Hyland's Consort

by Felicity Brandon

  “I need some space.”

  “I understand.” Saul’s jaw tightened as his gaze pierced me. “You know where I am if you need me.”

  “Thank you, Saul.” Breathing in the familiar scent of his aftershave, I nodded, ignoring the profanity spilling from Sean. Taking one last look at Sean before I strode away, I didn’t stop to talk to him, didn’t want to hear his protests. He’d taken so much from me already—they both had. By the time I’d reached the door to the suite, I was resolved.

  This was my time.

  I was moving on.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Sean

  “NO!” WATCHING AS THE door slammed shut was like a knife to my heart. “Hilary!”

  “Looks like you should have treated her a little better, Hyland.” The dark-haired guy who’d been throwing the punches sneered in my direction, one of the others waving a gun in my face. “Doesn’t seem like she wants you, after all.”

  “Fuck you!” I spat the blood still swilling in my mouth at him, relishing the way he recoiled, disgusted. “Get the fuck off me.”

  “No way.” Morrison’s voice came from behind me.

  Turning, I saw him walk into the room. The man looked thoroughly dejected, and at any other time, his expression would have made me gleeful. “You heard the lady, she needs some space, and we’re going to make sure she gets it.”

  “How fucking gallant of you,” I mocked. My head ached from the earlier onslaught, rounds of punches I hadn’t been prepared for, coupled with the impact of the floor as I’d fallen. “You know I’ll get her back, right? You know she’s my wife?”

  “Ever heard of a divorce lawyer?” Morrison fired back. “I know a good one. I’ll help her out.”

  “You’ll stay the fuck away from her.” Rage roared from somewhere deep inside. “Stay away from my wife.”

  “Listen to him.” The prick, still holding me down with the help of his chums, rolled his eyes. “You’d almost think she actually consented to the arrangement.”

  Saul laughed, the sound twisting inside me. How dare he be fucking happy? If he hadn’t barged in here in the middle of the night, I would have been happy, content with the only woman I’d ever committed anything to.

  “Doesn’t look like she consented to be with you either, huh?” Ultimately, I fell back on the oldest trick in the book, deflecting my own pain by lashing out at someone else—the cause of my misery. “I don’t see Hilary leaving with you.”

  Slipping his hands in his pockets, he stood over me.

  “No,” he ceded, the pain of that reality glimmering briefly in his eyes. “In the end, she didn’t choose either of us.”

  “She already chose me,” I growled, reminding him yet again of the recent developments in Hilary’s life. Only a matter of hours earlier, she’d stood at the altar and consented to love, honor, and obey me.

  “None of us believe she had a choice in that,” Saul sniggered as if I’d just spun him a yarn.

  “You’d better believe she had a choice in the consummation!” I spat, just as one of the burlier guys over me shifted. Seizing the only chance I had since I landed on my back, I shoved him back, knocking the gun away before turning just in time to avoid another punch from the dark-haired one. Kicking one of the others in the face, I made it to my feet. “She fucking begged me for it.”

  “You’re a real son-of-a-bitch, Hyland.” Morrison shook his head as the dark-haired one grabbed me from behind. He was stronger than he looked. “She was never yours to take.”

  Pulling at the hold the stranger had on me, I eyeballed Morrison as he stepped toward me.

  “And in taking her, you fucked both our chances.”

  “Speak for yourself,” I retorted. “She’s still my wife.”

  “Oh, change the fucking record,” whined one of the others, pointing his gun at me. “If you were so damn special to her, she didn’t seem that upset to leave you.”

  I turned to meet his piggy little eyes. “You don’t know anything about it,” I shouted, shrugging away from the idiot trying to hold me back. “None of you do.”

  “Cover the door.” Saul nodded to his men, his gaze sliding back to me as three of them moved to the door of the suite. “You’re not going anywhere, Sean. You might as well get used to it.”

  “Oh, yeah?” Bravado racing through my blood like adrenaline, I shoved the dark-haired one away and lurched for my gun. It had been just out of my reach the whole time but incapacitated on the floor, there’d been no opportunity to grab it. “What are you going to do about it?”

