Shattered Chaos (Steel Roses Book 1)

by Samantha Bee

  There are a few guys here tonight that I have a feeling will be receiving cards sooner or later. The guy in the lower ring draws my attention. He’s tall and muscular but more lean than bulky. He has dark, almost black hair, and tanned skin. He’s fast and agile, able to predict his opponents’ sloppier moves and react faster.

  He has an impressive form and technique but what genuinely excites me is his ability to take a hit. It’s like the kid can’t feel the pain and takes blow after blow without flinching in order to position himself better for the knockout.

  He’s young but talented and that skill is a rare one. I move my eyes from him as his opponent falls to his feet out cold. I search for Joe and when our eyes meet, I see the same look in his eyes. This kid is getting a card.

  Joe leans his head to the left like he’s stretching his neck before leaning his head back and rolling it to the other side. I chuckle.

  The kid must be a cocky fucker. Joe is holding out on giving him a card, wants him to prove himself a few more times before he gets that honor. That’s fair. Joe’s a good judge of character and he’s exceptional at making calls about what a person needs to be pushed. I trust the call but sooner or later, I will be training that kid. He has the potential to be one of the best.

  I crack my neck as I adjust. Fuck we are getting close to my fight and I can feel the need stirring in my blood. It’s been a while since I’ve really bloodied my fists in the ring and fuck. Tonight, I need it.

  I hope I’m fighting some underling for someone we hate because they are probably going to die. I don't think I can control myself once I get started tonight.

  My attention is pulled away from the fights when someone walks up to the open seat at our table. I flick my gaze towards Luca but see his smile that invited this guy to approach without stopping at Ty. I look back at him and can’t help the grin that spreads across my face in greeting.

  He takes it as a warm welcome. And he should, as far as he’s concerned, we are on great terms with Romano. Too bad for him our smiles are much more malicious than a greeting for an ally.

  “William,” I exclaim to Romano’s second in command, “How are you?”

  He warmly greets both of us before sitting down with us.

  “We thought you were overseas,” I question him, the surprise clear in my voice. I truly am surprised he got back so fast and without us hearing about it.

  He shakes his head at us, “Just landed actually,” he sighs. “Had to come back to clean up Ciar’s mess. Romano was unable to come due to business.”

  I nod in understanding. “We heard Ciar had set up locally, we were surprised not to hear it from you.” I make the censure in my voice subtle but clear.

  We know why we didn’t hear it from Romano’s second in command, but we don’t want him to realize that yet. The protocol would have called for him to reach out to us before setting any bases up in our area, even though our businesses are not in direct competition.

  “Our apologies for that oversight,” he says formally before launching into his explanation. “Ciar has really made a mess of things. He doesn’t have an understanding of allies and proper protocols. He makes rather impulsive decisions.”

  A different waitress than the one earlier rushes over with a glass for William and pours a generous amount of whiskey in it before placing it in front of him. He pauses in his explanation as he brings the glass to his lips for a sip.

  He sighs, “There was a raid on our operation in Reno. Ciar decided to move the merchandise he was able to hold on to down here without reporting the situation.”

  He continues to explain the situation and I nod along as I sip my whiskey but I’m struggling to cover how bored I am. He isn’t telling us anything we didn’t already know.

  Luca nods, “Ahh, now I understand. I won’t lie to you, old friend. We were concerned when we didn’t hear from you.”

  We both chuckle but I see the flicker of fear and uncertainty in his eyes before he masks it with a chuckle of his own. Him and Romano know it was a grave insult to set up here without consulting us and their rush to correct that mistake says everything we need to know about their attitude towards us.

  Luca is choosing to be gracious about it, “We are glad to clear up that misunderstanding. So now tell us, what can we do for you tonight?” I ask, trying to move along the conversation.

  He nods and moves forward in his chair before clasping his hands together, “Let’s not bullshit each other, shall we?” he asks and I smirk, not able to hold it in. “Nothing happens in this town without your knowing about it so I’m sure you’ve already heard that Ciar’s operation here was already raided.”

