Love Like Blood: (Royal Blood #5) (16 page)

Oh, he’s changed his tone to formal pleasantries now. This guy was pissed to the extreme.

“I have assassins of my own, Lafayette.”

Lafayette began to laugh, and the sound chilled me to the bone. It was the laugh of a ruthless man, one who had no remorse, no light, and no respect for anyone but himself.

“Assassins that
missed
.”

“But—”

“You underestimate me,” Lafayette drawled. “I will have Lorelei Lansford. I will finish what I began so long ago. I will break her spirit until she begs for death. She will be fucked, abused, flayed, and tortured until she is nothing but a shell. Then I will sell her to the highest bidder. I have some clients with
particular tastes
who would delight with some live bait to bleed and fuck as they see fit.”

“Even though Greggor is dead?” Allaire asked. “You’d still go through with it?”

There was a creak and the sound of clinking glasses. “Mr. Allaire, let’s get one thing straight.
I always finish what I start
.”

Stifling a gasp, I retreated out of the library and hightailed it downstairs. It was too risky sticking around and casing the rest of the house, not when I could be discovered and delivered right to the feet of the man we were tasked to bring in. I wouldn’t be able to fool Jacques Lafayette. I wasn’t sure how I knew, but
I knew
. Some shit just didn’t need to be fucked with. As far as I was concerned, intel was gathered and then some.

I found Gertrude in the sitting room.

She glanced up and scowled when she saw me. “You can’t be finished already.”

“I quit!” I declared in my horrible accent.

“You what?” she asked, her mouth dropping open.

“FYI, you’re a bitch,” I added for good measure. “And it only took one second to figure out you suck Mr. Allaire’s cock for pocket change. He might have money, but you can do much better, darling.”

I tossed the feather duster at her and stalked out of the room, through the kitchen, and out the rear entrance. Grabbing my coat from the van on my way past, I made a beeline for X.

Lafayette’s threat was very real, and by the sounds of it, it was only a matter of time before he got what he wanted. I knew a man like him once, and it had only been X and our budding love that had saved me from his clutches. It was my life all over again, but this time, it had a worse consequence attached. There was no way I was letting that French fucker get his hands on Lorelei. Not in a million years.

I wrenched open the car door, making X jump and reach for his gun. When he saw it was me, he relaxed.

“Mercy? What—”

“X,” I said, closing the door behind me. “I think we need to strike now.”

“What do you mean?” he asked, his brow furrowing with confusion.

“Lafayette is here for Lorelei. He means to finish the job he started. He’s going to break her mind completely and sell her to the highest bidder.”

X hissed, thumping his fist on the steering wheel. “Fuck. I thought we had more time up our sleeves.”

“Nope. We need to go in there like yesterday.”

At the thought of her going back to the place she’d been imprisoned—after all she’d been through with her father and finding Vaughn again—I felt like throwing up. I couldn’t let that happen to her.

“X,” I said, turning to face him. “We need to kill Lafayette. It’s the only way this will ever be over for her. You know there’s no other way.”

“Behind her back?” he asked.

“If we have to.”

“Your funeral,” he drawled.

“Whatever it takes, X,” I murmured, turning my gaze onto the house. “
Whatever it takes.
”

T
here was
one thing I hated most in this world, and it was feeling powerless.

I’d called X for help with Lorelei, and it seemed to have only made things worse. Whatever he’d said to her the night he and Mercy arrived changed something in her, but keeping us on the backbench while they went out and stalked the prey that was her right to stalk? That was the worst thing they could’ve done to her.

Lorelei was agitated. I saw it in her movements, in her eyes, and heard it in her words. She was a coiled spring inside, a ticking time bomb.

When I woke, Lorelei had left, and Mercy had already gone back to London.

Pulling on my boots, I wandered through the cottage, but Lorelei wasn’t inside. There was only one other place I knew she’d go, and it was the place that connected her to her past and her future.

Lorelei was standing in the middle of the shed, her arms wrapped around her waist. Her back was to me, but I knew she was aware of my presence. She was staring at the stain on the concrete that I’d been unable to scrub out of existence. It looked like nothing more than a patch of oil, but we both knew what it was. Ballinger’s blood.

