by Linzi Basset
Samantha could only imagine how Keon must be itching to come inside too, but agreed that Beckie needed to be prepared.
“I hate to interrupt but this house is under surveillance. We need to get these bracelets off fast,” Max prodded again from the door.
Rhone didn’t hesitate and lowered Beckie to the floor. “Would you allow me to remove this, poppet?” They needed to get the bracelets of as quickly as possible and the reunion between father and daughter would delay it.
Beckie’s eyes flashed with fear as she glanced toward Lauren, who jumped up and tried to pull Beckie back but she refused to let go of Rhone.
“No. It was a gift. We promised never to remove them.” Lauren said with a thin voice.
“I’m afraid we have no choice, Lauren. These aren’t just bracelets. Your lives are in danger and I’m not going to allow anything to happen to this little girl. She’s been through enough.”
Lauren surged forward again but Lance caught her around the waist and held her arm behind her back while Max had to wrestle to unclip the bracelet when she continued to struggle and scream at them to leave it. She gasped in pain when she bumped her bandaged hand against Lance’s hard body.
Beckie stood quietly while Rhone removed hers and handed it to Max who ran outside to destroy them.
“You had no right to do that! No right! I don’t even know who you are. Any of you. Even you. How do I know you’re really my sister? After all these years and suddenly out of the blue you walk into my house.” Her knees crumbled and she sat down on the sofa. She pressed her injured hand against her chest. “Do you know what you’ve done? Do you have any idea?” Her gaze was filled with desolation when she lifted her head.
Samantha was overwhelmed with melancholy. All the years they’ve lost. Years they could never retrieve.
“Yes, Sis. We do, but I doubt that you do. It’s me; Lauren, and deep down you know it too. Who brought you here?”
Lauren got a closed look in her eyes. “The most wonderful man. He cares for us. I can't imagine our life without him,” she said almost in a trance, her eyes unfocused. “Everything that was important before I met him has faded to almost nothing.”
Beckie’s arms tightened around Rhone’s neck. He glanced at her. She looked pale and concerned. It was evident that she didn’t share the same enchantment, as Lauren did, for this man.
“Who is he?” Rhone asked.
“William Booth.”
Rhone’s jaw turned rigid. She’d just confirmed Samantha’s disclosure. Jack and Lance seemed equally angry. He scrolled through his phone and showed her a picture on his phone.
“Is this him?”
Lauren nodded when she looked at the picture. “Yes, that’s William.”
“His real name is Adam Baxter, Lauren.” Rhone said with suppressed violence in his voice. “William Booth was his stepfather and died sixteen years ago.”
Lauren looked at him in confusion. “I don’t understand. You say that like he did something wrong.”
“Adam Baxter is the man responsible for keeping us apart for all these years, Lauren and for taking Beckie from her father. He's a cruel monster and—”
“No! He’s not. What are you trying to do? Beckie. Come here,” she ordered but Beckie refused to budge from the safe cocoon of Rhone’s arms.
“We don’t know these people, Beckie,” she tried again to no avail. She turned to Samantha. “I don’t even know if you’re my sister. You might be an imposter. She died. Leave. Get out!”
“No, Lauren. You have to come with us. Please, listen—”
“We’re not going anywhere. Beckie deserves to be happy. She is happy! With me!”
“No, Lauren. Beckie needs her father,” Rhone rumbled darkly.
“Uncle Rhone? What do you mean?” Beckie asked in a hushed voice.
Rhone hunched in front of her. He smiled gently. “Your daddy didn’t die, Beckie, although he thought you did.”
“Daddy is alive? Where is he?”
“I’m here, my lovely little girl,” Keon’s deep voice rumbled from the doorway, thickened by the emotions he couldn’t hide. He couldn’t wait outside longer to be called.
Beckie turned around. She stood frozen on the spot; her eyes as wide as saucers. Tears ran over her cheeks and her hands were pressed against her temples. It took a couple of seconds for the reality to sink in. Then her face broke into a grin.
“Daddy!”
