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Dominick
Thursday
Tension was a living, breathing beast inside him. Noelle has been back in town for a few days and they both knew it was only a matter of time before they would be confronted by the inevitable. They both had roles to play that they wish they didn’t have to, but they had no choice in the matter.
Earlier he had sent Gideon out to check on the men, to ensure everyone was ready when the strike against him came. And it would come, sooner rather than later. He was fairly secure in his office which was why Gideon had left.
Closing his laptop he pushed it away from him and leant back in his comfy as hell leather chair. He could see the rest of the office through the clear glass wall and frowned when he noticed that his assistant wasn’t at her desk.
Where the hell was she? She was supposed to be sending emails and making calls. Did she go for a bathroom break? Or had the time come for him to play his part?
Shoving his chair back he quickly sent a text from his secure phone then dumped it behind the bookcase where no one would think to look. He didn’t bother to pull his jacket on as he walked out of his office and into the reception area.
And there they were.
Winifred along with Murchison and several of their so-called assistants.
He pretended to be confused.
“What the hell is going on here?”
“I need you to come quietly, Dominick. If you don’t your employees are going to get hurt. And none of us want that, now do we?” Winifred, the bitch, had no idea what he did and did not want. Little did she know that this right here was exactly what he wanted.
“Go where?”
She smirked. “Not far. I have some questions I need you to answer about the company.”
Bullshit.
Pointing back at his office he tried to appear relaxed. “Let me get my jacket, then we can go.”
“There’s no need for a jacket as we won’t be leaving the building.”
He wanted to smile but didn’t, just nodded and allowed the fuckers to surround him and herd him into the lift. He stood silently as they rode down, going past the lobby and parking garage to the dungeon underneath the building no one was supposed to know about.
He had been introduced to the vile place as a teenager and had never forgotten it. He had ensured that the men he trusted all knew about it in case he needed to be rescued.
But today it wasn’t on his men he depended for his rescue but on Face. She would extract him and if she wasn’t around Bruno would do it for her.
He hoped that between her handing over the USB containing the worm and his kidnapping they had enough time for the entire plan to be set in motion. They needed time for the worm to embed itself in the servers of the Syndicate. And he was about to give them that time.
When the worm got to work the Cape Town branch of the Syndicate was going to be rocked to its foundations.
On arrival in the damp and musty smelling dungeon he was taken to a cell and locked in. Soon after Winifred left the dungeon Murchison decided it was time to torment him with what was to happen to him.
As always Dominick ignored him, turned his back on him and looked over the small cell with feigned interest.
“You’re going to regret ignoring me. I’m somebody now, and I have the upper hand. I get to decide if you live or die.”
There was no way he could stop the laughter. “Jesus, you’re stupid. You are never going to be anything more than a handy dick to ride and a lackey to Winifred Harrison. She won’t kill me because she needs me to be seen running my family’s company and raising a family. I know exactly what she wants from me but she’s not getting it. Not today and not tomorrow either.”
Murchison started sniggering and it turned into full out laughter. The laughter was evil as hell. The freak was a maniac so the ugly laugh was to be expected.
“You’re damned stupid if you think we don’t know you’ve had a vasectomy. We know, and tonight you will be undergoing surgery to correct it. In a few days’ time those little swimmers of yours will be up and about and ready to procreate. At least that’s what the quack promised Winifred. Me? I couldn’t give a shit if you can or can’t have filthy little bastards. All I want is your position in your company and you’re going to give it to me. I’m going to make sure you do. You should never have put a ring on Noelle’s finger. She’s your weakness and I’m going to use it to get what I want.”
He almost crowed with joy at his clever plan. So damned stupid and gullible.
They had been drawn into the trap he and Noelle had set and none of them knew it.
It was about to play out exactly as they had planned.
They were going to suffer but they were prepared for it.
Between him and Noelle, they were going to force the Syndicate to its knees and step into the vacant positions.
Not to continue on their dark path but to destroy it from the inside out.
All he had to do now was hope like fuck the doctor played his part.
From the start he had known Winifred would take steps to reverse his supposed vasectomy. He had never had one done, it was all smoke and mirrors and fake doctor’s reports. He had paid the doctor enough to add it to his file and because he was one of Winifred’s he would be the one they approached to undo it.
But it was actually a fake inside of a fake.
