Chapter Twenty-Five
Calvin
It’s been two hours since I sent Nixie off with my black amex card and so far, she has bought a smoothie and some books. I smile as I continue to look at my bank account whilst I wait for Reid and Tanner to turn up to this meeting that they arranged.
I hated sending Nixie off with Maddox instead of me, but I know he will keep them safe.
“About damn time,” I huff as Reid comes through the club doors with a face like thunder.
“Shut the fuck up,” he mumbles as he sits in the booth across from me. Tanner follows behind, looking pissed as well.
“What sticks have you got lodged so far up your asses that have got you guys in this fucking mood?”
“Are you serious right now?” Reid looks at me, his eyes full of anger. “We are about to do some stupid shit that could backfire on us completely.”
“Me,” Tanner interjects.
“What?” me and Reid say in unison.
“Me. I’m the one that this is going to blow up on if it all goes wrong. I won’t allow it to come back on you guys.”
“Tanner. I’m going to say this once and only once. If you go down, we all go down. You are family to us, and we won’t stand by and let you take this on yourself,” Reid says firmly.
“Yeah, what he said,” I say, agreeing with him.
There is no way I can allow Tanner to take this on by himself. Yes, he may be the one taking the final shot, but we will not be leaving him behind for the wolves. That’s not how we work in this family.
“So, what’s the plan then?” I ask, trying to get back onto the subject at hand.
Reid waves a hand to let Tanner go on.
“Okay, so, Cormac has a rooftop bar at his casino that is only for exclusive meetings. There’s no cameras to hack in that area. The only way I could get footage was from a drone flying around the area very quickly before they could possibly see it.”
“How exclusive are we talking?” I ask.
“Very. Only a handful of people know about it. That includes only one of his security men as well.”
“I can get to the roof of the apartment complex around three to four blocks away, with a sniper. But I will only have a short window of opportunity to take the shot.”
“Okay. But how am I supposed to get him to the rooftop if it’s that exclusive. He won’t just take me up there for a chit chat,” I state.
“I don’t know, ask him to talk about the marriage somewhere private. That’s for you to figure out,” Tanner huffs back at me.
Because it’s that simple, apparently.
“When’s this happening then?” I ask Tanner.
“Tomorrow night”
Well, okay then.
There’s no talk of the plan for the rest of the time we are together. Pulling out my phone to see if I have any more messages from Nixie, the empty lock screen niggles at my head. I haven’t heard from her in a good few hours. I press the call on her name. As the ringing sounds travels down my ear, I start to get more nervous. There’s a feeling in my chest that I can’t quite put my finger on.
“Nixie isn’t answering,” I say as her voicemail comes up.
“I’m sure she’s fine and having fun,” Reid mumbles.
“I doubt that. She’s not exactly the shopping loving type, Reid.”
“She’s with Maddox. Those girls are as safe as can be right now,” Tanner says, trying to reassure me, but it’s not working.
“No. Something’s up. I’m going to the mall to find them.” I start getting up from the table and making my way through the back of the club and out the doors at the back, where my car is sitting.
As I climb in behind the wheel, the passenger door and back door open.
“We’re not going to let you go alone, just in case something is amiss,” Reid says.
“Thanks.” I smile before starting the car up and setting off down the alleyway. A car comes speeding into the entrance of the alleyway, forcing me to stop abruptly.
“What the fuck?” I glance towards the car that is now blocking me from getting out.
“That’s Maddox,” Tanner says as he opens the door and walks toward his car.
I watch from my seat as Maddox stumbles out of his door and walks to the front of this car with his head down, Tanner is in his space in no time, lifting his head up. It’s only then do I see the swollen eyes, cuts across his lips and cheeks and definitely some marks that are going to bruise.
I launch myself from the car and head over to where Tanner and Reid are practically holding him up. Maddox is a big guy. Whoever did this would have had to be a team.
He can take anyone on and always come out on top, but when you have one against multiple, it’s not a fair fight at all, and that thought has my jaw tightening.
