Vengeful Eyes: A Cane Novel 3

by Hart, Charlotte E

  I look around the room, noting there’s nobody else here to help him. He should ask himself the same fucking question.

  “Your woman was useful to me.” The goddamn statement zones me in on him. He smiles and leans back, apathy entrenched into his features. “At least the Yakuza have some of the money back from the drugs you provided. Sure, she’ll get the rest back from the Canes soon.” I couldn’t give a fuck about the money.

  It’s fucking inopportune for the door to crash open behind me again, a brawl of noise coming as more feet storm in. Nathan’s body is pushed across the room, Quinn’s coming quickly afterwards. I don’t look. I keep staring at this fuck instead. If he laid one damn hand on her, I'll slit his throat and drink his blood.

  He chuckles and rises from his seat, dragging it away to put it by the far wall next to another. The boys are put in them, their wrists bound like mine, but thankfully not locked to the chair. I glance at them then. Their faces are fucked up, knuckles too. They got some shots in then. Amusing.

  Quinn scowls at me, his eyes searching mine to see if I’m back in control of my limbs yet. Lucky for him, I am. Not that anyone else has a goddamn idea of it.

  Three guys stand off to the side as Andreas moves around the space, all of them with weapons aimed. Astute given the three of us. My wrists manoeuvre around again, beads finally in my fingers enough for me to get some traction on the cable tie.

  “Benjamin.” A woman’s voice.

  I frown and move my eyes to the sound of her steps coming from the side, heels echoing her stride. She stops in front of me, a smile on her face, as she looks me over. Cute. I should fuck it before I kill it. “You made a mess of my office.”

  I’m gonna do it again in a minute.

  “This could have been so much easier than you’ve made it. We wanted co-operation, not all this.” I don’t co-operate, not with cunts who threaten my ass “The Canes made that mistake, too.” Seems they won to me.

  I smirk, amused at the amount of money they stole from this bitch. “You got that money back yet?” I mutter, flicking my eyes to Nathan. His brow goes up. Clearly not. She laughs.

  “I don’t need it back. Look what I have instead. Who is ready to take over for you now that your second is dead? I enjoyed making sure he was killed. A second is always problematic.” Bitch. “And with you all dead and buried,” she says, spinning slowly to look at the boys and backing her way towards me, “both Chicago and New York should be easy enough to manage. All of it under Yakuza control with no one to argue anymore.”

  Quinn growls and rattles his seat, grating it against the ship’s wall. Presumably he's pissed about the Chicago comment. I'm more bothered about my own city.

  Mine. Fuck her.

  She nods at one of the men. He brings her a chair, then walks over and cracks the butt of his weapon on Quinn’s head hard enough that he topples out of his seat. I watch his body, hoping he’s not out cold. Seems fucking lifeless, though.

  “I’m simply interested in seeing your reactions to the lies you’ve all been living with now,” she says, almost laughing. My gaze swings back to her as two of the men leave the room, Andreas’ gun is now aimed at me. “Hell hath no fury. Isn’t that the saying?”

  Fucking silence then. She just stares at me as if waiting for something.

  All three of our women are suddenly dragged into the room, Hope with a gash on the side of her face. One of the men shoves Gabby to the floor. She immediately looks to Andreas, venomous eyes on show as she launches up at him and starts rallying off in Spanish. It's a floor show for a minute, arms and hands trying to rip him to bits, but he eventually slaps her back to the floor, no fucking care for his family. I couldn’t give a damn what they do. Only Hope’s well-being matters in all this.

  I stare at her, checking her state. She’s unharmed from what I can see, but all that attitude I’ve seen from her lately is gone. She doesn’t even look at me. She looks at the floor, eyes tired and red like she’s been crying.

  “Tell them,” the woman says, smiling still. My wrist hitches around again as Andreas moves closer to me, his gun still poised and ready to do damage. The toughened wire in my beads loops around the cable tie on my sixth attempt, enough purchase in it that I can start sawing it back and forth quietly. Quinn moans, a grunt coming as he tries to pull himself upright. Good. Whatever the fuck this is, I need him awake and with it. Still, I stay fixed on Hope as one of the men shoves her into the middle of the room. Nothing comes out of her mouth.