  We both acknowledge that with a brief nod. Now that we have a legitimate source of the intel, we can let it be known that we are aware of the situation.

  “What can you tell me about it?” he asks.

  I shift in confusion and I can see Luca’s own surprise written on his face. “What makes you think we have more to tell you than you already know?” I ask him.

  “Like I said, nothing happens in this town without you knowing about it. So, who orchestrated the raid?”

  Luca laughs but it's a cold and unfeeling sound, hollow and threatening. The tables around us quiet down as they turn to stare at the interaction going on at our table. No one mistakes that sound for anything other than what it was, a warning.

  “Careful there, William. As flattered as I am that you seem to think I am omnipotent, I have no way to predict every move made on the board. You are bordering on disrespectful,” he pauses, allowing the silence to grow deafening around us before he tsks, “And so soon after we just cleared up that unfortunate misunderstanding.”

  I study William and while he looks calm and collected, I pick up on the slight fidgeting of his fingers against his thigh and the way he bites down on the inside of his lip. He’s nervous to be confronting us.

  “My apologies,” he bows his head, “I meant no insult. But we would appreciate any news you have gathered.”

  Luca nods in acceptance but tilts his head towards me before focusing on back on the fights. The dismissal and reprimand is clear, not only to William but to everyone observing our interaction.

  The slight was forgiven but not forgotten.

  “We have discussed some theories, but we have nothing concrete. We haven’t even confirmed our intel yet,” I explain, “maybe you can help us with that?”

  “Of course,” he concedes immediately. “What do you know, and I’ll fill in the blanks.”

  I summarize the intel we’ve gathered while briefly acknowledging what we’ve put together and the speculation of it being a personal attack. I’m careful to leave out any detail that hasn’t been relayed to us by someone else.

  William then fills in the blanks including telling us more about the original raid, all of which we’ve already heard and was of no importance to us. He is the one who tells us more details about the girls as well as Ryder. As he fills in all the blanks, I lean back and sip more whiskey. He filled in a lot of holes in our intel but didn’t give us anything we didn’t know.

  “Interesting,” Luca drawls at the mention of Ryder. “Possible tracker?” he questions.

  William curses, “We hadn’t thought of that. I don’t know if the kid would have known what to look for,” he sighs.

  “It’s a possibility, maybe friends followed after his capture and that's the personal edge of some of the killings,” I muse out loud, “those could have been his kills, after they broke him out.”

  “That would explain it. We will have to look into it,” he sighs. “I believe this building has had other failed operations. Would you have any information on that?” his tone much more respectful as he questions us now.

  Luca agrees that he thinks other operations have failed there but doesn’t know the details off the top of his head. We promise to look into it for them. It’s hard not to be smug when we are the reason for all the failed operations, but I manage to keep my shit in ch
eck.

  After he has our agreement, he visibly relaxes as Luca continues to pepper him with more questions. Mostly shit we don’t care about, but he throws in a few that we need answers too. He asks if anyone would be able to recognize the girls they lost or the vigilante he now believes to be responsible for the brutal killings.

  I’m relieved to find out Ciar and his second are the only ones still alive who would recognize any of them. The girls besides the youngest aren't too much of a concern since the foundation will relocate them. The little girl and Ryder were more of a risk though and we need to be able to prepare for that if we are going to keep them local.

  We’ll just have to take care of those two sooner rather than later.

  I start to zone back into the fights as I half listen to Luca’s suggestions on having Ciar visit the auctions to see if the merchandise shows back up on the market on the chance it wasn’t a vigilante group.

  He plays his part well and the respect is coming off of William in waves. I struggle not to roll my eyes.

  I tap my finger against my temple as I think about all the fuckery of this day. Dammit. I just need to get into the ring already. The rest of this bullshit is just tiring.

