THE DEVIL’S BRIDE

by April Lust

  “Relax, Katie,” Ace said, putting his hands on her shoulders.

  Katie violently shrugged him off of her. “Don’t!” she yelled, not caring if the entire house overheard her. “Don’t do that!”

  “Do what?” Ace asked, confused.

  “Talk to me like I’m the crazy one just because I refuse to let you continue lying to everyone here!” Katie accused him. “You’re supposed to be our leader, Ace,” Katie added, calming down now. “That means putting The Hell Brothers first; over everything and everyone else.” She looked pointedly at Fiona.

  “Alexei’s after her, Katie,” Ace explained. “She doesn’t have anywhere else to stay.”

  “So you fucking brought her here?” she asked rhetorically.

  Ace’s phone rang and he didn’t know whether to curse or be grateful. He looked at the screen to see a restricted number. “Katie, shut up,” Ace said in a calm voice that immediately silenced her.

  An unknown number probably wasn’t a good thing, he thought, his stomach sinking as he answered the phone. “Who is this?” he demanded.

  “Someone you should speak to a little more respectfully if you don’t want to watch your girlfriend die a bloody death,” a voice said imperiously.

  “Cut this shit, Vlad,” Ace said, recognizing the slight Russian accent in the man’s voice. “Put Alexei on the phone.”

  “Unfortunately, Alexei is out picking up a few special items for when Fiona and Niko come to visit,” Vlad replied, sounding magnificently bored. “He does wish to talk to you, though, so do you think you could pop on over sometime today?”

  “Sure,” Ace said evenly, refusing to be baited. “I look forward to it.”

  “Wonderful,” Vlad replied. Ace could practically hear him grinning. “Stop by around six; I’ll call around then with directions.”

  “Don’t need ’em,” Ace said gruffly. “I know where you live.”

  He hung up the phone, looking between Fiona and Katie. “We’ve got a problem.”

  ***

  Alexei walked up and down the aisles of a dark basement in an abandoned building, looking at all of the tools and equipment hanging on the walls. After this morning, he had decided to come visit an old friend who dealt in specialty items.

  Last night, William had come barreling into the warehouse without a care in the world how a cop car might look to some of the clientele—many of whom were prone to violence when surprised.

  He had been ready to shoot William right then and there, when the little zadnitza began squeaking about The Hell Brothers and Ace Connor. Alexei had almost panicked, thinking they had planned some kind of ambush, but, apparently, he was somehow connected to the Brown siblings.

  Alexei hadn’t believed him at first, but William had insisted that he’d seen Ace Connor’s motorcycle—a very distinct bike, Alexei granted him—parked at Fiona Brown’s place. After a few minutes of convincing, Alexei returned with William to Fiona’s home to see it for himself.

  Sure enough, they parked the dark car across the street just in time to see Ace Connor exit the house, get on his bike, and drive away. Alexei wasn’t sure, but it looked as though Ace was only partway dressed.

  Alexei had wondered what that meant as they drove back to the warehouse. He ordered a detail to stay with her until he decided what to do. Is Ace fucking Fiona? Did he know her before Niko and Paul came to work for me, or did she go to him for protection? No, he decided, it didn’t make sense that Fiona was paying The Hell Brothers for protection if she couldn’t afford to pay off her brother’s debt. Paul! Alexei realized. That’s it!

  “Paul!” Alexei had roared when he entered the building that night. “I need to talk to you!”

  Paul poked his head out of the upper security office, and hurried past the guards and down the steps. “What do you need, boss?” he asked nervously. Alexei was standing at the base of the steps, tightly flanked by Vlad and William. Paul began to feel trapped—and he was right.

  “You still haven’t heard from Niko, have you?” Alexei began interrogating him.

  Paul emphatically shook his head. “No, sir. I would have told you right away if he had.”

  “What about his sister? Have you spoken to her?” he asked, carefully scrutinizing him.

  “Uh, no,” Paul was genuinely confused now. “I didn’t talk to her much even before everything started to—uh, even before,” he replied, managing to stop himself before he said something too closely resembling a critique of Alexei’s management skills.

  “What about Ace Connor?” Alexei asked, his face uncomfortably close to Paul’s.

  Paul felt beads of perspiration form along his hairline. “Ace Connor? The guy in charge of The Hell Brothers?”

  “Yes,” Alexei said shortly. “That Ace Connor. Unless you know another one?” he asked sarcastically.

  Paul fearfully looked at the floor, hearing Vlad and William snigger like schoolboys. He shot them a sullen glance. “If I had seen him, do you think I would be alive right now?”

  “That’s true,” Vlad drawled from behind Alexei. “Ace Connor would eat him for breakfast and shit him out before lunch.”

  Alexei looked him over closely, then shrugged and walked away, Vlad and William trailing after him, both of them shooting him a smarmy grin. “You’re right.”

  Alexei settled into his white leather throne, his sycophantic followers fanning out around him. Vlad sat in the chair opposite from Alexei.

