by James Tate
"None to give, boss. Just found how your guy got through. Kyle's dead. So is Craig. You better come down here." Sampson sounded grim, and my stomach knotted up even more. Two guards were dead? That was a step up from killing a couple of low-tier gangsters. These guys were supposed to be highly trained ex-military.
"We'll be there in five," Archer replied. "Some gifts were left up here too. I want to bag the evidence in case he slipped up and left a print."
Sampson swore, and I heard a crack like he'd punched a wall. "Right. Take your time; these two aren't going anywhere. Just keep eyes on your girl at all times, I'm calling for reinforcements."
"What type?" Steele asked, his scowl deep as he stared down at Kody's phone.
"The expensive type," Sampson replied. "You boys can afford it, though."
"Good," Archer replied. "Secure your scene and we will be there soon."
The call ended, and I looked around at the guys, feeling adrift in an ocean of what-the-fuck.
"Reinforcements?" I asked in a small voice. I didn’t think I could handle bringing in more people to grow suspicious of. But we couldn't go it totally alone. Not if we wanted to survive.
Archer gave me a nod, then kissed my forehead. "Steele, get these knives bagged. Kody and Kate, go see what's in that box. I need to make some calls."
He was gone before I could ask more questions—not that I could fully form complete sentences anyway. Kody placed his hand gently on the small of my back and led me back into my bedroom, where rain was soaking the carpet through the broken window and the curtains blew like crazy.
"Want me to open it?" he suggested, and I jerked a nod.
He flipped the lid off, and I breathed a quick sigh of relief that there were no bloody body parts or animals inside. There was a Barbie, but this time her hair wasn't pink like mine. It was blonde and cut into a messy bob, and she wore a ripped dress. Her little doll face had smeared makeup, like she'd been crying, and her lipstick almost looked like blood.
A torn photograph confirmed that the doll was meant to be my mom. In the picture, she was so young, but the style of her hair and clothing matched the doll to a tee. Someone had their arm around her, but the picture had been ripped in half, cutting whoever it was off.
"Fucking hell," Kody breathed, pulling out a scrap of lace from the box. It was a bra. Or it used to be. One of the straps was snapped and one of the lace cups torn. There was a dark smear across part of the band that looked a whole lot like old, dried blood.
The note in the bottom gave us the full picture, though.
What's a wedding without something old?
I gagged. It was my mom's. He'd gifted us my mom's bra, torn and bloodied like it'd been involved in an assault.
16
Two guards were dead, another was missing. Archer came back to the house around an hour later and filled us in on the details. Kyle had been on the front gate; he'd been shot between the eyes. Craig had been walking the eastern side of the grounds—the side that my bedroom window faced—and his throat had been cut with a shard of broken glass.
The missing guard, Trevor, was now our top suspect. He was supposed to be patrolling the western line of the property but was nowhere to be found. He also wore a men's size eleven shoe.
"Sampson's guys are on their way," Archer told us, sitting down at the table with a heavy sigh. There was a streak of blood on his cheek, but his hands had been scrubbed clean. "They'll be here by morning."
I wrapped my hands around the warm mug of cocoa that Kody had made me. "Who are these guys? And why do we think they're any more trustworthy than the guys we have now? Or had." Seeing as two were dead and one was missing in action.
"Mercenaries," Archer replied, "to put it simply. They're an organization of some of the world's most highly skilled, deadly operatives for hire. They're not easy to get hold of, very fussy about what clients they accept, have a waiting list a mile long, and most of all..." Archer trailed off with a shrug.
"Expensive as fuck," Kody finished with a grim smile. "But coin is king with these guys—and girls. Their loyalty is to whoever pays the contract, simple as that."
"So, what if someone pays them more than us? Do they sell us out?" Maybe that was a dumb question, but I'd never hired mercenaries before.
Archer shook his head. "No, once they accept a contract, they won't take anything conflicting, no matter what the price. It's part of their business structure, and it's what gains them their reputation. Selling a client out would be the end of any future business if word got out."
