as Marcus huffs again.
“Makes sense. Why the fuck would you be on time when you’re the boss? The rest of us can just wait around like we have no lives of our own.”
I look over the top of his head at the row upon row of shipping containers, lined up like dominoes.
All Julian Young’s latest import.
But like dominoes, you only have to have one person pushing on one and then the entire arrangement will fall.
Tonight, I’m that fucking person.
“Julie arranged for us to go to her sister’s tomorrow. Fuck that. That’s one thing with coupling up. You have to take on the entire family.” Marcus turns and spits his gum out onto the floor, then glances at me. “Another good talk.” He chuckles as he’s met with silence. “You’re full of the best chats.”
I cross my arms.
He’s late. Julian Young doesn’t have to do shit on schedule if he doesn’t feel like it. Marcus and I are mere minions, the bottom of an elaborate system that he operates. A system so big, that guys like us are disposable, replaceable.
Anonymous.
It’s a small blessing that comes with the level of greed that fucker has. He has no idea who’s working lower down the chain.
A carefully constructed profile, a fake name. It was easy to slide right in and hide in plain sight. Maintain enough respect that I reached a level where I could find out key information but stay inconsequential enough that I never had to be in the room with the prick, face-to-face. Because there’s no doubt he would recognize me. I expect my face is as burned into his memory as his is in mine.
Two and a half years in a cell does that to you.
Gives you time to plan. To think about this day. The day you finally get to watch your enemy burn. To lose something they care about.
This business, the money that’s rinsed through it. It’s all he fucking holds dear. I hear enough to know that. Even Alistair doesn’t want to protect him. Surely, a son would never want to turn his own father in if there was a good relationship there.
Julian Young only puts his cold heart into what he cares about most.
Himself.
And that has made this so much simpler, a silver lining, even if it’s taken longer than it should have.
I roll my shoulders, then rotate my neck, the tension cracking through my bones. Rose sounded lost on the phone. She’s had a bad day. Maybe she’s missing her family in New York. Maybe it’s something more. But I haven’t even been able to talk to her about it. I had to leave her with turmoil filling her eyes. My beautiful girl is at home, waiting for me, needing me. And I’m here, in a grim, concrete yard, waiting for the man who stole something from me that I can never replace.
Time.
But starting tomorrow, all my time will belong to her. To Rose.
The clock resets.
A new sunrise.
“Why don’t you head off. I can wait.”
Marcus’s brows shoot up. “We’re both supposed to be here. Everything’s done in pairs. Those are the rules.”
I shoot him a look that has him shrinking back.
“But I would like to get back. Julie asks questions when it gets too late. She knows the only bars open after two are titty ones. And it’s never a great day after if she thinks I’ve been in one of them.”
I force the image of Rose having a lap dance out of my mind. I can’t lose focus by remembering how turned on I was watching her explore her own pleasure as she experienced something new. Every fucking thing she does turns me on. I only have to look at her walking around at work in those swishy little skirts, with her incredible legs on show, to get a raging hard-on at my desk.
“Go,” I grunt. “We’ve checked everything together and it’s all been sealed. The only difference is Young’s dropping in tonight because it’s a big shipment. Wouldn’t you rather stay off his radar anyway?”
His eyes dart around the still deserted yard. “You know… that sounds…” He rolls his lips. “Yeah. You got this, haven’t you? Doesn’t need us both just to wait around like fucking losers.”
His left eye twitches. It happens when he’s on edge. Like the night his ‘friend’ was helping himself to Young’s latest delivery. The asshole could have gone nice and quietly, but he had to make a scene. And then I was forced to leave him enough of a memory to ensure he never spoke about it to anyone. I couldn’t risk having my cover blown.
His wounds will have healed by now, anyway. But if he’d brought Young’s attention onto things Marcus and I were given to handle, then there’s no telling what would have happened.
I wouldn’t be here tonight. About to see him finally go down.
Marcus looks me over, his eyes settling on the bulging vein that’s pulsating in my neck.
“I’ll see you soon then, yeah?”
“Yeah.” I nod in response as he backs up and then turns and walks away.
He won’t.
He won’t see me again. But he doesn’t know that. He won’t have a job come tomorrow morning. Julian Young and his entire shady enterprise will have been brought to its knees. And if Marcus has an ounce of sense about him, then he’ll take it as his chance to leave this life behind. Go off and live with Julie and her home-cooked steaks.
Have a fucking happy life.
Because it’s what I intend on doing.
I’m going to go back to the cottage and slide into bed with Rose.
Pull her into my arms and never fucking let go.
