Sons Of Audiemar 2

1. Jane Blackmoor

CHAPTER ONE

JANE BLACKMOOR

Back in the day…

“Build it stronger than you found it.” Years after his first hack, whenever he dismantled entire infrastructures from the inside, Mozzi heard Jane’s voice.

He was ten years old the first time he broke into something that mattered.

Back at Haven House, he did it for shits and giggles or to throw the guards and staff off.

Here, in his home, it was more than that.

The house was quiet. Audiemar had stepped out for business.

Sleep had long come for Kong, and Moose lay in his room, pretending, but was really under the covers with a flashlight sketching.

Inside Audiemar’s home office, Mozzi sat cross legged on the floor, a laptop balanced on his knees with his back pressed against the desk.

He wanted to make sure he couldn’t be seen if someone came looking for him.

The screen glowed against his face and lines of code scrolled rapidly.

He’d already bypassed the guest network.

The security system hummed faintly through the walls.

Layered, expensive, and built to keep threats out.

“That was easy,” he muttered under his breath.

His fingers moved faster, remaining cautious but excited about his progress.

He didn’t understand every piece just yet, but he understood patterns.

His birth mama used to tell him weakness lived in patterns.

It was how she was always able to catch someone slipping.

After a brief search, he found one. A small door in the cyber world that hadn’t been closed all the way.

Quietly slipping into the darkness, Mozzi froze when a camera flickered.

It was a nanosecond, sending his heartbeat climbing.

It wasn’t from fear, but from his conquest. The entire surveillance grid opened, and every camera feed in the house bloomed across the screen.

“Shit!” Mozzi whispered, eyeing the kitchen, hallways, and driveway with power humming in his veins.

“Are you supposed to be in here?” Jane’s soft voice sent his heart into his throat, and he slammed the laptop closed.

Scrambling to his knees, he slid it under the desk and poked his head around it. She stood in the doorway barefoot, in pastel pink silk pajamas with her rich brown hair falling loosely past her shoulders.

“I was just checking something,” Mozzi blurted out.

Tilting her head, Jane squinted. “The security system?”

His silence spoke volumes.

“Did you get in?” she asked, gradually stepping into the room.

“How did you—” Mozzi studied her face for a trap.

“Did you leave a trail?” She hiked one of her perfect brows.

Jaw tightening, he sucked his teeth. “No.”

“Show me.” Jane shrugged.

Mozzi was hesitant. When he was caught in the wrong, he was used to being punished for it.

This was the first time he’d stepped out of the box in what he considered his new home.

He just had to be sure. Grabbing the laptop from behind the desk, he brought it to the surface so Jane could also view his activity from behind.

Hands steady, he retraced his path, pointing out any vulnerabilities he’d found.

He spoke in a rush, with no kind of punctuation until Jane’s hand gently landed on his wrist.

“Why did you do all this?” she pried, catching him off guard.

“I wanted to see if I could.” Mozzi shrugged.

“That’s not the whole reason.” Jane stepped up behind him, and Mozzi spun around to face her.

Jane was pretty, with warm, welcoming eyes. She didn’t seem to get angry much. He wasn’t sure if that was just a mask or if she genuinely had a good-natured spirit. Mozzi stiffened when she reached around him to close the laptop.

“You don’t like not knowing what protects you,” she surmised. “Or what could hurt you.” Jane gently fisted some of his curly hair.

“You going to tell him?” Mozzi queried, eyes flicking up.

“Absolutely.” Jane smiled faintly, almost gaining a similar reaction from him before he dropped his head. “But… if you’re going to break systems, you gotta learn how to build them too.”

“What?” Mozzi’s eyes reverted to slits.

“You don’t get to just test the house. You’re going to help reinforce it.” She straightened up behind him and tucked the laptop under her arm. “Come to the kitchen. We can have a snack, and you are going to show me how you got in.”

Present Day…

“Build it stronger than you found it.” Mozzi heard Jane’s voice in his ears along with sirens in the distance and panicked voices standing over him.

She’d referenced that regarding his hacking skills, but it just so happened to apply to everyday life too.

Daylight flickered above him. A burning tide of pain filled his body, gnawing at the edge of his vision.

The wailing of the ambulance grew closer, and Mozzi spotted the red and white vehicle coming to a stop through his blurred lenses.

Both paramedics jumped out and sprinted toward them.

Mozzi turned his head and found Coast lying beside him.

