Dove Read online

  The residual numbness that had once enveloped me had returned, bringing with it the killer that lived in me.

  Viktor gave me a huge smile as he slowly walked towards me. His gaze dropped to the knife in my hand and he rolled his eyes. “Always the feisty one.” He sighed as if it was no big deal I’d killed five of his men on my way inside. “You know they were ordered to allow you through, Dove.”

  I shrugged. “Fancied a bit of playtime.” My eyes dropped to Marcus and I schooled my emotions. “After all, it’s only fair that I balance my own books, Viktor. Why should you have all the fun?”

  Flick sucked in a breath and I forced my eyes to stay on Viktor. He turned to Flick and chuckled. “She’s quite something, isn’t she? Don’t tell me she didn’t tell you what her job title in my company was?”

  I couldn’t help but brace myself. “Let them go, Viktor. I’m here to settle my debt. They don’t have to be here.”

  “Well I’m surprised,” Viktor continued as though I hadn’t spoken. “It seems the childhood sweethearts were superior at holding secrets.”

  “Viktor.” I cringed at the plea in my voice. “You don’t need to do this.”

  “Oh, come now, Dove. This will be the last time you see your lover. Don’t tell me you don’t want to part with a clear conscience?”

  “Just let them go. I’m here to do with as you wish. I understand the rules, and I adhere to them. But Ren and Flick aren’t part of the deal.”

  “What’s going on?” Flick asked quietly. I finally looked at him. He was frowning, looking at me and waiting for an explanation. The pit of my stomach burned, the guilt and self-disgust that lived in me making my heartbeat slow until I felt dizzy.

  “Viktor,” Ren urged. “You can have Dove and me. Don’t kill what you don’t need to.”

  Viktor’s brows shot high. “Wow, I underestimated you, sweetheart. Just as manipulative as your sister.”

  He placed his hands in front of him and walked over to Flick. I closed my eyes when he strolled behind him and placed his hands on Flick’s shoulders. “Your pretty little lover was my dispatcher.”

  Flick blinked with uncertainty. “Dispatcher of what?”

  Viktor chuckled, softly patting Flick on the cheek. “Of people.”

  Flick’s wide eyes shot back up to me, shock and disbelief glaring at me. My mouth went dry and I looked away, reluctant to see the repulsion staring back at me.

  “Now you understand why I missed her so much, Mr O’Kane. I could never find someone quite as brutal to fill her boots. Dove’s thirst for blood is arousing, I’ve never seen anyone slice another person’s throat the way she does. It’s simply quite beautiful to watch. Natural to her. Sheer perfection.”

  A part of me sagged in relief that Viktor had exposed who I really was, but another part of me broke. After all, he was correct. I was a cold, ruthless killer, but only because I had to be.

  “Now.” Viktor strolled over to me as though he hadn’t just shattered all my hopes in one single sentence. Flick stared at the floor, unable to meet my eyes. Ren looked at me with a pity that was unwarranted. “Time to stabilise the unstable.”

  Every part of me locked up. My fingers clutched the knife in my hand harder, the groove of the handle digging into the flesh of my palm.

  “You know by now how this works, Dove.”

  I shook my head when he slid a gun out of his jacket pocket and pointed it at Ren. “NO!”

  “Oh?” Slowly he moved his hand and directed it at Flick’s forehead. “Mr O’Kane then?”

  “Viktor, please.” I rushed over, standing in front of Flick to shield him. The knife in my hand was inadequate. It was no match for a gun. I hated that Marcus had taken mine for analysis after I’d shot the pizza guy. He was meant to have returned it to me but he never had, and now he was dead. I knew he’d tried to protect Ren and it had cost him his life. “You have me. I’m yours,” I tried again, begging this time. “Please.”

  “But that isn’t the necessary payment for Felix’s life, is it?” He swung the gun at Ren again and I moved with it.

  “Your brother brutally raped my sister. He had to die to even his sin.”

  “And one of your loved ones must die to even yours,” Viktor spat. “Now choose, or they both die!”

