Two
Kai
Panic swept through me like fucking tsunami. Ava had blacked out in my arms.
As I pulled her towards me, I noted her eyes had rolled back and her chest was moving.
She’d fainted.
Thank fuck it was just that. I was worried my grip had cut off her circulation. She was so slight and I’d held her too tight and hurt her; a thought which didn’t sit well with me at all. Ava’s breathing was slightly irregular but her pulse was strong.
Ava Cawthorne would be the fucking death of me. Kidnapping a woman shouldn’t be so aggravating.
Keeping one hand under her armpit, I slid the other under the back of her legs and lifted her bridal style. She was as light as a feather and her head lolled towards my chest with the movement. I wondered whether she was faking it at first, but that sheer panic on her face had told a different story.
Why did I feel so worried about her being hurt when that is exactly what she had attempted to do to me only minutes before?
Because you’re going soft.
I still couldn’t believe that she had attempted to shoot me again. Had I really given her cause to believe that I would physically harm her? Have her killed?
“For fucks sake, Ava!” I yelled out, pissed off with the entire situation.
As I held her in my arms, she was now all woman. Gone was the girl I once knew, and in her place was a beautiful female, usually strong and defiant but right then, she was as delicate as spun glass. My protective instincts kicked in so hard it was almost painful.
I inhaled her scent, was it strawberries or raspberries?
“Sup boss. I heard you shouting,” Lester said as he came charging through the front door with his gun drawn. His brow scrunched as he saw an unconscious Ava in my arms. “What did you do to her?” His tone was accusatory and it stoked my temper. Both Lester and Sean, two of my soldiers also had a soft spot for Ava; fuck me most people who knew her did. Even as a little girl she’d had the power to bring men to their knees.
Annoyance flashed through me like lava, “I didn’t do anything. It appears our tough little assassin is fucking squeamish. The knife must have caught her side when I disarmed her. Ava took one look at the blood and passed the fuck out. Move out of my way,” I instructed with a flick of my head.
“She pulled a knife on you?” Lester said, his expression one of shock as he holstered his weapon and stepped to the side.
“Isn’t that what I just said?” I was surrounded by morons. “Take her phone out of her pocket,” I instructed. Ava’s phone was peeking out of her jeans right next to the cut caused by the knife. I didn’t want it to rub against the wound and I had my hands full.
“Fuck, is it deep?” he questioned as he shuffled next to me and withdrew Ava’s ancient-looking mobile phone. I shook my head and nodded towards what must have been a bathroom.
“I’ll treat it in the car. Go clean off the phone and then check out those two rooms.”
Lester’s expression changed as he replied with a nod, “Boss. Can I do anything else? She looks so frail.”
I shook my head. Ava was my responsibility. “I’m aware of that.”
Once he was out of the way, I started to walk towards the door. Although I was initially concerned, Ava passing out had played into my hands. It would make it much easier to kidnap her, which had been my intention all along. I had a syringe containing a sedative that Dr Famer, a loyal doctor to our family, had given me and it appeared I may not need to use it now. I was a nasty bastard at times but I didn’t drug women if I didn’t have to.
“Grab some of her shit and throw it in a bag,” I shouted over my shoulder.
Lester’s reply stopped me in my tracks. “What type of shit?” Were all my men useless?
I turned with a scowl. “How the fuck should I know. The usual girly crap. Toiletries, underwear, clothes, that type of stuff and bring her phone; we’ll need to check it at some point.” I knew it would have been a burner phone and useless but she must have some contacts in there. Who did this fucking apartment belong to for a start? My intel had told me that Ava’s apartment where I’d sent Hamish was on the other side of the city.
“You want me to pack girly stuff?” Lester’s expression switched to one of horror. He looked like I’d just told him to pick up dog shit with his bare hands. “Tampons and stuff like that?”
I rolled my eyes and shook my head, huffing, “Whatever. Just do it.”
“What about her paperwork, passport and stuff?”
“That’s the first thing I found when I broke in.”
After securing Ava firmly against my chest, I grabbed her handbag which she’d dropped by the door with her shopping. I needed to check what other ID she had in her purse.
I realised then that I wanted to know everything about her. How had she supported herself? She must have dealt with cash alone as if she’d used any credit cards, Miles, my tech guy would have picked her up. I checked her passport immediately and it wasn’t a fake. That meant she had come straight to Milan when fleeing London and had remained in the country for the last two years.
