King's Revenge (King's Duet Book 1) Page 2

  "Okay, just give him a chance, and I will let you get back to business." Ellie plants a kiss on my cheek and goes to walk over to the door.

  "Tell Elijah I want everyone out of my house," I tell her as she leaves my office.

  "I want a family meeting tomorrow morning, to get things started," I tell my dad, then turn to the door as Elijah and Warren walkthrough.

  I also want to tell them about my list, anything that happens in this family happens together. Everyone has to vote before something can be done, but I already know my family will hunt the people behind the guards, and I want them to be a part of it.

  "Let's go to the bar. First night out, and you're talking business when you should be fucking a woman," Warren tells me.

  I look over at Elijah who is agreeing with him.

  "I would like to sleep in my own bed alone, thank you," I tell them, but they aren't listening to a word I'm saying. As all I can hear is them shouting at me.

  “We set up a fight for you to watch tonight. Get back into the business.” Elijah tells me.

  "And we got some strippers too," Warren adds, and I just look at him.

  I know he's always been a manwhore, but he seems to have gotten worse in the two years I've been away, and I'm going to be stopping that. I'm sure Max was telling me about a girl he liked, but nothing is happening there.

  "Come on, let's go," Elijah tells me as he takes my glass from me.

  I suppose it would be good to see how the bar is doing. Our business is the bar, Devil's Den, but behind all that is a different story. The gun dealing, underground fights, and betting are where we make our money. The government doesn't know what we've done with the basement. They see the club and the front of the basement where we keep all our drinks, then a brick wall. Nothing about what's behind the brick wall.

  Anything that happens back there never comes to the front of the bar. They enter through the back, where security cameras see all around us, up to a mile out around the bar. So if we need to hide something we can.

  Chapter 2

  Angel

  As I get out of the car, I look at the crowd of people whispering to each other as they look at my brothers and me. I know that everyone in town knew I went to prison, so I'm not that surprised people are looking at me. Everyone in the city knows about my family. Most fear us, the others just stay out of the way, but one thing everyone in this city knows is, I will protect it. This is my home, and no one is taking it.

  I take a look around my surroundings. No matter what, I will always check what's happening around me. There is still some stupid fuck out there that thinks he can touch us, and I'm not going to lie, being one of the most powerful families in England does come with a price. Elijah was the first one to feel it when his high school sweetheart was shot in front of him. It took him a long time to recover from that, but then Gwen came into the picture and made him forget the pain. She was good for him, and I told him that he needed to put a ring on her finger. After one year together, they got married, and he has security around her when we have business to do. He won't risk losing love again, and I don't blame him.

  We’ve lost some family along this road, but I’ve learned not to have an Achilles heel. Weakness is not the best thing to have when you’re in this family. The moment your enemies know you have one, your focus is never on work, it's on them.

  I love Elijah, but his focus isn't always where it needs to be. He calls Gwen throughout the day, but he has always been loyal to the family. When I tell him a job to do, he does it. No questions asked. Even though this is a family, and nothing happens unless the family members are all on the same page, word has gotten around that Angel Frost is the one that calls the shots.

  That has never really been the case, but none of us really say anything about it, sometimes it’s better for people to fear one member of the family more than the other. I’m okay with them fearing me, because my reputation speaks for itself.

  I don’t think twice about pulling the trigger. I will kill you with my bare hands, and I don’t have a soul left to care about it.

  As we make our way through the bar, the music is on full blast and the dance floor is full. The crowd looks over at us, but turn away the moment my eyes lock with theirs.

  Still the same bar, even the same smell, and the same look. Just the way I like it. I started Devil's Den as soon as my granddad gave me a chance to prove myself. We needed something to be the front of the crime, so I came up with the idea for the bar, and everyone joined in with it.

  The door closes behind us as we enter my office, and I see the only man I trust with my life. Pike, my best friend since I could talk, has taken more bullets for me than Elijah and Warren put together. We’re the same height, but he’s bigger than me. He said he wanted people to think of him as a tank, and they do.

