Damaged Kingdom (Gilded Empire Book 2), page 2
Honestly, she looked like shit. I could relate.
Apparently, she wasn’t expecting me either because she stepped back, eyes darting around me like she was looking for anyone else. When she didn’t find whoever it was, she squared her shoulders. “Is she here?”
My default setting was distrust, and something about her had me on edge. Tucking the gun into my pants casually, I crossed my arms and spread my feet, taking up more space in the doorway. “Who the hell are you?”
“Sabine.” She said it like I should know who she was and deflated slightly when she realized I didn’t. Nerves had her craning her neck around me, and I shifted to keep her line of sight on me and only me. With a raised eyebrow, I made it clear she wasn’t getting past unless I let her. She nodded to herself, almost like she expected it. “Is she here?”
She. Mari. That was twice she’d asked, and the cramping in my gut was getting worse. I was going to need an entire roll of antacids by the time my girl got home.
“No, she’s not.”
She nodded, looking again like she’d expected it, and that set me on edge. I looked at the girl—Sabine—over again, closer this time. Tear tracks marred her face, and deep regret was heavy in her eyes. Something about it and the soul-sucking feeling of despair in the air make my jaw clench.
There were times when you were on a mission and everything seemed fine. Normal, even. Then your gut started screaming at you to get down, get out, get gone. You’d be a mile away when a bomb went off or found out later that someone got shot where you’d been standing, or you’d go to clean your weapon, only to find it primed to misfire. The subconscious saw more than the conscious mind could ever dream of, and it was an unspoken rule that if your instincts were screaming at you, you fucking listened.
After years of experience, my gut was well honed, and it said that whoever this Sabine was, she knew something about what had happened to Mari.
Yanking her inside, I slammed the door and locked it before I dragged her farther into the house. She hung limp in my grasp like a kitten with its scruff caught, and my teeth ground at the submissive move that screamed of guilt.
Only when we were in the living room did I drop her arm and step back. Deep breaths filled my lungs as I tried—and failed—to calm myself. Couldn’t get information out of her if I lost my cool. “What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
“Let me make one thing clear—I don’t do lies. I may be new here, but I wasn’t born yesterday. Mari hasn’t come home yet, and I know you know why. So save us all time and tell me what happened.”
“I didn’t do anything,” she insisted. “She should be here.”
“But she isn’t, so what the fuck did you do to her?”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“That’s two lies,” I said clearly. “Don’t attempt a third. Tell me.”
“I didn’t—I can’t—I’m sorry.”
Fresh tears streamed down Sabine’s face as she sobbed, and I knew I was right. I shoved her into the wall, one arm braced against her collarbone to hold her in place. I didn’t hit women, but I didn’t count them out either. “What did you do?”
She yelped at the darkness of my tone but shook her head, keeping silent. No matter how many times I asked, she refused to answer, and she wouldn’t meet my eyes.
“What are you doing?” Amara rushed into the room and grabbed me by the bicep, trying to pull me off. “Get away from her! What the hell are you thinking, Nate?”
“She hurt Mari.”
Amara stilled, staring at Sabine like she’d never seen her before, when I knew that wasn’t true. No one walked up to a kingpin’s house like that unless they were comfortable with them. Close, even. The protectiveness I saw when Amara interacted with Mari slid into something deeper, something darker. If I’d had any doubt that Mari was a good boss, friend, and person, it was gone. Amara was ready to disembowel Sabine on my word alone, all because she could’ve hurt Mari. That spoke volumes.
“You’re going to answer his questions, or I’m going to pull the answers out of you in the most painful way I can imagine.” Amara’s promise rang through the air, and Sabine paled even further.
Before anything else could happen, the front door opened, and Dominic came in, practically carrying Greyson.
Grey looked awful. Blood dried along one side of his face, but it was the burn along his temple that told me he’d been grazed. A shot close enough for a burn that bad would’ve been damn near fatal. His hand was tight against his side, where blood leaked between his fingers, but it wasn’t steady so I wasn’t worried. All in all, he was lucky, though I could tell he didn’t feel it when he looked around at the empty room and found a Mari-sized hole in the atmosphere waiting for him.