So, little Ava had successfully gone underground, not bad considering she’d been seventeen the time she’d fucked off. If I wasn’t so angry with her, I’d be impressed.
All that time living in a foreign city, without the protection of our family. When she’d first run away, I’d been livid. The types of punishments I considered in those first few weeks were extreme. Would I have carried through with them had I found her sooner? Probably not. Although the amount of shit she caused when Gerard was arrested, she would have deserved it.
Leaving the apartment, I went to call one of the lifts. Ava was light but carrying her down six flights of stairs wasn’t a thought my back fucking relished.
Inhaling her sweet scent was like torture as was having her so close to my body. The child I had known had turned into such a beauty. Gone were those teenage features that used to be screwed up in disgust whenever she looked at me. After her sixteenth birthday anyway. Before that, things hadn’t been so bad.
Ava used to look at you like you had all the answers and then you pushed her away and treated her like shit.
As I rode the lift, I glanced at our reflection in the mirrored walls. Ava was tiny in my arms and I felt another uncomfortable surge of regret.
Although living away from home, Ava had developed quite the backbone. In the early days, she would back down quickly. My hellish temper was the reason for that. I’d been bull-headed. Hence my old nickname, The Bull.
I thought about Ava’s derisive little snort when I’d accused her of trying to shoot me for a second time. Had she really known the gun was empty? Did she not realise that my man would have been on her in seconds if the gun had gone off? How could someone so smart be so fucking stupid?
The fact that she attempted what most men wouldn’t dare, made me feel a cocktail of annoyance and respect. It was also downright attractive. I had always been drawn to strong women.
Anyway, so fucking what. Nothing would come of it. My intentions towards Ava were of a business nature. I couldn’t allow it to be anything but that. Feelings were not to be a factor, period.
It must have been too long since I’d had sex. I’d ended things with my mistress, Casandra three weeks ago. Not the best of ideas. Sexual frustration was not a good look on a crime boss. Things got ugly. I blamed Casandra's absence for my unwanted reaction to Ava.
When I got downstairs to the car, Sean was leaning against it smoking a cigarette. He dropped the butt to the floor and stubbed it out when he saw us, pulling open the back door of the black SUV.
“What did you do?” he snapped out, blowing smoke down his nostrils. His worried face was as maddening as hell. Yes, I was a criminal and could be cruel at times but the fact that they thought I’d hurt Ava made me feel like a bastard of the worst kind. I didn’t hurt women; it wasn’t part of my code.
of my closest men didn’t know me anymore. I thought back to Ava’s words about mental health professionals. Maybe I needed to speak with Dr Farmer about my medication. I occasionally took prescription sedatives as they helped me keep my shit together.
During my teenage years, I’d been referred and had to take a course of anger management classes, for all the fucking good they did me. Now I took the herbal remedies; they kept me calm (most of the time).
“Boss?” Sean prompted me when I remained silent which irritated me more. My soldiers never usually questioned me and the fact that he did when I was self-reflecting made me want to hit something.
“I didn’t do anything. She passed out.”
Juggling Ava’s body against my chest, I lifted her into the backseat.
“Fuck me, she’s grown up,” Sean commented, which didn’t help my mood.
As I arranged my little prisoner’s body against the leather of the seat, I darted him an unimpressed glower. Sean was staring at Ava with his tongue hanging out, literally .
“Stop perving and start the fucking car,” I instructed, yanking the seatbelt over her body. I purposefully didn’t focus on where the strap settled across her perfect breasts. A sheen of sweat coated the pale skin of her throat and down into her cleavage. Fuck me. I’d noticed upstairs that she was braless.
Sliding into the car next to her, I saw Lester appear through the main doors into Ava’s building with a pink gym bag in his hand. Fuck knew what he’d packed in there but it didn’t matter really. I had arranged for Ava to have a new wardrobe. It was all put away neatly in her bedroom at my house just outside of Kensington.
Lester placed the bag into the boot before joining Sean in the front of the car.
As the engine growled, I glanced down at Ava’s wound. It wasn’t deep but needed attention. I scrubbed a hand down my face with a sigh, fucked I felt wrecked. I was almost twenty-eight but still felt too old for this shit.
