King's Reign (Sydney Storm MC Book 6)

by Nina Levine

  I searched his eyes. I’d always had a good feel for Zero. And he’d never fed me shit. Not once. So I was inclined to believe what he said.

  Raising my hand, signalling for my men to pull back, I moved away from Zero. “Hyde, give us all the information you know,” I said, eyes still pinned to Zero’s. I also kept his men in my peripheral, staying aware of their every move. While we’d worked our way to this point, I trusted no fucker. Tension sat thick in the air, and I had no intention of easing it until I had what I came for.

  Hyde rattled off the job details and Zero listened closely before making a call to his VP. They had a heated discussion, and from the way Zero’s face twisted with anger, I figured he’d been given the information he was after.

  Ending the call, he shoved his phone back into his pocket and pulled his gun out. I’d seen that coming and had my hand on mine before he even reached for his. Within a matter of seconds, we all stood pointing our weapons at each other, the tension in the room at a whole new fucking level.

  “Royce!” Zero barked, gun trained on me. “Get your ass here.” To me, he said, “Steady with that gun, King. We don’t want to start something here that we can’t stop.”

  I ground my teeth together, gripping my gun harder. “In case you missed it, I’m good with starting something we can’t stop. Hell, with the way I’m feeling today, I’m fucking itching to start something.”

  “Fuck,” Zero muttered, “You’re a fucking madman.”

  I grinned, that wave of crazy I fucking loved taking over. “That I am, my friend. That I fucking am.”

  He scowled. “We’re not fucking friends.”

  “We could be if you’d stop trying to tickle my fucking balls.”

  “Jesus, the shit you come out with. If I was after you, I’d be doing a whole lot fucking more than tickling them.”

  “Yeah, I’ve figured that by now. You’d be clamping your fucking teeth down on them. So give me whoever the fuck did this shit and let me deal with them.”

  “You’re not dealing with anything. I’ll take care of this.” He paused for a beat before barking out again, “Where the fuck is Royce?”

  No one had the chance to answer him, because a gun sounded from behind him. I ducked just in time to miss the bullets coming straight at me. Hyde went into action, lunging at the asshole who’d fired it. One of Zero’s men joined in, and soon we had a fucking shit-show of a brawl on our hands.

  “Fucking hell,” Zero bellowed, wading into the fight and reefing the guy who’d shot at me out of the fight.

  When he had him, he restrained him by gripping both his wrists together and locking an arm around his neck. Almost choking the breath out of him, he roared, “What the fuck have you done?”

  The guy, who I presumed to be Royce, struggled in his president’s hold, rage pouring from him. When Zero eased the pressure on his neck a little, he spat out, “This is for what Storm did to Gibson!”

  “Fuck. I told you to forget that shit,” Zero said.

  “Yeah well, he was my cousin. No fucking way was I letting his death just sit like that. We had allegiance to him, and I don’t ever forget who my loyalties lie with.”

  Zero spun him around and punched him, knocking him flat to the ground. Shoving his boot down on him, he roared, “Your fucking loyalty is to this club, brother. You just pissed all over that by pulling this shit.”

  Yeah, he had. He’d also loaded a gun and aimed it at himself.

  I crouched down beside him and pressed my gun to his temple. “Gibson was a piece of shit, so it makes sense to me that you are, too. I don’t play well with men like you.”

  “King, he’s mine,” Zero said.

  I shook my head. “No, he’s mine.”

  I pulled the trigger, and without a second glance, I reared up and pointed my gun between Zero’s eyes. “Are we gonna have a problem, Zero?” I demanded, my body buzzing with the need to drive home the fact that Storm had control of this city. When he didn’t answer, I pressed the gun firmly to his head. “Answer me! Do you understand that if you step on our fucking toes, we won’t hesitate to retaliate? And when we do, we won’t care whose blood flows.”

  He worked his jaw, his shoulders rock hard with anger. Finally, he spat out, “Yeah, I fucking understand.”

