The NSC Boxset: Heart of Stone

by D H Sidebottom

  Her eyes lit up as I approached and slid an arm around her waist. “Smells good, you two have given me an appetite.”

  She scoffed and slapped me with the spatula until I let her go, “Mason, you’re always hungry.”

  I smirked and nibbled on the nape of her neck as I answered in a slow growl, “Always, baby.”

  “Not for me, I mean food.” She scolded and Kade laughed from his place at the table. “Sit, it’s ready.”

  “You’re always ready, Ava” Kade laughed then quietened when she narrowed her eyes on him and glared.

  “Don’t you start” she admonished but I couldn’t miss the twinkle in her eyes and the slight twist of her lips in the corner.

  He saluted her and grinned as she placed a plate of food in front of him. He watched her, his eyes trained on every move she made and I bit my lower lip as I surveyed the easiness they portrayed together.

  Why did I feel guilty? Fuck, she was my wife and Kade meant nothing to me.

  Nothing.

  Nothing at all.

  * * *

  I took the stairs up to Kade as Ava left with Brad to go to the cemetery and I frowned when Kade started to hit numerous keys rapidly on one of his four laptops.

  “Found something?” I asked as I crouched beside him and watched different images flick over the screen.

  “Come on, come on . . .” he hissed through his teeth as though he hadn’t heard me.

  “Is it the trace?” I tried again.

  He shook his head despondently without looking at me. The computer made a succession of beeps as Kade hit more keys furiously. “It’ something Ava asked me to look into.”

  “What?” I murmured as old newspaper clippings flocked the screen and I squinted as Kade scrolled through them.

  “She asked me to find a connection between your men, both personal and from Allure.”

  “She what?” I barked but Kade didn’t even blink.

  “I also ran Ava’s name through to see what came up and the fucker’s just found a hit . . . Fuck!”

  I leaned in, goose bumps erupting over my body as my breath lodged in my throat, “Is that . . . ?” I stuttered as my blood cooled.

  “Katherine Tammy Davidson.”

  “Holy Fuck!”

  “Katie!” I whispered.

  “The newspaper clipping is dated thirteen years ago. This must be before she ran away. It’s something about her family winning an award for services to the community.” Kade relayed as he read the words below the photo.

  “Oh—sweet–Jesus!” I reared back, my arse hitting the floor with a heavy thud as I scrutinised the picture.

  “What?” Kade hissed as he watched my body shut down with fear, his eyes hard as he reached for me and pulled me up, “WHAT?! MASON!”

  “Katie’s brother . . .” I managed to choke out.

  He turned back to the screen, his face close as he squinted at the fuzzy image. “No . . . no, no, no . . .”

  I watched the horror pass over Kade’s face as I looked at the ceiling, “Stop him Katie, please” I begged to a ghost, unable to move as fear and terror ripped through every muscle in my body.

  Chapter 38

  Ava

  “HEY” I SAID to George as I pulled a few weeds that had already grown through the new soil. “You’re pushing up weeds already you sour bastard.”

  I chuckled as I walked over to the bin and dumped the pile of greens. Brad lifted a hand from his position at the back of the plot, his eyes scanning the area as he gave me the much needed privacy I needed as I hashed out my life with George.

  “The twins send their love, and Mason of course.” I said quietly as I settled on the ground beside the man who I loved more than I had ever loved anybody, apart from Mason of course.

  “Well, it’s a mess again; you’ll be pleased to hear. I have had all my money pinched, my husband has asked the other love of my life into our bed and I got fucking shot. When you said I had killed too many robins, I think you may have been right.”

  I scowled as I grumbled at the ringing tone in my bag. “Not now, I’m with George” I scolded as I ignored it.

  I ran my fingers along the small cross, the headstone yet to be fitted as I smiled softly, “I miss you George, so bloody much. You were always there for me to growl at, to sound things over with and just drag me up when I need it. I’ll never forget your love and care that night behind the Blades nightclub where you found me . . .”

  Holy Fuck!!!!