  Luca thrives on it the way Scar thrives at the feeling of warm blood spilling through her fingers, the way I do on bones crunching under my fists. But I am over it.

  “Fighting tonight?” William questions, clearly slipping out of business mode and into friend mode. Too bad I hate this fucker.

  “Yes,” I draw out the word as I clench and stretch my fingers to get the blood flowing, “It’s been too long since I jumped into the ring. I’m itching for my turn.”

  “I had one of our fighters meet us here if you’re craving a good fight?”

  I assess him with a question in my eyes, but Luca comes out and chuckles, this one slightly warmer than his previous one. “Are you sure, old friend? Be careful who you offer up tonight, Kade is in a mood.”

  “You have seemed tense tonight,” he observes, the questions clear in his tone, “Woman issues?” he asks. We would never throw Scar under the bus like that but it’s a convenient excuse and not wholly false.

  I laugh, “How’d you know?”

  He smiles knowingly, “It’s always a woman or the business.”

  “We had a bit of a spat,” I admit and let a little of my fake English accent slip in through my words. It amuses Luca to no ends, but I’ve been very thorough in the building of my background.

  William has a wicked gleam in his eye at the inflections he picked up. Good, this is the exact type of situation I created the accent for.

  “Then a good fight is exactly what you need,” he decides, while gesturing towards a man a few tables removed from us. Luca nods to Tyler so he allows the man to pass. As soon as the man reaches our table William grins, “Emel here will be a worthy opponent for you.”

  William is assuming I’m drunker than I am but also that my emotions over Scar will cause my fight to falter. What an idiot. He just served Emel up on a platter for me to vent my rage and frustrations on.

  I’d feel bad but I recognize this fucker and know how he likes to spend his free time, testing the merchandise.

  I’m going to enjoy killing him.

  They chat and I mostly tune them out as I start to decide how to play with Emel for maximum enjoyment before ending him.

  He interrupts my planning when he questions, “A woman has you this pent up?” he scoffs, “You just need to train her. Isn’t your girl the hot stripper from Roses? I’d be glad to give you a hand if you don’t know how. Seeing that fine piece of ass broken in would be payment enough.”

  I know I tap into my inner Scar with the grin that spreads across my face, it's downright maniacal. But I’m not the only one who reacts to his words. A waitress walking by drops a glass, tables quiet, William tenses and Luca lets loose another of his cold chuckles.

  Everyone knows not to threaten Scar. It’s also a well-known fact that we respect our women. Luca may occasionally buy at the auctions to keep up pretenses, but we have been very firm with our ideals that our women are not property and deserve respect. From us but especially from everyone else.

  I am going to enjoy murdering Emel in that ring. William knows it too as he nods to us but quickly ushers Emel away from our table. He doesn’t look quite so pleased with the fight he set up as he did before.

  Too late now, Tyler already had it locked in with Joe the second the offer was on the table.

  It’s only about twenty minutes later that we meet in the ring.

  The fight ripples under my skin as adrenaline rushes through my blood. I bounce on the balls of my feet as I stretch my hands out. My knuckles are already wrapped, and I feel ready to go.

  The bouncing is not so much to warm up but to expel some of the energy that is winding me up like a damn energizer bunny. I’m riding the high of the fight and I haven’t even stepped into the ring yet.

  I play through how I can drag this out for maximum enjoyment before ending him. I don’t want him tapping out too early. It’s a pussy move but so is beating women and raping kids so clearly their standards aren’t too high, right?

  I don’t care if he does tap out, this sick fuck isn’t walking out of that ring. He’s being carried out in nothing less than a fucking body bag. We haven’t had anyone die in a while. It’ll be a good reminder of just what you’re putting on the line when you walk into our rings.

  Joe and Tyler laugh at my obvious excitement and blood thirst. Joe echoes my earlier thought when he jokes that I must be channeling Scar with the psychotic grin I can’t seem to keep off my face.