"Makes sense, I guess," I murmured, then took a sip of my cocoa. Kody made it so damn good, with whipped cream and little marshmallows and everything. "They'll be here by morning?"
"Yep, but they could only spare us a week or so." Archer confirmed. "Steele is making arrangements to convert the master suite into accommodations, as they'll be here around the clock."
I wrinkled my nose. The master suite was my dad and Cherry's room. I'd never even stepped foot in there and had no desire to change that now.
"Why did you let my dad live here?" I asked, the thought suddenly occurring to me. "Why pretend he owned this place?"
Archer just shrugged. "I did a lot of dumb shit in those months after buying your contract, Princess. I couldn't explain my thought process now."
Kody snorted a laugh. "Pretty sure you were deep in the pits of self-hatred and wanted to pretend like nothing had changed so MK wouldn't find out what you'd done."
I quirked a brow at him, fighting a smile. "Okay sure, I could buy that. But then why move in here yourselves?"
Archer's lips curved into a grin. "Because I'm clearly a masochist and needed to torture myself daily by having you so damn close, yet untouchable."
I shook my head, smiling back. "Idiot."
Steele came back into the room then, his phone in his hand. "All done," he told Archer. "I'll oversee the work in the morning."
Archer jerked a nod of acknowledgement. "Thanks."
"So, now what? I'm not sleeping in my bedroom tonight, and I get the feeling that leaving to go to a hotel falls into the purview of slasher film dumb shit." I looked around at the three of them, but they all gave me confused faces back. "You know, like in the movie when the ditzy blonde chick gets her house broken into and her bedroom trashed so she leaves the property only to get stabbed six billion times because she walked into a trap? No? Okay cool, you guys need to watch more slasher films."
"Or you need to watch less," Steele commented with a lopsided grin.
"We have a safe room," Archer told me. "It's not luxurious by any means, but it is safe. You can sleep there tonight, and by tomorrow we will have all the damage repaired and our friends will have arrived."
I frowned. "Me sleep there? What about you guys?"
"I'm taking all that evidence to a friend in the SGPD," Archer told me, running a hand over his stubble. "I want the knives tested for prints and the blood on that bra tested for DNA. More than likely we'll find it's Deb's, but on the off chance that it's not..." He shrugged.
"Fair call," I murmured. "It'd be stupid not to check, just in case."
"Come on," Kody said, pushing his chair back from the table. "I'll show you the safe room. You look like you're about to fall asleep in your drink."
I wanted to argue, but he was right. I couldn't stop yawning, and I was super curious to see this safe room. Of course, they had a safe room. Archer D'Ath thought of legitimately everything, it seemed.
Kody led the way through the house to the garage, past the collection of Ferraris, and clicked open a hidden panel on the far wall. It revealed a set of stairs leading down into darkness, and I arched a brow at him.
"Creepy, much?"
He grinned. "Why not? Adds to the drama, right?" He flipped on a light and made his way down the stairs to a narrow corridor that seemed to run along under the house. As we walked down it, I noticed another staircase leading down.
"Where does that come from?" I asked.
"Huh," I said, "cool. Wait, how come this is the first I'm hearing about it? If it's a safe room, I feel like you probably could have showed me sooner."
Kody shot me a grin. "We probably should have, yes. But we were pretty confident it would never actually be needed. It was an addition Arch put in while the house was being built post-Riot Night, then we never really gave it a second thought. The three of us are capable enough to handle any intruders, but—"
I sighed. "But I'm not."
He stopped, spinning around to face me, his hand going to my waist. "Not what I was going to say. Back then, when you got back from Cambodia, none of us had any idea the lengths we'd go to to keep you safe, babe. We couldn't have anticipated how this all would escalate, but now that it has, I'm pretty fucking glad for this."
After he nudged me to follow him once more, we continued to the end of the hall, which held a single door. Kody opened a hatch beside it and indicated I come closer.
