Chapter 33
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
MERCER
The private service for Blaine was held two weeks later at our property, so all who were close to us, work family and his private family, could come and celebrate the life of an all-around good guy. It was hard to say goodbye, but wasn’t it always?
“You look comfortable,” I mumbled against Bellamy’s skin as I leaned down to kiss her hair. It was evening, and all the guests had gone home, allowing our little bookworm to curl up into a ball on her chair in the library and get lost.
“Mmhm.” She smiled up at me. “There were a lot of people, and I needed some wind down time.”
“You’re allowed to take what you need, little girl.” I reached over and removed the book from her hand, marking the place. “Care to take a break from your paper porn for some dinner?”
She tapped her chin, pretending to think. “I could eat.”
“Of course you can.” I placed the book on the table. “The little one likes food.”
She looked down at her stomach and frowned. “I’m getting huge.”
“Stop. You’re absolutely not.” I put my hand on her stomach, moving my thumb in gentle strokes. “You’re perfect.”
“I never said I wasn’t perfect.” She stuck her tongue out. “I only said I’m getting huge.”
“Then I guess I’m into huge because this right here is fucking hot.” Leaning down, I captured her lips in a slow kiss, getting lost in everything Bellamy for a moment, until she shifted. I pulled back in shock. “What the fuck just happened?”
“She kicked you.”
She kicked me. The little tiny being inside of there was powerful enough to lift my hand right off her mother’s stomach and fuck… I dropped to my knees. “Do it again.”
As if the child understood my demand, the tiniest flutter danced against my palm. “Wow, fuck, this is amazing! Have Adam and Ace felt this?”
My eyes were glued to her stomach, afraid I’d miss something big. If I squinted, I could just make out the movement just under the surface. She watched me for a moment before answering. “Her movements have just become noticeable outside my body, but I’ve been feeling her for weeks. She just so happened to pick you to perform for first.”
I was so fucking thankful for that. “I never thought about what it must be like to have her moving around inside of you. It’s insane.”
She laughed. “It feels different for sure.”
Standing, I leaned over and scooped her up. Her squeal was nearly glass shattering. But her laugh that followed was euphoric. Without further words, I carried her down the stairs, careful not to jostle her. I didn’t put her down until we reached the kitchen, where I lowered her to sit on the kitchen island.
“Men. I’ve got news.” She was giggling behind her hand at my antics. “It appears our lady has… a wiggle baby in her stomach.”
“You don’t say,” Adam answered dryly.
“Scout's honor. I speak the truth.” I held up my finger. “She kicked me.”
That got both Adam’s and Ace’s attention. Ace tilted his head. “She kicked you?”
Adam was crowding me in seconds, pushing me out of the way to touch Bellamy’s stomach. Sometimes I forgot that he’d been through this before, been through what it was like to have a pregnant woman around. But for Ace and me, this was all new. We were all learning as we went, right alongside Bellamy.
It took thirty seconds of his hand resting against her skin before his brows shot up. “There it is! Fuck if that isn’t the sweetest thing. Thanks for making this shit day a little better.”
Adam leaned in to kiss her, ignoring Ace as he tried to move Adam’s hand so he, too, could feel the miracle just under Bellamy’s skin. When it was clear that he would not share, Bellamy’s finger circled Adam’s wrist and pulled. Parting from his lips, she reprimanded, “You need to share.”
“I had you first,” he grumbled.
“Are we five or are we big bad mafia men?”
This girl was going to be the death of us. I knew that for fucking sure. With a sigh, Adam relented, “We’re men.”
“Hard to tell sometimes.” She smirked as he pulled away. The spot against her skin was instantly occupied by Ace’s palm.
“Watch it little girl, or we’ll be forced to show you just what big bad mafia men can do,” I threatened.
“If you’re trying to scare me, maybe try different tactics.” She beamed, her smile so wide with taunts I wanted to show her what else she could do with that mouth.
Ace was low against her abdomen, talking with her stomach and giving it kisses, begging the baby to move for him. Honestly, I’m not a softy, but it was something to see men I’ve watched take lives go mushy over a new one.
Adam cleared his throat. “We’ve got some left-over food from the service. I figured we could eat that for dinner, then maybe a movie?”
Bellamy readily agreed. If only she knew Adam’s true intent. Our girl couldn’t keep awake during a single movie. It was her kryptonite. But on nights like this, where we only had revenge on our mind, we needed our girl occupied.