  He was going to take my place in prison, but I told him no. He would spend more time than I would, and I wasn't going to let that happen, Pike has taken enough pain for my family. So had his granddad and his dad. I wasn't going to let him do anything else.

  Pike walks over to me, as everyone moves away from us, giving us a moment to talk.

  “I’m sorry about your dad Pike, I wish…”

  Pike cuts me off, “I know, Angel, I know. He knew what he was doing. Just went wrong.” Pike shakes his head a little. “I’m just happy that you’re out and we can get back to business,” he tells me.

  When my dad went to get revenge, Pike’s dad was the one we lost that night. That's the one thing about Pike and me. Emotions aren't our thing. We don't have them. We trained together, learned to fight in the underground, and made sure we knew everything we could before we got into this world. My father and Pike's dad made sure we were feared even standing still.

  "Are you fighting?" I ask him. They won't let me fight anymore. Before we left the house, my dad spoke to me and said it was best that I don't and I agreed with him, prison changed me in ways that even I don't know yet.

  I know the things I did in prison, but my family only knows what I wanted them to know. At the moment, I don't think I could fight and not kill.

  “No, Robert said no more fights for me.” Pike starts laughing, he will only ever listen to my dad’s orders.

  "Why'd he say no?" I ask as I walk over to the window looking down at the bar. I watch the crowd laughing and enjoying their night.

  "The last time I was in there, I killed the man. Robert said I got in too soon after my dad." Pike stands next to me, and I turn to face him.

  “Is it too soon now?” I ask him, as my eyes follow a girl moving around the dancefloor. Her full lips curve into a beautiful smile.

  "No, I'm good, but you're back, so I'm your shadow again." He pats my back and walks away with a chuckle. Forcing myself to look away from the beauty, I check the staff behind the bar, but my eyes keep going back to the girl.

  “Who is that talking to Ellie?” I ask Elijah as he stands next to me. I know the old staff, but there are a few new faces.

  Elijah starts laughing, a full-on laugh. "Warren, you want to tell Angel who that is?" He points to the girl, as my eyes move to her. She and Ellie seem to know each other well, as Ellie's body language is relaxed.

  "Fuck off, Elijah." Warren doesn't sound too happy.

  Is this the girl who keeps shooting him down?

  "Her name is Drew, and wants nothing to do with me," he tells me.

  I turn my head slightly to see if I can get a read of his face. I see nothing but that he's pissed off. His forehead is very tense. I turn back to watch Ellie talking to her friend.

  “Why?” I ask.

  "Yeah, Warren why? I mean it took you over a year for her to finally break down and say yes, so how did you fuck it up?" Elijah asks, sounding very amused with himself. He seems to be enjoying this.

  Taking the lit cigarette from Warren, I wait for him to tell me something.

  “She found out I was fucking other girls.... What the fuck?” Warren looks at me, as he rubs the back
of his head where I just slapped him.

  “Why the fuck are you fucking woman after woman. You chase a girl and fuck it up. What do we all say when it comes to girls?” I ask him.

  Granddad taught us to respect women, and if we're lucky enough to find the perfect one, don't fuck it up. Never make her cry. Never break her heart.

  Warren stays quiet. He isn't young anymore. There is no need to fuck women. I get that we all fear what will happen if we show weakness, be it through a girl, be it through letting a man live. Whatever the weakness is, there is always a fear, and that fear will always be there.

  "If you win a girl you've fucking chased for a year, don't fuck it up," I tell him.

  I’m not going to sit here and say that I’ve not fucked girls. I have, and I will continue to fuck them, too. I know my role in this family, and I can’t afford to have a weak spot.

  “Yeah, yeah, she’ll come around. I’m working on winning her over…”

  “By fucking a whore every night?” Elijah cuts him off, and I smile.

  The first smile in two years that is genuine, and not just to give someone fear.

  “Fuck off.” Warren pushes him out of the way.