He knew the doctor was a weakling who would run straight to Winifred and report the faked file. She will be under the impression she had control of the situation when in fact she didn’t. Quite telling that she hadn’t informed Murchison of the faked vasectomy. Interesting really.
They would have to drug him to get him aroused and hopefully that would take time because he wouldn’t be eating or drinking anything they handed him. Unlike the last time she had him down here. He would rather forget what had happened to him then but he couldn’t, it would always be there at the back of his mind. Always a part of the man he had become.
This time he was way ahead of them. He knew they would have to either come into the cell to drug him or dart him. Either way was going to take time to implement.
It would give them a few hours for Face to play her part by handing over the USB. Winifred would want to view the files on the USB immediately and it would buy him some more time. She would want to oversee his humiliation herself. Because she was a fucking perverted old bitch.
During their planning they had known it would be up to Face and her men to get him out of the situation he had willingly put himself into. He had to hope and pray they arrived before he fucked some bitch while drugged to the eyeballs.
No way was he having his first child with one of Winifred’s drugged up protégé’s.
Sitting down on the cot bolted to the wall he stared down at the floor and waited.
That was all he could do now. Wait.
Rock
Monday Night
His gut clenched as Mads steered the car through the open gates into Face’s compound. She pulled up at the front door and turned to look at him with knowing eyes.
“We’ll unload you first before I park the car. I enjoyed having you ride down with me. You’re not like Cuba who fiddles with everything.”
Rock grinned, gave her a quick nod then got out of the car. Fuck, it was good to be able to stretch his muscles out at last. Walking to the bike trailer behind the car he pulled the ramp down then climbed up and started undoing the straps holding his bike in place. The trailer dipped as a heavy body climbed up to help him and he looked over to meet the icy eyes of Donovan Jameson.
“Face looks pissed. Is everything okay?” He asked after a quick look at the garage where the other car had disappeared.
“No, everything is not okay but it’s up to her to tell you.” Rock wasn’t going to discuss his brother’s business with this guy. His answer got him an irritated grunt from Jameson.
Before long his bike was back on solid ground and his saddlebags on the back. Shortly after he was riding through the gate of their compound and parking his bike in the row in front of the clubhouse. Leaving his shit on the bike he slowly walked inside in search of his president, he knew he was here because his bike was parked in his designated space.
Knocking on his office door he waited. “Come in!”
Swallowing heavily he turned the handle and walked in. War’s eyes met his as he walked through the door and then he was up and around the desk and pulling him into his arms. His dad was the one who hugged him, not his president.
“Damn glad you’re home, son. Fucking missed you.”
“Glad to be home, Dad.” Rock murmured, taking the slaps on his back and patting his dad’s shoulder in return.
Stepping back he looked at his dad and frowned. He looked stressed as fuck and Rock could swear there were new lines around his eyes.
“Anything interesting happen while I was up in Joburg?” He watched his dad’s face carefully.
The frown was instant and he knew that frown. It meant there was shit he wasn’t going to like.
“Your sister is being stubborn but at least we’ve made some progress with her. At first she insisted that Harrison was a good guy but after seeing proof of his family’s businesses she’s not so sure anymore. Not that she’s fully convinced. She thinks she’s pulling the wool over our eyes but she forgets we raised her. We know when she’s fucking pretending to believe us.” War sighed as he sat down again. “We’ve done what we can. She’s fucking twenty three years old, I can no longer make decisions for her. All I can do is point her in the right direction and hope for the best.”
Rock said nothing, just nodded as his father talked. He wasn’t going to put his foot in the pile of shit that was his sister’s love life.
And then his father changed the subject.
“Son, I’m fucking sorry I treated you the way I did. I was wrong and you were right. Do you think we can settle our differences and go on from there?”
It took him a while before he could answer. And then it spewed from him in an unending stream.
“You treated me like the officers badge I wear means nothing, Dad. That hurt and it damaged the relationship between us. But we both know we’ve been struggling for years because your focus, and mum’s, has always been Keeley. And before you try to say something, I’m a grown man now and I’ve worked through the hurt the two of you caused. I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to go back to the way it used to be with us. You were a huge part of my life and then slowly but surely you disappeared. If it wasn’t for Burn I might have ended up a statistic in the record books. You and mum didn’t even realise I was an addict. You didn’t see it but Burn did and took me to rehab. That holiday the two of us supposedly went on? Not a holiday at all. I was in rehab and when I got out he took me under his wing. I owe him my life and the patch on my chest.”
