Текст книги "Command"

Автор книги: Nina Levine

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16

Scott

I stared out the window of the clubhouse office and contemplated everything I knew, which seemed to change so often I wasn’t sure what to think.

I’d spent the night with Harlow at the hospital last night and done my best to focus on her and put what Carter and Blue had told me, out of my mind for the night. The doctors had agreed to let her go home this morning and once I’d gotten her home and settled, she’d told me to leave and take care of Storm business.

I loved that woman.

I loved that she gave me the space to do what she knew I needed to do.

I’d been at the clubhouse for the past hour with Griff, J and Nash, going over scenarios for how to deal with Julio. We’d worked out a plan, but then Carter had called to let me know four of Julio’s men had been found dead. That information confused the fuck out of us.

I turned to face them. “Who would be killing Julio’s guys? It doesn’t make any sense.”

“I don’t get it either,” J replied, looking as confused as I felt.

The rumble of pipes caught our attention and I turned back to the window to see five bikes making their way into our driveway.

“King’s arrived,” I said. “Maybe he can shed some light on this.”

I sure as fuck hoped so.

We made our way outside and watched as he walked our way with a grim look on his face. He’d brought Kick, Hyde, Nitro and Devil with him. His go-to guys when shit was going down.

He knows something.

“How’s Harlow?” he asked.

“She’s doing good today.”

He nodded. “Thank fuck for that.”

“Tell me what you know,” I threw out, fed up with not knowing what he knew. Someone had clearly told him we needed help, and I wanted to know who it was.

He slapped me on the back and walked me inside. “I can’t. Not yet, anyway. But as soon as I talk to my source and confirm some things, you’ll be the first to know.”

“So, what’s the plan?” Kick asked.

“Before we go through that, I discovered last night that Marcus was the one who snitched on your club ten years ago,” I said to King.

“Who confirmed that?” he asked.

“My uncle.”

“Good to know, but I wish to fuck I’d known before he died. We would have enjoyed the payback.”

“Yeah, you and me both, brother,” I muttered, thinking about what I now knew of my father. He would have deserved everything King would have done to him.

Griff stepped in, eager to get today underway. Fuck, we all were. “Julio’s gone into hiding so we need to flush him out, and then we want him dead. Fucking around trying to get shit smoothed over before we kill him is holding us up too much, so we’ll just deal with the fallout once it’s done.”

“To be honest,” I added, “I think his crew will fall apart once he’s dead anyway. Bourne seemed certain there would be a lot of blowback, but I don’t see it, or at least, I don’t think it would be anything we all couldn’t handle now that you guys are here and Blade’s guys are on board. And I just got word that four of Julio’s guys have turned up dead, so we now have less to deal with anyway.”

King frowned. “Any idea who killed them?”

“No. It’s odd,” I said.

He pulled his phone out. “I’ll make a call; I may know who it is.” He walked outside to make his call in private.

While he was gone, we divided up the list of places to check for Julio between everyone we had. Blade’s men were also out looking, and I hoped to have Julio by the end of the day.

As everyone began breaking away to head out on their search, King came back inside. “I’m gonna go see this guy and try to get the information out of him. As soon as I have any new info, I’ll call you.”

Griff and I watched him go. “Jesus, you’d think he could share what he suspected with us,” Griff muttered, clearly as frustrated as I was.

“You’d think so, but he always has kept his cards close to his chest, I guess.” I stretched the kinks out of my back as I thought about Harlow. Once we had Julio and all this crap sorted out, I was making good on my promise of a proposal. But fuck if she thought I would wait to get that ring on her finger. As soon as she said yes, I’d be walking her down the aisle and calling her Mrs Cole.

“I’m just gonna check in with Harlow and make sure she’s okay before we head out,” I said as I grabbed my phone and walked out to the clubhouse bar.

She answered on the first ring. “Hey, baby. Is everything going okay?” I heard the concern in her voice. My mission today was to wipe that concern from her mind.

“It’s all good here. You feeling okay?”

“Yeah, I’m good. Mum and I are just going over the café insurance paperwork, and Scarlett is here giving Wilder a hard time. It’s kinda fun to watch.”

