Chapter 14
14
ZARINA
Theo was cold and stiff at the wheel of my car.
I don’t know how he got the spare key, but the fact that he showed up to the pub in my own car was a whole new level of insult that I didn’t need.
The fact that he was now giving me the silent treatment, like I was a child in trouble for her actions, was only making my blood boil hotter.
I’d been in a very public place.
I’d been surrounded by innocent bystanders and witnesses.
What the fuck did he think was going to happen?
When I wanted to leave, they let me leave.
When Theo was being a dick, they stood up for me.
So, who did I really need protecting from?
“I’m sorry,” Theo said in a whisper eventually, like it pained him to do so. “I didn’t mean to be so harsh, but…”
“But you’re scared of my brother,” I finished his sentence for him with a roll of my eyes.
“Zarina, I was scared for you .”
I frowned up at him, looking at him for the first time since he’d pretty much thrown me in the passenger seat of my own car. His knuckles were tight around the wheel, and he shook his head.
“Look,” he said with a huff. “I know I’m new to all of this. I know that you think that I’m just Antoni’s errand boy, which I guess in a way I am… But that’s besides the point, Zar. I’ve been following you around for weeks, we’ve been hanging out, spending time together. I feel like… I feel like we’re friends, aren’t we?”
I sighed, and couldn’t help but soften at the tension in his voice.
“Maybe not, I don’t know,” he ran his hands through his hair in frustration. “Either way, I know what these guys are capable of, and I do not want you to get hurt, okay?”
“They weren’t going to—” I rolled my eyes again.
“I know, Zarina,” he cut me off. “I know that you think that they wouldn’t hurt you. I’m sure that within their own circle, they are friendly enough guys, right? I get it. But that doesn’t change the fact that you are the enemy.”
Sure, he was making very logical arguments. I wasn’t stupid. I understood everything he was saying. But that didn’t mean I had to like it, or even agree with him.
My experiences with the Redline Angels had been very different to that of the rest of my family, and I supposed I couldn’t fault them for trying to protect me.
But it was a line that was blurring more and more every day, that line between caring and belittling.
Was Toni so adamant about having Theo watch me because he thought that the Redliners were just that evil, or because he thought I was dumb enough to get myself killed if I was left alone for long enough?
I tried not to think about it.
“We don’t know what they’re willing to do in order to get at Antoni right now, alright? And sure, this guy that you like, or whatever,” he grumbled, “he might be fine and might have the purest of intentions. But that doesn’t mean that the rest of them will.”
I nodded, looking out the window and watching the lights of the city draw closer as we headed back towards my apartment.
I felt like a fool, once again.
Usually, my intuition, my gut, was always right about someone. Perhaps I trusted it to a fault. Perhaps I trusted my own reasoning and my own feelings more than I trusted the experience of the people who loved me and were only trying to keep me safe.
I didn’t know how to convince them, or how to make them see, that these people, those men in the bar, were not bad guys.
Well, maybe they were bad guys in the normal sense of the word. Just like my father, my brothers, and everyone else involved with The Family was. But I knew deep down that they wouldn’t try to hurt me.
None of them had pressed for information about The Family, none of them had even asked about it. The only thing that had been exchanged were some playful jabs at each other’s expense, but that was a normal friend thing, right?
Even though they made it clear that they did not like my family or my brother, I never felt like they held that against me personally.
“I get where you’re coming from, Zarina. Okay? My family is a lot like yours. But I still know that they would look out for me in a situation like this.”
I wiped at the stray tear that fell from my eyes, hoping that Theo wouldn’t see. It wasn’t a sad tear, it was an angry one. But I just didn’t know who I was more angry at—them, or myself.
“What’s your family like?” I asked even though my voice cracked, desperate to lead the conversation in any other direction.
Theo took the bait, and huffed out a laugh. “Overbearing. Traditional to a fault. Involved in things that I maybe don’t understand or particularly agree with. Sound familiar?”
“Like what? Like us?”
“Mmm,” he considered, pursing his lips as he searched for the words. “I don’t think any family is quite like yours.”
“I’ll give you that,” I smiled at him.
He returned it and seemed to visibly relax a little now he wasn’t worried that I might jump out of the moving car or scream at him until we arrived.
“I guess they’re a little similar. Just without the… you know,” he chuckled, hinting at my family’s less than honourable source of wealth. “I come from generations of some of the most successful businessmen on this side of Australia.”
“So you’re a born and bred rich kid?” I quirked an eyebrow.
Now that he had brought it up, I could see it.
“Yes,” Theo admitted, seemingly a little embarrassed by it.
“So what the hell are you doing working for my brother? Shouldn’t you be living the future-CEO dream instead of following my ass around all day?”
He sighed, scrubbing at his jaw for a moment.
“There are different kinds of crime, Zar,” he said softly. “I appreciate that your family doesn’t try to pretend they’re something they’re not. They don’t feign innocence or make excuses or deny to themselves what they’re doing. They embrace it.”
I nodded, and I actually understood.
“I don’t know if you remember,” Theo cleared his throat. “But we actually went to school together.”
“We did?” I frowned, looking at Theo a little harder and trying to see if I could recall his face.
