Page 17 of Fury (The Dark Angel’s MC #3)

Skylar

I groan, dropping my head, the figures before me just not making sense before I eye them again.

I’ve reviewed them several times, and each time, I’m getting the same number back —a number that doesn't add up with everything he’s sent me, meaning my new client is cheating the system and was hoping I wouldn’t notice, risking my license.

Damn it!

I throw my pen in frustration, making it bounce across the floor, and I drop my head again, suddenly wishing I’d just started with the files that need revision before sending off for Stacey, a sixteen-year-old currently in the foster care system.

She’s been chosen out of thousands for a scholarship to Chambers Private School, three hours away from Rose Meadow, on the opposite side of Santa Monica. We’ve found her a family who wants to foster her long-term in the area, giving her a better chance at life than the one she had growing up.

Her mama passed when she was two, and her father turned to violence and got locked up, leaving her in the care of his mother, who wasn’t the nicest.

After eight trips to the E.R., welfare services finally intervened, but no one wanted to adopt an eight-year-old.

“Rough day, precious?” I hear from my doorway, the voice rough and gruff, making my heart skip, and I look up to see Fury leaning against the doorframe, his arms crossed over his chest, stretching his black shirt over his muscles, but my eyes go to his neck like they always do and my body burns like it’s on fire just seeing the letters.

Skylar

I was shocked when I first saw it. Well, to be honest, I saw Tate’s name first on his forearm after bumping into him in the streets, not too big but not small either, and my heart hurt because our baby’s name should have been there and I was ready to run away crying until I noticed his neck and my heart shattered.

I knew then that he loved me, but I also knew it didn’t change anything because he had started us on a lie, losing my trust. I also had lost our baby, so my resentment built, and the only way to cope with it was to put a wall between us, and four years later, he’s slowly knocking that wall down.

I don’t know how to keep it up anymore.

“A new client has tried to swindle me,” I admit, and he frowns and demands, “Explain.”

Sighing, I state, “His accounts are not adding up to what he has spent and what is in there now. He’s taken one look at my age and decided I must not know what I’m doing,” I groan, “He’s missing over a hundred grand.”

“He’s risking your license?” he confirms, and I nod and admit, “I’m going to have to report him, meaning I’ll have a red dot on my back for a while...” I huff, “Dammit, last time this happened, my office got ransacked. That is the last time I take on one of Caitlyn’s suggestions as a favor.”

Fury’s jaw ticks as his body tenses, and he demands, “Who’s the client?”

Uh oh, he’s mad.

I tilt my head, assessing him as I say calmly, “I don’t want his death on my hands, Fury, I already have two.”

His mouth parts and his eyes widen at my truth, and I internally wince.

Ah, crap, I wasn’t supposed to say two; see, my walls are slowly crumbling.

Not good, nope, this is not good at all.

“Two?” he growls, “who else, precious, have you killed?”

I’m suddenly glad Caitlyn called in sick today. The frustration I felt hearing the man in the background when she called claiming to be ill and asking her back to bed is suddenly gone.

“It doesn’t matter, Mama sorted it,” I reluctantly say, and only because he looks ready to blow a gasket.

Fury, when mad, is not someone you want to be around, and while I know he would never hurt me physically, I don’t want him trashing my office because, well, I like my office, and Mama decorated it as a graduation gift.

I swallow hard as he slowly walks over to me, his face stoic as his aura surrounds me before he presses his hands flat against my desk and leans forward so our noses are touching as he growls, “Who else did you kill, Skylar?”

Uh oh, he’s mad, really mad, like the mad you don’t want to lie to.

Shit…

“A Hyena member when I was seventeen, but I can’t tell you why because it isn’t my place to say,” I whisper, and his nostrils flare as he demands, “How did Anna cover it up?”

I swallow hard again, the lump in my throat getting bigger, and I admit, “There were two of them, but one was already dead, so Mama and I went back to the scene and made it look like they attacked each other and Ivy managed to erase the footage and years later they are none the wiser.”

He shoves back off my desk and links his fingers behind his head as he paces, and I wince as he snaps, “Why in the fuck would you kill one though, Sky? Did they attack you?” he stops and looks me over, “Fuck, Sky, if they find out they’ll kill everyone who matters to you without a care for the consequences until it is too late. ”

“They didn’t attack me,” I admit, my heart beating wildly, “But I can’t give you the reason why I did what I did because it isn’t my story to tell, and they won’t find out. They’re not very smart people, and Mama did a good job with getting rid of the evidence.”