Headlights appear on the far side of the shipping yard, slowly drawing closer as the vehicle drives up the wide lane between the rows of containers. I stay where I am, off to one side, hidden in the shadow of one container.
I don’t want him to see me yet.
The vehicle rolls to a stop and kills the headlights.
What the fuck?
Ice threads through my veins. The Silver Estate logo emblazoned on the side of the Range Rover is clear as day, illuminated by the moonlight.
The door opens, and one long leg steps out, followed by another.
“Dax?” A whisper-shout. She’s uneasy, being here in the dark. It’s in her voice. And she fucking should be. What the hell is she doing?
She leaves the Range Rover and walks over the oil-stained concrete floor, her over-the-knee boots making her footsteps echo around the yard. She’s glancing around, not paying attention to where she is, to who could be watching her.
“God!”
Her eyes widen as I pull her down the gap between containers and push her up against the cold metal of one with my hand over her mouth.
“What are you doing here?” I crowd her body with my own, pressing right up against her, one hand still over her mouth, the other pressed flat against the container next to her head.
“Fuck, Rose. What am I going to do with you?” I grasp her neck and press my thumb to her pulse. It’s pounding beneath her soft skin as her chest rises and falls quickly between us.
“You shouldn’t fucking be here,” I hiss, letting go of her mouth now that she’s seen it’s me and she’s not going to scream.
“I…” She stops and tries to catch her breath.
“Breathe.” I cup her cheek with my other hand as I lean toward her, embracing her scent as it washes over me. “Breathe.”
She nods, her face relaxing as she breathes in deeply and then lets it go. “I was worried. When you said Julian Young was going to be here. I thought—”
“You thought I was going to do something to him?”
She nods, and I clench my teeth, tension rippling through my body again as I glance over my shoulder.
We’re still alone. For now.
“If I could kill him and not go back to jail, I would.” I look back at Rose. “But I would never do anything that could take me away from you. You understand?”
“Then what are you doing here?” Confusion clouds her gaze.
“I’ve been working on taking him down.” I glance over my shoulder again, shielding Rose with my body. We haven’t got long. He could arrive at any moment. And I doubt he goes anywhere without carrying a gun. Not when you get to his level. I’m one in a long line of people who would happily have his head. His operation stretches across the entire southeast of the country. It would be worth a lot to anyone who could take control of it.
But that’s the last thing on my mind.
My motivation is purely personal.
“That’s what you’ve been doing every night?”
“Yes. I’ve been working for him, for his drug operation. But he doesn’t know that.”
She stares at me, her brows pulling together as her mouth drops open.
“You’ve—?”
“Been preparing to finish him from the inside.”
The disbelief in Rose’s eyes has acid churning in my gut. Now she knows. She’s finally seeing it with her own eyes. Seeing the man I really am. One scarred by his past. One hell-bent on revenge. One who needs to finish this so that I can love her in the way she deserves.
“But what changes tonight? You said it all finishes tonight. Dax, what are you going to do that—?”
I clamp my hand over her mouth again and move us further into the shadows of the container.
“We’ve got company,” I hiss.
She murmurs beneath my palm, panic flashing in her eyes as the sound of another vehicle approaching grows louder.
“You need to stay here. Don’t come out. Let me deal with it.”
“Da—”
I force my lips against hers in a kiss to silence her. “Don’t let them see you, Sunbeam. Please don’t fucking let them see you.” I kiss her again, squeezing my eyes shut before I turn and walk away without looking back.
As I reach the edge of the container, there are three voices. Julian’s and two other males’. They’re already out of their black SUV and standing next to the open door of Rose’s Range Rover.
Fuck. This isn’t how it was supposed to go down. They were supposed to turn up while I was out of sight. I would have had the element of surprise. I know which container they’ll check first. The one with the diamonds. Because as I’ve learned, Julian sneaky-prick Young isn’t content with only supplying street drugs to a quarter of the country. He wants to get his filthy hands on blood diamonds too. The greed of this man is unbelievable.
And Jasmin still wants to believe Alistair is different. The tail I’ve put on him will uncover it soon, if he is as dirty as his father.
“Well, well.” Julian sneers with a laugh as he looks at the logo on the Range Rover. “Tonight will be better than I expected.”
I stay pressed up to the container as I peer around the corner of it.
Open the diamond container, asshole.
It’s all I need. Him to open it. Show that he knows the combination of the lock. The final piece of evidence. The nail in the coffin that I’ve been building for nine months. He needs to be caught red-handed. The one final action that will signal the end of him. And I need to see it. It’s why I’m here.
But then, Rose….
Julian runs his hand over the hood of the car.