  “We need to know why Ace was at Fiona’s,” Alexei said.

  “That’s easy,” Vlad said smoothly. “He’s fucking her.”

  “That is one theory, Vlad, but I’m not as confident as you are,” Alexei said. “If we act upon that and we are wrong…”

  “I’m right, and here’s why,” Vlad declared. “She’s into him because he’s the one last bad boy she can feel dangerous with before she goes off to marry Mr. Right, and after all the whores he’s had, he gets to see what fucking a putana is like,” he said, using a phrase for upscale prostitutes.

  “I don’t think the girl is exactly what you claim, but even if she were, how did they meet?” Alexei insisted.

  Vlad shrugged. “Who cares? Tomorrow morning we will go and take her; you can ask her about their love story then.”

  Alexei shot a glance at Vlad. “You need to take more care when you speak,” he said warningly. “For a moment there, it sounded like you were giving me an order.”

  “No, no,” Vlad said quickly. “Just a suggestion.”

  Everyone looked at Alexei, tensely waiting his reaction.

  “It is a good one,” Alexei said, pretending not to notice the collective sigh of relief that came from the room. “Tomorrow, we collect the girl. Early—she’ll be disoriented.”

  The next morning, however, only a few minutes after they had parked across the street, they saw who else but Ace Connor walking up to Fiona’s house. Alexei was convinced now that the girl meant something more to him than just a high-end fuck. Why else would he be coming by this early in the morning?

  Ace went around to the back, however, and suddenly, Alexei wondered if maybe his original theory was correct—that Niko had pissed off Ace, and now Ace had also shown up to collect.

  The poor girl, Alexei thought, having to pay so much for her brother’s mistakes. Alexei watched curiously through the windshield as Ace returned quickly, but empty-handed. Is she not home? he briefly considered, then quickly dismissed the thought. His detail should have noticed if Fiona had left in the middle of the night. It doesn’t matter, he reassured himself, soon we will go in and know for sure.

  Nodding to Vlad beside him, the two men stepped out of the car and walked up Fiona’s drive. The garage door had not been fixed yet, so Alexei motioned for Vlad to take that entrance, while Alexei headed for the front door.

  “Odin,” Alexei shouted, counting to three in Russian, “dva, tri!” He kicked in the front door and heard Vlad do the same thing half a second later.

  They stormed from ro
om to room, tearing the already heavily-damaged apartment to pieces.

  “Motherfucker!” Alexei cursed, kicking an ottoman. “He took her; he had to have.”

  “Not to worry,” Vlad said. “We can still get her back.”

  “How? Tell me this,” Alexei demanded. “You have all the plans lately, don’t you?”

  “Whoever Fiona Brown is to Ace Connor, she’s not a part of The Hell Brothers, which means she can’t be that important to him,” Vlad pointed out. “We tell Ace we will let him and all of his gang relocate without harm if he gives us the girl. We find her brother later,” he said, waving dismissively. “The boy does not have his sister’s intelligence; he can’t hide for long.”

  Alexei dug in his pocket. “Here,” he said gruffly, slapping his phone into Vlad’s hand.

  “What do you want me to do with this?” he asked, confused.

  “Something you don’t know for once—good,” Alexei said shortly. “Your plan, you make the call. Get him here, and get him to bring her.” He turned abruptly on his heel and walked out the door.

  ***

  A few hours later, Ace strolled into the warehouse. Alexei’s mouth tightened imperceptibly. When Vlad told him Ace already knew the location of their office, he had hoped the biker would be bluffing. Though Alexei was still confident he had the numbers and the weaponry to outmatch Ace, he didn’t like that the man could stop by at any time.

  “Afternoon, gentlemen,” Ace said casually as he walked into the open room. “Nice shop you got here.” He gestured to the carefully organized and itemized shelves.

  “All alone?” Vlad called softly. “Where are The Hell Brothers?” he taunted.

  “Don’t you worry your pretty little head about it,” Ace said with a wink. “They’re around.”

  “Take a seat,” Alexei pointed at the open space on the couch near him, “and cut the shit, as you Americans like to say. I want the girl.”

  Ace sat down heavily. “No,” he replied simply, not bothering to pretend he didn’t know who Alexei was talking about.

  “Let me repeat myself,” Alexei tried again. “Give me the girl, and I don’t kill off half your people.”

  “If you’re going to threaten me, why not threaten to kill all of my people?” Ace said mockingly.

  “Because it’s not a threat,” Vlad interjected, quieting as Alexei held up a hand.

  “He’s right,” Alexei said evenly. “We had already decided it was too much of an effort to try to ferret out every one of you vermin, so we settled for killing most and letting the rest of you go to salvage whatever was left of your lives.”

  Ace couldn’t remember the last time someone had spoken to him like this, but whenever it had been, he was certain he had left the person bruised and broken.

  “Now, if you hand over the girl,” Alexei continued, “I will let you go—all of you—as long as you promise to relocate outside of the state. I’m not interested in spilling blood over her.” Alexei paused. “Unless you decide to stand in my way. I think we all know how that would go.”

