Keep Her From Harm

by Sam Crescent

  His gut was telling him something bad was going to happen, and it was linked to the divide that had been noticed in the Dentons. Even Damian had seen it. Landon was back, and instead of the brothers working together as they had been known to do, many of them, himself included, had chosen to work alone.

  Damian was leaving one of the strip clubs that they owned when he got a call. He saw it was Gabriel.

  “What’s up?”

  “I found those two girls, and you’re not going to like it.”

  “They’re dead, aren’t they?” he asked.

  “Yep, and they’ve, erm, it’s not pretty, not by a long shot. These girls, they’ve been tortured for days. You need to head out to the warehouse at the docks. I’ve called the others. They need to see this shit.”

  “I’m heading there now.” He climbed into his car, setting up the voice speaker so he could drive and talk. “Do you have any other news?”

  “Yeah, a lot you’re not going to like. Do you remember Bruce? The friendly little soldier who worked for the Coltons and Dentons?”

  “The fucker that died a few months back. Of course.” Bruce had been his mother’s bodyguard until they had all learned the truth of his treachery. He’d died, and good riddance to the piece of shit. However, he had warned them within seconds of his death that there would be others. Being a Denton, you always had enemies. It didn’t matter where they went. There was always someone wanting to rise up, to prove their worth.

  “Well I think we’ve got someone who is willing to take us on to take what rightfully belongs to us,” Gabriel said. “I’ll see you when you get here.”

  The call disconnected. Whatever was waiting for him at the warehouse docks, he wasn’t going to like. Damian had forgotten how fucked up his life had become since he’d come of age. Spending his time in the bottom of a bottle had numbed him to everything.

  Since the moment he had proved himself, he’d been working for his father, fighting for his cause. He wasn’t the oldest Denton, but he also wasn’t one to ignore either. Many had thought they knew him, but he’d always had the upper hand.

  His cell phone started to ring again, and he saw it was Mia.

  “Hey, babe, what’s up?” he asked.

  “Babe?”

  He chuckled. “Trying something new. You know me.”

  “I do, and I’ve come to realize that you are very strange. I was just letting you know that I’m taking Martha and Reese out for a walk in case I’m not back.”

  Damian glanced at the timer and saw it was a little after two. He tried to be home by three, or four at the latest. “I’m going to be late tonight. Take one of the guys on the door with you please. It’s for your protection.”

  He heard her sigh. “I don’t like having people follow me.”

  “It has been a month, and so far Ivan’s made no move to try and take you. I’m not going to give him that chance. Especially if he thinks I’m being sloppy in your protection detail. Please, do it for me.”

  “Fine, fine. See you later, Damian.”

  “You certainly will. Take care.”

  “You, too.”

  She hung up the phone, and he found himself smiling. He loved her. There was no way to describe his feelings for her, only that it was strong, and he couldn’t help it. She consumed every part of him, and calmed him in ways nothing ever had.

  He loved hearing her talk. She was an amazing mother, and she cared for both of their kids. For short times, he could pretend they were a normal couple.

  It was stupid, but he had grown used to pretending in a lot of things.

  Parking at the warehouse, he saw several cars parked up, and it was just another sign of the divide among his brothers. None of them were backing each other. There was a higher risk of one of them screwing up and getting hurt, which made him sick to his stomach.

  Climbing out of the car, he saw Gideon waiting.

  “Are you ready for this?” Gideon was older than Damian by five years.

  “Are you trying to baby me?” he asked. His older brothers were always protective of him, just like he felt the same for Landon and Tamsin. Gideon still hadn’t found the woman destined for him. Age didn’t determine when they found their woman. Landon had found his even before Damian had.

  “I’m trying to prepare you. It’s not pretty, and it has even screwed with my stomach.”

  Damian paused and looked at his brother. They had all seen some sick shit in their time.

