• Twenty-Four •

This is fucking Gage’s fault!

King

“Sit down, goddammit!” my father shouted as I stood up from the bed.

I glared at him, reaching for the wall to steady myself. “I need crutches and my fucking gun,” I snarled angrily.

The motherfucker had shot me. I was going to kill him. But first, I had to find Rumor. The tight grip in my chest was more painful than the wound in my leg. I could handle any physical pain, but the sheer agony that clenched me at the thought of Rumor being hurt, taken from me, how scared she was—FUCK!

“You just had a bullet removed. SIT DOWN!” my father demanded as he stalked from across the room toward me.

“I swear to God, if you touch me, I will lay you out,” I warned him.

He paused, his eyes flickering in surprise.

“Get me crutches, and I want my goddamn Glock.”

The bedroom door opened, and Stellan walked inside. He looked at me standing and shook his head, then turned to my father. “Blaise is here.”

My dad nodded as I fisted my hands at my sides. This was his fault. She had been taken from me because he had put her safety on the back burner. I didn’t give a fuck if he was the boss. The former boss, his father Garrett Hughes, would never have let this happen.

“Stop scowling,” Stellan said pointedly at me. “You need to remember who the fuck you are and who you answer to.”

“They took her,” I said through clenched teeth.

He nodded once. “And we will find her. But that man”—he pointed at the door and spoke in a low voice—“is the boss. He won’t just shoot you in the leg to make his point.”

I couldn’t die today. Not when Rumor needed me. I tried to calm the fury rolling through me as I nodded.

Stellan stepped over to the door and waited like the soldier he was. He’d been in charge of the Georgia branch, answering to Garrett and now Blaise, since he had been twenty-seven years old. This was a life we’d all been born into, but right now, I didn’t give one flying fuck. I wanted Rumor in my arms. Tucked safely into my side. I’d never leave her again. They could all suck a dick. Scotlin wasn’t my job any longer. I’d wait until I had Rumor back, and then I’d tell them. If he killed me, then fucking fine.

Blaise Hughes walked into the room alone. It was rare that Huck or Gage wasn’t at his side. He said nothing to my father or Stellan. His gaze was on me the moment he entered the room. I bit my tongue to keep from saying something that would have him ending my life.

“Falcon has her,” he said matter-of-factly.

“FUCK!” I roared, unable to keep my mouth shut.

I ran my hand through my hair and gripped a handful, pulling hard. I had to get this sheer terror consuming me under control. It was taking over. I wanted to storm out of here and go get her, but my motherfucking leg was making that impossible.

Blaise didn’t flinch. “He wants the money that he says is his from the buildings Churchill sold of his. He’s asking for more than the buildings were worth. Over a million dollars more, to be exact. He knows we have that and thinks he can demand it of me and get it because he has Rumor. No one places demands on me.”

No. No, he was not going to let her stay there. I’d tear the place down to get to her if I had to.

“You’ll have to put a bullet in my head to stop me from going after her,” I spat, not caring about his power or his fucking pride.

“KING!” The fear in my father’s voice was clear. He was sure I’d die right here, and if I didn’t manage to control myself, he’d be right.

Blaise, however, didn’t seem at all affected by my outburst. He studied me for a moment, saying nothing. I knew the man could have his gun out and put a bullet between my eyes in the blink of an eye. I had to save Rumor, and I couldn’t do it dead.

“If I hadn’t spoken with Maeme moments before walking in this door, you would be. Dead on the floor, that is. But unlike my father, when he stood in my position, I have one weakness. My wife and son. So, I have one question for you. Do you love her?”

I stared at him. I knew the story. We all did. He’d been obsessed with the woman he eventually married years before she knew he existed. He protected her. Took care of her from a distance. And when the man she thought was her father and the brother that she’d grown up with tried to sell her without her knowledge, he had killed them both and taken her. I wouldn’t consider what he felt for his wife love because it was much stronger than that emotion.

I didn’t trust love. It came and went. People changed. Moved on. It faded.

The sheer anguish that was seeping through every pore of my body because Rumor had been taken from me wasn’t love. It was stronger. It didn’t fade. I had already accepted that what I felt for her wasn’t going to end. I would always want her. Hear her laugh, feel her sweet touch as she reached out to me. All the shattered pieces of my soul from the darkness in my life, she had put them together. She saw the good in me. Something no one else had ever looked for. She had found it and accepted me for all that I was.

“She’s claimed my goddamn soul.”

There was a small hint of a smirk on his face at my description.

“I see,” he replied. “Then, you should know that they’ve not just taken Rumor, but they’ve taken your child as well. Maeme informed me that Rumor is pregnant. This means they’ve taken not one, but two family members. It’s no longer about money. They’ve just brought hell to their doorstep.”

I stood, stunned, unable to speak as he turned to Stellan.

“Get the men ready. Thatcher has the location. Gage is headed that way now. We take them all out. If they stand in the way, they die,” he informed him, then left the room as Stellan followed him.

My eyes locked with my father’s. He looked as completely shook as I was.

“Jesus Christ, Maeme,” he swore as he ran his hand over his face.

When had she found out? How long had she known? Fuck! Rumor was pregnant. Was she sick? I had to get to her. She needed me. She had to be so fucking scared. She would be terrified for the baby. I was fucking terrified for them both.

Mine. They’d taken what was mine.

“Why didn’t she tell me?” I asked, not sure it was directed at my father or not.

I would have stayed with her. Taken care of her. I’d have fought to stay there.

“Maeme. This is her doing. She knew you wouldn’t finish the job. This was her way of protecting you and Rumor … and my grandchild.”

I sucked in a deep breath. The sharp, stabbing pain in my chest was worse than the gunshot to my leg had been. I had to get to her.

“Get me crutches,” I said through clenched teeth.

My dad shook his head. “No. You can’t go. It’s the fucking Insantos. You can’t walk.”

“I’M GOING TO GET WHAT IS MINE!”

My father took two steps in my direction with his finger pointed at me. “If you want to be alive for your child’s birth, then you will use your fucking head! We will get her. This is all our fight now. You heard Blaise. He’s taking this personal.”

“She needs me! It should be me going to get her. This is fucking Gage’s fault!”

Dad raised his brows. “You know better than to mouth off to that psycho. You’re lucky it was your leg he went for.”

I felt fucking helpless as the beast inside me paced back and forth, wanting to go get what belonged to me and kill everyone in my path.