Page 22

Chapter Twenty

Luke

Gripping the sleeves of his denim jacket, Eva pulls Ben into an embrace, her head dropping against his chest. “Thank you for getting Liam out of there.” She sobs, her eyes closing.

The fucker dares to chance a glance my way, and I hold his gaze as he slowly raises his arms and wraps them around my girl.

Embers of fury begin to ignite in my gut, but I don’t show my grievance. He knows what he’s doing, and if it was any other situation, I’d be tearing him away from her and pounding my fists into his motherfucking skull. But here, in a hospital, beside the bed their son lies on, I know above all else, Eva is only thinking about their safety.

Still, if I don’t walk away from the man in front of me, I’ll end up doing something I won’t regret, but that will have Eva leaving me.

I won’t let that happen.

“I’m going to catch up with Adam, find out what happened.”

Ben’s ears immediately prick up and his head jumps my way rather oddly. “Who are you talking about? What’s somebody else going to be able to tell you that I won’t?”

I grab the cunt by the throat going against everything I want to do, squeezing my fingers around his Adam’s apple. I can feel him trying to swallow. “You think I trust your word? I know the kind of man you are. You don’t deserve—”

“Enough,” Eva half shouts, her arms coming up to break us apart .

The twat’s eyes widen, and I realise my grip has turned deadly. I throw him back a step, and he composes himself, no words or argument. Fucking tosser. Turning away from him, I face Eva.

Shit.

She steps back, and I see her hands shaking. Fear tries to steal her words but she manages to say, “Okay,” in a distressed manner. Her arms immediately wrap around her front, and I read her expression as clear as the sun that we watched rise together this morning.

She thinks this is her fault. And fuck me, it cuts and tears so deep, the hollow void I once lived with, edges it’s way to my centre. The feeling like I’m going to lose her all over again and face endless lonely days, creeps in.

No.

Not again.

She is my centre. My Eva. My girl. My Little Warrior.

Her emerald eyes are glistening with tears, sitting round and unsure on her flushed face. She isn’t sure whether she should embrace me.

Sliding my hand along her cheek, that jolt of energy that strikes like a moving train every single time we touch, zaps between us, making her look at me. Eva settles into my touch, and I kiss the side of her head. “Let me give you my number.”

Eva hands over her phone, keeping herself close to me as I quickly add my contact then hand it back to her. “You call me if you need me. I’m going to make this right.”

Her eyes close almost wishfully before she’s fixing her eyes on Liam. “How?” She places her phone in her back pocket without removing her gaze from her son.

I’m aware mine and Adam’s refusal to help the Serbs, won’t go unanswered. I just never thought in my wildest dreams they’d go after a child. Sick as they may be, it isn’t their style. Something isn’t adding up here.

I don’t give her an answer.

My heart all but stops when she instantly stiffens. The comfort my touch brought her mere seconds ago is replaced with the one thing I’ve come to avoid feeling .

Rejection.

It’s been years since I’ve been close enough to someone to feel it as intensely as I do now. It slams a thick wedge between us before Eva turns away from me and moves to Liam’s side, holding his hand in hers. Kid hasn’t stirred since she came into the room. I can tell it’s killing her. That and my unanswered threat of violence to ensure something like this never happens again.

Stepping out of the cubicle with a sigh and a depleted shake of my head, I pull out my phone when it vibrates. There’s a text from Adam telling me to meet him outside. I make my way, eventually finding him by his car. Out of habit, I scan the area, even though he’ll have done it already.

Adam pulls out his cigarettes but puts them away when he sees me. I fucking hate him smoking, and he knows it. “How’s the kid?”

“Honestly, I didn’t hang around to find out.” As much as I want to be in there, it isn’t my place yet.

“Who’s the man up there? Kid’s dad?”

I nod.

“Guy’s odd.”

I look into his eyes. “Meaning?”

Pushing off his car that he’s leaning against, Adam pulls out his phone, opening the photos. “Tell me what you see.”

I scan my curious eyes over the photos of what must be Ben’s place. There’s a highchair, a pile of dishes on the side and a laundry basket by the washing machine. “What am I looking at?”

“How did you know someone had been at Eva’s?”

Passing him back his phone, I recall Eva treading on the glass and the window being broken. It was bullshit though. “Window was smashed, but everything else was too straight. The note they left was placed neatly on the table.”

His brows lift. There’s a small pout of his lips. “Window was a distraction?”

“Window was a distraction,” I repeat, running a hand through my hair as I look out towards the calm morning sky, my mind ticking. “So what did you find at the wanker’s place?”

Adam coughs, and I just know he’s got something to say about my reaction to Ben. Fucker. “Nothing. That’s just it. Fucking, nothing. The guy’s place was a day away from looking like a homeless man had moved in, but there was no sign of a break-in.”

I spin back around to face him. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that you and I both know the fucking Serbs don’t hurt kids. Women, maybe. But still, kids, not their forte.” He grimaces when my face turns murderous at his insinuation they would go after Eva. “Look, you might not like it, but someone wants your attention. I’m just not convinced these two things are linked.” He backs up when my fist instinctively curls into a tight ball. “I think we have to talk to the fucking cunts who want us to get their money—which, to be fair, we did effectively take away from them.”