“Well, I’m a few years older than you. We didn’t really cross paths. I think I was in the same grade as Sammy. I just remember admiring your family even then. Everyone feared you, even the parents,” he chuckled. “That’s power that no amount of money could ever buy. I think it annoyed my dad a little.”
I smiled, remembering the few times my dad picked us up from school.
It had always been a mixture of annoying and amusing, watching the teachers grovel, the parents quickly shuffle away, and the other kids stare in awe like they were seeing a movie villain come to life.
“What’s your last name?” I raked my memory for any hint of Theo in my past, but found none.
“Lawe.”
My jaw dropped.
“Lawe? Like the Lawefield Shopping Centres?”
Theo’s mouth pressed into a hard line as he nodded.
“ Get. Fucked .”
He barked a laugh at that, while I scrambled to sit up further in my seat.
“If you don’t want to inherit a bajillion shopping centres, I will trade you right here right now,” I said with wide eyes. I held out my hand for him to shake on it, but he playfully slapped it away.
“My dad’s not dead! He still owns them, not me!”
“Come on! Just one wittle shopping centre.” I jutted out my bottom lip, and I was on my knees in the seat.
Theo’s mood had lightened, and I smiled at him as he chuckled, swatting me away while he tried to concentrate on the road. I knew that the kids we went to school with were all rich—but Theo was really-fuckin -rich.
While I could understand the issues he might have had with his family, I still couldn’t quite understand why he wouldn’t just take his trust fund and do what he wanted forever. Surely he didn’t need to be working his way up the ranks for a crime family.
Why work at all?
I supposed maybe he felt similar to me and why I could never give up BoredHeaux. I didn’t want to just be the mafia heiress. I wanted something to pour into, to dedicate my life and time to, to create a name for myself. Not just carry on the reputation that had been handed to me.
Maybe Theo and I were more alike than I thought.
“Wait,” I frowned, finally paying attention to our surroundings once again. The city lights were gone, so was the traffic. We passed mansion after mansion. The street was more familiar than any other I knew. “You were gonna take me home, right?”
Theo offered me a sad smile, and I knew that I was wrong.
“Fuck,” I huffed, slumping back into my seat and glaring at the sight of Antoni’s home.
Well, our old family home.
As soon as Antoni became Don, Mum moved out. It was only a few weeks after Dad passed, and the woman was probably in no state to be packing up a lifetime of things and moving.
Of course, she had been the one to insist, as it was what our dad would have wanted.
It was the Don’s home.
There were, as usual, a mass of cars littered all over the massive driveway. Any unsuspecting passerby might think that they were hosting a party. But I was sure by now that the neighbours would be used to the sight.
Day and night, people came and went.
And as expected, once I stepped foot into the foyer and looked around, the usual chatter of absolute chaos filled the space. But even I could sense that something was different. It wasn’t chaos for the sake of chaos.
Something had happened.
I could feel it deep in my stomach. It churned and twisted and felt like a heavy weight had been dropped on top of my abdomen. A flurry of swears and curses rushed past me as the people did, all their voices strung high and tight.
Whatever it was, it was bad.
I caught eyes with Theo, and I could tell by the look on his face that he was thinking the exact same thing.
We followed the commotion to the dining room, peering around the group of bodies to get a glimpse of the figure that sat crouched over on the chair at the head of the table.
“Toni?” I gasped, pushing my way through the crowd and dropping to my knees in front of him.
He looked up and forced an unsettling attempt at a smile.
My eyes scanned him, looking for the source of the blood trail that led to where he sat, but found none. Instead, he curled back over, hands on his thighs and wincing.
“What’s happening?”
“Not a lot,” he tried to sound casual, waving me off with one hand. “You?”
“Move. Move!” I heard Rome’s voice bark from behind us. Her eyebrows were pinched with worry, but faded once she noticed me. “Oh, thank god,” she sighed and slung her armful of rags and various medical appliances across the table with a clatter. “You’re better at this. Fix him.”
I looked back towards my brother.
“What’s wrong with him?” I frowned.
This time, Antoni shot me an apologetic smile before lifting his hand off his thigh. As soon as he did, the blood began to pour.
“Shit. Toni.” I shook my head, slapping his hand away and replacing it with a bundle of rags so he would stop ejecting blood like a fucking water fountain. “Get me a belt or something, and somebody ring Valerie. Like, now.”
“Mother’s orders! Pip pip!” Antoni clapped twice, and then chuckled silently to himself while his merry men shuffled out of the room.
“I see you’ve drugged him already,” I said over my shoulder to Rome as she slipped her belt from her jeans and handed it to me.
“I had to do something to shut him up,” Rome shrugged with her hands up.
I chuckled, wrapping the belt around Toni’s thigh, above what looked to be a gunshot wound.
It wasn’t the first bullet wound I’d treated, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last. I had a strong stomach, and decent knowledge about patching up this type of injury.
But this one was different.
The large gaping mess in Toni’s thigh was hard to look at, and I understood immediately why Rome would have had to drug him so thoroughly.
“Is Val on her way?” I asked as Sammy entered the room, hanging up his phone.
