Chapter 22

As they rode in a three car convoy towards the destination where they planned to meet, Shane thought of Holly. Of the life they might have together if they just got through tonight. He was ready to stop suffering and move on, and God knew Holly deserved the same.

Now he just had to convince Rob Luckston of that.

The rendezvous point was about thirty miles away from Alex’s villa, in the middle of a public park. When their convoy arrived, four unmarked black vans were already parked in front of the park gates, and Shane’s hair immediately stood on end.

He was early – which meant that he could quite possibly have the drop on them.

He and Alex stared at one another for a long moment before the dual-eyed man slipped from the car. He was immediately flanked by two of his men, and the rest followed in Shane’s wake. Slowly, they made their way into the park and towards the gushing fountain at its center.

Where their welcome party was waiting.

To Shane’s immense surprise, Rob Luckston didn’t lie in wait to ambush them. Instead, he stood, flanked by his own men, watching their advance with cold blue eyes. Alex’s party stopped a good ten feet from their enemy, and for a long moment, neither of them said anything. When Luckston did speak, his voice was hard and unrelenting. “The only reason you’re not dead, Paine, is because I want the bitch that killed my brother. Give me Shane and I’ll think about letting you live.”

Shane opened his mouth to retort, his rage burning bright, only to have Alex cut him off smoothly. “Like hell, Rob. Shane’s a part of me. If you want to challenge him, you challenge me.”

“Wilder fucking stole from us. He killed one of our men. We don’t fucking forget.”

“I killed your goddamn man.” Alex hissed in reply. “You’ve been punishing Shane for a decade when he took the rap for me. If you have a beef, Alex, bring it. You killed his brother, and you lost a brother in return. How about we call it fucking even and we all go home.”

The tension hung so thick in the air between them it was hard to breathe. Rob looked from Alex to Shane and then back again before his eyes narrowed. “Fine, then. Fuck Shane. You have two choices, Paine: You can give me the murderous bitch and I’ll forget this incident ever happened or I will make your life so goddamn miserable you won’t be able to take a shit without worrying about catching a bullet.”

But Shane hardly heard the threat. Fuck him? Fuck him? After giving eight years of his life – having his brother murdered, his friend raped and the woman he loved extorted and tortured, Luckston treated him like fucking chattel?

In a trice, he drew his gun, pointing it straight at Rob.

There was a flurry motion as about twenty other weapons were drawn, all pointed at various targets. “Fuck me?” Shane growled incredulously. “Fuck you, Luckston. We’ve suffered enough because of your vindictive, cruel bullshit. Kirk died because he was fucking insane and you knew it. Maybe if you’d kept a leash on your dog, this wouldn’t have happened. This stops. Tonight.”

To his surprise, Rob’s mouth quirked upward in a ghost of a smile. “You really think Paine can protect your little whore, Shane?” He shook his head slowly. “I’m a very, very patient man. I can wait months. Years. And when I do get a hold of her, I’m going to make what I did to blonde look like a goddamn baptism ceremony.”

Shane’s eyes blazed cold fury. “You fucking bastard. If you touch her I’ll rip your fucking throat out!”

“Boys, boys, boys.”

All at once, every man present froze at a distinguished, north-eastern accent floating across the lawn from behind them. Shane whirled immediately, his eyes widening at the sight of yet more men crossing the lawn. Shane’s hold tightened on his gun as he prepared to defend himself, but to his surprise, the men didn’t appear to be Luckston’s.

Or Alex’s.

In fact, the well-dressed figure leading them walked with a very particular cane – one he hadn’t seen since he was a teenager.

Shane’s mouth dropped open and, beside him, Alex choked on his sharp inhalation. “Dad?”

The middle aged man before them, flanked on either side by no less than twenty men, was none other than Jackson Paine. Even after nearly a decade, Shane would have known him anywhere. He didn’t appear to have aged a day – same impeccable gray suit, salt and pepper hair, and piercing, cold blue eyes. The cigar the man smoked trailed a cloud of misty white vapor that the breeze carried away, and Shane tried to pick his jaw up off of the floor.

“Evening gentleman.” Jackson nodded first to his son’s men, and then to Luckston’s, who were immediately on their guard. “Nice to see you all.”