I swing my arm and punch his car, barely missing the side of his face. It’s hard to say what the Serbs are capable of. One thing’s for sure, they’ve definitely got my attention now. We’re not on anybody else’s radar. It has to be them.

Adam ducks, his hands fly to cover his head. “Jesus. Fuck. My fucking car!” He checks the damage, and admittedly, my pulse begins throbbing in my hand, the telling sign of warm liquid trickling to my fingers. Great. Bleeding.

“Let’s just figure out who the fuck would be sending threats to your girl before you do something you’ll regret.”

I wouldn’t regret anything. And he’s right. Eva’s my girl now. And no words even come close to describing the agony I felt reading the note that was left.

The bitch isn’t safe .

But from whom?

Me? My life that I’m so close to stepping away from? My gut tells me all this shit is my fault. This is my worst fear coming true before my eyes. The people I care for most facing a threat from someone else, all because of me.

How I handled things last time was easy. One shot. One moment. One devasting decision that led to the safety of two children. I’d do it again in a heartbeat for them, regardless of the fact Sammie blames me for everything. I don’t fucking care. She doesn’t need to know the horrors I saved her from, she just needs to live her life free from danger, free from harm, free from hate.

Adam hasn’t heard from her since I came to work with him. Again, my fault that she cut all ties .

If I walked away from everyone right now, in this moment—before anything turns too serious between me and Eva, then who knows, maybe she’d be safer. Perhaps she’d live a happy life and wouldn’t have to worry about anything related to me. But I wouldn’t have my last man. And the fucking Serbs would still want their money.

Like a thorn in my skin, I try to shake off the idea of living a life back behind bars. Because that’s where I’ll end up if I don’t accomplish what I set out to the moment my feet touched down in this fucked up world. The man who did what he did and still breathes the same air as me, needs to die. And because of my need to make sure that happens, now the fucking Serbian mafia is up my arse.

Of course, I could stay, get the Serbs their money and keep them from causing harm to my family, if in fact it is them making the threats. Then, I could continue the search for the man who has illuded me for years and just hope Lady Luck decides to back me this time, instead of the other fucking horse.

But it’s too many elements. Too many moving parts that aren’t under my control.

This is becoming a fucking mess.

“What you thinking, Bro?”

My eyes zip to Adam on a rush of mixed emotions. How do I tell him I want to go on a rampage, straighten all of this out and get back to the life I want with the woman who’s inside the building behind me? Scared of me. “I think I’ve gotten us in deep shit.”

He quirks a smile like an obnoxious twat. “When has that ever stopped you before?”

“I mean it this time.” My heart starts drilling. “There was a man at The Savoy the other night, had a woman with him. Didn’t think anything of it until I thought I saw him at the restaurant I took Eva to. She knocked into someone, but he left before I could get a proper look at him.” My temperature rises.

Adam suddenly looks worried. “Shit.”

“Might be nothing.”

“Could be everything. Carrie?”

“Already looking into it,” I tell him as I take a deep—much needed—breath of air .

Don’t act irrationally. Don’t act irrationally . My internal pep talk tries to tame the beast within. I don’t run away from my problems. Haven’t since I was inside and had nowhere to run to. But I can’t be reactive. I know I need to find the truth, then deal with it. “I need you to look into anyone we could have pissed off whilst working with Marcus. Anyone or anything at all, you let me know.”

Adam nods, and I realise that my biggest priority is inside. With her son. For their sakes, I should march myself up there and tell her to her face, that until I finish this once and for all, she deserves so much better than me.

“Bro, whatever happens from here on out, you’ve got me.”

I close my eyes, mentally tormenting myself. “I can do this on my own.”

Adam scoffs then sees I’m serious. “Like fuck I’m letting you do that again.”

I shake my head disgruntled. “Don’t be you for five minutes, and just listen to what I’m telling you.”

“No. No way. I lost you for seventeen years last time you did something on your own. Whatever your reasons for killing…” He looks down, one hand swiping his mouth like he can’t say that I killed our mother. Painted my room with her brains after she’d watched someone touching me. “Whatever she did, I trust that you made the right decision. I’ll never blame you for that. Unlike Sammie, I get it. Doesn’t take a fucking genius to work out you did what you did to protect us.”

“Adam—”

“No, you let me finish. Jesus—fucking—Christ I need to say this.” His hand waves me away aggressively, and for the first time in fucking years, I stand down and listen. “I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry that you were treated poorly.” His head rattles, frustration and anger clearly present. “But if you think you can have the life that is owed to you with the girl in there,” he points over my shoulder, “then it’s my job to help you get that. Little brother or not, we stick together. Right?” A lump thickens in my throat. “Right?” he says more passionately.

“Right,” I tell him.

Adam nods, quickly swiping his eye. “Good. Now let’s get this done.” He opens his car door.

“Wait.” Turmoil itches my brain before I slowly spin on my heels. “You stay here and watch them. Make sure they’re safe. ”

“What are you going to do?” Adam says quietly.

“Meet the Serbs. But I can’t let anything happen to her. If she’ll wait for me, I can finish this, once and for all.”

An ominous silence stretches between us as a few cars flow like a river in front of the hospital. “And if she won’t wait?”

I hold back the urge to curse and accept a life without her. “Then it’s a code blue.”

Adam sighs.

All hearts will stop beating. Including mine.