War sat in his chair in stunned silence, tears very evident in his eyes. Clearing his throat he started talking quietly.
“Your mother and I dropped the ball with you. When Keeley became so demanding our focus became her because we were fucking petrified she was going to go off the rails. If only we had realised our son was desperate for attention and was hurting. Hurting so much he did shit to get our notice, but we never did.” He swallowed and then tapped a few keys on his laptop and turned it so Rock could see.
Closing his eyes he sighed. He didn’t want to look at the shit on that screen because it was his past. A past he had put behind him with Burn’s help.
“Burn threw this at me after you left with Kid. He called Marcia and me a good example for birth control. I almost fucking attacked him and then I saw this photo of you. Drugged up, blood all over your face and clothes and my anger died to be replaced by horror and shame.” He tapped the screen. “This here, all of this, is my son screaming for help, for someone to see him, and your mother and I missed it. We missed it because we believed our son was fine. But he wasn’t. He was struggling. And it was our fault.”
All Rock could do was nod. He couldn’t lie and say they weren’t the main reason he went off the rails. They were, but it was more than just that.
“It wasn’t just you and mum, it was me as well. I fell in with a bad crowd and they treated me like I was someone. When in actual fact I was no one special. The drugs, drinking and sex made me feel like I was special. Before long I was so far gone that I stole to supply my habit. I’m not proud of what I had done during that time of my life. Some of it was depraved and so wrong I’m ashamed even just thinking about it. If not for Burn I wouldn’t be here today. I reached out to him and he came looking for me, found me in one of the Organisation’s drug dens and dragged me out. Shortly after he had me in rehab. I am the man I am today because I know how far one can fall. I know how dark it can get when desperation rules your life. And I know I’ll never be that man again.”
War slowly nodded, his eyes never leaving Rock. “You are my son, and nothing you do will ever change that. I love you, my boy, I’ll always love you. I held you in my arms the day you were born and made you a promise. I promised to protect you and guide you. I’ve faltered for a few years but when you became a prospect I tried to fix us. And now I know why it felt like there was this fucking gulf between us. It’s because I forgot my promise. But not anymore. I promise you son, from this day forward I’ll be here for you, be the dad you deserve.”
Rock couldn’t help but grin. “You’ve always been my dad. Sometimes not so good but not all bad, you know. I love you and mum, I always have, even when I was so drugged up I didn’t know up from down. And now you have Kid to see to as well, and let me tell you, Dad, you’re going to have your work cut out with my brother. He’s being a fucking asshole. He’s going to need a lot of father and son time.” He grinned at his dad’s confused frown.
Pushing up out of his chair Rock walked around the desk and his dad stood. Wrapping his arms around him he hugged him hard. They stood like that for several seconds before his dad turned his head and kissed the side of his head. The way he used to do when he was a little boy.
Something settled in Rock’s heart and he let out a long heavy sigh.
Patting his on his back his dad stepped back then looked at him with narrowed eyes.
“Now tell me what the hell is going on with your brother.”
Sitting back down he started talking and his dad, and his prez, listened.
Face
Thursday
We arrived home late Monday night and Rock had unloaded his bike from the trailer we rented and had immediately gone home. Right next door. To report to his president, obviously.
Over the next few days the girls and I started to prepare for what was to come.
My showdown with Murchison. Today was Thursday and I’ve still not heard anything from him.
I was going through some work files on my laptop when my phone beeped. Without looking I picked it up and answered.
“Face.”
“The bait has been taken to the bottom.”
Shit. It was happening. It was really happening and Gideon had just ensured that we didn’t have to go searching for Dom. He was still at the Maingarde building, in their damned dungeon. We were lucky because it was the easier location to extract him from.
“Understood. Moving on the second part.”
We didn’t say anything more. There was no need.
Ending the call I called Bruno. My phone was secure and no way would Star allow anyone to hack into it.
“Bruno.”
“They’ve taken Dom and he’s being held in the dungeon underneath the Maingarde building. It’s my turn to play my part. I’m calling Murchison to set up a meet. You and your team need to be ready to extract Dom.”
“We’ll be ready to head out as soon as you get back, Noey.” By his use of my family nick name I knew he felt the same churning in his gut that I did.