  He closed his eyes, knowing he shouldn’t enter that fucking room, but also that he didn’t have a choice. Letting a breath, he nodded. “I’m ready.”

  “No one is every fucking ready for this shit.”

  Gideon followed in behind him. The first he got was the scent of death, of decay, and he covered his nose. Then he saw Gabriel with his back turned to the sight, and finally, Damian saw what had all the men looking disgusted. On a dirty mattress were the two women, and the only way he knew was because there was a picture of the two women on either side of the mattress. The faces were unrecognizable. The bodies were naked, and they had been ruined. Their breasts had been cut off and patched together, but they had been dead some time. The stench was rotten. Their legs had been splayed open, and their bits cut off. The women had been beaten, cut, hurt, every manner of torture imaginable.

  Damian got close and saw the initial W carved into their stomachs. “What the fuck is that?”

  “It’s Westbrook,” Gabriel said. “My father had some dealings with him years ago, but that is the symbol, and he does it as his calling card.”

  Gabriel was pale.

  “I’ve heard of Westbrook,” Maddox said. “He’s a petty criminal.”

  “No, he was a petty criminal. About a year ago he approached me and my brothers. He wanted to recruit us. Anyone connected to my father, Colton, he wanted on his team. I didn’t think much of it. Said he was building forces, that there was something that he wanted, and because they were so consumed, they’d never see him coming.” Gabriel frowned, looking at the women. “We’re all divided. Your rule has been law for so long, but that doesn’t mean that there are people out there that want to take your place. Jacob and Abel have families now. The news of who I am was divisive, and the Dentons have always been strong together, where there haven’t been any areas of weakness. You’ve worked as a family, fought together, and in the past few months, that hasn’t been the case. When you show weakness, there is always someone willing to take your place. To fight dirty to get it.”

  “Nah, this doesn’t have fuck all to do with being divided. This is a pile of shit. Westbrook has been building this for years, but how?” Gideon asked, and then burst out laughing. “By drawing in the small townies. That’s how. Think about it, he can’t take the city, but we have fuck all to do with the townies. We supply to them.”

  Damian looked at Gabriel, them both saying the one name. “Ivan.”

  “Damian, I’ve told you to leave shit like Ivan out of this,” Maddox said. “It’s good business.”

  “That’s the point. They’ve been taking our business, and Westbrook has been waiting for the perfect time.” This came from Gideon.

  Damian frowned, and looked at the women. “Okay, okay, so they take two of our women. I don’t see the big deal. Do any of you? It doesn’t seem like a huge deal.”

  “It’s not,” Jacob said. “And that’s the point. Two women like this, pushed aside, until the detail of the W reaches us. The girls leave, turn to him, and if they don’t, they end up dead. It all starts like a domino effect. Take out our girls, then the drugs with the townies, then slowly, take out our shops.”

  “Wait, Owen and Wyatt said there had been talk of several clubs being raided and that people are pissed because Dentons offered protection, and it wasn’t there,” Gabriel said. “Fucking hell. We’ve been declared war on, and we’ve not even been aware of it.”

  “Hold the fuck on,” Maddox said. “Nothing has happened.”

  “Girls have been quit
ting,” Abel said. “Handing their notice in, and not being able to be replaced. I told you that we had to close five places last week because no one was turning up. There was no revenue at all.”

  “Then there have been random raids on our nightclubs,” Gideon said.

  “The docks have been running slow,” Damian said.

  “The underground fights are not happening either,” Landon said.

  Damian looked toward his younger brother, seeing how pale he was.

  The sound of sirens filled the air, and Damian looked toward the door. “Oh fuck!”

  Before either of them could react, police and SWAT entered the warehouse, ordering them down to the ground.

  Shit was about to hit the fucking fan.

  Damian closed his eyes as someone knelt on his back, putting handcuffs on him. Westbrook had led them to this place, and now they had to deal with being on the wrong side of the law.

  ****

  Mia paced up and down the length of Maddox Denton’s study as she listened to what the lawyer was telling them.

