“Enough!” my grandfather yells as he steps into the practice room. Ward, still laughing at my expense, sets the gun aside. I run at him and slam him into a wall. “Nicholas, let him go.”
“I hate this fucker! I want him dead,” I growl.
“Good,” Grandfather says. “But for now, you need him, and I need you to get cleaned up for dinner. You know I do not like to eat alone.” I slowly release Ward as grandfather nods and walks out of the room.
“Be careful threatening me, Nicholas. You might get more than you bargain for,” he says, slamming me in the chest with an iron rod and blocking me with a shield to keep my eyes off him. I find myself on the floor, fighting off his attack but grimacing in pain from his initial strike into my side. He finally steps back, throwing his weapons at my head before walking out in amusement.
During my next session with Ward, he brings in an assistant, someone I have never seen in this house before and someone who is clearly scared out of his mind. “Nicholas, this is … well, it doesn’t matter who it is because I want you to kill him before he can reach the door.” The man immediately starts to run while I wonder what the fuck he is talking about. Ward runs after him and stabs him in the side with a blade before cutting off one of his legs. The man screams in agony, begging for his life. “Okay, now he is minus one leg. Maybe you will be able to kill him this time.”
“I don’t even know this man,” I yell at him.
“You have to know him to kill him?”
“I need to know why I need to kill him,” I say, sitting down and ignoring his attitude towards me.
Ward turns to the guy and slits his throat as he continues, “No, you don’t. He’s no one, or maybe he is an assassin sent to kill you. It doesn’t matter. I told you to kill him, and that’s all you need to know. If I or your grandfather says, “kill” you kill. Understand?”
“I don’t take orders from you ever.” I stand, making sure I am clearly heard and understood.
“You will until you have learned to lead. I have a lot to teach you, Nicholas, if you would just open up your mind and realize I know more than you,” Ward says with his stupid prideful smile.
“That’s leading?” I laugh, knocking him back on his ass when he makes a mistake of meeting my eyes. I walk by him in disgust. “Most leaders lead from a standing position,” I say, walking by my grandfather who is not too happy with me.
I leave the practice hall with my grandfather following after me. “Nicholas,” he calls. “Ward can help you. You need to stop being so stubborn.”
“Help me do what?”
“Kill,” he says, while catching up to me. “If we are to succeed in this war coming our way, then you will have to learn to act and act quickly, not analyze every being that comes at you before you decide to kill them.”
“I like to understand my surroundings before I act.”
“Understand them, sure, but if you wait to verify every particle before you act, you will surely be killed. You take too long to decide, Nicholas.” He huffs at me before walking away.
Chapter 3
Kayla
I have to speed towards Pagelle in order to meet up with Ryan and Elijah in time for the meeting. I receive an expected awkward glare when I walk in.
“Where have you been? I thought you said you were going to be in the house reading,” Ryan asks with that Jayzon frustrated sigh.
“Don’t worry about me. I know what I am doing.”
“You know what you are doing? I suppose you are not going to tell me what that is?”
I smile sweetly at him before lightly kissing his cheek, “Oh Ryan, you are so sweet to be concerned.” He rolls his eyes but, thankfully, drops his pursuit of my whereabouts.
Elijah shakes his head with a laugh, wrapping his arm around my shoulder, “At least you don’t just aggravate me.”
“Of course not. I am an equal opportunity aggravator,” I say, kicking back with my boys while we wait for Gideon’s friend to arrive.
When Gideon nervously walks into the room, he takes a second to breathe before holding up his hands at us. Right now, Gideon says he has the answers, and he says he has a plan. Well, at least his friend has a plan. We are all set to meet today for the first time after much negotiation and many promises to give his friend a chance. Gideon actually begs us to hold off our judgment until we hear him out, which makes me nervous.
What is it about this man that will cause us not to trust him as soon as we lay our eyes on him, or before we even know him?
“He is here, and he is anxious to speak to you all, but again, I beg you to hear him out before you react harshly,” he says. I nod nervously. Elijah and Ryan each step out in front of me with tense chests. The club is closed, so we are free to do business without worrying about anyone sneaking in. So, when a woman with bright green eyes and long red hair pulled roughly into a ponytail walks through the door, we are stunned. She seems just as nervous about us as we do her. She doesn’t speak; however, she nods as she steps to the side and glances towards the man that comes in behind her. He is tall and clean cut with crystal-grey eyes and dirty-blond hair. He is dressed from head to toe in designer clothes that he seems to have put on in protest considering his sour expression. His natural good looks are clear. He doesn’t need to go to too much trouble to have women swooning over him, but I’m sure that is beneath him anyway. He eyes us each with a frown until he spots Ryan…
“Motherfucker!” Ryan rushes at his throat, and it takes us all to remove him. “Let go of me! This fucker killed Sam!” Ryan yells.
“Sorry, my friend, but I had nothing to do with that. I was there but only to learn more about you. The culprit of your poor murdered fiancé is none other than your own grandfather.”
“You’re a liar! I saw you,” Ryan fumes back at him.
“Like I said, I admit to being there but for investigative reasons only. If you noticed, there were others around too, and none of them were there by my orders,” the man states with little emotion.