Somehow, he found the strength to bring himself to a sitting position.

“Shit, Mozzi.” One of the paramedics was his homie, Yuri, from high school.

He was one of those cool, well rounded, level-headed types.

Raised in the church, parents been married since college, type of motherfuckers Mozzi didn’t know nothing about.

Yuri had heart, though, and he didn’t move with the crowd.

He was always a little nerdy, but lowkey, Mozzi was too.

He was also a fucking gangster. When the other medic, a tatted up Mexican with a buzz cut reached for Coast, Mozzi snarled.

“Take it easy, bro.” Yuri grabbed his arm.

“Don’t fucking touch her!”

“Dario, come here. Tend to him, check his stats, and load him up,” Yuri reasoned, knowing, like almost everyone else that Mozzi had a crazy switch. “I’ll check on her, okay?”

Mozzi’s bloodshot eyes connected to his, chest heaving, blood and sweat soaking into his shirt.

Fear knotted his stomach while his heartbeat hammered in his ears.

Seeing Coast unresponsive damn near broke him.

The last time he felt helpless like this was when Jane died, a feeling he told himself he’d never endure again.

It was a common factor for not only him, but his brothers and Audiemar.

Kong losing Twyla the way he did right after instilled that same resistance to opening his heart to what they now knew as love.

Jane Blackmoor was the first woman any of them ever truly loved.

“I can take myself to the ambulance. I’m riding with her. You can check me in there.” He grunted.

“Okay,” Yuri agreed.

He switched places with Dario, handling Coast gently so Mozzi could see everything. After checking her pulse and breathing, Yuri loaded her onto the gurney with Dario’s help. Mozzi trailed them to the back of the bus.

“What’s her name?” Yuri queried, examining Coast and calling out results to Dario, who quickly jotted them down on a notepad.

“Coast,” Mozzi reported. “Is she breathing?”

“Yeah. It’s faint, but it’s there.” Yuri nodded.

Mozzi shoved Dario off when he tried to help him into the back and slowly brought himself to his feet.

Motherfuckers were still standing around, recording and going live when they lifted her into the back.

It was a whole broadcast situation, and Mozzi knew they would be viral within the hour.

Gossip and tragedy spread like wildfire through Ree Heights.

Within minutes, they had Coast hooked up with an IV, and Dario got behind the wheel.

“Looks like the bullet went straight through. She’s lucky. A few inches over, and we’d be having a different conversation.” Yuri moved with expertise, checking her blood pressure again as Mozzi rested his head against the metal wall behind him and took in deep breaths.

“She’s pregnant. Ten weeks,” he said, wincing from the pain shooting through his flesh.

“I’ll make sure to tell the trauma team when we get there. Let me take a look at you.” Yuri faced him.

“Nah, just make sure she’s str—” Mozzi’s speech slurred, eyes rolling back before his head slipped forward and his chin hit his chest.

“I want to see my fucking brother, right now!” Kong bellowed, his large fist slamming into the counter inside Ree Heights Memorial Hospital.

He had the nurses and other registrars ready to shit a brick as his glossed over eyes searched their faces.

The waiting room was crowded with the sick and elderly, and he had those white folks shook with his deadly octave.

Not only that, but Moose paced behind him, brows stitched together in concern as he massaged his fist into the palm of his other hand.

The Glock on his hip made everyone nervous, along with a few of their men gathered outside the entrance and checking the perimeter.

He was itching to hit the streets, but he had to be sure his brother was straight first. He didn’t know how they caught Mozzi slipping, but somebody was damn sure going to pay for it.

“Sir, he was taken up to surgery. There is nothing that we can do,” one of the nurses insisted.

Kong respected the kinky haired sister doing her job, but they had him fucked up!

Blowing out a harsh breath, his eyes never wavered from hers.

Her fearful gaze lowered to his fist slowly balling against the countertop.

Although she was doing her best to remain calm, Kong had her nervous.

As soon as the name Blackmoor was put into the system, a code was issued throughout the hospital.

Moose turned, stopping only two feet behind his brother with his arms locked in front of him.

“We can take you up to the floor to wait,” she noted, clearing her throat.

“Wait.” Kong’s low growl stopped her in her tracks. “The girl. Where is she?” He knew he couldn’t go see Mozzi without having word on Coast first.

“Also in surgery.”

“What’s her status? Did they say anything about the baby?”