Restitution (The Edge of Darkness, #3)

by Leigh Rivers

Kade’s father grabs the blanket right next to us, wraps it around me, then pulls me in for a hug I didn’t realise I needed.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. You’re okay. You’re safe with me,” he says softly as he strokes my hair, letting me cry into his chest. “I found you, little one.”

TOBIASSSS!!!!!

“You are also my priority. I would have always hunted for you to the ends of the fucking earth, little one. I know you didn’t have the best relationship with your father, your brothers are useless pricks, and my son is shackled to a bitch on an insane power trip, but you have me.”

My dad never protected me. He loved me, but as soon as Nora came into the picture, I was a second thought to him. As much as I miss him, as much as I love him, Tobias treats me better. And I never thought I’d say this, and forgive me, Aria Miller, but to be safe and sound in Tobias Mitchell’s hold is a dream I never want to wake up from. I don’t want to let go.

Barry offers me a low nod and opens the door to one of the cars for me. “It’s good to see you again,” I say. “I hope Eva and Lisa are okay?” “They’re safe and hidden. And it’s really good to see you too. However, it’s been rather peaceful without you.” I shake my head. “Your cheeks turn red when you lie.”

My dad threw the door open, and my eyes widened at the sight of him rushing to my girl’s side. He cares for her, that much is obvious. Barry had run in too, and I’d known I had to get the fuck away from there. But I hit her. I fucking hit Stacey. She needs to live.

Fuck. Her voice. She has no idea how much she soothes the darkness within me. It’s like the fragments of my heart slowly join back together – until I hear the soft whimper of her trying to hold in her tears, and everything comes crashing down again, because I caused those tears.

Maybe it’s idiotic to think this’ll work, but if giving up my life means Kade gets his freedom, then I’ll do it. I have nothing. No real family. No job. No reason to keep going, but look at what Kade has. He has everything.

I’m scared. For the first time in a while, I’m scared of Kade. Not because he touched me, even if it was only to take revenge against Chris, but there’s something different about him. Like he’s fallen into a deep, dark hole and is trying to get himself out of it.

“Don’t be afraid of me, Freckles,” he calls, spitting out blood that’s leaked into his mouth. “This is for us.”

The last time I heard him like this was when we saw the blood on the bed sheets – the moment we knew we’d lost our daughter. And even then, he controlled himself. He isn’t strong enough anymore.

After a few minutes of silence, he looks over at me, and his glazed eyes brighten a touch. Confused, he asks, “Is that you, Freckles?” I fist the duvet and pull it over me, tucking it under my chin. “Yeah,” I breathe into the dark. “It’s me.” He sighs, and as he takes in my face, his bloodshot eyes studying me, I feel content. Enough so that I fall asleep with his hand on my cheek, faintly feeling his thumb stroking under my eye. The last thing I hear are whispered words in Russian.

I don’t want to confuse her, but I also don’t want to push her away. I’m at a crossroads, in all honesty. I want Stacey. I need her. But I’ll hurt her, both physically and mentally. What if I lose myself during sex and hallucinate? What if I shoot her in my sleep?

Her leg hikes up to my hip, and I try to drag my middle finger up from her ankle to the back of her knee, but she grabs my wrist. “I need to shave.” I let out a breathy laugh. “Felt like I was touching a cactus.” She moves back and takes her leg with her. “Rude.”

“I want your heart, every single fucking fragment that I’ve broken over the years. I have your past and your present, and I want to be a selfish asshole and have your future.”

“I dream of you,” he says in a deep voice, his eyes darkening as he pulls his belt from the loops of his black trousers. “Every night, I dream of you.”

“I was nineteen when they first abused me. I was threatened to do things or my family would be targeted. I was trained to kill mercilessly and fuck like a monster, and they ruined my life in the process. My name is Kade Mitchell, son of Tobias Mitchell, and I will not be fucking silent anymore.”

“I love you,” I tell him, my voice cracking. “No matter what happens next, please know that.”

“After what I just did? Have I not made you afraid of me?” I shake my head. “No. Archie deserved it.” He chuckles deeply and shakes his head, his eyes so, so tired. “My little sadist.”

“You’re stronger than I am. To go through what you did and still put others before you… I envy your strength. I want a normal life with you, but that’s not on the cards for me. If I could run and guarantee your safety, I’d run.” “I want you to run with me,” I say, sniffling. “Please.” He kisses my shoulder gently. “I love you, Freckles.” My teeth chatter. “I love you too.”