I’d asked Wilder to keep an eye on them today. I was kicking myself that I hadn’t asked him to watch out for her all this time, rather than getting Rogue to do it.

“I’m just a phone call away if you need me, sweetheart.”

“I know,” she said, softly. “I love you, Scott.”

And there was my reason for everything.

Her faith.

Her trust.

Her love.

“I love you, too. I’ll call you in a few hours and check in again.”

After the call, I was even more determined to find Julio and right all the wrongs we had at the moment. And regardless of all the shit Storm had been through over the last couple of years, I would build it back up to be the strong club it had always been.

“You ready to go?” Griff asked a few minutes later when I found him in the office.

I nodded. “Let’s do this, brother.”

The clubhouse was eerily quiet as we walked out of the office. It was unusual for there to be no one around, but between sending members out to search for Julio and others out to keep an eye on our families, there wasn’t anyone left to stay at the clubhouse.

As Griff pulled on the front door to exit, in stumbled Julio Rivera.

I knew it was him because I’d looked at enough photos of the man, that I’d be able to identify him even if I was drunk.

Griff and I both pulled our guns out and aimed them at him, but he didn’t even try to fight us. He simply held his hands up in surrender.

What the hell?

I pressed my gun against his forehead. “You picked a good place to come, motherfucker. We’ve got the fuckin’ welcome mat out for you today.”

“I’ve got information for you, Mr Cole, and I would suggest you don’t kill me because you are going to want this information.”

“I’m not sure what information you could have that I would want. Really, at this point, all I want is for you to stop breathing.” I grabbed his hand and yanked him past me so I could walk behind him. Once I had my gun pressed to his back, I ordered, “Walk!”

We led him out to one of the back rooms of the clubhouse and once Griff had him tied to a chair, I punched him a few times in an effort to get out the anger burning through me. He’d fucked us over too many times, and I had to restrain myself from punching him until he was unconscious.

His head lolled to the side and blood dripped down from his face onto the floor. He spat out the blood pooling in his mouth and looked back up at me. “I’m done,” he forced out on a heave.

“What the fuck do you mean by that?” Griff demanded.

“Bourne’s threatened to kill my sister if I don’t give him my territory. I’m walking away from everything.”

“Jesus Christ, you two are a fuckin’ class act. I don’t believe you, asshole. I don’t believe a word that comes out of your mouth,” I yelled.

Griff’s shoulders were wound tight with tension, and he’d been holding back, but he reached the end of his control. He punched Julio, over and over, until Julio’s face was unrecognisable.

“Feel good?” I asked.

His head jerked around and his eyes found mine.

Wild.

Feral.

Griff had so much darkness in him that he concealed from the world under a carefully constructed mask, but in that moment, I saw it. Loud and clear.

He took a deep breath. “Yeah,” he grunted.

Julio mumbled something, but his lips were so swollen he could hardly get the words out. Griff grabbed his hair and yanked his head back. “What did you say?” he barked.

Julio attempted to open his lips, but struggled. His breathing was laboured and it was clear he was in a great deal of pain.

Good.

He mumbled again, and again we couldn’t make out what he said.

I clenched my hands, wanting desperately to take that last breath from him, while also wanting to drag his pain and suffering out.

Griff yanked his head again. Harder. “Speak so we can understand you, asshole!”

Julio’s face contorted in agony when Griff punched him again.

“Bourne,” he mumbled, but not so much that we couldn’t make out that word. He tried to open his mouth again, but only ended up pushing out a cry of pain before closing it again. His breathing slowed and I wondered if he was about to lose consciousness. And then he managed to force out more words. “He’s…not…who…he…says…” – he coughed – “…he…is…”

And then his head dropped forward and he passed out.

Griff turned and punched the wall before looking back at me. “What the fuck does that mean?”

“Jesus…your guess is as good as mine.”

“I wanted to kill the asshole, but now I’m thinking we might need to let him live for a bit longer.”

My phone rang.

Blade.

“Tell me you’ve got information that will help us. We’ve got Julio here and he’s just told us some shit about Bourne not being who he says he is, but then he passed out, so we have no clue what he meant by that,” I said, answering the call.

“Bourne isn’t who you think he is, Scott. I’ve just discovered that Julio actually works for Bourne.”