  The blades, the blades.

  The fucking message wasn’t for Mason, it was for me. Liv had got it wrong. The missing money, the warning about the blades . . . it was me.

  I pulled my phone from my bag, noticing the seven missed calls. A text flashed up from Mason just as I went to dial him.

  Mason:

  Ava . . . if you are in the cemetery, stay there, I’m coming for you. Its Katie’s brother, Ava. Brad is Katie’s brother.

  My heart stopped, literally stopped beating as I sensed him behind me. Oh Jesus, how could I not have seen this?

  I didn’t move, there was no point. He had me, he’d always had me and I stood, turning to face him as he watched me with a tilt to his head and a wild look in his eye.

  “Figured it out, Ava? Took you long enough.”

  “I don’t understand Brad, why would you want to hurt me? Katie was my friend, we looked after each other. Why the girls at Allure, they had nothing to do with me?”

  He took a step towards me and I scanned the area around me, hunting for something anything to use as a weapon. My gun was in my bag, Mason made me carry it everywhere, but my bag was currently on the floor beside George’s grave and I knew I had to run the other way if I was to get away from him. “You left her to die, Ava. YOU LEFT HER TO FUCKING DIE!! The girls were just pawns. You were supposed to find Ginny hanging from your balcony, not Mason. I needed you to find out about Allure to hurt you with your husband’s years of deceit, like the years of betrayal I felt when I found out you abandoned Katie when she needed you . . . you fucking failed her, Ava. You watched and laughed as they burnt her to death.”

  I shook my head furiously, “No, NO! I couldn’t get to her. They held me back Brad, I tried, I tried so hard . . .”

  His fist connected with my cheekbone and damn, I actually heard the crack as it shattered. The pain was excruciating and tears flooded my eyes. “You cry! Well, well, not so tough after all, are you!”

  He slid a knife from behind him as an evil smile curled his lips, “Katie needs retribution, Ava. It time for atonement.”

  Chapter 39

  Mason

  KADE AND I burst from the car and floored it across the graveyard. I could make out Greg and Sam at the rear, their frantic search alerting me that Ava was no longer here.

  Fuck!

  I roared in anger as I spotted her bag beside George’s grave, the contents overturned all over the soil.

  “Find her, now!” I screamed at Greg and Sam as I urged them to carry on searching, “Find anything, anything that gives us a fucking hint!”

  Elijah appeared with Neo and a couple of others. “I can’t get a hit off the tap cos’ the damn thing is in her fucking bag, which is in your fucking hand” he snarled in anger, “I told you to place it in a pendant or some other shit she would wear on her at all times.”

  I hit him level on the jaw, the sensation of releasing some anger satisfying my growing rage as he hit the floor.

  “Whoa!” Kade grabbed my arms and held me back before I punched the arrogant bastard again, “Mason, stop!”

  I heaved in a breath as my chest hurt with a terror I had only ever felt once before. “I need her found, Kade.”

  He nodded as he relaxed his hold on me, “We all need her found Mason, but punching your friend’s isn’t gonna get her found. Now pull yourself together and feed me as much information you can about this guy. I need everything, and then I can run it through. If he has any secrets I’ll find them. Any safety deposits, any wareh
ouses and fucking whore’s belonging to him, it will find them. You listening?”

  I stared at him and nodded. “I need her Kade, if anything . . .”

  “Shush, we’ll find her . . .”

  “Please . . .” I whispered; my voice no more than a croak as I shivered with the realisation that she could already be dead. “Kade, please . . .”

  His arms slipped round my shoulders and he pulled me in as my whole body shuddered in pain. I felt the eyes of the others on me but right now I didn’t give a fucking toss, I needed Kade’s closeness, the smell of Ava still in his hair.

  My throat constricted as I embraced him just as tightly, refusing the tears that wanted to torment me, rejecting the way my mind denied Kade’s tenderness as I devoured everything he served me.

  I needed this; I needed to feel something other than pain and fear.

