“Dad, what’s the plan?” Elijah asks him.

  I think about what to do as I light up a cigarette. I wait for my dad to say something. I want him to spell out his plan quickly, so I can get some answers about Alice from Vinny.

  “Angel, you want to start with the drugs? Start this chess game with more than one family?” Dad looks at me.

  Letting out the smoke through my nose, I say, “Why do we suddenly have more than one family trying to bring us down?” I look at them all. There has to be more to all this. “Who is the leader?”

  "I think it's time for me to ask around the underground. I might ask some of them to come back to the game to help us," Dad says, and everyone nods.

  I agree we need to know what is happening. They seem to be a few steps ahead of us. It’s time for my pawns to take their pawns down.

  “The drugs flame up tomorrow.” I look over at my dad. “Are you going to Uncle Ronnie?” I ask.

  Uncle Ronnie was loyal to my dad for years. What Pike is to me, Uncle Ronnie was to Dad. Someone tried to shoot my dad, and Ronnie took the bullet straight in the eye. Somehow, he survived, but he went underground when he knew he could no longer protect the family or himself. My dad said that he would help, but Uncle Ronnie is a proud man and never wants help from anyone. He has so many connections, he knows what’s happening before most families even do anything. He has people everywhere, so maybe having him back is what we need. Need to know why two families might have teamed up to bring us down.

  “Yeah. If he heard we were in danger, he would have called. I know he would. Maybe if he comes out, gets information from the people he knows…” My dad stops. “I need a few days to get in touch with him. It takes a few steps.”

  Dad has never told us where Uncle Ronnie went, or how to get in touch with him. He’s always said that if Uncle Ronnie wants to get in touch with us, he would in his own way.

  “Is everyone in this room ready for what might be coming?” I ask. They all need to know that they can walk away.

  "Family will always stick together," Warren says, and everyone in the room agrees.

  "The drugs first, then we see what happens and hope Uncle Ronnie comes and gives us something," I say.

  “For now, go right back to normal. They need to believe we don’t think anything is wrong, and don't suspect anything,” my dad says.

  He’s right. We need to pretend we don’t know anything if we’re going to fool them.

  We all leave the basement and make our way back upstairs. “Call Vinny and Drew up to my office,” I tell Pike, stopping the conversation going on behind me.

  “Why?” Pike asks.

  “Because I fucking said to!” I shout.

  Elijah and Warren finally shut up.

  Since Drew pushed Alice out the back door, my head has been with Alice. What has her so fucking scared? And why the fuck wasn't Vinny leaving with her?

  “Tell Craig to get up here, too!” I yell at Elijah.

  I watch as they all walk into the office, taking a cigarette from Warren. I fill my glass and just watch Vinny and Drew standing in front of me.

  Warren starts to walk over to Drew.

  “Warren, leave her alone or get out.”

  “What the fuck is going on?” Warren asks, taking a few steps away from Drew.

  "Good question, brother. Now, Vinny, you have two seconds to tell me why Alice left the bar so fast, and without you, or Craig here is going to have some fun." I look over at Craig before turning to Pike. "Now, I promised Alice I wouldn't hurt you, but I never said anything about them."

  Drew and Vinny look at each other. I give Craig a nod and walk away from them, drinking my whiskey. I lean my hands on the desk as I hear Vinny groaning and gurgling blood behind me. I grab the bottle and fill my glass up again.

  "Enough!" Drew shouts, and I turn around. "It's been ten minutes! You're going to break his jaw."

  Drew is begging Pike to stop, but he won’t dare step in until I say stop.

  “Stop,” I tell Craig.

  I've made my point. I take a step closer to Drew. "There’s only reason you're still here, and Warren isn't that one reason." Grabbing her face, I say, "You need to pick a side."

  “I will always be on Alice’s side.”

  “And that is the one reason you’re safe. Loyalty, I respect that. Your loyalty to Alice has saved you.” Moving away from her, I turn to Elijah and Warren and throw the bar keys to them. “Close up.”