“You’ve gotta be fuckin’ kidding me.” All my conversations with Bourne filtered back through my mind, none of them making any sense now.

“They go way back. Bourne had an affair with Julio’s sister when they were younger and they have a child together. Bourne put Julio as the face of his operation and let everyone think Julio was in charge. Once he had South Australia under his full control, he sent Julio to take over Queensland, but somewhere along the way Bourne decided he wanted Julio out. Problem was, he couldn’t just get rid of him because Julio’s men were loyal to him and if they knew Bourne killed Julio, they would retaliate against him.”

“And that’s where we came in…Bourne was using us to do his dirty work,” I said as it began to make sense.

“There’s something else.”

“What?”

“Bourne wants control of your club so he can run the drugs through it. He wants you and anyone else in his way, dead. And he’s in Brisbane now, ready to make that happen. He already took out some of Julio’s men earlier; it seems he’s on a mission to get shit done. You need to make sure everyone is locked up tight while we find Bourne.”

“I’m on it.”

When I ended the call, I said to Griff, “Call your family, brother, and tell them to lock up tight. Bourne’s been playing us and is now after us. I’m gonna call Harlow and then I’ll fill you in.”

He nodded and we both made the calls we needed to.

“Hey, baby,” Harlow answered a moment later.

“Harlow, I need you to make sure the house is locked up and you stay alert. There’s a guy looking for me and I’m concerned he may come there.” I tried to keep my voice free of the tension I was feeling, but I needed her to take this threat seriously, so I was firm.

“Okay…how worried should I be?” She sounded like she was biting her lip.

“You’ve got Wilder there with you, and I’m going to try to send someone else as well.”

“I think we’ll be okay. One of your Adelaide guys just arrived to help Wilder, so -”

I cut her off, frantic to know the name of the guy. “Who?”

“I’m pretty sure Wilder called him Bourne.”

Icy fear slid down my spine as my world spun.

I can’t lose her.

I can’t lose our baby.

“I’m coming now, Harlow.” I hung up without waiting for her reply.

I promised her I would always protect her.

I promised her I would marry her.

I intended to keep those promises.

17

Harlow

That was odd.

I stared at my phone after Scott hung up on me. “Weird,” I said as I placed my phone on the table.

“What?” Scarlett asked as she made coffee for Wilder and Bourne.

I frowned as I recalled the abrupt way Scott ended our call. “Scott kinda just hung up on me. It’s so out of character for him to do that.”

She shrugged. “Seems like he’s got a lot of pressure on him at the moment.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” He really did. But my man knew how to handle his shit, so I was still a little thrown by what he’d just done.

“I want to apologise again for running out on you yesterday.” She’d already apologised twice so there really was no need.

“Scarlett, even if you hadn’t run out, Rogue would probably still have shown his true colours, and the fire would have still happened, so none of it was your fault. Okay?” I’d seen a whole new caring side to her, but she needed to listen to what I was saying and stop saying sorry.

“Okay¸” she murmured.

I was about to say something else when a fight broke out on the back verandah. Wilder yelled something at Bourne who then shouted back. And then it sounded like a scuffle and perhaps a punch up.

Scarlett and I hurried outside to see what was going on. Just as I exited the house through the back door, Bourne knocked Wilder unconscious with a punch to the head.

“What are you doing?” I screamed, panic bubbling up.

Bourne’s eyes came to mine, and in that instant, I realised he was not a good man. He pointed a gun at us, and barked, “Get the fuck inside.”

“Jesus,” Scarlett muttered, “Do you attract assholes or something?”

“It would appear so,” I agreed as we walked back inside. I fought to remain calm on the outside because I refused to show him any fear, but on the inside, I was scrambling to come up with an escape plan.

Bourne had already been inside when he first arrived, so he knew the layout of the house. “In the lounge room,” he ordered, and we did what he said.

As he moved to make sure the door and windows were locked, my hands turned sweaty and my heart raced.

Not again.

Being locked in here with him caused memories from yesterday to flash through my mind and I tried to hold back the feelings of nausea.

I need to fight him.

“What do you want from us?” I demanded to know.

