“If you shut your mouth I’ll get to the point,” I snarled and he fell deathly quiet. I pointed to the mural on his wall. “That painting is as ugly as sin. It offends my eyes. And when my eyes get offended, I get stabby.” I stepped closer to the intercom, talking directly into it. “You don’t want me to get stabby now, do you buddy?”
“N-no,” he rasped. “But I-I assure you the painting is quite unique. I am a prestigious artist, I have credentials!”
“Looks like you’re gonna want a refund on those credentials, dude,” JJ called as he stood in front of the mural and threw white paint all over it.
“My balls!” the man gasped. “Stop splashing that all over my beautiful balls!”
I took a knife from my belt and let the sun catch on the blade as I used it to pick at my nail beds.
“A-alright, maybe it was a little bright for the area,” the man backtracked.
“I thought so too,” I agreed, tucking my knife back away and walking over to join JJ. Mutt yipped as I opened my can of paint and threw it all over the ugly balls, covering the vivid stripes on them. When we couldn’t see a speck of colour left on the wall, I nodded to JJ and he smirked at me as he wiped his paint flecked hands down his jeans.
“Come on then, let’s get our girl back,” I said in a low growl and we headed across the street towards the even bigger property which was built to resemble a massive church.
The gates started opening as we approached and I led the way inside, spotting a tall figure standing in a huge window that overlooked the landscaped front garden. His face was shrouded in shadow, and I guessed from that height he might have been able to watch us destroy his neighbour’s painting. He moved away into the dark room he was in, disappearing like a wraith and a moment later, the arching front door opened and he stepped out onto the porch.
Saint Memphis was strikingly handsome, his skin dark, his features intensely sharp and his cheeks hollow. He wore a white shirt which was immaculately pressed and light grey chinos and his expression gave nothing away. “Good morning, Fox, Johnny James.” He nodded to us, then looked to the dog. “And this is?”
“Mutt,” JJ supplied.
“How simple,” Saint commented as a black cat stepped out of the house and curled its way around his legs before sitting like a statue and gazing coolly at Mutt. “This is Debussy.”
“How pretentious,” I remarked and Saint’s lips quirked up at the corner.
Mutt growled and JJ picked him up before he lunged, but the cat didn’t even blink at his display of aggression.
This guy exuded wealth unlike anyone I’d ever met. He was so refined, I had to think he’d been born in the wrong century. Of course, one internet search had shown up everything I needed to know about his heritage. He was the son of a state governor, owner of several billion-dollar companies, including Rivers Corp. which was the most famous pharmaceutical company in the world after they’d created the vaccine for the Hades Virus which had swept its way across the planet several years ago and seriously fucked with everything and everyone.
“I did as you asked,” I said, cutting to the chase as excitement and anxiety blended together inside me. “Show me the footage.”
Saint nodded, turning and beckoning us after him into his massive temple. It had to take one really pretentious asshole to live in a church built wholly for him and his family.
We headed inside, following him through to a lounge with gleaming wooden floors and beautiful white furniture. A balcony swung around the top of it, giving a glimpse onto the second level and a chandelier made of twisting iron hung above us. I may have been a king in my world, but I wasn’t this kind of king. I was the one who fought alongside his men in the dirt on the front lines, Saint was the kind who never even muddied the finger he used to direct his soldiers.
My gaze hooked on a charcoal sketch on the wall of Sinners’ Playground, the light captured beautifully and all of the edges none too perfect, just like the real place was. There were silhouettes of children playing on the beach between the shadows of the pier struts and my heart yanked as blissful memories stole me away. Whoever had drawn this had seen the secrets it hid and the life it held, and somehow they’d bled it all out right onto that canvas.
“You like it,” Saint commented, following my gaze and I tugged my eyes away with a shrug.
“I’m not really an art guy,” I said.
“There is a type of art for everyone’s tastes,” Saint countered. “Art doesn’t have to be hanging in a gallery for it to be worthy of attention.”
“Your neighbour has shitty taste,” JJ commented.