  “You mean to tell me that they’re staying behind bars?” Charlotte asked.

  “Damian, Abel, and Gabriel have alibis for their whereabouts during this suspected murder. Landon also. They are being released without charge as soon as they can have the paperwork drawn up. I need to get alibis for the others.”

  “But we pay you this money to get them off. The police, my husband compensates them.”

  “Charlotte, I hate to say this to you, but two mangled bodies were discovered with your entire family there. You’re lucky any of them are being released. Right now, they can’t place those three at the time of the suspected murder because of a paper trail those three have. The state of those girls, you’re talking thousands of dollars bail money.”

  Mia had seen the news, and she knew Damian wasn’t capable of that stuff they were saying. What scared her even more, she’d seen something like that a few years ago. The body of a woman had been dumped in a park. It had later been found out that she was a snitch. Anyone who opened their mouths would be killed in exactly the same violent way.

  Sobs filled the room, coming from Charlotte. “I can’t handle this. Maddox deals with all of this.”

  “I’ve called Rick back from England. He’s the only one I know who can handle this.”

  “What about the businesses? What about everything?” Charlotte said.

  Mia went to the older woman, and placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to give her comfort. “It’ll be okay.”

  “Thank you, dear, but it really won’t.” Charlotte patted Mia’s hand.

  “We’re going to go and make some drinks,” Lou said, taking hold of Mia’s hand, and leading her out of the room. Harper and Ruby followed.

  Entering the kitchen, none of them spoke for the longest time. Mia’s heart was racing. The thought of being without Damian for even a night scared her. The guard that had been with her in the park had come to her, told her there was a situation, and that she had to come here to the Denton family home. From there she had learned that Damian, along with all of his family had been arrested for the suspected kidnapping and murder of two women. They weren’t even releasing the women’s names, just their pictures, and some camera crew had gotten images of the actual bodies. It was gross.

  “They didn’t do this,” Harper said. “We all know this.”

  “The problem you got is they’re going to have to prove they’re innocent,” Ruby said. “They’re going to have tails, and all kinds of shit. Cops have wanted the Dentons for years, and now they just happen to stumble onto them inside a warehouse with dead bodies. The dead bodies, and then the fact even some cops could be working for Westbrook. If they’re doing that, then they can manipulate evidence. Not ideal, I know, but something that can be solved. I need to call Lewis. See if something has been going on that I don’t know about. I know Oliver has been keeping secrets from me. Something big is about to happen, and I want them to be ready.”

  “Who is Lewis?” Mia asked.

  “He’s someone who can get information without leaving a trace. I trust him, and so does the Denton family.” Ruby ran fingers through her hair. “Oliver doesn’t have an alibi, so he’s not coming home anytime soon.”

  Lou went to Ruby, wrapping her arms around her. “Neither is Jacob. We can do this. We can help them.”

  Mia saw the unity in the women, and was by their side. She would do everything she could to help.

  Chapter Eight

  “This was fucking planned,” Maddox said. “We shouldn’t have gone to that fucking warehouse.”

  “Did you see anyone?” Damian asked, looking at Gabriel.

  “No. I didn’t. You think I enjoy being thrown into a fucking cell? Someone was there, had to be, and called it in.”

  “Did you notice none of our guys were there,” Jacob said, blowing out a breath. “What are the chances that our boys are either dead, or unable to help us out.”

  “I don’t get it. How can someone like Westbrook cause this?” Landon said. “We’re fucking Dentons.”

  Stuart burst out laughing. “You’re only as strong as the men around you. Look at what happened. The brothels, the strip clubs, the docks, the drugs, even the cops on our teams. We’ve all been doing our own thing that none of us has seen a connection as we’ve not known the shit that is going on. Who has reported back to Maddox? Who has reported back to each other? Our own bullshit has caused this, and it all stems from him.” Stuart pointed at Gabriel.