“Good. I’ll let you know the time and place of the meet. I’m not expecting to get out of there without some cuts and bruises but I need you to ignore me and concentrate on getting Dom out. As soon as I’ve been dealt with they’ll move on to him. We can’t allow it to happen, plus I promised him I won’t let him down.”
“We won’t. While you were in Joburg we’ve been working on opening up the way in and have only one more grate to remove. We’ve left cameras and it’s clear they are very complacent about the tunnels. They don’t think anyone can get in that way. They have one camera and an alarm on the grate but both are very easy to disable. We get in, find Dom and get him out of there. Once we’re moving it will go down fast. You okay with collateral damage?”
I drew in a deep breath then breathed out hard. “Yes. Whoever is walking around freely down there is the enemy.”
“Understood. I’ll talk to you before you head out to see Murchison.”
He ended the call and left me sitting with my dead phone in my hand.
But not for long. It rang while still in my hand. I smiled when I saw the caller ID. Rock.
“Hey, Rocky, how’s it hanging today?” I teased.
“A little to the right, if you really want to know.” I could hear the smirk in his voice and laughed.
“What can I do your for, kind sir?”
“Nothing much, just checking in to see if all is still okay.”
I stared at the photos on the wall facing my desk and sighed. “The first shot has been fired over our bows and the fight is on. I’ll most probably be heading out to meet him tomorrow.”
There were rumbles in the background and I waited trying to hear what was being said but it was too indistinct.
“My president wants to know if the protection is still required.”
“Absolutely. Shit is going to hit the fan tomorrow, guaranteed. As soon as I’m gone I need my people out of here. The men will stay behind to take care of Murchison’s goons should they try to gain entry. If they do and are eliminated he will not react favourably. I will most probably take a bit of damage as he works out his rage but once he’s done he’ll let me go. He will have to because I’m handing over a file they can’t open without a key. After he releases me he will be given the location of said key, but only if I’m released.” I hesitated then gave him the rest. “I’m almost sure he won’t be too rough with me.”
“Almost, but not completely sure.” Rock growled. “That’s not acceptable, Face.”
I shrugged even though he couldn’t see me. “It’s the best plan we could come up with, Rocky. It will have to do.”
“I don’t like this plan of yours, it’s full of fucking holes. You’re going out there alone, no backup, that’s so stupid.” He kept on griping.
“I can’t take the chance that he has eyes on me. He’ll do something stupid and people will lose their lives. I’m not giving him the opportunity to hurt people. By the way, do you have your mother and sister under lock and key at the clubhouse?”
He gave a snarly sort of laugh. “Yes, they’re here and dad made sure Keeley has no way of contacting that piece of shit. Mum isn’t the problem here, she’s cool.”
“Good to hear.” I tapped my fingers on my desk trying to think of anything he needed to know before tomorrow. I couldn’t think of anything.
“We’ll call Star tomorrow as soon as you drive out and move the girls over here. Mum is so excited about the baby coming to visit you’ll swear she’s never seen one before.” I could hear he wasn’t really pissy about his mother being excited to see Stella. Our baby girl was a little bundle of joy. And then I remembered something.
“Oh, I almost forgot. Star wants to stay behind in the safe room and manage the operation from there. She should be safe but I’ll be happier if you could assign someone to be with her. Cuba will be monitoring me which is why she won’t be in there with her.”
“That’s not a problem. We’ll assign someone to her tonight during church. You be careful out there tomorrow, Face. We’ve just met and become friends and I don’t want to lose you.”
I snorted. “Friends you say?” I laughed at his pretend gasp. “Yes, I’ll be as careful as possible. Talk again soon.”
I ended the call before he could say more. I couldn’t handle soft right now. I had to stay hard as nails and cold as the frozen southern reaches of Antarctica to get through tomorrow.
I had scarcely dropped my phone on my desk when Cuba strolled in and threw herself in the chair across from me.
“You still pissed at the asshole in Joburg?”
I didn’t even have to think about it. “Yes and no. He was doing his job and I’m doing my job. We don’t have time for the lovey dovey bullshit.”
Lying back in the chair she looked down her nose at me and smirked.
“Now she’s calling it lovey dovey bullshit when we all know it was more kink than lovey dovey.”
I copied her and lay back in my chair and glared at her. “How do you know it was kink?”
She laughed, waves of mirth rolled out of her. She tried to speak twice before she succeeded. Pointing a finger at me she laid it out between wild giggles.
And if I blushed I’d rather not think about it.
