Chapter 15
C assie
Struan was the first to make the identification. He squinted at his phone then sighed. “Stand down.”
Tyler jerked his head up, midway through instructing the others hidden around the place to move to positions of intercept. “Who?”
“Jamieson.”
I grinned. Not that I’d been scared, but I’d wanted Riordan to meet the youngest of my brothers again.
The single other time they’d encountered each other had also been my first sight of Riordan. I’d fallen immediately in love. The same could not be said for him and Jamieson.
Tyler eyed me. “Don’t suppose it would help any to ask you to wait in your room?”
“Are ye crazy? Let’s go say hi.”
The four of us made for the stairs that led to the entrance hall. Tyler held me back so the others could descend first.
I watched Riordan alongside my brother. His leather jacket was open over a skeleton crew t-shirt, his gaze attentive, his body loose as if ready to fight. Similar in many ways to Struan though lacking the same surety. Struan could handle anything that came at him. Riordan was only just learning how. He was willing, though. And capable.
Happiness filled me. We were both at the start of a journey. We could learn together.
At the bottom of the steps, our intercept man left me with a mutter, morphing into the shadows.
Riordan replaced him at my side. He leaned against a pillar, bringing himself closer to my height. “What did fucking Tyler want when he took you into that room?”
“There’s that jealousy again. Love that for me.”
He didn’t reply.
I touched his chest and drew an imaginary line to mine. Then scrubbed it out. “Last I checked, ye hadn’t answered my question. There’s nothing going on here. We are distinctly not fucking.”
From nearer the front door, Struan griped, “In hearing range.” Then after a pause, “But good to know.”
A thud followed from outside. “Open up, motherfuckers.”
Struan unbolted the door, and a spark of amber light fell the other side as Jamieson appeared in the frame, pitch-black night behind him and his lighter in his hand. My heart lurched. I loved all my family. Struan was dark energy and ready to bring pain without losing sleep over what he had to do. Sin was the father figure, powerful, supportive, and ready to judge with his fists. Camden was our measure, a checkpoint and a balance. If he was willing to go there, the cause was just.
But Jamieson was most like me. A little bit wilder. Emotionally led. Inclined to do daft things on the flip of a coin. Or in his case, a flick of his lighter wheel.
Jamieson’s shadow advanced.
Struan swore at him. “Why the fuck didn’t ye let us know it was ye?”
Tyler choked. “You didn’t either.”
Struan glowered. Jamieson gave a low laugh.
“I come with news.” He eyed the man at my side. Stalled. More sparks flared. “Riordan fuckin’ Jones. Last I saw ye, Shade had ye locked in a cell. Next thing I know, you’re all over my family’s group chat.”
Riordan shrugged. “Seem to remember knocking you on your ass as part of that encounter.”
Jamieson prowled closer. “Yet here ye are, fucking my sister.”
“Not fucking,” Struan intoned.
Riordan palmed his face.
They really needed to mind their own business.
I scowled at them both. “Get your nose out of my love life and tell us the news.”
Jamieson secured the door and ushered us into the kitchen where he raided the fridge, answering between piling up food.
“As of an hour ago, Arran and Shade captured Bronson Lesk. They’ve got him at a safe house, and tomorrow afternoon, they’re going to announce it.”
God.
Everyone spoke at once, asking questions and demanding to know how Jamieson knew.
“You were there?” Tyler asked.
“Naw, but I heard it go down. Arran called me while he was on a stakeout.”
Jamieson’s gaze slid to Riordan. Purposefully, I moved to stand in front of him, showing my ownership and the fact that yes, I wanted him here.
My brother twisted his lips but continued. “Next thing I knew, shite went down. I heard it all because there was no time to hang up. Arran and Shade were able to take the arrogant bastard entirely unseen. It was fucking poetry.”
“Red doesn’t know?” Tyler again.
“Arran will tell him personally. He wants to give evidence as part of that call.”
My fingers twitched, my mind distancing to the warehouse’s basement. To torture methods and a furious, bloodied Bronson. “They’ll work on him right away, then.”
Jamieson tilted his head at me. “Why, feel like you’re missing out in your random side quest of living at the warehouse?”
Tearing into a pack of sandwich meat, he swapped a glance with Struan.
