Vengeance in Bloom (The Love Unauthorized Series Book 2) Read online

  Paisley curses and claws at my back. I’m angry with her, too. How could she know and not fucking tell me? How long has this been going on?

  “Burke, fucking stop it! Don’t you think we have bigger issues right now than your best friend being in love with your sister? He loves her, goddamn it, and if you missed that all this time, then you really are stupid. Fucking stop!”

  My fists stop, and I pull myself off Kai. Paisley runs to help him up. She takes him over to the kitchen and attempts to clean him up. My knuckles bleed, and my breathing races. I watch my girl with my best friend, and anger consumes me. How could everyone I ever trusted hide this from me? They did this all on their own. Well before we were ever targets in Jacoby’s little game.

  Paisley

  Men are idiots. Complete and total fucking imbeciles. We’re in the middle of life and death, in the center of everything we’ve been working toward, and Burke can’t hold back his anger toward Kai. Why are we fighting each other when we’ve finally captured the bad guy? I’ll tell you why—because men are complete idiots.

  I fill Burke and Kai in on what I’ve learned so far, but there are obviously a lot of missing pieces. Burke glares at Kai over the top of my head, and Kai keeps his vision down on the floor.

  “It’s not happening anymore.”

  I hold my breath and look between the two men. Anger flashes once again on Burke’s face while Kai’s features hold pain. And I don’t mean the physical pain he took from the punches.

  “You really want to talk about this when I’ve stopped ramming my fist into your face?”

  “I love her, Burke. I always have and always will.”

  “You love her? Have you loved her while you’ve been fucking everything that moves for as long as I can remember?”

  Kai’s bruised and bloodied face flinches. “It’s not like that.”

  “Tell me then, what is it like exactly?”

  We’re pressed for time, so I speak up, “We’re finally here. We’ve got Sonnelion. Jacoby is just in the other room. Do you think we could put this argument on hold until we make sure Teagan is safe?”

  Burke and Kai both have enough sense to look ashamed as we move into the living room. They should be.

  Jacoby’s smug face perks up as we enter. “Don’t let me interrupt the family squabble.” Jacoby’s raspy voice is thick and slurred.

  “Shut the fuck up! Where the hell is my sister?” Burke’s words are seeped with irritation, but Jacoby just laughs.

  “She’s safe . . . for now. We’ve got a lot to discuss before we get to Teagan. Sit tight. No harm will happen to her until I give the word.”

  I step in front of him and snap my fingers to get his attention. “Jacoby, you were going to tell me about a fire. What happened?”

  “The fire was the end result of a lot of things building up to it. The longer you were locked up in that room, the worse things were within the rest of the house. Charles used you as a tool for control. He treated you like a zoo animal and used you to keep your mother in line and away from the man she loved. She became resentful, which infuriated him. He used violence and his financial power to shame her more and more.”

  Charles sounds like a monster.

  “Even as a child, I could tell something wasn’t right. Charles fired the staff, and Elizabeth rarely left the house anymore unless she was needed at her husband’s side for an event. My mother would take me over to your house every day, and she’d always bring clothes for your mom. When we arrived, she’d be wrapped in a sheet, and she’d always give the clothes back to my mother before we left. Bruises covered her skin. When I asked why she was always hurt, my mom used to tell me Elizabeth was clumsy.”

  This is getting harder and harder to hear. Burke must see it on my face because he takes my hand, and my uncertainty eases. He gives me a supportive look, which I return with a small smile.

  “I was supposed to stay in your room with you, but most of the time, I’d wait at the top of the stairs to listen to their conversations before going to see you.”

  I’m about to learn how bad things really were for my mother.

  “Charles put locks on everything to punish Elizabeth. In his eyes, she didn’t deserve the luxuries he provided. She was an unwelcome guest and an obedient prisoner in her own home.”