“Number one, you’re not very quiet while being fucked half to death. Number two, we all saw the evidence on your ass. And number three, Dizzy told us about the trip to the adult store. We know aaaalll about the shit he bought for you.”
Her last point stunned me. “Dizzy told you? I thought those bastards never talked about what they considered personal business.”
Her evil wink told me a lot, but not everything.
“They don’t, but they have never come up against women like us. Between Evvie and me we got everything out of him. While feeding him a couple of shots, of course.” She wiggled her eyebrows at me and I wondered what else she did to the poor man.
“Did you fuck him?” Being forthright always worked best between the two of us.
“Nope, he isn’t into women like us. And he’s been hurt in the past and keeps a tight hold on his control. He got a bit tipsy but that was all.” She thought for a few seconds then nodded. “I like him, there’s a really good guy hiding underneath that hard ass biker persona. One day he’s going to make some lucky woman very happy.”
I nodded because I agreed with her. Dizzy was a really good guy.
“Have you called the sperm donor yet?”
“No, Gideon just called to tell me they took Dom, so it’s time. I was about to do it when you came in.”
She rolled a hand indicating I should go ahead and do it. Drawing my bottom lip into my mouth I picked up my phone and called the fucker. And as expected, the bastard wasn’t appreciative of my call or pleasant.
“So after being back for several days only now do you finally decide to call me.” He snarled in greeting.
“I had shit to do. I have what you want. Let’s meet in the parking lot of the casino at three tomorrow afternoon. I will hand over what you want and you will give me the antidote.”
As expected he didn’t bite.
“I’m not meeting you where there will be cameras trained on us. I’m not that stupid.” He gave a self-important snort before continuing. “We will meet at the old warehouse. Come alone or you don’t get the antidote for the kid.”
“She’s not just some kid, she’s your granddaughter and we both know you don’t give a damn if she lives or dies.” I snapped before I could control my reaction.
The bastard laughed. Jesus. What kind of a human was he?
“You’re right, I don’t give a damn so you’d better bring me what I want or she dies. Three tomorrow.”
The call ended abruptly and I sat there trying to contain the rage at the careless way he spoke about Tersha. She was his blood and he didn’t give a damn. He was a piece of snail shit.
“We have a location. The old warehouse.” I heard Cuba speaking to someone and glanced up to see her on her phone. “Yes, we have one camera on the place but it isn’t enough. See if you can get close and plant a couple more. Just be careful, he might have put cameras and shit up since the last time we checked. Although I doubt it. He hasn’t used that particular warehouse since before we got out of prison.” She nodded as she listened to whoever she was talking to. “Okay, I’ll be waiting to hear from you.”
“Who was that?” I asked quietly.
“Jameson. He’s taking two of his guys and doing a recce of the location and setting up some more surveillance. Can’t be too careful tomorrow.”
Sliding her phone onto the desk she slid down in her chair while her fingers drummed on the armrests.
“Try not to go inside that bloody place tomorrow, okay? We won’t know if they’re hurting you or not if you go in there.”
I couldn’t give her that.
“You know as well as I do that I won’t be the one in charge tomorrow. He will be and he will definitely want to drag me into that hell hole.” I said softly. “He did this to my face and forced Olaf to watch him doing it, and when he killed him I was too drugged up to realise what he had done. He will want to rub it in as much as he can. And I have to let him do it. If he takes me, and there’s a good chance he will, I want you to wait until you hear from Bruno before you come for me. Promise me, Cuba.”
She shook her head stubbornly.
“No. Fuck that plan, it’s not happening.”
“We both know he’s going to keep me there while he tries to access the information on the USB. What happens next will depend on his temper. The minute he realises that they are going to need a key to read the information he’s going to fucking explode. He’s going to try and force me to give them the key. And I will use it to negotiate. My freedom for the key.”
“I don’t like this. I told you when you and Dom came up with this that it was a crappy plan and I still think it’s a crappy plan. All it guarantees is the two of you getting hurt. You are both so fucking stubborn. Trying to change your minds is like standing on the Promenade and pissing against the South Easter. All you get for your trouble is sprayed by your own piss.”
My eyes widened at her analogy and I barked out a laugh.
I stopped when I saw she was being dead serious and not laughing.
I knew she was worried and so was I.
But it had to play out this way. And we had to be patient. A win for the good guys was in sight we just had to get through tomorrow.
And we would.
We had no other options.