Panic then runs through my body. No one else has gotten out of the car. I glance toward the back doors before marching over to them and yanking it open, hoping to see that Nixie and Darcy are sitting there.
My heart drops into the pit of my stomach as the door opens and I find the seats empty. No trace of them in there.
“Where are they?” My voice trembles as I shout towards Maddox.
“Maddox,” I say again as I get in his space, holding his head in my hands, but it just rolls around and mumbles something.
“Cal, he needs help,” Reid states.
“And I need answers,” I retort back.
“Well, you’re not going to get any when he’s in this state, are you!?” Reid shouts back. I know he’s right, but Nixie is missing, and he’s the only one who knows what has happened.
“Fine. Let’s get him inside,” I tell them. I watch as Reid and Tanner put their arms around Maddox and carry him into the club. I glance back at the car, praying that it was all in my head, that Nixie is going to step out of the car with the biggest smile on her fucking beautiful face.
But that doesn’t happen.
“Fuck,” I shout, gripping my hair in frustration before marching back into the club. The main floors have been cleared of staff and the guys aren’t there either, so I can only assume they have carried him up to my office.
“I know a guy I can phone to come and check him over,” Tanner announces as we enter.
I nod at him as I stare at Maddox laying on the couch in the corner of my office. If it wasn’t for the odd twitch that his body does every now and then, I would think he was fucking dead.
I have no idea who would fucking do this, but when I find out, they are dead. It’s one thing to beat a member of my family up to a pulp, but take my girl as well? They have just crossed the line, and no amount of grovelling will fucking save the sons of bitches from me.
The sound of my office door opening and closing drags me away from my spiraling thoughts.
I watch as Tanner’s guy gives Maddox a check over from top to bottom. Maddox winces as he touches his ribs.
“He’s got a few broken ribs, lacerations to his face and one hell of a nasty concussion. Ideally, he needs to go to hospital,” the doctor tells Tanner.
“Yeah, not happening. I’ll be fine, doc.” Maddox whispers and winces again as he tries to sit up.
“Thought so. At least just take it easier and don’t do anything stupid.” The doctor rolls his eyes at him before heading out.
“Thanks, doc,” Tanner waves him off.
He helps Maddox sit up.
“Fuck, that hurts,” Maddox huffs out.
His eyes open as much as they can and he scans around the room before they land on me.
“Cal. Fuck. I’m so—” His voice trembles before I cut him off.
“What happened? Where are the girls?” I ask.
“I don’t know.” He gulps.
My spine goes rigid before I stand from my desk and walk over to him.
“Cal, calm down,” Reid tells me.
“Calm down? Calm fucking down?” I raise my voice. “My fucking girl is missing and you’re telling me to calm down?!”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m fucking doing, Calvin! You won’t get answers when you’re flying off the fucking bat!” he shouts back. “Now sit the fuck back down. Now.”
I stumble back to my chair at the desk and sit down, a million thoughts running through my mind.
“I honestly don’t know what happened.” Maddox winces out as he tries to get comfortable. “The girls were in the lingerie shop, so I was doing my best at averting my eyes away from what they were picking.” He glances toward me. “Then, next thing I know, I’m on the ground with my head throbbing, with two guys kicking the absolute shit out of me.”
My knuckles are white from clenching them so fucking hard, whoever did this is going to fucking pay.
“Did you manage to get a look at them?” Reid asks.
“No. But…” he glances at me again and swallows.
“But what?” I ask, my back tensing at his words.
“They sounded Irish.” He swallowed again.
“They’re all dead,” I announce, standing from the chair and moving from my desk but not before I reach down the top of the drawer on my desk and unlock it with my finger. The drawer pops open, revealing a weapon I don’t often use as I before being up close to my kills when I use my knife.
I glance down toward the all black glock 19 and quickly grab it and tuck in the back of my pants.
If it wasn’t for the fact that they have taken Nixie, I would make their deaths painfully slow and enjoyable, but they have made the wrong choice taking what’s mine from me.
“Cal, think about this. You can’t just walk into the fucking Irish mafia, all guns blazing,” Reid shouts as I walk to the door and swing it open.
