by Penelope Sky
I tried not to scream, but a chunk of my hair flew out.
Vox stopped again. “Move.”
I looked up from the floor, seeing the ceiling, no longer able to see Heath’s face. But I noticed the gun in the back of Vox’s waistband, his shirt slightly tucked into his jeans because the fabric had caught as he’d shoved it there.
“Let her go,” Heath said. “And I’ll shoot myself in the head.”
Vox was quiet, as if he hadn’t expected that kind of offer.
“That’s what you want more than her. Let her go, and I’ll do it.”
“Hmm…that’s tempting, but—”
I pushed up and groaned as he tugged on my scalp, but I got the gun in my grasp. I clicked the safety like second nature then pointed it into his body, not even seeing where I was aiming. I pulled the trigger.
He stumbled as the bullet went into his back, his hand releasing my hair.
I shot him again.
He fell to the floor.
I crawled to him and pointed the gun at his face, pulling the trigger over and over, spilling blood, flesh, and brains all over the place. I kept pulling the trigger even when the barrel was empty, the gun clicking because it was out of ammo. “You fucking asshole!” I slammed my hands down onto his chest, slammed the gun into his already destroyed face. “Who the fuck do you think I am?” Tears poured from my eyes because I was so angry, so crazy.
“Baby.” Heath came up behind me, his hands gripping my arms to steady me, to pull me into his chest. “Baby, shh…” He pulled me against him, his heartbeat strong against my back. “He’s gone.”
I collapsed against him, kicking away the corpse at my feet. I sobbed, my arms crossing over my chest as I gave in to the fear, the terror, the relief.
Heath held me, his lips pressed against the top of my head.
Footsteps sounded as someone ran to the top of the stairs. “Is she okay?” His voice was identical to Heath’s, so I knew it was Balto.
Heath raised his hand, as if he was silencing his brother.
Another pair of footsteps sounded at a full sprint. “Where is she?” My brother’s voice was loud, demanding, terrified.
Balto lowered his voice. “She’s okay…”
Heath didn’t leave me. “Just give us a minute.”
Damien didn’t reply, as if seeing me safe in the flesh was enough for him. Then he and Balto walked down the stairs again.
Heath held me there, let me cry against him, let me release the terror I’d been holding in my chest for the last ten minutes. “It’s alright, baby…it’s alright.”
Heath cupped my cheek as he looked at me, unafraid to let tears form in his eyes when he stared at me, knowing I was safe, unharmed, just a little upset. He pressed his forehead to mine before he kissed me. “You alright?”
I nodded.
“You killed half of the men on your own.”
I still wasn’t entirely sure what had happened. It was a fucking blur.
“And pulling his gun from his jeans…badass.”
“I was just trying to save us…”
“I know.” His thumbs wiped away my old tears. “I know. Everything is okay now. He’s dead. His men are dead. It’s over.”
I nodded.
“Alright?”
I nodded again.
“I want to keep hogging you, but I can’t.” He pulled away from me and walked to the top of the stairs. “She’s ready now.”
My brother took the stairs two at a time to get to me. He jogged across the room until he reached me, his chest hitting mine as he hugged me tight, wrapping his arms around me, squeezing me like he wanted to make sure I was real. “You okay?”
“I’m fine. What about you?”
“Not a scratch.” He pulled away and looked into my face, seeing the wet eyes. “They’re all gone. I checked three times.”
“I know, Damien. It just… It’s a lot to take in.”
“Heath told me how you held your own… I’m proud of you.”
I shook my head. “I had no idea what I was doing—”
“Still kicked ass.” He squeezed my arms before he released me.
“Please don’t hate Heath…” I finally had him in my life, and then this happened. I didn’t want my family to turn against him again. I wanted every day to be like Christmas.
His eyes softened. “I would…but he said today is his last day.”
“It is?” I whispered.
He nodded. “Vox was his loose end…and it’s over. If Balto and Bones can have a quiet life, I don’t see why Heath can’t too.”
“Who’s Bones?”
He shook his head. “Never mind.” His eyes searched my face, like he wondered if I was really okay.
“I’ll be fine.” I answered his unspoken question. “I just need some time.”
“Alright.” He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and walked with me to the top of the stairs. “You guys can stay with me if you need time to, you know, get this place cleaned up. Or the Tuscan Rose. Hades will give you the best room in the place—free of charge.”
“Thanks, Damien.”
Heath watched me walk back to him, still staring at me with the same intense love, like his love for me had only deepened after what happened.
“How’s your brother?” I asked.
“He’s fine,” he answered, his unblinking eyes on me. “I have to take care of some things. I want you to stay with Damien tonight.”
“What…?” My lips sagged into a frown. “Why? I’m not going to sleep—”
“I want to get this place cleaned up, and I have to do some stuff at the Underground.”
“Damien told me today is your last day…”
“It is. And I’m formally resigning. I’ll pick you up on my way home.”
