Daddy Brigadier (The Coalition Kings #1)

Prologue

LEXI SUMMER

Fuck! This college party is boring!

The music blasts, drowning out the girl’s laughter as she spills her drink on my arm.

A fucking sorry would be nice, but she’s too drunk to even notice what she’s done.

I casually wipe the wet droplet from my skin onto the shirt of the guy standing next to me.

He’s unfazed, too engrossed watching his fraternity brothers tossing a small white ball into cups filled with beer.

I hardly hear my phone ring, but it vibrates in my pocket, so my hand delves in to retrieve it. It’s Ruby again. My finger clicks on decline, then I tuck the phone back into my pocket once more.

“Is something wrong?” the frat boy I’ve been flirting with for the last hour asks, clearly sensing my distraction.

I lean closer, lightly tracing my finger along his chin. “I’m bored.” And he knows exactly what that means.

“How about we head upstairs to my room?” A playful smirk graces his lips as he takes a sip of his beer, his eyes lingering on me.

“That sounds fun.” My hand glides over his chiseled abs, tantalizingly close to his groin.

He slams down the beer on the table, and I quickly snatch the bottle of cheap whiskey from the table, struggling to balance it with my red cup. Immediately, he guides me up the stairs.

A solitary shrill whistle comes as if from nowhere, capturing our attention.

The frat boy—his firm hand now gripping my ass—flashes a grin, gesturing toward his frat brother chugging down a beer as if it’s the last one he will ever drink. “I got the next game.”

His room is shrouded in darkness, heaps of random clothing items scattered here and there across the floor, and just the softest light flickering in the corner, mood lighting—not that we need any.

He draws me in, his solid cock pressing against my waist, and he leans in for a kiss.

I pull back, a playful smile on my lips.

“Let’s have a drink first!” Raising the whiskey bottle, I pour a shot and down it in a single gulp.

With my head buzzing, I push him onto the bed, and he leans back on his arms, his eyes fixed on me. “You’re fucking hot.”

Still holding the whiskey, I saunter over to his desk and pour a generous amount into a cup, then glance back at him, a teasing smile on my lips. “You better have condoms.”

“Fuck yeah, I do,” he says, turning to rummage through his nightstand. “My dad would kill me if I got a chick pregnant in college.”

He’s too busy tearing open the fiddly condom packet to notice me slipping my fingers in between my breasts. I retrieve a tiny bottle tucked inside my bra and pour the drug into the cup. A few drops spill onto his laptop, and I notice a camera perched on top.

“Here,” I coax him, urging him to take a sip as I settle on his lap, tilting his head back and pouring the alcohol into his mouth.

“Shit!” he gasps, choking on the liquid as it dribbles down his chin.

The sight of it oddly tempts me to lean down and catch it with my tongue, pushing him back against the mattress. “Baby, come ride me.”

I climb onto him, wrapping my thighs around his waist. My fingers snake inside his pocket to find his cell phone.

He’s barely conscious by this time, looking sleepy, but happy at the same time. Leaning down, I take a playful bite of his exposed neck, and he jerks up, giving me just enough of his eyes to unlock the phone.

I clamber off him, looking back to see the stupid frat boy who is now completely passed out on the bed.

I open his laptop to find the password screen, just a minor inconvenience because within a minute, the password shows up, stored right there on his phone.

Bypassing the other files, I quickly manage to find the folder containing a sex video of him and the daughter of a prominent businessman.

With a few keystrokes, I upload the video to a secure server.

Mission accomplished and payment in full!

I slam the laptop shut and head for the door, but then pause. Those unsuspecting, drunken college girls likely had no clue they were being recorded, did they?

My annoyance is enough to make me turn back, reopen the laptop, and erase the hard drive.

Hurrying down the stairs, the guy from earlier is standing in front of me, “Hey, where’s my boy?”

“Taking a shower,” I say, striding by, my shoulder brushing his as I walk past him and out the back door. Just as I’m cutting across the fraternity lawn, my phone vibrates.

Without thinking, my finger instinctively moves to silence the call.

Ruby then phones three more times before I finally answer. “What’s up?”

“Lexi, I need help,” she cries, sounding desperate and upset.

“What’s going on?” My pace quickens, turning my walk into a run toward the car.

“I’m at a private party, and things are getting out of hand. Please come get me.” Men are yelling in the background—ones whose voices instill fear in me for Ruby.

