Chapter Twenty
MERCS
The car slows as we turn onto the street I told Raoul to take.
I didn’t tell him where we were going, just that I’d say when to stop.
Effa sits beside me, relaxed, completely unaware of what I’ve got planned.
She peers out the window like a curious kid, trying to work out my surprise.
I’m half watching her, half scrolling through my phone, pulling up the design again to make sure it still feels right.
It does.
Then my screen lights up with a message.
I glance sideways at Effa to make sure she’s still distracted. She is completely absorbed in guessing our destination, so I look down.
Vex.
My stomach drops before I open it.
Vex: Time’s up, son!
Three fucking words.
That’s all it takes.
A cold wave of dread floods my system, washing straight through the high I was riding minutes ago. My jaw tightens as I clear the notification and lock the screen, forcing my breathing to steady.
Motherfucker!
I’m in deep.
Deep enough that I can’t see the bottom anymore.
I owe a bookie more money than I can realistically repay in one hit. Vex refused my offer to pay him back in installments, saying he doesn’t run charity cases.
Now the clock’s run out.
I’ll have to meet him, alone, to try and negotiate something before this spirals.
But I know how men like Vex operate.
This does not end clean.
I tell myself I went into it for the right reasons.
One gamble.
One calculated risk.
Now it’s a noose tightening.
I know I need to tell Effa.
I’ve kept this from her too long.
But men don’t get themselves into messes like this.
Dammit! I can already see the look on her face—full of disappointment and hurt. Not because of the money, but because I didn’t tell her. Because I was too chicken shit trying to be a man. But mostly because I broke her one non-negotiable rule.
Honesty.
After everything we’ve survived, this might be the one thing that fractures us.
This might be what undoes me.
“Are we close?” Raoul calls from the front, snapping me out of the spiral.
I blink, forcing myself back into the present.
Effa turns to me with that effervescent smile, the one that’s soft, open, and still knocks the air from my lungs.
I can’t tell her.
Not yet.
I need to keep this off the record, away from her, and do what I brought her here to do first. At least then, if everything explodes after I confess, I’ll know I tied myself to her in a way that means something permanent.
“We’re close,” I say evenly. “Store on the right up here.”
Raoul eases toward the curb.
Effa cranes her neck, scanning the storefronts, and then she gasps.
“Tattoos?” Her head snaps toward me, eyes wide, grin spreading across her face.
I can’t help but smile at her excitement before I pull up the design and hold the phone between us. “I was thinking this, for both of us. If you like it.”
She doesn’t even look at the screen at first. Just stares at me.
“Matching tattoos?” she asks softly.
I nod and tilt the phone toward her. Her eyes drop to the image.
A thin, minimalist soundwave stretches across the screen, clean and deliberate. At its highest crest sits a small four-point star, like it caught the light and refused to let go.
“One night, at Red Rocks,” I say quietly. “Us… under the stars. That’s when I knew I loved you.” Her breath catches. “And the soundwave, that’s the rhythm of our hearts, beating as one… corny, I know.”
She looks up at me, her eyes glossy, her bottom lip trembling just slightly. “Kaden…” she whispers. “I love you.”
My chest feels like it might split open as I surge forward, gripping the back of her neck and pulling her into me, crashing my mouth against hers.
The kiss isn’t gentle.
It’s desperate.
Possessive.
Because I do love her, with everything I’ve got left. She’s the only woman I’ve ever looked at and thought… that’s it, that’s my future, that’s my home.
Her fingers clutch at my shirt as she kisses me back just as fiercely. The taste of her, the heat of her, the way she fits against me, it all slams into me at once.
I pull back before this turns into something we can’t control again, and my hand slides to her cheek, my thumb brushing just beneath her eye. “Effa,” I say, voice low and steady. “I fucking love you too.”
She exhales shakily, leaning into my touch.
For a second, the world feels perfectly aligned.
Like I can see it all laid out in front of us—stages, Christmas in Ligonier, music, chaos, laughter. A life that feels bigger than anything I ever imagined for myself.
Bang. Bang.
A sharp knock on the window yanks me out of my thoughts.
Raoul stands outside, unimpressed.
I huff a quiet laugh. “Time to go,” I say.
Effa nods, glowing, and reaches for the door.
And for one brief moment, before I step out into the night, I let myself believe I can fix what’s coming.
***
Two hours later, we’re walking out of the tattoo parlor with matching ink wrapped in fresh bandages on our left inner wrists.
Raoul leads the way toward the waiting car. My arm is around Effa’s shoulders as we step into the alley behind the shop.
It’s late.
Dim.
Quiet.
Too damn quiet.
The crunch of dry leaves under our boots echoes in the narrow space, the last breath of autumn clinging to the night. Effa shivers against me. She’s still in her leather stage dress, thigh-high boots, and the jacket I gave her, but the air has turned sharp and biting, so I pull her closer.
“Let’s get you back in the car before you freeze,” I mutter, steering her forward.
We’ve barely made it halfway down the alley when Raoul stops dead, and his arm shoots out, blocking us.
I follow his line of sight.
Five men stand ahead of us.
Three are holding baseball bats.
Two with knuckle dusters gleaming faintly under the streetlight.
And my stomach drops.
Raoul shifts slightly in front of us, shoulders squared. “Whatever you’re looking for…” he calls out evenly, “… you’d be better off turning around.”
The man in the center steps forward.
