by Sarah Bailey
THE DEVIL’S SYNDICATE
BOOK FOUR
SARAH BAILEY
Depraved Copyright © 2020 by Sarah Bailey
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Please note the spelling throughout is British English.
Cover Art by Sarah Bailey
Published by Twisted Tree Publications
www.twistedtreepublications.com
[email protected]
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 14
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Acknoweldgements
About The Author
To all those with dark, deviant desires.
This one’s for you.
Chapter 1
My mind whirled with the possibility my mother might die if I made the wrong decision. Would Frank really kill her if she went back to him? How would Viktor protect her? And if he did, would I get the answers I needed?
This decision felt monumental and yet how could I make it on my own when I had no idea if my hatred of my mother was clouding my judgement.
“Can I call you back? I need a minute.”
I needed longer than a fucking minute. What I needed was all my men so I could work out what the hell to do.
“Of course, kotik, but do not wait too long. I have other business to attend to.”
I wondered how he could be so casual about the life or death of a woman he’d been having an affair with. Then again, I wasn’t sure Viktor cared that much about Isabella, even if she was the mother of his child. Her keeping me a secret all this time can’t have sat well with him.
I hung up and turned to Eric.
“Isabella is with him. I need to speak to Quinn, like right now.”
“She’s what?”
I flicked through my contacts and dialled Quinn’s number.
“My mother went to Viktor.”
It rang twice.
“Little girl… how is Julian? What’s happening?”
“I don’t know. That’s not why I’m calling.”
I’d totally forgotten to ask Eric what was wrong with Julian in the rush to talk to Viktor.
“What’s wrong?”
“Did you ask Nate to tell my mother you know Frank isn’t my father?”
There was silence for a long moment. It was true. It had to be.
“How do you know about that?”
I clenched a fist. What the hell was Quinn’s game here? He’d forced Isabella’s hand and now here I was stuck making a decision I didn’t want to.
“Viktor called me. Isabella went to him, told him the truth and now he’s given me an ultimatum.”
It’s what it felt like. Either I let him protect her or I leave her to her own fate with Frank. One I had a feeling wouldn’t end well for her.
“What do you mean an ultimatum?”
“He left the decision of what to do about her to me. If he sends her back to Frank, then he thinks Frank might kill her. He asked me if I want him to protect her since according to him, she’s expendable whereas I’m not. I don’t have much time either. I asked him to give me a minute to decide, but how can I make such a decision, Quinn? How can the fate of my mother be in my hands?”
Sickness coiled in my stomach. Even if I hated my mother, I didn’t feel as though she was expendable. She’d raised me and given me life. She was still my mother. That meant something to me.
I looked up at Eric and all I could see was compassion in his eyes like he understood my dilemma. Shifting closer, I let him wrap an arm around me. I wanted to break down, but we were in a hospital and I couldn’t.
“I need you, Xav and Eric to come home. There’s something we need to tell you about Isabella.”
“What do you mean?”
“Just get home now. I’m sure Xav will be happy to have an excuse to leave.”
He hung up. I stared at Eric’s chest for a moment before dropping my hand from my ear, clutching my phone in an iron hold. What on earth did Quinn have to tell me?
Eric stroked my hair back from my face, staring down at me with concern etched into his features.
“What did he say?”
“We need to go home, all of us, as he wants to tell me something about Isabella.”
He stiffened and his eyes widened. So he knew. They’d been keeping another secret from me. I didn’t have the energy to process that right now.
“Right… Shit. Um, okay, we’ll go and get Xav then. Not sure he wants to have to be near Julian for much longer anyway. I didn’t want to leave him alone in the first place.”
It struck me then. We’d fucked up big time.
“What are we going to do about Julian seeing me? And what’s wrong with him?”
Eric rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand.
“He has a pulmonary embolism, a blood clot in his lung and he has to stay in for five days whilst they treat it. They think he’ll be fine though. And I don’t know. Quinn won’t be happy, but it is what it is. Julian saw you and there’s nothing else we can do about it.”
I tucked my phone back in my pocket before putting a hand out to him, indicating we should get moving.
“Are you okay, Ash?”
I shook my head. I really wasn’t okay. Today was a fucking mess. My emotions were all over the place and what was once up was now down. I didn’t even know what to say, think or do. But I could go home and see Quinn. I could deal with this situation with Viktor and Isabella. I had to. There was no other choice.
