CHAPTER FOURTEEN
KADE
I don’t make it to bed. Not that night. Not the night after.
And then, two weeks have passed, and I still can’t bring myself to go near Eden.
The second she left my office that night, I already knew I was going to break my promise.
The guilt of avoiding her just settles in my ribs alongside all the other guilt I’m carrying. A permanent ache.
“You gonna talk about it?” Diesel asks, eyes fixed ahead, voice low.
I exhale sharp, rubbing the back of my neck. “What? The plan?”
He scoffs. “No, not the plan. Jesus, if you go over that shit again, I’m gonna cut my ears off.”
A laugh slips out before I can stop it, but there’s nothing funny in me. Maybe I have overdone the planning, but I can’t let a single thing go wrong. Not with this.
“Eden,” he adds simply, like that’s not loaded with heaviness.
I tense. “Why do you want me to talk about my ol’ lady?”
“Is she?” He turns just enough that I can feel him watching me. “Your ol’ lady, I mean.”
I scowl now, heat clawing up my spine. “What the fuck are you getting at? You wanna say something, D, then say it.”
He doesn’t hesitate. “Fine. I will. I did some research—”
I bark a hollow laugh. “Christ, you really should get out more. You’re starting to sound like Fern.”
He doesn’t rise to it. That’s how I know he’s serious. “There are groups,” he says, sighing. “Support groups. For men, or relatives, of people who’ve been…” He trails off.
I clench my jaw so tightly my teeth ache. “Raped,” I snap. “Say it, D. Raped.”
His eyes flick away, jaw locking. “Raped,” he repeats quietly. “Maybe it’ll help. Talking, I mean.”
“And say what?” My voice is sharp, cracking at the edges. “This isn’t about me.”
“No,” he agrees. “It’s about Eden. And how the hell you’re supposed to support her.”
Bitterness burns like acid as I stare through the windscreen. “She’s better off without my support.”
“You’re wrong,” Diesel mutters. “She’s desperate for it. Anyone with eyes can see how sad she is. Hollowed out. And I ain’t seen you put an arm around her once. Not one fucking time.”
I pin him with a glare sharp enough to cut. “Now you’re watching me?”
“I’m watching her, brother. And if you were, you’d see how much she needs you.” He shakes his head. “Fuck, Kade, she looks like she’s fading.”
A pulse of pain detonates in my chest. I slam my palm into the steering wheel. Once. Twice. Again. The burn shoots up my arm and I welcome it.
“I wasn’t watching!” I shout, voice breaking loose like something feral. “That’s the whole fucking point. I wasn’t watching. If I had been—” My voice cracks. “If I had been, none of this would’ve happened. I let her down. I let her fucking down, and I can’t get past it.”
Diesel lets the words hang there, the confession I’ve been choking on for days.
He nods once. Slow. Understanding but firm. “Then fix it,” he says. “Before she walks for good.” He pops open the passenger door and steps out into the cold night air, where the others are waiting. “It’s time.”
He slams it shut, leaving me alone with nothing but the echo of what I’ve been refusing to say, I’m scared to look at her. Because when I do, I’ll see everything I failed to protect.
We head towards the warehouse. The men stay outside, leaving me and Diesel to go in.
Jimmy’s pacing before we even step into his office. I hear him before I see him, his boots scraping the concrete, muttering under his breath, the sharp clink of a bottle hitting a desk. He sounds frantic.
Diesel pushes the door open, and Jimmy’s head snaps up. Relief floods his face like a man who’s been handed oxygen.
“Thank fuck,” he blurts, dragging a shaky hand through his hair. “Boys, I know I’ve been quiet, Nathan’s not answering, and I’m trying to figure out where the hell my shipments are—”
He stops suddenly, frowning between Diesel and me like he finally registers the mood. The energy. The silence. He swallows.
“Look, if this is about the work…” He forces a laugh that dies halfway out his throat.
“I told you, nothing’s come through yet.
I’ve been distracted. Liam’s killer is still out there and I’ve been trying—” He trails off, his eyes narrowing and darting between us both. “Kade?” he murmurs. “What’s going on?”
I step closer. Enough to make him tense. “You want answers about Liam?” I say quietly. “Fine. You’re gonna get them.”
His throat bobs. “What?”
“You said you’ve been looking for his killer,” I continue, meeting his eyes dead-on. “You can stop.”
Silence tightens the air like a noose.
Jimmy’s jaw flexes. “What the fuck does that mean?”
Diesel leans against the wall, his arms folded, watching him with that look he gets right before all hell breaks loose.
“It means,” I say slowly, “we know exactly who killed him.”
Jimmy stares. “Who?”
I let the truth drop like a loaded gun hitting concrete. “Eden.”