“Go,” I instructed and Sean shoved the car in gear and pulled into the traffic. We were followed by two other vehicles which I’d arranged for security. I was an important man and never travelled lightly, especially when visiting Italy. You had to be careful when treading on another Cartel’s soil without asking.
“Pass me the med kit,” I instructed gruffly.
As Lester handed me the essentials, I got to work, cleaning Ava’s wound. God, she was much easier to deal with when she was unconscious.
As my fingers skimmed across her flesh, my dick twitched, she was so soft there. I told myself to get a grip, I was a grown man, not some randy teenager.
I did a thorough job before I placed a light gauze across the cut.
To anyone on the outside looking in, my behaviour may look like that of a man who cared.
And I did, but not in that way (so I told myself). I needed Ava healthy to action my plans. It was business and that was that, there was no room for feelings in business.
Keep telling yourself that.
And above all else; I had to protect my investment. After Ava’s ballsy display in the kitchen, I realised that my days of scaring her into obedience were gone. As she shifted slightly on the seat and her eyes flickered, I withdrew the vial of propofol I’d got from Dr Farmer. It would be easier for everyone if Ava remained asleep for the entire journey to London.
I swallowed down that knot of remorse and did what was necessary. It was for her own good at the end of the day.
After carefully administering the shot, I pushed a chunk of hair back from her face. She looked so peaceful as she slept with no sign of the resting bitch face which I remembered so well.
Looking back on those times when Ava had returned from school, I knew I had been an obnoxious prick towards her.
And now, considering my plans, would I beg her forgiveness, and apologise for those years? Hell no. My behaviour back then had served a purpose and the best thing for both of us would be to look forward.
Back then Ava had been an unruly teen and had needed a firm hand. In the hierarchy of the family, she had been beneath me.
Now she was a woman, she would take her rightful place by my side. It would be a business partnership, not an equal one but a partnership, in a fashion.
I had and would always rule my family with an iron fist.
And Ava was mine now, she just didn’t know it yet.
Ava
Consciousness started to trickle into my psyche and I slowly opened my eyes, squinting against the brightness. Raising a hand to shield my view of the unfamiliar room, I took a deep breath and waited for my vision to clear.
My first thought was that my stomach felt queasy and my forehead was clammy. I’d been drugged. Motherfucker!
“You’re awake,” a familiar voice said, relief coating those words.
My brain needed time to catch up to what I was seeing. A glow of light was flooding the room from a large window and I searched for the owner of that voice; knowing it was my mothers.
Susannah Cawthorne aka Suki.
I looked at Suki, standing at the bottom of the bed I was lying on, wringing her hands together; something she did when she was nervous.
Where the hell was I? This wasn’t the mansion she’d shared with Gerard. Maybe I was still in Italy?
As I weakly returned her smile, my feelings were mixed. Yes, I was pleased to see her but what was she doing in Milan?
She didn’t say anything else just stood there, chewing on her bottom lip. My mouth opened but my tongue was stuck to the roof of my mouth. It was as dry as fuck, no doubt a side-effect of the shit Kai had pumped me with.
I hated the strained atmosphere between us. We hadn’t seen each other in person for almost two years yet there was no hug, no tears of delight for being reunited. But then there wouldn’t have been, my relationship with my mother had changed when she’d chosen Gerard over me.
I missed the woman she used to be. Suki had been a good Mum, carefree and loving. She’d check for monsters under my bed and read to me at bedtime; beautiful stories about princesses (not the mafia variety) and dashing heroes that saved them.
And how I had wanted to be saved.
The last time I had seen her was the turning point where I realised that the only person to save me, would be me.
I still loved her with all my heart, why wouldn’t I, she was my mother; my blood.
The mattress was soft against my back. I was fully dressed and was on top of a silvery grey duvet. It felt like I was lying on a cloud, the material was so soft and fresh. If I hadn’t felt so shit I would have nestled back into that warmth; welcomed it.
My side was stinging and I was as disorientated as fuck but as that fog from sleep started to clear—I accepted the possibility that I wasn’t in Milan anymore.
“Suki?” I questioned as she shuffled forward and lowered herself onto the bed beside me. I was in a fancy-looking bedroom in the middle of a huge four-poster. It was Scrooge style with curtains and everything. Grand would be too mild a word to describe it.
My heart missed a beat as I pushed myself into a sitting position; ignoring the twinge of pain I felt in my side as I twisted.