  If anything happened to Ava, I knew this man holding me tight would be just as destroyed as I would. I knew he held as much terror as I did at this point.

  I knew he was becoming more than a friend to me. I knew he also saw me as something more.

  Chapter 40

  Ava

  I SAT ON Katie’s bed, looking around her childhood bedroom as Brad never removed his eyes from me.

  It was weird, taking a peek into Katie’s youth. The boy band posters still hung on the wall, her Garfield bedding still covered her bed and her dressing table still held the masses of make-up collected as a teenager.

  A soft smile lifted my lips as I saw her fun filled face smiling at me from an old photo pinned to her mirror. She was so beautiful and happy.

  “She was happy here once.” Brad declared suddenly as though he had read my mind.

  “I know” I answered quietly, “She told me.”

  He sucked in an angry breath, “Did she ever tell you why she ran?”

  My eyes flicked over his face. Now that I knew who he was I could see the resemblance; the slightly long nose, the bow of his lips and the faint slant of his eyes, all of which Katie modelled.

  “Yes.” I answered hesitantly, wondering what his reaction would be when I told him.

  “Well?” he snapped with an eagerness to know why his sister had abandoned him.

  “You father . . .”

  He squeezed his eyes closed and fisted his hands. “Stop, you’re lying . . .” he roared as his fist connected with my already shattered cheek, pain searing through my face and blurring my vision as my brain struggled to keep up.

  He gripped my hair and pulled me off the bed, throwing me onto the floor as his boot connected with my stomach; his anger feeding his violence as I became his release for years of resentment at his sister’s desertion and an age of pain at her death.

  “You fucking bitch. You left her; you left her to die . . .” Each word accompanied a kick, a punch or a spray of spittle as his wrath erupted and he beat me relentlessly. He didn’t stop as each word became louder and angrier, “You killed my sister. How could she die when you can knock out even Mason? Why didn’t you help her? Why didn’t you save her?”

  I heard his final words as my heart slowed and my mind shut down. My throat choking on my own blood as my lungs laboured against the build-up of blood.

  “You will join her; she will get vengeance when you unite with her” He whispered in my ear as I felt the slice of the blade along my neck.

  Chapter 41

  Mason

  “BINGO” KADE DECLARED as he shot up from his chair and ripped the paper from the printer, everyone already piling from the room as Kade shouted the address to them all.

  “You’re with me” I yelled at Kade as he flew behind me and clambered in the passenger seat of my car. “Buckle up, you’re gonna need to.” I warned and shot off the driveway as I heard the click of his seatbelt in the socket.

  “Hurry, Mason” he rasped and I realised he was choked up.

  I had no idea where my next words came from, how I even voiced them but I said them, in fact I shouted them at him, “Come with us.”

  His head shot sideways as he stared at me, “Say that again.”

  “I said come with us, to Portugal, with Ava and me. Live with us.”

  He stared in shock as I shot him a quick glance. “Watch the fucking road, Ava doesn’t need us dead what with everything else” he growled as I slipped round a corner and mounted the pavement.

  “I mean it Kade, I want you with us.”

  “We’ll discuss this when Ava can provide input on your insanity.”

  I growled in response as I floored the accelerator harder and pushed the car outside its limits. Kade’s hands were clung to the edge of the seat as I entered the opulent neighbourhood, both of us squinting at road names, looking desperately for the one we wanted.

  “There” Kade shouted and I screeched to a stop, ramming the gear into reverse as I backed up with an alarming velocity. I turned, scanning the numbers on the huge iron gates that protected each wealthy home. “This one” Kade informed me with a slight hint of excitement. I was impressed with his hunger for violence. I could feel it pouring from him in thick edible waves and I smiled harder when my heart beat in rhythm with his, each of us taking pleasure in the thought of causing pain to this bastard who dared to touch what was ours.

  Ours? Where the hell had that come from?

  Sam and Greg pulled to screech behind us before they both piled out and Elijah joined us with both his men.

  “How we doing this, Mason?”