Meanwhile, Dominic’s eyes lit up at the sight of the woman trapped below me, and he scoured the hall even as he moved farther into the living room. “Where is she? Is she okay?”
“No,” I said. “She’s not with you?”
Dominic’s strides hitched on his way to toss Greyson on the couch, and that unease cramped my gut so tightly, I wanted to throw up. “No.”
Then where the fuck was she?
Dominic moved carefully to settle Greyson before he strode over to our little friend. He laid a single finger under Sabine’s chin and tipped her head up, up, up. “Where is she, Sabine?”
He said it softly. Hell, even the way he looked at her was gentle, but something about the way he stared at her told me nothing about him was anymore.
“I don’t know,” she whispered.
“You were the last person to see her,” he countered, and my hold on her grew firmer. She was the last tether to Mari. The last sighting that wasn’t one of these men. I didn’t know them well, but I knew enough. They’d have never let her leave without them unless she was with someone they trusted.
They had trusted Sabine, and she had betrayed Mari. She’d betrayed the Marcosas, and in all likelihood, she’d die for it.
As if she realized it too, Sabine cried in earnest. Desperation coated every syllable out of her mouth. She wrapped a hand around Dominic’s wrist, clinging. Begging. “I really don’t know. I brought her where I had to and—”
“Had to.” My voice was thick with hate, but knowing something and hearing it were two different beasts. It was easy to hold out hope you were mistaken until you were given proof direct from a liar’s mouth. “Someone told you to take her somewhere, and you did it.”
Her nod made Dominic’s fingers spasm, and he shifted his grip until his palm rested on the top of her throat, long fingers cresting her cheeks. Squeezing until I could see the imprint of her teeth against them, he kept her gaze trapped on him. “Who?”
Sabine said nothing, and my heart sank. He had her. That fucking psycho had her.
“Cash took her,” Greyson said quietly. He knew it just like I did, but we had to be clear. Anything less was starting a war on hearsay, and that would put Mari’s position in jeopardy. Even with the tension bleeding off all three of us, we had to be careful. We had to take the right steps, or things would get infinitely worse.
“Yes.” Sabine’s voice was barely audible, but it stole the air like she’d set off a bomb in the room.
“Tell me why I shouldn’t slit your throat right here.” Dominic squeezed until his fingers mottled, and Sabine’s eyes watered. One look at him and all I could see was the same monster that had lurked inside another pair of eyes. Rage. Madness. I hadn’t expected it, but I should have. Love had the ability to make monsters of men.
“Don’t,” Greyson croaked, sitting up with a grimace. Eyes semi-glazed, he was obviously in pain, but he didn’t settle back. “Mari wouldn’t want her to die. Not when she did it to protect her sister.”
Dominic’s fingers tightened, and Sabine squeaked in pain. “I don’t give a shit about her sister; I care about our girl. Where. Is. Mari?”
“I don’t know!” Sabine sobbed, though it was hard to hear with how tight Dominic held her. As if he realized it, he loosened his grip, and Sabine sighed in relief. “She handed me her keys and told me to run, so I did. I went back for you two, but you were already gone, and I didn’t want to stick around so Cash could kill me. As soon as he cleared out, I came here. I don’t know anything else.”
He didn’t like her answer, and I could see the madness festering. Ironically, that was the dark side of Dominic that matched Mari, like bookends made of the same wood. That man, once he found some control, would be the perfect warrior to protect her. He could have her and keep her safe too. He just needed to open his eyes and realize that black and white was an illusion. We were all shades of gray.
But until he realized that, Dominic wasn’t like Mari. If he killed Sabine, it would take a piece of him that he’d never get back. The man Mari loved would be gone. I couldn’t let that happen.
“Let her go, Dominic. Don’t become a monster when it won’t help anything.”
