Page 40 of Restitution

I feel ill, like a sudden dizziness has taken over me – I’m going to vomit.

It’s the same feeling I get when Bernadette makes me go cold turkey – the stomach cramps and sweats and everything else. I end up blacking out and waking up covered in vomit – not knowing what the fuck happened. I’d put it down to withdrawal symptoms, but I’ve had a few lines of coke today, so it can’t be that.

Stacey leans down to me – I didn’t know I’d folded forward – our eyes clashing as she grabs my helmet and pulls my head up. “Are you okay?”

I huff and force myself to straighten, my eyes flickering to Stacey and my parents. I pull my hand free, but Stacey tries to grab me again. “Let me go,” I snap. “This is dangerous for all of you. Doyou have any idea what Bernadette will do to get me back?”

“Then she can go through all of us. Please, Kade. Please don’t go,” she whispers, begging me. “I need you.”

Everything relaxes. Fuck, I stop fighting her. How can I leave her again?

There’s no chance I’m getting away from them now. And their stupidity in trying to save me will get them all killed. I give them a day before they’re six feet under. Barry better have a plan – he’s been running the show since I left a year ago, taking care of missions and assignments and all the guards.

But he just had a baby girl. And he’s still here? Fuck.

None of them are going to understand that I was trying to keep them all safe all these years, and now they’re fucking up my plan.

But then Stacey’s face screws up when a squealing voice fills the air, and every single one of my nerve endings shrivel. Jason tries to grab the annoyance, but she slinks under his arms.

“Kade!” Cassie yells. “Oh my God! I missed you so much! Tell them we’re getting married and to stop bullying me! Oh and get your filthy hands off him, you whore!”

“Fuck off,” I mutter through the material covering my mouth.

Stacey scowls, her hand clenching into a fist as if she’s going to punch her. And as much as I’d love to see it, I won’t put Stacey under any stress.

Cassie comes running straight for us, but I roll my eyes and put a bullet in her skull before she can reach me.

Stacey flinches and turns away in revulsion as Cassie’s body drops to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Gone. Dead. Good-fucking-bye.

Dad steps over her body and shakes his head at me. “Stop being a fucking asshole and get in the car.”

13

STACEY

Kade looks like he’s going to pass out as he pulls himself off his bike, shaking his head. “You’re all fucking idiots.”

Tobias grabs his son by the helmet and drags him forward, smashing their heads together. “What the fuck do you think you’re playing at? You could have killed Stacey.”

“I wasn’t going to hurt her. I just needed time with her to explain shit,” he replies, pulling himself away before he scowls at Barry. “You should know better than to get my family involved in this.”

His assistant doesn’t back down. “With all due respect, sir, I was here to protect Miss Rhodes. We should leave. I reckon we only have a few minutes before this place is swarming.”

“Give me the gun,” Tobias says, noticing he’s still gripping itharshly, his finger resting on the trigger.

Kade’s fingers twitch around the gun, but his eyes slide to me, and he gives in. Resting the weapon in Tobias’s palm, Kade lowers his head, not pushing away as his father pulls him by the helmet again and pats his back harshly.

“It’s you and me, son,” Tobias says, low enough that it’s a whisper, but I’m close enough to hear. “You’re not doing this by yourself anymore. I’m here. I’m not letting you do this alone. You and me, you hear me?”

Kade doesn’t reply.

Tobias shakes him. “Do you fucking hear me?”

“All I can hear is you asking for death,” Kade replies. “They’ll kill you.”

His dad chuckles and grips his shoulder. “Maybe, but not before every single one of them pays. Getting revenge, son, is what we are going to be fucking doing. I have a list, and Christopher Fields is at the very top. Help me hurt the motherfucker.”

Kade lifts his head on hearing that name. “You know where he is?”