He nodded once.
“Did you tell her it was a medical thing? Like, to bring her kit?”
Sammy opened his mouth and then closed it a moment later, holding up one finger and backing out of the room while he put his phone to his ear again.
I shook my head and rolled my eyes.
And I was supposedly the one with no common sense?
Sammy returned a few moments later and sank into the seat next to Toni, scrolling on his phone and leaning back a little, as if nothing in the world mattered.
Antoni’s head rolled from side to side as he hummed a little tune to himself, thoroughly enjoying being high as a kite. Rome had disappeared again, and I could hear her barking orders to people in the other room.
“Sammy,” Toni whispered, slapping at Sam’s knee and trying to get his attention.
“Mmm?” Sam grunted, but didn’t look away from the video he was watching.
When did everyone become so desensitised to this stuff? When did our brother getting shot become such a common event that it barely garnered the worry or attention that it would have taken to look up from a phone screen?
“Sa-Aaamm,” Toni slurred.
“What?” he finally groaned.
Toni narrowed his eyes at Sammy, glaring as he slowly raised his middle finger and waved it around in front of his face.
“Cut it out,” I snapped as Sammy launched forward to swat at Antoni’s hand.
Toni pressed his lips together, trying to contain his laughter, but it came out as a strangled sound through his nose instead.
He kept his eyes on Sam as he slowly brought his finger up again, this time pressing it to his lips in a silent order to stay quiet.
Sam shook his head, turning his attention back to his phone.
“What happened to you?” I snatched Toni’s hand, placing it on top of the rags to keep pressure on the wound while I started to tidy up the bloodied paper towels and general mess that had been made.
“Redliner motherfuckers,” Toni answered in a high-pitched sing-song.
Rome reappeared, her hair now tied up on top of her head in a messy bun that meant that she was stressed out. She seemed to glance towards the door every few moments, probably waiting for Valerie to arrive and put her mind at ease.
“They were waiting for us,” she took over for Toni, who was explaining the situation horribly. “We were supposed to be meeting with a new buyer. When we showed up for the meeting, there was no buyer. Only two blokes on motorcycles hiding in the alley. They opened fire as soon as we got out of the car and then sped off. Toni got hit.”
“But are you sure they were Redliners?”
“Are you fucking serious right now?” Rome spun to glare at me.
I flinched backwards a little bit, never having been on the receiving end of Rome’s fury. Her dark eyes grew darker as they searched my face frantically.
She was tired, that much was obvious, and perhaps I should have kept my theories to myself until Toni was better.
“Sorry.” I cast my gaze to the floor. “I just mean… all this stuff that’s been happening lately seems very uncharacteristic for the Redliners, right? I heard you all talking about it the other week. I just—I don’t know.” I sighed because I didn’t know why I bothered opening my mouth. “Maybe there are other suspects, right?”
“No, Zar,” Rome said flatly. “There are no other suspects because we are not at war with any other motorcycle fucking clubs.”
“Right,” I put my hands up. “It was just a suggestion. Sorry.”
The sound of the door opening was my cue to leave. I packed up my things as Valerie burst into the room with Ren on her heels. I could still feel Rome’s heated glare on me, but I didn’t dare look at her again.
Val offered me a quick smile as a greeting before she passed me to tend to Toni. Ren stopped in the hallway and was being briefed by another man about the situation.
I left the dining room and searched the house for Theo.
He was standing in a small group of men of a similar rank, all speaking in hushed voices. Their eyes shone with novelty and excitement as one of the guys who was present for the ordeal recounted the event in detail.
There was the difference.
That mixture of fear, excitement, newness—that was what separated the rookies from the rest.
They spoke of Antoni like he was a hero, a legend, guiding all of them out of there and shielding his wife with his body even as he bled.
But that same legend was drugged and giggling in the dining room while his brother watched TikTok because it was more interesting than a gunshot wound.
I tugged on the back of Theo’s shirt to get his attention. He spun to look down at me, his smile fading in an instant and his eyebrows drawing together with concern.
“Are you alright?” he stepped forward, asking me in a hush.
I nodded. “Can you take me home now please?”
He gestured towards the door with an outstretched arm, saying a quick goodbye to his colleagues before following close behind as I rushed for the exit.
Theo didn’t push on the drive home.
He didn’t ask questions, didn’t pry for answers, and I was grateful for it. Maybe he understood to some extent, or maybe he could just sense how close I was to a breakdown.
“Do you want me to walk you up?” Theo asked quietly as he pulled into the parking garage of my building.
I nodded, and he rounded the car to open my door and help me out of the passenger seat. Just like our car ride, we stayed silent on the elevator trip up to my floor and the walk to my door.
“Thank you,” I said as I unlocked my door.
Theo nodded once, thankfully understanding the dismissal without me having to ask him to leave, and he turned on his heel and headed back the way we had come.
I closed the door behind me and reached out to find the light switch, flicking it on so that I wasn’t standing in complete darkness.
I knew my reflexes were good.
But I didn’t know that they were so good that only a second passed between me registering the figure standing in my kitchen and my handbag hitting Ashe square in the face.