I’ve scared her.
Despite my best efforts to hide the beast, she’s seen a side of me I never wanted her to see, because I never wanted her to look at me like she did in the bedroom. I never want her to run from me, but I fear that’s exactly what she’s going to do the first chance she gets. I just couldn’t sit back and watch her become more and more dejected at the shit her sister was spewing. I’ll never hurt Ayvah, and one way or another I’ll make her see that.
She doesn’t realize it yet, but her fate was signed the moment I locked eyes on her, and once the devil sets his sights on you, there’s nowhere you can run that he won’t find you.
But none of that matters right now. All that matters is getting her the fuck out of here before anyone from the Lounder Cartel gets here, because not only do I have their latest acquisition, but I also killed two of their high-level buyers. If we weren’t already at the top of Annalise’s hit list, we certainly fucking are now.
I pull Ayvah into my side and make my way through the apartment. Her eyes dart around the space as if she’s committing it to memory, but we don’t have time for that.
When I pulled my vibrating phone from my pocket as I walked away from Ray and saw Everett’s message, panic I’ve only experienced a few times gripped me around the throat, except this was different. Being terrified of your family being hurt is one thing, but this is something else entirely. The idea of Ayvah being taken from me makes me want to kill every motherfucker who dare look at her, let alone threaten her.
I’m tempted to throw her over my shoulder to get her out of here quicker, but I have a feeling she won’t like that very much, and for some reason I give a fuck about what she wants and how she feels.
“Storm,” Ayvah whimpers as I rush us down the stairs.
“Yeah, baby girl?” I try to soften my voice as much as I can with the tension tugging at every muscle, but I have to remember Ayvah doesn’t know this life, and she hasn’t chosen it. She’s been thrust into it, and it’s reasonable for her to not understand the situation we find ourselves in.
“Thank you for not killing them.”
Her words cause me to do a double take. I don’t know how to take what she’s just said, but I don’t have time to analyze them either.
I peer through the glass doors of the building, doing a quick check of the street before shoving my body into the thick door. The cool Chicago air rushes around us and Ayvah burrows into my side.
The street is quiet as I usher her to the car, quickly opening the door and helping her climb in before slamming it shut behind me. I jog around to the driver’s side, only stopping to throw her bag into the backseat, but when I reach for the handle, screeching tires at either end of the street pull my attention from my escape plan.
We have company.
I don’t waste time looking at who it is, because I know no matter how good Everett is, there’s no way he’s assembled a team and deployed them to this side of town in under ten minutes. I fling the door open and lean across to Ayvah, turning her face to look at me.
“I need you to listen to me and do everything I tell you without argument. Can you do that for me?”
She nods once, her eyes sparkling with terror as they dart to whatever is happening outside the front windscreen.
“Eyes on me, baby girl,” I demand. I pull my phone from my pocket and place it in her hand. “You are to stay in this car no matter what you see or hear, do you understand me?”
“Yes,” her voice trembles.
“I want you to call Everett and keep him up to date with what’s going on. He has a team coming, but I’m not sure how long they’re going to be.” I brush my thumb over her cheek, relishing in the feel of her skin under my touch. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you, Ayvah,” I promise her. I have no right making promises I can’t keep, but I can’t handle how afraid she looks. I have a feeling that her emotions are about to become my kryptonite, and I can’t find it in me to hate the idea no matter how much I should.
“Okay,” she whimpers.
I would give anything to comfort her right now, to tell her everything is going to be okay, but the sound of cars stopping drags my attention away from her. “Lock the doors,” I order immediately before I pull my hand from her cheek and slam the door closed behind me.
It’s not until I hear the lock engage that I breathe a sigh of relief. It’s virtually impossible to get into this car without a key, and I left that inside the car with Ayvah.
I turn to find a woman slipping out of a black SUV not dissimilar to the one I drive. Her face is covered mostly by dark sunglasses, and her lithe frame adorned with a fitted pant suit. I don’t need to have seen a photo to know this is Annalise Lounder, Everett’s half sister and our greatest enemy.
