Fall and Rise of the King (Kings Duet) Read online

  “Well, Harvey wants her back, and this time, Dad wants to talk to her,” Bruce says.

  “Why?” I’ve been with the Midlands for eight years, and I still have no idea why they think Alice knows anything. She told me about everything that was in the bag with her that night. I even looked through it all myself. There was nothing there, so who the fuck knows what they think Alice knows or has?

  “Just watch her, Ben. You, okay?” Bruce asks.

  “Sure. I just want to get back to normal business,” I lie. I don’t give a shit about their business.

  “We have a few things planned, so it won’t be long until you’re back here and breaking hearts. In the meantime, fuck your London girl.” Bruce laughs.

  I always thought Harvey was the sickest one out of all of them, but they’re all as fucked up as each other. Angel has taken his wife, and he’s laughing on the phone to me.

  “I don’t know where Carrie is yet,” I say. That stops his laughing. “None of the Frost family have been to the bar. It looks like they’ve taken her to Angel’s house, and there’s no way into that place.”

  I still have no idea how Angel is going to get me into his house without me being seen. He has the house locked down very well.

  “If Carrie’s there, there’s nothing we can do. We hurt Angel's queen,” Bruce says, and my hands ball into fists. “Shit was bound to happen. They can’t keep her locked up forever, and anything they do to Carrie, I’m going to take pleasure taking it out on his whore.”

  Eight years I’ve had to listen to them talk about Alice like she’s nothing, and it’s getting to me more and more. I’m starting to get annoyed to the point that one day, I might end up killing one of them myself. I spoke to Stuart a few days ago, and even he thinks that maybe I need to walk away from the Midlands. It’s starting to play with my head too much.

  “John?” I ask.

  He’s the one I want to put a bullet in most of all. The fucking dick thinks he’s all that, yet he’s too scared to make a move without daddy's permission.

  “Harvey said they split up and not to connect until the morning, just to be safe. I’m sure he’s fine,” Bruce says as I hear the old man in the background.

  “What’s the old man moaning about?”

  “The trafficking starts tomorrow, and he’s on the phone with the carriers. I’ll call soon as soon as John calls, or if anything changes.”

  Bruce ends the call, and I throw the phone hard on the bed. “Fuck! I want to kill them!” I shout.

  Ann stands in front of me, her hands coming up to my face in an attempt to calm me down. Vinny hooked me up with Ann years ago. If things were different, I could even see myself marrying her, but life doesn’t work like that. She’s been there for me every time, and all she gets in return is a fuck when I’m here.

  “Once you see her, you’ll be fine,” she assures me.

  “How am I meant to face her after everything that’s happened to her? I let her down.” I walk away from her and get myself a drink.

  “Ben, you can’t blame yourself. Angel—”

  “Eight years I’ve kept her safe. When I find Angel’s mole, I’m going to kill them myself,” I promise.

  Ann walks over to the door. “It’s the guy who came with Angel.”

  I nod for her to open the door. “How is she?” I ask the moment the door closes behind Pike.

  “Is there any answer I can give to that?” Pike asks. That doesn’t help me, but I understand what he means. “What time do you want to come over?” These Frost boys aren’t really talkers, but you can see that they haven’t slept much.

  “In an hour,” I reply.

  Pike looks over at Ann, and I gesture for her to leave for a moment. “She’s shut off from us. Vinny finally got her to eat, but she jumps at any noises and won’t let anyone but Angel and Vinny close to her,” he explains

  I walk over to the chair and let his words settle in my mind. I knew she wouldn’t be her usual self. How could she be? I watched what was happening to her. I watched Harvey with her. I watched how he treated her. The moment I find out who the mole is and I can walk away from all of this, I’m going to take pleasure in killing the Midlands.

  “I’m going to leave in an hour, how do I get in? Angel’s place is surrounded.”

  Pike walks over and takes something out of his pocket. “Angel has a few tunnels leading up to the house.”