“Let’s just get Xav, okay? I can’t deal with anything else right now.”
Eric ignored my hand and tugged me into his arms properly.
“You can take a minute,” he whispered into my hair. “You’re so strong, hellcat, but it’s okay to take a second to breathe.”
So I did. I clutched him tightly and took several deep breaths, calming my nerves with each one. Getting through this shit was the only way forward. And I could take it one step at a time.
Pulling away, I stared up at Eric. This man had been my rock in so many ways since I’d arrived, even if things had
gone wrong between us several times. My heart was full looking at him, thumping against my chest with a steady rhythm.
“I don’t know how to thank you enough or show my appreciation. I hope you know how much you mean to me, E. I couldn’t survive this without you.”
His eyes grew soft.
“Ash…”
“No, I mean it. You’re such an amazing person. Don’t ever let anyone make you think differently. You never need to be like the others. You’re special in your own way and I adore that about you.”
He leant down, bringing one hand up to cup my cheek.
“I shouldn’t say this right now, not with all the crazy shit that’s going on, but… I’m falling for you.”
Tears welled in my eyes and I blinked them back.
“I’m falling for you too.”
He kissed me then, pouring out all of his appreciation into those few moments we were locked together. The world melted away and for a second, I was wrapped up in him and nothing else. Then he pulled away and it was gone. A fleeting feeling which I couldn’t afford to hold on to when the world was in such disarray.
I took his hand and the two of us made our way back to the ward. It was time to face the fucking music. And I wasn’t looking forward to it one bit.
Chapter 2
As soon as Eric and Ash left, Julian’s eyes turned dark and sinister. As if he’d put on an act when I had Eric by my side and now he was showing his true colours. It was only a matter of time until he dropped the fucking act. I knew my father too well. He hadn’t changed in the intervening years. He’d never felt remorse for what he’d done to my mother and Katie. He was dead inside. A man with no soul.
“I know who she is.”
The words out of his mouth made my heart stop. I eyed the guard because we couldn’t have this conversation with him here. I took a step towards him.
“Do you mind giving us a minute?”
The guard eyed me and Julian as of assessing whether to leave me alone with him. He was handcuffed to the bed. Not like he was going anywhere fast.
“I’ll be right outside the curtain.”
The moment he left and the curtain was back in place, I moved closer to Julian.
“What do you mean you know who she is?” I hissed.
I’d known bringing Ash here was a risk. Now Quinn was going to kill me and Eric for allowing Julian a glimpse of our girl.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
I just needed her with me. She kept me from losing my shit along with Eric. The two of them were my rocks. I couldn’t cope without them.
“How could I not, Xavier? Isabella Russo is a hard woman to forget. I might have been in prison most of her life, but that is a very grown up Ashleigh Russo if I’m not mistaken. My question is why are you involved with her? You hate that family and everything they represent.”
I’d made no secret to Julian how much I despised what he did for the Russos. It sickened me to think of the people he’d executed for them. Whilst Julian never directly worked for Frank, he’d met the man once or twice.
“It’s none of your fucking business why I’m involved with Ash.”
There was no point denying who she was. Julian wasn’t stupid. This is exactly why Quinn hadn’t wanted to let Ash come here.
He is literally going to kill me and Eric with his bare hands.
“Isn’t it? You’re still my son.”
“Some fucking father you are. I should let you rot.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“But you won’t.”
I hated it. Hated him being right. No matter what, I couldn’t abandon him completely, even if the knowledge made me sick. I paced away, unable to look at him any longer. His bed was next to the window, so I stared out into the night sky. Sometimes I wished I could see the stars, but the light pollution in London often prevented it. The city loomed below me. The place I’d grown up but sometimes felt suffocated by. I put my hand on the window frame and wondered how in a city of millions I could still feel alone. The only time I ever felt at home was with the boys and Ash. They were the only people in this world I needed from now until the end.
“You might be behind bars, Julian, but I’m not convinced you dropped your contacts completely. What do you want in exchange for your silence about Ash?”
“Why are you involved with her?”
A fucking question indeed. It wasn’t meant to happen. None of us were meant to fall in love with Ashleigh Russo. She was supposed to be a means to an end. Instead, she’d turned our lives upside down and inside out. She was the fucking beginning and the end. She was everything. And she was ours.
“We stole her from Frank intending to use her against him, but as you can see, it didn’t quite turn out that way.”
