Once A Crime Lord (Crime Lord Series Book 3)

by Mia Knight

  “What did you do now?” Lyla shouted at her father.

  Pat took a step towards her, the cords on his neck sticking out. “What have I done? What have you done?”

  That penetrated enough for her to go very still. “What?”

  “I have a real job. We’re barely making ends meet. I don’t have the money to gamble. My nose is clean. There’s no reason for someone to take your mother unless it has to do with you.” Pat jabbed his burgundy colored finger at her. “You and Pyre are up to God knows what.”

  She couldn’t be responsible for her mother’s disappearance, could she? “Then why has she been calling me?”

  “She wants to meet your kid, why else?”

  Guilt threatened to choke her. “W-when I had Nora, she asked for money.”

  “We had a rough patch, but we pulled through, no thanks to you.”

  The way Pat looked at her as if he would love nothing more than to squeeze the life out of her made her body erupt with goose bumps.

  “All your mother wanted was to meet her grandkid and now she’s—she’s—”

  “Why didn’t you call 911?” Blade asked her father.

  Pat’s hands fisted at his sides. For a second, Lyla thought he wasn’t going to answer. Before she could scream at him, Blade released her and backhanded her father with a casual ruthlessness that told everyone without words that he was going to get answers by any means necessary. It happened so fast that no one had time to react. Her father’s mouth sagged as he stared at Blade with a hand pressed against his face.

  “If you want your wife to be found alive, stop fucking with us and answer the question. This isn’t a pissing contest,” Blade said in a no nonsense rumble. “What makes you think Gavin has anything to do with the break in and your wife’s abduction?”

  Her father reached into his pocket and pulled out a post it note, also splattered with blood. In beautiful, elegant scrawl the note said, Tell Lyla I’ll see her soon.

  There was a loud roaring in her ears. That sick fucker had her mother... No. No! This couldn’t be happening.

  “Gavin will get her back, Lyla,” Carmen said.

  Lyla opened her mouth, but no sound came out. All the calls and texts from her mother she ignored since Nora’s birth came back to haunt her. Lyla had issues with her mother because of her father, but Beatrice was her mother. The thought of her in Sadist’s hands made her ill.

  “You better not be lying, Uncle Pat,” Carmen spat. “If Gavin doesn’t kill you, I will.”

  “Why would I lie about this? Beatrice is missing!” Pat shouted.

  There was a crushing weight on her chest. Sadist was still fucking with them. Now he branched out from the Pyre family to hers. Why? What was the point? The fact that her father was here and her mother wasn’t scared her shitless. Sadist knew that her mother was her weak spot. How could he know that?

  Carmen smacked the screen of her phone. “What the fuck?”

  “What?” Lyla asked numbly.

  “My phone doesn’t have service.”

  Blade pulled out his own phone. He jabbed his finger at the screen, held it to his ear and then cursed. “Fuck.”

  Lyla walked to a landline phone and picked it up. There was no dial tone. She stared at Blade and Carmen who watched her expectantly. She shook her head. A muscle jumped in Blade’s jaw. He opened his mouth just as a faint popping sound came from outside.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Lyla

  “Get away from the window!” Blade shouted and shoved Carmen to the ground.

  “What is it?” Lyla asked, even though she knew.

  “Gunfire.”

  “It’s him.” Sadist was here to finish it. Lyla pulled out her gun and rose.

  “Get Nora,” Blade ordered. “We don’t have enough men to hold them off.”

  Her daughter’s name snapped her out of the red haze of fury.

  Blade shoved her towards the stairs and pulled out his gun. “Hurry!”

  Carmen barreled towards her. “Come on, Lyla.”

  Lyla whirled and ran upstairs with Carmen on her heels. There was a loud boom that made the windows shudder. What the fuck? Did they bring bombs? It was happening all over again. Sadist was here. Her worst nightmare was coming true. Sadist was launching an all out attack. He was here to finish them off. Where the fuck was Gavin?

  Beau stood in front of the crib, tail standing at attention, growling low in his throat.

  “I’ll get Nora. You have a leash for Beau?” Carmen asked, digging through the drawers and coming up with a baby carrier.

