Chapter 33
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
ALEX
Kelvin picked up the whisky bottle that sat in the middle of the desk and poured himself a generous measure, knocking it back in one.
“You really pissed off ol’ Mehmet. The fat fucker’s not used to being spoken to like that, especially in front of one of his goons.
” Kelvin got to his feet, rolled out his shoulders and sighed.
“It now means I’ll have to waste time sweet talking him around, flattering his bloated ego.
Thanks for that, babe.” He raised his empty glass in a mocking salute.
“Why are you here? Have you finally come to your senses and ditched your little dream of living a dull, suburban life?”
“You know why I’m here. That nasty little stunt you pulled yesterday.”
“Don’t know what you’re talking about.” Kelvin grinned, his eyes wide with fake innocence. At my sides, my hands bunched into fists.
“Don’t fuck around with me, Kelvin.”
“Awww, was poor Kitten frightened?” he sneered. “Did he shit his pants? Tell you who was frightened, it was that nasty cat. The little fucker scratched—”
I lunged at him, pulling my arm back, shooting it forward, all my weight behind it. My fist smashed into Kelvin’s face. Bone crunched, and blood spayed out, droplets splattering over my face before he fell to the floor.
Silence screamed in my ears as Kelvin stared up at me, eyes incredulous as blood flooded from his shattered nose. I was breathing hard, panting. My heart galloped in my chest.
“You leave him alone, Kel. You leave us both alone. It’s over. You and me, me and the business. It’s finished.” I swung around, wanting only to get out and never look back.
“Oh, babe. You still don’t get it, do you?” Kelvin said, his voice thick and nasally.
I stopped and turned, when I should have carried on walking.
Kelvin had got to his feet. Blood smeared across his face where he’d wiped it away with the back of his hand. Where there had been shock in his eyes, now there was only ice.
“I know you spent all day yesterday with Parker, wasting all that time. Because you know, I know, and now little Kitten knows, that there’s no skipping off into the sunset for the pair of you.
What you do, what we do, it’s a job for life, not just for fucking Christmas.
Got to hand it to your precious Kitten. He’s got you buried so deep in him you’ve forgotten who it is kept you alive and safe all these years. ”
“Don’t you dare—”
“Don’t I dare what?” He was around the desk in an instant, in my space, close enough that I could see the vein pulsing in his temple. “Talk about your little boyfriend? The one who’s making you forget where you came from? Who you belong to?”
“I don’t belong to anyone. I’m not a possession.” I’m not your possession, not anymore… “It’s over Kel. Accept it.” It was time to go, to not look back. I never even got near the door.
“But it’s not over, because it never can be. We keep building the wall higher and stronger until we’re totally untouchable.”
“I don’t want to be untouchable.” I swung around on my heel. “I want to feel something real.”
“And he makes you feel, does he? He makes you feel real?” Kelvin grinned. His eyes were bright and feverish. Blood smeared his lips, his teeth.
“Yes,” I said simply. “He does.”
Kelvin went very still, his breathing heavy and wet through his broken nose. When he spoke again, his voice had dropped to a rough, guttural whisper. “I would have killed for you. Have killed for you.”
The admission hung in the air between us, confirming what I’d always known but had chosen not to confront.
“And now you think you can just walk away? Sorry to tell you this, babe, but the story doesn’t end like that. There’s no happy ever after for you and Kitten.”
I turned my back on him, only wanting to be gone.
That was when he lunged.
The impact was brutal, his shoulder slamming into my back like a battering ram, sending us both crashing forward into the wall.
My head snapped forward, smashing against plaster.
Pain exploded across my ribs, all the air in my lungs squeezed out of me as his weight crushed me, pinning me in place, his breath hot and ragged against my neck.
“Get off me,” I snarled, twisting violently, driving my elbow back. It connected with a solid thud into his ribs. Kelvin grunted, but his grip tightened, relentless as iron.
“You’re mine,” he growled, his voice thick with blood and warped obsession. “You’ve always been. Since that first day in the foster home. Mine to protect. Mine to keep safe.”
Fear burnt through me, sharpening into fury. My limbs moved on instinct, powered by desperation. I bucked my body violently, throwing my weight backward, using Kelvin’s momentum to shove him off balance. The moment his grip faltered, I twisted sharply. Breaking free, I turned to face him.