  I watched him for another few moments before taking my gun off him and signalling to my guys that we were done here. As I took a step away from Zero, I said, “Keep your men in check, and we won’t have a problem.”

  He jerked his chin at me. “Fucking remove yourself from my property or else we will have a problem.”

  Axe was right—every day brought a new fire to extinguish. What he didn’t grasp was that I lived for this shit. It fed my fucked-up soul. It kept me dancing with the devil rather than becoming the devil. If I didn’t have my club to go to battle for, I would go out there and seek the shit out myself. And that was something I swore I would never do.

  Sometimes not everything was as it seemed.

  Sometimes you discovered something about a person that contradicted what you previously assumed to know, and it slanted shit in another light. And then you had to fucking reassess everything you thought you knew and make a new plan.

  As I watched Detective Stark arguing with her husband on her front lawn, I got a feel for the woman and what her life consisted of. She’d presented herself as a ballbuster, and while I didn’t doubt she was at work, she was far from that in her own home.

  Her husband was abusive, and her fear of him bled from every one of her veins.

  “You will never fucking leave me, bitch!” he yelled, gripping her face so hard I could feel her pain. “I will find ways to stop you, and if you continue to battle me, I will take Marie from you, and you will never see her again.”

  Motherfucker.

  She tried to fight him off, furiously slapping him and pushing him, but she was no match for his strength. Finally, he let her go, shoving her to the ground. After spitting on her, he stalked to the Mercedes in the driveway and screeched out of there.

  I left my bike and crossed the street. When I reached her, I jerked my chin towards her front door. “We have shit to discuss. Inside.” My tone left no room for a discussion on this; we would be talking, and we would be doing it inside.

  She picked herself up off the ground and hurried inside. Fear still consumed her. I suspected that had more to do with her husband than me, but I would make use of it.

  I followed her and closed the door behind us. She led me into a living room, and I took note of the warmth in her home. Family photos lined walls, and flowers and art filled other spaces. Leaning in close to look at some of the photos, I saw the couple with their daughter in most of them. An outsider who had no idea of what went on in this family would assume they were a happy one.

  “What do you want, Mr. King?” she asked, wrapping her arms around herself. “I’m busy and have work to do.”

  I drew my gaze from the photos to look at her. “How long has your husband been abusing you?”

  She flinched. “I’m not about to discuss my—”

  I clenched my jaw. “How fucking long?”

  She flinched again, and I realised she was shaking. When she answered me, I had to work hard to hear her. “A while.”

  “I’m taking that to mean this has been going on for as long as you’ve been together. And from what I know of you after reading the notes I have on your family, that means he’s been abusing you for ten fucking years.” The motherfucking cunt.

  Straightening, she attempted to get herself under control. My anger appeared to trigger her defensiveness. When she spoke again, she was more like the woman I’d met. “It’s really none of your business, but no this hasn’t been going on for ten years. He wasn’t like this in the beginning. He went through some personal stuff five years ago, and that’s when it started. We’re working through it.”

  I wasn’t one to judge. My anger was directed squarely at her husband, but it frustrated me that a sma
rt woman like her couldn’t hear the shit coming out of her mouth. “Isabel, I would imagine if you took a long hard look at the beginning of your relationship, you would find signs of this side of him.” I glanced down at a photo of their daughter. This was where my frustration with women like Isabel came into play. Children needed to be protected at all costs. “Does he hit your child?”

  When I looked back up at her, I didn’t need to hear her answer; I already knew it. “Fucking hell,” I muttered.

  “I’m leaving him,” she blurted out.

  “Are you?” I demanded. “Do you have a fucking plan in place or are you just fucking thinking about it until the next time he hits you?” When she started crying, I raked my fingers through my hair and muttered, “Fuck.”

  She dropped down onto the couch and buried her face in her hands, sobbing. “He has power I don’t have. You don’t understand. He will find me wherever I go.”