  I look up at him in surprise. I know Angel’s always target number one, but that man is prepared for everything. Who the fuck has three tunnels leading out of their house?

  I listen to Pike telling me where to meet him and how I can get into the house, and hope this will all be over soon.

  ***

  Walking into the house, I turn to see Vinny walking towards me. “Good to see you,” I say as I pat his back. He pulls me into a hug. “You okay?” I look around for Alice.

  “She’s with Angel. She’s trying to stay strong, but—”

  “Vinny,” I cut him off and glance around to see who’s close. “The mole… They know everything, and I mean everything.”

  Bruce has been telling me things about the Frost family that only they would know. The mole has to be one of the inside men.

  “Angel’s keeping a lot close to his chest. But the people in this house right now, he trusts,” Vinny says.

  I glance around to see who’s here, then back to Vinny. “Robert’s turning every stone, trying to find out who’s talking to them.”

  I start to reply, but stop when I see Alice behind him. She just stands there, and I can see that my girl’s broken and it’s going to take time for her to heal.

  Walking over to her, she wraps her arms around me and I pull her in close, holding her tight. “I’m sorry, so sorry,” I say as she starts crying. I move to take a step back, but Alice isn’t ready to let me go just yet.

  “Leave them. Stay here with me.” Alice looks up at me, and I don't want to fight with her again over this.

  “Alice, I need to stay. They still want you, and I want to find the mole.” The mole is the person I want most. I take a step back as her body tenses. “Alice, I don’t want to fight—I’m not here to fight,” I say as she walks away from me. I turn and see Angel and his family standing next to Vinny, watching us.

  “You're not needed there anymore,” Alice argues.

  “They’re looking for you again,” I interrupt when she begins shouting at me. “If I know—”

  “If you know what? Ben, they found me and took me. If they get me again, I'll shoot myself so I never have to live through that again,” she screams.

  “Don’t. Don’t ever say that again, ever,” I shout back. “Alice, I’m not here to fight with you—”

  “Then leave!” she screams.

  I take a deep breath in. I’m not here to fight. As much as I try to tell her, it’s clear she's not listening to me. “I tried to warn them about what was going to happen. I called Vinny, but the call was dropped. I was too late to save you, and I won't make that mistake again,” I promise. Vinny explained to me why he didn’t answer my call the night Elijah got killed, but there was no point talking about it now. I can’t change the past.

  “Mistake?” she questions as she lets out a laugh.

  “Alice, I kept you safe.” I walk over to her but stop when she looks at me.

  “Safe. You kept me safe.”

  “I did! Years I protected you. Three months with him and they know everything. I can’t leave the Midlands until I know which one of them I can kill. I don’t fucking care which one it is.” I look over at Angel, watching us. I turn back to look at Alice who’s looking at me. I wait a moment to let her calm down and decide if she wants to continue this fight. “Alice, I hate that I’m there. I had to watch everything that happened to you and listen to Harvey talking about it, and it’s killed me. Every second, it’s killed me that I couldn’t save you. As soon as I know who the mole is, I’ll leave and help take the Midlands down.” I take a step closer
to her, cupping her face. “Let me find the person who told the Midlands about you, and I’ll leave and help kill them all.”

  “Promise?”

  “Promise,” I reassure her. I plant a kiss on the top of her head. There’s nothing more I want than to finally be with Alice and Vinny, but I need to do this first.

  I see Angel talking to Vinny as I pull Alice into a hug. Vinny, Alice, Drew, and Uncle Andy won’t tell Angel the full story about me. I’m the one who’s stopped them. I don’t trust them, and this mole proves I was right not to trust them completely.

  I pull away from Alice when my phone rings. “Yeah?” I ask Bruce.

  “Harvey called. John’s not with him. They have him. Get him back.” Bruce sounds even more pissed off since I last spoke to him.

  “And how the fuck am I meant to do that? Go to Angel’s house, knock on his fucking door and just ask him?” I shout. He really is a fucking moron.