“Amery and the other Lords are not allowed to kill innocents without just cause. He had no reason or cause to go after you or your fiancé,” Gideon says. “It makes sense that it was Dennis. If he found out you were Dante’s son, then he would have done anything to test you. If you failed, then he would have let you die.”
“Actually, I believe he wanted Nicholas, and he did whatever he could to force him to leave you all behind. He set him up. None of the attacks were anyone other than him, trying to force Nicholas to be sheltered under his control.”
“And who are you?” I ask, still pressing my whole body against Ryan’s firm chest.
“Amery Luvis, Lord of the Fifth. I took over for my father after he passed away. That is the way it works. Savage has managed to hold on quite well for his age. He feeds off his offspring to stay in power, that’s why he doesn’t allow any to live, at least the ones that don’t offer some benefit to him. They would only drain him of energy; of power.” Amery looks Ryan over once again. “I can understand your anger. I felt the same way when my wife was killed. We were only married a day when Savage’s wife killed her.” Ryan eases some but doesn’t allow me to get anywhere near the man. “I swear to you. I would never inflict that kind of pain on anyone else. Savage set his wife up for the murder, and I was given the right to execute her, which I did, but I still have revenge on my mind and for pride’s sake, he would love to get me just the same.”
“Why have you been following us around then? Why not come to us before now?” Ryan asks.
“Why would I trust a Savage? I wasn’t sure why Savage was so invested in your family until I came face to face with you both. Then, it was clear why he was so interested. Once I figured out you were related, I assumed you were loyal to him in some way. Although, I have to admit, I found it odd for him to send in second rate assassins to attack you when he had to know they wouldn’t survive. Now I understand why. Leave it to Dennis to be inventive in his deception, but I guess he needed to be to
fool you all.”
“I don’t believe you. You could be here just to spy for him. You are all a part of the same society. Just like politicians, you can’t trust their words because it is always about what benefits them the most,” Elijah says.
“Don’t then. I find it is always best never to believe anyone. However, we do have a common goal, so we can either work together or be destroyed individually. You might also like to know that I recently lost my right hand man thanks to your husband, who killed him.”
“Nick killed him. So what? You lost your assistant? I am sure you will find another. I lost my fiancé, someone that I will never be able to replace,” Ryan says as Elijah nods in his direction.
Amery smiles and continues, “He wasn’t just my assistant. He was my friend, a loyal friend at that. You don’t find loyalty like his much anymore. And he wasn’t only killed, he was chased down, beaten, drowned, and then dragged out of the water by his hair. Nicholas has clearly accepted his role and has become an unstoppable killer.”
“Nick would never follow Savage!” Ryan yells.
“Nick is not your Nick anymore. He has fallen under Dennis’ influence and has become the obedient grandson.”
“So, what does that mean?” Ryan asks.
“It means we are fucked. The only chance we had was to attack Savage with Nick’s help. Now, with him working against us, we don’t have a chance in hell,” Elijah says.
I step forward, confident. “I will talk to him. Nick will listen to me,” I say as Amery laughs.
“Nick is not the man that you once knew. He doesn’t remember you. He doesn’t remember anything about his life, and if you go anywhere near him, he will kill you without blinking an eye. That is of course, Sweetheart, if Savage doesn’t kill you himself,” Amery says to me.
I shake my head, backing into Ryan’s arms. “Why would you say that to her? He is her husband, the father of her children. There is no way he would not remember her,” Ryan says, wrapping a protective arm around me.
“Sorry, but now she is nothing but walking pussy to him. He might fuck her, but he won’t give a shit after.” Amery laughs until Elijah steps forward and punches him in the face.
“Fuck you! I don’t like you, and let’s get one thing clear. You will respect her above all else or you can go,” Elijah snaps.
“Fine with me,” Amery stresses, rubbing his face and looking each of us over before walking away.
“No, wait! Please! There has to be a way to work together,” Gideon says to Amery, dragging him back towards us by his arm. “Amery, you know very well we cannot do this on our own. Not anymore. Your army has been greatly damaged, and mine is gone completely.”
“And these three are going to replace what we have lost?!”
“Yes,” Gideon says confidently. “I believe it, and you should to.”
Amery grumbles, circling back into the room with us before slamming his fist into the wall. “Fuck!” He turns back towards us with a frustrated expression. “It looks as if I don’t have much of a choice but to work with you. We do this together, but that doesn’t mean I have to like any of you, and you don’t have to like me either.”
The room is silent until Ryan steps out from us all and takes Amery’s hand. “Deal. We go after Savage together, we get my brother back, we get Gideon back into his position, we secure your revenge for your wife’s death, and I get my revenge for my fiancé as well.” I look up at him as he looks down at me. “Don’t worry, Kayla. He also has to promise not to harm Nick in any way or we will take him out, too.” Ryan looks back at Amery. “Agreed?” I don’t bother to verify Amery’s silent agreement. Unlike Amery, I trust Ryan and Elijah to do what they say they will do. Amery won’t get near Nick with them watching him.
“Alright, now that we are all working together, what do we do first?” Elijah asks.