“Where the hell am I?” I asked, my voice hardening.
Suki grimaced at my tone, “Do you want some water? Kai said you fainted.”
Fucking Kai. It all came flooding back. Fainted my arse; that may have been the case at first, but as I’d started to come around in the car, the fucker had stuck me with something. My hand lifted automatically to rub the tender spot against my neck.
“Fainted? Kai drugged me,” I declared with a disgusted look. Suki was so gullible.
Her brows pinched together, “I’m sure it was just a mild sedative, to calm your nerves, perhaps?” My mother was still as clueless as ever.
Calm my nerves indeed; when I got my hands on him.
What? What will you do? The guy is twice your size and has security men coming out of his arse.
A dart of panic shot into my chest as I pushed myself against the headboard and swept a look around the room. The altercation with Kai in Anton’s kitchen came thundering back into my brain like wild horses. As did my reaction to seeing blood. Yes, I had fainted initially but Kai being Kai had used that to his advantage and topped me up with something extra to keep me out of it; the underhand bastard.
“Shit,” I hissed, slightly relieved that my ex-stepbrother was nowhere to be seen.
“Please don’t swear Ava. It’s so unladylike,” Suki said with a disapproving look.
“Where is he and why are you here? You divorced his father before his death remember?” Those words left my mouth like gunfire. My patience was already wearing thin.
“It’s complicated,” Mum said with a shrug of her dainty shoulders. It always was when it came to my mother and her relationships .
“Try me,” I huffed. It felt like I had spent a lifetime protecting this scatty woman. She was like spun glass, delicate and so breakable. My mother was the main reason I had sent my stepfather to prison. Somewhere he couldn’t hurt either of us ever again. I felt a perverse sense of satisfaction knowing that he had died whilst incarcerated, or so I had read. My friend Anton had sent me an image of the newspaper article.
I had been surprised that his death hadn’t made it into the main tabloids; probably because he had been old news. Gerard’s crown as head of the West London syndicate of the Irish mafia had been taken away when they’d locked the doors and thrown away the key.
And I was responsible for that—with my friend Anton’s help. It was one of my finer moments. Anton also hated the Kinlan family due to what Gerard had done to his mother. She had been one of Gerard’s mistresses back in the day and he had treated her like shit.
My mother’s pretty face was drawn with worry as she settled her hands into her lap. She hadn’t aged and still looked like a little doll, small and blonde; she was my opposite in colouring, and for a thirty-five-year-old woman, she was stunningly pretty. I had been told I got my looks from my father aka the Sperm Donor, an Italian douche who abandoned us both when I was five. I didn’t remember him, why would I? Mum had me when she was sixteen which suggested I hadn’t been planned either; hence dear old daddy pissing off when he couldn’t cope.
My mother never spoke about him and I never asked. He could rot in hell for all I cared. If he’d stuck around, my mother would never have ended up with all the shitheads she’d married. And certainly, she wouldn’t have fallen for an old letch like Gerard Kinlan.
“Mum?” I prompted.
Suki still hadn’t explained herself as she was too busy pouring water from a jug on the bedside table into a glass.
I took it from her as she handed it over, concern still etched into her features. “Suki?” I said, trying to shake her out of her daze. My mother wasn’t the brightest button in the tin. She could be borderline stupid at times but she was kind and sweet. She was my only weakness.
Suki eyed me critically as I watched her over the rim of the glass, “You’ve lost weight Ava and you’re ever so pale. Shall I call Dr Farmer back in?” I couldn’t help the pig snort that rattled my nose at that one. Dr Farmer was a personal physician to the Kinlan family, and I had never trusted him. When my mother had been married to Gerard, he was the one who had prescribed her all sorts of crap. It hadn’t been long into her marriage to Gerard that she’d started to resemble a zombie.
I noted she said, ‘Shall I call Dr Famer back in’ and I glanced down at the area where I was wounded.
There beneath the damaged top I wore was a bandage, neatly covering the slash in my skin. It was clean thank goodness. I couldn’t stomach blood and had a major phobia about it after seeing a man gunned down in front of me when I was younger. What can I say, I’d spent most of my life married to the mob with my mother.
It was only then that I fully realised what she married into. Something my mother still wasn’t fully aware of. Either that or she did what most mafia wives did; turned and looked the other way.