Her focus was on Ace, who was still so close to her stomach as he waited. “That sounds great. What movie are we?—“
“Holy shit!” Ace shouted, cutting her off.
She laughed, her fingers running through Ace’s hair as she held him close to her, and at this moment, the joy on their faces… I hoped it never fucking ended.
A few hours later, Bellamy was tucked into their bed, Lady at her feet. We gathered in Adam’s office, our mood solemn as we addressed everything that needed to be said. We gave it two weeks. We let our men mourn their friend, and now, it was our turn to show Accardo our drive to see him dead.
And he would die. There was no other option now. Not after he threatened our girl. Hell, he’d never had a chance. Adam was just biding time. But in the end, there was always going to be retribution for what he did, the pain he caused, the lives of our family lost. We’d accept nothing less.
“I’ve done some research,” I announced. “Dived deeper than I’ve dived previously.”
Adam leaned back in his chair, the leather squeaking. “What did you find?”
“He has a brother a few towns over. They are quite close.”
Ace smirked. “Because losing his son wasn’t enough.”
I grinned. “I like the challenge. A life for a life seems fair, don’t you think?”
“What’re the odds that taking his brother would push him over the edge too quickly?” Adam’s brows furrowed.
“He’ll lose his shit, but we’ll have time. He never acts rashly and always has plans.” I leaned against the wall. “It will give us time to fortify our front.”
“What if…” Ace’s face was pinched with tension. “What if we attack his properties first? Distract him. Hit him from multiple angles at the same time we take his brother out? We’ll start with the property attacks first. He’ll be too distracted to even think about the possibility of the true target.”
Adam’s interest was piqued. “What properties are we going after?”
“Let’s get personal.” I smirked. “His garage with all his personal vehicles, flame it. The auto shop on fifth, slash all the tires. Only damage what he has to pay for, not damaging the body of the customers’ vehicles. The bingo hall, cut the wires and let loose a crate of rats. His corner store on El Dorado, pay someone to rob it. Rough up the inside, tip over the racks. All of it done at once, in unison. It’s all low key when you think about it, small fucking shit. But annoying as fuck. That is until he realizes that the icing on the fucking cake is his brother in a pool of blood.”
“Do we have the manpower?” Ace questioned.
“You know we do. But we can spend a few weeks and plan. It needs to be meticulous. Perfectly in sync to catch him off guard.”
“Two weeks from now, then?” Adam leaned forward.
“We’ll make it happen,” I confirmed. “I’ll have lookouts on the property prior. We’ll be prepared.”
“There is rarely a time we’re not prepared.” Adam bit his lip. “Still, I worry. Is this all worth it? I have sympathy for Blaine’s family. And lord knows I have scars from what Accardo has done to me. Both on my body and my heart. But are we making it worse? Could we find a truce?”
“Do you want to find a truce?” Ace pushed.
“I- fuck, lord, forgive me, I don’t. I want him dead. He deserves to be dead. But not at the cost of Belle. I can’t lose her. I can’t lose another wife. I can’t bury another child.”
We wouldn’t survive that. Elizabeth and his son may not have been mine, but I felt the despair all the same. Felt what losing them did to Adam and Ace. Stood by as I barely held them together. We couldn’t handle that again. We couldn’t fall into another void of despair and climb ourselves out again.
“It won’t happen,” I promised. “I won’t let it.”
I spoke the words with such force that I was positive the universe heard my plea and granted my wish. It. Would. Not. Happen. Again.
Adam closed his eyes, grounding himself for a moment. “Call a mandatory meeting in two days. We’ll have it here so that Belle won’t be alone. Rearrange Hannah’s schedule. We need Belle occupied because planning something like this, a scale this large… it might take a few hours.”
“We’ll get it done,” Ace promised as he picked up his phone, probably already putting orders into action. “The men would like their pound of flesh.”
“Keep the ones with families on the smaller jobs.” I pushed myself away from the wall. “We don’t want a repeat of Blaine over something so petty.”
And it was petty. This whole situation started out of petty jealousy and greed. That was why Accardo attacked Adam’s family. He wanted his control of the drug trade in the city, not realizing he’d never have gotten it. He would have killed Adam and there would have been Ace or me ready to take his place as leader. We had always been strong alone, but together, we were nearly unbreakable. And we’d never been more in sync than we were now, sharing a family. Our plans for two weeks, a petty string of retaliations, would end in his heartbreak. I couldn’t say that man didn’t deserve it. He did. He deserved every fucking thing he got.
But the backlash that was sure to come — the blood, the tears that would be shed — were we ready for it?