“Quite,” Saint agreed, his upper lip curling for a moment. “Tea?”
“No,” I said, stepping closer to him. “I held up my end of the bargain, now hold up yours.”
Saint nodded and picked up an iPad from the mahogany coffee table where a tray of tea was waiting for us. He held it out to me and my heart drummed almost painfully as I took it from him. A video was ready to play on the screen and JJ’s shoulder jammed up against mine so that he could watch as I pressed the button.
The footage was dark, but I could make out my girl exiting the precinct into a parking lot. There was no sound on the video, but I didn’t need it to understand what happened next. My world twisted upside down as Maverick appeared in the shot. They spoke for a moment before Rogue tried to run and he raced after her. The video switched onto another camera and panic burned every nerve in my body as he got hold of her and forced her onto his bike.
“No,” JJ breathed in my ear, my throat tightening as the reality of where she was curled over me like a cresting wave. And then I was drowning, dragged into the depths of the darkest sea where all my fears came to life.
The video ended and I mutely passed the iPad back to Saint.
“His name is Maverick Stone,” Saint supplied and my face twisted into a grimace as I looked up. “But you already knew that, didn’t you?” his expression was mildly curious, but I said nothing, turning sharply and marching for the door with death on my mind. I’d take a boat to that island and plant every bullet in my possession into Maverick’s skull. But what if she was already dead?
I made it to the door, storming outside as JJ called my name and ran after me. I couldn’t hear what he was saying, it was all a blur as my mind descended into a bloodthirsty pit where nothing but death lived. I had a thousand reasons to kill him, but this was the one I’d put him in the ground for. My adopted brother had taken the one thing from me that I valued above all else. If he had hurt her, tarnished her, or heaven fucking forbid, killed her, I would make him bleed and bleed until there was nothing left of him but bones.
I made it to my truck, ripping the door open just as JJ caught up to me, gripping my arm and pulling me around to face him.
“Fox,” he snapped and I managed to focus as he placed a piece of paper in my hand. “Saint got hold of Maverick’s phone number.”
I stared down at the digits on the square slip of paper, my mind racing.
“Call him,” JJ urged.
“Call him?! I don’t want to call him, I want to kill him,” I spat. “We need to get home, take the boat-”
“No.” JJ gripped my arm tighter. “We have to make sure she’s okay.”
“I’ll find out when I get there,” I barked, but JJ didn’t let me go, his fingers digging into my arm and Mutt started yapping angrily at the confrontation.
“That could be exactly what he wants!” JJ snapped. “What do you think will happen if we sail over there? We’ll be gunned down on sight. And if Rogue’s alive, then she’ll be left alone with him.”
“She has to be alive,” I rasped, destroyed by even the thought that she might not be. That my brother could be so vengeful as to kill her because I loved her. But she’d been to that island and survived once. He’d had a chance to take her life before and he hadn’t, so maybe there was hope.
“She is,” JJ backtracked. “Rick hasn’t killed her. Because if he had, he’d
have made sure we already knew.”
I released a heavy breath, nodding in agreement of that. “You’re right.”
“So call him,” JJ urged and I gritted my jaw, my fingers tightening around the piece of paper that was a link to my lost brother.
“Fine,” I bit out, dropping into the car and JJ jogged around to get in the other side.
I took out my phone, aggressively dialling the number and pressing speakerphone as I hit call.
It rang three times before a gravelly voice answered, sending a chill of recognition sweeping through me.
“Who is this?” he demanded.
“Your death if you don’t give me back my girl,” I warned and he fell quiet for a moment before releasing a booming laugh.
“Hello, brother,” Maverick said tauntingly. “I wondered when you’d figure it out. Which rat in my gang did you have to kill for this number?”
“Killing isn’t the solution to everything, Maverick,” I said tightly. “Although when it comes to dealing with you, it’s the only one on the table.”
“How terrifying,” he said blandly. “So I suppose you want to know what condition your pretty unicorn is in?”
“If you’ve touched her-” I started, but he cut over me.
“Oh I’ve touched her alright, brother. I’ve touched her everywhere.”