It boiled my blood.
“Yes,” I snapped. “Though it isn’t random. I’m working there.”
Jamieson rolled his eyes. “So give it up already.”
I scoffed. “Try telling me what to do again once you’ve got your head out of your arse.”
His smile died. “To be clear, the skeleton crew took out the Four Milers’ second-in-command tonight. A violent serial murderer.”
“One who’s been targeting women and who I’m going to enjoy cutting pieces off of.”
His gaze darkened. “They will hurt him before they kill him. There will be retaliation. Ye need to stay far away from Deadwater.”
“The fuck I do.”
Jamieson slammed the fridge. “This isn’t a game, Cass. Ye don’t have to prove anything to anyone. It’s Arran’s war that he doesn’t need help winning.”
“Yet he was on the phone to your dumb arse. Tell me he wasn’t asking for your help.”
Jamieson faltered.
Fuck. I was right.
Struan shifted in front of me and moved Jamieson away, blocking my view of him. He spoke low to our brother, the arsehole.
I sensed Tyler’s gaze on me.
The intercept guy scratched his chin. “He has a point. Deadwater will be a battleground.”
“Are ye staying away?” I poked my tongue into my cheek. “Will the brothel close? Will Everly and Genevieve be sequestered away in the countryside like obedient little women?”
He didn’t reply.
My brothers turned back.
Jamieson took a long breath. “All I’m saying is with your track record, you’re due to lose interest in the place anyway. Why go back when it’s at its most dangerous?”
Damn. An arrow to the heart. I knew I was flaky, but that hurt.
Struan took over. “Meant to tell ye earlier, Thea wants to talk to ye about Project Audrey. She could use your help.”
The pain curled inside me and intensified. Jamieson warned me off, Tyler backed him, and now Struan was sliding in a safe alternative, like any of them had the right to.
Yeah, fuck all of them.
Without another word, I turned on my heel and stormed away. Upset zinged in my veins. For the first time in my life, I’d found a calling. I loved the warehouse and all it stood for. The gang war was just one aspect of that and necessary to return balance to the city. More importantly, Bronson being taken off the streets meant the world was safer for women. That was the point.
Bootsteps followed me, drumming up the stairs.
“Are ye going to try to control me, too?” I asked Riordan.
“Wouldn’t dream of it, kidnapper.”
I deflated. “Oh, yeah. Sorry.”
We turned the corner.
He spoke again. “Why do you think your brother will be helping Arran?”
“Jamieson burns things down. He’s good at it. He destroyed Arran’s family home, on Arran’s request, of course. The two of them razed it to the ground and sent that house of horrors to the gods. He also turned the hostel where we’d been held prisoners to cinders. This place got a bit of a scorching as well at one point. Luckily while our father was alive to know about it.”
“Your other brother referenced two people called Scar and Burn. I take it the latter is Jamieson?”
I managed a nod, though my mind was in Deadwater.
At my room, I unlocked the door. Riordan closed us in and waited for me to continue.
I paced. “Like with calling in Tyler whose specialism is trafficking, and who will no doubt be shutting down the Four Milers’ women-abducting routes, if Arran wants Jamieson, he intends to cause damage.”
Riordan watched me. “He’s going to burn down the Four Milers’ buildings.”
“Exactly.”
It was so much bigger than taking a predator off the streets. While my brothers were celebrating Bronson’s imminent demise, I saw a different side. Jamieson wasn’t wrong. Arran was bringing a war. It would be dangerous to associate with him.
“Then there’s you, facing your fear head-on with a plan to take revenge on Bronson for everything he did to those women.”
I lifted my gaze to Riordan. “It has to be me. Or at least I need to play a part. I was next on his list. Even despite that, a woman ending his life is divine justice, and your sisters won’t want the honours.”
For a long moment, he held the eye contact. I didn’t know what he saw, but I knew the effect it had on me. The spark of electricity in my chest. How he quickened my breathing and made me feel like I was about to run for my life.
Riordan claimed he wasn’t going to try to control me, but I had an overflow of invested men who would do anything to protect me. I loved my family, but they needed to back the hell off. Whatever Riordan said next would either kill or cure me.
“Then we’d better pack up and go.”