I didn’t want to be without him, not even for a second, not after what happened.
“I want to put this behind us. I want to bring you back here—and start our lives together.”
I sighed in frustration, but I didn’t argue. “Alright…”
Twenty-One
Heath
I was fucking tired.
It was sunrise at that point.
I killed my own kind, the men Catalina hadn’t already pumped lead into. I was the first one there with my guys, and we took out most of them before Damien arrived next.
It was a quick battle on the street corner.
Any doubts my men had about me were gone after what Vox tried to do. He didn’t even come after me personally—he came after the woman I loved.
So, while my place was being cleaned and repaired, I spent my last evening with them, last evening drinking beer and talking about our conquests. I sat on my throne for the last time, looking at the rows of tables filled with the people I was closest to.
Vox’s table was empty.
He would be stuffed into an oil drum and dropped somewhere in the Mediterranean.
My tenure as the Skull King had been short-lived. Once I’d taken over after Balto, I’d expected to have the reins a long time. I wasn’t going to set them down for a woman, pictured my life as a series of images of booze, money, and whores.
But I didn’t even last as long as he did.
I had barely been the Skull King a year before I retired.
A bit pathetic.
But with Catalina at home, I knew I would still feel like a king.
Because she was the Skull Queen.
She had the same kind of criminality in her veins as I did, but she was also wrapped in a pretty bow of innocence, having no idea what kind of history was in her blood, where that feistiness came from, where she got her edge.
So, I had something to look forward to when I got home.
The rest of my life.
Steel sat beside me. “You still seem angry.”
I turned to him, my mind somewhere else. “Just a bit sentimental.”
“Sentimental?” he asked. “I’m surprised you even know what that word means.”
<
br /> I gave him a teasing glare.
“Why are you sentimental?” he asked, turning serious.
I slipped my hand into the front pocket of my jeans and withdrew the ring. I held it up, looking at it one last time, finding it difficult to part with the biggest symbol of my identity. It was a piece of me. But now, I would wear a new ring.
Steel’s eyes narrowed.
I extended it to him. “You’re in charge now, man.”
His hold on his beer loosened until it started to drip over the edge. He quickly corrected himself, brushing off the beer that spilled on his knee. “Heath, what are you talking about?”
“It’s time for me to move on. You’re my replacement.”
“I don’t understand.” He set down the beer. “You’re a great Skull King. Why would you want to leave?”
That was why I loved Steel. He’d always been loyal to me, even when power dangled right in front of him. “It’s time for me to move on,” I repeated. I placed the ring in his hand. “Wear it well.”
He stared at the ring in his palm, watching it shine like a prism, and then he closed his fingers around it before he gave a slight nod.
“I’m just a phone call away.” I patted him on the shoulder before I rose to my feet, feeling the weight off my shoulders now that I’d sacrificed the title I thought I would never shed. Walking away from my power was harder than I made it seem. I gave an unequivocal answer when Richard put me on the spot, but that was the price I had to pay to have his daughter, and I paid it.
I walked past the guys, clapped them on the shoulders, shook hands, said a few final words, let time slow down as I stepped away from my reign of power and returned to civilian life. I had enough saved to take care of us for the rest of our lives, but she never asked me about my finances.
Because she didn’t care.
I walked out of there for the last time. Closing that chapter of my life.
And opening a new one.
“You seem to be alright, all things considered.” Balto sat on the opposite couch while the morning light filled the living room. Cassini was still asleep, probably tossing and turning all night while her husband was gone, risking his life…again.
I shrugged. “I thought I would last a lot longer than that.”
He shrugged. “So did I.”
“Wow, I’m an even bigger pussy than you…”
“Hey, I just risked my neck to save your ass—”
“Catalina’s ass. And she has a nice ass.”
He rolled his eyes. “In all seriousness, are you alright? Couldn’t have been easy to give up your ring.”
“It wasn’t.”
He watched me for a while.
“But Catalina gave me a ring to wear…so that’ll be my replacement.”
He nodded.
“And she’s worth it.”
He nodded again. “It’s not fast-paced, it’s not unpredictable, but…it’s somehow the most exhilarating experience ever.”
I could picture that with Catalina, a long and happy life, a life full of her feistiness and my stubbornness. “I’m gonna tell you something. It stays between us.” I pointed between our chests. “You can’t tell Cassini either.”
“You know I’m a locked vault full of secrets.” He stared into his glass.
“When I was with her family on Christmas, I was talking to her father…”
He raised his head and looked at me.
After a long pause, I finished the statement. “He used to be the Skull King.”
Balto had the best poker face in the world, but even he couldn’t hide his surprise at the revelation.
“That’s why he and I…click.”
“When?”
I shook my head. “He didn’t say. I didn’t ask. It doesn’t really matter anyway.”
“How old is he?”
“In his seventies.”
“So, this must have been like thirty, forty years ago.”
“Yeah.”