My hands form into fists at my sides at the sight of her, but I keep my face impassive and uncaring. I itch to reach for the gun in the back of my pants and shoot her right here and now, but I can’t do it in the middle of the street in broad daylight. We will take her out, but we have to wait until the right time when the blowback will be as minimal as possible.
“Annalise,” I greet her, taking stock of the security that surround us. I’m outnumbered fifteen to one which is not a position you want to find yourself in.
“Storm Saint James.” She approaches me, her heels clicking on the road with each step she takes, her deep brown hair dead straight around her shoulders.
“It’s nice to finally meet you.”
“I’ll agree to disagree on that.”
I chuckle darkly. There’s no one on this earth I want dead more than her, not after she kidnapped my sisters and tried to burn them alive as a punishment for our parents’ sins. But she doesn’t deserve to die quickly. A bullet to the head won’t be nearly as satisfying as what we have planned for her. We don’t kill women. It’s the code we live by. But we’ll make a special exception for Annalise, even if it’s Elijah that has to do it in the end. That man doesn’t have a code, and our alliance with him will come in handy as we approach the upcoming war.
“What is it I can do for a busy woman like yourself this afternoon?” Fake niceties are exhausting, and usually I try to avoid them, but I have to tread carefully here. I have to drag this out until backup arrives.
“I think you know why I’m here, Storm. Stupid isn’t a good look on you.” Annalise looks down at her nails like she would rather be anywhere but here. The feeling’s mutual.
“I would have thought this kind of thing is below you. Don’t you pay people to fetch the merchandise you purchase?”
“I do. But my best guys are missing, you see, so I’ve had to pick up some of the slack.” She drags her attention away from her nails and looks me dead in the eye. Even through her dark, oversized sunglasses, I can see the contempt she has for me and everything I represent. “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”
I shrug. “Nope. I haven’t heard anything. But I’ll be sure to let you know if I do.”
“That’s funny, because they went to collect the girl you’ve got in the passenger seat of your car, and they never came back.”
“That is quite the coincidence.” I nod, stepping into her view to drag her attention from Ayvah. I don’t want her looking at my girl, not when she’s the reason she could have been hurt in the first place. “But like I said, I don’t know anything about any of your men going missing.”
She considers me for long moments before sighing and turning to the two men standing beside her. I hadn’t taken any time to look them over until now. The one closest to her is short and stocky. His bald head catches the light and the deep lines around his eyes are partially covered by his sunglasses. The other is tall and lanky. If I had to guess I would say he’s in his midforties, his hairline is receding to the point of no return, but it’s his cold, dead eyes that draw you in.
“Get the girl,” she orders.
I draw my gun before I’m conscious of the decision. “Take a step toward this car and I will blow your brains out without hesitation.” The words come out on a growl. I don’t want these assholes in the same fucking country as Ayvah, let alone getting any closer than they already are.
Annalise smirks, her head tilting to the side as she watches me closely. “Do you think you’re in any position to argue here? You’re outnumbered, and I imagine your backup is still pretty far away seeing as my idiot brother is the one organizing it.”
I glance around at the men surrounding us and find no less than ten guns pointed at me. I’ve got myself out of worse situations over the years, but not when I’ve been the boss. Back when Dad was in charge, it was okay for me to get into trouble, but now the fate of the entire family rests on my shoulders. I try not to have this many firearms pointed at me at any one time.
The sound of a door opening drags my attention to the car behind me and when I lock eyes with Ayvah as she walks around the car, my stomach drops as I watch the guns turn on her.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I snap.
“I can’t let them hurt you because of me,” she says quietly, terror in her eyes.
She doesn’t realize it yet, but she’s going to be in so much fucking trouble when I get her home she’s never going to be able to sit down without remembering the spanking I’m going to give her.