  “Yeah. Come, boy,” Lyla said and dashed into her bedroom.

  She snatched Beau’s leash and a bag of guns and ammo before stuffing her bare feet into a pair of sneakers. Lyla quickly clipped the leash to Beau and went down on her knees to meet his eyes. His ears flicked from side to side as he listened to the commotion outside.

  Lyla gripped Beau’s face and looked into his alert eyes. “Stay with me, okay? Stay with mommy. You’re going to be okay.”

  She dashed into the hallway and saw Carmen with Nora strapped to her chest and a baby bag slung over one shoulder. Their eyes met for a moment before they moved towards the stairs.

  “Let’s go!” Blade roared.

  They rushed downstairs as Pat tried to scuttle under the couch. Blade hauled him up and shoved him towards the wine cellar.

  “Where are you taking me?” her father shouted.

  “We’re getting out of here,” Blade said.

  “What? How—?”

  Blade placed his gun against her father’s temple. “Do what I say or die. I don’t have time for this shit.”

  Pat glanced at her before he held his hands up and allowed Blade to propel him forward. Blade punched in the code for the wine cellar and they rushed down the wide steps. Blade closed the door. The silence put them all on edge.

  “What the fuck is going on?” Pat asked again.

  No one answered because they all knew what was happening. Carmen swayed as she cradled Nora’s neck. Her baby was still blissfully asleep. Thank God Nora could sleep through a gun battle.

  The wine cellar was a small room with three walls full of wine bottles. Lyla had only been here a handful of times, but she knew what to do. She went to the third shelf and pulled off eight bottles before she saw the square panel. She tapped it and typed in her code before she realized Gavin might have changed it since he told her seven years ago. The panel flashed green and then it swung inward. Lyla was so relieved, her eyes stung with tears. She shot to her feet and pushed the wall open.

  “There’s a way out?” Pat asked, astonished.

  He tried to go first, but Blade hauled him back and nodded to Carmen and Lyla. Lyla stepped forward. Two lights at ground level lit up as Beau edged forward, sniffing madly. A dark tunnel stretched out in front of them. The darkness was so dense that she took a step back and bumped into Carmen. Blade and her father forced Lyla forward. More lights flared.

  “Lyla, lead the way,” Blade said.

  Beau eagerly started forward and pulled Lyla after him.

  “Still no phone service,” Blade reported from the rear. “Let’s roll.”

  Lights welcomed them into the hollow tunnel made of rock and stone and then faded back into darkness when they passed. Nora fussed, but they couldn’t stop. Lyla focused on putting one step in front of the other and felt naked without her phone, a flashlight or adequate clothing. The cold penetrated easily through the large weave of her oversized sweater and leggings. Carmen hadn’t changed out of her robe or house slippers and had to be freezing.

  The tunnel seemed endless and the feeling of being safe began to fade. Where the hell were they going? The sound of her father wheezing came from behind her. It seemed like a half hour passed before the tunnel opened up into a cave with a dirt floor. Four ATVs waited for them. By mutual accord, Blade and her father climbed onto one. Lyla forced Beau onto the floor in front of her and took Nora from Carmen who got into the dr

iver’s seat.

  “Gavin doesn’t leave anything to chance, does he?” Carmen asked as she turned the key in the ignition.

  “No.” She only wished he could have foreseen that Sadist would strike again. Fuck, four months of radio silence and now this.

  Blade took off on a narrow dirt path with only the headlights of the ATV for light. It was like an awful Disneyland ride. They hit ruts that made Lyla clamp her legs around Beau and hang onto Nora for dear life. They climbed steep inclines and then rushed down slopes. Dirt gave way to sand and they continued on. The fact that Gavin carved an escape route through the mountains was unbelievable. The sheer planning and work that must have gone into this was mind-blowing.

  Blade braked in front of a small fleet of SUVs in a cave. Beau scrambled out of the ATV while Lyla stepped out with Nora. The SUVs pointed at a wall that seemed to be made of solid rock. Blade pulled out his phone.

  “Any luck?” Carmen asked.