“Where am I?” I repeated, ignoring her comment about my weight loss. I’d been training for months and knew I was in peak physical shape. “And most importantly what are you doing here? I thought you were staying with Uncle Graham,” My words seemed to pry her from her semi-comatose state and she smiled.
“Not anymore, I live here now.”
“And where is here?” I rasped, dragging a hand down my face. I knew I would be in Kinlan territory, but I needed to hear her say that.
Suki’s face screwed up at the harsh language I used. She was so sensitive and I felt the bite of remorse as she confirmed, “This is Kai’s house. Well, one of them.”
“And where is Kai?” I almost snarled, making to shove from the bed but Suki stopped me with a hand on my shoulder.
“Please calm down sweetie, you’ll open your cut again,” she said, glancing worriedly at the closed door. “He’s in his study. I know you two haven’t seen eye to eye over the last few years, but it won’t do you any good to upset him.”
I placed the glass back on the bedside table before I did something reckless, like throwing water over my mother. She needed to wake up. We didn’t belong there.
Suki noticed my expression and shook her head, attempting to reason with me.
“Kai has been good to me, Ava. Since they took Gerard away, he’s looked after me. I was lost and had nowhere to go. Even Graham turned his back on me.”
I inwardly seethed that my mother’s brother hadn’t been there to help her when Gerard went down.
When I had shopped my stepfather in, I hadn’t considered how it could negatively affect her. I had been too determined to get him out of the picture.
Settling back against the bed I pressed her further, “Go on.”
“They froze all Gerry’s assets including the bank accounts. The morning after his arrest, men came to the house and started to ransack it. I was terrified. They took me to the station and questioned me for hours and I was so worried about you, even after your text.”
I placed my hand on her knee, hating my part in her pain. After what had happened at the vault when Kai found out I was the one who had ratted his father out and then the shooting, I’d left the country. I’d had my passport ready for when the shit hit the fan. Yes, I’d messaged my mother to tell her I was OK, but that was it.
“I’m sorry you had to deal with all that alone Mum. Why didn’t you say something the first time I called you?” I had contacted my mother three days after I fled, saying I was with friends and she hadn’t said anything about being questioned. Wives of men in the mafia rarely knew the details about their husbands' dodgy dealings. It was a blind-eye type of scenario. I knew they’d never arrest her.
“I didn’t want to worry you,” Suki confessed with a sniff. “And by that time, Gerard’s lawyer, Mr Knight was involved. He came to the station with a couple of Gerard’s men to take me back to the house so I could pack a case.”
I squeezed her knee reassuringly before placing my hand back on my lap, “And where was Kai?”
Suki straightened her hair, “He had been injured. Shot in the side.”
Of course, he had. I was the one who shot him. I hadn’t meant to hit him. It was intended as a warning shot but my aim was better than I had thought.
I felt annoyed that this was the first time I had heard about my mother’s struggles, bearing in mind we spoke by burner phone regularly when I was gone.
My seventeen-year-old brain clearly hadn’t thought it all through. I knew she’d be questioned, but I didn’t think they’d impound her bloody house and take her money.
“So, then what?”
“Then Kai took charge. He arranged an apartment for me and an allowance and things were fine for a while. But then I started to think I was being followed. Kai said some of Gerard's associates in Italy had been watching us. Trust issues or something like that after Kai took over Gerard’s businesses. Then it got worse after Gerry died.”
I hated the shortening of Gerard’s name as it didn’t suit him. It made him sound like he was fun and easy going.
“So, what are you doing here?”
“Kai suggested that I move in here a few months ago. He was concerned about my safety.”
“A concern for your safety?” I snapped, panic fluttering in my chest.
Suki looked confused, “I don’t know. Kai said it would be better if I stayed at the main house with him for a while. To give off the picture of happy families I suppose, a united front. And to be honest, I prefer it. It’s less lonely.”
Due to everything that had happened, you couldn’t blame me for being extra cynical when the Kinlan family was concerned, but I did feel some relief from Kai’s involvement.
My mother had always needed someone to care for her; she was a head-in-the-clouds type of female. Suki would probably get lost walking to the corner shop and back.
“He’s changed Ava. He has been so good to me. I knew he never really liked me, even as a boy, but he came through for me. I had no one when you left not even Graham.” The fact that my uncle had let his sister down pissed me off, Maybe I’d pay him a visit when I got out from under Kai and his army.