  “And what about them two?” Pike asks.

  “Bring them, too. Time to get some fucking answers,” I say and walk out of my office.

  ***

  As I walk up the stairs, I hear Vinny and Drew mumbling behind me. It makes me stop half way.

  “If you two have something to say, then say it,” I tell them both. I wait a moment, but only hear silence.

  We continue on, and I stop outside her door. Scanning my finger, I wait for it to accept me.

  I open the door and my eyes stare at the barrel of the gun pointed straight at me. My gaze moves to Alice's face, and I'm not sure if it's relief or worry on her face.

  "So, my girl knows how to use a gun." My voice comes out soft as I hear the others walking in behind me.

  “Vinny.” Alice walks over to him.

  “I wouldn’t,” I say.

  Alice stops and glances over at me, frowning.

  “I promised I wouldn’t touch him, and I didn’t. Now sit down,” I order as I pull out a chair and sit at the round table. I watch her body tense up as she fights with herself over sitting down or moving to Vinny.

  "The sooner we talk, the sooner you can make sure he's doing okay," I say.

  I see Vinny nod from the corner of my eye and the chair pulls out, scratching the floor. She pulls it hard enough to make a point that she’s pissed off.

  For a moment we just stare at each other. I’m left wondering what the hell is going on in her head.

  "Any more guns I need to know about?" I ask her. My gaze shifts to Pike as he takes the gun off the table. I chuckle to myself as she takes one out from behind her back and gives it to Pike.

  “Time to tell your story, Alice.” I lean forward and see her eye twitch. “Why do you need a gun?”

  "I'm Angel Frost's girl, anyone—"

  "Everyone knows you’re my girl, so no one would dare even lay a finger on you," I interrupt. I know that for sure, so I'm not worried. Plus I have enough men watching her. “Alice,” I say warningly, “start talking."

  She looks over at Vinny and Drew, who have been very quiet since sitting down. She looks back over at me. “Before you say anything, please let me finish.”

  “Start,” I command. Alice’s lip begins to tremble. She bows her head and takes a deep breath.

  "I was nine when all this happened." She looks back up at me, and her eyes fill with water. "My father worked for a family, like yours. He worked with them before I was even born. Then he found something out about the family. They killed children and women, and other terrible things. I don’t know all the details. He came home one day, scared. I'd never seen my dad like that. They knew he had found out the truth about them. He was running around the house putting things into a bag. The next thing I knew, he was pushing me into a secret hole in the living room. A hidden room I had no idea about." She stops for a moment to collect herself.

  I watch her as her body shivers. Reliving that time of her life is clearly painful for her.

  "He told me not to make a sound, and not to come out for two days. He told me everything that I needed to run away was in the bag. For three days, I stayed in the hole. I listened to them torture my dad and abuse my mum for two days. Then, two bullets were fired. A part of me felt relief that the pain for my parents was over, every though I was left with no one. They searched the whole house looking for me. They said they would find me and give me to the middle son to do what he wanted with me."

  She stops again, but I don’t think the story is finished just yet. My gaze shifts to Pike, who has not moved a muscle while standing there listening to her.

  "On the third day, I finally found the courage to leave the tiny hideout. I saw my parents’ lifeless bodies, but I did what my dad said." Alice stops and licks her dry lips.

  I give Pike a quick glance, and he knows what I'm saying without even having to say it. He places a glass of water in front of Alice, but she doesn't drink it.

  "Long story short, the letter told me to go to Uncle Andy, my dad’s best friend. Uncle Andy knew everything. My dad had called him a few days before and told him everything. Uncle Andy promised to never let anything happen to me and that the family would never get me. Vinny, also a friend of my parents, promised my dad he would look after me. At first, Uncle Andy sent me to America to live with relatives and to get me away from the hell I was in.” Alice looks at me, and fear is the only thing that I see in her eyes.