Keon caught her in his arms and spun around, his craggy features suspended between grief and joy.
In that moment, Samantha realized what joy truly meant, as she watched the emotional reunion between father and daughter. She’d lived a life without happiness for so long that the bitterness had become part of her existence. Since she’d met Rhone and his friends, she’d rediscovered what it meant.
Now, she had to make sure that Lauren experienced that too. There was despair in her eyes. Samantha feared that the hold Adam had over Lauren stretched deeper than the bracelet. The initial jubilation at seeing her sister had diminished and replaced with trepidation.
She watched Keon embrace Beckie, tears running down his cheeks.
“We have to leave. We’ve been here too long already,” Rhone prodded.
Keon nodded and picked up Beckie in his arms. He wasn’t letting her go anytime soon; even though she was eleven years old, he carried her outside.
Lauren ran after them. “No! You can’t take her away from me. Please.”
Keon spun around so fast; she collided against his chest and would’ve ended on her buttocks on the floor if Lance hadn’t caught her.
“Beckie is my daughter. Mine! No one is going to keep us apart. No one!”
“Shh, Daddy, it’s okay. Don’t be mad at her.” Keon melted under his daughter’s gentle touch against his brow. She looked at Lauren, her eyes filled with tears. “Please come with us, Mom. I love you but . . . he’s my Daddy and I’ve missed him so much.”
Lauren shook her head, anger and fear mingled with the heartache of watching the little girl she loved like her own, on the verge of walking out of her life.
“I can’t, my darling. You know I can’t.”
“You can! Please, I beg you, Mom. Daddy will protect you. I know he will keep you safe. Come with us.”
Rhone had had enough and physically picked up Lauren and carried her screaming and kicking outside.
“You’re coming with us, Lauren. I don’t care if I have to tie you up but I’m not leaving you here. You have no idea what that man is capable of.”
“Let go of me!”
“Lauren, please listen to me. You have to come with us. Adam Baxter, or William, as you know him is dangerous―”
“How do you know?” Lauren snapped.
“I know because I’ve had first-hand experience. He doesn't care about you. He’s using you and has been for sixteen years,” Samantha continued.
Lauren stopped struggling and Rhone lowered her to the ground. She immediately tried to pry Beckie from Keon.
He caught her hand and dragged her against his chest. His voice was heated as he growled, “You will not take my daughter from me. If you want to be part of her life, you come with us; otherwise, stay the fuck out of my way.” He pushed her away and began walking to his truck.
Rhone managed to drag her to the Hummer and struggled to get her inside. Samantha ran around the front of the car to get in on the passenger side.
The bullet hit her high in the chest and with such force it flung her yards through the air.
So, this is what it feels like.
That was the only thought that flashed through her shocked mind, just before the black void of unconsciousness swallowed her.
“Samantha!” Rhone shouted her name as he ran toward her. Pandemonium erupted. Everyone took cover and tried to find the shooter but there was no one in sight apart from parked cars along the side of the street.
“Beckie, stay in the truck, baby,” Keon ordered and ran toward Rhone who was
hunched over Samantha, trying desperately to stem the flow of blood with his shirt.
“Ambulance is already on the way, mate,” Max assured Rhone. They’ve been around enough to know the wound was lethal. The force of the bullet would’ve torn through her chest, damaging organs along its destructive path.
“Samantha? Luv, open your eyes,” Rhone pleaded against her cheek. His hands were covered in blood and he could feel his body shaking with fear.
“Rho-ne?”
“I’m here, luv.”
She stared at Rhone through pain-filled eyes that were glassy and unfocused. His face was haunted and his eyes swam with tears, but maybe she was mistaken and it was her own tears.
“It hu-rts, honey,” she whispered, struggling to breathe.
“I know, luv. The ambulance is on the way. You hang on, you hear me? You owe me and I’m going to be very pissed if you don’t pay up,” he said in his usual growl.
He was unaware that the others were hunching around them, trying to find signs of the shooter. Lauren had forced Beckie back inside the house with her, ignoring Keon’s furious shout when he noticed her slam the door behind them.