  “Hope Winters. Not your real name, is it?” the woman says.

  “Yes, it is,” she returns. I look at the boys, wondering what the fuck they’re gonna make of this. What does it matter? It’s the truth. They’ll either…

  “Hope Cane,” the woman continues. Nathan’s eyes widen immediately, his frame tilting to something other than his Gabby. “It has a nice ring to it. Although, I’m not sure I’d want to be associated with them.” Seems the statement was enough for Quinn to wake the fuck up, too. He gets to his knees, neck cricking out as he stares at Hope. My fingers keep moving, eyes now looking around at what guns are available to me, hanging in the hands of the men in the room.

  Andreas first, then that cunt behind Emily. I flick my eyes to Nathan, wondering how quickly he can get to the guy by Gabby. Four strides if he’s lucky. “I’ll leave you to tell Benjamin about your other deceit.”

  I frown and keep sawing, putting more pressure on the tie to quicken the fucking process. “Hope?” I ask, not giving one fuck what comes out of her mouth. I know everything already, but I also need time and a conversation gives me that. I look at Quinn as he slowly gets to his feet, arms still wrapped tight. The move causes the guy behind Emily to move towards him, twitching that gun too much for my liking. But good. She can run now if she needs to. “What deceit?” I ask, trying to bring the room to heel until I'm ready for explosions. “Talk.”

  Slowly, those eyes come up to mine as she quivers, painting a picture of fear. Good girl. Astute. It makes me pull in a long breath, trying to shut out all other noise but what I need to focus on. With any luck she’ll understand what I’m after and start slowly, keep the information coming. “Truth, Hope. All of it.” Getting us out of here is what I need, time to get this fucking tie off me.

  Andreas turns his gun on her to hurry her up, and he’s in too close for my rational thought to contend with. I yank at the tie, pissed it’s taking so long to cut through. Hisa looks at me, a slight drop in her holier-than-fucking-thou attitude as she looks me over.

  “I’m sorry, Benjamin. I only wanted them gone,” Hope says, pulling the woman’s gaze away from me. She fiddles with the ring around her finger, nervously searching for words. “I never meant to get you in trouble. I thought I could manage it and then they’d fucking feel it,” she continues, now looking at Quinn. I watch her take a step towards him, hatred all over her features, and tug again, twisting the tie to put as much pressure on it as possible without giving myself away. “I only ever helped them to get to Cane. Wanted them to know what real pain feels like.”

  The fucking volume of Quinn’s bitching makes two guys hurry to him, one of them reaching to contain his movement. It doesn’t happen quickly enough to stop him running at them, and a final yank on my wire suddenly breaks the goddamn tie loose.

  I’m up and at Andreas before anyone knows what’s hit them, shoving Hope to the side of the room and spinning to pull the trigger in his hand at anything that isn’t us. Nathan launches in my vision, rushing his shoulders at the guys over by Gabby. I tackle the gun, throwing my weight into Andreas and firing at one of them, barely avoiding Quinn as he barges through towards Emily. My arm swings wide, aiming back for where the woman is as Quinn and Nathan knock their targets to the floor.

  Two more shots come from me, aimed straight at the fuck reaching for Hope. He drops dead, weapon clattering to the floor. I spin to find it in the hustle, running and scooping it up so I can aim back at the room again.

  “Benj
amin!” Hope screams out, followed by a shriek from one of the other women.

  I turn, scanning and starting to fire at any goddamn thing. Nathan’s like lightning, his body forcing Gabby towards the door as he rolls to the floor and manages to get his arms in front of him somehow. Fuck. He calls out to Quinn, a rally of language being shouted between them, and then dives at one of the cunts still breathing.

  More shots come from somewhere. I glance back towards the entrance to see a new fucking round of guns coming around the door at us. Seconds it takes me to run for the bitch. She glares as I approach, raising her hand, gun aimed. I grab at Andreas, pulling his body into me and then pushing him back towards her as a shield.

  “Vico!” Quinn calls.

  I half turn, looking as he holds his still bound hands up, beckoning. I throw one of the guns over to him, watch it travelling through the air as I keep pushing Andreas to get to the woman. That’s all I need to end this—her fucking dead.

