Chapter 21
BEASTY
Lake tried to shake us off—or me off. But I gave him a look that dared him to try to separate us.
He gave in.
The truth was, I was rattled. The last couple days, hell, the last few weeks had been one disaster after another and I didn't want to be apart from the guys any more than I had to be.
I understood we couldn't be together all the time. Not if we were running the club, and not when we were trying to live life and not let those assholes win. But still…
Today, I was their shadow.
"The thing is..." I twirled my finger, silently asking if the cameras had been looped. After Lake found the bug under his desk, I was paranoid. That detective had it out for my boys, and I wouldn't put it past him to drop as many of those devices as possible.
Atlas had messaged me not to worry. He'd be reviewing the footage to see exactly where the police and the detective went and why, plus Lake had a crew coming in tonight to do another sweep.
"Yes." Atlas kissed the top of my head as we waited for Lake to open the panel to the Gray Room.
I braced myself for the smell of death.
Instead, I was faced with the smell of feces and urine as the two men who were still alive were strapped to chairs. Each had identical bullet wounds in their shoulders. The fabric glistened under the light from wet blood, making their already dark clothes appear black.
That had to hurt. They wouldn't be able to raise either arm to fight back or shoot without immense amounts of pain.
Two black suitcases were stacked neatly in the corner. If I wasn't wrong, strong scents of bleach radiated from them.
"Are those..." I looked at the boys.
Joaquin nodded grimly. I didn't think Lake heard me as he crossed his arms, glaring down at the two prisoners.
Shit. They—we—had prisoners. I wanted to press my hand over my stomach, but I didn't. I couldn’t appear weak and I didn't want the boys to think I couldn't do this.
"Why did you attack us last night?" Lake jumped right into the interrogation.
One of the men glanced up, even though he was barely able to open his swollen eyes. His head wobbled, and his chin hit his chest again. "Fuck off."
"We will, don't you worry about that. But before we do, I need to know what you thought you were going to accomplish. You were clearly toying with us or you would have rammed us harder."
The other man winced as he tried to shift in the chair, but the chain across his chest and thighs was too tight to allow for any movement. "If I tell you, you'll kill me?" Instead of afraid, he sounded hopeful.
What kind of man wished for death? It messed with my head.
"Yes."
"Shut your fucking pie hole, Jimmy!" The other man jerked in his chair, attempting to get closer to Jimmy. He gasped as more blood pulsed from his shoulder wounds.
"It's over man. We're both strapped down. We can't use our arms,” he whined. “Danny is dead. You think we're getting out of here? I just want to go quick and not suffer." Jimmy sighed, raising his gaze to Lake. "You went to Ricosta's yesterday."
"I know, I remember you."
Jimmy dipped his chin like he wasn't surprised. "The boys talk. The fact that you walked in unannounced and left without so much as a scratch was an insult. Donnie can't hold the guys if he looks weak. And Danny thought this was his chance…" His breath hitched.
"Because Donnie and Danny are fighting?" Lake hedged.
"I swear to God, Jimmy!"
"It's over! All right? Danny's fucking dead!" He screamed at his friend, bloody spit flying through the air. His friend stopped, blinked, then went quiet. He seemed to retreat somewhere that wasn't here.
Jimmy shook his head. "It doesn't matter now.
Donnie wins by default. But, yeah. Danny wanted Donnie to look weak so he'd lose his hold on his men. Just like he wanted to be the one to take care of you prissy bitches. It would have made him the irrefutable leader. I know Danny wasn’t best suited for the job, but Donnie.
.." he laughed, tipping his head back. "I love those guys but they're idiots sometimes.
It's all about brawn and not the brains.
The young ones don't realize you need both. It's a delicate balance."
"Did everyone know they were battling it out for the head spot?" Lake continued, ignoring his rambling.
Wheezing, Jimmy nodded. "Yeah. We found out yesterday afternoon when pictures were leaked."
If that was the case, why were they still after us?
Jimmy raised his head and it was like he could read my mind. "It's all about appearances, girlie. You all made them look like fools, and you can't hold men when they don't trust you take care of them."
"So yesterday, when I was there..." Lake sounded like he was piecing it together.
"We didn’t know yet, but I"—he quickly cut his eyes at his friend—“and a few others suspected.”
I'd heard the men when they came into the restaurant. Not what they had said, Lake's phone wasn't that good, but I’d heard the tone of their voices, and the laughing. "But they were happy."
"That's how it is, war is just a part of life. We're used to it." He coughed, and a bit of red stained his teeth. It was then I noticed the blood smeared across his stomach. He had a stomach wound. He was dying anyway.
"Any ideas where Donnie is?"
"I wish," Jimmy hissed. "As soon as he found out Danny was banging his wife, he ghosted. Probably licking his wounded pride…Or taking Sandra out."
"Do you know why they were fighting?" Lake circled back, sounding tired.
"The old man died, and they didn't like his choice of heir. Thought they each were the better option."
"Who was the rightful heir?" Lake pushed.
Jimmy shrugged, letting out a pained groan. "Fuck if I know, I wasn't there for the reading. I just know, out of the two of them, it should have been Danny, the cocksucking traitor that he was to Donnie, notwithstanding."
His cough turned into a hacking fit, and pity tugged at me.
"I think that's all we're going to get out of them." I touched the back of Lake's hand.