Jimmy’s face drains of colour. “What?”
“She killed him,” I repeat, my voice sharp. “And she did it because Liam raped her.”
The shock hits him so hard he actually staggers, grabbing the desk behind him.
“No.” He shakes his head violently. “No. Liam wouldn’t, he’s a lot of things, but he wouldn’t… he wouldn’t do that. Not to your woman.”
“He drugged her, followed her and he raped her. Then turned up late to our meeting, remember that day?” I ask, my eyes narrowed.
I see the realisation on his face. “He cornered her a second time. And she defended herself.” I step right into his space now, close enough to see the panic in his eyes. “He died trying to rape her again.”
Jimmy folds, breathing fast. “Jesus, Kade, I didn’t know. If I’d known—”
“You’d what?” Diesel cuts in. “Handled it? Like you handled all the other shit you’ve brought us?”
Jimmy shuts his eyes tight, dragging a hand over his face. He looks older suddenly. Smaller. “Kade, you should’ve come to me,” he whispers. “I’d have dealt with him myself.”
My jaw ticks. “Every damn time I tried to pull away from your bullshit, Liam appeared with more demands. More pressure. Eden nearly died because of your mess.”
Jimmy opens his eyes slowly, dread sinking into every feature. “So what now?” he asks. “You’re here to what? Make things even?”
“No,” I say. “We’re here because you needed the truth.”
“And I needed you to know something too,” Diesel adds, stepping forward. “Your ties to Nathan? They’re cut.”
Jimmy looks between us like the floor is collapsing.
“Nathan doesn’t deal with you anymore,” I finish. “He deals with me.”
Pure fear flashes across his face now. The realisation that we’ve gone above him, that we’ve outgrown him, and now he’s nothing more than a loose end hits home.
Jimmy blinks hard, like he genuinely can’t compute any of it. “But it was my deal,” he mutters, his voice cracking. “I made you money. I kept the heat off you.”
I let out a humourless laugh. “You really believe that, don’t you?” His jaw ticks. “Fuck, Jimmy,” I scoff. “You were nothing but a little fish in a big pond. You think I couldn’t sort my own deals? Make my own money? You think Nathan Cole was the only man I could’ve worked with?”
He flinches like I hit him.
“I honoured that deal because our vice president made it,” I growl.
“Because I’m a man who stands by his word.
You were convenient. A middleman. A stopgap.
And I let you ride that wave longer than you deserved.
” I step closer, boots scraping the concrete.
“But you got greedy. You pushed when you shouldn’t have.
And look at you now.” I wave a hand at him, “Your brother dies, and you’ve fallen apart.
One hit and the whole fucking empire collapses.
” I smirk. “In this game, where we swim with sharks, you can’t let anything fuck it up.
Not grief. Not loss. Not fear. Not stupidity. ”
He drops his gaze to the floor, breathing hard.
“You telling me you haven’t felt it?” he whispers, before slowly raising his head, his dark eyes filling with evil.
“Things slipping through your fingers? After my brother fucked your girl?” A smirk pulls at his lips.
He’s goading me because he knows this is the end, and he wants it on his terms. Fuck that.
When I remain silent, he steps closer. “Of course I knew, Kade. I could smell her on him the second he got close. He hated the way she looked down on us,” he whispers.
I feel Diesel tense beside me. His hand twitches toward the grip of his gun. I hold an arm out without looking at him—a silent order. Stand down. I’ve got this.
Jimmy doesn’t notice. Or maybe he does. Maybe that’s why he keeps going.
“Said she needed a good fuck to loosen her up.” He laughs, sharp and ugly. “But from what I hear, she was pretty loose already. He was disappointed. Said even the sound of her moans wasn’t enough to get him off. And fuck did she moan.”
He pauses, waiting—begging—for a reaction. I give him nothing.
His grin widens. “She didn’t even scream when he fucked her arse. Apparently, she loved it.”
Diesel snaps.
In one violent movement, he rips his gun from the back of his jeans and slams the barrel against Jimmy’s temple. “Shut the fuck up,” he roars, shoving the metal so hard it knocks Jimmy sideways.
But Jimmy’s gaze never leaves mine.
My breathing grows shallow. The room narrows, collapsing around the pounding in my chest. I inhale slow, steady, letting the rage burn inside me.
Then I look Jimmy dead in the eye and smile. A cold, calm, final smile. The kind a man gives right before he decides exactly how someone is going to die.
Diesel freezes when he sees my expression. Slowly, he lowers the gun from Jimmy’s head. He steps back an inch, breathing hard, eyes flicking between us like he’s bracing for an explosion.
“There he is,” Jimmy mutters, though his voice isn’t as steady as before. “That’s the Kade everyone warned me about.”