  “We’re going to fucking shoot you, you moron.” The one behind me laughed, wrestling the weapon from my hands.

  “Hey!” Spinning on my heel, I lunged at him, but before I could grapple for the gun, another two imbeciles were on me, the barrels of their guns pointed at my head.

  “I wouldn’t if I were you.” There was no glee in Morrison’s voice, only a weary sense of resignation. “We will kill you, Hyland.”

  “Just like you killed my uncle.” I turned, swiveling between the weapons.

  “That’s right.” Saul pressed his lips together. “I don’t take pleasure in it, but you Hylands just keep sticking your noses in my business.”

  Snorting, I tried to think, but the hammering in my head was making it impossible to focus.

  “You’re just going to let her walk away?” I gestured toward the door. “Just let her leave in the middle of the night with no money and nowhere to go.”

  “She could go home.” Morrison’s brow furrowed.

  “Hardly,” I muttered. “She knows both of us will go straight there.”

  “I won’t,” he assured me with just a little too much insistence. “I will respect her wishes.”

  “Good for you,” I grunted. “I won’t. I’ll do whatever it takes to take care of her while you just allowed her to roam free on the streets of this shitty city.”

  “She’ll probably just get a room somewhere.” Morrison ignored my bait. “She’ll be safe. Hilary knows this city.”

  “Who are you trying to kid?” I asked, inching closer while the guns pressed into the sides of my head. “She doesn’t have any fucking money, you prick. Hilary’s about as savvy as Mickey Mouse. How do you think I picked her up so easily?”

  Morrison gulped, a flicker of concern flashing in his eyes.

  “You know I’m right, don’t you?” I could sense triumph on this one small matter. “She’ll never survive out there on her own.”

  His gaze flitted to the dark-haired guy. “He might have a point, Connor.”

  “Fucking great,” his friend replied. “And you couldn’t have thought of this before you let her leave?”

  My lips twitched at the friction between them.

  “Listen, you can cuff me, whatever you need to do, but let’s get out there and find her together. We both care about her, right?” It was a dangerous strategy, soliciting the help of my biggest rival—the same man who’d murdered my uncle in cold blood—but these were desperate times, and based on his faltering expression, it might just work. “She can’t have got far.”

  “Maybe you’re right.” Morrison’s hand lifted to his temple as if he couldn’t believe he agreed with me.

  “For fuck’s sake, Saul.” The dark-haired one, Connor, removed the tip of his weapon from my head. “Really?”

  “Tie him up.” Morrison directed to one of the guys standing near him. “We’re getting out of here, and Hyland’s coming with us.”

  Chapter Thirty

  Hilary

  BREATHING IN THE DANK London air, exhilaration bloomed in my veins. Sure, I was wandering around in uncomfortable, unseasonal clothes that weren’t mine. I was cold and exhausted, and I hadn’t even started to process the shit I’d been through in the last few days, but none of that mattered—I was free! Free from Sean and Saul in one fell swoop. It was a work of genius!

  Hugging my arms around my chest, I ignored the chill and the endless tap, tap, tapping of t
he new shoes against the concrete. They weren’t my style, and I wasn’t crazy about the way they rubbed the back of my feet, but I wasn’t complaining. I was clothed and away from all the fucked-up men in my life. Sure, I knew I was vulnerable out here on my own, especially since I had no cash with me, no phone, and not even the key to my own place, but at least whatever happened would be down to me. Glancing down the long road of Piccadilly, I wondered what my options were. I could go to the police, seek some sort of sanctuary there, but was I really prepared to snitch on my former lover and employer? If I went to the authorities, they would ask all sorts of questions, and no matter how much crap Saul had put me through, I didn’t want that. Whatever I felt for him, he’d been good to me in the past—all his guys had—and I couldn’t repay that with such flagrant treachery.

  “Are you lost, darling?”

  I froze at the foreign voice, peering into the darkness of Green Park to find a toothless man staring at me.