He met my stare, a blank expression on his face. Whatever he was thinking, I couldn't work it out. Still, he pressed a kiss to my temple and pulled his gun off his waist.
Without a word, he went to the first man, the one who hadn't talked.
The man tipped his head back, praying. When his eyes shut, Lake pulled the trigger. The sound ricocheted around the small room, and I jumped.
Without any fanfare, the second man, Jimmy, also closed his eyes in prayer. When he opened them, his watery eyes were soaked in pain.
Placing a hand on his shoulder, giving him a squeeze, Lake pressed the barrel to the middle of his forehead, and pulled the trigger.
Knowing this was coming, understanding the sound it would make, didn't stop me from jerking back, from turning away. I gripped Kim's arm and when I looked up at his face, I thought I'd see the same horror that had to be on mine, but it was absent.
His eyes burned and his face was harsh lines, missing all the softness people associated with him.
"Kim," I breathed.
He blinked and the darkness disappeared.
We stepped out of the room, and Guy straightened up from where he leaned against the wall. "What do you want me to do with the bodies?"
Bodies. Four of them.
Tapping my fingers against my thighs, I processed what had just happened.
I knew we needed to dispose of them, but the implications stuck in my throat.
In some ways, I hoped I never lost the abhorrence to violence. I hoped that one day we'd leave it all behind.
But as I studied Lake as he told Guy to bundle them up in suitcases too, my heart cracked.
The deaths would never stop. Not because we didn't want it to, but because everyone wanted a piece of my boys.
Fisting my hands, I thought about what that meant.
The reality was, no matter how many deaths we had to stain ourselves with, I would choose them every single time. I couldn’t be sorry for that, I just had to give myself space to come to terms with it.
Joaquin and Atlas bundled me between them as we returned to the office.
Inside, Lake shrugged out of his jacket and unbuttoned his shirt. Little red speckles had somehow made it onto his shirt despite the barrel touching their skin. How odd.
He stripped out of his pants next.
Kim was bright-eyed as he gathered everything up. His gaze swept over us. "We all need to change clothes."
We did as told and by the time we were all dressed, a phone started ringing.
Everyone froze. It wasn't the landline, and it wasn't any of our cells.
It was coming from Lake's desk.
Sliding the drawer open, Lake picked up an unassuming black phone and hit the answer button.
"Lake."
I covered my mouth.
"Gio." Lake all but growled.
"What happened to Storm?" Gio's voice shook like he knew the answer. Like he hadn't slept.
"You don't know?" Lake dropped into his chair as Kim finished stuffing all of our discarded clothes into a bag.
Tension cracked down the line as Gio blew out a hard breath. "I have my suspicions. I called all the hospitals. I checked every clinic. And I pulled all the strings I had to find out what's being said." He gave the information up too easily.
Gio knew.
A vicious streak a mile long slashed through me just at hearing his voice.
They'd drugged me. Drugged Kim. Because of them, we almost didn't survive when Danny caught them off guard. If Atlas and the guys hadn’t found us when they did…
Joaquin touched my shoulder.
His gaze roamed over my face before tugging on my hand and uncurling my fingers. I'd pressed my nails so hard into the meaty part of my palm that I'd cut myself.
I shivered, realizing just how worked up I was.
"Why'd you run?" Lake set the phone on the table face up. "Why did you leave your best friend behind?"
Gio laughed. It was a wretched sound, full of bitterness and hate—and disbelief. "That's the kicker. I don't know…Self-preservation?"
Lake's eyes moved back and forth across the desk. He was thinking hard.
"Parker isn't happy with you."
"Fuck Parker!" he bellowed.
Atlas' brows jumped, and Lake rubbed a hand over his jaw.
"Why are you calling, Gio? You have to know we won't let you live. Not after you drugged Beasty and Kim."
A string of curses erupted on the line. "We weren't going to hurt her. We're not monsters." I begged to differ. "We just needed her help. Then we were going to deliver her back to you, no harm, no foul."
"But you drugged Kim too."
A pause.
"We planned it the best we could so we could take her without having to hurt anyone. Kim wasn't supposed to follow. He wasn't supposed to interfere."
Lake's face twisted into terrible rage. "Spoken like a true predator. A coward who can't take responsibility for his actions."
"You think I'm not taking responsibility?
I'm fucking sick over Storm! You think I don't know he's dead!
That our plan got him killed because somehow those fucking—those fucking," his shriek softened to a wet seething, "bastards figured out our location.
For the first time in possibly ever, they were one step ahead of us.
They caught us off guard. None of it was supposed to happen that way. "
"Why are you calling, Gio?" Lake asked again, not interested in listening to Gio's heartsick confession.
Like the flip of a switch, the guilt and grief that had come through so clearly, evaporated.
When Gio spoke again, he might as well have been a robot for all the emotion in his tone.
"I wanted you to know that I have to blame someone.
And believe me, I do blame the Pescis, they're going to die.
But you know who else I blame?" He didn't wait for an answer.
"You fucking Fashion Boys. Because if you'd just worked with us, then none of this would have happened.
Count your fucking days, and let this call be a reminder that you're not safe anywhere. "
The line clicked.
"The phone,” I said, the words strangled.
The attack was a distraction. It was all a ruse to get inside. One we hadn't even questioned beyond the obvious.
Lake met my gaze and for the first time since I'd known them, I saw true fear.