“Watch me,” I retort back to him before making my way back through the club and to my car.
Before I can set off in the car, Reid and Tanner come sprinting through the doors of the club and head towards the car. They both look at each other before opening the doors and climbing in.
“Think about what you are about to do,” Tanner says.
“I am,” I reply bluntly before speeding out of the alleyway again. The car slid on to the main road causing some cars around us to start using their horns at me.
“Try to get us there in one piece at least,” Reid scolds me.
“I’m going to phone Finn and see if he has any idea of what’s going on,” Tanner says as he pulls out his phone and puts it on loudspeaker as it rings.
Finn doesn’t take long to answer.
“Is it done? You told me tomorrow night?” he rambles out, sounding panicked.
“Yeah, about that. Looks like there’s a change of plan.”
“A change of plan? Why?” he questions.
“I’ll tell you why! Because you Irish fucks have kidnapped my girl and her best friend, as well as beating our fucking brother up to a pulp!” My voice shouts through the car.
“The fuck are you talking about?” he asks, sounding confused. “I had no idea any of that has happened.”
“Yeah, well it has. Hope you didn’t want to say goodbye to Uncle, because when I see him, he’s dead.”
“Let me try and do some digging before you get there,” he sighs.
“That would be great,” Tanner replies and I just roll my eyes. No matter what he finds, Cormac is going to die today by my hand.
“Calvin. I promise you now, I had nothing to do with this, and I will help in any way I can,” Finn says before he ends the call. Can I believe him? We shall have to wait and see.
The drive to the casino takes too long and has done nothing for my mood. If anything, it has only made it worse.
As we get closer to the destination, Tanner’s phone ringing echoes through the car, he answers and puts it on loudspeaker again.
“Did you find anything?” Tanner asks.
“Not much, but I don’t think my uncle had anything to do with it,” he sighs. “And before you ask, no, I’m not covering for him. He genuinely sounded surprised when I asked about what I heard has happened”
“Well, if it wasn’t him, then who was it?” Tanner asks.
“I have no idea, I’m trying to find out without alerting anyone else,” Finn replies.
“But, Calvin. He knows that you know. And he’s expecting you.” Finn announces.
Of course he is. He knew exactly what would happen if he took Nixie. I don’t buy it for a second that he has no idea what’s going on. He may have got his own nephew fooled, but he isn’t fooling me.
“Well, then, I guess I better go see if he has anything to say to me before a bullet meets his brain.”
I climb out of the car and stalk toward the casino, putting a bullet in each of the two guys’ heads, taking them out completely.
“For fuck’s sake, Cal” Reid says as he catches up to me.
“I said they were all dead, and I meant it. You are either with me or leave me,” I tell him.
“Do you really think I’m going to abandon you?” he asks.
“Won’t be upset if you want nothing to do with this,” I assure him. This is my problem. I don’t want anyone else getting hurt because of me.
“We’re family. And family sticks together.” He grips my shoulders and nods at me.
“You have the same option as well. You can turn around now and nothing will change between us,” I tell Tanner.
“Like fuck that is happening,” he scoffs at me.
Before we storm our way into the casino, Tanner’s phone rings.
“It’s Finn,” he says as he answers.
“What?”
“Are you sure”
“Do you still want us to go ahead?”
“Ok, text me the address and we will get over there as soon as we’re done,” he says as he hangs up the phone.
“What?” I ask.
“So, Finn has found out who it was and is going there now” he rattles off.
“Okay, let’s go say hello to Cormac before we go,” I smile at Tanner.
As we enter the casino, there is not a body in sight, no men around the doors or bars. You can hear a pin drop.
I signal to Reid and Tanner towards the back rooms, we all have our guns drawn as we make our way.
I swung the door open to find Cormac sat waiting with five men around him with their guns drawn and aimed at me.
“Hello, Calvin,” he announces to me.
“Hello, Cormac,” I smile as I aim my gun at him.
No one—and I mean no one—takes my girl.
The Irish are about to pay with their own blood.
No one takes my girl and lives to see another day.