Page 24

Chapter Twenty-Four

Vivian

Nova and I are laying in my bed staring up at the ceiling, neither of us can sleep. She hasn’t tried to push me for answers or asked why I sent the guys away. She’s trusting me blindly and the pressure of that alone is crippling. I reach over to turn on the bedside lamp, open the top drawer and retrieve the letter I received today and hand it to her. She stares at it for a while then shakes her head.

“Read it to me.” I take a deep breath and do as she says.

“My my my, how courageous you have become, who knew all it would take was three cocks in your wretched holes. There is another who knows how to take cocks, you will meet her real soon. Have no fear, my dear, you will be mine before too long and this time there will be no surprises. Try not to fuck in the shower next time, I prefer to watch you pleasuring yourself while you scream each of their names. Next time you take a cock it will be my name you scream.”

“Vivian…” Nova stares at me in horror, I deflate and nod unable to voice my thoughts. “What the fuck is it with this town and sending fucking letters?” she mutters more to herself.

“Whoever has been sending me these notes has been growing more confident. David and I believe it's one of the members of the Saints.”

“How do they know about you and the guys?”

I shrug. “I think they have been watching me. This fucker knows my schedule. He’s left notes at Lividica, my house, the town hall and even posted one to David.”

“What else have they sent? What did he mean about you meeting a girl soon?” I shake my head.

“I don’t know what he meant about the girl but he has… he has killed before.” Nova slowly pushes up into a sitting position and faces me, searching my eyes. I know she is going to find the truth without me having to say a word.

“Lordess!” At the sound of one of my guards yelling my name I jump out of the bed, tear my door open and race to the landing peering over the edge to see Nial standing there with a pink box fitted with a beautiful pink bow on top. He doesn’t need to say anything else, I know what’s inside of that box.

“Vivian, what’s going on?” Nova asks as she follows me down the stairs. My suspicions have been proven correct, the very same day I kick my brother and the guys out a box arrives. He is watching me right now and that knowledge has my skin crawling and the hairs on the back of my neck raising.

“I’ve called David, he’s on his way,” Nial says. I nod and motion for him to place the box on the dining room table.

“Why are you calling David over a gift box?” Nova asks. I’m left with no choice but to tell her the truth. She’s going to witness what is in that box herself in a few minutes so it's better I tell her now before she pieces it together herself.

“He sent me the head of the district attorney in a box exactly like this.” Her eyes widen and her mouth pops open. “He… Nova, I’m the one who told Vox that your mother was dead.”

She recoils as if I struck her. “What the fuck, Vivian?” she snaps. I try to reach for her but she steps back out of reach. “Why the fuck would you tell him that?”

“Because the DA wasn’t the only gift I received from him while I was away at CHU,” I say quietly. Nova looks from me to the box, I wait for her to grasp my meaning. Nial and I both remain silent, giving her the time and space she needs to come to terms with this. When she finally looks at me her eyes are brimming with unshed tears and my heart aches for my friend.

“You told Vox she was dead because he sent you my mom’s… he sent you… you have my mom’s… Oh God,” she cries out as she falls to her knees distraught. I rush forward and drop to my own before her and wrap my arms around my best friend. She screams and wails while I hold her tight, never once letting her go even when she tries to break free. “Mom!” Fuck, the raw pain in that one word is felt deep into my soul. My own mother is back in Washington helping Olivia search for Kelly, neither of them wanted to believe their friend was dead and still live in denial about it even though Vox has told them what happened.

“I swear, Nova, whoever is doing this will fucking pay,” I promise. My friend clings to me and soaks my shirt with her tears. I fight against the urge to call my brother. I know she won’t admit it but right now, she only wants him so I do the next best thing and pull my phone out and Facetime Vox. He answers on the third ring and the instant he hears Nova sobbing his face morphs into one of unfiltered rage.

“Who the fuck hurt her?” he snarls.

“I did,” I admit, for the first time in my life my brother stares at me like I am a stranger. Never once has he ever faced me with a look filled with malice until now.

“What the fuck did you do?” he asks in a clipped tone.

“I received another package tonight, I had no choice but to tell her about the… previous one I received.” His features sober instantly and worry enters his blue eyes.

“Is she okay?” I turn the camera so he can see her crumpled against me. “Witch?” His tone is filled with anguish. Nova slowly lifts her head and the instant she sees my brother a sob tears out of her.

“Vox,” she calls for him.

“I’m coming, witch. Hang on, baby.” She instantly shakes her head and swipes her face to wipe her tears.

“No. I’ll be okay… just, don’t hang up, okay?” she begs.

“Never, baby. I’ll stay on the phone as long as you need me too,” he promises. Before I hand the phone to her, I help her to her feet then turn the camera to me. Vox still looks pissed off and I know it's because I forced them to leave.

“I’m sending her upstairs, she doesn’t need to see this,” I tell him. “Stay on the phone with her.” I don’t wait for him to respond, I hand Nova the phone. “I’m so sorry, I’ll be up there as soon as I can.” She nods and takes the phone from my hand and heads upstairs looking like she has the weight of the world on her shoulders.

“Is my brother with you?” I hear her ask just as David walks through the front door. The moment he and I lock eyes a silent conversation happens. We both know for certain now that whoever is doing this is one of the members which means we can’t trust anyone aside from ourselves. I can’t even trust the lawyers I have tasked with getting Alexander out of jail now.

