Poisoned Rose (Dark Roses #1) (18 page)

Thirty One

              When they reached the apartment, Hawk helped Ty haul Carlos up the stairs.  He locked eyes with Johnny on the way and remembered the command that he tell Aurora the truth, both about his feelings towards her, and his role in Mike’s death.  He hadn’t bothered arguing or asking how Johnny knew about the former.  The apartment was a studio loft on top of a take-away pizza parlor, part of a long strip of beat up stores and dingy apartments.  It was three thirty in the morning by the time they got there and the temperature had plummeted.  Or maybe that was just how he felt knowing what was coming.  Once inside, Honor pulled out a wooden dining chair from a set of four and he pushed Carlos onto it.  No sooner had his ass hit the chair than Ty had his arms cuffed behind his back and his feet tied to the chair legs.

              ‘That bitch stabbed me!’

              Honor backhanded him and sent two of his teeth flying across the room.  Hawk moved to stand in front of the kitchen, leaning against the counter and crossing his arms.  Besides the wooden dining table and kitchen, there was a double bed tucked into the corner of the room, a flat screen TV and a small bathroom with no door.

              ‘Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way.’

              Honor stood in front of Carlos and accepted a pair of knuckle dusters from Ty.  She made a show of making sure they were in place before she continued.

              ‘The easy way is…’

              ‘Fuck you.’

              Honor smashed her fist into Carlos’ thigh and he ground his teeth, fresh tears falling down his cheeks as blood poured out of his wound.  She clicked her tongue.

              ‘Ty, would you say that’s the easy way?’

              If Hawk wasn’t so stressed out he might have laughed at the look on his second’s face.  He had to hand it to him though as Ty collected himself and choked out a hoarse response, his eyes never leaving Honor’s face.

              ‘Sorry man, that ain’t the easy way.’

              Ty was in love with Honor as deeply as Hawk was in love with Aurora.  Poor bastard.  As he watched the interrogation, Aurora hopped onto the counter beside him.

              ‘You ok?’

              Across from them, Honor punched Carlos and broke his nose.  He heard the bones crunch under the impact but wasn’t surprised when Carlos didn’t cry out.  The man may have been a fake rogue captain but he’d been a real one for ten years, plus a soldier for another five, and that took balls.  Carlos smiled at Honor, his front teeth knocked out, and then spat at her face.  She stepped aside to avoid the spit and shook her head.

              ‘Why do you insist on making life so hard for yourself?’

              ‘They’ll come for me, I’m a captain, they have to…’

              ‘You’re nothing to them.  If they come, it’ll be for your head.  Now, I have a proposition for you.  We know that my uncles and cousins are behind this, so, if you tell me which ones are involved, I’ll make your death quick and painless instead of handing you over to the Da Silvas.’

              He felt Aurora move closer to him and ask again if he was alright.  She was looking at him with those deep green eyes he knew he’d remember forever and he had to look away.  Carlos was sweating and struggling against the ropes.  Honor rolled her eyes, slamming her heel into his left kneecap and smashing it.  He gritted his teeth and his eyes rolled back in his head, then he stared at her.

              ‘Do you really think I’m stupid enough to tell you who’s leading the rogues? You Masons, you’re the most messed up, power hungry family I’ve ever come across.  You kill your own blood to get to the top, that’s disgusting.  But hey, your uncles are treating me pretty well so I ain’t complaining.’

              ‘So it’s several uncles?’

              ‘Carter failed because nobody backed him up.  You really think any of your uncles would repeat his mistake? They’re working together now and your father is about to fall off his throne.’

              ‘All of them?’

              Honor frowned and her body tensed.

              ‘Like I’m really going to tell you.  When they come for me…’

              Honor smashed her fist into Carlos’ gut and Hawk turned back to Aurora, running his fingertips down her cheek before taking her hand.  He took a deep breath.

              ‘How much do you know about Michael’s death?’

              Aurora looked taken aback and he wished he didn’t have to do what he was about to do. As she took her hand out of his, he felt the warmth leave his body.

              ‘Why are we talking about this now?’

              ‘On the night he was killed, Michael and his friends were at a club and they were asked to leave.  The person who asked them to leave knew what was going to happen.  He didn’t know which of them was going to die but he knew that by the end of the night either one or all of them would be dead.  The person that asked them to leave was me.’

              Aurora sat staring at him as Honor continued her interrogation in the background.  He felt his heart turn to dust as he waited for her to say something.  When she didn’t, he tried to explain himself.

              ‘I didn’t stop it because it was business.  All I knew was that one of them was going to die and I couldn’t let it happen in our club.’

              She said nothing.  He wanted her to hit him, or to pull out a weapon and attack him.  He wanted her to do anything except sit there and try and collect her thoughts while her world crumbled around her, all because of him.  He didn’t know how much time passed before she spoke.

              ‘If you had known who he was, would you have saved him?’

              ‘Yes,’ he replied without hesitation, ‘I would have saved him for you.’

              She looked away, watching Honor do her thing.  Just as he thought she wouldn’t say anything else, she spoke without looking back at him.

              ‘I loved you.’

              He closed his eyes and wished he could trade places with Carlos.

              ‘And I’ll love you forever.’

              There it was, he’d finally said it.  As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Aurora took off towards the door.  He watched her go, knowing he had no right going after her, until he saw the red dot reflecting off the fridge.  It danced its way across the stainless steel, heading towards the center of the room and he had just enough time to yell out a warning and tackle her before machine gun fire tore through the apartment from the windows.