“What exactly is this relationship between the three of you?”
I almost laughed.
Three of us? It’s five of us.
“You wouldn’t understand.”
“I could if you tell me.”
I shook my head. No one would understand. Not really. How could they? We just worked and that was that.
“It’s all of us. All of us and her. Make of that what you will.” I sighed, hating I even had to admit this to him. “Is that enough? Are you going to keep your mouth shut?”
“What reason would I have to tell a soul?”
I turned around and glared at him.
“You have every fucking reason. As if you give a shit about what happens to me. You’d sell your own fucking soul if you had one.”
He smiled at me in that fucking manic way of his. It made my skin crawl.
“If you look at my record, I’m an exemplary prisoner. No fights. No trouble. I have no interest in involving myself in the petty squabbles of the world outside. And I have no reason to reveal your secrets either.”
I gritted my teeth.
Liar.
“What else do you want?”
No fucking way that was it. No fucking way at all.
“I want you to be here during my cancer treatment. This is the first time I’ve been outside the prison walls in twelve years. The only reason you’re here is because you feel obligated to be. Well, let that obligation extend further.”
I clenched my fist.
“And what else?”
“Let me meet the girl properly.”
Quinn was going to crucify me. As if I had a choice in the matter now. Taking any chances when it came to Julian was too much of a risk.
“Fine.”
His smile grew wider. I hated him for it. Hated everything about the man lying in that hospital bed. That’s when Eric appeared around the curtain.
“We need to go. Like right now.”
He looked a little stressed and I knew something had happened. Something involving Ash and Viktor.
“Where’s Ash?”
“Here.”
“Bring her in.”
Eric’s eyes widened, eyebrows shooting up.
“Why?”
“I’ll explain later, just bring her in… please.”
I hated myself for this. Would Ash understand? Would she forgive me for having to put her in Julian’s path?
Eric disappeared for a moment before reappearing with Ash. She looked nervous and unsure of herself. I put my hand out to her and she came willingly.
“Angel… this is Julian… Julian, this is Ash.”
She looked up at me, her face full of confusion, but then she turned to Julian and gave him a nod.
“Hello Julian.”
Eric’s gaze burned into me. As if I had a fucking choice here. I had no choice at all.
“Come closer, love, let me see you.”
I almost growled at his words. She was not his fucking love. She was mine. I wrapped an arm around her, my possessiveness of my girl overriding my common sense. Ash looked up at me again, those blue eyes telling me it was fine. Could I love this girl any more than I already di
d? She slipped out from under my arm and moved a little closer to Julian, her steps cautious.
Julian looked her over, his eyes gleaming. It made me want to fucking deck him. Ash was ours. Fucking ours. Jesus, I sounded like Quinn and his possessive bullshit. What the hell had gotten into me? It had to be Julian. He set me on edge.
“I see why those boys can’t stay away. I bet you keep them on their toes.”
That was fucking it. I closed the distance between me and Ash, pulling her away and shoving her at Eric. Julian didn’t get to leer over my fucking woman like she was fair game. I’d never allow him within three feet of her ever again. Never a-fucking-gain.
“There, you’ve met her. Happy now?”
He gave me a sharp nod.
“Don’t forget, I expect you to attend my treatments.”
“I know,” I gritted out. “We have to go.”
I didn’t let Eric or Ash say goodbye, dragging them out of the ward with me after nodding at the guards. If either of Ash or Eric wanted to say anything, they didn’t. I think they realised I was seriously pissed off and how much seeing Julian had affected me.
When we got in the car, I sat in the back and looked out the window with Ash next to me whilst Eric drove.
“What the fuck was that about?” he asked after a few minutes.
“It’s called blackmail, E. Did you forget what Julian is like?”
I could see him shaking his head.
“Quinn’s going to kill us.”
We could only hope for a quick and painless death, but knowing Quinn, that would never happen. He’d draw it out nice and slow.
“Too fucking right he is. What’s the rush, anyway?”
“We’ll talk about it when we get back,” Ash put in.
I eyed her for a moment. She looked tense and her eyes betrayed her inner turmoil. What the fuck had happened between her and Viktor? There was no point asking since she’d tell all when we got back.
What a fucking shitshow this day had turned out to be. I couldn’t wait for it to be fucking done, but something about the way Eric and Ash were acting told me it was a long time before any of us would be getting any sleep.