  Tyler scrunches his face in confusion when I laugh, “Scar? Really?” he asks, “I mean she’s definitely a crazy girl and a bad ass, don’t get me wrong,” he hesitates, “but she doesn’t seem all that bloodthirsty.”

  Joe and I both laugh. Ty is a good solid dude and has been steadily working his way into our inner circle. He’s as high in the ranks as he can be within this side of the business. On par with Holden and Ian just below Joe when it comes to running the rings.

  However, we haven’t brought him into the other side of things. I think he would be a good fit but it’s not something we take lightly and while the thought has been thrown on the table, it hasn’t been discussed.

  “You haven’t seen her fight, yet,” I joke with him.

  “Really?” he laughs with us. “She is a ball buster when she trains,” he concedes.

  “I’m sure you’ll see the little savage she keeps hidden under all those roses, eventually.”

  Talking about the roses makes me think of the waitress from earlier, “Speaking of, how’d it go with the new girl?” I ask as I turn to Joe.

  He shakes his head, “I don’t know who hired her but she’s going to be a problem,” he sighs. “Keep her far away from Scar, or Tyler will see her psychotic tendencies sooner rather than later.”

  “I really can’t reconcile the image you guys are painting with the dancer I know,” Tyler says.

  Joe chuckles, “She’s in love with this guy,” he says, using his thumb to point at me, “obviously, something ain’t right up there,” he finishes as he points to his own head.

  Anyone else would be murdered for a comment like that but coming from Joe makes me fucking cackle. “Damn I wish she would have heard you say she has a screw loose.” I pause, “Well fuck, that wouldn’t work.” I point at Joe, “Don’t you ever say shit about her loving me to her.”

  It’s his turn to cackle, “You haven’t told her yet? Even after Luca’s declaration?”

  I scoff, “And send her running for the hills? Fat fucking chance, grandpa.”

  “I feel very lost all of a sudden,” Tyler jokes. “How do I get invited to the family dinners? Yours sounds way more interesting than mine.”

  I go to respond but the bell rings and I jump towards the ring, ready to feel Emel’s blood splatter across my skin.

  I’m already stripped down t
o nothing but my shorts and wraps so as soon as the last fighters are cleared from the ring, I’m jumping in.

  I don’t need the fucking fanfare of being announced and all the bull shit. As soon as I move through the ropes, cheers start up through the whole building. I’m king in this ring and my crown is made of the bones of those who insult my girl and covered in the blood of her enemies.

  Emel bounces into the ring, all cocky swagger. Truly, I wanted to drag this out and play with him for a little bit but as soon as that bell goes off, it's like a switch is flipped inside of me. Images of the girls we saved today, a bloody Letty, Luca’s tears, that small and broken little girl wrapped in Letty’s arms flash on repeat behind my eyelids every time I blink.

  Emel’s words play on a loop through my ears and I can’t hold back.

  As soon as he’s within striking distance, I throw my body forward and launch a right hook into his cheek. The audible crack is music to my ears. He got me with a weak kick to my left side, but my punch knocked him off balance.

  He stumbles back but I don't give him a chance to catch his breath before aiming a kick to his left side. As he focuses on that I throw another right hook and hit him in the exact same spot. Smug satisfaction fills me as I feel his cheek bone shatter.

  That must hurt.

  I still don’t stop. Haunted by the memories of this day. I throw a quick left jab followed immediately by a right uppercut. We’ve barely stepped into the ring and his face is already a mess.

  I take half a second pause to appreciate the blood dripping from his nose from my jab. I definitely broke his nose.

  He takes full advantage of the pause and throws two quick jabs into my right side. I brush it off and let him get in a few more hits to drag this out at least a little bit.

  I know that cheek must be throbbing so when I see him starting to throw his body forwards to land more jabs at my midsection, I step into his movement and throw my hand behind his head and use his own momentum to guide his face right into my knee.

  He goes down and I sit on his legs, but no way have I appeased the beast inside of me yet. I rain punches down on his body, making sure to break a few ribs along the way.