Page 31 of Diamonds (Aces Underground #2)

MADDOX

B lood gushes out of Bill’s throat in a crimson stream. The color slowly drains out of his face as the life leaves his eyes.

I immediately throw my hand over Alissa’s mouth. I don’t want her to scream.

But she doesn’t. A few tears well in her eyes, but she’s not going to give us away.

Fuck… Fuck.

We just witnessed a murder.

And as far as I know, we’re the only witnesses.

If the King sees us, he’ll kill us too. Of that I have no doubt.

I peer out from behind the dumpster. The King has tossed Bill’s lifeless body to the side and is walking out of the alleyway—thankfully, in the opposite direction from us.

Once he’s out of our sightline, I grab Alissa’s hand and we run out of the alley.

What do we do? What do we do?

Go back to Aces? Pretend we saw nothing?

Chet saw us leave. We told him we’d be right back. If we don’t return, that might arouse suspicion.

Rouge saw us there, too.

But I can’t take Alissa back in there. I won’t allow her to put her life in danger.

She’s my everything.

How does Bill factor into all of this?

I already figured out that we couldn’t trust him anymore. But I never thought that he might be in cahoots—or at least was in cahoots—with Rouge in some way.

The King mentioned a file.

A file…

Holy shit.

Not the file that I grabbed? The one confirming that my father died from poisoning, not from a heart attack?

It was right on top of his desk. And Bill knew we were coming by.

I have a feeling he didn’t just pull that file out for a simple stroll down memory lane.

Christ. My head hurts. Blood is pounding into every corner of my brain.

That must be the file the King was talking about.

Which means Bill died to give me this information.

And if Rouge is involved…

Holy fuck.

Rouge Montrose killed my father.

And if she killed the former Mayor of Chicago, she won’t hesitate to kill his only son.

Or worse, his only son’s girlfriend.

Alissa. Sweet Alissa.

I can’t take her back into Aces. Not right now.

And I can’t take her to my place, or her place.

Everyone who gets into Aces has to show ID. So they have our addresses.

Rouge doesn’t know that we witnessed Bill’s murder, but she could still be after us. When we don’t return to the club, that’ll send up a red flag.

We pull out of the alley onto a busy street. Cars rush past.

We’re safe for now.

Alissa bursts into tears and throws her arms around me. “Maddox! I thought we were going to die.”

I hold her tight. “I won’t let anything happen to you, Alissa. No one’s going to harm a hair on your beautiful head as long as I’m around.”

She looks up. “What about when you’re not around?”

“Don’t worry about that.” I squeeze her body against mine. “I’m not letting you out of my sight until we figure out what the hell is going on.” I point to a building. “That’s the garage where the Rolls is parked. We’re going to get to the car, and then I’m going to take us somewhere safe.”

“Where?” she asks.

“I’ll figure that out on the way. Right now I just want to get us the fuck out of here.

Away from Aces, from Rouge, from her Kings.

Because the file that the King mentioned?

I think he was talking about my dad’s file.

The one that was buried, that shows that his death wasn’t a heart attack.

” I swallow. “I think Rouge might have been behind it all.”

She drops her jaw. “So it’s all connected.”

I nod. “This must be why my dad left me the membership. He must have known that his number was up soon, so he made arrangements for me to inherit his place at Aces. Rouge must have figured out that I had no idea about any intentions he might have had, so she let me come to the club, plied me with as many gin and tonics as I could handle. Kept me clueless, except for?—”

I shut my mouth. Except for that night when she showed me a hint of her true colors.

But she made me take those damned shrooms, so I wasn’t sure what was real and what wasn’t.

It was a test. To see if I would freak out when she handed me the glass of blood. Maybe she was hoping to make me one of her Kings.

The King of Diamonds.

It’s all connected. Shit.

She made me take the shrooms because if I did freak out, she could easily explain it away as a hallucination.

Which is exactly what happened.

Fuck.

And I kept returning for years.

“Except for what, Maddox?” Alissa’s eyes are wide.

“Not here, not now.” I grab her hand. “To the garage.”

We quickly make it across the street and up a few flights of concrete stairs to where I parked the Rolls. A few raindrops start to plink across my windshield as I pull out of the garage. In the distance, lightning flashes.

I take my phone out of my pocket, pull up the weather app. “Of course, it’s supposed to storm for the next couple of days.” I rub at my forehead. “How fucking fitting.”

“Where are we going?” Alissa asks. “Where’s a safe place for us to lie low?”

I dig my fingernails into the steering wheel as I think.

My place is out. Alissa’s is out.