“The Skull Kings have been around for almost a hundred years.” Balto swirled his drink before he set it on the table. “It’s had a lot of members, a lot of rulers.”
“Yeah.”
“Catalina doesn’t know?”
I shook my head. “He told me to never tell her. Damien doesn’t know either.”
“But he told you… I think that’s the best approval you’re going to get.”
“Yeah.” I’d feared her father in the way that all men feared their fathers-in-law, but once I met him, I felt like I was with a close friend, someone I could talk to, someone who understood me…even though he didn’t know me. I thought it was just respect, respect for the way he loved his daughter, but then I realized it was deeper than that.
He was a leader—and so was I.
We were two sides of the same coin.
Balto gave a quiet chuckle. “You’re marrying the daughter of a former Skull King… What are the odds of that?”
Zero.
Fucking zero.
Patricia let me in the front door, less timid around me now that I was officially a member of the family. “I’ll let Catalina know you’re here. I think she’s still asleep upstairs…” When she turned to walk away, Richard stood there.
He was in a burgundy sweater and dark jeans, a shiny watch on his wrist. He had a bit of a stomach and gray hair, but he also had the musculature of a man who used to be strong. When I’d kidnapped him, I never saw him in the flesh, just told one of my henchmen to do it. If I’d seen him with my own eyes, I wondered if the outcome would have been different.
“Heath, come with me.” He nodded to the dining room before he turned around and walked away.
I followed him, entering the room and watching him move to a smaller table at the side, bathed in sunlight from the cathedral windows. He sat down in front of a chessboard, the pieces lined up and ready for a match. “Play chess?”
I shook my head. “No, sir.”
He nodded to the chair across from me. “Sit down. I’ll teach you.”
I gave a slight smile before I lowered myself into the chair across from him.
Patricia brought coffee and sliced fruit, placing everything beside us so we would be comfortable. “I’ll let Catalina know you’re here when she wakes up.”
“Thank you,” I said quietly.
Richard stared at the chessboard with his fingertips under his chin, as if he was considering what to say first. “Tied up your loose ends?”
I nodded. “Yes. I resigned early this morning.”
He lifted his gaze and looked at me. “It’s done?”
“Yes. It’s done.”
A slight shine of approval moved into his eyes before he turned to the board. “Alright, now pay attention. Because we’re a family of chess players, you’re gonna have to learn this.”
“I’m pretty quick.”
“Yeah?” he asked. “We’ll see.”
“Where did you learn?”
He picked up the queen, like he was going to explain its significance to me. “The Underground, actually.”
The guys had a lot of time to kill sometimes.
“Now, protect your queen at all costs…” It was as if his words had different meaning, as if we were talking about something other than the game. “You lose her, you lose everything.”
I nodded. “That’s easy to remember.”
Twenty-Two
Catalina
I’d just washed my face in the bathroom when Patricia’s voice sounded in my temporary bedroom. She knew the second I was awake, like she was standing outside the bedroom door waiting. “Heath is here.”
“He is?” I wiped my face with a towel then came back to her.
She nodded. “Yes. He’s with your father.”
“Alright, I’ll be done in a few minutes. Just have to pack my things.”
“I’ll let him know.” She stepped out.
I was so excited to see Heath that I shoved everything into my bag and headed downstairs in a rush
. It was hard to sleep without him, even if I slept in a house with my family. It just wasn’t the same without his big size beside me, his steady beating heart, the way his stubble brushed against my shoulder when he pulled me close.
I stepped into the dining room with my bag over my shoulder and was stunned by what I saw.
My father was playing chess…with Heath.
He looked at the board with his fingertips against his lips, waiting for Heath to make his move.
Heath considered his decision in silence, staring at the board as he tried to figure out what to do. Then he grabbed his pawn and moved it one square.
My father gave a nod of approval. “Not bad…” He grabbed his queen and quickly moved her.
“I thought you were supposed to protect your queen at all costs?”
“You are. I moved—”
Heath moved his piece and captured her.
My father shut his mouth, turning a venomous stare on him.
Heath smiled, a boyish grin that was completely genuine, not arrogant or sarcastic. “Told you I’m a fast learner.”
I set my bag on the dining table and walked over to their match. “Babe, I didn’t know you knew how to play.”
He turned to me, his smile still on his face but a brighter look in his eyes now that I was in the room, calling him babe. “Your father is teaching me.”
“Teaching you too well…” my father grumbled under his breath.
Heath chuckled.
My eyes shifted back and forth as I looked at them, unable to believe this was real, that my father was treating Heath like a son…and I didn’t even have to ask him to. He just accepted Heath with open arms. It meant the world to me.
More than the world.
“How’d you sleep, sweetheart?” Dad asked me as he looked at the board.
“Alright.” I looked at Heath, silently telling him it was a rough night without him.
His gaze turned serious, picking up on my meaning. “That was the last night I’ll be gone. I left.”