“Have you opened it?”

“No, we waited for you.” David seems to only notice Nial then and nods a hello before stepping up to the edge of the table. My breath lodges in my throat as he undoes the bow. When it falls away, a small pink note can be seen. David looks at me but doesn't make a move to grab the note. I square my shoulders and keep my head held high as I tentatively reach out and grasp the small postcard size note.

I wonder if she would take those vermin as well as you?

I guess we won’t get the chance to find out.

Nowhere you go, nowhere you hide will be safe from me.

I know your every move.

I read the note aloud, refusing to feel ashamed about the first part of the note, I regret nothing. As David reaches out to remove the lid, I stop him with my words.

“I already know who it is,” I say quietly.

The shock is evident in his gaze. “Who?”

“The girl I called you about, Kim. I think it's her in that box.” Sadness coats my words, she was so young. Twenty-six with her entire life ahead of her but because she crossed paths with me, she was murdered and I will have to live with the guilt of that for the rest of my life. I close my eyes not wanting to see her face when David lifts the lid. His resounding sigh is all the answer I need.

It’s Kim.

“Give her a burial and make sure there is evidence for her parents to find, they don’t need to be wondering what happened to her.” When Nial leaves the room with the box, I finally take a full breath and flop into one of the dining chairs and bury my face in my hands. “Lordess, we need to do something. That’s the third one and I am afraid to say it?—”

“There will be more unless I start giving into their demands. I know,” I answer. David shoots me a solemn look.

“I think we need to start looking through all the members and making a stockpile of the ones who want you out the most.”

“Yeah, let’s do it now.” I’m already so far behind on all my college classes with no hope of catching up, so I may as well devote my time to something useful, I mean there isn’t any point in studying or submitting essays if I’m dead.

David makes a call to have all the records of current and past members delivered to my house. While we wait, I decide to go and check on Nova. My bedroom door is slightly ajar and I pause when I hear her talking.

“I love you, witch.” Hearing those three words come from my brother fills me with a sense of pride. Him being away from this place for the past year has been the best thing for his relationship with Nova.

“I love you too,” she says through her tears. I decide to leave Nova to talk to Vox and head back downstairs to wait for all the files to be delivered. David is sitting on the sofa with his phone in his hand, at the sound of me approaching he looks up and forces a smile.

“It’s going to be a long night so I’ve ordered some Thai and coffees.”

“Have I told you that you are worth your weight in gold, David?” This time when he smiles it's real. I drop into the single seater opposite him.

“I just received a message from Tate.” At the mention of her I sit up straighter.

“What happened?”

“Another girl didn’t turn up for her shift.”

“Fuck!” I run a hand through my hair. “What’s the chance that she’s sick?” I ask hopefully.

“Slim to none considering she was just hired last week to take over the Explorer room.” Every room in Lividica is dedicated to a certain type of pleasure. The Explorer room is for men to try new things that they wouldn’t dare do with their wives. We even have a room dedicated to golden showers.

“Let me guess, no one has seen her since she left the interview?” David nods. “So, we know for sure the fucker is in town and no doubt watching us right now.” Again he nods. “I want you to get a team out here first thing in the morning to do a sweep of the house.”

“You think this place is bugged?”

I shrug. “I’m not putting anything past this sick fuck, I want us to take extra caution. We need to change our routine every day.”

“I’ve already changed my meeting times for the week and I have my assistant Cornelia handling most of my in person checks.”

I reel back in surprise. “You have an assistant?”

He laughs and I find myself smiling at the sound of it. Given the horrendous situation we are in we need to find a reason to smile. “Yes.” David goes on to explain that he actually has his own accounting firm which floors me given the coupe I have staged. When the boxes are delivered, I almost want to cry at the sheer amount of them. Each folder has pages of information on every member and their families. I comb through the stacks that are in alphabetical order trying to find Ezekiel, Hayze, Archer and Vox’s files but the files aren’t in there. “I already had their files removed from the archives after you banished them.”

I whirl around and face David in surprise. “Why would you do that?”

“Because I knew they would become targets by the other members. If they weren’t targets, they would be the ones they would go after to try to overthrow you and I couldn’t allow that.” His declaration renders me speechless. What David has done breaks a lot of rules that could have him banished or killed by the other members, if they were to discover what he did.

“I… Why would you help me? You didn’t even know me well then.”

“Call me insane but I had a feeling that you would be the leader the Saints have needed for years. I have been a member of the Saints for longer than you have been alive and believe me when I tell you that some of these men shouldn’t be free to walk the streets.”

“David—”

“Can I be curt with you?”

His tone has me feeling nervous. “Yeah.”

“Are you planning on turning me over to the feds when you take down the Saints?” My mouth pops open and I gape at my right-hand man in equal parts shock and terror. “I may be old, Vivian, but I am not stupid. I have had the past twelve months to get to know you. Believe it or not, in that time I would like to think that I have gotten to know you very well.”

“David… I-I… we can’t discuss this,” I mutter. I don’t know if my house is bugged and I can’t risk it. What he has just suggested could get us both killed. My status in The Brotherhood won’t save me if I am caught betraying the cause.

“Very well,” is all he says and returns to his task while I am left standing here reeling. Maybe I’m not as smart as I thought. If David has suspicions, then that means the rest of the Saints do as well and that makes holding off until The Night Of The Saints ten times fucking harder.