"Press your hand here, babe." He pointed to the smooth surface.
I reached out hesitantly, pressing my palm to the screen like he told me. The surface lit up with a blue light, then almost immediately the door slid open soundlessly.
"Sweet," Kody said as we entered the room. "Apparently Archer has thought about this recently. Last time I was down here it was just an empty room."
"Um, do I want to ask how he got my prints to give me biometric access?" I squinted at Kody, and he just grinned back.
"Babe, come on," he teased, "don't underestimate the sneakiness."
I rolled my eyes, then looked around the room. It was far from empty, like Kody had said. In fact, it was fully set up like a little studio apartment complete with a king-sized bed, sofa, and TV. There was even a little kitchenette to the side, but a quick check of the fridge showed it was empty of food.
"This doesn't look so cramped," I commented, looking around. "Archer's such a fucking diva."
Kody snickered a laugh as he searched the closet and came out with an armful of fresh linens for the bed. "Here, let's get some sheets down so you can sleep."
"Unlikely," I grumbled but helped him make the bed nonetheless.
When we were done, Kody pulled the blankets back and pointed for me to get in. "You need sleep, babe. This isn't just about the fact that it's almost two in the morning. You're dealing with a crap load of mental stress, and the only way you're gonna get through is if you sleep when you can."
"Easier said than done," I argued, folding my arms over my chest. "He was inside the house tonight, Kody. While we were home."
He pulled me into his warm embrace and ran a hand over my hair. "I know, babe." His tone was soft and understanding. "But trust me on this one. When that door closes? No one is getting in."
I huffed. "Yeah, sure. Unless my stalker kills Archer or Steele, then cuts his hand off and uses it on the sensor."
Kody pulled back so he could give me a look. The kind of look that questioned his own sanity for being so attracted to me. "Babe, that's messed up. But no, even then it won't work. Once someone is inside, the door can only be opened from the inside. We'd have to let them in."
"Oh," I murmured, glancing at the door in question. It was still open for now, but that was actually quite comforting to know.
"Exactly," Kody said with a laugh. "Now get into bed and sleep, babe."
I started climbing into the surprisingly comfortable bed, then frowned at him. "You're staying, right?"
He hesitated only a second, then jerked a nod. "Of course." He headed over to the door and hit the button to close it, locking us in securely, then flipped off the lights. A faint glow came from a strip of LED’s around the base of the walls, breaking up what would have otherwise been total blackness.
Kody returned to the bed, stripped off his jeans and T-shirt, then slid under the covers with me. His arms closed around me, holding me tight to his chest, and his fingers trailed through my hair.
"Sleep, babe. I've got you."
Despite my total conviction that there was no possible way to sleep after the break-in, the next thing I knew, I was waking up to the soft murmur of voices.
"Shhh," I mumbled, not bothering to open my eyes. I recognized those voices. "Sleeping."
Their conversation paused, then one of them chuckled. A moment later the bed shifted, and Steele wrapped me up in his arms, taking the place Kody must have abandoned to let them in.
"Go back to sleep, Hellcat," Steele murmured with a kiss to my hair. "We don't have anywhere to be today."
Kody gave a soft scoff and Archer murmured something too soft for me to hear, but Steele didn't leave. In fact, he just hugged me even tighter still, like he couldn't bear to let me go.
The feeling was mutual.
Another hand stroked over my hair, and Archer leaned down to kiss my cheek. "Sweet dreams, Princess."
He and Kody left the safe room, and Steele stayed behind with me, humming softly under his breath with a vaguely familiar tune.
17
Steele and I slept most of the day, curled up in the darkness of the underground safe room, and only resurfaced when my stomach growled loudly enough to echo.
Upstairs we found Archer and Kody sitting at the kitchen table with a handsome, black-clad man who appeared to be only a couple of years older than them. Anna was fussing around the kitchen preparing dinner and muttering under her breath about all the extra mouths to feed. It was cute because she also clearly loved having people to cook for.