“You’re the last person in the world I’d ever want to hurt,” I tell her, taking her hand and pulling her towards me. “But I’m scared I do. Why won’t you run from me?” “The only way you could hurt me is if you pull away from me again.” She straddles my lap as I straighten my legs out, her arms wrapping around my shoulders. “I don’t know why we’re still here or why the police haven’t blown into the manor, but we should make the most of every minute we have.” Her forehead settles against mine. “Come back to bed.”

“So you’d still be my girlfriend even if I’m in prison forever? That’s not a life you deserve.” She grins, her cheeks going a lovely shade of red. “I don’t believe we’ve crossed that bridge.” I pull a brown strand from between her lips. “What bridge?” “The one where you ask me to be your girlfriend again.” Something swells in my chest, and the tip of my nose touches hers. “Will you?” In all honesty, the title “girlfriend” seems minuscule and immature considering what we have. I’m madly in love with her, and she’s made it clear she feels the exact same way. If we were in a different position, and I wasn’t about to be arrested and taken away from this life, then I’d marry her and put an army of kids in her. I’d burn the universe just to see her smile at me the way she is now. She’s my entire fucking world. “Your girlfriend?” Her nose scrunches as she fake grimaces. “Ew. No.” She squeals as I shove her so she’s on her back and I’m on top of her. I cup her cheek in a palm as her legs wrap around my waist then swipe my thumb over her plump lips. “So much patience for someone who left you at your lowest point. I’m a scumbag who doesn’t deserve you.” She rolls her eyes and bites my thumb, sucking it into her mouth and making my dick twitch. Against my thumb, she says, “You can make it all up to me by coming back to bed and watching The Greatest Showman with me.” My lips curl as she releases my thumb, and I slide it down her chin. “As long as you promise to sing, Freckles.” She gi...

“I hate this,” she says, picking up the five rules I made. “Did you ever break the fifth?” “I did.”

“You really never stopped loving me?” I shake my head. “Not once. I watched you all the time.” She keeps going through the box, sobbing when she sees a hospital letter about entering the second trimester. The pictures I drew. Pictures she took. The top she left here that I never returned. She glances at me as she shuts the box. “You watched me?” “Probably more than I should have. I, um, beat the shit out of every guy who went near you.” She sits up straighter, mouth open. “You did?” I shrug and put the box under the bed again. “You were mine.” “I thought you hated me, and I was single.” I drag her to my side, squeezing her ass and hiking her leg over me. “I never want to hear that come out of your mouth again. Regardless of where we were in our relationship, I would have slaughtered an entire room filled with people just to get one minute of this with you.” “Cute – but a little scary. No more killing.”

Luciella speaks next. “There’s been a huge social-media outpouring – reports of corruption in both the police and armed forces from the file you released. Victims have come forward and given evidence. Everyone is backing you, Kade. And I mean everyone.” She pulls up something on her phone and shows me. “Four petitions to have whatever charges they hand you dropped and Bernadette removed from her position. Over ten million on one petition alone in just six hours.”

I should have been arrested hours ago, but by the looks of the screen, an army is preventing the police from entering. I walk over to the patio door and open it, and low and behold, two helicopters are hovering over the manor. One is Barry’s, and the other belongs to the police. But I also notice the chain of people, loads of them, stretching around the manor grounds, only stopping at the loch. Stacey stays beside me as we follow my mum out into the front entranceway of the manor, into the grounds, and down the cobbled path to the locked gates. The sight has me frowning. Justice for Jason! Justice for Tobias! End corrupt cops! Arrest the real murderers! Keep Kade free! We stand with the Mitchells!

Luciella comes up beside me. “I’m proud of you, Kade.” “Why?” She glances up at me, her eyes watering. “You survived.”

“I think the crowds outside have bought us a few more hours. Hopefully the Russians arrive before trouble does, and Barry will keep track of Bernadette and the police movement. We’re going to bed, and we’re going to cuddle and sleep and talk then cuddle some more.” “We can watch The Greatest Showman again and eat junk food all day?” I laugh and let go of her hand, grabbing the backs of her thighs and lifting her as we reach my spiral staircase. She wraps her legs around my waist, slides her arms around my neck and grins down at me. We make it four more steps before I’m pressing her against the railing and kissing her until our mouths hurt. “If that’s what you want,” I whisper against her lips.

