Chapter Eleven
Shadow sped down the highway in his Mustang Shelby. In all the years he’d worked for Killer of Kings, Boss had always answered his cell phone, day or night. He didn’t like this at all. A light drizzle rained down on the darkened streets, distorting his view through the windshield.
He’d had a lot of scrapes in his early years as a hitman, and Boss was always ready to bail him out or send backup. He never left his men to fend for themselves, and this was Shadow’s chance to show the same loyalty.
His phone rang as he drove. He was so focused, it took a couple rings before he turned on the hands-free. “Yeah.”
“Maurice get a hold of you?” It was Bain. He’d only met him on a few brief occasions, and they’d never worked together. He was one of the newest to sign on with Killer of Kings.
“I’m on my way to Boss’s now,” Shadow said. “What the fuck’s going on?”
“They lured Killian away. He got a call just before everything went black. No one’s heard from Boss.”
“These fuckers think they’re smart. They’re going to beg me to kill them when I’m through.”
“I’ll be there with Viper in ten.”
He hung up and called Chains. Now he had to worry about Killian, too. He’d always been good at keeping his distance from everyone, never getting too close. Unfortunately, he’d formed a friendship with the Irish assassin, and his resolve to take down these assholes was even stronger.
“You hear about Boss?”
“No, what happened?” asked Chains.
“Maurice said there’s a code black. It’s not good. What are we dealing with, Chains? You were on the inside when I was doing intel.”
“The mark was a puppet master, a big player in the underground. Now that he’s gone, there’s a void to fill, and more than one ready to kill to fill it.”
“And Boss?”
“He’s a huge threat. Killer of Kings has an iron-clad reputation,” said Chains. “I just can’t believe anyone had the balls to take him on.”
“Where’s that piece of shit you were chauffeuring around?”
There was a brief silence. “El Diablo disappeared a couple days ago. I thought we could trust him, but in this game, money’s everything.”
Money wasn’t everything to Shadow. He’d trade it all for a normal life, a childhood he could look back on fondly. As an adult, he valued loyalty above the almighty dollar.
“I’ll be at Boss’s in a few minutes. Bain and Viper are on their way.”
He turned off his headlights as he approached the mansion, tall decorative iron gates surrounding the entire property. Accent lighting cut the blackness at regular intervals around the perimeter, but it was still a mix of shadows. All week he’d been losing sleep protecting Riley. Meanwhile, the threat planned to attack the head of the organization, ignoring the limbs. With Killian, Boss’s personal bodyguard, MIA, Boss would be alone against any number of trained killers.
He hoped they weren’t too late. The leader of Killer of Kings could be dead, already at another location, or currently being interrogated. Shadow wanted to rush in with guns blazing like Killian would, but he needed to come out of this alive. Needed to return to Riley.
He got out of his car and walked down the street with his gun at his side. The light rain annoyed him, moistening his hair and getting in his eyes.
When he neared the entrance, two dark shadows waited for him.
“You hear anything?” he asked.
Viper had a black hood on, concealing his face, and Bain was openly strapped with so much fucking firepower he could take out a small army. Both men looked ready for business. For them, for Shadow, their lives revolved around death and destruction. Boss had trained most of them one on one. Whoever infiltrated Killer of Kings was in for a world of hurt.
“Nothing. It’s too damn quiet if you ask me,” said Viper. “I’ve been here before with Pepper, so I have an idea of the general main floor layout.”
“So we get our asses inside, no?” Bain was a huge fucker, his ink climbing up his neck. He’d been friends with Viper since they were kids.
“There’s a massive foyer beyond the doors,” said Shadow. “I have the codes for the security system.”
“I’m going in,” said Viper. “Cover me.”
Shadow entered the code into the control panel, unlocking the double front doors. Viper kicked them open, two handguns outstretched in front of him. An alarm whined every few seconds, a few emergency lights flashing red. Shadow moved to the right, Bain to the left. They swept the foyer, then spread out through the main floor.
A while later they all met up in the lobby again. A figure stood in the doorway, they all pointed their weapons.
“Hey, it’s just me!” said Chains.
Shadow dropped his gun to his side and exhaled. There was no sign of Boss, no sign of a struggle. They still had to check the basement and second floor. Now there were four of them, so they had better odds.
“I’ll check downstairs,” said Bain after peering over the wooden banister. He pulled up an AR15, holding it chose to his chest as he descended into the basement. Shadow looked up to the second level, nodding to Viper and Chains to follow him. Within ten minutes, they’d cleared the entire house, and it was no small task. Boss obviously liked the finer things in life, and for a man living alone, he had a lot of damn rooms.