  “Oh, I’m fine, thanks,” I intended to hurry down the path, but from out of the shadows, another man appeared, blocking my route.

  “You’re sure?” This one had a crooked smile, but he smelled just like the first, the pungent aroma of urine and body odor wafting past my nostrils. “We don’t mind helping you out, lass.”

  “Really?” Flustered, I stumbled back, meaning to turn back toward the hotel, but to my horror, another two men were already waiting for me. “Thank you for the kind offer, but no.”

  Eyeing the opposite side of the enormous road, I considered making a dash for it. There was no traffic at this time of night and seemingly no other pedestrians around to assist me. I had nothing to lose.

  “Don’t do that,” the first one cajoled. “We won’t bite ya. We only want to talk.”

  “I thought you wanted to help?” Why was I engaging the guy? The smell of him and his friends alone was making me nauseous.

  “Help and talk,” one of them behind me clarified. By the time I spun on my heel, another one had manifested from the damp sidewalk, creating a dreadful circle around me. “We don’t get many beautiful women passing this way. Why don’t you come into the park and chat?”

  “No, thank you.” My heart raced as I turned, eyeing the awful men. They were filthy, and though I had no way of knowing what their true intentions were, the dark light shining in their eyes promised brutal, heinous things. I had to get away. “I have to get home. My boyfriend will be waiting.”

  The one who’d first stepped out of the shadows snorted. “What kind of boyfriend would allow you to walk down here on your own?”

  “That’s none of your business.”

  “I think she’s lying.” One of their voices floated past my ears, and I jumped at his proximity, dread escalating in my belly. “I don’t think there is a boyfriend.”

  “Please.” Panic clawed at my insides. I hadn’t just escaped from one traumatic situation to land myself in another one on the street. “Just leave me be.”

  “I don’t think so, darling.” He was right behind me, his revolting odor attacking my nostrils with fresh ferocity. “I think we’re going to play with you for a while.”

  “No!” Skipping away from him, I nearly ran into one of the others. The circle they’d created grew smaller while I stood and watched. “Stop it! Help me, someone, help me!”

  Twisting around to determine my position, the answer to my plea smacked me right in the face. These repulsive strangers weren’t going to go without a fight, and there wasn’t a soul around to hear me cry.

  Saul

  IT ONLY TOOK ADAMS a few minutes to bind Hyland’s hands behind his back, then we were on the move. Leaving his plush suite, I ensured he was shielded by my men as we slipped out of the back entrance, the same way we’d entered. The décor at The Ritz might be first class, but its security was seriously lacking. We were heading into the expanse of Green Park when I heard it, the sound tightening the tension in my gut until I nearly doubled over.

  “No!” A female voice cried out from the edge of the park. I knew that voice. “Stop it! Help me, someone, help me!”

  “That’s Hilary!” Hyland took the words right out of my mouth. He charged past Connor, knocking him out of the way, running toward her voice.

  “Fuck!” I was after him in a heartbeat, not only because I’d made a promise to Hilary but because there wasn’t much he could do with his hands bound. “Come on, Connor.”

  Glancing behind me, I caught sight of them running in the same direction. Heart pounding, I focused my attention on catching up with Hyland. He was already at the perimeter of the park, leaping the hurdle the metal fence presented.

  “Get your fucking hands off her!” Sean’s holler echoed around the night sky, and as I leapt after him, it was easy to see what—who—had rattled his cage. A collection of what looked like homeless vagabonds were crowding Hilary, one of them pawing at her chest.

  “Oh, yeah.” The stranger’s ugly face contorted into a sneer. “What are you gonna do about it, armless?”

  “He’s not going to do anything,” I concurred, reaching for my weapon. “But my friends and I, we’re a whole different proposition.”

  Connor and the others advanced on the collection of groping vagrants and shoved their guns into their backs.

  “Back away, arsehole,” Connor snarled to the one in front of him, jabbing him with the weapon as he turned to face him. “Give the lady some space.”