              He pulled her behind the kitchen counter and lay on top of her, using his body to shield hers.  From the end of the counter, he craned his neck and stared into the center of the room.  Bullets were going through Carlos, entering from his back and tearing through the front.  His body shook in the chair as it was ripped apart, his chest opened and his face destroyed.  Underneath the window he saw that Ty had tackled Honor.  He lay on top of her, his forearms and head covering hers, his body pinning her to the floor as bullets just missed them.  Across the room, Bo had pulled Johnny into the bathroom and they stood side by side against the far wall.  The bullets approached the bathroom and Bo moved to shield Johnny.  Johnny pushed back but Bo was unwavering, the bullets making it halfway into the small space and missing them both.

              When the shots finally stopped, the apartment was destroyed.  Carlos was still sitting in his chair, his body no more than a carcass, muscles hanging off bones by ligaments, his blood spreading across the floor.  Hawk checked on Aurora, who was still lying beneath him.  Her clothes were covered in blood.  He sat her up and patted her down to make sure she hadn’t been shot, but as she scanned his body, her eyes stopped on his shoulder and her face went white.

              ‘Hawk, you’ve been shot!’

              She grabbed his tee and ripped it straight down the middle.  He hissed as the blood started pouring from his exposed bullet wound. She yanked off her top and tied it around his shoulder.  He gritted his teeth when she applied pressure and told her he was ok, maneuvering around the counter so he could see the rest of the apartment.  He called out to Honor and found her and Ty sitting side by side under the window, Honor with her back against the wall and Ty sitting forward.  They were breathing heavily and he watched as Ty ran a bloodied hand through his hair and winced in pain.

              ‘Ty, are you alright?’

              Ty gave him a single nod but when Honor sat forward and took a closer look, she didn’t agree.  He had shards of glass embedded in his back.  As Honor moved to sit behind him, a leg on either side of his body, Ty reached for the bottom of his tee and arched his back.  He gasped and she put a hand on his shoulder, then ripped his tee in half, exposing his back before starting to pull out the shards with a slow and practiced ease.  Hawk watched and Aurora called out to Johnny, who called back and confirmed they were unharmed.  He and Bo both moved into the center of the bathroom so they could see into the apartment.  Hawk looked at Carlos again and knocked his head against the counter, one knock for each word he spoke.

              ‘So fucking close.’

              He wanted to stand up but stopped himself.  They didn’t know whether or not the shooting would start again, and he was beginning to feel lightheaded.  Everyone was quiet, listening to see if there were any steps outside the apartment.  From across the room, Honor’s cell rang and she stopped pulling shards out of Ty’s back long enough to hit answer and balance it on her shoulder.  She didn’t bother checking the caller ID.  Hawk couldn’t hear what was said but Honor grabbed for the cell and almost dropped it in the process.  She looked up at him and hit loud speaker.

              ‘Who is this?’

              She maintained her composure despite the fact she was shaken.

              ‘Have you got me on loud speaker cousin? I want to make sure whoever is left hears this.’

              The voice was distorted, spoken through an electronic device that rendered it unrecognizable.  He couldn’t tell if the voice was male or female or how old they were, let alone which one of their cousins the voice belonged to.  But the sarcasm and the patronizing tone dripped through the cell and he knew without a doubt it was a Mason.

              ‘You’re on loud speaker bitch.’

              The voice on the other end of the line laughed.

              ‘Is that any way to speak to family? Now, I see you finally discovered Carlos was a decoy.  I suppose we’ll have to choose more carefully next time.  See, this is where I’m supposed to offer you a deal, tell you that I’d be willing to put an end to the game if Uncle Mario steps down.  But we all know I’d be lying and frankly, we’re family, you know your uncles too well to think they’d let any of you survive this war.’

              ‘You’re calling a war?  Be careful, don’t start something you can’t finish.  Although come to think of it, the family plot has a lot of places free beside Carter and his sons.’

              ‘I’m going to enjoy watching you tell the other Families that the rogues are led by Masons.  You know they will all turn against you.  You don’t actually think they will believe you have no involvement in this do you?’

              ‘My Family has no reason to want to disturb the peace, so yeah, they will believe it.  And how do we know you’re Masons anyway? We’ve seen no proof.’

              ‘Don’t be in denial, it doesn’t suit you.  Are you sure you don’t want to bow down now?  Or would you rather suffer the way your sister did?’

              ‘Go to hell asshole!’

              Honor snapped, losing her composure at the mention of Angelina’s torture.

              ‘Perhaps I’ll see you there.  Consider this a fight to the end.  Oh, and I’ve just sent you proof.’

              The line went dead and when the message came through, Honor threw her cell across the room towards him and covered her head in her hands.  He picked it up and felt his stomach churn, a swarm of memories escaping the recesses of his mind.  It was a ten second clip of Angelina being raped by a man who had the Mason crest tattooed on the back of his neck.  He threw the cell at the wall but Bo caught it and handed it over to Johnny.

              ‘Don’t!’

              He called out, wanting to protect his sister’s dignity.  It was common knowledge she had been kidnapped and tortured by Mason blood, but the fact that she’d been raped by her cousins was something Mario had worked hard to keep private.  Johnny didn’t open the clip.

              ‘Hawk, the other Families are going to want proof that you’re not involved, they’re going to need to see this.  Are you ok with that?’

              He shook his head then stopped and closed his eyes. He put his head back against the cabinets.

              ‘We don’t really have a choice.’

              He looked over at Honor as Johnny watched the clip, hearing a young Angelina fighting back through the torture.  Honor’s eyes were wet with tears and she hid behind Ty, using his body as a shield so that nobody would see her cry.  Ty’s face was all angst as he stopped himself from turning around and taking Honor in his arms.  Instead he put his hand up to her head and held her face against his neck, resting his head on top of hers.  It was a bold move and Hawk was glad Honor was letting him comfort her.  When the clip was over, Johnny tossed the cell to Ty.