I stand in the corner of the room silently, I watch Isobel as she weaves through the kitchen with her brother, a lightness to her that I hadn’t realized I’d missed. I wanted that light back, the one where she shared stories and smiled freely, like how she was with me in those cells when she realized she was safe from those above her.
I’d do anything to get that back.
Except now, she would be truly free.
Truly Isobel.
I whisper my fingers over the handle of the gun tucked into the back of my trousers. I didn’t know how this was going to go down. They didn’t know who I was but who knows what Kingston said to them on the phone. I could deal with Isobel’s brother but these people, they would bring a horde with them, and I was only one man. Granted, I could take down a fair few, but I’d be ended eventually, and I refused to die before I gave Isobel what she needed.
“Um, Kingston,” Eleanor says from the doorway, a worried crease in her brow, “There are a lot of cars coming up the drive.”
They both freeze and turn to the window that looks out into the front yard. A plume of dust has taken over the space, but it doesn’t conceal the army of vehicles driving down the gravel road, I count three, four, no, five vehicles with several on foot behind them.
The first car comes to a halt, a large black SUV with blacked out windows.
“Is that them?” Eleanor questions, going to Kingston’s side.
“It is.”
I subtly pull the gun from where it’s hidden, clicking off the safety before I tuck it into my jacket, finger resting on the trigger. Isobel clocks the movement and cocks a brow, shaking her head.
“Precautions,” I mouth.
She sighs, heading to the door. I follow one step behind her, watching the windows and doors for any attacks.
Kingston leans on the door jam behind me, Eleanor tucked against him. His tattooed hand falls lazily over her shoulder, but his fingers are curled into his palm. He was just as wary as I was.
This was necessary, we needed their support but bringing in people like this, especially people who, in their own right, are to be feared. Isobel opens the door, my finger twitches on the gun.
Hold still, I demand internally.
“Wren!” Isobel smiles bright, throwing open her arms.
I see the red head first, she moves to Isobel slowly, a little cautiously, but allows herself to be hugged and even hugs back. I remembered the girl, saw her a few times during my time over in the states. She’d put on a healthy amount of weight, her light skin slightly more tan than it was the last time I saw her. She looked healthy, her hair glossy and tumbling in copper waves over her shoulders.
Isobel gasps and I don’t hesitate bringing out the gun.
Wren notices and pulls out her own, aiming it in my direction.
“You brought her with you!” Isobel gushes, beaming so bright to whatever unseen sight to me has just appeared to her, “She’s beautiful!”
Wren glances to Isobel who looks to me, “Oh for fucks sake, put it away!”
I don’t, not until I see what it is she was originally gasping at. When I see that, I shove it out of sight, clicking on the safety. The child waddles, a tiny little thing with dark ringlets on top of her head and bright green eyes that smile up at Wren, arms outstretched. “Momma,” it says.
Their daughter.
Wren hides her weapon from the child, subtly sliding it into her holder before she leans down and lifts the child.
“This is Aurora Silver.” Wren introduces the child.
Isobel leans in, brushing a finger down the kids chubby, red cheek, earning a giggle from the girl.
I see the father next, Alexander Silver, ruler of Brookeshill. His eyes scan the house, a predator and killer. He finds me and narrows his eyes, jaw twitching, but makes no move to withdraw any weapons. His right hand, Ryker steps up next to him, doing up the buttons on his suit jacket. “Why is England so fucking cold!?” He hisses.
“Can I?” I hear Isobel ask.
Wren looks a little cautious but eventually passes the girl over, nestling her into Isobel’s arms. Isobel grins.
“Heart,” Silver addresses Kingston and then looks to me, eyeing me up and down once before dismissing me and turning to his wife. “Go rest up, it’s been a long day.”
She curls her lip, “How about no?”
Wren stays close to her baby but looks to Kingston and smiles, “Kingston, you’ve been busy.”