For a minute, I didn’t think it would work. Then the words penetrated the red haze of Dominic’s mind, and he stumbled away from Sabine so fast, he nearly tripped over his own feet. “I didn’t—”
No one said anything, and I could see the shame settling on his shoulders. Grey hobbled over, ignoring everyone but Dominic as he clapped a hand on the other man’s shoulder. “It’ll be okay.”
Dominic nodded, eyes stuck to the window across the room and as far away from Sabine as he could get. For her part, she didn’t look shaken; she looked…resigned. Like his actions were her penance.
Only when Dominic was settled did Greyson dig into his wallet and pull out a business card. “Call this number and ask for John. Tell him Mari sent you for Brittany. He’ll get you to your sister, and you can get out of the city.”
She reached for the card, only to struggle when Greyson refused to give it up. He yanked her closer, letting his frame dwarf her. “I think it’s time you left the West Coast.”
Sabine’s eyes filled, but she nodded. Message received. “Thank you.”
Greyson dropped his hand, letting her take the card and her personal space back. “You can show your gratitude by never coming back.”
We all watched as she sprinted out of the house, nearly slipping on the tile in her haste. The door shut behind her, and I worried it shut behind our only lead too.
“Where does that leave us now? We have no way to track Mari,” I reminded Grey.
“Yes, we do.”
He hobbled to the office, with Dominic and me following close behind. A quick fingerprint scan and a passcode that had more numbers than I’d ever seen, and we were in. The lights flicked on, nearly blinding in their brightness, and all of us squinted.
“Get one of the tablets from the far table,” Grey told Dominic before turning to me. “You, sit.”
Right. Despite the desperate urge to find Mari, I wasn’t one of her men, and I wasn’t one of the family. That they let me into the inner sanctum was a show of trust I hadn’t earned yet. But I would. I’d make sure of it.
I just had to hope my secrets wouldn’t destroy us when I did.
After getting what Greyson needed, Dominic leaned against the table next to me, arms crossed and brow furrowed. I wanted to check on him, but we didn’t have that type of relationship. I didn’t know him, and I doubted he’d appreciate me seeing underneath the jovial playboy mask he wore so easily. So I kept my mouth shut as we watched Greyson plug in the tablet and pull up a map program that looked just like the GPS on my phone.
“The tracker,” Dominic swore, lifting fully to his feet. I followed, eager to get closer and see what was happening. “I completely forgot about it.”
“That’s the point. She didn’t want us to use it unless we had to,” Grey said as he typed. “It’s offline now, so I’m checking her last known location. If she’s in a basement or something like that, the signal may not register.”
A few more clicks and the sight of a blinking black dot greeted us. “What does that mean?” I asked.
“It means it’s been offline for thirty minutes.” Grey checked the map and his watch and frowned.
“How long have you been out of contact with her?”
“At least an hour. Maybe more,” Dominic admitted. “I sent her off with Sabine and went back in for Greyson. The bastards started a fire around us, and this numbskull refused to leave without Mari’s fucking painting. By the time we got out, the car was gone, so we thought Mari had come home. I didn’t even think about the tracker.”
“It’s not a numbskull move if we can find Mari and avoid the fallout of a Kincaid meltdown. Trust me, they aren’t pretty. Besides, you wouldn’t have had access to the tracker to look,” Greyson told him. “I’ll fix that for you as soon as we get her back, though.”
“Me too.” Having her location was dangerous, but I was through wondering if she was coming home alive. I wanted eyes on her at all times.
Greyson snorted and ignored my request, not that I expected him to grant it. It was up to Mari. I’d just have to convince her it was necessary.
Suddenly, the dot flashed red and disappeared from the screen.
“What the hell?” Greyson sat up with a wince, while Dominic and I leaned in over each shoulder. “Get back, you fucking gargoyles.”
Dominic snorted. “Mari used to love that show.”
“She still does,” Greyson corrected, but he was distracted. We all were. “I catch her watching it some nights when she can’t sleep and working out doesn’t help.”
He zoomed out, found the dot, and zoomed back in on the map so we could see where it was. “What the hell?” Frowning, he did it again like that would change the dot’s location.