Pushing away that thought, my heart squeezed and I suddenly felt selfish by my actions. I would still have put Gerard in prison if I had to repeat history, but I would have done it with the eyes of an adult rather than a teenager. I clearly hadn’t covered all bases, even with Anton’s assistance. Suki had been left stranded.
I continued to listen to my mother and her Kai Kinlan appreciation show she was performing, feeling a hint of jealousy that he’d been there and I hadn’t. The way she praised him in that Godlike way, you’d think he could walk on fucking water.
But why? Why was he there for my mother? What was he plotting? He must need her for some reason. A Kinlan did nothing for free.
“Even with his gunshot injury, Kai took over. From the bits of things I heard, he managed to incorporate some of Gerard’s businesses into his own. It was all quite hectic. Once Gerard’s bank accounts were unfrozen, there were fines to pay and lawyers' fees. And Kai dealt with everything . He was also under investigation for months but the authorities found nothing to charge him with. I think he runs things legitimately.”
Legitimate, my arse. Kai’s organisation; Titan Events and Promotions owned a large casino in London; it was the perfect front for money laundering. I exhaled moodily, my suspicions about Kai’s intentions had now doubled in strength.
“He’s quite charming now,” Mom purred, with a twinkle in her eye.
Oh my God no! I almost threw up in my mouth at the thought of her going down that path.
“Mother?” I hissed with a glare of doom.
“I don’t mean like that , Ava. But I think you might think so if you gave him a chance. I know he’s been desperate to find you. And I never said anything about where you were.” Suki added the last part to reassure me that I hadn’t been betrayed.
“That’s because you didn’t know where I was mother,” I pointed out with raised brows, “And he’s about as charming as vaginal thrush,” I added, my lip curling in disgust. Kai had been desperate to find me to wring my neck no doubt, not because he cared . But my mother wouldn’t know that. And by the sounds of things, she still had no idea I was the one who put her now dead husband behind bars or who shot her stepson. And it needed to stay that way.
My mother shuffled uncomfortably, the mattress bouncing with her slight weight. “As I said, he looks after me,” she repeated in a small voice and my temper soared.
“The hell he does.”
“Look, I know Kai can be quite the character,” Suki said, again defending him.
I snorted, “That’s just a nice way of calling someone a dick, mother.”
There was an awkward silence, rudely interrupted by a chime. My eyes darted towards where the noise came from as I spotted the old-fashioned grandfather clock sitting in one corner of the room. It was almost five in the evening.
“Anyway, I’ve missed you,” Mum sighed, leaning over to place her hand over mine.
A million thoughts seemed to be rattling around my mind, but the most prominent one was that I had to get out of there and take my brainless mother with me.
“I’ve missed you too and I’m so sorry that I wasn’t here for you but I had to get away after Gerard went to prison,” I explained.
“You did promise to tell me why one day,” Suki said.
“I know I did but it’s all water under the bridge now. I just needed to get away from the heat of London. All the crazy shit was driving me mad and you know I hated that school. The thought of another year there was suffocating me. When I got to Italy, I liked my independence. And you knew I was OK, I kept in contact. I needed some teenage me time. Surely you understand that?”
“I understand,” my mother said softly. She wasn’t one to pry. Suki preferred not to know. It was easier that way. “I hated that the school was so far away and I didn’t get to see you as much, but Gerry wouldn’t listen. He was hard to handle at times.”
Hard to handle; talk about the understatement of the century, like Suki had ever managed to do that. My mother had feared Gerard, not at first, but after the wedding when he’d put a ring on it. She tried to hide it from me.
I knew Gerard had mistreated my mother one night but I didn’t know to what degree. I’d heard him yelling at her and the next morning she’d been like a shell of the person she once was. Gerard had been all over her like a rash. He’d clearly done something major if he was that fucking sorry about it. When I tried to bring it up, Suki had a full-on panic attack.
We so needed to get out of there.
My criminal stepfather used to use my mother to control me and there was no doubt in my head that Kai would do the same. Otherwise, why were we there? Kai had said that he didn’t intend to kill me and I believed him. But would he really let everything I had done go unpunished?