His fist came fast, too fast for me to react. Pain exploded across my jaw, white-hot and blinding, sending stars bursting across my vision. The force knocked me off my feet, my knees hitting the floor with a jarring thud. Blood filled my mouth, metallic and bitter, as I struggled to push myself up.
But Kelvin was already on me.
He dropped his full weight onto me, forcing me down onto my back.
His hands clawed at my shoulders, his fingers digging into my arms like iron clamps.
I fought back on pure instinct, thrashing beneath him, my body twisting wildly in an effort to break free.
My knee shot up, striking between his legs with brutal precision.
Kelvin howled, his grip loosening as pain overtook him.
I shoved him off with all the strength I could muster, scrambling to my feet.
My head throbbed, my jaw ached, and my vision swam, but I stayed upright, my body fuelled by adrenaline, coiled and tense, ready to fight to the bloody end.
Kelvin didn’t stay down for long.
He surged to his feet, a man with nothing to lose, his eyes dark and wild, his face twisted with rage.
“You think you can just walk away?” he spat, his voice raw and venomous.
“After everything I’ve done for you? You don’t get to leave me, Alex.
You don’t get to leave me for him. Not for your fucking Kitten.
Not for anybody.” He lunged again, before I could even think to move, his bulk slammed into me.
We crashed into the desk, the edge digging sharply into my lower back. Glass shattered as the whisky bottle toppled to the floor, shards scattering across the floorboards. Papers flew into the air, raining down around us like ash.
“Fuck you, Kelvin,” I roared, twisting in his grip. My arms screamed in agony as I fought against his strength, his fingers digging into my biceps like claws. “You don’t own me.”
“I gave you everything,” he screamed, his face inches from mine. Blood laced spittle flew from his lips, hitting me in the face. “Everything!”
We grappled, locked in a vicious, desperate struggle. Kelvin was stronger—he always had been—but I was faster, fuelled by a raw, primative need to survive. I bucked sharply, breaking one arm free, and slammed my forearm across his throat. The force drove him back, pinning him against the wall.
For a moment, we froze there, both of us panting, my arm pressing hard against his windpipe. “Let me go,” I ground out, my voice hoarse and shaking with rage. “Just fucking let me go, Kelvin.”
His eyes met mine, dark and wild, filled with fury, devastation, and obsession. “I can’t,” he croaked, his voice rasping against the pressure on his throat. “Don’t you get it, Alex? There is no me without you. There never has been.”
My grip faltered at the naked desperation in his voice. It was all he needed.
His hand shot to his pocket, and I saw it. The flash of metal, the glint of the blade. My stomach turned to ice. Stan. The Stanley knife he’d carried since we were kids. The one he’d pulled on Travis. The one he’d used to carve out his place in the world.
The blade slashed toward me in a blur of movement.
I grabbed his wrist just in time, forcing it up and away, my muscles straining as I fought to keep the knife at bay. “Put it down, Kel,” I shouted. “This isn’t us.”
“This is exactly us,” he snarled. He pushed harder, all his strength bearing down on me. “Fighting to survive. Doing whatever it takes. That’s who we are, Alex. That’s who we’ve always been.”
We crashed against the door, the impact rattling the frame. His arm twisted between us, the knife flashing close to my ribs. His breath was hot on my face, his eyes burning into mine.
“I did it all for you,” he hissed. “Every single thing. And I’d do it all again. All of it.”
The words sent a fresh wave of rage through me. With a guttural roar, I twisted sharply, slamming his arm against the doorframe. The knife slipped from his grip, clattering to the floor between us. But Kelvin wasn’t done. He shoved me backward, his fists flying.
One punch caught my shoulder, another my ribs. Pain exploded with each impact, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t stop. My arm shot forward, fist connecting with his jaw, the force jolting through my arm. He staggered, but only for a moment.
His hand found the knife on the floor, and he came at me again.
I lunged for his arm, my hands closing around his wrist before he could strike. We struggled, the blade glinting between us, our bodies locked in a deadly stalemate. My muscles were on fire, but I didn’t let go.
“Kelvin, stop,” I shouted, my voice cracking, wanting this to be over.
His strength surged, and the knife inched closer, the tip brushing against my side. Panic flared in my chest, and I shoved back with everything I had.
