17

17

STACEY

Poor Barry has to endure death stares from Kade the entire landing.

He offers us water. Kade ignores the kind gesture but keeps his eyes on him. I accept a glass and thank him, just to make the guy feel better. I can tell he’s been working for Kade for a while and is used to his mood swings. He doesn’t flinch at his abrupt tone, and when Kade tells him to sit down and leave us alone, he gives him a look, glances at me then fights a smirk as he goes to sit down and put his belt on.

While I wipe the mascara from under my eyes and fix my hair, I fight a scoff.

Kade might come across as intimidating and unapproachable, but he isn’t that scary.

He sits with his elbow on the armrest, fingertip to his temple, legs wide open. The white top he’s wearing stretches tight across his firm chest, the fabric ruffled at his shoulders from where my hands were fisting, and I try not to gawk at his build. His ink. His muscular, veiny arms.

I cross my legs and gulp, still studying him.

A dark brow raises, and I’m caught staring. Again.

Instead of blushing and averting my eyes, I narrow them, wondering if we should ignore the fact Barry is here or that we’re descending. We could get this off our chests, this tension and sexual frustration, with one quick fuck. Maybe then we can move past this atmosphere and be civil.

I hold his gaze until he eventually looks away. The pressure of descending has my ears popping and my stomach flipping. Kade swipes at his phone screen, unbothered, while I try not to imagine the plane crashing.

The jet jolts as it touches the tarmac, tyres screeching until it slows to a steady pace. I breathe a sigh of relief. I hate flying, but the worst part is the landing. There wasn’t any turbulence the entire journey, but I did spot a bolt of lightning from afar earlier, which made the little hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

Kade only grimaced at me when I asked what would happen if it hit us.

I look outside the small window; take in the pouring rain and the way the wind beats against trees. I flatten my lips and look down at my summer dress.

Finally, Kade breaks the silence as the aircraft carries us to the middle of a private hangar. “We’re not supposed to land until tonight. It’s five in the morning here.”

“An extra day in the States then.”

His phone rings. “You don’t understand,” he says, turning his phone over so he can’t see the caller ID. “My family will check when our flight lands. They don’t know I have this kind of money. We’ll need to stay somewhere until we apparently land on the commercial flight.”

“You’re quite the sneak, aren’t you? Tell them we got an earlier flight from somewhere else.” A shrug. “No biggie.”

“Stop being difficult and listen to me.”

I mouth a fine and shrink into my seat, and he continues. “I need to do something. I’ll drop you at a hotel.”

My eyes widen as I unclip the belt from around my waist. “You visit your dad as soon as we’re supposed to be landing. You’re not a robot, Kade. You have to sleep.”

He dismissively waves me off.

I get to my feet when Barry says we’re good to go. He opens the door and lowers the steps, smiling at me, but drops his gaze as soon as Kade looks at him.

“I’ll send you all the details,” he tells Barry. “Stay close.” Then he glances at me. “And stop smiling at her.”

“Sorry, sir,” he replies, his cheeks going red.

I glower at him. “Stop acting like that.”

Kade raises a brow and turns me towards the steps, then follows me down. “Like what? Barry has been my right-hand man long enough to know not to piss me off.”

My heart jolts in my chest, because does he mean Barry looking at me pissed him off?

“How does he know who I am?”

Kade lights a cigarette, apparently deaf, then hands our suitcases to a man in a suit and thanks him.

It’s dark and a little chilly in the rain, but nothing like Scotland.

Kade offers me his jacket again, which I gladly accept, trying not to inhale too deeply as he shrugs it onto my shoulders.

For someone who claims to despise me, his actions are the complete opposite.

A man nods to Kade and hands him a set of keys.

My eyes widen. “No way,” I blurt. “A Bentley…” I study the mirror-like alloys, gun-metal grey paint and the black-and-white interior. “A sporty Bentley?”

“It’s a Bentley Continental GT,” he says, bored.

“Were there no normal cars left to rent?”

“It’s not a rental.”