“I’ve never gone that far before,” she murmured. “I’ve always been very…clean.”

“It’s understandable given the circumstances.” She turned sharply, and I pulled her against me before she could anger any more. “Considering what he did to you.”

She sank against me, her fingers curling into my woolen jumper as she laid her cheek against my chest.

“What did X talk to you about the other night?” I asked selfishly.

She replied without hesitation. “He told me about him and Mercy. How he was contracted to kill her but ended up loving her instead. How she helped him.”

I grunted, tightening my grip around her body.

“I don’t understand what feeling is,” she went on. “Not yet.”

“I know,” I replied. “We’ll have all the time in the world to figure it out after this is over.”

“I hope so because I want to be with you, Vaughn.”

I closed my eyes, scarcely believing that she was uttering the words I was so desperate to hear. I loved her more than myself, but even in my most depraved state, I could never force her to return those feelings. She might not ever love me, but could I settle for something as simple as want? It seemed like a poor substitute, but there was no doubt in my mind. I was hers forever whether she wanted me or not. I was hers ever since the moment she ran into me on the street all those years ago.

She was mine in life, death, and rebirth.

She was my forever.

She was my master.

“You know how I feel about you,” I replied.

“I don’t like it,” she said.

“What?”

“Waiting. Relying on others to lay the foundation. I can’t rest easy not knowing all the details. I need to be out there.”

I took a deep breath and rested my cheek against the top of her head. I’d get her what she wanted, even if that meant fucking over X and Mercy to do so. They answered to a higher power these days and would do the same to us. If it was good enough for them, then it was more than good enough for The Hangman.

The only power I answered to and respected was Lorelei.

“We’ll get him,” I said. “Whatever it takes.”

She raised her head and looked at me, her gaze melting mine even further. Resting my forehead against hers, I cupped her face in my hands, stroking her skin with my thumbs. Leaning forward, I caught her mouth with mine and kissed her gently, giving myself over to her intoxicating taste.

The sound of a car in the driveway pulled my attention from her. It could only be X and Mercy returning, or at least, one or the other.

“I’ll just be a moment,” I murmured.

She nodded, allowing me to leave her in the shed to think over the pieces of her lost memory.

I found X and Mercy inside the cottage.

They glanced up as I entered, and I almost hesitated when I saw their expression. They’d found out something. Something big. Something they looked rather reluctant to share with me.

“Vaughn—” X began, but I didn’t give one fuck about their agenda anymore.

“You’re keeping something from us,” I snapped. “I’m not a fool.”

“You have to understand,” Mercy said. “We’re on your side.”

“If you were on our side, then you’d be involving us,” I hissed.

“She’s much more unpredictable than I ever was,” X said, edging in front of Mercy. “I worry about taking her on an operation she’s too emotionally invested in. It might be the thing that pushes her too far.”

“The thing that’s pushing her too far is not allowing her to be a part of her own revenge,” I snapped. “That’s the thing that’s going to break her.”

“That’s not it,” Mercy said sheepishly.

“Then what is it? Because your clandestine spy bullshit is wearing thin.” I clenched my fists, trying to keep a lid on my rage. Lorelei wasn’t the only one getting thoroughly pissed at the current arrangement. I was beginning to think it would have been a better risk taking our chances dealing with her condition on our own.

X sighed sharply. “Allaire has a houseguest.”

The blood began to drain from my face as the missing pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place. The assassins at that pub…it hadn’t been Royal Blood.

“Are you shitting me?” I asked.

Mercy shook her head. “Lafayette—”

“
He’s here?
”

Everyone turned at the sound of Lorelei’s voice. She was standing in the doorway, her gaze full of a wildness I’d never seen, not even in her darkest moments. Not even in the moment she’d walked into that prison back in Bristol not knowing what side of the fence she was going to fall on.

“Lorelei,” Mercy began, but I knew Lorelei wasn’t going to listen to reason.

“Vaughn gave you his revenge,” Lorelei said, her entire body quivering with suppressed rage. “He gave you your closure, and you want to take mine from me?
How dare you
.”