They wandered around the main floor, trying to decide on their next move.
“Does anyone know how to turn off the fucking alarm?” said Chains. The constant grating sound kept the sense of urgency at the surface.
Viper pointed out the kitchen window. There was a large pool house in the near distance, bigger than Shadow’s house. They all moved without speaking, passing the massive infinity pool that overlooked a forested valley.
Bain kicked open the door, the crash shattering the silence, wood splinting inwards. Immediately, the familiar scent of blood caught Shadow’s attention. The moonlight reflected off the blood pooling on the floor, the dark crimson liquid the only witness to whatever the fuck killed Boss.
“Check the lights,” said Shadow. When the overhead lighting snapped on, the body swinging from the rafters, draining out on the tile was a morbid sight. There were other rooms, so he started to investigate the ones to the right. He knew better than to let down his guards, even if the leader of Killer of Kings had already been taken down.
“Check it out!” he shouted after entering a large guest bedroom.
The other three men came in behind him.
“Holy shit,” said Viper. “What a fucking freak show.”
There were bodies everywhere, in various states of dismemberment. The floor was covered in blood, flies buzzing around the corpses. Shadow had killed a lot of men and been to countless aftermaths, but nothing compared to this.
“Someone’s coming,” Bain whispered, pulling out his 9mm. He leaned against the inside wall, waiting to strike. Whoever walked through the living room, passing Boss’s body, was not trying to be quiet. Bain pressed a finger to his lips. The second the man appeared in the entryway, Bain had his gun pressed to his temple. “Try anything and I’ll blow your fucking brains in.”
“Spade?” Shadow lowered his weapon. It was one of the regular guys from Boss’s west end cleaning crew. He usually didn’t come up this far north. “Who the fuck called you?”
“Boss. Who else?”
“When?”
“Hour ago.”
Shadow pushed past him, Bain still keeping him at gunpoint. When he reached the body handing by its ankles, Shadow spun it around to get a good look at the bloodied and beaten face.
It wasn’t Boss.
“Boss called you—what did he say? Where is he?” asked Shadow.
The big boy shrugged and scratched his balls. “Said to make it spotless. The mess was contained to the pool house. He said something about not fucking up his marble floors.”
It sounded like Boss all right.
“Where is he? He pulled a code black.”
Spade pointed to the bedroom when Lola came in the front door, stepping over debris, dragging a mop and bucket with her. “I just clean, Shadow. Ask someone else.”
Lola passed by, winking at him. “When you taking me on a date, Shadow?”
“Not going to happen, Lola. I have a woman now.”
“Promise I’m better than her,” she said.
“Ain’t gonna happen.”
“Shit, are none of you still single anymore?” she complained as she moved to the bedroom, cursing when she saw the disaster in the other room. “Spade, you need to call Mikey. This is going to take a while.”
As soon as Lola mentioned a date, Shadow’s thoughts immediately went to Riley. He still owed her that date he promised, and she was cuffed to a radiator.
Shadow was confused as hell. The bloodbath in the pool house was courtesy of Boss, he had no doubt about that. So where was he? Where was Killian?
Until he knew more, he’d head home, then contact Maurice and see if he’d dug up anything on their locations. At least he had hope that Boss had made it out of this alive.
They cautiously made their way back to the main house. The alarm was no longer whining, and the lights were on. Shadow had his gun at the ready. Bain moved in front.
El Diablo was in the front foyer, a bloodied knife in his hand. “I want my money,” he said, tossing the knife on the tiles.
Viper and Bain rushed in, ready to bring El Diablo down. Chains approached him. “You make that mess out back?”
“What mess? Boss said I’d get paid for every head. Since there’re five in my trunk, I’m here to collect.”
“Where the fuck have you been?” asked Chains. “You left without a word.”
“Cleaning up this guy’s mess.” He nodded to Shadow. “And now I’m done.”
Shadow gave him the middle finger.
“Boss is MIA, so until we find him, there’s no payday,” said Chains.
El Diablo ran a hand through his hair, blood smears on his arm and cheek. “I saw him this afternoon. He told me where I could find the last half dozen.”
“You said you had five.”
“Boss wanted me to let one live, so that pinche culero only has gunshot wounds to the kneecaps. This Boss of yours is one twisted fuck.”
Shadow couldn’t stick around. He needed to get home, wanted to get home. Riley would be waking up soon, and he didn’t want her to panic when she found herself bound.
“I’ll contact Maurice,” said Shadow. “He must have picked up something on Boss or Killian by now.”
He took a breath once seated in the driver’s seat of his car, calling Maurice on his cell phone.
“Maurice, did you track anything?”