  “Hilary.” Pushing past another, I found her wide-eyed and terrified. “Are you okay?”

  Gasping, her focus flitted from Sean to me. “I’m okay,” she told me, but I wasn’t convinced by her trembling voice.

  “Didn’t you hear him?” Hyland’s voice was vicious. “Back the fuck away.”

  Gradually, once enough weapons were pushed into their faces, the tramps seemed to give up the fight. Backing away, they slunk into the night, disappearing into the shadows of the park.

  “Hilary.” Hyland shook his head, his eyes narrowing despite his restrained position. “What the hell happened?”

  “They just came out of nowhere.” Her expression crumpled at his approach. “I didn’t know what to do.”

  “Just as well we were here, huh?” I arched a brow in her direction, and her gaze darted to meet it.

  “Yes.” I could see it pained her to concede the point. “Thank you, all.” She paused, wrapping her arms around her body. “Hang on, why are you all here?”

  “That doesn’t sound much like gratitude.” Hyland pressed himself up against her, and I watched as her chin rose, meeting his eyes. For the first time, I saw the two of them together and had a sense of the chemistry they’d carved. The reality was unsettling. I’d never made any real commitment to Hilary, but I’d thought we were headed on a journey together. To see her with another man was jarring, especially one as ruthless as Hyland.

  “I’m sorry,” she murmured.

  “What?” His brow rose as if he was prompting her.

  Staring in silence, I felt the tangible shift in the atmosphere. Hilary’s face heated in a blush as her gaze fell to his chest.

  “Sir.”

  The word was barely audible.

  “I’m sorry, Sir.”

  My eyes widened. Connor’s gaze burned into me as though he wanted an explanation.

  “Better.” Hyland’s expression softened. “But just wait until I’m unfettered. You’ll pay for this, young lady.”

  “Yes, Sir.” Her feet shifted at his side, weight moving from one to the other.

  I expected to see fear shining in her eyes, but when my gaze traveled up her body, I was bewildered to see a small smile on her lips. Could it be she actually enjoyed his threats, let alone his attention? It was difficult to breathe as that idea resonated.

  “You haven’t answered my question?” She turned, catching my eyes before her gaze slipped around my men. “Where are you all going?”

  “We’re taking Hyland prisoner.” The answer came to me in a split second, and even
as it left my lips, I knew why I’d said it. I had promised her the space to think, to get away, then in a matter of moments, I’d changed my mind, pursuing her. “And since we found you, we’re taking you with us.”

  She and Hyland locked gazes with me.

  “What?” Hyland asked, though I could see the same query burning in her eyes.

  “You heard me,” I snapped, tired of explaining myself to this prick. He’d been nothing but a pain in the arse since he’d landed back in the country. “Connor, let’s get them to the cars.”

  “Sure.” Lips curling, Connor nodded over Hyland’s shoulder, his weapon already pushed into my rival’s back.

  Turning to the road, I caught sight of our vehicles parked on the deserted street. With our waiting drivers, we would be away in a matter of moments.

  “You’ll pay for this, Morrison.” Hyland narrowed his gaze. “You have no fucking right.”

  “You made it my right.” Stepping past Hilary, I pushed myself in his face. “When you helped yourself to my girlfriend.”

  “Gonna make her choose, are you?”

  I wanted to rip the smug, self-satisfied smirk from his self-righteous face.

  “That’s right,” I roared in his face. “I’m going to make her choose, and we already both know which way the dice will fall, don’t we, Hyland?”

  “Oh, yeah.” He chuckled, even as Connor encouraged him forward.

  Sean Hyland—the man whose desire had brought down the whole tower of cards.

  “I know exactly who she’ll opt for. You lose, Morrison. You lose.”

  The End.

  Devour Hyland’s Obsession for the next sizzling installment of Hilary and Sean’s

  twisted love affair!

  Read the introduction to the book now...

  Hyland’s Obsession

  (A Rage and Revenge Novel):

  A Dark Mafia Dark Necessities Romance.

  Book Three

  By

  Felicity Brandon