  I can’t imagine it. How did Elizabeth ever get together with Charles in the first place? Was he not always a monster? Did she care more about money than she did her happiness? How did she get there?

  “Anything that provided entertainment was locked up before he left for work. The liquor cabinet and even the fridge had locks on them. Her closet was off-limits unless they were going to an event. She was always wrapped in a sheet because he said she didn’t deserve clothes on her back. She was expected to be completely bare, but the sheet was an act of rebellion during the day while he was at work. He kept everything away from her that he could. Then, when he came home, she was to act as the perfect doting wife.”

  Things are coming together in my head. The nightmare is making sense, and I see where this is going. The angry man spewing hateful words at a woman. The fire. I’ve heard enough to connect the dots.

  “I’m not sure exactly what happened that night, but assumedly, there was a fight. They do know that Charles lit the place on fire with everyone inside. They burned to death together on the first floor.”

  Her husband killed her. It’s like a sucker punch to my gut, making it hard to breathe or focus on anything other than the pain radiating out from inside me. She died a prisoner because she’d had me.

  “By the time the fire department arrived, it was too late to save your parents, but since you were on the second floor, they were obviously able to save you. My mother and I watched the whole damn thing. I can still remember the way she dragged me back into the house and told me what to say to the cops if they came asking about who you are. I never told anyone the whole truth.”

  “But you did tell someone. You told a doctor.”

  “You heard me there? You remember that?”

  “No, not really, but I had a dream about it.”

  “My mom made me go with her to identify your mom. She said she didn’t trust me not to slip up if someone came asking questions and she wasn’t around. Anyway, I snuck off to speak to your doctor. He told authorities what I had said, that I knew your name and age. My mother was furious. I never forgave her for making me pretend like I never knew you. I never forgave her for turning her back on you. Your mother was her best friend, and she pretended as if she hadn’t spent years adoring you as a child.” His face snarls, and his nostrils flare. “I think she cared about her image almost as much as Charles had. Funny, since everyone knew she was the town slut. She let the social workers take you away with no idea of who you were or where you had come from. I spent all those years wondering what had happened to you.”

  Well, now, I know. It’s not pretty, and it’s not clean, but I know it’s the truth. Yet nothing he’s said so far is motive for what he’s done to us. I let go of Burke’s hand and pace between where Jacoby sits and the kitchen, thinking.

  “Okay, so you knew me as a kid and felt bad for my circumstances. Thanks. Why have you been throwing bricks, kidnapping people, destroying property, and chopping people’s heads off? Why not just call me?”

  “Like I said, I had no idea you were even still alive before I hired Braelyn. You are just the universe’s way of telling me I was doing the right thing. My reward.”

  I’m done with his freaking riddles. I close the distance between us and bend, so I’m right in his face. “Why. Are. You. Doing. This?” I bite out.

  “Hiring Braelyn was a coincidence. I needed someone who would be willing to do whatever I asked for cash and had no morals. I think we both know she fits the bill, right?”

  He throws his head back and laughs. It’s so loud and so crazed that it forces me back a step. I refuse to share a laugh with him.

  “I’d looked into Braelyn’s life be
fore I hired her, and it was then that I realized the little girl from next door was her roommate. Then, when you started fucking one of my targets, it was like Christmas and a birthday rolled into one. It couldn’t have worked out more perfectly for me.”

  “Just answer the question, Jacoby,” Kai speaks, moving in next to me.

  I need to calm down. I need to process what he told me. I need just a bit of breathing room. I need a drink.

  So, I turn and walk away from them. Normally, I wouldn’t invade someone’s house for alcohol, but I think, under these circumstances, I can take what I like. Burke is the only one who pays any attention to me as I open and close cabinets, searching.

  “So, you had issues with us before you ever knew Paisley was connected to us? What’s your motive? Why is your life goal to ruin me? What the fuck have I ever done to you?”

  “Oh, the fun is only just beginning. Let’s not ruin it yet.” Again, Jacoby just laughs, and I hear a sharp crack of knuckles against flesh.