  She was right; he did have power. The asshole had an international business spread across three continents. He wouldn’t struggle to find her if she ran.

  “You want him out of your life?”

  Her head snapped up, and she looked at me, wide-eyed. She knew what I was asking. And with only one moment of hesitation, she silently gave me her answer with a quick nod.

  I left without another word spoken between us. I’d gone there to take care of business for Storm. Instead, I hadn’t fucking taken care of business; I’d taken on another job. But the life it would save was more than worth the sacrifice. Isabel Stark’s daughter needed a mother more than I needed her dead. I would find another way to take care of club business.

  As I left her house, Ivy called. “King, I really need your help. Brian’s not here, and I have to go see a guy who just called me about a possible job. Are you able to come pick me up and take me? Please?”

  I would have preferred not to get involved in this. I wanted to help her get back on her feet, but I didn’t want to encourage her to rely on me all the time. “There’s a bus stop down the road, Ivy. Catch the bus. I’m in the middle of shit.”

  Silence, and then—“Yeah, I know, but I was hoping we could go over some stuff together afterwards.”

  “What kind of stuff?”

  “Just some plans I have that I’d really like your opinion on.”

  Fuck. “Okay, I’m on my way, but I don’t have all fucking day for this.”

  “God, no need to bite my head off. I’m just feeling a bit lost here, and you know me better than anyone, so I kinda feel like you’re the best person to ask.”

  “I’ll be there.”

  I shoved the phone into my pocket and exhaled sharply. I’d do this for her today, but if she kept calling, I’d have to put a stop to it. She needed to move on with her life. Without calling on me all the time.

  24

  Lily

  “Jamie’s coming over tonight. I hope that’s okay, Lil,” Brynn said to me late Friday afternoon while we sat on my couch inhaling wine. Well, I was inhaling wine, because it had been a long day in the pits of hell dealing with shitty patients and an even shittier boss. Jackson really needed to take that holiday he’d been putting off. Brynn was on Coke because of her medication, but I was pretty sure she wished it was wine.

  I frowned at her. “Why wouldn’t it be okay? I love him.”

  “I already feel like I’m in your way. I don’t want to subject you to him any more than you can handle.”

  I chugged some more wine. “Look, it’s been a long day, and I’m tired, and so I’m just gonna say this however the fuck it comes out of my mouth. You’re my sister. I love you a lot more than I even know what to do with. I would do anything for you. And like I said, I love him.” I raised my glass at her as I added, “Oh, and you got me my favourite cake. No one ever buys me cake. Keep that shit up. You can do whatever the fuck you want if you buy me cake.”

  She laughed. “I’m pretty sure you’ve been spending too much time with King lately. Look at all those fucks falling out of your mouth.”

  I grinned. I had been spending a lot of time with my man. He’d had dinner here and stayed over every night for the last week, and he was coming over again tonight. “Do you like him, Brynny?”

  Her face softened. “It doesn’t matter if I like him. It only matters if you do.”

  “Yeah, I know, but you’ve always been a good judge of people, so I’m interested to know what you think.”

  “I like him. Like, I really like him for you. He has this way of taking charge when you need that, and then at other times, he just sits back and lets you run around like a chook without a head. You’re an independent woman with a crazy streak, and King seems able to handle that while at the same time, giving it to you straight when he has a different opinion on something. And let me just say, I really like the way he handles Mum. I’ve never seen a man get her to do what he wants the way King does.”

  It made me happy that she liked him. I agreed with her that it only mattered if I liked him, but it meant the world to me that she also did.

  “Oh, I meant to tell you I saw John Travolta again today, but it wasn’t at the hospital this time. He was in the same freaking aisle as me in the supermarket, buying the same freaking cheese as me. And I swear to you he really does look like Travolta.” When I’d told Brynn about this guy the first time, she’d asked me if I was hallucinating and imagining that he looked like John Travolta, because in her mind there was only one man alive as hot as him. My sister had a Travolta crush that had lasted decades, and we’d watched Grease together at least thirty times.