Dominic tipped his head and squinted. “Is that—”
“Yeah,” I answered. The question was, how the hell did she get there?
All three of us stared at the screen for a heartbeat before breaking into a run down the hall. It didn’t matter if she’d hotwired a car to drive herself to Seattle General; it mattered that we’d found her. It mattered that she could be alive.
Don’t hope, I told myself. The fall is too painful to risk it.
But I was pretty sure it didn’t matter anymore. Looking back, I’d been falling since the day we met.
Chapter Three
Dominic
Everyone noticed when we burst into Seattle General. It could’ve been the blood coating Grey and me or Nate’s scowl, but I had a feeling it was the dark aura of retribution trailing in our wake.
Our girl was in the hospital, and someone was going to die because of it.
“What name would she go under?” Nate asked, and I was impressed he’d even thought about it. Mari obviously wouldn’t be under Marcosa; that would be too easy for her enemies to sniff out.
“Mine,” Greyson answered. For once, I was bummed I’d kept the family name.
As we neared the information desk, I tried to don the friendly mask I wore in public. Normally, I could slip into it like a second skin, but now, the seams felt too tight, like it didn’t quite fit anymore. I didn’t know if it was because I was worried about Mari or because of what I’d done to Sabine.
I’d nearly killed the girl, and I wouldn’t have flinched. Oh, I would’ve hated myself for it later, but in the moment, that didn’t matter. She crossed Mari. End of story.
Leaning my arms against the counter, I tried my hardest to fall into the role I’d perfected over the years. “We’re looking for someone.”
“Name,” the woman behind the computer drolled.
“Marianna Andrews.”
She didn’t move, didn’t so much as blink faster, but there was a twitch at the edge of her eye that told me she was about to lie. She typed something and dropped her lips into a fake frown. “I’m not seeing anyone by that name. Are you sure she’s here and not at another hospital?”
Considering we have the GPS location to prove it…
Greyson stepped forward. “We’re sure. Try again, please. She could be under Mari.”
The woman’s fingers didn’t flinch on the keys. “As I said, she isn’t in the system, and even if she were, I couldn’t tell you anything. So, unless you’re family—”
“Husband, husband, boy toy,” I interrupted, pointing to myself, Greyson, and Nate in order. If Mari came to the hospital instead of going home, she was hurt. We didn’t have time to play around. “Can you please just tell us where the fuck she is?”
To her credit, the woman didn’t bat an eye, and after Grey fished out his ID that clearly showed he was an Andrews, she relented on getting a doctor to speak to us. With a wary eye and a scowl aimed directly at me, she waved us over to an empty seating area and went back to her computer.
Nate sat, leg bouncing, but it wasn’t a nervous tic. His lips moved silently as he…counted? I didn’t ask, though. It was none of my business how he coped with stress. Grey sat still and sharp in the chair, eyes on everyone, even as he made calls and sent texts. Meanwhile, I sat and stared at the wall and let the regrets eat me alive.
All I could think about was the worst outcome: that she’d died alone. Without us. That I’d never get the chance to fix things between us. That our breakup at the docks was the last time we’d actually spoken. It couldn’t end like that. We couldn’t be over.
I had to fix things, but that meant she had to be alive.
Eventually, a doctor stopped in front of us, and Greyson must’ve made introductions, but it was hard to hear over the heartbeat pounding in my ears. Grey nudged me, and I forced myself to focus on what the doctor was saying. “Your wife lost a lot of blood and sustained some nasty internal injuries to boot. We’ve given her a transfusion and fixed what we could, but she needs time to rest and heal.”
I pointedly ignored the shiver down my spine when she called Mari my wife. It sounded good. Perfect, even. But we had a long way to go to get there. “She’s alive, though?”
The doctor’s face softened a fraction, and she smiled. She was older, with smile lines embedded into her face. She looked like she enjoyed her life and was happy. I wanted that. Not for me, necessarily, but for Mari. I wanted her to grow old enough to show her life on her skin in more than just scars. “She is.”