  Frenzy hit my heart, soaring the beat until the room spiralled around me and my vision blurred as panic made me shake.

  “Dove.”

  Flick’s soft voice made the pit of my stomach fill with bile. I knew what he was going to say and I fixed my stare on Viktor. “I choose me.”

  Viktor tutted and shook his head.

  “Dove,” Flick urged gently. “It’s okay. It’s okay.”

  I closed my eyes. “No, Flick.”

  “I’m okay. I love you, no matter whatever this monster turned you into. You know what to do. Say it. Say her name.”

  “No.”

  “How chivalrous,” Viktor mocked, making my jaw harden.

  “Say – her – name!” Flick ordered.

  I shook my head, my heart crumbling around me. There was no way out. No way to stop this. For the first time in a long while I felt lost. The lost child whose mother had left her, and the lonely little girl who just wanted a hug and to be told it would be alright.

  My head fell back and a strangled cry tore from me, right along with my soul. “Viktor…”

  “Choose, Dove!”

  I shuffled into the middle of my sister and the man I would love for eternity. Fixing my eyes on Viktor, I whispered, “I love you, Flick O’Kane. Don’t you ever forget that.”

  “And I love you,” Flick whispered as he slowly closed his eyes. His fingers wrapped around the arms of the chair.

  “You let my sister go.” And then I nodded at Viktor.

  A tranquillity slithered inside me, a moment of peace as Viktor raised his gun and pointed it at Flick’s head.

  The world seemed to slow and my breath left me in a long sigh as I focussed on the gun. My ears heard nothing, my senses picked up nothing but the faint smell of gunpowder. My eyes saw nothing but the dark hole in the end of the gun.

  As if in slow motion, the bullet tore from the muzzle and I dived.

  Right in front of Flick. Right in front of the bullet.

  And as a flurry of gunfire burst out around me, I died saving a life. A life worth saving. A life worth living. A life I loved enough to balance the books for.

  EVERYTHING HAPPENED SO fast my brain couldn’t register anything apart from Dove leaping forward and the sound of a single gunshot ricocheting in my head.

  Both Dove and Viktor fell to the ground and I stared in horror as the blade of Dove’s knife slid precisely through Viktor’s lower jaw and up, the whole of the blade disappearing into Viktor’s head, and no doubt his brain.

  Viktor’s men made to move but more shots rang out, a flurry of shouts and piercing pops making my ears hurt. Ren was screaming. Smoke in the air burned my nostrils and my heart couldn’t beat fast enough.

  “Down!” a random voice shouted through the commotion.

  “Down.”

  “Clear!”

  Squinting through the cloud of smoke and the tears blurring my vision, my gaze landed on the guy that had been in the restaurant with Dove. His eyes were everywhere, his hands out in front of him with a gun held tightly in his fingers as he carefully scoped out the area for more men.

  My eyes widened when my gaze fell back to an unmoving Dove. David Peters was kneeling beside her, his own gun slung aside by his legs. “Medic!” he shouted as he rolled her off Viktor’s body.

  Everything around me faded as my vision tunnelled on Dove. She was laid flat on her back – with a seeping hole in her stomach.

  “Come on!” David screamed as he furiously pumped his hands on her chest. “Anderson, I can’t find an exit. Seal the wound!”

  Dove’s date, Anderson, fell to his knees and tore off his t-shirt, stuffing the material against Dove’s wound, the clean white cotton soaked re
d within seconds. David continued with the compressions, furiously shouting Dove’s name in anger before forcing long deep breaths into her mouth.

  Medics arrived, moving both David and Anderson out of the way as they dragged over a portable defibrillator.

  Someone was behind me and my hands dropped when they cut the cords tying me. Then they were ushering me out.

  “Dove!” I whispered, unable to make my oesophagus open enough to make myself heard. “Dove!”

  I started to struggle but the man shook his head. “Come on. Leave them to do their jobs. Let’s get you looked at.”

  “DOVE!” I screamed as I wrestled with the guy holding me. “DOVE!”

  “Mate, come on. You have a nasty…”

  And then it went dark.