Of course, the prick isn’t going to grant me the satisfaction of making it simple. Not now he’s seen the logo.
He knows I’m here.
And if he hasn’t worked out by the sight of the car that I’m one of the two guys from his payroll he was expecting to meet tonight that took the delivery in, then he’s not as smart as I’ve been giving him credit for. There’s no welcoming party here for him. No trusted members of his operation, like he was expecting.
It’s just me.
And he knows it.
“Aren’t you going to come out and play, Silver?”
Fuck. How do I do this? Why can’t he just open the fucking container? My heart pounds up into my throat as Julian laughs again.
“Wasn’t one warning enough? You want to know what I do to squealing little pigs?” He looks side to side around the yard, his dark eyes almost black and seeming even darker against his blond hair. He nods to one of his henchmen, who disappears from sight. “I string them up and bleed them out. Let them be a lesson to everyone. But with you, Dax…”
Rage boils inside me at the easy way he says my name.
“With you, I’d have some fun first. Maybe give you a matching scar to that one on your back. You won’t need your kidneys when my boys here throw you into the sea for the fish to pick apart.”
I press my back into the container and glance at Rose at the other end. Her eyes are wide and shining from where she’s standing, rooted to the spot I left her in, realization dawning in them at the small part of that story I omitted when she first saw my scar.
Julian Young paid someone to try and murder me while I was in jail. I always suspected he was behind me getting stabbed. Now he’s confirmed it.
“But I’m not a monster,” Julian continues. “I’ll let you watch me with your girlfriend first. See if she screams louder for me than she does for you.”
Rage floods my veins like lava and my chest swells as every muscle in it tenses.
Rose shakes her head at me and clamps her hand over her mouth. She wants to run to me. I can see it in her eyes. They’re pleading with me. But I can’t walk out of here with her. Not until it’s finished. He’ll come for me. He’ll come for her. And that’s the only thing I care about.
Her.
He cannot be in any kind of state when I leave here tonight that means he can come for her.
I hold a palm up and indicate Rose to stay still, and she nods.
I whip my head back toward Julian. He’s holding something that the other guy has handed to him from inside the Range Rover.
Nausea gut punches me as he raises the black hoodie to his nose and inhales with a perverse groan.
“I wonder if she tastes as good as she smells.”
My reserve snaps. He’s got his filthy fucking fingers on her things. He’s smelling her. Vanilla and petals.
The one scent in the world that calms me. The abuse of that one thing is what finally pushes me over the edge until all I can hear is my own pulse thundering in my ears.
“You’ll never fucking find out!” I storm out from my hiding place, only meters away, and go straight for his legs, barrelling into him and bringing him to the ground with a satisfying thunk of bone cracking against concrete. “You’ll never lay one disgusting finger on her! Or anyone else, you piece of shit!”
I pound his face with my fists. Each hit like sweet fucking therapy to my soul. Therapy for the words he said that night, all those years ago. The comments he made about Jasmin. The realization that men like him exist. Vile, despicable predators that will take what isn’t theirs and feel nothing while they do it.
Euphoria spreads through my body with each connection my fist makes. But this wasn’t part of the plan. He should have just opened the fucking container. Then everything else would have been put into motion.
Julian laughs, spitting blood up into my face, momentarily blurring my vision. Long enough that his piece of muscle he brought with him can land a punch into the side of my head, knocking me off balance and allowing Julian to roll out from beneath me, still laughing as he spits more blood onto the floor.
I jump to my feet and position myself between the two of them and the gap between containers where Rose is hiding.
“She’s not here. She left that in my car.”
Julian’s on his feet again, and he scoops Rose’s black hoodie up from where it’s fallen to the ground.
“You wish that were the truth.” The corner of his mouth lifts, and his eyes glitter as he looks over my shoulder. “Nice boots.”
All the air leaves my body in a rush. I don’t want to turn around. Because I know. The dread threatening to make my heart stop inside my chest is enough to know.
“I’m sorry, Dax,” Rose whimpers.
I turn, meeting her wild eyes from where she’s being held with her arms behind her back by Julian’s other guy. A guy whose face looks like it’s taken its fair share of beatings in its lifetime. He grins at me and one gold tooth glints.
“Get your fucking hands off her!” I yell, sweat running down my back as I advance on him.
He pulls a gun from his belt and presses it to Rose’s temple.
The click of the safety being released signals the sound of my soul breaking as I freeze.
No. No, no, no.
“Let her go. You can take me,” I spit as I whip my head back toward Julian.
Where the fuck’s the backup? They’ve got a fucking gun to Rose’s head, for God’s sake. How is nothing happening?
