Katie turned to walk away but I stopped her. “Are you sure you’re going to be able to take out your friends?”
She laughed coldly, her lip curling with distaste. “They’re not my friends. My real friends are all currently waiting at my place to have my back. They’re the only people I will ever truly rely on, Hope.”
I didn’t miss the inference in her words, the unspoken implication that she would never trust me either. I had to admire her for that though, because I was made exactly the same way.
***
When me and Katie walked into her kitchen, the men sat around her table paused their quiet conversation and smiled up at us.
“Productive trip to France, boss?” Jared asked, taking a sip of his coffee.
“Yeah.” Katie smiled and took one of the remaining chairs. I walked around the room and leaned against the wall behind Graham. “Quite an eye-opener actually,” she added.
“As in?” Graham asked cautiously.
“As in…” Katie paused and clicked her tongue. “I found out who my real friends are.”
Before anyone had the chance to move, the door that led to the room and the back door opened simultaneously. Sam and Greg both strolled in, each with a shotgun pointed at Graham and Tommy, and huge smiles on their faces.
The expressions around the table were priceless, and ones I would never forget. Nor would the look of sadness that slid into Katie’s eyes when she trained her own gun on Jared. I waited, resting against the wall, and crossed my arms over my chest, eager for the blood to shed. I had hoped to take out one of them myself, just for how they had hurt Katie, but this was her party.
“Why, Jared?” she asked sorrowfully, “Why Mark?”
Rage transformed Jared’s look of disbelief and he leaned towards Katie and growled, “Because the cocksucker was so far up your tight little ass he couldn’t see just what an interfering prick he had become.”
A flash of heat in those vivid green eyes told everyone around the room that Katie’s infamous wrath was about to rain hell on the room. “He suspected you were a fucking backstabbing cunt?”
Graham and Tommy sat frozen, acknowledging that they weren’t going to leave the room with their hearts still beating, but Jared laughed.
“Mark was a fool, Katie. He would have given his life for yours. He wouldn’t budge when I hinted at what he could have.”
“And what was that?” Katie’s voice was calm and controlled, the fury that was pouring from her the only sign that she was losing all restraint.
“Everything,” Jared crowed, “Stillman can give us so much more than you ever could. The Fox empire is over, Katie. But you wouldn’t ever let fucking go. Your stupid, delusional devotion to a dead family, a family that was over a long time ago, was becoming boring.”
“Boring?” she mused, tipping her head as though weighing up his words. “Well then, let’s see if we can liven things up for you, shall we?”
The breath in my throat froze when, in a split-second, Katie flicked her knife and embedded it in Jared’s right eyeball.
“Holy fuck!” Tommy hissed, stumbling backwards when Jared’s ear-piercing scream ricocheted around the room.
Snatching Jared’s hair from behind, Katie snapped his head backwards and, like a hot knife through butter, drove her other blade through his left ear.
His eyes snapped wide for a second, before he sagged in the chair. Two simultaneous gunshots ended the lives of the other two cunts.
Silence descended and Katie looked down at Jared’s dead eyes – well, the remaining one. “I let you in damn it.”
Sam walked over and pulled her into a side hug. “It’s over now.”
Shaking her head, she grunted as she pulled her knife from Jared’s head and wiped his brain matter across his cheek. “It isn’t over until the blood of every single fucker that hurt what my father built is staining Thelma and Louise.” She yanked her blade from Jared’s eye. “It won’t ever be over until then.”
Greg flanked her from the other side and gave her a gentle smile. “And then we bury this life, and start a new one. One that will finally allow us a breath, and a smile.”
Sam chuckled. “Oh, there’s been plenty of smiles along the way, Greg.”
Greg scoffed but then nodded with a wide grin. “Yeah.”
Their closeness tugged at my gut. I’d always chosen to work alone, it had been the only thing guaranteed my safety, and Sarah’s. Yet, watching the love between the two men and their ‘surrogate’ daughter, I couldn’t help but feel I’d missed out on something.