“So have you,” he smirks. “This is Eleanor, my fiancé.”
Eleanor chokes and Isobel snaps her head around, frowning.
“Okay, maybe not fiancé yet, but soon.”
Eleanor shakes her head, cheeks flushing, “Nice to meet you.”
“Good luck,” Wren laughs, holding her arms out in preparation to take the baby back. Isobel is reluctant to hand her over.
Huh. She liked babies.
I store that information away for later analyzing.
“Well, we’re here, Heart, what do you want?”
“You’ll forgive him,” Wren strides forward, baby wriggling but secure in her arms, “Since becoming a dad he’s developed an attitude.”
Kingston laughs, “He always had an attitude.”
Both Ryker and Alexander give Isobel a wide berth, hesitant. I grin.
Isobel sits close to Wren, playing with the baby where she rests in her mother’s lap, blowing out her cheeks and sticking out her tongue. The kid giggles with delight.
“That’s an awful lot,” Ryker whistles, eyeing me, “and this guy works for them?”
I roll my eyes, holding my tongue. Isobel looks me over, and then looks me over before looking back to the baby.
“No,” I mouth.
She grins.
“Rory needs feeding,” Wren sighs.
“Here,” Ryker says, leaning down to grab a bottle, “I’ve got it.”
He goes about sorting that while Alexander leans across the table, elbows resting on the top, “This is over after this?” He asks me directly, “This ends them once and for all?”
I nod, “It takes out the main source, the little stragglers will either die on their own or they’ll be found.”
“Have you had any more trouble from them?” Kingston asks.
“A little but a small reminder of what we have on them usually deters them. We’ve hit a dead end on the rings though.”
Wren nods in agreement, “We’d managed to save over a thousand girls over this past year or so but now it’s zero. The leads dried up, the feds moved onto cases more likely to give them their wins.”
“This should bring them out of hiding,” I confirm, “With no one calling the shots or paying the wages, these guys will try to do it on their own and they’ll slip up.”
“Who are you, exactly?” Ryker asks.
“He’s the Syndicates hired killer. The one who does their dirty work.” Kingston leans back in his chair, cocking a brow.
Alexander’s eyes darken to almost pitch black. “You’re their assassin?”
“Was.”
Wren’s eyes widen, her arms tightening around the baby in her arms.
I feel a barrel of a gun press into the back of my skull, shocked but able to hide it at how quickly and silently the man moved. I wasn’t sure which man it was.
“You shot my wife.” Alexander stands.
I laugh. That was what this was about.
“No.” I deny, “That wasn’t me. For one, I don’t miss, but when that happened, I wasn’t in the states.”
“You’re a liar.”
“Lex,” Wren cautions.
“I won’t beg, Alexander. I am simply stating the truth. When your wife was shot, I was on a plane back to the UK. I had business to sort with the Syndicate on other matters.”
That barrel presses in harder.
“By all means,” I say, “Shoot me, I can’t prove shit. I can tell you I killed the man who shot your wife. The Syndicate made me do it for his fuck up, just after they found out she wasn’t actually dead, but with her father. I wanted him dead anyway. I had my own vendetta against him.” My eyes flick to Isobel.
“Lex, that’s enough,” Wren growls, flicking her eyes to the man holding a gun to my head, “Stand down. Now.”
Unsurprisingly, he does. Alexander had made it known, far and wide, his authority was hers. What she ordered was law. She was his queen.
Alexander seethes in his chair but wouldn’t dare undermine his wife’s authority.
“If that will be all,” I stand, “I’m sure there’s plenty more to discuss but that can be done tomorrow. I’m taking Isobel home.”
Kingston nods subtly.
Isobel stands, her finger curling a strand of the baby’s hair around it before she bops it on the nose and waves goodbye.
“Behave,” she warns the room before she turns to me and relaxes against me, letting me lead her out. She was worried about me and damn, if that doesn’t inflate my chest.