  He spins the moment he has it and aims at Hope. She ducks, fear wide in her eyes at the reality. A fucking heart I didn’t know I had breaches my throat, and I hover, not sure what to do. He’s gonna kill her now, end what she’s done to his family, the threat she’s brought with her. I would, still fucking might given her treachery, but the eventual sight of a Yakuza behind her dropping has me thanking God for his aim.

  Shot after shot fires from him then, all of them pounded towards the door as he powers on, but even he can’t hold them off, and the sight of one of them trying to grab at Emily has all my power pushing through Andreas to get to Hisa.

  Another rally of shots, this time from Nathan, as I turn the body I’m holding to spin into it and reach for the bitch. She dodges me, feet sprinting and gun firing behind her. It’s a fucking blur of bodies and feet, smoke and shots. I shove Andreas away, moving around him to pin the bitch in the corner. A scream deflects my purpose. Hope.

  My body swerves back to see her being bounced off the side of the ship, head banging off the metal as a piece of scum dares touch her.

  “HOPE. GET DOWN!” I bellow as she scrambles upright again.

  Her eyes latch onto mine, some fucking intent I don’t understand as I grab hold of Hisa and drag her into me. I knock the gun from the bitch’s hand, swinging it back into my own as she struggles in my hold. It’s not enough for me to get drawn away from Hope’s focused eyes as she stares back. One second. Two. What the fuck is she doing? She’s fucking defying me, that's what. No getting down at all. She starts running, heading for the door and. . . A goddamn fist comes into my face out of nowhere before I can shout, slamming my head back so I can't see straight. My vision blanks for a few seconds, hands trying to hold onto the body I’m clamped around.

  “GABBY, MOVE!” Nathan’s voice.

  I grab hold of Hisa’s neck, shoving her forwards into the noise and aiming the barrel of my gun at her head, hoping it's enough to stop the cunts. My line of sight clears enough for me to see Gabby in Andreas’ hands, his gun aimed at her. A fucking shot comes out of the gloom, barely missing Gabby, and he drops her and runs. Nathan’s there in a goddamn second, clutching her from the shock. He spins around, his gun aimed at anything in sight. Rage rides his features as he surveys the carnage. There’s suddenly nothing left. No one. Just us and the blood.

  I scan for Hope and Emily amongst the dead, watching as Quinn throws his gun, grabs another weapon, and races from the room. Fuck.

  “Call them off,” I spit at Hisa. She doesn’t. She struggles and tries to kick my legs, fingers clawing at my hand. “You fucking call them off or I’ll kill you now.”

  Japanese pours from her mouth as I push her out into the corridors, searching for Quinn. It’s fucking noisy, pissing me off that I can’t hear where the others have gone. I shove her to her knees, thinking about whether I need her at all as Nathan barges past me.

  “Stay the fuck back,” I snap, pushing harder to keep the bitch down. “I need you alive, Nathan. Check yourself.” He backs up and turns around a corner, listening, but door after door of the same fucking emptiness is all he can see, me too.

  “Where the hell is Andreas?” Nathan seethes, his voice low as he checks off down another corridor. He won’t find anything this close. It’s like they’ve vanished. It’s a rabbit warren of dirty white doors and corridors, all of them vacant.

  I listen more intently, searching the ship’s sounds for anything, but another volley of Japanese erupts from the bitch in my hold, orders being screamed no doubt. I’ve slipped my beads off and looped them around her neck before she gets any more out. All this shit in my city, all this crap we’re in now is because of her.

  Enough.

  I pull the wire taut, levering my knee against her back, and increase the pressure so it stops the goddamn noise. Gabby comes around in front of me, eyes directed at what’s happening in my hands. It’s interesting to me as I watch her watch the life slip from scum. I yank tighter, feeling the wire cutting in now, encouraged by the slight smile on Gabby’s mouth.

  “You like a party, huh?” I mutter, watching her. Her fucking eyes flare as I listen to the air for sounds of Quinn, all the time holding the struggling woman in my grip. Bitch is nearly dead now. Ended. As she should be. I still can’t hear Quinn or the women, though. My hands tug once more, twisting the wire for more purchase, and then finally let go when the last of the fight has gone from her. Good. Done. Fucking quiet, at last.