A tiny frown furled between Samantha’s brows. She licked her dry lips and could taste the blood in her mouth.
“Wh-at do I owe you?” she managed to croak.
“You said something to me in the Harem room. Do you remember?”
“Yes,” she whispered, trying to focus on his face that seemed to swim in front of her face.
Rhone was struggling with the emotions that threatened to drag him under. He didn’t want to consider that this might be it. That the only woman, who had managed to make him feel, might not survive. He still didn’t know how to decipher his feelings but he knew he would end up living in a void his entire life without her.
“Those words were a promise, luv. You owe me . . . a future.”
“Well, honey, for that I'll defy the de-vil,” she whimpered painfully. “Death . . . death, doesn't sta-nd a chance.”
“See that it doesn’t, luv, because you are the foundation that keeps me upright.
Samantha felt joy in that moment. A realization that brought her peace. He had just uttered the words that created a feeling of perfect love in her heart.
She smiled tremulously. Even if he never said the words, she knew now. He loved her too.
“I lo-ve you, Rhone. More . . . than you’ll . . . ever . . . know.”
Her breathing puffed and her eyelids fluttered closed. Rhone sat down and lifted her against his chest, just holding her, rocking back and forth.
“We need to get Lauren and Beckie out of the house and get the fuck away from here. We’ll take Samantha to the hospital ourselves. That ambulance is taking too long,” Keon barked, aware that Rhone was lost to them for the time being. He, of all people, knew how empty he must be feeling at the moment.
A low howl escaped from Rhone, like a lone wolf crying for his mate. He felt cold . . . alone.
Keon, Max and Lance straightened to run to the house when a grating voice from the pathway in front of the house stopped them in their tracks.
“Ah, how sweet is the sound of despair. Well, my dear friend, now you know how I felt all these years! Yes, you motherfucker, at long last I can look at you and tell you how much I hate you,” Adam said and burst into cackling laughter while he pushed Beckie in front of him toward a black van, that they only noticed now, stood idling a few yards from them in the street. Lauren followed behind meekly.
“No!” Keon shouted and surged forward. A silent bullet in his thigh took him down. “Let her go, you fucking bastard,” he shouted, trying to get up. Max, Jack and Lance came running closer.
“No! Stop! He’ll kill her,” Keon said through clenched teeth. “No one try to take a shot. You might hit Beckie,” he ordered when he saw them aiming their weapons at Adam.
The gun in Adam’s hand was fully equipped with a silencer to keep the attention from the scene unfolding in the middle of the street.
It was Beckie’s muted screams and fearful eyes from behind the hand covering her mouth that stayed their pursuit. Adam hunched behind her as he yanked her along with him. He snapped at Lauren, who dutifully fell to her knees and wrapped her arms around his legs.
“Oh god, no!” Samantha murmured softly at what she saw when she opened her eyes.
She strained to see past the group of men gathered around Keon as they assisted him to his feet.
“Tell me I’m see-ing things. That he hasn’t turned her into a sla-ve,” she cried brokenly.
Adam heard her and laughed like a mad man.
“Yes, sweet Ace. Revenge is sweet. She’s mine and will always be. She depends on me; emotionally and physically. Without me, she’ll be nothing but a broken, empty shell.” He laughed again but sobered just as quickly. He glared at her.
“You shouldn’t have told them who I was, bitch. Now you’ve destroyed everything I’ve worked so hard to achieve.” His eyes were cold as they caught Rhone’s scorching ones. “You’ve been in my way for years, preventing me from reaching the top. But this time, I will get what I want.”
He held the gun against Beckie’s head when Lance and Max charged at him.
“No! He’ll shoot her. Don’t,” Keon snapped and glared at Adam.
“Clever choice, my friend. You do have a sweet little girl. I’ve enjoyed shaping her life. One day, you might even thank me.”
“Fuck you, you useless piece of shit!” Keon grated through clenched teeth.
“Fuck, don’t tell me this is still about the football league? That happened ages ago and I thought we’d put it behind us. What do you want, Adam?” Rhone demanded.