I blinked away my thoughts when Katie held out her hand to me.
“Come on, Hope.”
When I stood staring blankly at her hand, she sighed and linked her fingers through mine. “Let’s go find your sister.”
My heart stuttered at the soft way she smiled at me. “Why are you doing this?”
“This?”
“Helping me find Sarah. We have a deal, tiger. Or have you forgotten what I did.”
She pursed her lips. “Oh, I won’t ever forget what you did. But that doesn’t mean I blame you for it anymore. Life is too damn short, and too fucking scary without a little back up. We make a good team, Hope.” She shrugged. “Someone watches your back then you can’t get stabbed in it. My father’s team are the original Fox crew. They won’t ever be crushed, and you know why?”
I shook my head.
“Because we build each other back up. And no matter how many times you get knocked down, if you have friends and family as strong as these, you will always be able to rebuild whatever is broken. I just kinda think you need a little bit of what I have in your life.”
She scowled at me when I stared at her.
“Ah, fuck,” she grumbled with a glimmer of amusement in her eyes. “Now look what you’ve done. I think you may have broken me, Hope.”
“I don’t think anyone could ever break you, Katie Steed.” She shrugged but hit out at me when I added, “You’re too fucking problematic.”
Twenty
Katie
Nola smirked when Hope and me walked into the warehouse. She was hung from a chain attached by a large bolt to the ceiling, and by the looks of the blood and bruises on her face Grace had already had some fun. “Took your time, boss.”
Grace gritted her teeth together and walked around the edge of the room, giving me the lead. I could see she was struggling with the need to gut the bitch, instinctive love taking over.
“People to see… and kill, Nola. I’m not going to waste time. You know what I want.”
She laughed, the sound grinding on every one of my nerves. “Good luck.”
“Luck?” I mused. “I don’t think luck will have anything to do with it.”
Her already pale face whitened even more when I pulled Betty Boo from the long, thin sheath strapped to my thigh. Although my favourites would always be Thelma and Louise, I had always had a soft spot for Betty Boo. She was fifteen inches long, and just half an inch wide. But the most exciting part of her was the tiny, sharp, and very lethal, hook on the end.
Nola’s eyes dropped to watch when I very gently pressed the tip into the pad of my thumb and a puddle of blood trickled down my hand. An excited shiver ran through me and I grinned.
“Oh.” Hope breathed in my ear from behind and reached out to touch Betty. “I like her.”
“Isn’t she the sweetest thing ever.” I smiled at him over my shoulder and he leaned in to kiss me. His teeth clashed with mine, exhilaration making him as high as I was. Grabbing my hair in his fist, he kissed me harder until I swore he had bruised my lips.
“Makes me think of an anal hook,” he whispered in my ear before he moved away.
I grinned at him and nodded quickly, giving him a hint he couldn’t miss. He laughed and winked at me, the image of me trussed up in the reflection of his eyes.
Coughing, I brought my attention back to Nola. A flicker of sadness crept into my veins and I sighed. “I thought we were friends
, Nola.”
Her own sadness shimmered in her eyes and she blew out a breath. “We were. You were a good boss.”
“But?”
“But.” She shrugged. “We all have to do what’s best for us.”
“Selling children?” I scoffed. “For sex? That’s what you think is best?”
“It’s not my call, Katie. I only do what I get paid for. You think that friendship buys loyalty, that’s always been your downfall. That was also your father’s downfall in the end. But it isn’t. Money, lots of money, buys allegiance. The fact that it buys nice cars and holidays is a bonus.”
Sickness swirled in my gut and I clenched my teeth against it. “Just give me the books, Nola, and I promise to give you a clean death.”
“Is death ever clean, Katie?”
“It can be. You can either leave here with more holes than a lump of swiss cheese.” I held up Betty Boo, showing her exactly how she could die an agonising and bloody death. “Or with just one hole to the forehead.”