  “No service, but that’s not surprising since we’re in the middle of nowhere.” Blade jerked his chin at Lyla. “Gavin should be able to track her through her watch.”

  “Where are we going?” Carmen asked.

  “Safe house in Arizona,” Blade said.

  “Can’t we stay here?” Pat asked.

  “No. The protocol is to head to a safe house so that’s where we’ll go. Get in the car.”

  Blade got into the driver’s seat and her father took shotgun. Carmen lifted the back so Beau could jump in. Lyla slid onto the backseat and huddled into the corner to breastfeed Nora who calmed instantly. Lyla stroked her daughter’s face as the fake wall of rock lifted, showing an endless expanse of desert highlighted by a half moon.

  Blade messed with the GPS, which only showed a snowy screen.

  “Fuck,” Blade swore.

  “Do you know where you’re going without directions?” Lyla asked.

  “Yeah.”

  Blade navigated through the desert without lights. They were in the middle of nowhere without a road in sight. Her teeth rattled as the SUV handled the off road terrain with ease. How could Blade possibly know where they were? Lyla swallowed her questions. She trusted Blade with her life so she’d let him take the lead.

  Lyla felt nothing. She was past fear or anger. Sadist would never stop. Lyla looked down at Nora and could see just a hint of her face by the moonlight coming in from the window. Nora’s eyes were open and moving around the dark interior of the car. She blinked and clutched at Lyla as the SUV dipped into holes. Lyla held her close and noticed that Carmen managed to put a cap and socks on her daughter despite the chaos.

  Carmen leaned between the two front seats, her face tight with exhaustion and worry. Lyla looked down and saw that her once pink house slippers were now brown and filthy.

  “What’s going on?” Pat asked.

  The tension in the car ratcheted up to a screaming pitch. This war had been going on under her father’s nose for years. Despite the fact that Manny had been murdered, Gavin went to jail and she had gone missing, her father hadn’t asked questions until now. Lyla thought of her mother and squeezed her eyes shut. She would get her mother back.

  “Someone has it out for the Pyres,” Blade said finally. “It’s the same guy that killed Manny.”

  Her father tried to turn in his seat and encountered Carmen. “So it is your fault!” he shouted.

  Lyla clenched her teeth as guilt raked her insides.

  Carmen got in her father’s face. “You’ve never been a father to Lyla. As far as I’m concerned, you should be happy we didn’t leave you there to die.”

  “You’ve always been a disrespectful bitch—”

  Blade’s fist flashed out. A moment later Pat slammed into the window. The sound startled Nora who began to cry. Lyla cuddled her daughter to her chest as Blade continued to drive.

  “I don’t like you.” Blade’s voice held no inflection, which made his delivery all the more effective. “You’re a lazy, shady fuck who has no respect for anyone. You’re all mouth and can’t back up your shit. You were all for Lyla being with Gavin as long as she gave you money to gamble. Far as I can see, Gavin should have killed you when he caught you stealing. That’s the price you pay for taking what isn’t yours. Only the fact that Gavin loves your daughter has kept you alive, yet you treat her as if she’s trash.”

  They all leaned to the left as the tire dipped into a hole.

  “I don’t like you,” Blade said again. “And I don’t care who you think you are. Right now you’re not in control, you don’t call the shots and you have no rights. I hear anything I don’t like coming out of your mouth, I’ll put us all out of our misery and put a bullet through your head before I dump your body in the middle of the desert. Shut your trap or I do it for you. We clear?”

  Not a peep from her father. Lyla dropped her head back as it throbbed with the beginning pangs of a tension headache. Holy fuck. One innocent trip to the casino started a chain of events that couldn’t be stopped. Where was Gavin? Hopefully, he already knew what happened and was able to track her through the GPS imbedded in her watch. What if he was in trouble too? No, she couldn’t think that way. It would drive her crazy and she had to keep her head.

  They were in the middle of nowhere. It put her on edge. She peered out of the window, waiting for a car to appear out of the darkness. She hoped they didn’t get through the guards to the house. What if they touched Manny’s urn? Lyla closed her eyes and fought tears. She should have taken him.