That was a resounding no.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door and we both turned to the sound as it opened. A tall, broad man leaned into the room through the doorway. He had dark hair, greyed at the temples, and was handsome in an older roguish way. He wore a suit and an expression stamped with authority. I’d never seen him before.
“Susannah, you have five more minutes,” he stated. His tone was authoritative as he looked down his hawk-like nose between us. The man’s expression softened as his eyes fell upon my mother but as they shifted to me, I captured a twinge of something which suggested he didn’t like me. Odd, considering we’d never met, but who knew what Kai told his men about me? Probably not that I was the one who shot him. That would make him look like a pussy to have been wounded by a woman. I imagined he’d sworn Lester and Sean into secrecy; two of his men there that day. There had also been Gabriel Knight, the son of his father’s lawyer and of course the young woman, Kai had kidnapped. Kai had believed that the son of his father’s lawyer was the one who had built up the dossier to send Gerard down. How wrong he’d been. I had been the one to drag Gabriel into it for backup. Something which had gone pear-shaped quickly.
I couldn’t see my mother’s face as she was facing away from me but from her tone, I knew the man meant something to her. Suki wore her heart on her sleeve.
“Yes, Cillian, of course. I’ll be out in a minute,” she replied softly.
“See that you are. I’ll be waiting to escort you to your room.” Escort her to her room, like a fricking prison guard? That suggested my mother wasn’t free to roam the house, which would also make her a captive. That thought didn’t sit well with me, especially if she didn’t realise it. My mother was easily blindsided by good looks and money.
“Thank you, Cillian. I’ll look forward to it,” Suki said sweetly. FFS!
‘Cillian’ as she called him gave her a swift nod, but I saw how he lingered for a moment longer.
That’s it, buddy, back the fuck off.
What the actual hell? Were they together? It wouldn’t have surprised me as men had always flocked to my mother, but if he was one of Kai’s men, that meant he was a killer or involved in nasty shit. Why the hell couldn’t she meet a nice, normal man?
I wanted to be free from that suffocating life of being connected to the mob, for both of us. The dream of living a normal life and working in a coffee shop or some shit like that lit me up. That’s how I earned a living in Milan, but it had been a bookshop. I missed the smell of those crusty leather books, their disorganised chaos and even the constant smudge of lipstick on Signora Romano’s teeth. I owed the woman a debt. She gave me a job when I had no credentials. Without her and Anton I would have been fucked.
As Cillian withdrew and the door clicked closed, Suki turned back to me with flushed cheeks.
“Sorry. Cill can be so bossy. He’s Kai’s top enforcer,” she beamed with a fond smile.
‘Cill’ may be Kai’s top enforcer and he was clearly fucking my mother.
Damn it. I’d had enough.
“OK, timeout. You shouldn’t be anywhere near Kai now. You divorced his father.”
I moved forward on the bed and crossed my legs, a twinge of pain shooting across my side at the motion.
I closed my eyes and swallowed, desperate not to picture that line of crimson; blood.
Pathetic really for an ex-mafia princess.
“That’s the thing, sweetie. You divorce husbands, not children.”
My mouth fell open at that one. Calling Kai a child was borderline hysterical. As was that word coming from the mouth of a woman only seven years older than he was.
I felt a wave of sickness and placed my palm against my head.
“Are you OK?” Suki said with a whisper of concern.
Dropping my hand, I released a sigh of frustration.
“You still shouldn’t be living in his house mother. I take it you’re free to come and go as you please?” I asked on the back of the ‘e scort you to your room’ comment.
“Yes, but I don’t go out much because of the Italian thing. I hate feeling that I am being watched and there’s no need. Kai has everything brought in that I want.”
And there it was, manipulation at its best.
Another knock sounded on the door. Great. Our time was up, I guessed.
Suki fluffed up her hair and pursed her lips, deep in thought before she replied.
“Look, why don’t you freshen up and I’ll see you at dinner,” Suki said as she pushed off the bed, glancing nervously behind her.
“OK. But this isn’t over. We need to talk about leaving this place. I love you and you know I only want what’s best for both of us.”
“I know sweetie and I love you but everything’s going to be fine, you’ll see.” And then she left me there.
As the door clicked behind her, I realised that at least I wasn’t locked in.
Pushing myself off the bed, another dizzy feeling swam around my head, the after-effects of whatever was still in my system.
Kai.
I knew he could be charming and had seen that side of him in the past. But how could I ever trust him again?