Hope waved his gun at her and winked. “I’m the cleanest shot, Nola.”
Narrowing her eyes on Hope, Nola surveyed him. “Yes, I’m sure Steed was glad of your clean shot.”
Her eyes swung back to mine and I swallowed the pain in my heart when the image of Steed in my arms with a single hole in his forehead substantiated her words.
“The books!” Hope growled and thrust his gun into her mouth.
Fuck!
My mind went crazy with pictures of Georgie pushing my mother’s gun into his mouth and blowing a hole in the top of his head. My head shook and I stumbled backwards when phantom pieces of Georgie’s brain splattered my face.
Nola laughed. Hope wasn’t to know what had happened to my brother, but Nola did, and the delight on her face, even with the muzzle of Hope’s gun pressing into her palate, told me just how damaged our friendship was.
She cried out when I drove Betty through her right shoulder blade and yanked it back, the hook ripping into her flesh and tearing it apart from the inside out.
“You heartless bitch!” I snarled.
Hope removed his gun and moved back, concern and confusion on his face. “What’s going on?”
I shook my head but Nola laughed again. “Aww don’t you share your secrets after fucking? I always used to.”
“Katie?” Hope pushed, but I shook my head.
“Really, boss. You do surprise me. After all, there’s no one colder than you. I find it hard to believe this shit actually hurts you. I mean, if your brother hadn’t blown his own head off, you were going to do it for him. Weren’t you? It was your job to…”
“SHUT UP!”
She screamed when I pushed Betty Boo into her stomach and yanked her back. Then her thigh. Then her side.
“Whoa.” Hope gently took my hand and Betty from my grip just as I was about to plunge her into Nola’s neck. “We need her alive. She’s winning the game, don’t let her.”
He was right. I was playing right into her hands, the need to kill her taking over the want for the books.
“Slowly.” He smirked and embedded Betty into the palm of Nola’s hand. “It’s always best to have some fun, tiger.”
He lifted Nola’s foot as she hung limply from the chain, the pain exhausting her and depleting her fight. Yanking off her boot he buried Betty into the sole of her foot and twisted it until she was thrashing uncontrollably.
“See how much more enjoyable it is,” he chuckled.
“Okay.” I smiled, playing his game. “Let me try.”
He passed me Betty and I held up Nola’s arm, and sank the blade into her armpit.
“Do you know how fucking proud of you I am?” Grace smiled at me and kissed my forehead. “You’re your father’s girl through and through. You got this, babe.” After dropping another kiss to my head, she left the room.
“The code to the safe is 497684,” Nola choked out.
Stunned, not anticipating her to yield, I gently took Betty from her armpit. “And the safe is where?”
Giving me one last devious smile, she chuckled. “In your garage behind the old bike your dad was doing up.”
“What?”
She laughed again. “The one place you’d never think to look.”
Fucking hell. They had been under my roof the whole time.
“But it wasn’t about that, was it?” Hope spat as he grabbed Nola’s throat. “It was about setting Katie up, wasn’t it! Tell me, when exactly is the raid due?”
“SHIT!” I hissed when Nola’s wide eyes told me that Hope had it spot on.
“That’s the only reason you’ve told her, isn’t it! So she would be there, her hands on the books just as the fucking police storm.”
So that had been her reason for telling me Stillman was in France. It had been a diversion to get me out of the way while she planted books that prove years of sex slavery in my own house.
Pulling my phone from my pocket I dialled Sam’s number.
He answered immediately, waiting for my call. “Pumpkin.”
“Behind the old Harley, there’s a safe.” I reeled off the code as Hope pressed his gun into the side of Nola’s head. “Get the stuff then get the fuck out. The cops are on their way.”
“You want to do it?” Hope asked.
Locking my eyes onto Nola’s I shook my head. “End her.”
As promised, she died with a single shot to her head.