He is older with a scar running from his cheek to the corner of his mouth. Crooked hat, rotten smile, and his eyes lock on mine.
A cold wave rolls through me.
Time’s up.
He chuckles, slow and satisfied, as his men fan out behind him.
“Now, now,” he says, voice thick and gravelly. “No need for the girl or the bodyguard to get hurt. We’re only here for one person.”
Effa tightens her grip on me.
Raoul inches forward.
“How’d you find me, Vex?” I demand.
Raoul’s head snaps toward me, and Effa stiffens.
Vex grins wider and shifts the bat between his hands like it weighs nothing, like he’s Negan carrying Lucille from The Walking Dead, and right now I feel like I’ve stepped straight into the wrong episode, the kind where someone doesn’t make it to the end credits.
“You think Sportshark is just an app?” he says. “It tracks location, messages, calls… you’ve been tagged the entire time, Mercs. I’ve known where you are every second since you signed up.”
Effa slowly pulls away from me, and her brows draw together.
That look…
It’s full of confusion, hurt, and above all, betrayal.
And I feel like I’ve just swallowed Negan’s bat, barbed wire and all.
“I owe you,” I say quickly. “So let them go. This is between you and me.”
Effa gasps. “No.”
Vex laughs, loud and delighted. “This is beautiful,” he mocks. “The secret coming out in real time, and she still wants to stand by you.” He shakes his head. “Sweet, really.”
My muscles lock tight as he steps closer, with his men following close behind.
I turn to Raoul and shove Effa toward him. “Get her out of here.”
She stumbles and cries out as Raoul grabs her.
“Kaden, no!”
“What about you?” Raoul demands.
“Go!” I roar. “Now!”
Raoul doesn’t hesitate, and he hoists Effa over his shoulder then bolts down the alley the way we came. Her screams echo, my name ripping through the night.
Vex’s men don’t move to stop them.
They don’t need to.
This was always about me.
So I straighten.
My heart pounds so hard I’m sure they can hear it.
Vex steps right in front of me, bat resting casually on his shoulder.
I glance at it and then back at his face.
He sighs and clicks his tongue to the roof of his mouth while he shakes his head.
“You know, son, this all could have been dealt with. Easily. You have a millionaire girlfriend. She could have paid off your debt. We could have wiped the slate clean. Ended your Sportshark membership and gone our separate ways. But no. You couldn’t find a way to pay your debt on time.
News flash, Mercs. Luck is not on your side, son.
And now… now you have to be taught a fucking lesson.
Now, you need to be shown that you need to pay your debts on time. ”
He nods his head, and the two guys sans bats step up beside me.
Clenching my jaw tight, I take a deep breath to ready myself, but before I can prepare for anything, a fist slams into the back of my head, the metal of the brass knuckles connecting with my skull and cracking open my skin before I drop to my knees.
My vision instantly goes blurry, as a sharp pain rips through my skull.
I groan, placing my hands on the ground, taking a second to breathe, but before I can catch my breath, another slam of brass knuckles jams into my right cheek, making me fall over onto my left side.
I groan and spit out a line of blood with a cough.
The pain searing through my head is harsh, and I open my eyes just in time to see a baseball bat slamming down into my ribcage.
I have no time to react because the bat hits hard and fast. The unmistakable sound echoes through the alley, and I let out a loud gasp-filled moan rolling onto my stomach.
Another hit straight in the middle of my back.
I bring my legs up as another man comes in and slams his bat down on my thigh. I yell out in pain, rolling onto my back as a wave of bats pounds into my stomach, one after the other. I don’t have time to move, to breathe, to react, to think, as the strikes keep coming.
My body’s on fire, and I do my best to scrunch into a ball for protection, but I can’t seem to move anything.
I can’t protect myself or even get a fucking punch in, as another harder jab lands in the middle of my face, the knuckles slamming into my nose.
The unmistakable sound of crunching follows as a red-hot pain engulfs my head.
Instantly, I feel like I’m drowning. Thick liquid invades my throat, and I can’t find the strength to roll on my side and expel the blood threatening to overwhelm me.
“Enough!” And suddenly the assault stops.
I groan, lying on my left side, my body quivering in an unmistakable broken mess as I lie on the ground in the alley, fading in and out of consciousness. The last thing I see is Vex’s face, staring down at me, while he wipes his hands with a white cloth.
“You will pay me back, Mercs, or next time this won’t happen to you…
it will happen to Effa and that baby sister of yours.
She’s so fragile, she’ll break easily, I’m sure.
I would take great pleasure in watching her snap and shatter under my fingers.
Just know, the price has doubled. You need to have that pretty little rock star pay me, and pay me soon, or it will triple. ”
My body tenses, wanting to get one punch in at least, just one hit to his ugly fucked up face for talking about my girls like that. I groan out loud at the fact that I can’t get my body to work in conjunction with my mind, as he turns and walks away with his men in tow behind him.
Lying here on the cold ground, shivering from my injuries as I gasp for air, I wonder how it got to this.
I could have prevented it.
I should have been honest with Effa and told her the truth.
Now, I’ve put her in fucking danger.
I wonder if Raoul got Effa to safety in time, or if Vex is heading off to get Effa right now?
The thought terrifies me. So I pull my body up, but shooting pain radiates through my torso so extreme that I scream out.
Blackness hits my vision, and I can’t see anything, and I collapse back to the ground, my head hitting the concrete hard, as everything goes dark.