THE OUTLAW’S BRIDE

by April Lust

  “Sí,” Diego emphatically agreed. “Alexei killed Blake; he needs to pay. But we will be slaughtered if we cannot be together on this.”

  A chorus of agreement rose up from the group.

  “Katie?” Ace said, turning to her. “We could really use you.”

  “Well, that much is obvious,” Katie drawled. “And I already told you, I have no problem going against Alexei. I’ve been bugging you about him since day one. I just want us to be prepared when we go in. You get the men and the plan together, and I’m down.”

  Ace shot her a grateful smile. “Okay, then,” he said, clapping his hands together. “Lucky, when did Fiona leave?”

  “About three hours ago.”

  “And you have no idea where she went?”

  Lucky shook her head, her pigtails flapping side to side. Just then the back door opened, and Riley appeared, one hand weighing heavily on Bobby’s shoulder.

  “I brought the boy,” Riley said.

  Bobby shifted from one foot to the other as he nervously looked around.

  “Hey, Bobby,” Ace said. Bobby jerked his head up to look at Ace. “Look, I’m not mad, okay? I promise.”

  Bobby didn’t look convinced.

  “I just want to know where you took her,” Ace said, trying to make his voice as soothing as possible. He liked Bobby, but if he didn’t start talking of his own will, and soon, Ace was going to have to provide some motivation.

  Lucky stood up, jostling Ace out of the way. He had to take a step back to avoid falling and he wondered why everyone seemed so pushy lately.

  “It’s okay, honey. No one is going to hurt you here, I promise,” Lucky said, shooting a glare at Ace.

  She had sensed Ace’s irritation and felt the need to take matters into her own hands before he did. It was a good thing, too, because with Lucky’s arms around him, Bobby suddenly felt much more at ease.

  “She wanted to go home,” he said finally.

  “Home?” Ace echoed. “Why would she want to go there?”

  “If I was going to choose a place for my last stand, it’d be here,” Katie said from the corner.

  “What? Why?” Ace asked.

  “You wouldn’t pick here?” Katie said disbelievingly. “This is your home. You know it better than anyone else does. It’s where you belong. Why would you go anywhere else?”

  Ace thought he would choose a military bunker for his last stand, but he supposed that wasn’t the point. Katie was right. Fiona had struggled her whole life to be able to afford a meager one-bedroom townhome. It was her proudest achievement, to be making it on her own, in spite of her past. She hadn’t let her family drag her down—not like he had.

  Ace mentally cursed himself once again. He’d been no better than her family. She had come to him in her hour of need, and he had taken advantage of her. Now she’s in love with me, and I…I can’t give her what she needs, what she deserves, he brooded.

  “All right, then we go to her house,” Ace said. “Riley, Lianna, you’re with me for the initial perimeter check. Smalls and Diego, I want eyes on Alexei. Head to his headquarters and—”

  Lucky cleared her throat and stepped forward. “Alexei won’t be there,” she told him, almost as nervous as Bobby now.

  “Why wouldn’t he…” He stopped himself before he wasted more time on stupid questions. What else aren’t people telling me? “Where is he?”

  “Fiona said Niko was in Boston, so I guess headed back from there. She figured Alexei would be getting back around…now,” Lucky said, checking the time. It was almost one.

  Ace stared at her. “You should have told me this to begin with,” he said, his voice low and dangerous.

  “I promised Fiona I would buy her as much time as I could,” Lucky said, her eyes cold. “You’re not the only one who values their word.”

  Ace held her gaze until she looked away. “Okay, same idea,” he said, addressing everyone, “but I want one extra person in each group. Katie? Wanna jump in on this?” he asked her.

  “I’ll head to Alexei’s with Smalls and Diego,” she offered.

  “Thanks,” Ace said. “That means Lucky, you’re with us.”

  Lucky did a mock salute and walked out to go get her gear ready. They would all ride separately for this.

  “All right, everyone, remember: we’re just doing recon,” Ace cautioned. “We’ll meet back here in an hour and talk options, so no one go doing anything heroic.”

  “No worries of that here,” Katie muttered to herself.

  Ten minutes later, the two groups were starting their bikes. Smalls duck-walked up next to Ace. “How come you didn’t tell them?” he asked Ace as he fastened his helmet.

  “Tell them what?” Ace replied, pulling on his gloves.

  “Why you really want to save Fiona. That it’s about more than just your word.”

  Ace paused, confused. “What do you mean?”

  Smalls rolled his eyes. “You only spent half of last night going on and on about her to me. I’m a lover, not a fighter, but even I was like, ‘shut up, man! If you love her so much, go tell her! Not me.’ But you did tell me. So how come you didn’t tell them?” he asked, nodding to the other members.

  “I don’t remember any of that,” Ace finally said.

  “Not much of a surprise there. You were pretty hammered. From what it seemed like, though, you said some things to her you maybe regret?”

  Ace finished pulling on his gloves. “Yeah, maybe. So what?”

  “They can tell you’re not being real with them,” Smalls said with a bluntness that was unusual for his normally timid personality.