“Send me your location.” A click follows. “Hello?” Silence greets me on the other end.

A minute later, her text comes through with a hotel name and room number.

Frantically, I try to call her back several times, but each time it goes straight to voicemail. Ruby’s urgent phone call doesn’t feel right. I quickly share the location with a friend. I’m going to need backup.

The hotel is located in a dangerous part of the city, and I park in the alley, slipping in the back door.

It’s one of those places where paying in cash lets them avoid recording your name, so the front desk guy barely looks up from his newspaper as I walk past, climbing the stairs to the fourth floor.

I find the door locked and no one answers my knock. A maintenance man is working in a nearby room, so I slip him $200 to unlock the door. He’s grateful—and not even remotely interested in what I’m doing.

“If I’m not out in fifteen minutes, call the police.”

He looks momentarily taken aback and confused, then nods.

My hand slides into my pocket, feeling the cold metal of my pocketknife.

I enter, switching on the light to see that the room is a wreck, filled with liquor bottles and scattered drugs everywhere.

It’s quiet, and it appears no one is here.

Casting the maintenance man one final glance, I close the door.

I enter the bathroom and immediately spot Ruby lying on the floor, bloodied and motionless. Checking for a pulse, I feel distinctly relieved to detect the faintest thumping in her wrist.

There’s a sudden noise, and I run back into the room, hoping it’s Robyn, who is supposed to meet me here.

My heart leaps into my throat, my hand clenching against my neck when I see that it’s not her.

“We’ve been waiting for you.” Simple words, carrying so much weight.

Two men are standing in the doorway, and my gaze shifts to the man looking north of fifty. The man’s hand wraps around the door handle, trapping me.

“Did you do this to her?” My eyes dart between them.

“We got bored waiting for you,” the younger man says as he takes a step closer, his blond hair and tanned skin perfectly matching the sharp, lopsided grin.

His gaze lingers on me like a stain. “I’m going to fuck the hell out of you.”

When he touches my arm with even the slightest contact as he moves behind me, I quickly elbow him right in the side of his abs, making him groan, “Fucking bitch!”

“Touch me, and I’ll kill you!” The words escape my lips before I can process them.

They both mock me with deep laughter, as if my threat were a joke.

Then the older man steps forward, making me instinctively back away until I’m pressed against the younger guy. The man behind me seizes my wrists, firmly pinning me against him, no doubt getting some perverse pleasure from it.

Struggling and flailing against his grip, I am desperate to break free, but he holds on tightly.

The older man reaches out to touch my face, and I instinctively lunge forward, my teeth snapping in an attempt to bite his finger.

He has no idea who he’s messing with.

“I like it when girls play rough.” He rakes his bottom lip through his teeth. “It makes my dick hard. Bet it makes him hard, too. You can feel it, can’t you?” He thrusts his hips to emphasize the revolting point, setting off the younger one, grinning wildly.

I don’t like the way he’s staring at me, his eyes flashing something menacing. “You’re fucking disgusting,” I say, spitting in his face.

He doesn’t even attempt to wipe the spit off himself. Instead, he seems to savor it as if it were a prized trophy. He clamps his hand around my throat, his fingers digging in as if he intends to take my very last breath. “You’re going to pay for that.”

He releases my throat, and I gasp, my chest tightening on a deep inhale.

With a menacing laugh, he nods at the man behind me, who then delivers a sharp kick to the back of my knees. I crumple to the ground, yet the man behind holds me in place, his grip still firm around my wrists, pinning them behind my back.

I fight to pull my hand away, but he holds my palm right there, grinding against it. His gaze seems to burn over my shoulder, and his breath is hot, reeking of liquor.

“Hurry, I want my turn,” he complains, making my skin crawl.

“You got the other girl. This one is all mine,” the older man replies, licking his lips as he runs his thumb over my mouth.

I wince at his touch, and a wave of revulsion washes over me.

My hands curl into tight fists against my back, a strong urge to kill this guy swelling within me. If only I could break free from the man behind, the one whose strength is beyond mine, while we’re in this position.

The man unbuckles his belt and pulls down his slacks, slipping his hard penis from his underwear. It’s big, straining at the skin, and pointing right at me. Staring at it, I’m frozen in shock, trying to scream, but my voice has become trapped somewhere in my chest.