  I have no idea how they’ve controlled the Midlands for so fucking long. They’ve no idea how to really take over. I have to laugh that they think they can take over London from the Frost family. They’d lose it to the next family within a week. They don’t have the muscle or the brains to do it.

  “Figure it out.”

  The line goes dead, and I turn to face Angel and his family. “You have John?” I ask as Alice walks back over to me.

  I hate that she has to see me so worked up about the Midlands. The last few weeks, I haven’t spent much time doing anything but worrying about everything they say. Now that the mole’s telling the Midlands more about things, and it’s only a matter of time before they figure out that I see Alice. That worries me the most, but I don’t tell her that.

  “We do, and no, I’m not letting him walk out of here,” Angel says. He leans against the wall and smokes.

  “Bruce’s wife?” I ask.

  “She’ll be back with him tonight. I haven’t touched her. In fact, I haven’t even seen her.” Angel walks over to me, and Alice wraps her arm with mine. She doesn’t want to let me go just yet. “John, I’m going to put a bullet in his head. Then, I’m going to think about how I’m going to send him back to his father. If you want to give me your input, be my guest.” Angel looks at Alice, then back at me.

  I know it’s annoying him to not know why Alice is so worried about me. “Kill him. In fact, let me do it. I’ve wanted to put a bullet in that bastard for a long time now.”

  Angel laughs, then looks over his shoulder at his family before turning back to me. “Why not? I think eight years is a long time to deal with them. Harvey is mine, though. Where is he?” he asks.

  “I don’t know just yet—he should be back tomorrow. If I find out, I’ll call Vinny,” I say. I walk away from him and towards Vinny. I’m not telling him everything. I give him a nod, and he walks over to me. I look over at Alice. “I have to leave soon…”

  “Stay a little longer, please,” Alice begs.

  I don't reply to her when Vinny comes to stand next to me. “The trafficking ring will be starting up again. Let them know. As soon as I know who the mole is, I’ll leave.”

  Vinny gives me a look, a look that only the two of us understand. I might want to leave the Midlands after, but it might not be that easy to walk away. I know it, Vinny knows it, even Angel knows it. We just can’t let Alice realise it.

  “Alice, I’m going to talk to Ben. I’ll try and get him to stay and have some food with you,” Vinny tells her, but she knows we need to talk without her close.

  “You're staying for food.” She looks behind me, then takes a deep breath. “Be safe. I love you.” Wrapping her arms around me, she gives me a kiss on the cheek before walking away.

  I wait for Alice to be far enough not to hear anything we say. “The mole's telling them everything. It’s only a matter of time until they find out about me. You’ll have to be there for her when that day comes.”

  “Ben, maybe Alice is right. It’s time to get out of there—”

  “Vinny, I know I can find out who it is. Before I left to come here, I set up a camera. I just have to wait to see who goes into the office. Don’t tell them. Who the fuck knows who is betraying them?”

  “And what if it’s too late? You know Alice will never forgive herself if something happens to you,” Vinny says.

  “The same way I'll never forgive myself for letting them get to Alice. She’ll have you, Stuart and Drew. I know she’ll be fine. Just…” I take a deep breath in. The thought of not being here for her hurts me. “Just make sure she lives.”

  Vinny doesn’t say anything to me, but the look in his eyes tell me what he can’t say.

  Don’t die.

  Chapter 14

  Angel

  I watch Vinny and Ben talking, paying close attention to their body language. I smile at Alice as she walks over to me.

  Watching her fighting with Ben was hard. I understand why he’s there trying to protect her, but I understand that Alice wants him safe.

  I have no idea how anyone’s going to tell her that the chance of Ben walking out of the Midlands alive is very slim. It’ll kill her if he doesn’t make it out, I know it will. Everyone’s told me as much enough times.

  She leans against me, making sure her body is connected to mine. She hasn’t let anyone get close to her but myself, Vinny, and Ben. Whenever someone tries to talk to her, her body tenses. Even Drew has to stay at arm's length, and I thought she was the one person Alice would want close to her.