“I want to make Scott Cole hurt. I want him to bleed his pain. And I figure the best way to do that is to take the one thing he treasures the most in the world, away from him.”

Dread sliced its way through me.

He’s going to kill me.

Scott can’t save me now.

My fear paralysed me and I stood rooted to the spot when what I should have been doing was formulating a plan to get out of here.

“Fuck you!” Scarlett screamed as she lunged at him.

Unprepared for her attack, he stumbled back as she lashed out at him with her arms and legs. She clawed and kicked him, and for a moment there, I thought she might have a chance against him, but in the end his strength outweighed hers, and he pushed her off.

When she landed on her ass on the floor, he threatened her, “Do that again, bitch, and I’ll kill you first.”

Oh, God. He’s going to kill both of us.

She spat at him, and he hissed his anger at her while bending over and punching her in the face. I watched in horror as he hit her hard, causing her blood, bruises and pain.

I need to distract him.

“Why do you hate Scott so much?” I begged to know while I continued to think of a way out.

His crazy eyes sought mine. “That motherfucker destroyed nearly everything I’ve worked for over the years. I had it all mapped out, and Marcus went along with it, and then Scott came along and got rid of Marcus and refused to honour the deal I had with Storm. So now I’m going to take it all back and I’m going to take his club, too.”

“Are you deluded?” He had to be. To take Storm, he’d have to kill nearly every member because I was pretty sure they weren’t about to just hand it over to him.

He slapped me and the sting of his palm radiated pain down my face. “The only person here who is deluded is you, bitch, if you think you’re going to make it out of here alive.”

I decided to try and call his bluff. “Scott’s on his way, you know. He just rang me and said he knew you were in town and that you would be coming to the house. He knows you’re working against him.”

His body stilled, but only for a moment. “You’re full of shit.”

Yes. But it’s worth a shot.

“No, I’m not.” I stood straighter, challenging him.

He advanced on me, his face a mask of rage. “Don’t fucking lie to me!” He towered over me and I shrunk a little. Bourne was a large man, and I had no doubt that if he wanted to, he could take me out with very little effort.

I had to be all in or all out. Shaking my head, I said, “I’m not lying. Call him and suss him out if you think I’m full of shit.” Anything to stall him.

Staring at me for a long moment, it seemed like he finally decided I might be telling the truth. He pulled out his phone, but right before he could make the call, a loud banging sound came from the back of the house.

Bourne’s head snapped up and he shoved his gun in my face. “Stay here.”

I nodded my agreement as I gulped back my fear. “I will.” My shaky voice seemed to please him and he grunted as he stalked away from me.

My legs collapsed underneath me and I let myself fall onto the couch.

Please let that be Scott.

“What the fuck?” Bourne yelled in the kitchen, and I prayed again that it was Scott.

“You didn’t expect me, did you?” It wasn’t Scott, but I was pretty sure I’d heard that voice before, even though I couldn’t place it.

“This has nothing to do with you, King,” Bourne raged.

“I’d say it has everything to do with me considering I’m the fucking president of the mother chapter.”

“You don’t want to mess with me,” Bourne threatened.

“Fuck, Bourne, how dumb are you? Your ego is about ten sizes too big for you, and that there is your main problem. Come and play in my playground with the big boys and you’ll see how truly little you are. Only reason I haven’t dealt with you yet was that I had other shit to take care of for my own club. But I was hardly going to let Scott deal with you when I wanted the satisfaction of slicing the neck of the man who tried to double cross me.”

I stood in the doorway between the lounge room and the kitchen and watched their interaction.

Bourne’s eyes widened at King’s statement. “How…how did – ”

King cut him off. “How did I know you double crossed me? I told you, I play with the big boys and not much gets past us. I’ve got contacts everywhere and they kept me informed on what you were up to.” He leaned in close to Bourne. “I fucking run half of Sydney’s drugs and I’ve actually got a good relationship with the crew that run the other half. We don’t take kindly to men who try and steal that shit away from us.” His gaze flicked to me and I flinched under it. King oozed darkness. “I also don’t fucking like it when you threaten women. That deserves a little extra pain.”

I watched as King pulled his knife out and stabbed at Bourne’s dick.