  I finally find a bottle of vodka in the freezer, untwist the top, and take a swig directly from the bottle. Then, when the first isn’t enough, I take another before searching for a glass.

  Bottoms up.

  Paisley

  “Are you okay?” Burke questions as he joins me in the kitchen.

  “I’ll be okay once we know Teagan is safe.”

  He takes my hand in his.

  A deep rumble comes from the other room.

  “The fun should be starting soon. You won’t want to miss it.”

  Burke heaves a defeated sigh and kisses my forehead. I love those kisses. Hand in hand, Burke and I go back into the living room.

  Kai responds to Jacoby’s taunts, “What fun? What’s about to happen?”

  “What would be the fun in telling you when I can show you? I wasn’t stupid enough to meet Paisley today without suspicion. Every twenty minutes, I was supposed to check in through text message to my team. The second I missed that first check-in, my backup plan started. How long do you think I’ve been tied up? Well over thirty minutes, right?”

  We all share a look of understanding. More are coming. A team of however many men are about to swarm the house. Kai and Burke rise to attention. Burke pulls my gun from his bag and hands it to me. I’ve never shot this thing for real, only in target practice. I might have to use this today. I might have to kill someone. Again.

  “I’m pretty sure I’ve figured out his connection to—” I say but am interrupted. Kai’s phone rings, and Jacoby’s lips stretch into a slow smile.

  “I suggest you answer before Paisley spoils my fun.”

  Kai gives Jacoby an annoyed glance.

  “You don’t want to ruin my first surprise. I put in a lot of effort to time things right. Now, answer the fucking phone, Kai.”

  Kai reaches into his pocket. I’m a nervous wreck. The gun feels heavy in my hand.

  “Speaker,” Burke grunts.

  Kai answers and hits the speakerphone button.

  An automated voice fills the room. “This is a collect call from Kenneth Grant, an inmate at Myerlee County Prison. This call will be recorded and monitored. To accept the charges, dial three now. To decline the charges, dial nine or hang up now.” Kai hits a button on his phone, but his hand is shaking.

  There is a series of clicks, and then a voice comes over the line. “Kai?”

  He doesn’t respond to his name.

  “I’m calling to check on my boys. How are you two getting along? It’s time you finally met your brother, Jacoby.”

  Kai’s arm drops, and he turns to face Jacoby. “What the fuck is he talking about?”

  Jacoby only smiles in response.

  “Kai, I wanted to ask you something while I have you. Do you think of your mother often? I do. Her screams fill the quiet times in here. The memory of the way she defiled and humiliated herself while she begged me to stop gets me through the days. She called out for you. Did you know? She begged for her baby boy to come and save her.”

  Kai throws his phone against the wall, and the device shatters into pieces. He charges toward Jacoby and holds the gun to his head. Manic anger pours from Kai.

  “You don’t want to do that, brother. Not before you learn the rest of my surprises. I wouldn’t want someone innocent to get hurt because you couldn’t control your temper. You see, it’s family day. You’ve learned the first surprise, and the second should be along shortly.”

  Their eyes. Their eyes are an identical match. Jacoby looked familiar to me in the bar because I recognized Kai’s eyes. Jacoby’s mother had slept around. He’d said both of us were products of our mother’s infidelities. Kai and Jacoby are fucking brothers.

  “Back off,” Burke says, pulling Kai away from Jacoby by his elbow.

  Kai is seething and still pointing his gun at Jacoby. “You are fucking lying!” he screams.

  For a split second, I actually think Kai is going to pull the trigger.

  “Sorry, brother. DNA doesn’t lie. I found him a few years ago, and I’ve been visiting him weekly since. Ken has been more of a parent to me in the last couple of years, from behind prison walls, than my mother ever was. He writes me letters and was really there for me when I was opening my business. He told me about you. How much of a disappointment you’ve always been . . . how you testified against him in court. I was more than happy to help him teach you a lesson in loyalty. What kind of son turns in his own father?”

