everything.

  “I miss them both so much,” I told George, hating the way my voice broke. “I miss Dad’s strength and Mum’s devotion. Whatever they went through, George, they were always there, always ready to protect and love us.”

  “Love us?” He repeated my words as if he couldn’t quite understand them, like they were foreign and he had to break them down to make sense. “Hmm.”

  “Dad loved you so much, George. He adored you, you were the epitome of our mother, how could he not?”

  The truth seemed to penetrate his thick skull for a single second and his eyes dropped and slid to the side as if he was considering what I told him, but, eventually, he shrugged and turned away.

  “Please let me touch him,” I begged as George walked away with my little boy. “Please.”

  Ignoring me, he laid the tiny, lifeless body in a small cot and stroked across his cheek lovingly. “Life could have been so different, Katie.” The pain in his quiet voice made my heart wrench. Turning, he looked at me. “You ever think what it would have been like to live a normal life?”

  I nodded. I’d thought of it many times. “But, then, we wouldn’t have been the family we were. Our parents wouldn’t have been the people they were. And, even you have to admit, despite what life threw at them, they fucking loved us, Georgie. They loved us with their whole fucking hearts. Yes, maybe sometimes they didn’t do it right, but they did it with passion and devotion.”

  He shrugged, considering my plea.

  “There are so many worse parents out there, George. We never wanted for anything, including love. They protected us with their lives, with their fucking sanity. We weren’t easy. In the end, we were them, the replicas of exactly what they tried to run away from. And, in a way, we would never let them live their lives peacefully.”

  He turned his back on me and waved his hand in the air, disregarding my statement.

  “Do you recognise this place?” he asked, looking around the room as if the space was new to him.

  “How could I forget.”

  Walking over to one edge, he ran his touch over the bumps in the wall and sighed. “I’d have thought my blood would have decorated these walls for years to come. The pieces of me that splattered this particular area contaminating the paintwork for a long time.”

  “Georgie.”

  He spun around and narrowed his eyes on me. “I like Hope.”

  His sudden change confused me and I stared at him in bewilderment.

  “He loves you, you know. And, if I am correct, you love him too.” He turned and smiled softly at me, the young George I remembered from long ago looking back at me fondly.

  “I…” Stumped at his abrupt shift, I closed my mouth and kept the words hidden deep inside me.

  Walking back over to the crib, he reached in and affectionately stroked his hand over the mass of brown hair. “He isn’t Steed’s, you know. He’s Hope’s.”

  My mouth fell open. “What?”

  “Hmm.” He nodded but kept his gaze lingering on my child. “Steed only ever had one boy. A druggie, if I’m right. But he couldn’t ever father children after that.” Shrugging, he pursed his lips and turned to me. “You just never had the chance to learn that, dear sister. However,” he turned back to my baby boy. “This little bundle here is a creation I gave you.”

  “You gave me?”

  “Hmm. I love you, Katie. Even from the womb I’ve loved you. You’re the other half of me, the duplicate of my soul. You deserve to be loved, and only true love can ever come from your children. I made sure you’re loved after we’ve all left you behind.”

  My gaze moved from George to the tiny form laid out in the crib, and then back to George. “What are you saying?”

  He chuckled, and winked. “Love ya’, Sis.”

  The huge gasp I took hurt my chest when my eyes shot open and I flung upright. The dream had been so vivid that, for a moment, I struggled between fantasy and reality.

  Snatching up the glass of water beside my bed, I downed the contents in one, my mouth so dry that I couldn’t draw breath without it scratching my throat.

  Placing the glass back on the nightstand, I ran my fingers through my hair and drew my knees up, blowing out a long breath. I needed to move past these stupid dreams. They kept me captive to the past, refusing me a life in the future. Yes, my family would always live on in me, but I couldn’t allow them to hold me back from what I desired. Freedom.

  As I laid back down and succumbed to the realms of sleep, my arm curled around my stomach, and it stayed there, protective and tender, until the sun rose the very next day.

  ***

  “Morning.” Hope gave me a hesitant smile from where he stood at the oven frying bacon. “How do you like your eggs?”

  The word ‘fertilised’ that hung off the tip of my tongue was so hard to hold back, but I returned his smile and said, “Scrambled, please.”

  A knock resounded on the back door and before Hope had a chance to answer it, it opened and Nate walked in.

  Squealing in delight, I shot out of the chair and hugged him tight. “Hey, gorgeous,” he whispered affectionately in my ear.

  “Fuck,” I huffed, relishing in his individual scent. “Where’s Aunt Liv?”

  Rolling his eyes, he stepped back and sighed, looking me over. “Where she always is when we come home, fussing over Jay.”

  I laughed, pulling out a chair for him to sit in. His eyes moved to Hope who was still frying bacon and he lifted an eyebrow at me.

  Scowling, I shook my head and glowered at him. “Stop it,” I mouthed, unable to hold back the smile.

  He made childish kissing actions and I reached over the table to slap his arm.

  “So, I take it shit has gone down if Sam called us all in.”

  I inhaled through my nose and nodded. “Henry Stillman makes Robert Delaney look like an amateur.”