  Wrapping my arm around her, I pull her closer. I know she needs me to just hold her, and that’s what I plan on doing.

  I dig my phone out of my pocket and see Carlos’s name flashing. I look over at my dad to let him know who’s calling me. “What did you find out?” I ask after answering the call.

  “We’ve found the family. I need to know before we move in, do you want to find anything out?” Carlos asks me.

  I look at my dad as he stands in front of me. I nod, telling him to move to my side. As soon as he moves, Alice tenses next to me. “I don’t want to know anything, but before you kill them, tell them Angel Frost sent you. Tell them that if any member of their family tries to hurt me again by touching my queen, I’ll kill every last one of them.”

  I know my dad told them to only kill the one who bid for Alice. If I end up killing every member of the families, I’ll have a war with everyone. I don’t have enough families to back me up.

  “That’ll be done before morning. Angel, how’s your girl?” Carlos asks.

  “She’s a fighter.” I give the phone to my dad so he can talk to him. I turn my attention to Ben and Vinny walking over to us.

  “Angel,” my dad begins.

  “Dad, whatever you have to say about this, I don’t want to hear it. Every family who bid will wish they’d never even breathed my name.” I cut him off before he tells me I need to think about this.

  The moment Ben stops in front of me, I look over at Alice. “You want to go talk to Drew for a moment? I think Ellie would love to talk to you.”

  She gives me a look that says she knows I’m trying to shield her, even though she already knows what I’m going to talk about and the things I’m about to do.

  I watch her walk over to Drew. Even though she’s in my house and I’m confident no one can touch her here, I still want to make sure she gets to people I trust.

  Pike and Warren walk over so we can all discuss things.

  “This is the list we got together from all the families who bid on the site.” I hand the list to Ben. There might be some that we missed, and I want to know them all.

  Ben looks at us all. “I got a list, too. Vinny said you’re not going after the whole family.”

  “That's not the Frost way. We kill the leader's weak spot, then make sure he knows that if he crosses us again, it'll be him,” Warren says.

  Ben looks between my dad and me. “I’m going to say that it’s more your way than the Frost way.” He hands me both pieces of paper, and I give them t
o Pike. He’s the one crossing the names off the list as we get through them. At the moment, we only have two, but I plan on getting through that list, even if it takes me until my last breath.

  “Doesn’t matter whose way it is, it’s still the Frost way,” I bite back. He might be close to Alice, but not to me. Until he spends more time with us, he’ll be little more than an acquaintance. He doesn’t need to know too much about us. At the moment, I’m not even telling my own family everything. Trust is a very dangerous power, and no one has mine.

  “John?” he asks.

  “He’s all yours. I was just going to let him sit in the room and see how long it took for him to give me Harvey,” I say. I wasn’t going to kill him. Well, not yet, anyway. The Midlands are the only family I plan on killing down to the last member. I’ll make sure no one from that part of England will ever say my name.

  “The guns?”

  “A team has been sent out to Ireland. The Kelly family won’t be selling in London again for a while. Let’s leave it like that,” Pike says.

  Ben’s eyes are locked with mine. I know what he wants to ask, but he’s not sure if he should in front of Pike and Warren.

  “The people in this house right now, Ben, aren’t the mole. Vinny and Drew are your people, Dad lost a son, Warren lost a brother, and Pike… Pike would never betray my family or me. The mole’s not in this house,” I reassure him.

  I can see why he’d think it. The moment the Midlands know he was here, he’ll get a bullet in his head.

  Ben looks between us. “I told Vinny what I have going on at the Midlands, trying to find out who it is. What do you have planned here to find out who it is?”

  I can see he’s not happy that we haven’t done anything, but what the fuck am I meant to do? Start torturing all my men? “I’m not telling anyone anything. I can’t have men following men. I don’t know who to trust except the people in the house right now. Tell me what I should be doing,” I demand. What does he want me to do, follow each one of them until I find the one?