  “The kind of son who watched that man be a monster his whole fucking life. The son who’s covered in scars from that sadistic fuck. The kind of son who loved his mother and wanted her murderer to fucking pay. That’s the kind of fucking son I am. I am my mother’s son. That man isn’t a father.” He’s blue in the face, and spit shoots out of his mouth while he defends his actions and the woman who raised him.

  I look from green eyes to green eyes while the two men stare each other down. Kai with pure hatred radiating off him and Jacoby with a look of amusement.

  I’m afraid for what surprises the rest of this day holds for us.

  “Your mother couldn’t give our father what he wanted. She told Ken she was leaving him the day he killed her.”

  Kai flinches at his harsh words. He told me he’d begged his mother to leave her husband, but she never did. Was that really what had started their argument that day?

  “Women are nothing but conniving and manipulative. Braelyn betrayed Paisley for money with zero hesitation. My mother was a whore who fucked everyone, including her own best friend’s husband. She saw firsthand what a monster Charles was, and she was still sneaking off to his office.”

  My mother’s best friend was sleeping with her abusive husband? What. The. Fuck?

  “I killed her, you know. My mother. I saw the life leave her eyes while my hands were around her neck. Then, I set it up to look like a kinky sex hook-up gone wrong.”

  The more he talks, the more this sordid story gets fucking outrageous.

  “The man who claimed me as his own, treated me like a son even though we both always knew I wasn’t his, died from a heart attack. He caught my mother fucking some club member, and it killed him. You never should’ve turned your back on your father, Kai. You betrayed him for—”

  The doorbell cuts off what he was about to say.

  Burke moves to stand in front of me, and Kai looks back and forth from the door to our hostage. Both their guns are aimed at the entrance to the home, and it’s almost comical that they both flick their safeties off at the same time.

  Burke

  Men that I’ve paid to have my back and watch over Paisley and Teagan invade the house. Their guns are aimed at us as they usher in four people I don’t know. It’s obvious they have no idea what’s going on though.

  There are only two people missing—Callen and Teagan.

  I thought Callen had proven his loyalty to us. He was the only one we let know what we were really up to. He knew we never planned to use Braelyn as bait but rather Paisley, but he
didn’t tell Jacoby what we’d planned. Why?

  “Good help is hard to find. Wouldn’t you agree?”

  I’ve had about enough of Jacoby’s condescending taunts.

  The men make a circle around us, closing us in. One moves to go free Jacoby, and I push Paisley away from me and toward the hallway leading to the kitchen.

  “Don’t fucking touch him. We all have guns here. You release him, and I’ll blow your fucking brains out. I don’t care if all these other fucking bitches shoot me in the back. Try me.” I aim my gun at the man, and Kai attempts to cover my back, but we’re critically outnumbered.

  We’re already in the middle of a losing battle. Jacoby loose near Paisley is the last thing I want.

  Jacoby addresses his guy, “It’s okay. Let Burke win on this. It’s the least we can do since he won’t leave here alive.”

  The man takes his place back in the circle, and Paisley steps back to my side. She can give me all the angry glares she wants; at least in the hallway or kitchen, she would have been out of the line of fire. Yes, I put myself in harm’s way, but there was no way I was going to let her stand in front of me while I did. I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure she comes out of this alive, and Jacoby doesn’t.

  “What is this? Who are those people?”

  “You want to talk about them when I’m ready to talk about Teagan?” Jacoby prods while not paying the others in the room any attention.

  “Spit it out then.”

  “Did you tell your sister good-bye before you sent her off with someone you didn’t even know?” His eyes move from me to Kai. “How about you, Kai? Did you end things well with the woman you were in love with?”

  “Stop! Just stop!” Paisley’s voice sounds so unlike her, high-pitched and strained.