  My eyes move to the beauty again. I’ve never seen a woman so perfect before. "Who is the girl going behind the bar? She's not in uniform, so why is she going back there?" I watch her smile at Ellie and Drew. They all look friendly.

  "That's Alice, Drew's best friend. She came into town about a year ago." Warren tells me.

  I watch her, not able to take my eyes off her. She moves her blonde hair over to one shoulder, as she moves closer to Ellie and Drew to tell them something.

  “That doesn’t answer my question about why she is behind the bar,” I snap back.

  I don’t want people to think they can go behind the bar if they aren’t meant to be there.

  “Pike, why’s Alice behind the bar?” Elijah looks behind his shoulder as I watch her taking an order from a guy, and I have no idea why my hands turn into fists in my pocket as he touches her arm.

  “One of the girls was throwing up. Ash sent her home, and by luck Alice came to see Drew. He asked if she could cover and she said yes.” Pike stands on the other side of me. I feel him looking at me as my body tenses up watching the guy chat with her. He needs to stop touching her. Why the fuck do I care?

  “Why isn’t she in uniform?” I ask again.

  “It’s at her house,” Pike snaps back.

  “Keep some uniforms here at all times,” I tell him as I watch the guy touching her arm again. My jaw twitches.

  "Come on, man, let's go watch the fight." He moves a little closer to me. "You seem a little tense right now." He lets out a massive laugh echoing around me.

  I stand there for a moment as I watch Alice moving her arm away from the guy and moving on to the next customer. I hear the footsteps behind me, leaving the room to go watch the fight, but I would rather sit up here and watch Alice smile as she talks to my sister and her friend.

  ***

  I tell Pike to find some more fighters, or train these ones better. I won’t be losing money by putting them in a cage with anyone. They aren’t fast enough or big enough. He says he will tell Craig to be on the lookout and train these that we do have.

  Craig is one of the biggest guys I’ve ever met, and has a punch that will knock your teeth out. My dad was the one that got him into our family business and he’s been loyal since.

  I stand in my office after the fight. I’ve missed being here.

  I called a family meeting with my dad, both brothers, Pike, Max, and Craig. These are the guys I trust. These are the guys I would die for.

  Max hands me the paper with the names on it. I take off my jacket and place it behind my chair. I look at everyone sitting in front of me and think of the best way to start the meeting.

  "There was a reason I never wanted you to visit me." I raise my hand as Pike is the first to fight me on that. I already know he wanted to kill me for it, but I also know from everyone here he also understood my reasons best. "There was a reason. I know Max has told you things which he had to." If I had the choice they wouldn't know about that either, but I had no choice as we needed our men in the Ministry of Justice to clean up a few things, so no more time was added to my sentence.

  "All that is fixed," I hear my dad tell me, but I know it's not, and so do they.

  "They kept me in solitary confinement for a week. I was out for a few days then back in there. To make things simpler, the guards were paid to make me suffer in there." I stop for a moment as I hear the chairs scratch the floor in my office. I knew this meeting wasn't going to go well, but I can't torture, or kill people if my family aren't behind me.

  “What did they do?” Elijah asks, and I raise my head to look at him. “Don’t stand there and not tell us.” The rage in his voice hits me like a ton of fucking bricks.

  I can’t explain to them what they did to me. Fuck they did some fucked up shit. Some of those things being the reason I can’t sleep. I start undoing my tie, and then move to my buttons, as I turn around. I take my shirt off, and show them my back, slowly turning to show them the worst of it…my chest. As I turn to face them again, everyone single one of them has rage in their eyes.

  I put my shirt back on.

  “Did they?”

  “No, they tried, and I broke legs, arms, you know the rest,” I say as I take in a deep breath and I look over at my dad. “I’m fine, Dad.” We both know I’m lying, but I know that’s what he needs to hear.

  “Who was it?” Pike asks.

  His words move my gaze to look at him, and I see murder in his eyes.