  “He’s not part of this,” Jacob said. “We’ve got lives of our own now. You can’t blame him. You want to point the finger, point it at yourself. That’s what I’m doing. I wanted to spend more time with Lou and my kids. So I did. I’ve fucked up, and you all need to own up to that shit.”

  “Look, we’ve all had shit go down, okay? We’ve all got family. Our weakness comes from the revelation of who he is, what he means. Not to mention Damian’s recent visit to alcohol heaven. We’ve all turned the other way, expecting our job to be done by someone else. This is not something that has been happening overnight but for the past six months, and this is one of the causes. The Dentons have been known for their unity. For fighting together. We all turned our backs on business, and now we’re all in jail, and I smell those two girls. It’s burnt into my nostrils.” Stuart leaned his head against the bars.

  “Rick has been called, and he’s on his way home,” Maddox said. “He can handle everything.” Rick was the youngest brother of Maddox and Stuart.

  Stuart burst out laughing. “He’ll be keeping his woman back at England. If Westbrook wanted a war, he’s just got one.”

  Damian looked at his uncle. “What do you mean?”

  Stuart opened his eyes, looking at him. “You think Rick is a pussy? He’s a doctor, so he saves lives, right? Our father was never able to keep Rick on the straight and narrow.”

  “He’s a force to be reckoned with. Him finding Mandy actually gave us a break. The bodies stopped building up. He always picked fights, and he never loses,” Maddox said. “Rick found his woman early, and from the moment he saw Mandy, he would follow her anywhere.”

  “There’s no emotion inside him,” Landon said. “Mandy is the only person he cares about. That’s it. Mandy, family, and if you step on them, he’ll come crashing down on you. I wasn’t nice to Mandy when I was there, and he showed me some of his true colors.”

  Damian had known that there was a lot of fear about Rick Denton, which he didn’t get. “He’s a doctor.”

  Again, Stuart and Maddox laughed. “Yes, he’s a qualified doctor. Before he decided to settle on the profession, he liked to experiment. Dad often left him involved in torture to get what he needed. Fuck, that seems like a damn lifetime ago. It is. He moved to England a long time ago now, and only comes home for the odd visit.”

  “We provided the opportunity for this,” Jacob said.

  “And you’re going to have to help your uncle when you get out. Rick w
ill need help, and don’t question him. Just follow his direction. You’re not going to like it. We need to get out of here, and we need him to do what he does best,” Maddox said. “Be prepared for some backlash. Lawyer told me that those girls made it into the news. Their faces, and then their bodies. This is where things are about to start tipping the scale. You’re all going to have to work together.” He looked at Damian, Abel, Landon, and Gabriel. “I fucked up big time. This is all on me, and if I have to, I will take the fall.”

  “Don’t, Dad. They’ll get us out,” Jacob said. “We can handle everything else. You’ll keep an eye on our women, our family, everything.”

  Gabriel nodded. “Wyatt and Owen, you’ve got to bring them in. They can help.”

  Maddox chuckled. “You really don’t have think much of me, do you?” He shook his head. “Wyatt and Owen have been working for me. I knew something wasn’t quite right, but between you, and shit with Charlotte, and I take my fucking eye off the ball. I love Charlotte, and with everything going on, I didn’t demand shit from you. My only concern was for Charlotte, and that is my fault. It’s the first time in over fifty years that I did, and look what happened. They have a job, and a place. I wouldn’t push them aside. They’re still your brothers.”

  “I’m sorry,” Gabriel said. “They never said anything.”

  “Yeah, well, I asked them not to. I figured the less people knew the better.” Maddox leaned back.

  Damian looked at his family. He couldn’t believe he was standing in a prison cell with his family.

  “Don’t worry. You’ll figure this out, and we can handle everything they throw at us,” Gideon said.

  Damian didn’t like leaving any of his family behind. Whatever was going on, they needed to resolve it sooner rather than later.

  ****