  "When I got to America, my family taught me to shoot and fight well enough to defend myself if I ever needed to. Vinny left the army, and I eventually came back to England. Uncle Andy kept me up to date. The family I'm hiding from thinks I'm still in America. At the hotel today," she pauses and looks over at Vinny before turning back to me. "I was going to tell you everything today, I was, but things got.... I went to visit Ben, my family. He's in the inner circle of the family hunting me. He is the one who tells us what they’re doing when it comes to finding me. "Alice finishes and locks gazes with me as she wipes the tears away.

  "So, Vinny was your bodyguard before I even hired him to be your bodyguard, Uncle Andy and Drew are family, and Ben is a spy," I say.

  "No, all four of them are my family, the only family I've had," she says.

  I watch her body tense up, and I try to figure things out in my head. She’s explained a lot, but not everything. What about the bar, the panic around what happened?

  "Fuck," I shout as all the fucking light bulbs light up in my head. "Pike is taking over Vinny.” I turn back to Alice. ”Pack your stuff." I shake my head. There is way too much going on in my head at the moment.

  “Angel?” Pike begins questioningly.

  “The family is the fucking Midlands,” I snap.

  “I changed my last name. Ben said they’re looking in America and I have nothing to worry about, but he said the only thing Harvey and John care about is finding me,” she says with a broken voice.

  I look up at Pike, the command clear in my expression.

  Pike hesitates. “Angel, I don’t even know what he looks like…”

  "No!" Alice shouts and stands up. "Please leave Ben out of this. I already don't sleep at night, worried they will find out who he really is. You looking into him...Please…" Alice starts crying again. "I will set up a meeting with Ben again, and you can meet him, but please, I beg you, Angel, please don't look into him. I will beg on my knees if that's what it takes."

  She drops on her knees in front of me and I cup her face. "I will leave Ben alone." I look up at everyone. "Vinny, Drew, tell Andy to get to the house. Pike, call a family meeting and tell doc to be there to check on Vinny."

  I wait for them all to leave the apartment before turning back to Alice. "Never, and I mean never, get on your knees to beg me to do something for you. For you, Alice, I would do anything. The only time I want you on your knees for me is when I get to come in your mouth." I lean in and kiss her lips hard, telling her I only care about her.

  “I promise I was going to tell you everything. I went to meet Ben today because I wanted him to know that I was going to tell you. I needed him to know,” Alice says.

  I believe that she was going to tell me. I can see it in her eyes. "I will protect you, but I have to tell the family." Her body tenses. "Alice, they need to know." I cup her face again and gently kiss her lips.

  “Angel, I wanted to tell you all this, and tell you that I love you—”

  My lips crush against hers before she can say any more to me. This woman loves me. I always thought the devil that lives inside me would scare everyone away, but Alice sees a different me, a me she has fallen in love with.

  Now the only thing I care about is making sure she is safe, and that the Midlands never lay a finger on her.

  I pull away from her, leaning my forehead against hers. “Alice, I love you. You’re the air I breathe, and I promise I will never let anything happen to you, I would die before I let them touch you.”

  I need to talk to my family to let them know that the moment they find out Alice is here, the truce is over. I won’t be losing her to them or anyone. It already looks like we might be starting a war with the Midlands. The moment they know about Alice, a war will break out, but it will be one I will do anything to win.

  Chapter 19

  Angel

  I pace my dad’s office. Everyone is here and, at the moment, I have no idea where I should be starting. I'm still trying to work out the words in my own head. I take out another cigarette, my fourth since we got here, and take a sip from my third drink.

  Pike and I didn't speak in the car on the way here. Alice was with us, and I didn't need her to know what I was thinking, not yet anyway.

  “Angel, you’re scaring me,” my dad says as he walks up to me. I can tell by his tone that he is getting worried about why I’ve called this family meeting.

  "The Midlands," I begin as I face them all. The words stalled and I started over. "Sixteen years ago, Dad, do you know what happened with them?"