This can’t be happening. All the fucked-up things I’ve done, the predicaments I’ve managed to escape from, how the hell did I walk into this one?

The man before me strokes himself, bringing his penis to my mouth.

My eyes close, my mouth shaking in defiance away from the head of his penis. He pulls my hair, jerking me off the ground. My eyes open, welling with tears like some pathetic girl.

He rubs his tip against my mouth. “Be a good girl. You might enjoy it.” His words meant to humiliate me, framed as if he were helping me. But his every touch makes my stomach twist painfully, roiling. I bite down, pressing my lips tight together, desperate not to let him inside my mouth.

He takes his time, his arousal hovering in front of my lips. Then he opens my mouth with this thumb. “I want to see those pretty lips around my dick.”

There’s a sharp knock on the door. “Run!” I yell desperately, unwilling to let Robyn get hurt too. “Run!” I plead, urging her to escape.

The blond guy releases me, running over to the door.

“Are you okay in there? I’m calling the cops!” the maintenance man yells through the door. He tries to force the door open, but the blond guy slams it shut, blocking his way.

The man looming over me is momentarily distracted by the commotion, giving me a second to reach into my pocket. As he turns back, he snarls, “I guess we’ll need to take a rain check.” His voice is menacing, each word dripping with a promise.

He’s preoccupied with zipping up his pants, completely unaware as I flick open my knife. Gripping the blade firmly in my fist, I swing my arm around and cut across his cheek.

“Bitch!” he shouts, slapping my cheek hard.

I crash to the ground, clutching my face, tears brimming for the second time.

He grabs my cheeks, squeezing them tightly enough to leave marks, pulling his face unnervingly close to mine. “I know who you are,” he warns, an unmistakable threat lacing his words.

That’s when I notice the golden ring on his finger, showcasing a symbol I recognize all too well.

The man edges away from me, heading toward the door. My gaze lifts, and I see the maintenance guy walk in, a gun barrel pressed against his head, his hands lifted high in surrender. As the men sweep out into the hall, they vanish in an instant, leaving an eerie, overwhelming silence.

“I’m calling the police.” The man grabs his phone from his pocket, his eyes wild and panicked.

“No! Help me get her out, and I’ll make sure you get $5,000 for staying silent.” He looks over me, seeing Ruby lying on the floor. He slips the phone back into his pocket, rushing over to her.

I reach for the table, relying on it as a sturdy support to help me rise to my feet. Immediately, I recognize the drugs on the table by their distinctive logo. I know exactly who the dealer is.

Robyn rushes through the door, her eyes falling on Ruby, silent in shock.

“Help!” I shout, desperately trying to wrap the nearly dead body in a robe.

Robyn shakes off her confusion, wrapping her arms tight around Ruby as we desperately try to carry her out of the room.

We hurry down the maintenance elevator and gently lay her in the back of the car, with Robyn cradling her in her arms. She shouts, “We need to get her to the hospital!”

“We can’t!” I yell back.

“Lexi! She’s going to die!”

I steal a glance at Ruby, who looks almost lifeless, all the color completely drained from her face.

“Okay!” I concede, my hands trembling as I grip the steering wheel, weaving in and out of traffic, accelerating.

We rush to the nearest emergency room, pulling into the drop-off zone. I cover my head with my hoodie and open the door, carefully lifting Ruby from the car and leaning her against the wall beside the entrance. I jump back into the car and drive off quickly before anyone sees us.

A wave of despair crashes over me as I leave my friend behind, my eyes glued to the rearview mirror, where I see hospital staff springing into action to help my friend who’s barely alive. It’s a heart-wrenching moment, but I don’t know what else to do.

What happened tonight? I swipe away my useless tears, haunted by the sight of my friend’s lifeless body on the bathroom floor.

The man’s words play in my mind. “I know who you are.” The weight of my past feels heavy.

“What now?” Robyn asks, her voice trembling as her lips quiver. Her eyes are filled with tears, glistening as they threaten to spill over.

“We burn this motherfucking city down and make those assholes pay for what they did tonight!”

“How will we find them?” she asks, wrapping her arms around herself as if trying to shield away the dread of the nightmares that lie ahead.

I know exactly where to start. The image of his gold ring is etched in my mind—it belongs to the world’s largest Bratva, based right here in New York City, under the control of Andrei Savin and his family. “We’re going to track down the Coalition.”