Nemesis: Katie's story (Heart of Stone Book 15) Read online

  Hope trained his gaze on Henry, intently watching every single move he made. He didn’t struggle, and I was slightly impressed by how comfortable he seemed. “Well played, Stillman.”

  I frowned at Hope’s odd words, then jolted when a loud burst of laughter broke from Henry.

  Hope stiffened when Henry patted his cheek. “Have you any idea how long I’ve been after you, Tristan?” He moved his head from side to side. “Must be going on two years now.”

  I clenched my teeth. I’d been nothing more than bait. Yet, mine and Henry’s relationship had never even hinted at anything sinister going on. My mouth dried when I recalled my dad’s words to me, several months ago, when he’d warned me to be careful of everyone, to suspect everybody because each Face was out for themselves, and no one in this business was a friend. I should have listened closer. I should have listened to every word that had left Dad’s mouth. I longed to hear his voice once again, yearned for a tiny glimpse of that amazing smile he always gave me and no one else.

  Henry sighed dramatically, and stepped even closer to Hope. “I must say I’m impressed by your mettle, Tristan. Sarah wasn’t quite so as composed as you.”

  My eyes widened when, for the first-time, Hope’s self-control vanished and he wrestled in the chains, his body bucking uncontrollably as he tried to free himself. His eyes blazed with a vehemence that made the beat of my heart stutter. Cold fury rolled from him as he screamed. “I’m going to kill you, you fucking cunt!”

  Henry laughed, nodding his head and spun back around, stepping out of the way before Hope managed to slam his forehead into Henry’s nose. “Mmm.”

  I sat, stumped and mute when Henry walked back out of the door he came through, his two men following dutifully behind him. Darkness enveloped us again when the bolts were drawn back, locking us in the black pit once more.

  The silence was suffocating. Hope’s rage engulfed what little air was in the room, making it difficult to draw breath. His furious panting pained my ears, and for some reason, my heart.

  “You okay?” I wasn’t even sure why I asked. He had murdered my husband, gunned him down in the middle of an icy street on our wedding day. Yet, the pain that seeped from Hope was one I recognised. One that matched my own.

  He didn’t answer me. I knew he hadn’t even heard me. Grief was so deafening that at times we heard nothing but the harrowing song it sang to us, the thunderous beat of its torture in our ears.

  I fiddled with the ties binding my wrists, but it was an unrewarding task, the writhing just sawing at my skin and causing more pain. “Fuck, Dad,” I whispered into the dark. “Now I know how Mum felt!”

  Nothing made sense, apart from the fact that Henry had used me to draw out Hope. How could I have been so stupid? Rule number one – question everything. Especially tip-offs that had come from nowhere.

  Hope’s breathing had settled and the sound of the slow ragged breaths he took made me turn to seek him out in the void. “Hope.”

  “What?”

  My mouth dried, and I stuck my chin out, even though he couldn’t see my small defiant act. “Before I kill you, we kill Henry together.”

  He chuckled, and even though it was a dark hum I couldn’t help but smile softly. “Nah, sweetheart,” he whispered, the pain in his voice making me wince. “Before I kill you, I’m going to gut the fucker from the inside out and feed his fucking insides down his throat.”

  I grinned then, excitement flashing through my veins. “Ohhh, sounds fun. Please let me play too.”

  His breath caught in surprise at my words, but then he laughed. And fuck me, if it didn’t make me beam into the darkness.

  Four

  Katie

  I could tell he was in pain by the sharp intakes of breath every now and again. Going by the amount of blood that had soaked through his shirt, my blade had dug quite deep. I was worried he was going to die before I even had the chance to honour my vow to Steed.

  “Did they hurt you?”

  His question made me jump after our silence, and I frowned. “Who?”

  “Who?” he mimicked. “The idiots that jumped us, who else?”

  His sarcasm made me clench my jaw. “Well going by the pain in my ribs I’d say one or two are broken, and my lip is throbbing like a fucker. But other than that, I’m okay.”