Ice trickled down my spine and anger spiralled through me so fiercely, I couldn’t see anything but a cloud of red.
“You fucking monster,” I snarled as JJ clawed a hand through his hair, his eyes wide with fear. “I’ll slice you apart, I’ll fucking gut you for this.”
Maverick laughed obnoxiously once more. “It’s cute that you think I raped her. The girl was practically drooling over my cock the second I brought her home. I made great use of that wet mouth of hers too.”
“Fuck you!” I roared, my fingers squeezing the phone almost hard enough to break it. “You’re dead, you’re fucking dead!”
JJ snatched the phone from my hand, taking a breath as he worked to keep calmer than I was managing. “Put her on the phone. Prove she’s alive.”
“Nah,” he said lightly. “I don’t think I will. She’s busy fingering herself to get ready for another round with my cock.”
“Shut your filthy mouth,” I snarled, grabbing the phone back from JJ as Maverick laughed loudly once more.
“Calm down, Foxy boy,” he said mockingly. “Maybe you shouldn’t have abandoned your girl if she meant so much to you.”
“I didn’t fucking abandon her,” I snarled and he scoffed.
“That’s not what she told me. And she’s been telling me a lot of things, brother. Have you been keeping secrets from Daddy dearest? Tut, tut. What ever would he do if he found out Rogue was back in town?”
“You know exactly what he’d do,” I spat.
“Yeah, well I guess that’s the only two things Luther Harlequin and I have in common. We hold grudges and we keep our promises. I’m gonna ruin your girl then dump her at your door when I’m finished having my fun, then I’m gonna cut through the army of men you hide behind, drag you to Gallows Bridge and hang you there like the traitor you are.”
“The only traitor in our family was you,” I hissed. “And listen to me very fucking carefully. I’m coming for Rogue Easton, and I will leave your island with her in my arms and your head swinging from my fist.”
“Good luck with that,” he said lightly. “But I thought you wanted the cartel to kill me off for you like a coward?”
A dark smirk pulled at my lips. “Rumour has it they like to slice people up like salami when they owe them money.”
“Ain’t that the truth. Oh, but haven’t you heard?”
“What?” I gritted out.
“Every kilo of cocaine I lost in that fire miraculously turned back up again in my new warehouse. I guess the drug fairies must have brought it in the night. Aren’t I lucky?”
“What are you talking about?” I demanded.
“It’s strange that Shawn Mackenzie lost the exact same amount from his storage units though. I guess the cartel will be out for his blood now instead,” Maverick mused, clearly enjoying this as a curse left my lips.
The asshole had replaced the drugs, he’d fucking pinned his losses on Shawn. It was infuriatingly genius, and I guessed that explained why the leader of The Dead Dogs had gone underground.
“I made sure there was enough clues there as to who took it too,” Maverick said with a smirk in his voice. “Shawn will be so very angry with you, Foxy.”
“Shit,” JJ muttered as my gut lurched.
Shawn was out for us as it was, now he thought we’d robbed him of all that cocaine and turned the cartel on him. He was on the fucking run, and no doubt on a warpath too. He was gonna be hunting us with the fury of a wild man.
“Anyway, I’d better go,” Maverick said. “Rogue’s probably as wet as a waterfall right now and I don’t wanna keep her waiting.”
“You fucking-” I started but he hung up and I threw the phone onto the dashboard with a shout of fury before throwing my fist into the steering wheel. I punched it over and over so the horn went off repeatedly, blinded by utter hate and horror at what he’d said. Was she really fucking him? Did she want him? Was she glad to be away from me?
Mutt barked furiously and JJ dove on me, locking my arms to my sides as I panted furiously, strands of blonde hair falling into my eyes.
“Breathe,” he commanded and I did, meeting his gaze and finding my strength there. “He’s trying to get in your head.”
Slowly, the manic rage in my mind lifted enough to give me some clarity on that. Maverick was surely just fucking with me. She was his prisoner, she had to be. She wouldn’t give herself to him. He was just taunting me.
