Chapter 32
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
ACE
Blaine was dead.
That was a message that rang through, causing a chorus of beeps to tear into our peaceful sleep. The text message was from Max, one of our highest guards, but it wasn’t until Adam cursed that the true implication of the text registered.
Blaine was dead, and Accardo killed him.
The last time he was seen alive was trailing after Accardo when Adam ordered him to make sure Accardo left the property, and now…
I stared at the photo Max sent over of Blaine’s lifeless body. It wasn’t our fault. I knew this. We couldn’t control the actions of other men, only our own. But I knew the guilt of Blaine’s death would send Adam into a spiral of emotion.
“Stay with Bellamy,” I ordered Adam, though I knew he was going to put up a fight.
“I can’t. I need to go. I sent him to trail Accardo, Ace. I sent him to his death.” This was personal; his tortured tone told me so. But there was nothing he could do about it now. We’d collect Blaine’s body, tell his family, and pay our respects. Nothing less, nothing more.
“Bellamy is going to need you when she wakes up,” I reminded him, as I leaned down, kissing her forehead before taking a silky strand of hair and wrapping it around my fingers. “Accardo wants you to be there, so he’ll get us in your place.”
“This was a personal attack on my family after he issued a threat.” His voice was lowered. “He threatened you both and Belle. When will he come for you? When will he take an opportunity to take everything else I care about from me?”
“You think he’s a threat to us?” Mercer laughed, keeping the sound low enough to not stir Belle. “You have so little trust in us that you think Accardo will bring us down? We’re stronger together; you know that. Three of us against him. He’d never stand a chance. Stay with our girl. We’ll be back in a few hours.”
Mercer rose slowly, untangling himself from our sleeping princess before crawling off Adam’s bed, and it finally registered, memories finally flooding me. We fucking did that. We all fucked her senseless, then crumbled into a pile of limbs on Adam’s bed. I couldn’t speak for them, but I had no regrets. My only concern was when we could do it again.
“One of you could stay,” Adam argued, his fingers pulling at the strands of hair that were already a mess.
“One of us won’t stay.”
“It’s my man. It’s disrespectful not to pay respects.” His argument held merit, but it wasn’t strong enough for us to cave.
“Our man. Our respects. And I’m sure his family will understand that you’re at home looking after your pregnant wife.” I paused as I looked over at her for a moment, almost forgetting what I was saying. “We’ll set them up financially. Make sure they’ll want for nothing.”
Mercer nodded. “We’ve got this, boss.”
Boss. I smirked. We all knew that Adam was never the boss of us. Still, sometimes we tossed out the nickname to remind him he wasn’t in charge as much as he thought he was. This was a partnership between us. And he may be the boss of everyone below us, but never us.
“You’ll call,” Adam ordered, and if the situation weren’t so serious, I would joke about how that wasn’t even a full order. Call when? Call because? Call why? But I knew he meant we’d call about anything, everything, whatever we needed to speak about, we did it together.
“We’ll call,” I agreed.
Mercer and I left him half-dressed, sitting on the edge of the bed, with our lady slumbering sweetly next to him. I wondered if she knew the lengths he would go in order to keep her protected. If she knew, she was now the very center of our universe, and this universe was about to get messy, bloody from the betrayals and revenge. Necessary casualties were ahead and unfortunately, it wouldn’t end with Blaine’s death. It would end with Accardo’s blood coating our hands.
We gave ourselves ten minutes to change clothes and let Lady out, but we didn’t bother with showering. We knew from past experiences that by the end of the night, we’d likely be covered in the blood of the dead. After letting the dog into Adam’s room, we climbed into the black sedan and headed to the location Max had sent us.
Max and Drew were standing outside the unfinished parking garage on the east side of our property, waiting for our arrival. A few other guards stood further back, their eyes shifting about, waiting for trouble to come. But I knew Accardo was too smart. Trouble wouldn’t be coming today. No, he liked the long game. Blaine’s death was to prove a point. He wasn’t afraid. But then again, neither were we.
The car door had barely shut before Drew stepped forward, his hand on his gun at his hip. “He was found a little over an hour ago when they were doing rounds on the property.” He used his chin to gesture to a few of the guards off to the side.
“Thank you.”
Drew continued on, “We kept it as quiet as possible. There are still some stragglers in the area from the Gala. This isn’t something you’d want out.”
“Appreciate it.” Mercer’s eyes were fixed on the lump of our former employee, lifeless and empty on the ground. “Have you called it in to our body removal service?”
He was referring to the man we paid an extra penny to turn our men’s bodies to ash, so the family had something to hold on to. “No. I thought you might want to see him first.”
“Good.” I nodded before patting my friend on the shoulder. “Call it in for us.”