“Killian’s with Boss. They were at the docks an hour ago. I picked them up on the CCTV cameras,” he said. “They’re usually there to dump bodies.”
“Well, his pool house looks worse than a slaughterhouse. Why would he call in a code black if he had things handled?” Shadow asked.
“I don’t even pretend to understand that man. I can only speculate it was part of his strategy. He’s only human, Shadow, like you. Maybe he just needed to know his men had his back.”
“Call me once you make contact.” Shadow ended the call and hit the highway.
****
Riley heard the front door open. She was beyond pissed off and ready to give Shadow a piece of her mind. When she’d woken up on the floor, unable to free herself or even stand up straight, she’d panicked until she convinced herself Shadow had to return at some point.
When he peered in the doorway, she frowned. “Why am I handcuffed? I told you I was okay with you handling your business, didn’t I?”
“I know you, Riley. You’re too curious for your own good. I didn’t want you to get hurt.”
“I wasn’t going to do anything.”
He bent down and unlocked the cuffs, massaging her wrist once she was free. “I’m sorry, baby. It’s been a fucked-up day.”
“Look, you have to trust me. How can we have a relationship without trust?”
Shadow smirked. “You’re right. I’m so used to relying on myself, not trusting anyone. It’s a hard way to live.” He helped her to her feet, and pulled her close.
There was something in his eyes, something different, almost defeated. She didn’t like it. As much as she’d love to ream him out for everything—the assassins, the cameras, the handcuffs—she couldn’t. She just wanted to love him, to be the rock he needed. He’d given her a sense of security and belonging since coming into her life, so she knew how precious that feeling was.
“Things are different now,” she said. “At least I hope they are.”
He kissed her on the lips, just once. “I do trust you, I’m just terrified of losing you.”
She cupped his cheek. “I’ve survived this long. You won’t be able to get rid of me that easily.” Then she thought about why he’d been gone in the first place. Had things gone well? Did she still need to stay cooped up or could she return to her bakery and live her life? “So, what happened? Did you find out what’s going on?”
He released her waist and ran a hand through his tousled hair. “It was a mess. I need to hear from Boss himself. Until I do, we need to wait this out.”
She scowled, but at least Shadow had come back to her alive. When she’d first woken up all she could think about was something terrible happening, never seeing her man again, and dying of starvation on the floor because he had the key.
“I don’t know how I’m ever going to get used to this,” she said. “Your life is crazier than my murder mystery books.”
“How’s the romance?”
Riley bit her lip. Just thinking about their emerging love life made her cheeks flush. “I guess it’s better than the books.” She couldn’t believe she’d just said that. All her adult life, she’d convinced herself that true love didn’t exist. Now she was living the dream.
Immediately, her thoughts drifted into forbidden territory. She’d never get enough of Shadow. “Did you kill anyone today?” She pushed his jacket off his strong shoulders, exposing his harnesses. One by one, she disarmed him, placing the weapons carefully on the counter.
“Not today.”
She ran her nails down the front of his t-shirt, then proceeded to work on his belt. “Maybe next time,” she said, focused on her task. The idea of fucking Shadow in his weapons room was an instant turn-on.
“I thought you were mad at me,” he said, holding her wrist in place before she could unzip his pants.
“Well, think of this as your chance to make it up to me.”
“You’re gonna regret those words.” He had fire brewing in his eyes now, his concern shifting to something dark and dirty. She swallowed hard, anticipation making her entire body hum with need.
He hoisted her up onto the counter, positioning himself between her legs. Shadow tugged off her shirt and removed her bra. “I love these tits,” he said, holding them up in his hands. She knew he wasn’t trying to be nice. His desire was palpable, and she felt drunk on the feeling of being wanted unconditionally.
His tongue flicked her nipple before he engorged himself, sucking and licking her breasts until she was holding his hair and panting his name.
“Are you wet for me, baby? You want me to fill your tight little cunt with my cock?”
She nodded, her lust taking over, making her almost light-headed with desire. Riley loved how her big, stoic beast had such a dirty mouth during sex.
“I want to make you feel good, too,” she said.
“Trust me, all you do is make me feel good.” He suckled her neck, teasing her erogenous zones until her eyes lolled back in her head.
She reached between them and roughly palmed his cock. “I want your big dick. I want to feel you in my mouth.”
Shadow groaned, placing his hand over hers. “You’re a bad girl, Riley.”
Holding his shoulders, she slipped off the counter and went down to her knees. “It’s only fair. I want to know every inch of your body too.” She smiled as she released his erection, a bead of pre-cum glistening on the tip. It felt empowering knowing that she was about to make a hitman beg—her hitman.