  THE LIGHT HURT my eyes and it took me a moment to focus on the smiling face looking down at me.

  “Welcome back.”

  “Jamie?”

  “How are you feeling?”

  I closed my eyes, assessing the pain and blew out a breath. “Like I’ve just been shot.”

  He chuckled. “Now don’t be silly. Who would be stupid enough to shoot you?” He dragged a chair over and sat down beside me. “Besides, no one is willing to take on Viktor Leshev’s number one executioner.”

  I gulped, my eyes reflexively shooting to his. For the moment that our gazes met I could read the wisdom in his eyes. I daren’t speak, my throat closing in while I waited for him to arrest me.

  He leaned forwards, resting his elbows on his knees. “It’s a shame Viktor shot him, and I never got a chance to bring him to justice.”

  I couldn’t help but frown. “W-What?”

  “Marcus Porter,” he said slowly and quietly, his eyes locking on mine in a stare I couldn’t escape from. “Why? Who did you think I was talking about?”

  My mouth was so dry I had to force saliva into my mouth to talk, but words still failed me.

  “We’ve been following Viktor for years,” Jamie said, finally dropping my gaze and leaning back. “Trying to get him to come out of hiding was impossible. But you.” He sighed and narrowed his eyes. “That was a stupid thing to do, Dove.”

  “You were after Viktor all along?”

  He had the grace to wince. “Yeah, sorry about that. I hated misleading you. I genuinely think you’re a great girl. Viktor was a goddamned bastard to locate. We’d been following you for a while, hoping to catch a glimpse of him. And then when nothing came up, I needed to get a little closer, see what you knew. David knew you’d be the only one to draw him out, hence the tipoff about his address, even though it was a long shot and we weren’t actually sure he would be there. But then I knew, as soon as you said you were going away for a while that you were going on the hunt, so to speak.” He grinned. “And fortunately, we followed you. Unfortunately, he already had O’Kane and Serenity before we could stop him.”

  “Are they okay?” I asked, bracing myself even though I knew they would be after I’d killed Viktor. His men weren’t loyal enough to kill two random people after their master’s death.

  “They’re fine. A little shook up and bruised but nothing they won’t get over.”

  Something occurred to me. “So that’s why you were so unnerved by Gary. You were frightened he would blow your cover.”

  “In a way. You knew I was a cop so I wasn’t too worried. I knew Gary long before I joined the service. But when I saw him I knew Viktor was getting close, especially if Ren needed guarding. Of course, we all know you didn’t. You seem… capable of handling yourself.” He coughed slightly.

  I nodded slowly but a soft chuckle left him.

  “Fancy a Russian mobster being afraid of a little thing like you.”

  “Fancy,” I whispered, unable to stop the smile from developing.

  “A high-class prostitute making a man like that hide out. As David and I told my superior, it’s usually the most brutal that are the biggest cowards.”

  The door opened and a doctor poked his head in. “Okay if I interrupt, Detective?”

  Jamie stood up and nodded. “Of course.” He gave me another smile. “I’ll be back later. Rest.”

  I nodded and grabbed his hand as he started to walk away. “Thank you.”

  His eyes softened as his fingers gripped mine and he gave them a squeeze. “Don’t waste the second chance, Dove.”

  “It’s not life’s forgiveness I need.”

  And it wasn’t.

  I woke with a start, the deep feeling of someone watching me bringing me out of a restless sleep.

  Flick was leaning against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest, making his biceps bulge as his gaze fixed hard on my face.

  “Hey,” I whispered, unsure of what was between us now.

  “You okay?” His tone was flat and quiet, and my heart sank.

  I made to shuffle up the bed, the pain in my stomach making my fists clench. “Yeah. A bit sore, but nothing I can’t handle.”

  He nodded. I was desperate for him to move nearer, to touch me, but he remained still. He was staring at me, his eyes roving over me as I pushed to sit against the head of the bed. A suffocating silence crushed my lungs.

  “Say something,” I whispered. “Please.”

  Finally, he pushed off the wall and walked over to the window, staring out into the dark night sky. “How many?”