  He grimaced and sighed as Hope placed a huge plate of bacon and scrambled eggs on the table. Nate took one look at it and dived in, snatching up a slice of toast and smothering it in butter. “You take after your mother in so many ways, Katie. But, unfortunately, cooking was never one of them.”

  “Fuck you too,” I murmured, piling a slice of toast with egg and taking a huge bite.

  “So,” he uttered around a mouthful of food. “What’s the plan?”

  “We need to take out Frank Scott first and I have one of my associates in France sorting that. Then, finally, we go for Stillman.”

  He nodded, agreeing with me. “Sounds good.” Reaching across the table he took another rasher of bacon and squeezed my forearm with his other hand. “Just because those fuckers betrayed you doesn’t mean you can’t trust anyone, Katie.”

  The sadness seeped back in and I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Although all my parents’ friends are there for me, including you, it hurts to know I will never experience the kind of allies they had.”

  Being in Nate’s company always came easy to me, after all he had been my mum’s best friend, and opening up to him just felt like second nature. I could see Hope regarding us from where he sat quiet and contemplative, and when he leaned across the table and took my hand to give it a supportive squeeze, I smiled appreciatively at his reassurance.

  “You’ll always have that level of friendship, Katie,” Nate said adoringly. “All of us are your family. I know your ‘bloodlines’ are gone, but it doesn’t mean you’re on your own. You know that.”

  I did know that. More and more as the days went by.

&nbs
p; “I know,” I whispered. “Ignore me. I’m just being nostalgic, and I miss them.”

  “We all miss them, but you have to remember how much their lives influenced yours. They both lived for their family and friends. If we can’t allow them their peace, then we’re more selfish than we ever envisaged.”

  He was right, and I nodded with a contented smile. “Yeah, it’s time to let them rest.”

  And it was. I missed them both so much, but I knew they wouldn’t want this life for me. They’d want me to be happy and to live a life I wanted. Deserved. A peaceful and untroubled life.

  When Nate nodded in encouragement, I finally blew out the breath I had been holding, and I let them go.

  Twenty-three

  Tristan

  I watched Katie end her call. She turned to me and the wicked glint in her eye told me all I needed to know. However, she still spoke the words. “Frank Scott is down.”

  I nodded. “One to go.”

  Her grin and the chilling look in her gaze made me shiver. Stepping up to me, she reached up on her tiptoes and whispered in my ear, “Are you ready to party, Hope?”

  ***

  There were so many of them. My front room was packed to the rafters with so many hitmen and gangsters, and I just stood in awe of how many people loved Katie. Each one had stepped up for her. They had come at a moment’s notice, and every single one of them were prepared to die for her.

  Katie was in the middle of a posse of five, all of them looking over the blueprints to Stillman’s mansion, while the others in the room talked amongst themselves and waited for instructions. Grace was stabbing a thick marker pen around the plans, planting dots here and there.

  “Two here.”

  All five of them nodded and Katie pointed to what looked like a rear door. “Is this entrance accessible?”

  Grace clicked her tongue and twisted her lips. “That’s one I’m not one hundred percent positive about. According to the security plans my man managed to get access to, this door was highlighted in red.” She looked at Katie. “Means it’s gonna be a heavy traffic area.”

  “Any idea how many we’re talking?”

  Grace answered with a shake of her head.

  Katie sighed. “I just think this entry point is our best chance of getting straight to Stillman. His office is adjoined by a single door. It would be a lot cleaner and quicker.”

  “How about creating a diversion?” Greg spoke quietly, his eyes narrowed on the plans. He pointed to an area of the grounds flanking the particular door Katie wanted to go in through. “We could go in through here, straight into the room next to Stillman’s office, while the others make a bit of a bang at the front.”

  “That’s no good,” Sam commented. “We make a sound then it gives one of them chance to call in back-up. We have to take them out quietly.”

  “And that’s why this door is the best access,” Katie reaffirmed. “Much less chance of a fuck-up.”

  “Best bet is sniper,” I offered. “If I can find a covert point I can take out at least the first two before you storm the room.”

  Grace nodded slowly, considering my suggestion. “Say we’re talking eight,” she mused. “Hope takes out the first two through the window. Then the rest of us go in and finish up.”

  “Works,” Katie said as the others pronounced their agreement.

  Everyone looked to Kade when he remained silent.

  “What are you thinking, babe?” Grace asked, knowing her husband well.

  Kade tapped his fingers on the plans. “Just a thought, but, Stillman is attending a charity ball tonight. His place will have less security while he’s out of residence.”

  I narrowed my eyes, liking where he was going with this. “So, while the cats out, the mice sneak in and wait? The hunted playing predator for the night.”

  Kade nodded and turned to Katie. “Instead of waiting for tomorrow, maybe we get you in there tonight. Stillman won’t be expecting it.”

  “It’s too short notice,” she muttered but I could see the deliberation in her eyes.

  “Much quicker and cleaner,” Sam argued. “We get you both in. You sit and wait. You never know, he might even have a decent scotch you can sip at to stop the boredom sinking in.” I had to smile at his wink when he knew he had Katie. The thought of drinking Stillman’s expensive whisky before we both slid our blades across his jugular was too tempting.