Mercy frowned and cast her gaze aside. “He wants you, Lorelei,” she murmured. “If you go in there… He’s here for
you
.”

She emphasized the last word in such a way that I knew she suspected it was a trap. Lafayette was here to lure Lorelei out into the open, and when she revealed herself, he’d finish what he started. She’d become a shell, a vessel to be fucked and tortured by some sick psychopath. She’d live a life of horror no woman deserved. She’d be denied death, kept alive to satisfy some asshole’s sick whims. I’d lose her all over again.

“Lorelei,” I said, reaching out for her.

She stepped back out of my reach, her expression full of fire. “No. You don’t get to deny me either, Vaughn. I’m owed this.
He’s mine
.”

“It’s also a trap,” X said. “You walk in there, it’ll be like Christmas morning for him.”

“You think I can’t handle it?” she asked. “You think I’m too unstable? Let me tell you something, Xavier Blood. I may have only been a regular woman and not some MI6 agent with superior training, but do not tell me that my skills are worthless. That woman is gone, just as the man you once were is. I am what I am now. And that’s an assassin. I’m trained for this.
I was encoded for this
.”

“The fact remains,” he replied slowly, “that encoding is unraveling.”

“
Bullshit
,” she hissed. “Do not treat me like a delicate flower. I can kill even you in your sleep. This is my destiny, and I will not allow you or your precious government organization to keep me from it.”

“And I’m with her,
no matter the cost
,” I said, standing beside her. “What’ll it be, X? Swinging from your ankles or revenge for the lady?”

X narrowed his eyes and glanced at Mercy, who just nodded once, something silent passing between them.

Turning back to me, he said, “Revenge for the lady.”

W
hen we arrived
at Allaire’s house in Hampstead, I was surprised at how big it was.

It was the kind of flashy wealth that made me sick to my stomach knowing it was bankrolled by the misery and suffering of thousands of innocent women. I had to suppress the urge to go in there and burn it all to the ground.

Vaughn’s hand found mine, and he squeezed, somehow sensing the wild anger growing within me, but he needn’t have bothered. Tonight was the first time in weeks that I felt like my head was clear, and the decisions I was about to make were calculated. I’d missed the control my life had once been comprised of.

I wasn’t sure what had changed to level out the confusion in my mind, but I was thankful for it. Was this who I was now that my conditioning had slowed its uncoiling? There was no way of knowing for sure.

Vaughn’s lips brushed against my forehead. “We’ll get him,” he said, trying to reassure me.

I didn’t need reassurance. I needed the coppery tang of blood on my hands to satisfy the whirlwind inside of me.

Pulling my hand away from Vaughn’s, I got out of the car and leaned against the side, waiting for the signal to get the mission underway.

Vaughn stood next to me, his brow creased, and I knew my sharp gesture in the car had wounded his pride. He wanted to be the alpha male, the protector, but I didn’t need protecting. I was strong enough to do this on my own, mental instability or not.

Even though we weren’t touching, I could feel his warmth next to me, and I allowed my hand to lightly brush against his. A moment later, his fingers wrapped around mine.

“Hawkes is enroute,” X murmured, making Vaughn straighten up.

I knew the two men hadn’t seen one another since the escape from Bristol. They’d talked but hadn’t been in the same room for months. I got the distinct feeling those two had been through some heavy times together, and from the way Vaughn’s ears pricked up, the old man meant more to him than he let on.

When his bulky form inevitably emerged from the shadows, Vaughn strode up to him, and the two men hugged for a moment before standing back.

“It’s good to see you, Sir,” Hawkes said before turning to me and smiling warmly. “Lorelei.”

I glanced at Vaughn, and he shook his head, a hint of a smile tugging at his lips. All I remembered of the man was from outside of the compound in Bristol. He’d assisted in taking us away from that place and hadn’t batted an eye when I commanded him to leave us. He had a blind devotion to Vaughn that was rare indeed, and one I couldn’t comprehend. Right now, Hawkes was looking at me with a fondness that was curious indeed.

“It’s the moment of truth,” Vaughn said to him before turning back to the group. “What’s the plan?”