  I had to be careful what I said, I knew the room would be rigged, our conversation entertainment to those who guarded us.

  “How’s your side?”

  He drew a deep breath and clicked his tongue. “You certainly know where to hit. It feels like I’ve been fucking staked.”

  Rolling my eyes, I sighed. “Stop being a baby.”

  “Yeah, what’s a knife in the side. Better than my back, eh?” I could hear the hint of amusement in his voice despite his agony, and couldn’t help but smile.

  “Exactly. I thought I’d break you in slowly.”

  “Of course you did, sweetheart. I’m grateful for the heads up.”

  The slight quiver in his tone made me wince, my worry heightening. “Seriously though, if they don’t hurry the fuck up, you’re gonna bleed to death before I even get a look in.”

  “I’m definitely feeling the love here, Katie.”

  I nodded earnestly. “Yes, it’s not often I’m so caring. And if you do die on me then I’m not going to be able to see the life drain from you in this fucking darkness.”

  His quiet chuckle sounded light for the seriousness of the situation. We must have been there for a good few hours by now and I was growing impatient. Where the fuck were they?

  As if sensing my worry, the bolts on the door drew back and both Hope and me squinted against the flood of brightness. Two pairs of feet came towards me and I clenched my fists when one boot swung towards me, burying itself into the lower part of my stomach and making the broken ribs groan with agony.

  “Motherfucker!”

  “Oi!” Hope growled. “Feel good to hit on a woman that can’t fight back, does it?” The vehemence in his snarl caught me by surprise, his concern puzzling.

  The muzzle of a gun was forced into the centre of my forehead. I would be lying if I said I didn’t see my life flash before my eyes. A small part of me wanted him to force the bullet out of the gun and embed it into the very core of my brain, yet, a part of me needed to survive. For Steed. And for revenge. After that I was game for death, whichever way it came.

  However, I gasped in surprise when a small box was thrown into my lap. The tallest guy held the gun to my head as the other, the fat fuck, moved behind me and started to undo my ties. “Don’t get any ideas, bitch.”

  The relief in my wrists was heavenly and I almost groaned in delight.

  Yanking me up, that delight was short-lived when pain ricocheted through my broken body. Bringing his face to mine, I grimaced at the sour smell of his breath. Thrusting the box that had landed in my lap back at me, he tipped his head towards Hope. “Fix him up!”

  My eyes swung to Hope who was now sagging dangerously. His gaze caught mine and I gave him a smug grin. “With pleasure.”

  Hope rolled his eyes, seeing my delight at stabbing him with a needle and thread. “Seriously, why her?”

  The fat fuck laughed, catching onto our mutual hatred of one another. “Looks like this could be fun after all.”

  Holding my ribs as I shuffled across the room to him, I caught his eye as I reached close to him to remove his shirt.

  “Forget it,” he whispered so quietly I almost didn’t hear him. “There’s no way you can take them in your condition.”

  I chuckled, unable to hold it back as I pushed the material of his shirt down his arms to hold it away from his body. His physique was fine, but then I had known it would be. Fitness came first in this line of work, and Hope worked alone. He had no one to rely on but his strength and vigour. Weakness got you killed, both in mind and body.

  He hissed when I prodded forcefully at the wound with some antiseptic and my heart skipped a beat in contentment.
/>
  The two men stood a little back, watching me with the gun still pointed at my head, but when I felt their attention slip as I started to suture the deep slice in Hope’s side, I looked up and got his attention. “I don’t need to take them on,” I mouthed.

  He frowned, my lack of fight surprising him.

  I flicked my eyes down to the fox pendant I always wore on a silver chain around my neck, and then back up to his face. “I’m tracked.”

  His eyes grew wide and he quickly disguised his shock, but managed to give me a subtle nod.

  Finishing off the stitching, quite proud of how well I had hacked at him, I gave him a wink, and turned back to the two men. Once again they directed me back to the pole where they secured me for the second time, gave me another kick in the gut, and left, plunging us back into the sphere of darkness.