  “However the fuck you want as long as you get her out. But that bastard is mine, you all hear me?”

  “And mine” Kade growled out through his clenched teeth.

  I narrowed my eyes on him but he stared me out, “and yours” I acknowledged.

  “Okay, let’s do this” Sam said as Nate and Lucas pulled up, both of them virtually falling out of Nate’s car with desperation.

  “What the hell?” I started as Nate pushed his face within inches of mine.

  “Enough Mason, you put her through too much” he barked with aggression.

  Kade slipped between us, feeling the rise of my wrath with Nate’s hatred, “Nate, this isn’t Mason’s fault. The prick is after Ava. It’s Katie’s brother.”

  Nate’s eyes widened as he flicked a glance towards the house. His eyes were still narrow and blazing as he turned back to me, but he nodded in apology and pulled a small gun from the back of his waistband. My eyes widened on it and Nate just shrugged, “Let’s go in.”

  I nodded to Sam who plugged a device into the control pad and the gates swung open.

  Elijah, Neo and the other guy herded round the edge of the long driveway as me and the others took the left hand grass border, each of us pulling off the safety on our guns and checking the bullet load.

  I exhaled slowly as I met the front door with a swift kick and it banged noisily on the wall. I grimaced as I checked the area. Sam and Greg flanked me as they proceeded to open doors and check the downstairs as Nate and Kade followed me up the stairs.

  I halted at the top and flicked my head to the side, listening for the murmur I thought I heard.

  Adrenaline engulfed my body when I heard a soft but pain filled cry. Kade heard it too as he shot towards the doorway but I grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him back, “Wait!” I whispered, nudging my head to the side to silently tell him to slow down.

  He nodded and stood beside the door as I counted on my fingers and as I got to one, I kicked it in. The hinges cracked forcefully as the door splintered and fell into the room with a crash.

  Holy Jesus Christ!

  Kade whimpered as my soul screamed in pain at the sight of my wife’s mutilated body, her blood coated the carpet as Brad leant over her, sliding a slick blade through Ava’s pale freckled chest.

  The whiteness embraced me; the pure malevolent wrath that my spirit morphed into overtook every inch of my system, its dominance burning the blazing ferocity inside me. My mind twisted into the monster that structured my rage and my body hard
ened in preparation for the fight. The fight that I needed to tame the beast within.

  My eyes flickered as an evil calm ran through me and I stepped into the room.

  Brad screamed in a wild rage as he dragged Ava by the hair to the back of the room and thrust the knife against her throat, “Don’t move, Fox.” His voice was a raspy whisper and I knew he had lost it. This was bad, his mentality had gone beyond any reason and I knew I wouldn’t be able to talk him round at this point. He was out for blood.

  As simple as that.

  Kade appeared beside me and I heard the scuffled noises of the rest of the guy’s on the landing outside the bedroom. I did a quick scan of the room, looking for any hint of his life that I could use to placate him.

  “Brad, what’s all this about?” I asked as I tried to embrace the calm that surrounded my body; it would be the only thing that got me through this.

  “She needs to atone for her sins Mason, she’s bad, and she’s evil. Look at her, she’s a fucking whore.”

  “She’s not bad Brad, why is she bad?”

  “She left her to die,” he spat as his eyes narrowed on her again, his hatred physically burning into Ava’s body.

  She was still unconscious and I struggled to focus on the rise and fall of her chest. Kade shuffled almost invisibly beside me, millimetre by millimetre and I swallowed as my rage tried to overwhelm me, its fury telling me to launch for the bastard and tear his head from his neck in one single movement. I smiled internally as the image filtered through my mind, Brad’s face contorted in torture as his screams pleased my soul.

  “She didn’t leave her to die,” I inched forward but Brad pushed the knife further into Ava’s neck, her trickle of blood seeping down the length of the blade and I clenched my teeth to stop myself from flying across the room. I wasn’t close enough to get to her and knowing he could sink into her throat before I could reach him, I held my hands up and backed off a little.