JJ gripped my face hard to keep my eyes locked with his as Mutt got squashed between us. “We will get her back,” he swore and I held the back of his neck in return, pressing my forehead to his as that vow flared between us. “But we can’t go off half cocked.”
I nodded as we released each other and I sat back in my seat and stroked Mutt’s head, a little whine leaving him like he knew what we were talking about. “We’ll head home, regroup and come up with a strategy to get onto his island.”
“Fox…we won’t survive it,” JJ said seriously. “His compound is locked up tighter than a duck’s asshole, he has watch towers, we’ll be gunned down in the water before we even get close.”
I clenched my jaw, knowing he was right, but I couldn’t face the possibility that I had to just wait this out. What if he was torturing her? Raping her? I couldn’t just leave her there to that fate. I had to rescue her.
“There has to be a way,” I rasped and Mutt gazed up at me like he was desperate for me to come up with an answer too. “Maybe he’ll take a trade. We can offer him territory, anything to get her back.”
“Yeah,” JJ said, though he didn’t sound certain. “Let’s just go home and talk it out.”
I nodded, twisting the key in the ignition and driving down the road. When we eventually approached Harlequin House, I didn’t slow, accelerating past it and taking the next left turn towards the beach.
“Where are you going?” JJ asked in surprise.
“To bring our brother home,” I said quietly, driving along the seafront in the direction of Sinners’ Playground, the old rides on the pier gleaming in the morning sunlight.
I parked up and we headed out across the sandy beach, walking down into the shadow of the amusement park towards the wooden strut where we’d carved a ladder all those years ago.
But before I made it there, Mutt ran off with a bark under the pier and I squinted into the darkest recess at the end of it, spotting someone lying there.
My heart squeezed with worry and JJ cursed as we started running up the sand to where Chase was laying shirtless in the dark with an empty bottle of rum in his hand and a cigarette butt between his lips, ash coating his chest.
I kicked him in the side and he groaned
, the butt falling from his lips onto his collar bone. Mutt barked right in his ear and Chase waved a hand vaguely to try and bat him away.
“Dude, get up,” JJ said, jabbing him with the toe of his boot.
“Can’t,” Chase croaked. “There’s a volcano erupting in my head.”
Mutt barked at him again and Chase groaned in agony.
I folded my arms, taking in my brother with concern rippling through me. Had he been sleeping here every night like a fucking hobo? From the looks of the empty rum bottles littering the place, I was guessing he had.
Mutt pranced around him then cocked his leg and started pissing on his jeans.
“Whassappening?” Chase slurred.
“Mutt’s pissing on you,” JJ supplied with a snort.
“Argh, nooo.” Chase managed to sit up and Mutt bounded away with a yip as Chase stared at the wet patch on his jeans with a look of defeat.
His pants were undone and his curly dark hair was sticking up in every direction. He squinted up at me and he looked so fucking pitiful that I offered him a hand to help him up. He took it and I pulled him to his feet, brushing the sand off of his back for him as he stumbled forward a step.
“I looked everywhere, man,” he promised. “I only came here at dawn, I swear.”
“I know,” I muttered, seeing the truth in his tired eyes. “Come on, you can come home now.”
“I can?” he asked hopefully.
“Yeah,” I said heavily.
“Does that mean-” he started, but JJ cut in.
“We found her,” he said, his gaze intense.
“Where is she?” he demanded in alarm.
“She’s with Maverick. He’s the one who got her out of jail,” I said and he gaped at me.
“What?” he breathed in fear. “Is she alright?” He gripped my arm, his features twisting in terror and I shook my head.
“I don’t know, brother,” I said darkly. “But if she’s not, there’s no force in this world that will save Maverick from our wrath.”
I watched the view out over the water as I sat on the balcony in Maverick's suite, looking into the distance where I could just make out Sinners' Playground with the sun glinting off of the metal framework of the huge Ferris wheel. I was grinding my teeth. Rage and heartache biting into my soul as I glared towards the town which held the Harlequin Crew at the heart of it.
Dead Man's Isle (Harlequin Crew #2) Page 10