  “You stitch up like a fucking four-year-old,” Hope grumbled.

  “Not usually, just on you.”

  I could sense the shake of his head at my reply and picture his eyes rolling. “Don’t hide from your feelings, sweetheart.”

  “Feelings?”

  “Mmm, I know all this aggression is merely frustration because you want to know how good I will feel deep inside you. The chemistry between us is insane. I’m almost certain we should fuck before taking each other out.”

  The laugh from me was free and loud. “Fuck to the death, eh?”

  “Now that does sound good.”

  Shaking my head, I sighed, growing frustrated with every passing second. I had been due to check in hours ago, so my team would be aware of the situation. My ass was numb, my bones ached, and my muscles were practically screaming in pain.

  “So, who’s Sarah?”

  I was desperate for conversation, the silence eating at my insides and making me think too much.

  At first I didn’t think he was going to answer me, but a long breath left him and I heard him shift. “She was my sister.”

  The sadness in his quiet voice made me still, my gut clenching as I bit into my sore lip just to feel some sort of stimulation. “What happened?” I was hesitant to ask, but something inside me needed to know, needed to understand why Hope was so closed off. I had seen the void in his eyes, the aching chasm of grief that was consuming him more and more with every growing second. It had been so bright when he’d approached me at the party that I had almost gasped at the raw depth of it. The agony and the hatred hadn’t been aimed at me though, it clung to him like a leech, sucking on his soul until I was sure there was nothing left inside him.

  “She… she was so very different from me, so gentle, so kind to everyone, even if they didn’t deserve it. I couldn’t ever tell her what I do, what I am, the knowledge would have drowned her. And then one day she went missing, just disappeared. I never knew…” His voice broke and I winced. “I looked everywhere. I never stopped.”

  His pain was brutal, assaulting me and squeezing my broken ribs into my body.

  Silence descended for a long moment, and then his whisper stabbed me right in the centre of my chest. “I guess now I can stop looking.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “It was the not knowing, you know,” he murmured. “Whether, wherever she was, she was hurt, in pain. Whether she was begging for death every day…”

  “My parents vanished three months ago…”

  “I heard.”

  I nodded in reply even if he couldn’t see me. “But I also found out that… well, I have to think they’re in a better place, with my brother, and my husband.”

  He clicked his tongue when I spat out the last words. “Look, Katie…”

  He didn’t get to finish his sentence before all hell broke loose.

  Five

  Tristan

  The sound of gunfire, shouts, and muffled thuds filled the still air. Both Katie and I quietened, listening for any hint as to which way the fight was going.

  It seemed to take forever, but eventually the bolts on the door shrieked and I held my breath.

  A guy stood in the door, his eyes narrow but searching as he peered into the dark room.

  “Well you took your fucking time!” Katie grumbled at him when he and a girl stepped inside the room, and I released the breath that had caught in my lungs with hope.

  He instantly went to her, dipping behind her to undo her ties. “Sorry, sat-nav conked out.”

  She froze, and looked back at him over her shoulder. “Are you serious?”

  Pulling a face, he shook his head and sighed. “Really? Did you see how well this place was guarded? What is it you always tell us? Plan, plan, and then plan on top of the damn plans. We couldn’t just come riding in on white fucking horses, with huge flags blowing behind us to tell them we were here.”

  She scowled at him, standing up and brushing herself down. “I’ll dock your fucking wages for that, you cheeky sod.”

  The guy curled a lip at her, but then he grinned and scooped her up. “Jesus fuck, sweet, I thought you’d fucking left me too.”

  She hugged him back just as hard, her eyes brimming with both irritation and sorrow. “I’ll never leave you, Mark. I’ve told you. Never.”

  He nodded, exhaling as another couple of men filed inside.

  “You okay, boss?” a small man with large round glasses asked her. Without waiting for her answer, he started to check her over, holding her chin and moving her face from side to side as he scanned the injuries to her face.