“Two teams,” X replied. “Mercy and Lorelei go after the data first. Mercy knows the lay of the upper level and an access point to the network. Vaughn and I will take the lower floors. Our aim is to incapacitate, and take both Allaire and Lafayette alive. They have a lot to answer for and will need their tongues to do so.”

“The security system?” I asked

“Hawkes has been briefed,” X said and handed the bag that held the device they’d procured to Hawkes.

“I’ll contact you when it’s installed.” Hawkes checked the bag before melting away into the darkness.

Pulling my 10mm from its holster under my jacket, I checked the chamber. It flicked back into place with a click, and I reached for the silencer to screw it onto the barrel.

“Lorelei,” X said, watching me with a frown. “We’re using tranquilizers.”

“I don’t give a shit about life or death,” I said, screwing the silencer in place.

“Since when did you become such a pariah?” Vaughn asked X, rolling his eyes.

“Since he bowed at the feet of Her Majesty’s Service,” I retorted. “This is no time for pleasantries. They would shoot us without hesitation, so why the fuck should I extend the same courtesy? They understand their lives are expendable. It’s called danger money for a reason.”

X opened his mouth, but Mercy placed her hand on his arm. “You’re not going to change their minds. Besides, she’s got a point.”

“Transition hard, is it?” Vaughn asked.

“Don’t get smart,” Mercy shot back. “Let’s keep our minds on the task at hand. Find Lafayette and Allaire and detain. We all want to talk to them, so save the bullets for the hired help, okay?”

“Then let’s do it already,” I said, narrowing my eyes.

X nodded and gestured for us to follow them into position.

As I went to move off, Vaughn grabbed my hand and pulled me back against his chest. He lowered his lips and caught my mouth with his, kissing me hard. His tongue dove greedily against mine, devouring me with a desperate kind of passion.

When he pulled away, he leaned his forehead against mine, and we lingered in the darkness, on the precipice of the great unknown.

“What was that for?” I asked, my breathing shallow.

“Luck, faith, I don’t know,” he replied. “Maybe it was just because I wanted to remind you that I love you.”

A tiny smile tugged at my lips, and I pulled back. “This isn’t the end, Vaughn. It’s only the beginning.”

Raising his hand, he cupped my cheek and ran the pad of his thumb across my lips. “Then let’s get started, shall we?”

Catching up with X and Mercy, we huddled near the fence line at the rear of the property, waiting for Hawkes’s signal.

The air was cold, our breath beginning to vaporize in front of us as the night deepened past midnight. No one spoke lest we give away our position.

X’s phone lit in his hand, the tiny vibration the only sound that echoed in the silent street.

How queer that it was a simple text message that gave us the signal to infiltrate the mansion. Such an everyday thing that people took for granted. Time to go get my answers…in a shower of blood.

“It’s a go,” X whispered, his voice barely audible, and we moved through the gate and into the yard.

Approaching the service entrance that the hired help used on a daily basis, Vaughn and I brought up the rear, watching our asses in case we were happened upon by any guards patrolling the yard.

There was a number pad next to the door. Mercy punched in a code, and the lock clicked. I didn’t want to know how she got her hands on that, but I bet it was a good story. After the torture she’d endured at the hands of The Watchman, her attitude was curious. She seemed to be the wiseass of the operation, her jokes somewhat inappropriate but ultimately well-timed considering. Her mind was strong to come out the other side of her ordeal relatively unscathed. I wondered how long she would have been able to hold out against the conditioning process.

Shaking my head, I cast my thoughts aside. Those belonged to the old Lorelei. The version of myself that was bound to my father’s whims like an animal.

The room within was dark. As we made our way inside, I realized it was some kind of storeroom that opened out into a galley style kitchen. The household would take their deliveries here, rather than have boots tracking through the grand foyer.

We edged through the dark kitchen, and X gestured for Mercy and I to break off and make our way to the staircase. He signaled to Vaughn, and they melted off to the right to sweep the ground floor.

The foyer was lit with golden lights, and we moved quickly, our boots muffled on the plush carpet underfoot.

Mercy went first, her gun held up in front of her, while I brought up the rear, scanning the floor below with my own firearm.

Laughter echoed from downstairs, and we quickened our pace until we reached the landing.

