Locked Hearts (Chained Hearts Duet 2)

The men who stand at the door begin cleaning up Roberto. I watch as they get a black tarp and wrap his body in it, then they roll it up and leave him there.

“You are a real fucking ass, you know that?” We turn to Joey, now holding a full bottle of whiskey in his hand, as he follows his father around. “Like, why even come here?”

Their father steps up to Joey and takes the bottle away from him. “Grow up,” he seethes in his face. Joey’s jaw clenches and he swings his hand back, then cracks it straight across his father’s face, sending him sailing backward. His men start our way, but their father waves them off. “See you’ve grown a backbone.” Their father’s hand lands on his shoulder. “About fucking time.”

Joey looks at him, confused, and shakes his head. “No fucking thanks to you.”

“You never could have been as great as your brother.” Wow, those words are harsh. “You were always the jokester. Never the one who did what had to be done.”

“Spitting words as if you know me. Well, you don’t,” Joey argues back.

Keir gently pushes me toward the hallway. “Go into the bedroom.”

Their father stops talking and points a finger my way. “She stays where she is,” he says.

“You are no longer the boss,” Keir snaps back. “Sailor, go.”

“If she moves, my men have orders to shoot her in the back.”

My feet stay firmly planted, and Keir’s hand rests on my hip before he moves to stand in front of me. I really don’t want to die. Especially with having this man here. For all I know, he could kill all of us. Then what happens to Wren?

“I’m going to kill you before you can leave this place, you do realize that,” Keir says. “You didn’t think you could walk in here, after all these years, and think you’re still in charge.”

Joey nods his head in agreement. “We didn’t shed tears at your funeral. We rejoiced,” he adds. “Keir is the better man for the job.”

“He isn’t, and it’s kind for you to say it, but he won’t be in his position much longer…” He pauses. “You will be.” Joey shakes his head, his eyes widening. “He doesn’t agree to marry Paige, so he no longer holds the power.”

“You think you can come here, to my city, and tell me what to do?” Keir asks.

“It was never your city.”

Keir steps up to him and adds, “You’ve been gone a long time, old man. A lot has changed.”

The doors open and standing there is Bianca, Keir’s mother.

“Husband,” she seethes.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Keir

It’s on me—I should have known he would never have been killed that easily. I’d heard stories that when you retire, they fake your death, and you move halfway across the world and live how you see fit, but always still connect with the families. I hadn’t fully believed it, but now I know it’s true.

“Wren is with your mother,” my mother says to Sailor, then her eyes turn to her so-called dead husband. “Aren’t you meant to be dead?”

“Get the fuck out of here, Bianca.”

“I’m not your fucking wife to boss around any longer.” Her eyes fall to Roberto’s wrapped body on the floor, and she drops down, kisses her fingers, and places them on his forehead before she stands. “And you are no longer my husband.” She walks over to him, gets right in his face, and stares into his eyes. “I hate you with a passion you could never truly know.”

“Oh, I think I know,” he bites back at her.

“How is your little whore? Still spreading her legs for anyone?”

“For me, she is. And what a fuck she is. It’s the only reason I keep her around. Can’t say the same for your prudish ass.”

I watch as my brother steps back and my mother slides something from the side of her skirt.

Joey nods to me, and in two seconds, we both turn as Joey throws a gun my way. Sailor stays behind me, and both my father’s men drop, bullets now lodged in their chests. As we turn back around, our mother has a knife to our father’s neck.

“I think you should go back where you’re meant to be, don’t you think?” she asks.

I can’t see what she’s doing at first, until she steps back. A knife protrudes from my father’s chest, stabbed upward into his heart. He drops to his knees as I rush over to them.

“I’m going to kill anyone who sent you, as well as your little whore,” I whisper for only him to hear. He looks up at me, then behind me to Sailor. He smirks as he drops to the floor, and when I turn back around, Sailor’s hands are covering her eyes and she’s shaking her head. “It’s too much. This is too much.”