  “Think I’ve a couple of broken ones,” she mumbled. And then, just like that, she dug her nails into the seam of the bodice on her dress and tore open the material. My gaze locked onto her pale but taut skin as she exposed her tight stomach and ribs to the guy looking over her.

  The others, oblivious to their boss baring her top half to them as if it was an everyday occurrence, started to move around the room. But I couldn’t look away. The underside to her cream bra just peeked through the gap, the very edge a thick band of lace. I had to bite my lip when I imagined slipping my knife underneath and slowly sliding it upwards, slicing through the lace until her perky nipple danced under the tip.

  Her inked ribs were seriously bruised, and she hissed when the guy gently moved a few fingers over them.

  Finally, looking away when a heat speared my gut for some insane reason, I caught the eye of the girl stood watching me. She was staring at me intently, studying me. I got the impression she didn’t like me very much. Her short, bright silver hair was sleeked back from her face and nearly every inch of her face was pierced with some random piece of silver. Her make-up was harsh and fully-loaded, yet, amazingly, she seemed to have one of the prettiest faces I’d ever seen, well, from what I could tell underneath all the armour she wore.

  “What do we do with him?” she spat, keeping her death stare on me but talking to Katie.

  Katie looked over, her eyes flitting between me and the girl. “Take him with us.”

  My eyes narrowed on Katie when a slow smile crept over her face.

  “But don’t bite him, Nola. He’s a delicate one, this one.”

  I quirked an eyebrow at her, then almost yelped when my arms were suddenly freed but yanked behind me, the cuffs around my wrists still digging into my flesh, and the chains that had hung me up with now being wrapped around me to hold down my arms.

  “Oooh, it’s like a leash,” Nola chuckled, giving the chain a harsh pull until I stumbled. “Come on, sunshine, let’s go have some fun.” I wasn’t sure what her concept of ‘fun’ was, but I guessed it wouldn’t actually be fun.

  I glowered at Katie when Nola dragged me behind her. She laughed, her head tipping back as a full-on belly left burst from her. Wiggling her fingers at me, she gave me a wink, then blew me a kiss. “Have fun.”

  ***

  I’d been locked in this damn room for hours. A guy had come to sort out the hack job Katie had done to the stab wound, and after careful consideration, I’d decided not to take him out and find a way out. I knew the place would be heavily guarded, a
nd in my less than fair condition, and without a piece, I knew I wouldn’t get far.

  It wasn’t a bleak room I’d been forced in, and that surprised me. I had expected a cold damp basement of some sort, so to find myself in a small room furnished with an armchair, a few bottles of water and a few magazines was somewhat of a shock.

  The door opened and Katie finally stepped inside. I opened my mouth to give her a fucking, when I saw the look in her eyes. My jaw snapped shut, and I paused. “What is it?”

  Although I could tell she hadn’t actually been crying, I could see the shimmer of grief and tears in her eyes.

  She bit into her lip and cleared her throat, before walking over to the wall and leaning back on it. Crossing her arms over her chest, which was now covered in a simple white t-shirt, she sighed. “I’m known for being a cold, hard bitch, Hope.” Her eyes locked onto mine and I had to swallow at the horror that openly burned me from deep within them. “I’m sure, you of all people, are aware of that.”

  I didn’t answer her; I don’t think she expected me to.

  “And they’d be right. I am cold. I am hard, both inside and out. I have no mercy, no morals, no empathy, if you like.”

  Something inside me told me that wasn’t quite true, but I kept that to myself.

  “I love to kill. It’s that simple. I love the kick to my heart when I watch the blood drain from someone, someone that I have decided shouldn’t be allowed to breathe anymore. That euphoria is unlike anything. I get high on it. I love to steal their souls, to cherish the losing fight of someone not fit to walk this planet, to watch their lives leak out with every drop of blood I spill from them.” She paused, wincing and blinking. “But something I love more than anything, is my team. They are also my friends and my family. They’d give their lives for me, every one of them. I trust them, they trust me. And if I let them down, then that’s something I couldn’t ever forgive myself for.”