  Then again, Ace thought, it’s been an unusual day for all of us.

  “That’s why they’re so mad,” Smalls continued. “Maybe if you told them what was really going on in your head, y’know, how you feel about Fiona, maybe they wouldn’t be so reluctant to help.”

  “Smalls,” Ace said, starting his bike. “Whatever I said, I said when I was drunk. Listen to what I say when I’m sober.” Ace revved his engine and pulled away, cutting off Smalls’ reply.

  “Let’s go!” Ace shouted over the noise of the engines.

  He drove down the road, leading the way for the small group to Fiona’s house. He looked in his rearview mirror to see Smalls’ enormous back growing smaller and smaller.

  It doesn’t matter what I said, or how I feel. That doesn’t change the fact that Fiona and I belong to separate worlds. Ace knew Fiona could never join The Hell Brothers, and he could never leave the gang without a leader. Whatever chemistry or feelings there were between them had to be set aside.

  Ace parked his bike on the street behind Fiona’s house, but this time he kept it on the road instead of in Fiona’s neighbor’s garden. Lianna, Lucky, and Riley all pulled in behind him a second later. Ace held his finger up to his lips and then waved for them to move forward.

  The four of them quickly scanned the surrounding area as they moved towards the house. Not seeing anyone, they came back to the rear entrance of the house, not wanting to be spotted by nosy neighbors. Ace walked up to knock on the door.

  That’s when he saw the blood. There were several smears of it near the already opened door.

  “No,” Ace whispered. “No!” He threw the door open and bolted inside.

  “Ace, don’t!” Riley yelled, running in after him. “They could still be inside!”

  Ace didn’t care. He needed to know if she was okay or not. “Fiona!” He cried her name repeatedly, ripping open door after door.

  Riley followed Ace as he ran from room to room. The place was small, but completely destroyed. There were blood spatters everywhere. Things didn’t look good for Fiona.

  “It’s all clear!” Riley called over his shoulder to the girls outside.

  “Yeah, we know,” Lucky said, her head popping out of the bedroom. “We came in, like, right after you.”

  The three members of The Hell Brothers walked down the hallway and into Fiona’s living room
, where Ace was kneeling in front of a large pool of blood.

  “Oh fuck,” Lucky whimpered. “That does not look good.” Riley put a comforting arm around her narrow shoulders and she turned her face into his chest.

  “Lianna,” Ace said, his voice ragged. “Can you tell me anything?”

  She took a deep breath, unsure how to say this to her leader. “It’s a lethal amount of blood. Whoever’s blood that is…there’s no way they could still be standing. But hey, for all we know,” she quickly added, seeing Ace’s face, “it might not even be her blood. What if it’s Alexei’s?” she optimistically suggested.

  “Oh come on, Lianna,” Ace said dully. “It’s not Alexei’s. He has her. I can feel it.” Ace’s phone rang and he pulled it out of his pocket to look at the screen. “It’s Smalls.” He hurriedly pressed the green button and put the phone on speaker. “What do you got for me?”

  Smalls’s voice rang out thinly in the demolished room. “It’s her, Ace! She’s here!”

  “Are you sure?” Ace demanded. “Is she okay? Does she look hurt?”

  “She’s, uh, she’s banged up pretty bad, but she’s walking,” Smalls said.

  “Barely,” Ace heard Katie mutter in the background.

  He clenched his fist so tight he heard his knuckles creak. Of course he didn’t kill Fiona, he realized, disgust twisting his stomach into knots. Where’s the fun in that? He took her because he knew it would hurt me. He knows whatever he does to Fiona…I’ll blame myself for it. And why not? It is my fault.

  “Smalls, there’s blood here at Fiona’s house—a lot of it. Is there anyone else there who’s badly hurt?” Ace asked. Fiona was a strong girl, and smart, too. It was possible she had taken out another one of Alexei’s men.

  “Hold on, there’s another car pulling up,” Smalls said. There was a long pause as Smalls watched the car pull into the alley from the rooftop of the same abandoned warehouse Ace had scaled a few days ago.

  “One of the guys is definitely bleeding, but he’s not—” Smalls broke off abruptly.

  “Smalls? Are you there? Smalls?” Ace said urgently, terrified that they had been made.

  “Yeah, I’m here,” Smalls replied. “The guys in the second car just pulled a giant suitcase from the trunk.”

  “A suitcase big enough to hold a body?” Ace asked.

  “Oh yeah, and what’s worse, its dripping blood.”

  Who could be in the suitcase? It’s not Fiona, it’s not Alexei’s men… The color drained from Ace’s face. “Thanks, Smalls,” he said into the phone. “Get back to headquarters, okay? I’ll see you there.”

  Ace shoved the phone into his pocket. The entire reason Fiona had come to Ace was for her brother, and he had promised her he would keep the kid safe. Now it looked like he might be getting buried in expensive luggage. Ace knew how close the two were; if Niko died, it would be like Fiona herself was the one who was killed.

  “Come on,” he said gruffly. “We should head back.”

