HUGE X2 (18 page)

Chapter 11

Samantha

I
can’t move but my shoulder is hurting.
 
I
can’t open my eyes.
 
I feel a soft
comforter under my bare legs.
 
I will my
fingers to move but they feel disconnected from my body.
 

I can hear voices but I can’t make out what they’re
saying.

My breathing sounds so loud in my head and my stomach
is sick.
 
I feel my body heave and taste
bitter bile.
 

My mouth is wiped roughly by some kind of cloth.
 
It doesn’t smell good.
 

Everything goes dark.

Chapter 12

Brandon

Connor
is in a foul mood.
 
He’s not usually the
most talkative of people but today he’s practically vibrating with anger.

“I can’t fucking believe it,” he says about Tom when I
pick him up.

“I know,” I say, not really feeling the same.
 
There are a lot of snakes in this game.
 
In a way, I’m surprised it hasn’t happened
before now.
 
I look across at Connor
wondering what I don’t know about him.
 
Has he been talking to our rivals, working out a better deal for
himself?

Am I in danger again?
 

Stupid thought because I’m always in danger.
 
I’m Adam Ford’s son.
 
It’s why I carry the fucking gun.

We do as Adam asked.
 
Driving out of town, then taking another road in on a loop, listening to
an old rock radio station to fill the tense silence.
 
We find a coffee shop we’ve never been into
before and I order a black coffee while Connor orders a mocha-whippy-chocolate
something or other that makes me want to laugh.
 
He still has devil-furious eyes so I don’t bother.
 
It’s not really the time for jesting,
whatever his choice of beverage.
 

When it’s time, Connor directs me to where Leon will
be waiting.
 
The exchange is tenser than
usual which isn’t surprising.
 
No one
likes standing around on the street holding illegal substances or large sums of
cash.
 
I get that.
 
It’s only our years of mutually agreeable
business dealings that has kept this meeting in play.

We get back in the car and I drop Connor off to where
he’s left his ride.
 
We head in opposite
directions, him to sort out the distribution channels, me to Jackson’s so I can
report back to Adam.
 

When I arrive I know something is off
immediately.
 
Adam is more pensive than
usual and when I tell him about the drop he seems distracted.
 
In the end, I ask him what the fuck is wrong
with him.

He says nothing but brings his closed fist from where
it’s resting next to his leg up onto the table in front of me.
 
He opens it and there’s a thin silver chain
inside, and for a moment I stare at it, wondering why Adam is handing me a
piece of women’s jewelry.
 
Then I lean in
closer, catching sight of the small ‘S’ charm and the silver angel’s wing
tucked into the crease by his thumb and I know.

“Where the fuck did you get that?” I ask, bracing one
hand against the table and snatching the warm chain from his sweaty palm.
 

“It was left on the bar in an envelope addressed to
me.
 
You know who it belongs to?”

His eyes are narrowed suspiciously and I swallow, barely
controlling my rage with deep breaths.
 
Someone has Sammie.
 
It’s what I
feared the most and why I kept telling her to just leave me be.
 
Why the fuck didn’t she listen?

“It’s Samantha’s necklace.
 
My stepsister.”
 

Adam sits back, still sizing me up.
 
He’s wondering how all of this fits together.

“But you haven’t seen her for years.
 
Why would they think they could use her as
leverage?”

“Who the fuck has her, Adam?” I’m so damn angry I
can’t breathe.
 

“The same fuckers who shot at you last night.
 
Now answer my goddamned question.”

“The lawyer you hired for me, the first one.
 
It was Samantha.
 
They must have seen us together and think
she’s my girl or something.”

“Well, they got that wrong, didn’t they?”
 
He sounds relieved and I don’t understand.

“What are you talking about?”

“Well.
 
She’s
your ex-stepsister and you haven’t seen her for fifteen years.
 
We just tell them we don’t give a fuck that
they’re holding her.
 
They’ll probably
just release her.
 
No point in risking a
murder charge for the sake of this shit.”

“What the fuck…”
 
I’m so furious I ball my fists.
 
I
never expect much from my scumbag father but this is low even for him.
 
“You tell me where she is right the fuck now
or I won’t be responsible for what I do.”

“You know what they are asking for?” he says, eyes
narrowed again, leaning forward like he might go for me at any second.
 
His biceps are bunched and ready for assault
but I don’t give a damn.
 
I’d kill him
before I stand by and let anyone even ruffle a hair on Sammie’s head.

“Whatever it is, we are going to give it to them, do
you understand?” I say through gritted teeth.

“Understand this, boy,” he says, spit flying from his
mouth and landing on the table in front of me.
 
“I decide what we do…not you and not any other punk-ass motherfucker who
thinks he can threaten me.”

“She’s innocent in all this, Adam.
 
I’m not gonna stand by and let them hurt
her…”

“You don’t get a choice in this, Brandon.”
 

I slam my fists down on the table so hard the bottles
of beer bounce and overturn, spilling foaming dregs across the wooden surface.

“I’m only going to say this once more,” I growl.
 
“I am not going to leave her in the hands of
those men, Adam.
 
There is nothing here
that is worth more to me than her, do you understand? Whatever it takes, I will
do it to get her back, with or without you.
 
So tell me where the fuck she is before I have to do something both of
us are gonna regret.”

“You’d stand against me for a cunt who’s practically a
stranger?” he asks, looking genuinely baffled, and I understand, once and for
all, that he is incapable of caring about anything but himself and his
money.
 