  “The hell did you do that for?” Nathan spits, coming back around another corner and staring at the slumped body at my feet.

  “Fucking mouthy. Couldn’t hear a goddamn thing. You got anything?”

  “But we could have used her to—”

  “I’m fucking done with this shit, Nathan. I’m not hauling the bitch around with that mouth constantly speaking a language we don’t understand.”

  “Hold on,” Gabby says, sprinting off and around a corner. She comes back a few seconds later with two guns in her hands. “You’ll need these,” she says, handing them over. “I’ve got a knife,” she continues, holding it out at Nathan. “Hands.”

  He smiles at her as she slices through the bindings, then frowns at Hisa again as Gabby stares at me. “You getting on with this then?” she says, nodding up the corridor. “I want my life back, Benjamin.” I nod, amused at her attitude.

  My body spins to run quietly, searching and listening for anything to give their position away. They both follow, Nathan covering me like Quinn normally would. We end up breaking out onto the dimly lit deck, searching the night for any sign of life. There’s nothing but black and stars, heavy containers piled up on top of each other. I look out into the sea for speedboats—nothing. Then I scope out the deck around us. Nothing there either, so we skirt the shadows of the containers, working as a team to find our target, and finally end up back where we started, still none the fucking wiser.

  “The hell is it always like this?” Nathan grumbles, rounding a corner to come back to me. “This is the last time.”

  “What?”

  “Fucking death and violence.”

  “Pussy.” My gun fires into the sky three times, the sound reverberating around the ship. I’ll damn well draw them to me if I can’t find them.

  “The hell you doing?”

  “Making my fucking presence felt.”

  Three volleys come at us out of the gloom, enough that we duck and run.

  “From the left,” Nathan says, edging his way over, Gabby tight to his back. “Up high.”

  I follow and wind around the corners, my back braced against the containers for cover, then watch as Nathan scuttles the long side of one and searches upwards. It makes me nod at him and split to the other side, eyes and gun aimed towards the next level of the ship. We all climb the stairs, inching our way in the vague direction of the shots, and then Nathan lets another round go into the air. There’s a scramble in front of me somewhere, feet trying to be silent as a shot or two come back at us.

  Fucking stealth then. Th
at’s all we’ve got.

  Twenty-Six

  My eyes stay fixed on Quinn. His eyes are fixed on Andreas. In this environment, he’s not the man I met with. The calm veneer he’s always presented is fast unraveling, which makes me far more nervous. Add Quinn into the mix, and the terror that has me caged to my spot next to Emily is understandable.

  The man at our side fidgets at his post, the gun in his hand still on display. It gives pause to any idea of running. I couldn’t run without Emily anyway. Despite everything that’s happened, I’d never leave her here alone. It's why I chased after her in the commotion, why I defied Benjamin and ran, hoping to help. She’s here because of me, because of my vendetta against her husband and family.

  Her face has started to colour where the bruises will show. Every time Quinn scans over to check on her I see the hatred in his eyes. He might be concerned for his wife, but he blames me for putting her in a position of danger. The more I see of him with Emily, the more I see a protector—a word I would never have been able to associate with Cane until now.

  The words my mother used to say about Quinn rattle around in my brain, how he was the reason we were kicked out, why she had to leave and hide away so that the Cane name could remain strong. Quinn would take over the business, she'd said. She knew Quinton wasn’t a saint—she was having an affair with him for God's sake—but I wonder if she truly knew the dark underbelly of life that Cane was involved with. For some reason I doubt that now. I think she just saw the gilded life that he chose for her to see.

  I turn to Emily, trying to focus on the here and now rather than the ghosts that led me to this.

  Piercing gunfire breaks the stillness around us, making me jump. I grab for her hand, because the one thought running through my mind is that I must stay with her and ensure she’s safe. I need to help her. Not only because it’s the right thing to do because of my actions, but because if we do get out of this in one piece, Emily will be key to Quinn accepting the knowledge that we’re related, that he and Nathan are my brothers.