  “How many what?”

  “How many people have you killed?”

  My teeth snapped together and I lowered my eyes to the bedsheet covering me.

  “No more secrets, Dove. Neither of us. I’m tired of fighting for you.”

  “You don’t need to fight for me, Flick. I’m yours.”

  He scoffed. “You’ll never be completely mine while I don’t know anything about you. I can’t fight your conscience for you, Dove.”

  “I…”

  “If you feel anything for me then you’ll be honest. And then I’ll be honest with you.”

  I gathered, after Viktor’s speech about us both having secrets, that Flick had his own, yet I knew he was right. My secrets would crush us and we would never be allowed to live in peace if I was forever hiding from him.

  I blew out the breath that was burning my lungs. “Twenty-eight.”

  He flinched, his throat moving quickly as he swallowed. “Did you have a choice?”

  “No,” I answered honestly. “Apart from Felix.”

  Again he nodded, his eyes still on the outside world. “Children?”

  “No!” I gasped. “How can you even ask me that?”

  He shrugged. “I never thought I would be sitting here listening to you tell me the amount of people you have killed, so maybe I have a right to ask. Seems as though I know nothing.”

  “Flick, you have no idea how hard it was, and believe me, I’m far from proud of what I am…”

  “I’m not angry at what you are, Dove,” he growled as he finally ripped his furious glare from the window to me. “To me you will always be my girl. The girl I love. I’m angry because you lied to me.”

  “I didn’t lie!”

  “Yes,” he spat, his fists dropping on the bed either side of my body and making me jump. “Yes, you lied! About Marcus, about what Viktor did to you. About what you’ve been through. About how much grief is in your soul. About how fucking broken you really are!” Tears spilled over and I choked on them. “But what’s worse is you lie to yourself. About how fucking strong you are. That you can deal with it all. And I can’t ever find you if you hide!”

  I shook my head. “I can deal with it.” I told him the truth. “I can deal with anything as long as you’re there, right beside me. Because you make all the pain go away, Flick. You always did. Your love for me is so fucking deep that everything else doesn’t matter. Nothing matters when you look at me like you do, when you touch me with a touch that I can feel in my soul. Your love soothes everything. It overwhelms the agony and it drowns it until all I can feel is you. YOU!”

  Suddenly his mouth was over mine,
kissing me with a fury that took my breath away. The pain in my stomach, the agony in my soul, and the ache in my heart all subsided until my mind was completely captivated by one thing. The man I loved.

  His fingers were on my chin, gripping me with an agonising hold as if he was scared I would run. I would never run again. Especially not from him.

  He moaned, his knees falling in the place where his hands had been beside me and he deepened the kiss until I could feel the touch of his heart alongside my own, nursing it, healing it.

  The world slipped away, taking with it the pain of my past and the agony of my future. His mouth softened, his kiss slowing until he was sweeping me under with the love he was desperately trying to make me feel.

  “I love you,” he whispered against my lips, his words reaching my soul and soothing the ache there.

  I reached up, caressing his face as I returned his sentiment. “And I love you, Flick O’Kane.”

  He sighed, dropping his face into the crook of my neck. “Promise me you won’t ever hide again.”

  “I promise.”

  He scattered kisses along my jaw, inhaling my scent as he went.

  “Your turn.”

  I felt him stiffen.

  “Trust me, Flick. Please.”

  He blew out a breath then sat up. Pulling out his wallet, he reached in and took out a piece of paper and handed it to me.

  I frowned, looking at the photograph of a little girl who appeared to be around four or five years old. Her unruly brown curls fell over her face nearly covering eyes that I recognised; deep green eyes that mirrored another’s.

  “My daughter,” he whispered.

  I gasped looking up at him. “What?”

  “You remember the time you said you came back and I was with Jessica?”

  I nodded.

  “We had an on and off thing for years. We never really dated but became friends. Good friends. We decided our friendship was too valuable to ruin so after trying to date we accepted what it was and eased off.” He pursed his lips. “Just a couple of weeks after, she found out she was pregnant.”