She doesn’t have any family here. I have my mother in Skokie, but we can hardly stay there after our unpleasant visit yesterday.

I could call Harrison. But he could be working late tonight. He usually ends up taking a lot of shifts on the weekends. It was always a pain in the ass to tear him away from the hospital whenever I took him as my guest to the club.

But he’s a good place to start. I call his cell. It rings… once, twice, three times.

“This is Dr. Harrison O’Rourke. If this is an emergency, please dial 911. If not, either call my office at St. Charles General during business hours or leave a message and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.”

I hang up and call again. Again, his voicemail.

“Damn it, Harrison.” I end the call.

He’s a good doctor. He likely doesn’t have his phone on him while he’s working a shift.

I don’t want to stay with him anyway.

Besides Alissa, he’s the only person I’ve brought as a guest to Aces. Which means that they have his address on file, and they know he’s connected to me.

I run my hands through my hair. Who else? Who else?

It has to be someone distant. A place Rouge and her goons wouldn’t think of if they come after us.

My mother comes to mind again, but again, hell no.

Who would open their home to me in the dead of night, not ask too many questions?

And then I realize.

There’s one woman who might be willing to help.

A woman I haven’t spoken to in over ten years, but who, if she knew my life were in danger, would help me out.

I dial in the number. It rings. Once. Twice.

“Maddox Hathaway?”

I let out a sigh of relief, almost dropping the phone.

I bring it back to my ear. “Laurie. I’m so glad you answered.”

Laurie Caulkins. My ex. The first woman I truly loved.

The woman who dumped me at my father’s funeral.

But that was years ago. If she can save my ass right now, I’ll let bygones be bygones.

“Maddox, it’s late. Are you drunk?”

“Sober as a judge. Listen, Laurie. I can’t go into too many details, but my girlfriend and I need a place to stay tonight. Our places aren’t safe.”

“My God, what happened?”

“I… I…”

Fuck. I need to come up with something believable, but I can’t tell her the truth. Something just serious enough to get her to open her doors, but not so terrifying that she hangs up and blocks my number.

“It’s… There’s this stalker. An ex-employee of my father’s.

Got really screwed over by the HOUSE Act.

I’ve already reported him to the police, but I’ve received all sorts of threatening messages from him.

The cops suggested I find a place to spend the night where he wouldn’t think to look for me, and I thought… You know, given our history…”

“You figured no one would ever ask their ex for a place to stay.” She chuckles humorlessly. “I suppose that makes sense.”

“So can we crash with you? I promise I’ll make it up to you.”

“Maddox, of course you can stay here. But probably best to limit it to one night, all right?”

“Yeah, that’s fine. Thank you so much. You’re really helping us out here.”

“Yes. You mentioned a girlfriend?”

“Yeah… I hope that’s not a problem?”

She chuckles. “Of course not. I just need to know if you’ll need separate beds. It sounds like I can put you both up in my guest room. It’s a queen that you can share.”

The word “queen” rattles me a bit, but I steady myself.

“Yeah, that’s fine.” I sigh. “If I’d known when I woke up this morning that I’d be asking Laurie Caulkins for a favor…”

“It’s actually Laurie Guildford now.”

“Shit. You got married?”

“It’s been over a decade, Maddox. Of course I got married.”

“Well, congrats.”

“You can congratulate me in person. When can you get here?”

“You still live in Evanston?”

“Yeah. I’ll text you my address.”

I check my watch. “We can get to you in a half hour or so.”

“Great. I’ll make sure the dog is outside so you don’t get attacked.”

“Great. Thanks again, Laurie.”

“Don’t mention it. Drive safe.”

“Will do. See you soon.”

I end the call. Laurie sent me her address, so I plug it into my Maps app.

“Who’s Laurie?” Alissa asks.

I draw in a long breath. “An old…friend.”

Alissa narrows her eyes. “A friend friend? Or a friend friend?”

I shrug. “We dated.”

“Right. Your mum mentioned her. Thought I was her.” She bites her lip.

“Are you uncomfortable staying with her? It sounds like she’s married now.” I reach over, rub her shoulder. “And I love only you, Alissa. You have to know that.”

She smiles. “Of course. I love only you . I’ll admit I’m not exactly in love with the prospect of staying with your old girlfriend, but it’s not a bad idea. No one would think to look for you there.”

“My thoughts exactly.” I brake at a stoplight and give her a kiss on her cheek. “I promise you, I’ll make it up to you.”

“Just get us there safely. And promise me one thing, Maddox.”

“What’s that?”

“Once we’re there, hold me in your arms. And never let go.”

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