Drew stepped away to make his call while Max walked with us over to the body. I ignored the roll of my stomach at the sight of a man I had known for years lying mutated and dead. He didn’t deserve this. None of our men did. They were good people, surviving and providing for their families, and we provided employment to do so. We knew everyone; we were friends with everyone. Hell, we even sent his wife a gift and flowers at the birth of their son.
And now he was dead, his body rapidly cooling as he lay still in a puddle of his blood. His eyes were carved out and placed on the ground beside him without care. His throat was slashed, his tongue removed, and there was so much blood on his uniform that I knew they carved him up and made him suffer.
“Shit,” Mercer mumbled as he covered his mouth with both his hands. “We can’t return him to Anita like this. If not for his fucking name tag, I’d never have realized it was him.”
“No fucking way,” I agreed. God, his wife. His children. It wasn’t fucking fair. Security last night should have been an easy job. We didn’t expect trouble. It was more of a precaution.
“We weren’t prepared for him to show up last night,” Mercer whispered.
“No one thought he’d be that stupid and careless.”
“Who was the careless one now?” he growled.
Us. Undeniably us. We were careless and arrogant to not anticipate this move, and that cost a man his life. How had he slipped past every guard? Was there a leak in our security? How did we not anticipate a move like this when he’s already demonstrated his willingness to do anything.
“We didn’t touch him,” Max added to our conversation. “Not like that would make a difference. We wanted you to see the body first.”
“Thank you.” I closed my eyes and inhaled. The metallic scent was unmistakable.
“He was a good guy,” Max added. “I… I would like to be a part of seeking revenge.”
“It could be dangerous,” I reminded him.
“Everything about this life is dangerous, but I’ve got nothing to lose. I’m not the one here with a family. I’d rather it be me than Shawn over there with twin girls just entering kindergarten or Jose with his daughter about to choose a college.”
I fucking hated that he had a point. But fuck, we’d been friends for so long, I would hate to see anything happen to him. He was a part of my family. “Then you’ll be included. But Max…”
“Yeah?”
“You know you’re part of my family, right? It’s why you’re trusted alone with Bellamy.”
He didn’t respond, only offered a slight nod before he walked to the side of the parking garage and peered down. For a moment, he contemplated what it would be like to hit the ground below. I knew the look. There was a time I’d wondered the same thing too.
“He better not do something reckless,” Mercer sighed.
“Can’t protect them all.” I looked down at the body. “Clearly.”
“How the hell are we going to bring a child into this life, Ace? We’re going to fuck shit up.”
“The child would have been born into this life, regardless. I’m just thankful she’s being born to us, with love and protection.” I shut my eyes and fought off the possibility of what would happen if it weren’t us. What Belle would have gone through just to survive.
It was another forty-five minutes before Blaine’s body was scraped off the sidewalk. When they turned the body over, it was clear that every wound was deliberate, made to make him suffer. His back was sliced open, his organs falling out. His head was scalped, his body completely mutilated.
I was sick at the sight of it all. It took every ounce of control I had to not lose my grip and crumble into weakness. But this man deserved more respect than to have us deteriorate. Not when he so clearly held tight to his control until his very last breath.
We waited until his body was loaded before we got back into the sedan. Mercer was driving, and I was fucking thankful. My hands shook too bad to control the car anyway, so I used the time to communicate with Adam, giving him every gruesome detail about the findings until the image was ingrained for eternity in my mind.
Mercer drove silently until we pulled up in front of the home of Blaine’s family. When he turned off the engine, he turned toward me. “I don’t want to do this.”
“Me either.” I looked toward the perfect little house. Blaine was so damn proud of this place and its white picket fence.
“Should we have Adam do it?” Mercer asked, even though we both knew it wasn’t an option. We couldn’t drag him out of our home just to break a woman’s heart. We told him we’d handle it, and we would. It was just… hard.
Everything about this situation was impossibly hard. How could we tell a wife that her husband died to protect our wife from danger? Did we lie and vow vengeance, if only to spare her feelings? Vengeance would be had; I’d make fucking sure of that.
The car door squeaked when I pushed it open, and I cringed at the broken silence. Did she hear it? Did she know we were coming? Setting eyes on us would surely give away our reason for a visit.
We walked up the path, using a little lever to release the lock on the white fence that only reached mid-thigh in height, before entering the yard. The whole walk, I built up what I’d say, possibilities of how to break the news, but nothing seemed sufficient. No words would ever be enough when it came to breaking such news.
On the steps, we stopped, our eyes meeting before Mercer stretched out his hand, ringing the bell. We waited, the slight stir inside matching the increased rhythm of my heartbeat as steps approached the door. When it pulled open, we were frozen, staring into Anita’s wide eyes.
She knew. Her expression gave it away, but knowing and the confirmation of it were vastly different. I swallowed hard, working past the cotton in my throat enough to form words.
“Blaine’s dead.”
And when she crumbled to the floor, it was Mercer who caught her from falling.