Realization settles in my gut like lead.
They’ve left me here to rot alone.
I wanted out. I told them… I wanted out. I should never have let them talk me into it. Finish the job, they said. You’ll get what you wanted. Julian out of the picture. You’ll be free, you’ll get justice.
And it’s all I wanted.
Once upon a time.
Before her.
Rose cries out as Gold Tooth pushes the gun harder against her skull.
“Let her go!” I roar.
She drags in shaky breaths, her lips trembling as she blinks at me with shining eyes. The tip of the gun is pressed deeper into her skin.
“Every sunrise,” she whispers.
“No!” I shake my head, my eyes burning as I stare into her pure, light blue ones. “No. Don’t say it like you’re fucking leaving me. You’re not fucking leaving me!”
She can’t. She’s all I want. I’ll forget about revenge this second. Dear God, are you listening? I don’t need anything, apart from her. Not one damn thing.
Julian laughs behind me. “Bring her here first. I’ve got something for her.”
Gold Tooth places the safety back on the gun and marches Rose toward the Range Rover. She struggles to keep up and loses her footing, so he drags her the rest of the way.
Julian’s other thug has a gun pointed at me. He’ll shoot me before I even make it halfway to Rose.
My mouth goes dry as they reach the hood of the Range Rover and Gold Tooth throws Rose down onto it face-first. He’s restrained her hands behind her back with a cable tie.
“Uh-uh.” Julian walks over to her and strokes her hair, turning her head to the side so that she’s facing me. “I want you to look at him. I want him to see the moment your eyes widen as you get your first feel of a real man’s cock inside you.”
Rose cries out, but Julian smacks her head against the hood, pressing down hard and holding her there as he reaches for his belt with his other hand.
I’d rather die, have my brains blown across this filthy dockyard for the gulls to eat than stand by a second longer while his hands are on her.
I lurch forward, a microsecond before a shot fires out, making my ears ring and my head pound. I don’t look to see if I’m hit. I just know I’m still moving. I’m not dead. I can still get to her.
Julian’s loosened pants have him off guard, unable to reach for his own gun that I’m sure he must have. And it gives me valuable moments to reach him, shoving him away from Rose and pushing her across the hood behind me. I still have one arm on her as he turns to me, so I act on instinct, rearing back and headbutting him square in the face.
“Fuck!” His hands fly to his face, and I grab the gun attached to his belt and point it at his other guy, who’s standing staring at the lifeless body of Gold Tooth, bleeding out on the floor.
“Your gun!” I shout. “Throw it! Now!”
He reaches into his belt, his eyes coming back to mine as he drops the black metal to the floor and kicks it across the floor, away from himself.
I turn the gun back onto Julian, who’s wiping at the blood pouring down over his lips. The whites of his eyes shine as he stares down the barrel at me. I’ve dreamed of this moment. Revelled in the feeling of standing here, with him at my mercy, knowing I have the power over him, finally. The power to destroy him. To take everything from him.
“Dax.”
Rose has stood from the hood, and her voice is shaking. I glance to the side. Her hair is matted, her makeup smudged beneath her eyes.
“Don’t do it. This isn’t you.”
I move so that I can wrap my other arm around her waist and hold her into my side.
“You okay?”
I kiss her hair, inhaling deeply.
Vanilla and petals.
My grip loosens on the gun, then I tighten it again and look back at Julian as I take the safety off.
“I’m fine.” She leans into my side. It’s all she can do with her hands bound like a fucking prisoner.
“Close your eyes, Sunbeam. Then it’ll all be over.”
I kiss her head again as she buries her face into my neck.
“Don’t.” Her voice is a faint whisper. “Please.”
Movement in the corner of my eye steals my attention as thug number two makes a dive for his weapon. But he’s too late. A bullet rips through his skull, and he falls to the ground in a flash.
Rose screams, and I grip the back of her head, forcing her face into the crook of my neck so she can’t see.
I straighten the gun, aiming it back at Julian. He looks at the two bodies on the ground, the same question in his eyes as held in mine.
Who?
“Listen to Rose, Dax. Put the gun down.”
I stop breathing as Marcus comes into view, his own gun pointed at Julian.
Only he sounds nothing like Marcus. His voice is different. And he’s holding the gun like it’s second nature to him.
And he knows my real name.
And Rose’s.
“The fuck?” I stare between him and Julian, keeping my gun firmly aimed still.
Rose twists her head, her lips brushing over my neck.
“Don’t do it, Dax.”
I train my eyes back on Julian as Rose lifts her lips to my ear, her next words turning my body to stone.
“He’s your father.”
