Page 44

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

NASH

Through my night-vision goggles, I see green bodies carpeting the pine wood floors between the pews of the old church.

Turner’s men lie dead everywhere.

The sobs and whimpers of the five teenage girls and two teen boys we found held captive disturb my soul. They huddle in the corner of the sanctuary, where Jace stands guard over them while the others clear the auxiliary spaces of the church.

One of the girls cradles a newborn swaddled in a blanket. She breastfeeds, trying to silence and protect her baby while terror fills her eyes, staring up at our lethal forms.

They murmur desperate prayers in Spanish, so I squat down and take off my goggles. I let her see my face and sincere eyes. I don’t speak the language well, but I try. “ Esta bein .” I tell her it’s okay. “ Soy padre. Estas seguro .” I pause. “ Lo siento. Estas segura .”

I struggle with the language I learned in college, but I need her to know I’m a father, too. That she’s safe, and I’d never let anyone hurt her or them.

Axel storms into the sanctuary. “Turner’s in the wind.”

“You sure?” Jace asks.

“It’s none of these bodies.” Axel points his AK-47 with a Wolverine suppressor at the carnage we created. The suppressor is best at silencing any Kalashnikov weapon. No one heard us coming, killing, and they won’t hear us leaving, either. “They all have two eyes.”

“You think he knew we were coming?” Sire asks.

“I think he bet on it,” Grant answers.

“What if he was never here?” Jace wonders. “Our surveillance never saw him enter or leave. So, what if he jumped off the boat and never made it to shore, and his men have been sitting here with their thumbs up their asses, not sure what to do?”

“We know he’s alive,” Axel assures. “Yesterday, Two perfected the art of BDSM interrogation.”

“What the—” Nick looks at me. He stops his task of loading all the tech into duffels. In his off-season, Nick treats our missions like training camp. “What does he mean you perfected ‘BDSM interrogation’?”

“Why so curious, Six?” Sire laughs. “Would’ve guessed you and your Texas queen would be experts at it by now.”

“Jealous much?” Nick chuckles.

“No.” Sire winks. “Divinely inspired.”

Leave it to Sire to joke at the worst time. So I cut the shit. “The first guy we caught climbing over the fence at the Bonneau mansion has a torture kink. My queen warned me he would, so yesterday, I asked her what we should do. Apparently, hours of stimulation and orgasm denial with a large prostate massager will make any man cry to come … and confess Turner is alive.”

“Damn.” Nick nods. “Sure helps having a PhD in sex on our team.”

Sire laughs. “Two ain’t complaining.”

“Enough!” Axel booms before turning my way. His goggles are still on, but I swear I see the ice in his stare. “Call Seven and warn him. Turner’s still out there, and you’re still the bait.”

Carefully, we gather the latest group of Turner’s trafficking victims. In broken Spanish, I assure them it’s okay. I ride with them in the van, calling Nadine, who prepares for their arrival. Medical care. Food. A counselor fluent in Spanish. An immigration lawyer. Even diapers will be waiting for them.

Tragically, we’re pros at this.

As dawn rises, Axel and I secure the victims, leaving them safe in Nadine’s hands, while the others dump Turner’s men in the Atlantic, and I begin this fucking game all over again.

“I need to call off Alena’s wedding.”

Numbly, I stare out the window of Axel’s Jaguar. He’s driving me back to The Mercier. All I want is to see Vale and hold her in my arms. All I need is for my daughter to be safe, too.

“Don’t.” Axel’s tone is sincere. “Alena’s too excited, and I don’t know what bullshit excuse you can give that won’t break her heart. Just…” He starts to reason quickly because I can’t.

Something about those victims, that young mother, and her newborn, brought it all back to me.

Lainey and Alena.

It freaked me out at sixteen when Lainey breastfed her. I wince, remembering how I pressured her to bottle-feed. Not like it was my body or business. I was just an uptight fuckwad who wasn’t used to seeing what was perfectly natural.

No, it was beautiful.

But now I know what a good father will do for his daughter.

And what a real man will do for the woman he loves.

It makes me tell Axel to take the next exit. Before I see Vale, there’s someone I need to talk to.

“Just get Alena to one of the villas at the club,” Axel strategizes, obeying my order. “Her wedding is this weekend, so tell her it’s so she can be pampered. We’ll put the other queens in the villas and lock it down.”

“Secure Alena in a villa at the country club with her guard? Alright,” I agree, pointing left for him to turn toward the Daniel Island Golf Club. “Leave Vale alone without me protecting her? Fuck no.”

“We’ll all be there, protecting them,” he counters. “We’ll put you in an unlocked villa and parade your ass around the course, placing bets and winning. Make an obnoxious show of it, and Turner will come for you.”

I suck my teeth. It’s a bad idea. It’s the best idea.

It’s an idea I easily sell to Vale.

When I return to Zar’s suite at The Mercier, she runs toward me, leaping into my arms and wrapping her legs around me.

My poison doesn’t care she’s in a black minidress, thigh-highs, Mary Janes, and showing off her white cotton panties to all while I proudly cup handfuls of her ass.

“My sexy dickhead.” She kisses me, crying. “When can you retire from the mafia?”

“I’m not old .”

“I am.” She won’t stop kissing me. “I got my first grey hairs waiting on you.”

“How about we wait this week at the golf resort? Our resort. You stay with Alena in her bridal villa and take a break from all this.”

I don’t tell her Turner is still alive. I don’t tell her about the victims. I don’t tell her the dozens of secrets I’ve kept over the years because they keep everyone I love safe.

Even if they eat me alive from the inside out.

My third shot of vodka takes the edge off of a long day.

We’ve secured the queens in the villas at our resort. Even The Queen is bunking with Alena and Vale. Nadine is like the mother of the bride who’s no longer with us, so I left them putting some shit on their feet that will peel their skin off in a day or two.

Far be it from me to question bridal beauty rituals.

The other kings are in their villas with their queens. I suspect Axel has his mystery woman with him, too. But once again, Jace sleeps alone. He’s like me, devoted to securing our queens.

Security holds a perimeter around the vast golf course, palatial clubhouse, and luxury resort housing, but I still don’t like it.

There are too many shadows. Too many risks. Too many ways someone can slip through.

And too many secrets.

I sit on my deck overlooking the tenth hole. Like a beacon, I left the porch light on while I wait, hoping I draw Turner my way. When he comes around, I won’t use my Beretta on him. I’ll use my teeth on his neck for what he did to those kids.

Searching the darkness, I try to find a way to tell Vale about all of it. I want to. I need to. I won’t put a ring on her finger until I reveal my secrets.

As my wife, she deserves to know everything.

As my queen, she’ll need to.

I just need more time. I need her to understand threats like Turner and believe as I do—that it was the right thing to do.

Once, I abandoned Lainey. I left her and Alena without my protection and never did it again.

Twice, still, Alena was almost taken from me by the system and then by some stranger. We found out that the man who invaded Nadine’s home was a convicted pedophile, but we never found out why he targeted Alena.

So, three times, I got into brutal fights with Axel about the best way to protect Alena. His love for her was relentless, too—it still is.

So, his suggestion was unthinkable until it made sense. I raged over it, and Axel took my beatings until I relented.

Until I saw no other way.

Until I saw it his way.