Twenty-one
Tristan
Pleasure rolled over me as Katie sank her mouth down the length of my cock. Her wicked tongue flicked over the crown and she cupped my balls in the palm of her hand.
Taking the collar fixed around her throat, I tugged it gently. The chain attached to it pulled tight, jerking the small round hook that was buried deep in her ass.
She gasped at the sensation, a long moan affirming that she loved the anal hook I’d presented to her after we’d shared an intimate dinner. I wasn’t normally one for romance. Hearts and flowers were for other suckers. However, as we’d eaten and chatted easily for hours, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed her company, as well as her body.
“Fuck, Hope,” she mumbled around my cock and sucked harder.
“Thought you’d like it,” I murmured as I slid my hand into her hair and stroked the rise of her cheekbone with my thumb.
Her eyes lifted to mine from where she knelt before me, and very slowly she ran her tongue along the shaft of my cock and down to my balls. Sucking lightly, she drew them completely into her mouth. The look of pleasure in her gaze rocked the very depths of my core and I hissed through my teeth at the unfamiliar feeling.
“Do you know just how beautiful you look right now?”
She didn’t answer my question, instead she brought her lips back to the tip of my cock and gently kissed it.
Tugging on the chain again, I reciprocated her kiss with a jolt of pleasure before I carefully unbuckled the collar and removed the hook.
She stood up and, with a gentle press to my chest, pushed me back onto the bed.
“I need you,” she whispered as she climbed over me.
Positioning my cock at her ass, she gradually sank down until I was balls deep in her backside.
The swell of emotion inside my chest became overwhelming as she locked her eyes on mine and gently rocked up and down on me.
Sitting up so our chests pressed together, I kissed her. Her tongue tenderly danced with mine and her soft moans had me fighting with the urge to flip her over and take her hard. But I didn’t. Couldn’t. This was Katie’s dance, what she needed. She was usually such a closed off person, but I knew that the betrayal of her friends had hurt her, and her craving for comfort was directed in the way she moved on top of me. She needed to connect with me, use me to comfort the pain inside her, and if that’s what she needed then that’s exactly what she would get from me.
She moaned and tipped her head back when I kissed down her neck and took a nipple in my mouth.
She rocked h
arder when I delicately sucked on it and rolled my tongue around the edge. It was growing insanely difficult not to come, her tight arse sheathing my cock building the pleasure to a crescendo.
“Hope,” she breathed.
“Why do you call me Hope? My name is Tristan.”
She was so lost in the pleasure that her next unguarded words shocked the shit out of the both of us.
“I never called Steed by his first name either.” She groaned, riding me harder in pursuit of her orgasm.” “Because I loved him.”
We both froze and I stared into her wide eyes.
Tears shimmered bright and she sucked in a long breath.
Reaching out for her when she clambered off me, she shook her head and moved back. Without saying another word, she snatched up her clothes and stumbled out of the room.
“Fuck.”
Had she insinuated what I thought she had? Yes. She had. And it had stunned her as much as it had me.
But what amazed me more was the bubble of happiness that had popped in my chest when I had realised what she meant.
Twenty-two
Katie
“He’s so perfect,” George whispered as he lifted my dead son in his hands and showed him to me.
I wanted to touch him so much, to cradle him in my arms and kiss his tiny forehead. Yet, I couldn’t.
“Please,” I begged, unsure of what I was pleading for. As much as I wanted to feel my son’s skin on the very tips of my fingers, I was also so scared to feel him. I couldn’t bear to embrace the thing I most wanted in the world if it was to be snatched away from me the very next second.
“He deserves more than you, Katie.” George tutted and slowly shook his head. “He deserves a pure mother, not an abused and cold woman to nurture him.”
I nodded. He was right. I was too poisonous for such an innocent life. “I know,” I agreed. But my son was so beautiful, so blameless and virtuous. He was the product of something so horrific that I knew I would never be enough for him.
Nemesis: Katie's story (Heart of Stone Book 15) Page 10