“Dad, what the hell are you doing here?”

Only Alex would dare to talk to his father like that, and Jackson merely sighed, shaking his head. “I didn’t come for you, boy. Twice a year is enough to see that you’re treating my property like your own private playground.” Alex flushed darkly. “Still, you’ve got a good head on your shoulders. You’re a better man than me…nicer.”

What the hell was going on here? If Jackson Paine had come down from his New York perch, something big must be happening.

“What the fuck do you want, old man?” Now Rob spoke to the Paine Patriarch, his mouth a sneer of disdain. “You’re a long way from home.”

“You shut your goddamn mouth, Luckston.” In a trice, Jackson went from congenial to cold as ice, his gaze narrowing in on the only remaining Luckston brother. He tossed his cigar to the ground to stamp it out before glaring at the diabolical figure before him. “I came because I heard about your mad dog fucking brother and I wanted to make sure you didn’t do anything stupid, like kill my son for his loyalties.”

His eyes flickered to Shane and his gaze softened slightly. “Looking good there, son. Glad to see you out from behind bars.”

Shane could only nod vacantly confusion still coursing through him. “Now,” Jackson continued, his gaze returning to a fuming Luckston. “I may be far from home, brat, but my reach extends pretty fucking far. I came a long way to say one thing to you and here it is: Leave the Wilder family alone. They’re under Alex’s protection, which means they’re under my protection, and if I hear a single fucking whisper about your pretentious, sadistic proclivities finding them, I will bury you. Like I buried your father.”

Rob Luckston went so red Shane thought he might very well implode.

It was well known that before he died, Richard Luckston had been in the midst of a power struggle with the Paine Organization. The two gangs were the most powerful domestic groups on the east coast, and, at one point, Richard had thought he might get the upper hand on Jackson. He’d made a bold, desperate move that cost him his life, and proved the ultimate power of the Paine’s.

It seemed as if, in the interim, Rob had gotten a little too big for his britches. He might not be afraid of Alex, but he was damn well afraid of Jackson. “Do you understand me?”

Rob looked as if he might want to eat his own bullet in shame. “I said: Do you understand me?”

The blue eyed man simply glared for a full minute before he finally spat an answer. “Fine, you old fuck. Have it your way.”

A single gunshot rang through the air and Rob cried out as the tip of his ear was blown away. He stared down the smoking barrel of Jackson Paine’s revolver in shock as his own blood ran down his jaw. “Now, you have anything else to say, brat,” The Paine Patriarch threatened, “You say it to me. Alex,” When he barked his son’s name, Alex jumped – a thirty year old man with his own reserves of underground power and connections still snapped to attention at his father’s call.

“Yes?”

“Get the fuck out of here. Take Shane home.”

“Yes, sir.”

And just like that, guns were stowed and Shane found himself in somewhat of a daze as they started back towards the car. Alex fell into step beside him, and Shane caught his companion’s disbelieving expression. It wasn’t until they were safe inside the vehicle, however, that Alex finally spoke.

“He came all the way down here just to save my ass. To save your ass.”

Shane shook his head slowly. “Did you call him?”

Alex frowned deeply. “Do I ever? The man just…knows things. It’s fucking uncanny.”

Shane merely exhaled a long breath before finally speaking. “Well, uncanny just saved our asses.”

Running a hand through his dark hair, Alex nodded slowly in agreement. “That’s for damn sure.”

The more he thought about it, the more Shane realized exactly what Jackson Paine had done: with a single threat, he’d avoided a turf and gang war that would have enveloped Miami. If Rob and Alex had gone at it, it wouldn’t have just been Holly and her daughter caught in the crossfire. The entire city would have gone up in flames.

And that would have been bad for business.

If Jackson Paine was anything at all, he was a businessman- and a damned good one. And his concern for the well-being of his ventures had just saved them from an all-out war.

As they drove back towards Alex’s villa, the sun began to rise over the horizon. As it crept ever higher, lightening the sky in its wake, Shane felt his spirits lifting with it. This was the first day in eight fucking years that he hadn’t questioned where his life was going – that he hadn’t faced the complete unknown.

His future was waiting for him back in Miami – and now, nothing stood in its way.