Oh, God.

My hand flew to my mouth as Bourne’s blood-curdling scream filled the house. His face scrunched up in pain and he bent at the stomach as blood soaked through his jeans.

I experienced a mixture of horror and satisfaction, and it felt wrong to be kind of satisfied at his pain, but after being threatened by two men in the last two days, I was all for them hurting.

King grabbed hold of the back of Bourne’s neck and dragged his head back up. He held him so that his neck was exposed and I sucked in a breath when he placed the knife blade against his skin.

Running the blade lightly across his neck, he drew a small amount of blood. “Did I ever tell you how much I love the sight of blood? Other people’s blood. That shit turns me on.” He pressed harder against Bourne’s neck, drawing more blood this time. “Fuck, I could cut patterns on skin for hours.”

Bourne whimpered under King’s knife, and that only served to excite King more while he continued to draw blood.

And then King’s phone rang, and it seemed to jolt him from his blood lust. “Fuck,” he muttered. Eying me, he asked, “Anything you wanna say to him before I kill him?”

I pulled my shit together and closed the distance between us. Looking King in the eyes, even though he scared the hell out of me, I said, “Thank you, there is something I want to say.”

His mouth spread into a smile. Lifting his chin at Bourne, he said, “Go ahead, gorgeous. Have at him.”

I turned to Bourne and slapped his face. Hard. Twice. “Fuck you, asshole, and the horse you rode in on.”

King’s smile twitched and I was certain he was trying not to laugh. I raised my brows at him. “You said I could say anything.”

He nodded, barely containing his laugh. “I did.”

“Well, that was what I wanted to say.” I stepped away from Bourne.

“I see what Cole sees in you,” he murmured.

“I’ll take that as a compliment. And now I am going to leave you to do whatever it is you’re going to do, but can I ask you a favour?”

He chuckled. “Do I have a choice?”

“I’d prefer not. Can you do this somewhere other than near my kitchen table, please?”

His smile finally turned into a laugh. “Only because you used your manners,” he said with a wink.

I watched as he hefted Bourne up and led him out the back door. Bourne’s neck was a masterpiece of cuts and blood, and I figured King was about to make a huge mess. And that didn’t even bother me. I liked the fact he was ridding the Earth of another piece of shit.

“Harlow?” Scarlett’s groggy voice floated in from the lounge room and I hurried in there to make sure she was okay.

Kneeling next to her, I said, “How much pain are you in?”

She held her face. “On a scale of one to ten, I’d say a motherfucking eleven. That prick deserves everything he gets. I’m sorry I pretty much passed out, but damn, he hit me hard.”

“I slapped him for you.”

“You should have fucking punched the cocksucker.”

“God no, I didn’t want to hurt myself in the process.”

She laughed and shook her head at me. “You’re a fucking princess, but I do kinda like you.”

“Harlow!” Scott came barrelling through the front door at that moment, a look of sheer horror on his face. When he saw me, he stilled, and stared in surprise. “You’re okay?”

I stood and wrapped my arms around him.

Home.

He’s my home.

His strong arms held me tight and then he ran one hand over my hair. “I’m taking it from the blood on Scarlett’s face that Bourne has been here, but where is he now?”

“King took him downstairs.”

His brow furrowed. “King is here?”

“Yeah, he saved our lives, Scott. If he hadn’t turned up when he did, Scarlett and I would be dead by now.”

“Fuck.” He pressed his lips to my forehead and then pulled his face back to find my gaze. “I think this is the last of all the shit. I think Bourne was the one behind everything.”

If I knew my man well, I knew he was itching to get downstairs and help King, so I jerked my head towards the back door. “You should go and see if King needs a hand.”

He bent his face so he could whisper in my ear. “You know me too well, sweetheart.” When he shifted his face away from mine, his concerned eyes took mine in. “Seriously, though, are you okay?”

I exhaled. “Surprisingly, yes. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sick of being threatened by assholes, and I was terrified of him, but I’ll be okay.”

And I would be.

I had Scott and it looked like this might be the end of all the bad stuff that had been bringing the club down.

We’d stuck together and gotten through it, even when it felt completely overwhelming at times.

We can get through anything so long as we stick together.