The hallway above seemed to stretch on for longer than felt necessary. There were too many doors on either side, more than any one man could ever need or use. This place was tainted with suffering, the money it took to build soaked with blood. I would be doing the world a favor by burning it to the ground, and I sincerely hoped I would get the chance.

The sound of a door opening drew my attention to the front, and a man stepped out into the hall. Turning our way, he stumbled when he saw us and reached for the gun that hung in the holster across his chest.

Not on my watch
.

There was a dull boom as my gun went off, and the guard fell to the ground. It sounded like someone dropped a heavy book onto the floor, and it echoed a little more than I would’ve liked in the wide hallway.

“Silenced weapons really aren’t silent, are they?” Mercy asked wryly as she checked the guard. “Movies have given me such a false sense of stealth.”

“No. If anyone is close, they will come and investigate soon enough,” I murmured, helping her drag the corpse into a dark bedroom. “No more talking.”

She gave me a wink and checked the hallway. Motioning me forward, I took point, tracking my gun in front of me.

The sound of a suppressed gunshot echoed from another part of the house, and I waved Mercy forward. “We’ve got to do this quick,” I hissed. “They’re onto us now if they weren’t before.”

Vaughn and X were cleaning out the trash downstairs, cutting off any protection Allaire and Lafayette would have. Once they were the only ones left in the house, they’d be easy pickings.

“This is the study,” Mercy whispered, coming to a halt by a set of doors. Light spilled out from underneath, which meant someone was or had been inside.

She wrapped her hand around the doorknob, and I nodded. Twisting slowly, the mechanism clicked, and she pushed inward. A man, dressed much like the first in a dark suit, stood in the middle of the room and turned as I stepped inside. His expression melted into shock, and he raised his gun…but he wasn’t quick enough.

I fired, and he stumbled. Blood trickled from the hole between his eyes, and he fell back onto the leather couch behind him.

“Nice shot,” Mercy said, approaching the desk at the rear of the room where a computer sat.

I shrugged. It wasn’t something to be impressed by, it was a requirement of the job. Quick, clean, and effortless. Anything less was a mistake, and mistakes got you killed.

I checked the room next to us, then went back to the hall. For the moment, we were all clear.

I watched impatiently as Mercy slipped the USB drive into the slot on the back of the monitor and rounded the desk. Sitting, she began clicking the mouse, starting up the program that would copy all of Allaire’s files.

“Where the fuck is everybody!” a male voice exclaimed. A very
French
male voice.

My head turned at the sound from the adjoining room. As I stepped toward the double doors, Mercy waved at me to get my attention, but I wasn’t interested. If it was Lafayette, I was striking
now
.

“
Lorelei
,” Mercy hissed, but I waved her off.

Edging toward the door, I peered through the gap, listening with every fiber in my body.

“Dead,” another man said, coming into view.

The first man joined him. He was older, wearing a dark suit, his dark hair peppered with gray. “Your state-of-the-art security system is offline, the guards are dead… They’re in this house, Damien. How are you going to handle that?”

Damien…that had to be Allaire, which meant the other man was Jacques Lafayette. The man who took me.
The man who ruined my life
.

“I— I—” Allaire spluttered.

Lafayette shook his head and tutted. “Never trust a boy to do a man’s job.”

“We need to leave,” Allaire said.

“Your answer is to run away like a dog with its tail between its legs?”

“I don’t see that there’s any other option.”

Lafayette turned and shook his head, his hand reaching into the lapel of his suit jacket and pulling out a 10mm pistol.

“They’re here for you, Lafayette. It’s Greggor’s daughter, right? We need to leave
now.
”

“I don’t tolerate stupidity,” Lafayette spat, turning sharply.

Before Allaire could reply, Lafayette raised his gun and fired.

The bullet imbedded itself into Allaire’s chest and he fell backward, his mouth open in a silent scream. There went the Allaire family tree.

“
Lâche
,” he hissed before spitting on what was left of Allaire.

I sucked in a deep breath and clicked the safety off my gun. Now was my chance, and it might be the only one I got. I couldn’t hesitate now.

Aiming my gun, I pushed through the door.