  She lurched forward as the SUV slid onto pavement. Blade spun sharply and slammed on the gas.

  “How long will it take to get to this safe house?” Carmen asked.

  “Two hours,” Blade said.

  “I know about the one in Utah,” Lyla ventured, desperate to talk about anything but the cloud of doom hanging over them. “How many safe houses does he have?”

  “Half a dozen. The one in Arizona is one of the closest and I know how to get there.” He tapped the unresponsive GPS. “I don’t know what the fuck is going on with this shit.”

  Carmen pulled out her phone. “Still no service.”

  Nora sat on her lap and burped loudly. Beau leaned over to make sure she was all right and waffled in Lyla’s hair. She reached back and scratched him under his chin.

  “You’re such a good boy,” she praised.

  “Yes you were,” Carmen agreed and kissed his cheek.

  “Get some sleep,” Blade advised.

  “How?” Lyla asked as she bounced Nora on her lap.

  “We don’t know what else that fucker has in store for us tonight. You should rest while you can.”

  Lyla dropped her face on Nora’s chest and inhaled. Sadist wouldn’t get her baby. Lyla dropped the seat and crawled in the back of the SUV with Beau and found some blankets. She placed Nora on her back and watched her baby kick and wave her arms. Beau lay beside her with his head on his paws.

  Thoughts of her mom in Sadist’s hands chilled her to the bone. Sadist didn’t keep his victims... Lyla squeezed her eyes shut. She watched Manny die. God wouldn’t be cruel enough to take her mother too, could he? Helpless despair filled her chest, drowning her. Why did Sadist hate her so much? It had just been chance that she was at Manny’s house that day, but now he was striking out at her family. That was personal. What fueled this monster?

  Lyla tucked Nora against her body and breathed in her scent. The world could fall around her, but she would do whatever she had to for her daughter. She fought to bring Nora into this world and she would pay whatever cost to keep her here. Her thoughts turned to Gavin and her chest burned with fury. If he was in Maine and therefore leaving them vulnerable to an attack, she would never forgive him.

  ***

  “Lyla.”

  She opened her eyes and found herself curled protectively around Nora who was asleep. Beau was gone and there was a harsh chill coming in through the open doors of the SUV. Lyla sat up and saw the back of the SUV was open. Carmen reached for the baby and hustled into the darkness.

  Lyla felt worse than she had before she slept. Her mind was sluggish and unfocused. Lyla scooted out of the SUV and landed on coarse sand. Lyla looked around. A small cabin sat at the base of a canyon in the shape of a horseshoe. Jagged peaks seemed to touch the starry sky. Lyla walked around the SUV and saw that the safe house was at the top of a steep incline. Just on the horizon was the faint glow of city lights. Lyla wished they were in the city, not in the middle of nowhere with no one around for miles.

  Lyla walked towards the cabin, which was set deep enough into the canyon that no one would see the lights. She stepped onto the worn, creaking porch and heard Blade cursing.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “Still no reception. I’ve been checking every fifteen minutes since we got on the road,” Blade snapped and stuffed his phone in his pocket. “Did they bug our phones? What the fuck?”

  The house had one bedroom and was sparsely furnished with wooden chairs and not much else. Carmen came out of the bedroom with a blanket wrapped around her and Nora. Pat sat at a small dining table, face buried in his hands.

  Lyla used the facilities and splashed water on her face to wash away the grogginess and grime. The bathroom had one set of towels and toilet paper, but nothing else. She looked at herself in the dingy mirror. The woman looking back at her possessed dull, defeated eyes.

  Lyla trudged into the kitchen and opened the cupboards, which were empty. The house had electricity, but no rations, not even drinking water. Lyla wasn’t about to drink from the rusty tap. She went into the bedroom where Carmen huddled on a twin bed with Nora.

  “I changed her diaper and put on the warmest clothes she has,” Carmen said through chattering teeth.

  Beau passed by Lyla, sniffing the floor excitedly.

  “I’m going to talk to Blade,” Lyla said.

  Her father sat at the table, staring intently at his phone. Blade’s punch gave him a fresh set of bruises on his cheek. He looked like a walking dead person. She wished he would wash up.

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