"Zed," Steele greeted the guy. "I didn't know you were on this job."
"Steele, good to see you," the stranger replied as he stood up and held his hand out to shake. "This your girl?"
"Also known as Madison Kate," I muttered, eyeballing the guy with suspicion. Logic told me he was one of these mercenaries, but I didn't like being talked about like I wasn't standing right freaking there.
"Yeah," Steele replied with an edge of amusement and looped his arm around my waist, "Hellcat, this is Zed. He's... not an enemy." But not necessarily a friend, I assumed.
Zed gave me a look up and down, and his brow quirked. "Cute."
Steele's grip on my waist tightened a fraction and Archer's head snapped up to glare at Zed's back. Kody just folded his arms and shook his head, like he could hardly believe the balls on this guy.
Zed shifted his attention back to Steele, oblivious or unconcerned with their protective reactions. "And I'm not on this job. Not really, anyway. Conflict of interests now that Hades is buying up real estate here in Shadow Grove."
Steele nodded, like that made perfect sense to him, but I was lost. I was also starving. Slipping out of Steele's grip, I made my way over to Anna in the kitchen and left the boys talking about whatever the fuck they talked about.
"What are we having tonight?" I asked our cook, leaning my elbows on the counter and watching her finely chop garlic.
"Pizzas," she replied, giving me a stern look. "Proper wood-fired ones, not that cardboard shit Steele keeps ordering to the house."
I snickered a laugh. Anna didn't swear often, but somehow Steele's choice of pizza shops brought it out of her.
"Well, it already smells delicious," I told her with a smile. I'd always grown up with my father’s staff floating around in the shadows, never really existing as real people. But now that Anna was around more, I was finding her company all kinds of enjoyable.
She scowled, but it was playful. "Of course it does," she muttered. "It's made with love, not preservatives."
I grinned, then turned to look over at the guys. Zed was leaving, so I did the polite thing and gave him a tight smile.
"Nice meeting you, Madison Kate," he said with a small, sarcastic smile. "Congratulations on your upcoming nuptials."
"I'll walk you out, Zed," Archer offered, then left the kitchen area with his friend. Or his not-enemy.
Folding my arms over my chest, I headed over to where Kody still sat at the table. Steele took the seat Archer had just vacated.
"So, who wants to explain Zed?" I arched a brow at the two of them. "He's not one of the mercenaries? Or he is? I'm confused."
Kody tugged on my hand, pulling me into his lap, and kissed my temple. "Good morning, babe."
"Zed is a member of the organization, yes," Steele answered, "but he's not working on this contract. He was here to discuss the guest list for your wedding." His pointed look implied more than his words.
"He's Hades' second," Kody murmured in my ear, soft enough that no one could remotely overhear—not even Anna—because we trusted no one. "He'll be coordinating our security for the wedding day."
I nodded my understanding. But also, curiosity rippled through me with this new information. I knew that we were leaning heavily on the Timberwolves for this plan to succeed and Archer had told me that the whole thing would be held on one of Hades' properties, but I had yet to actually meet anyone from their gang. Aside from Demi, that was.
When the boys had said their new management was serious about keeping the gang out of the media, out of public eye, they hadn't been wrong. It was actually impressive. Not to mention scary.
"He's the Timberwolves second in charge?" I murmured, thoughtfully. "He doesn't seem much older than you three."
"He's not." Steele shrugged but didn't elaborate. I supposed it wasn't good form to gossip about other organized crime syndicates.
Archer came back into the kitchen and yawned heavily. "Princess, come with me; I'll introduce you to our new guards."
I climbed out of Kody's lap and took Archer's outstretched hand, letting him lead me out of the kitchen. He kept my hand in his as we headed up the stairs, but instead of turning left to the wing housing the master suite—where our mercenaries would be staying—he went right.
"Uh, are they in your room?" I asked with a laugh when he pushed his own door open and pulled me inside.