The man sets aside his notes and takes his ankle from his knee to lean forward. “You need to focus on yourself. Mr Mitchell has more than enough support. Help yourself. Love yourself. I want you to dance until you’re in tears from the overload of emotions. I want you to scream. Write down your thoughts. Always, always put yourself first going forward. Do you understand, Miss Rhodes?” I lower my eyes. “I’ll try. I don’t think I’ve ever put myself first, because I had no future that looked pretty. Chris robbed me of everything, and I’ve been zoned in on Kade to try to make sure he’s okay.”

“And do you have a future now?” “Yes,” I say without hesitation. “I can see us as a family, living in a house he’s built, with our two dogs and children running wild in the garden. I can see myself performing during a dance show, and spending time with my two friends without feeling bad for always lying. I used to make up excuses when Chris would force me to come home.”

Tobias Mitchell fell in love with Aria Miller, and no one will ever understand the level of obsession he had for her. “Just breathe, sweetheart.” He’s dead, so I guess no one will ever truly know how his mind worked.

Stacey didn’t fucking answer me. Is that a yes or a no? Do I need to get down on one knee surrounded by roses with a violinist playing? Do I need to put a shirt on our future child that says, Marry Daddy? Get the dogs involved? Write the words on a dessert in chocolate in a fancy restaurant? I’ll ask again later. And I won’t let her off without an answer.

* * * I shouldn’t have smoked. I shouldn’t have and I did. And now I’m stoned as fuck. “Meet you at the Graveyard” by Cleffy plays from Base’s phone while we sit around the coffee table. I try to sit up and fail, so I pull my phone out instead. Me: Might miss lunch. Me: I can barely see. Me: Also, marry me? I have four hundred million in my bank. I can use that for a ring? Would that be enough? I know you don’t care about money but think of how fucking nice that diamond would be?

Ewan glances at my screen when I laugh at myself. “Oh, Jesus, Kade. I don’t need to see that vulgar crap.” He scoots away from me on the sofa. “You’re definitely your father’s son.”

But before we can leave, there’s a loud explosion outside that rocks the pool house, smashing in the windows and knocking us off our feet. The ground shakes, and the eruption in my ears has me wincing as things fall to the floor all around us, and alarms begin to sound as people shout orders. Windows smash outside as another explosion goes off. Stacey.

I rush to my feet and out of the pool house with my two friends behind me, warm liquid trickling down the side of my head. I must’ve been hit by something. My heart sinks as I come to a halt, every drop of blood leaving my face as I stare at my side of the manor – obliterated and up in flames. My balcony is gone, and the entire top floor is non-existent. No. No, no, no, fucking no. Stacey and Luciella were in my room. And it’s gone.

41

Start of the war

When the man realises no one is listening, he radios to his team. “Send everyone to⁠—” The words stop, gurgling hits my ears then there’s a thud. I look around Kade to see the man on his front, a blade in his skull. The murderer steps over him, the gas mask he’s wearing drops to the floor and we all gasp. “No time for dramatics,” Tobias Mitchell says in a deep voice, standing above the dead body. He’s wearing the same uniform as his victim. He nods to the door. “Let’s go. The building’s on fire, if you didn’t notice.”

“Dad?” Kade and Luciella say at the same time.

“I thought you were dead,” Kade chokes. “They identified your body.” Tobias pushes them back and nods. “Bernadette wanted them off my back. She faked my death. The stupid bitch only made things worse for herself.”

Kade takes my hand. “We need to get the fuck away from here. We can take Ewan’s boat.” “No,” Tobias replies. “You all need to go to the gates.” “I’ll take Luciella to Russia,” Base says. “She’s pregnant, and I’m not having her near any of this. My grandfather will keep her safe if he knows she’s carrying his next heir.”

“You fucking—” Tobias drops his gun and grabs Base by the throat, lifting him off his feet. “You better not have got my daughter pregnant. Are you trying to get her killed?” Base kicks his legs, choking, until Tobias tuts and drops him. “Fuck. Do you need to be so aggressive?” Base asks, rubbing his neck and turning pale. “We obviously didn’t fucking plan it.”

Stacey stirs in my lap, and I brush my fingers through her hair as the streetlights vanish and we’re coated in darkness. “Where are we?” she asks in a rough voice. “Somewhere safe,” I reply then look at my dad through the mirror. “I’d love to know how you knew to come here.” “Does it matter?”

“You rose from the dead and are driving to my building,” I add, my fingers still lazily brushing through Stacey’s hair. “Yes, it matters.”

“I know.” I sniff. “Your dad has a decapitated head in the freezer.” He laughs. “Sometimes I forget how psychotic he can be. Come on. Let’s go back to bed, Freckles. It’s cold without you.”