My eyes widen even more. “What exactly do you do for money?”

This aggravates him. “Shut up and get in.”

The first two hours of driving with Kade’s playlist are relaxing, to say the least. The seats are comfortable and heated. The car drives smoothly as “Digital Bath” by Deftones plays. I absently watch him, the way he turns the wheel with his palm heel, grips it as he speeds, his elbow resting between us while he smokes.

He stops to get us food, a bottle of water for me and an energy drink for himself. I fall asleep near the end and only wake when he pulls into the car park of an old warehouse.

“Where are we?” I ask, rubbing my dazed eyes with my knuckles. My mascara must be a riot. “Is this the hotel?”

“No. I need to do something then I’ll take you. This was on the way. Just stay here,” he tells me. “Keep the doors locked, and don’t you fucking dare follow me.”

My chest tightens with instant anxiety. “Where are we?”

“I have business to deal with. Just lie in the back seat. No one will see you.”

There’s a knock on my window. I flinch and look to see a man with a brow piercing and a tattoo of a gun down the side of his face. He’s missing nearly all his front teeth to devastating and disgusting decay. He wears a denim coat with badges all over it.

Stay quiet, Kade mouths to me as he rolls down his window.

The man stands tall and walks to Kade’s side, where he’s joined by a second guy. “Mr Mitchell. Welcome back.” He taps the other man’s shoulder. “They call him Nāvein other countries, because he is a man of no heart. Deadly, merciless and always finishes the job.”

Kade rubs a hand down his face in annoyance. “Sure.”

Huh?

“We weren’t expecting you until tomorrow.”

I haven’t the slightest clue what the hell is happening.

He waves to someone behind him, and the warehouse doors open to reveal more people. They look like a biker gang.

“I see you brought a different whore this time. Where is the blonde you brought before?”

Um, excuse me? Whore?

Kade doesn’t bother with a response. “Let’s get this over with,” he says, then turns to me. “Stay here.”

“And risk all the scavengers getting her?” The man bellows a laugh, his hand slapping the top of the car. “Don’t be ridiculous. The more the merrier.” Toothless turns his back to us and waves to his friends. “Nāveis here. Let Crawley know.”

Four others appear by the car, and Kade groans. “Fuck’s sake. Stay behind me,” he warns. “Don’t speak to any of them. Don’t look them in the eye. Keep your head down. Got it?”

I gulp. “You’re scaring me.”

“Good,” he retorts. “You don’t fuck with these guys. I should’ve dropped you off at a hotel.”

“You still can.” The panic in my voice is obvious, my heart racing. I don’t want to go inside, not with all these people who look like they’d put a blade in my back without hesitation. “Please take me to a hotel, Kade. Please.”

He turns the car off, his window sliding up. “They’ll follow me there and have someone watch you. Just stay behind me and don’t speak a word. I don’t have time to have my team come for you.”

Kade gets out first and comes to my side, opening the door then leaning in to open the glovebox.

I gasp, covering my mouth. “Why do you have a gun? I thought you were joking when you said you had one!”

His tanned skin and abs show as he pulls up the hem of his top and tucks the deadly weapon into his waistband.

“Do you even know how to use that?” I ask quietly.

He gives me a look as he unclips my belt, and I feel cold metal on my leg as he slides a blade up my outer thigh and tucks the handle into the side of my underwear. His voice is low, and even though I’m scared, my pulse is racing from the touch of his hand on me. “A precaution.”

“Kade. Really. I’m scared,” I admit slowly as his palm slips from my thigh, and he wipes a tear from my cheek. “Do you know these people?”

He offers me his hand and helps me out of the car. “Yes. Stop asking questions.”

I instantly regret wearing a short dress, but at least it’s long enough to conceal the small blade trapped under the waistband of my panties.

He drapes his jacket around me once more, and I clutch his arm as we walk towards the warehouse. More men appear as we go in, and I wish I waited for the commercial flight.

I’m uncomfortable as dozens of eyes watch me walk down metal steps barely lit by flickering lights.