  Her eyes swept to mine. “You up for this?”

  My grin answered her question.

  “Okay.” She smiled at her team. “Time to tool up.”

  Twenty-four

  Katie

  Hope beamed at me as he snatched up the expensive bottle of whisky sat on Stillman’s sideboard and poured a measure each into some heavy crystal glasses.

  Gaining entry had been as clean and quick as the guys had hoped. The huge house had only been secured by a few random men, and, after taking them out, Grace had released a KO gas and herded the sleeping house maintenance crew into one room at the rear of the house out of the way.

  Now we sat in Stillman’s office, and we waited.

  “Mmm,” Hope murmured in appreciation when he took a sip of the whisky and dropped into a plush leather chair in the corner of the room.

  Stillman’s office, as expected, was tastefully decorated with extravagant and expensive furnishings. His huge mahogany desk was free from any clutter, a few papers piled neatly to the edge, and I had to scoff with distaste at the ridiculous swanky fountain pen sat in a round inkwell.

  I tapped at the papers and watched as they scattered to the floor. “Oops,” I muttered, grinning like a child as I took the pen from its pot and flicked it, spraying Stillman’s luxurious desk chair with black ink.

  A photograph in a frame on his desk caught my attention and I picked it up to study it. Stillman stood in graduation robes with a huge smile on his much younger face, with his arm wrapped tightly around the shoulder of a youthful Robert Delaney.

  “Motherfucker,” I hissed. “I should have known the two twats would be best friends.”

  Hope sighed and quirked an eyebrow at me when I took a black sharpie from the pen pot and proceeded to give Stillman a large moustache and huge tits, and Delaney a knob protruding from his forehead.

  “You do know the police can do a handwriting recognition on that.”

  I laughed. “Maybe they’ll like my artistic side and appreciate the effort I put into it.”

  Strolling around the room I looked up at the CCTV camera in the corner of the ceiling and waved. I knew Kade would be waving back at me from where he was hidden out inside the little van parked outside. He had tapped into Stillman’s surveillance software so he could put the playback on loop and obliterate anything that happened here tonight.

  Looking over the huge bookshelf, I was surprised by Stillman’s choice of novels. I picked one up and showed it to Hope.

  “Seriously,” he scoffed as he stood up and walked over to me. He took it from me and flicked through a few pages, laughing at snippets he read. “The Famous Five does Debbie. Unique.”

  “I bet it’s a good read.”

  He chuckled and picked another book, opening it to a random page. “They bent her over the desk,” he read, dramatizing each word with a husky voice. “She cried out in ecstasy when Grumpy moved around the back of her and shoved his….”

  “Okay, too much,” I shivered, snatching the book from him. “Fairy tales should remain just that!”

  “I’m bored,” Hope pouted trying to grab the book back from me. “At least allow me a little fun.”

  My eyes slid to the plush couch sat against one wall and then slowly back to Hope.

  Narrowing his eyes on me, he nipped my chin. “You wanna fuck? Here, tiger?”

  I smirked and pressed my earpiece. “Any sign yet?”

  “Negative,” Greg answered. “Confirmation, Polly is still at her party.”

  “Be back in five.” I laughed at Greg’s splutter when I switched off my piece,
unlinking me from the network.

  Hope gazed at me and did the same, tapping the tiny switch and cutting us off from the crew.

  I gasped when his hand circled my throat and he walked me backwards towards the couch, pushing me to sit on it as he unzipped his jeans.

  “Open wide.”

  Snapping my jaw open, I murmured in delight when he slid his cock between my lips and tickled the back of my throat. My eyes watered and I gagged, coating his cock with spit the further down he pushed. Directing my movements with his hands in my hair I sucked him off with vigour, the excitement at doing it in Stillman’s digs making my pussy throb with need.

  “You’re a dirty little bitch.” Hope smirked when he saw the debauchery in my wet eyes and dropped to his knees.

  Yanking the button of my jeans, he tugged them down to my thighs and then held my legs up in the air.

  Pleasure hit every nerve when he buried his face between my legs and sucked on my clit. The way he had my legs, clamped together with my own jeans and held tight in his gloved hands above my head, only added to the enjoyment and I squirmed on his face in desperate need of relief.

  Pressing two fingers inside me, the latex of his glove scratching at my walls, he tickled my clit with his tongue and sent me over the edge, euphoria making me scream out and grasp at his hair.

  He didn’t wait for me to come down before he was stood back over me, fisting his cock and emptying his balls all over my face.

  I ran my finger over my mouth and collected his cum and then licked my fingers clean, the latex of my own glove giving it a weird taste. “I was actually getting a bit peckish.”

  He laughed and fastened himself back up, then peeled off his gloves and replaced them with clean ones, as I did. Switching on his earpiece, his eyes widened and he grabbed my hand, pulling me upright.

  “He’s on his way.”

  Excitement lit my belly with fire and I stroked Thelma and Louise. “Time to play, girls.”

  Hope gazed at me. I knew how important this was to him, and framing his face in the palm of my hand, I smiled gently at him. “For Sarah.”