He shakes his head before turning away from me for a moment, and I chew my bottom lip.

I won’t tell him why I did it, that I had to otherwise, Raya would be dead. I won’t betray my friend as he betrayed me.

Heaving a sigh, he turns back around and asks, “Your client's name?”

My mouth parts in shock. I honestly thought he was going to push it.

He shakes his head, seeing my reaction, and snaps, “I’m trying to prove to you that you can trust me, Skylar, so I won’t push you on why you did it or what caused you to do it, but what I will do is ensure this fucker won’t try and ruin your business all because he thinks he can swindle you!”

I swallow hard and mutter, “David Lanes.”

He nods and gets his phone out before pressing a few buttons, then puts the device to his ear.

“Venom, do me a favor and find everything you can on David Lanes, he’s tried to fuck over Skylar,” he states, not breaking eye contact with me as my office door opens, and Raya walks in with a face like thunder, making me raise a brow as Fury turns to see who just walked in and damn she looks ready to blow.

“Thanks, brother,” Fury says as he eyes Raya cautiously while she paces my office, her hands running through her white-blonde hair, and my eyes follow her with caution.

She shakes her head, nothing but anger radiating from her.

“You’re uh looking for Raya, are you brother?” Fury suddenly says, and Raya stops in her tracks and slowly turns to him with the hardest glare I’ve seen from her, and even I lean back a little.

He clears his throat and wisely says, “Uh, sorry brother, I haven’t seen her.”

Raya nods once, then continues to pace my office while Fury hangs up from Venom and looks my way and states, “David won’t be your problem.”

I nod, knowing not to question him, then continue to watch my friend.

“Uh Raya, you doing okay?” I ask cautiously, but she ignores me as she stops before Fury and points at him, threatening, “You better not tell your friend that I’m here, or I’ll chop your balls off!”

Uh…

Fury nods, putting his hands up in peace as she looks at me and snaps, “That dickhead beat up my landlord and has gotten me kicked out!”

Wait what?

My eyes widen in shock while Fury sighs and asks, “Who’s your landlord? Maybe the club can change his mind?”

Raya scoffs, “He broke his nose!”

Why would he…?

I lock eyes with Fury, and I wince, knowing there is no way back from that and he sighs as he runs his tatted hand through his hair, making the muscles in his arms strain and my mouth water, but I quietly tell my libido to shut the freak up.

He looks at Raya and asks, “What set him off?” knowing his brother has a very short fuse and can be nasty when he wants to be, meaning a broken nose might not be the only consequence, and Raya’s landlord may find himself broke in the next week.

“Dean asked me out on a date, and I said yes when he was standing behind me,” she admits with a sly smile, and this time I smirk.

“You accepted a date with your skeezy landlord?” I ask with humor, and she scowls back at me, her eyes narrowing with a warning, but I laugh and remind her, “Your exact words about the man was, and I quote, ‘ I wouldn’t touch that diseased riddled man with a stick let alone my bare skin ,’ yet you accepted a date? ”

“You’re mean,” she says, and I laugh harder while Fury smirks and confirms, “You accepted the date because Venom called you undatable, right, and wanted to prove him wrong?”

Wait, he called her undatable, seriously?

Raya crosses her arms over her chest and glares at him, clearly not happy that Venom mentioned something on the phone, and I’m guessing that is the reason that caused her to rub him the wrong way.

My laughter doubles seeing he’s right, and he chuckles, a grin spreading across his face as he states, “There are a few apartments available in Bricks Street that the club owns, I’m sure –”

Raya cuts him off and snaps, “I am not living anywhere that Venom has access to. I’ll just move back in with my parents for a while.”

Shit. I sigh, “Raya–”

She cuts me off, “I know, Sky, but I don’t really have a choice.

Venom has just messed everything up, and honestly, his reaction was pathetic.

For years, I’ve been nothing but a pest befriending his sister because I apparently want to piss off my rich daddy,” her eyes tear up and my heart breaks for her as she chokes, “He’s said so much shit about me, my family,” she sniffles, “the crush I had on him, it has turned to hate which was his own doing and today he’s crossed the line. ”

I swallow hard and look down, so I don’t make eye contact with Fury.

The Hyenas believe Raya left town and all it takes is one of their minions to notice she’s back her at Mama’s, and she’ll be under a microscope with them. I know she won’t be able to hold back if she sees one of the members near her mother’s home. Her revenge is too high to stand back.