We stumbled, a blur of limbs and desperation, before the knife found its mark.
A gasp tore from Kelvin’s throat. We froze, both of us breathing hard. Kelvin’s eyes met mine. For a moment, neither of us spoke. Neither of us moved.
And then we looked down.
Both our hands gripped the handle of the knife that was buried in his inner thigh. Blood pulsed from the wound, spreading out and soaking his trousers, pooling around our feet, warm and sticky.
“No,” I whispered, horror rising in my throat. “No, no, no…”
Kelvin’s knees buckled and he crumpled. I tried to catch him, but staggered beneath his weight, the two of us collapsed.
The knife dislodged from his thigh, and clattered to the floor.
I pressed hard on the wound with one hand as with the other I scrambled for my mobile.
Slippery with blood, it dropped from my fingers.
“Kel, hold on,” I pleaded, my voice breaking, my hand shaking as I grabbed up my phone.
“Stay with me. Don’t you dare leave me like this.
Don’t you dare.” All my white hot anger at what he’d done vanished as panic, fear, grief and god alone knew what else, gripped me.
I couldn’t let him die, I wouldn’t let him. An ambulance, I needed 999.
My phone was knocked out of my hand.
“No. Don’t.” Kelvin’s eyes found mine. There was no wild anger, not anymore. “Alex?” he murmured, his voice already weak. “Did I… did I hurt you? You know I’d never want to do that.”
The question broke something in me. Even now, when his life was bleeding out onto the floor, he still fought to protect me.
“No, you never hurt me. Never.” I choked the words out as I pressed harder on the wound.
The blood was everywhere, hot and slick between my fingers, soaking us both, buckets and buckets of it, spreading out like a lake. So much fucking blood.
“I’m not letting you go, Kel. This time it’s me who makes the decisions.” My hand found and tightened around my phone, but we both knew it was already too late.
He smiled, a ghost of his old sardonic grin.
“Always did my best to keep you safe, babe. Sometimes that meant making hard decisions. First time I saw you—” He gasped, as his brows knotted in pain.
“First time I saw you, I knew what I had to do.
‘Cause I loved you… from the beginning… ‘cause you needed me. You were so scared. I knew then I’d do anything to keep you safe.”
“I know,” I sobbed, my tears falling freely. “I know you did, Kel. I loved you too. You know that, right?”
He smiled, small and filled with pain as his eyes fluttered, his grip on my hand weakening. “I didn’t know how else to love you,” he confessed, each word a struggle. “Didn’t know how to keep you except to build walls around us. To make you need me.”
“I do need you, I’ll always need you. Just stay, please.”
But his eyes were growing distant, focusing on something beyond my shoulder. “I kept you safe for as long as I could. Made you strong.” His voice, like the light in his eyes, was fading.
“Kel, please,” I begged, gathering him closer, rocking him in my arms. “Don’t leave me. Not like this.”
His body grew heavy, his breathing shallower with every irregular breath. “Everything I did,” he murmured, his voice a whisper, “was for you. Only you. Always you.”
The light in his eyes died as his body slackened in my arms.
He was gone.
A sound tore from my throat, primal and broken, as I held him. The boy who’d protected me, the man who’d built an empire around me, the shadow who’d followed me, kept me safe, suffocated me with his desperate, obsessive love. Gone. All of it gone.
I don’t know how long I knelt there, cradling his body, my tears falling onto his still face. Minutes or hours, time lost all meaning. The blood was drying on my hands, sticky and dark, when I reached, not for my smartphone, but the cheap burner.
It rang twice before it was answered.
“McNally,” I said, my voice hollow. “It’s Alex Cade. There’s been an… incident at Euphoria.”
A pause on the other end. “What kind of incident?”
I looked down at Kelvin’s still face. “Just get here.” I ended the call and pushed the phone back into my pocket. Then, I gathered Kelvin’s body closer, pressing my forehead against his.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, though I wasn’t sure what I was apologising for. For needing to leave behind the life he’d built for me? For everything we’d shared, had been together, and never would be again?
For not understanding sooner that his love, and obsession with keeping me safe, had become a prison for us both?
As I waited for McNally, I closed my eyes and held on to the only constant I’d known in my life.
The wall was crumbling, brick by brick, but the cost had been higher than I ever could have imagined.