  "I don't know. No one in that prison was talking, even knowing who I was. Here is a list of every guard and prisoner that fucked up." I throw the piece of paper on the table, and Elijah is the first to look through the names.

  "The one in red, he’s last, and the one I will kill," I tell them as the list gets passed around. I've got people on the inside who I will talk to about the prisoners, but the guards. They're ours.

  “And the others?” Craig asks.

  "The others…" I smile at them. "They will live, but they will live in fear. They will live with scars, too scared to leave the houses. They’ll never rid themselves of the fear of what will happen to their family. I want them to have so much fear that they kill themselves." Placing my hands in my pocket, I move my gaze between each of them. "I know that as a family we…"

  “You seriously fucking think that we aren’t going to vote with you on this?” Warren cuts me off, and I look at them all.

  I knew they would. I knew every single one of them will hunt them and kill them, but I needed to follow the rules of the Frost business.

  "William Hughes is mine, and when we find out who paid them, they are also mine," I tell everyone, so they know where I stand on this. I want to know who would start a war with me. With my family.

  They all nod, and with that, the meeting is over. Everyone gets on with the work set out for the day, Warren and Elijah are doing what they do. They kept up on that for two years, so I'm not getting involved. They started a high-end club for prostitutes that were getting beat or made to do things they didn’t want to, so Elijah and Warren opened a club. The girls feel safe, and if anyone gets out of line, they sort it out.

  Prostitutes aren't our business, but when women are getting beat, then that doesn't fit well with the family. If they are going to do it, they might as well do it under our protection, and the club is making a shitload of money. The only thing I told my brothers was, if the girls want to leave, they leave with no questions asked.

  I watch Craig leaving my office, and I stand in front of Dad and Pike.

  "Dad, I'm good. Time in solitary made sure I was good. Revenge was the only thing I planned," I tell him, and my dad just nods. I know he's worried about me, but he will never make a big deal about it. He knows I will put my thoughts aside and not think about them again. Bringing that shit up or talkin
g about it isn't going to help anyone.

  "Let us know when you and Pike have a plan," Dad tells us and leaves the office.

  I'm left with my partner in crime.

  Dad is starting to take more of a backseat. He comes to meetings, but never does the dirty work anymore, unless he absolutely has to. That’s when you know you’ve really crossed the Frost family.

  “Say what is on your mind, Pike.” I walk around my desk and move over to the window to watch the cleaning crew at work.

  "I noticed last night that you're shut off."

  My eyes move around the bar as the staff comes in for the meeting. Some are new and don't know who I am, but that's about to change.

  "It's in your eyes. I mean, they scared the fuck out of me before, but now I get the feeling they scare the fuck out of you, too," Pike turns to face me, but I keep my eyes on the floor. I don't need my eyes to give me fear. I need them to put fear in others.

  "Angel, you're out, and we will kill the family that paid the guards. Where are we starting?"

  I turn a little just enough to make eye contact, then back to the bar as more staff walk in. He’s not all that wrong if I look in the mirror. My eyes do scare me, the darkness taking me to a place of horror. A place only the devil can survive.

  "Pick a guard, and we see if anyone gives us the name," I tell him as I watch Alice walking in with her friend. One of the male staff members wraps his arm over her shoulder and my body tenses. Shaking the desire to hurt him out of my head, I tell Pike, "Once we have two guards down, then we start playing with Williams' head."

  Pike stays quiet for a moment then says what he’s been thinking. “She keeps to herself. She’s open with Drew, but even Ellie doesn’t even know her full story. Some of the lads have tried to hook up with her, but nothing." Pike tells me, as my eyes haven't left her.

  I watch her laughing. Her eyes sparkle, and it's a beautiful sight.

  "I thought we did a full background check before hiring someone?" I move away from the window before the rage of the guy touching her overtakes me. I haven’t even spoken to the girl and I'm ready to kill someone for touching her. There is no way to control myself at a time like this. I need a distraction.