  ***

  Fiona had patiently been waiting for Alexei’s arrival for over an hour when she finally heard footsteps creeping up the driveway. She quickly and silently moved into position, hiding just behind the front door so when Alexei stepped in, there was no chance she could miss.

  Hopefully, I’ll be able to take out some of his bastard friends, too, she thought, remembering Vlad’s eyes and the way they had caressed her body.

  They knocked, three loud booms on the door that made Fiona tense up so badly her muscles hurt. There was a long silence, then five shots blew past Fiona, shattering a vase, the last unbroken thing in her home, and filling her ears with a deafening ring. Light spilled onto the carpet from the holes in the door.

  “Did I get you?” Alexei called through the door. Fiona bit her lip to keep herself from whimpering in fear. “I hope I didn’t, because I want this to last a long time, Fiona,” he said, a mere foot away from her head through the door.

  “Is there anyone in there with you? Fiona?” he pushed when she didn’t respond. “Come out and it’ll go easy—you can even see your brother. He’s still alive! For the time being,” Alexei warned.

  Fiona still said nothing. They were toying with her, trying to shake her, trick her into doing something stupid. She kept her lips tightly pressed together as she held the gun up, ready to pull the trigger the second she saw Alexei’s idiotic, bleach-blond head.

  “Okay,” she heard Vlad say in a sing-song voice, “we’re coming in!”

  Fiona had been ready for the shots that came through the door, and she thought she was ready for this—but she was tragically wrong.

  Alexei kicked open the door and it flew back, striking Fiona’s hand with such force it broke two of her fingers on her right hand and knocked her into the wall. She dropped the gun in pain and crumpled to the floor.

  No! Fiona’s mind screamed. Not again! She scrambled for the gun as Alexei and Vlad burst through the entrance. Alexei swiftly kicked the gun, sending it skittering across the kitchen floor. Fiona made a desperate leap from her knees, just barely managing to catch the grip between her fingers.

  She swung back to face them, the gun in her left hand, awkward and heavy, intending to aim it right at Alexei’s giant chest. When she turned around, however, she saw her brother bound and gagged, standing right next to Alexei, who had one hand on the back of Niko’s neck, and the other pointing a gun right at his head.

  “Drop it,” Alexei said, no longer playing games. “Now. Or I’ll blast his fucking face all over the floor.”

  Fiona hesitated, but when Alexei cocked the hammer she quickly set the gun aside. “Okay! Okay,” she said, putting her hands up. “So, I guess you just want to talk about Ace?”

  Alexei let go of Niko and strode over to Fiona. He drew his hand back, the one still holding the gun, and backhanded Fiona across the face. “Stupid girl,” he said, kicking her viciously.

  Fiona wheezed, desperately gasping for air. The bruises on her side had only just begun to fade, and now new ones were forming. Her vision went dark and she fought to stay conscious.

  “Get her up, Vlad,’ Alexei ordered.

  She tried to crawl away, but Vlad caught her before she went even five feet. His hands gripped her under her armpits, and he hauled her back. Her side wrenched in the most painful way, and Fiona shrieked in agony.

  Vlad pulled her upright, supporting her with one arm wrapped around her waist. He clamped a hand over her mouth. “You’d better stop screaming right now, or I’m going to put a bullet in your brother.”

  Fiona quieted, but she didn’t stop trying to push Vlad’s hands off of her. He was holding her tightly from behind, pressing himself into her as he brought one of his hands up to roughly squeeze Fiona’s breast.

  Niko’s eyes widened in horror as he watched Alexei take off his jacket. He began to frantically wriggle against his restraints as Alexei started to unbuckle his belt.

  Fiona shut her eyes, wishing she had tried one last time to convince Ace to help her. They were in worse trouble than ever now, and no one was coming to save them.

  “You’re going to learn what a terrible mistake it was to try to stop us,” Vlad whispered in her ear as he smoothed her hair back.

  There was a loud knock at the door and Fiona’s heart leapt. Ace! He came!

  Alexei and Vlad froze briefly, looking at each other. “Check the door,” Alexei ordered Vlad, who was hurriedly redoing his pants and grabbing his gun off of the counter.

  Vlad stood off to the side of the door, much like Fiona had. He reached forward to grab the handle, looking back at Alexei, who was positioning himself in the kitchen. Alexei nodded and Vlad ripped open the door, ready and waiting.

  The sunlight shone through the door, casting an outline around the person in the doorway and blackening their face. They stepped in, and Fiona groaned, feeling more destitute than she ever had in her life.

  Ash looked around the room. After having called the police a few days ago and hearing noth
ing back, Ash had attempted to contact Fiona. Her phone had been shut off, so he decided to stop by her house.

  When he had walked up, he hadn’t noticed that there were more bullet holes than before, nor did he notice the dark town car parked down the road. He only heard Fiona’s muffled voice, and he knew he wasn’t leaving until he got some answers.

  The first thing he saw when he walked through the wide open door was Niko. He was lying on his side in front of the sofa, with ropes around his wrists and feet, and duct tape across his mouth. His eyes were rolling wildly as he tried to speak, his words suppressed by the tape.