  I'm not sure how to start this conversation without a million questions being thrown at me. If my dad has some input, maybe it will save me from having to answer all of them.

  “Sixteen years ago?” My dad frowns as he thinks. “We were at war with the Midlands. They were selling women, and your grandad wanted to put an end to it.” Dad lets out a breath. “I know they stopped that business. No one really knows the real reason. There was talk about it until the dust settled.”

  “Dust settled?” Elijah asks.

  "They murdered a family, from what we found out. It was their accountant. He found out something about them. No one knows to this date what it was. Ronnie turned every brick trying to find answers, but nothing." My dad locks gazes with me for a moment before he continues. "Because they wanted to keep whatever he had found quiet, they tried to kill the whole family, but a child escaped. The last we heard, they were still looking for the child, wanting to kill him or her to make sure nothing was revealed."

  “The child, do we know who it is?” I ask, drinking the last of my whiskey.

  "No. We didn't even know if it was a son or daughter. Your grandad wanted to find them, so we had some information on them, but no one except the Midlands knew who they were looking for." Dad refills my glass. He seems to know what I’m about to say. He’s realized our truce might be over with the Midlands.

  “What does any of this have to do with us?” Elijah asks.

  I look over at Pike, letting him know to let Alice, Drew, Vinny, and Andy come in.

  “Tonight, I found out who the Midlands are looking for, and to get to her, they will have to kill me first,” I say as footsteps come up behind me.

  I look at my family, my eyes moving from my brothers to my dad. They all stare at Alice.

  "Alice told me, and if we can all sit down, I will tell you everything," I explain as I pull Alice closer to me and gently kiss her head.

  The family all sits down, and I begin telling them Alice’s story. The more I tell them, the more I can see how their plan to keep Alice hidden has worked for this long. Alice’s dad set up a plan with his friends to make sure if she walked away from it all and would be safe.

  "The Carter family said there was a family in America who hated the Midlands just as much as us. Alice is that family with you?" my dad asks her, and I look over at her as well.

  "Yes, my mum's brother, Uncle Stuart. I went there and they protected me. Since then, Uncle Stuart, Vinny, and Ben have always worked to keep me safe," Alice says while looking down at her hands. She clears her throat. "I'm sorry that…"

  “Alice, this family sticks together, and the moment my son saw you, I already knew you would become part of the family. We will protect you the same way your family has.” My dad stands up, walks over to her, and gives her a hug.

  “Thank…thank you,” she says.

  “What are we doing? Are we telling the Midlands?”

  “No!” Alice shouts.

  I already know why she is saying this and step in.

  “She doesn’t want us to put Ben in danger. If they find out who he is, they will kill him. At the moment, he is the only one who can keep Alice safe. He knows every move they are making when it comes to Alice,” I explain.

  They all nod, but it doesn’t look like they all agree with this.

  "Alice," Vinny says, drawing her attention. "It’s Ben." He hands her the phone and walks away from us.

  I look over at my family and Vinny. “You all think this is wrong?” I ask them.

  “Not wrong…”

  “If I can just step in…” We all turn to Andy as he steps into the circle. “To Alice, Ben is the most important person in all this. If anything happens to him, I promise you, she will never forgive herself for it.” Andy turns to me. “You love her, I don’t doubt that for any reason, and neither does Ben, but if something happens to him because of this family, you will lose her.”

  I look down for a moment, looking to my left as Elijah taps my arm to give me his lit cigarette.

  “Angel, sometimes protecting the one we love means protecting them from ourselves. I know you, but maybe this is not a fight we need to risk if it means you losing the first woman you’ve ever loved,” Elijah says.

  If anyone knows the feeling of losing someone, it's Elijah. I saw how it broke him, I saw how fucked up he became in the end. It took him a long time to get over that. I look over at Alice on the phone, then back at Elijah. He's right. As much as I would love to put a bullet in the Midlands’ heads, I know Alice has a lot more to lose in all this. I don't think I can see my life without her in it.

 

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