And I know now, that whatever
happens next, I have to get away from him because he would sacrifice anything
to protect what he loves most, and that includes me.

“She’s not a stranger.
 
She’s my sister.”

“And I’m your father.
 
Doesn’t count for shit though does it?”

“Don’t make this about anything other than finding
Sammie and getting her back. It’s fucking pathetic.
 
If you don’t want to get involved, then leave
it to me.
 
I’ll go and do this myself.”

“And what do you think that would look like?
 
That I send in one man to do the job of a
crew.
 
I’m not a pussy, Brandon.”

“You know you’ve got to do this, because if you don’t
they’ll think you’re scared.”

We glare at each other in a bar that has now gone
quiet as everyone looks across, waiting for our argument to turn physical.
 

“I’m gonna get her back,” I say as quietly and menacingly
as I can, my mind filled with the terror that Sammie is likely to be dealing
with right at this moment, and I slide out of the booth until I’m standing with
my fists resting on the table.
 
I look
down at the man who’s supposed to be my father. Blood means nothing to him,
loyalty means nothing. If I told him that I was leaving he wouldn’t care
because I’m his son and he was losing me.
 
He’d care because of the inconvenience, how it would look to our rivals
and the danger that I might pose to him as a civilian who knows too much about
his precious business.

Adam doesn’t stop glaring at me with his narrowed eyes
but I know his brain will be searching through all the available options for
the one that has him coming out the best.
 
I don’t expect it, but he nods.
 
He leans in closer, talking in a whisper. “Had someone on them since
last night.
 
They think they’re clever
but they’ve got no idea what they’re doing.
 
All muscle and no brain.
 
They
have a safe-house where they congregate and I think that’s where they will have
taken her.”

“So let’s get over there.”

“You don’t know what they want in exchange though do
you?”

“What is it?
 
Tell me?”

“They want territory and contacts…they want us out of
our deal with Leon so they can take over.”

“Leon won’t deal with people like that.
 
He values his life too much.”

“You’re right.
 
But they’re not going to listen to that if it comes from us.”

“So we agree to it all and get her back.”

“If we go in there, they’re gonna try and kill
us.
 
This isn’t an exchange based on some
old-fashioned gentlemen’s agreement.
 
This is a set up between villains.”
 
He laughs then, as though he’s enjoying the game.
 
Adam was made for this kind of life.
 
I was not.

“So what the fuck are we going to do?”

“We’re going to distract them.
 
They’re greedy and stupid and they don’t have
the brains to work out shit.
 
They proved
that last night.
 
That’s got to be one of
the worst ambushes in the history of man.”

“They nearly killed me,” I growl.

“They should have succeeded but they didn’t.
 
Leave this to me, okay.”

Adam pulls out his phone and slides out of the booth,
heading to the backroom for some privacy.
 
I go to follow but he waves me away so I go to the bar and order a
whisky.
 
I know I shouldn’t because I
need to be clear headed but my hands are shaking and my mind is already
spinning. The alcohol might just take the edge off.
 
The liquid burns on the way down but feels
nice and warm when it hits my stomach.
 
Adam comes back rubbing his stubbly chin and pushing his phone into his
jeans pocket.
 

“Here’s what’s going to happen,” he says, as though he
expects no disagreements from me.
 
“I’ve
told them we’ll meet them to discuss terms in three hours. Jared is already
staking out their lair.
 
He’s good at
being discreet and he’ll call you to let you know what’s happening.
 
I’m going to need to take Connor and most of
the boys with me because I intend to deliver a very tough message.
 
If you want to go and get the girl, then you
make sure there aren’t too many of them left in that wasp’s nest and you do
what you need to do.”

“Okay,” I say, exhaling now that I know I have the
green light to go and find Sammie.
 
“You
give me the address of the place now and I’ll go up there and join Jared.”

“That isn’t what I said, is it?”

“You want me to sit around here while Sammie is
there?
 
I want to get as close as I can.”

“You see, that’s why I’m telling you not to go.
 
You’re going to get down there and you won’t
be able to wait until that house empties out.”

“I’ll wait,” I hiss, hating that he’s treating me like
a kid.

“Yeah, you will.
 
Right here.”
 
He turns back to the
booth and collects his things.
 
When he
walks by me towards the door I grab him by the arm.
 

“This is it for me, Adam,” I say.
 
“I’m going to find her and then I’m out.
 
And I’m not coming back.”

Adam’s eyes scan over me and his poker face gives
nothing away.
 
“You think you can just
walk away?”

“I do,” I say with as much conviction as I can find,
when inside all I can think is that this isn’t going to work.
 
He’s never going to let me go.

“And why would I let you do that?” he asks.

“This time it’s not about you letting me do anything,
Adam.
 
This time it’s about me telling
you that I’m deciding. I won’t do this anymore…any of it. I’m done. I’ll never
speak any of what I know but I’m going.
 
For good.”

We stare at each other, eye to eye, man to man, and
I’m convinced he’s going to start threatening but he doesn’t.
 
Instead he shrugs his shoulders.
 
“Jared will be in touch,” he says, and I
can’t believe he’s letting me go so easily.
 
All the years I worried about what he would do.
 
All the years I wasted.
 
He slaps me once on the shoulder, a pathetic
gesture to mark the end of our business and personal relationship, and turns to
walk away and I shake my head.
 
I should
be baffled but in my heart I know. Adam will only try to control those who are
prepared to be controlled.
 
It’s taken me
standing up to him like a man for him to accept me as one.
 
And that’s it.