“I think we go after Galena,” Gideon says. “She is the soft spot in their armor. If we pull her away from Dennis’ hold and take her to a place where we can convince her to trust us and turn against him, we can gain an actual ally that can help us without a war. Galena knows enough of Savage’s dirty deeds to get the High Council involved in stopping him. All we need to do is figure out when she is most vulnerable. Do you have anyone that can help us figure that out?”
“Do we have anyone that can do that? Are you kidding me?” Elijah laughs, turning towards Ryan. “Do we have anyone that can do that?”
Ryan rolls his eyes. “We’re on it. Don’t worry.”
Chapter 4
Elijah
On top of all the other fucked up shit going on, some fool decided to try and steal some of Nicky’s territory. I take it upon myself to deal with this matter along with Dwayne and Terrence, and, for some reason, that woman insists on coming along. “You know, there was no reason for you to come along. This is standard bad guy stuff. No devils involved, Catriona,” I say super nicely to her.
“I understand that, but I would like to study your problem solving techniques. If I see any issues then I can point them out to you so you can fix them before we deal with any of Savage’s men. I am only along to supervise. Just pretend I am not here,” Catriona says, adjusting her hat so it is out of her eyes as she looks up at me. Dwayne shakes his head, and I can’t help but laugh.
“Supervise? Short Stuff, I promise you, I know what I am doing here, so why don’t you park your pretty little red-haired self right here and stay out of our way please?” Her eyes grow wide as I guide her out of our way.
We surround the group that has taken over one of Nicky’s strongholds, but before we can move in on them, that woman walks in ahead of us and turns towards the group by herself. “What the hell is she doing?” Dwayne shakes his head silently. “Oh my God … that damn woman!” I tense and grumble in place before calming again and refocusing. “Let’s go in! We move in and back her up before she gets herself killed. The element of surprise is gone, so we are forced to battle immediately. Men come flying at us from all directions, and we have no chance of taking back control without killing people we would prefer to save and talk to. We end up killing everyone that could possibly tell us who they work for and why they thought they could get away with taking Nicky’s territory. Once we have the place secured, I turn to Catriona and vibrate with so much emotion that I can’t speak.
“You’re welcome,” she says proudly.
“You’re welcome? Lady, we just had to kill everyone here that could tell us anything because you rushed in, ruining our chance to surprise them,” I say while trying to keep myself from screaming at her.
“What did you want them to tell you? They don’t know anything. They were simply told to do something, and they did it. I would say they work for Savage most likely. He must be trying to keep you guys busy and distracted,” Catriona states matter of factly.
“And how do you know that?”
“I asked them when I came in. If you hadn’t rushed in so quickly and made such a mess, I could have gotten more maybe but …”
“You … you could have gotten more? Who asked you to do that? I told you to wait here, sit there, and stay out of the way.”
“I heard you, but I didn’t feel that was the best idea for me,” she says.
I open my mouth, but I have no words for her. I turn away, shaking my head. Unbelievable. “Someone go get the car and get me out of here, please,” I say, waiting outside and still shaking my head. “I told her to wait. Wait here for us because we have this handled. I said, wait here. Yes, I know I did. I even said it nicely.”
“Do you talk to yourself often? You know, that is the first sign of madness.” Catriona says from behind me.
I slowly turn towards her with a smile, “No, I do not, but thank you for the information.” Thankfully, the car pulls up, and I quickly jump into the passenger seat next to Terrence as she jumps into the backseat.
“You have some decent shooting skills, and your planning skills are not too bad, but you could use some work on your fightin
g skills. The man that jumped on your back could have hurt you severely. You are lucky he did not have a weapon with him,” Cat says.
“He came after me after I noticed the man coming after you with a knife. I turned my back on him to help you, and then he jumped on my back.” I say, charged up.
“Hmmm, so you get distracted easily, do you?” she says, nodding at me. “Attention Deficit Disorder, I should have guessed.”
I start to open my mouth when Terrence starts laughing. “This is not funny. Nothing about this is funny. And you, Short Stuff, do me a favor and stay home from now on.” I go back to cursing under my breath then hiss when I realize, “And I don’t have ADD!”
Chapter 5
Kayla
Lena and Brady are asking a lot of questions about what is going on. Nick usually talks to his sister a few times a week, but she hasn’t heard from him in months. All we have been able to tell them is that Nick is deep undercover and cannot risk talking to either of them right now. Since neither have seen the boys in a while, I decide to invite them over for dinner. After dinner, Lena and I put the boys to bed together. As soon as the boys drift off, Lena bombards me with questions about Nick. She is determined to know where her brother is, and she won’t give up until she does. I finally relent and fill her in on what we know so far, including that Nick does not remember any of us and is killing for Savage with no remorse. I hesitated to say anything in front of Brady, but I know him and know he wouldn’t hesitate to walk up on Nick and question him. That wouldn’t have been a big deal before, but now it could cost him his life. I had to tell him.
“So what does this mean?” Brady asks.
“Keep a low profile, and keep Lena away from Savage and away from Nick. They will know immediately who she is, and she wouldn’t stand a chance against either of them,” I say.