Cameras follow our actions, and the frigid air creeps over my skin.

“I don’t like this,” I whisper to Kade. “Can I please go sit in the car?”

We get in an elevator, and someone stands behind me, far too close for comfort.

Kade glares at the man and yanks me in front of him, my back to his chest, and snakes an arm around my waist. “Stay calm.” A murmur against my ear that doesn’t settle the rapid palpitations of my heart. “If they see you’re afraid, they’ll feed on it.”

I manage a nod. Having his arm around me doesn’t shoot zaps of pleasure to my core as it should, but it feels good. Safe. I want to stay here forever – his breath hitting my neck, lacing our fingers, his body cocooning around me as the elevator descends – even though I know he’s just pretending I’m his whore and safeguarding me.

“Breathe, Freckles,” he whispers. “You’re safe with me.”

The gun tucked into his waistband is digging into my back, the blunt side of the blade is pressing into my thigh, and I’m terrified as I shake in his hold.

I’ve been in places like this before with Chris, but there were never weapons or a threat to life. Booze, drugs and sex. Pain, forced kisses and paid pleasure.

I thought those parties were the den of Satan; I didn’t know there was a place deeper than the pits of hell.

There’s a foul stench when we reach the bottom. More gang members are standing around a table when we enter a room full of boxes and overhead lamps. Illegal plants. White powder. Pills. A glass screen that looks onto a lone chair in the middle of an interrogation room.

Fear claws at my bones, seeping into my blood and threatening to stop my organs.

“Nāve,” one of the gang members says. He has a long white beard and gold teeth. His hands rest on the table between us, where a brown envelope with Kade’s nickname on it sits. “We didn’t expect to see you until tomorrow.”

“I’m aware, Crawley.”

I’m standing behind him again, my arms crossed as I stare at the ground.

“I’m here for the contract and fifty.”

“Only fifty? The last time you wanted three hundred.”

“Fifty,” Kade says again. “Put it into a suitcase.”

My skin crawls as two guys smelling like beer come up beside me.

“Is your whore here as entertainment?” one says as the other hums and adds, “I’d have a piece of this.”

I yelp as he slaps my ass.

“I—”

His words are cut off as Kade’s arm snaps out, his elbow slamming into the nose of the guy closest to me, breaking it in a bloody crack. His gun is pointed at the other one, and he seems unbothered by the multiple weapons now aimed at him.

“Touch her again and I’ll blow your fucking head off.”

Oh God.We’re going to die.

Kade doesn’t blink, doesn’t lower his gun.

I rest my hand on his back. “Please…”

Please stop. Why are we here? Why do you have a gun? Where is the Kade I grew up with?

“We’ve heard the stories about you. I’m not afraid of you. I’ll take your whore off your dirty hands, and you’ll never see her again.”

Kade sighs, as if this isn’t traumatic or terrifying in the slightest. “Last chance.” His voice is clipped. “Back off.”

He laughs before baring his teeth. “Or what? I’m one of five leaders here, and I—”

Kade pulls the trigger.

I jump with a strangled gasp as the blast rings in my ears. The man’s body falls to the ground, lifeless – dead – while red trickles from the hole between his eyes.

My palm crushes to my mouth to muffle my scream, bile rising in my throat.

Unfazed, Kade tucks his gun into his waistband. “None of you will lay a finger on her – are we clear?”

Dark and intimidating, his tone feels like an arrow glazed in ice shooting through my chest, poisoning me with liquid fear.

“You want my business, none of you will touch her, look at her or even acknowledge her presence.”

To my surprise, they all agree and lower their weapons with hands raised in surrender, and I stay in shock as they continue their business. The man’s blood puddles on the floor at my feet, and I try not to vomit.

If I run, I have nowhere to go.

I grip Kade’s left arm tighter as they discuss drugs, weights of bags they pack into a suitcase, and a contract that should apparently be easy for Kade, considering his experience.

My eyes burn, but I struggle not to look at the dead man next to me.