  There wasn’t a single person in that room who didn’t know Alexei’s mob could crush The Hell Brothers, though at what cost to Alexei, no one could say.

  Ace thought for a minute. “I’m willing to give her to you,” he began slowly, “but not for another day—a full day,” he clarified.

  Alexei frowned. “I am not a patient man,” he said, irritated.

  “Then we have something in common.” Ace chuckled. “But I’ve been waiting to fuck that girl for a couple days now, and I’d like to see that patience rewarded, get me?”

  A thin, knowing smile spread across Vlad’s face, and the back of Ace’s hand itched to wipe it off.

  “You will bring her to me twenty-four hours from now?” Alexei asked.

  “I was thinking by midnight tomorrow,” Ace pushed.

  Alexei gazed at him. “I will give you twenty-five hours, and not a second longer.”

  Ace shrugged, giving him a crooked smile. “Twenty-five hours it is.”

  He could have cut it down to twenty hours and I would have agreed, Ace thought. I’m not giving him Fiona, so it doesn’t really matter. That wasn’t exactly true; any extra time he could buy before Alexei realized he wasn’t handing over Fiona was time the gang could use to set up their plan, but it was what Ace told himself.

  Alexei put his hand out and Ace shook it firmly. Suddenly, Alexei seized him by the forearm, pulling him close. “If you do not bring her to me, I will kill everyone you love in front of you, ending with the girl. I promise you: it will not be swift,” he said quietly, giving Ace a meaningful glance towards Vlad.

  “Well, then,” Ace said, returning the pressure that was being applied. “I guess it’s a good thing I’ll be dropping her off tomorrow.”

  Alexei released his hold, as did Ace.

  He nodded to the men in the room. “Gentlemen,” he said, turning to leave.

  Ace kept his stride slow and calm, smoothly starting his bike to cruise away. Once he hit the highway and he was sure he was not being watched, he opened up the throttle, tearing down the road back to headquarters.

  If they didn’t execute the plan soon, it would be too late for all of them.

  Chapter 8

  Ace returned from Alexei’s to find Katie, Diego, Smalls, and Riley all sitting at the kitchen table, waiting for him.

  “We need to talk to you,” Katie said, her voice tight.

  “What is this? A fucking intervention?” Ace joked as he sat down.

  “Some of us,” Smalls began hesitantly, “are concerned your focus isn’t exactly where it should be right now. But all I need is some reassurance that you’re looking after things,” he said, emphasizing the ‘I’ to let Ace know he didn’t agree with everything Katie was saying.

  Ace let out a deep sigh. “Look, guys, I know you’re worried, but trust me—I have everything under control.”

  “You are not behaving like someone who has things under control,” Riley said.

  Everyone gave him their full attention. Riley didn’t speak often, but when he did, it was something to be carefully considered.

  “You walked into Alexei’s with no one behind you.” Ace realized Riley was scolding him. “The people in this gang rely on you. You have a responsibility to them as their leader to make them feel safe. When you make reckless choices and put yourself in danger, you weaken yourself, which frightens people and makes them weak in turn.” Riley gazed at Ace with heavy eyes. “Strong leader, strong group. Weak leader, weak group.”

  Ace didn’t say anything for a moment, absorbing what Riley had said. “What about you, Diego?” he asked.

  Diego shifted in his seat. “I’m all for going in guns blazing, pero going in by yourself is suicide. We need you around. This girl…” Diego started to say, immediately stopping when he saw Katie’s death glare.

  Ace looked between the two of them. “Wait a minute, this is about Fiona?” he asked, looking directly at Katie.

  “This is about the decisions you’ve made recently,” Katie said, throwing her hair over her shoulder. “But if we’re going there, yes, you started making these kinds of decisions once she came around.”

  “Well, I’m taking her out of here, so you don’t have to be jealous anymore, Katie,” Ace said drily.

  Riley, Diego, and Smalls all exchanged looks, slowly and quietly getting up out of their chairs to leave the kitchen. The three of them all knew there was no longer any room for a rational discussion. When Ace and Katie went at it, minimum safe distance was the far side of the moon.

  “I am not jealous!” Katie screamed, and Ace rolled his eyes. “You are behaving like a complete ass, and you’re going to get us all killed!”

  “Are you listening?” Ace asked sarcastically. “I said I’m moving her out of here! So no more danger, all right?”

  “So you take her to some safe house, then what? What happens next? Because I’m still seeing us getting murdered.”

 
“I don’t understand how you can still be so mad,” Ace exclaimed. “This morning you told me you didn’t want her staying here, and now she’s not staying here! How do you still have a problem?”

  “What I said was that you needed to put the gang first!” Katie yelled back. “And right now, the gang agrees! They want to know that if we go through with this plan, that if some of us die, it’s for us—not her.”

  “How can you say that to me?” he asked her, pain clouding his dark green eyes.

  Katie shrugged. “You haven’t been around lately…it makes some of us wonder.”