“The football league? Don’t be daft, Rhone. You have no fucking idea what your interference has cost me over the years, do you? No idea.” His chest heaved. He dragged calming breaths into his lungs. “So, this is the deal. If you want to see your sister again, Ace, you will do what I want from you. As for you, my supposed dead friend, I'll leave you to deal with Keon's loss again. Only this time, he knows I have his beloved daughter. No, no . . . be cool, all of you. If any of you move, Beckie dies. And if you think I won’t pull the trigger, ask the struggling angel over there just what I am capable of.”
The sirens of the ambulance in the distance spurred Adam to action. They watched helplessly as he ordered Lauren to drive the van while he got into the back with the gun pressed against Beckie's head.
“Noooo!” Samantha cried. The desperation in her voice was an echo of what was churning inside the five men watching the car turn and disappear.
“Not again. Not ag-ain,” Samantha puffed and her body went limp in Rhone’s arms.
Keon staggered forward in the middle of the street; he struggled to breathe, watching as the car carried his daughter further and further away. He fell to his knees, his hands curled into fists on his thighs until his knuckles turned white.
He’d just been granted hope. He’d reached out and touched her. After all these years he’d felt her little arms around him, only to be taken away from him once again. He felt the crushing pain. The emptiness filled his heart.
He didn’t register Rhone’s hoarse cry behind him, “Samantha, luv? No! Come on, baby!”
Keon’s voice was haunting and raw in the midday sun. The cry of a soul lost in desolation as he watched the car take his beloved daughter away, “I can’t lose her again. I just can’t!”
Another desolate cry echoed across the street.
“Samantha!”
The End
Read on for an excerpt of Book 2, His Devil’s Heat.
Excerpt: His Devil’s Heat
PROLOGUE
(Please note: This excerpt is unedited)
Six years ago . . .
The dream ended abruptly as he was shaken back into reality. He didn’t move. His eyelids flickered but he squeezed them closed, matching his breaths to the beeping of the machines that surrounded the bed, the only indications of his hear
tbeat, his existence.
His legs and arms were numb. He pried open his eyes to meet vases of flowers and beautiful framed pieces of art on the walls. He resented them on sight. Nothing had the right to be pretty—not in this world of violence, hatred and corruption.
He forced a calming breath into his lungs as he looked around. He was alone, obviously in a private ward. The air had a fresh ocean scent and the chairs against the wall were plush. Every surface was dustless. His eyes flickered toward the nurse who moved with a serene purposefulness around the room.
She approached the bed and scanned his chart. He watched her make some notes before she walked around the bed to check the monitors next to him. Their eyes met.
“Oh! You’re awake,” she said, startled at the directness of the green eyes staring at her from a gaunt and haunted face.
“Rhone Greer. How is he?”
His voice sounded foreign to his own ears. Hoarse, with a hollowness that portrayed the emptiness inside his soul.
“He just stepped out for some breakfast. He only had a flesh wound against his temple. He hasn’t left your bedside since the day you were brought in.”
Keon LeLuc wasn’t surprised to hear that. They have been best friends since they were in nappies. They have always been there for each other. Through hardships and protected each other against the violent forces out there.
Just a pity this time, neither of them could do anything to save his lovely wife, Amelia and their beautiful little girl, Beckie.
“But I will not rest until I find the one responsible.”
“Excuse me?”
He didn’t respond and closed his eyes. He knew what vision he would see when he did. The moment Amelia’s eyes met his; that frozen, shocked realization that her life was over. She was dead before he reached her amidst the whizz of bullets around him as he tore over the distance to reach them. He didn’t bother to try and dodge them; blindly following Rhone’s orders to duck left, swerve right as he accurately read the projection of each silent bullet spiraling toward them.
It was a violence to the still of the fall morning—a noise that heralded death and destruction. Amelia’s choked cry broke the air in stark contrast to the hum of the traffic in the adjacent street, filled with cars and pedestrians oblivious to the death and destruction as he fell to his knees next to his family.