  “Did you speak to him?”

  I took a swig of wine and nodded. “Yes, and then we had a conversation about cheese and wine, and it was like he didn’t wanna stop talking. I had to be kinda rude to him to get away from him. He’s good-looking, but way creepy.”

  “Ugh. So nowhere near the real thing.”

  “Definitely not.”

  Mum interrupted our conversation. “Lily, why must you insist on mixing colours with whites when you do your washing?” she asked, wandering into the room holding a pair of pants of hers that used to be white. She looked stricken that they were now pink. I had to hold my laughter in, and when she saw that, her lips flattened. “This isn’t funny! I was going to wear these on my date tonight.”

  “You have a date tonight, Ma?” Brynn asked.

  “Yes, with a gentleman I met at the library today.”

  “No one needs to be wearing white pants on a date, Mum,” I said. Shifting off the couch, I grabbed her by the arm and led her into my bedroom as I said, “I have the perfect outfit you can borrow.”

  “Oh, Lily, I really don’t think—” Her mouth clamped shut as she eyed the dress I held up. Her face brightened, and she took the dress off me. “Well, maybe this will do.”

  I grabbed a pair of shoes out for her, too. “It will more than do. I guarantee that if you wear this dress and these shoes, and you let me fix your hair, this man will be doing everything he can to get in your pants.”

  That was my mother’s language, and she practically ripped the shoes from my hands. “I need to be ready in an hour and a half. I’ll call out when I’m ready for you to do my hair.” With that, she exited my room faster than I’d seen her move in a long time. She must have really liked this dude.

  “And I didn’t mix the colours and whites,” I called out. “It was one of the kids.” God, I was a grown woman who still needed her mother to know when she hadn’t screwed something up. That was some crazy shit right there.

  “Mum,” Zara said from the doorway as I closed my wardrobe. The way her voice wavered caused me to turn to her without delay, and what I saw on her face broke my heart. The minute our eyes met, tears fell down her cheeks and she rushed towards me. “Sam broke up with me.”

  My arms circled her, and I pulled her tightly against me. “Oh, baby, I’m sorry.”

  We stayed like that for a long time as she cried her heart out. Sam had been her first real boyfriend,
and I remembered how I’d been crushed when my first boyfriend broke up with me. While I may have been secretly cheering on the inside that she wasn’t with the little shit anymore, I hated that she was hurting.

  I moved us to the bed and pulled her into my arms while we sat against the headboard. Smoothing her hair, I said, “Do you wanna talk about what happened? I’m easy either way, but if you need to talk, I’m here.”

  She looked up at me, tears still filling her eyes. “He’s with Carmen Breen now. And I’m pretty sure they were doing stuff behind my back.” With that, another wave of tears overtook her. Little fucking shit. I should have let King have a word with him.

  I squeezed my arms hard around her, as if by holding her so freaking tightly, I could keep all the bad stuff away from her. My instinct to protect her had never been so strong. Maybe I could lock her in this house for the next ten years.

  She and I still hadn’t gotten around to having a conversation I was satisfied with over whether she and Sam’d had sex, but thankfully she’d gotten her period so I knew she wasn’t pregnant at least. But as many times as I’d asked her about sex, she’d brushed me off and told me no. I suspected she was lying, and I debated whether to broach the subject now when she wiggled out of my embrace, looked at me, and said, “I did have sex with him.”

  Oh God.

  My tummy practically cramped up with stress.

  I really will lock her in this house for ten straight years.

  Maybe twenty.

  Reaching for my hand, she said, “Mum, it’s okay, we used a condom. And we only did it once. And that was only this week.”

  My heart beat furiously against my chest.

  She was far too young for this.

  Far too young.

  Where did I go wrong?

  I failed as a parent.

  Failed with a capital F.

  “Mum.”

  I blinked and found her staring at me. “Zara,” I started, but my voice broke and no more words came.