Restitution (The Edge of Darkness, #3)

by Leigh Rivers

“I was terrified I’d hurt you, so I held back, especially when I kissed you in bed,” Kade replies, resting his forehead on mine. “But when I heard you saying you’d just be my friend, I couldn’t think of a worse sentence to hear.” He nudges my nose with his. “I had to reclaim what was always mine, even if I blacked out for most of it.”

“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.”

After he sighs and flicks his cigarette over the balcony, he wraps his arms around me and lifts me up. “Let’s go,” he says, kissing my cheek as he carries me to bed. “I want to sleep with my girl in my arms one last time.”

“My favourite was when I realised I was falling in love with you,” she says, taking a deep breath. “We were driving to London, and I kept staring at you and thinking how lucky I was. I knew then that you had my heart. When we split, I missed you. I always came to your room when you were away and cried in your bed.”

“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.”

“I have one more person to kill, then I promise never to lift a gun or use my hands for anything but pleasuring you for the rest of my life.”

She smells like me after using my shower gel. She smells like mine. She is mine.

“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.”

I pull Stacey to me when I feel an overwhelming crack in my gut – I need her to be here with me. Her back to my chest, I wrap my arms around her and rest my chin on her shoulder. We watch everyone fight for us. Luciella comes up beside me. “I’m proud of you, Kade.” “Why?” She glances up at me, her eyes watering. “You survived.”

I lower my head and turn around. My heart is racing, and my blinking is getting a little out of control. I think it’s the overwhelming feeling of having so much support. “I need to get back inside before they see me freak out.”

“Keep your eyes open,” she says, gasps falling between us as she lifts her hips, taking nearly all of me. “If it helps, don’t close your eyes. Watch what you do to me, under your terms.”

“I love you,” I pant. “I’m going to prove to you every day for the rest of my life just how much I love you.” She shoves my chest, and I roll onto my back so she’s on top. “I love you too – so, so much.” She goes onto her knees, my swollen head still between her slit. “Take control, Kade. Fuck me. Show me I’m yours.”

“Fuck. I missed this.” “This?” she barely says as she grabs at my shoulders with each powerful thrust. Her back hits the mattress then, and I turn her around so her chest is against the bed and sink into her pussy from behind. “Being in control. You. Us. All of it.”

“Even when we’re asleep, we want each other.”

Base’s wedding has also been all over the news. He’s yet another victim of Bernadette and the underworld’s abuse, and his family isn’t the slightest bit happy.

“I can never get enough of you, Stacey. Even when I’m dead, I’ll be haunting you, inside you while you lie in our bed, remembering all the ways I’ve rocked your fucking world with my cock inside this pussy.”

“I think you’re making me crazy. I’ll need to tell my therapist I’ve had the sudden urge to impregnate you.”

“I kept so many secrets, and I’m scared they’re going to drown me if I don’t actually… talk.”

“I’m proud of you. I don’t know if I’ve ever said it, but I am. You’re so strong, Stacey. You’ve been strong enough for the both of us. Thank you.”

Anxiety has always been an annoying factor in my life. Right now, my heart is racing, and I feel like I can’t take a proper breath. I feel sick. My vision is hazy, and I’m certain I’m crushing Stacey’s hand in mine. I want nothing more than to drag her to the bedroom and hide there. We could fuck and sleep then fuck some more. I might even cry into her lap just to get this fucking weird feeling out of my system. It feels like Bernadette is sitting on my chest, laughing in my face as she crushes me, and no matter how much I silently scream at her to get off, she doesn’t.

How the fuck do I protect what’s left of my family if they take me away? Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

“I brought the party to you, oh famous one. Who the fuck are we killing?”

I pull away first and straighten my top then frown at Base. “Why the fuck are you crying?”

“I’m not,” he says in a gruff voice and wipes his eyes. “I’m just tired.” “You missed us, didn’t you?” Dez teases, and Base shoves him and puts him in a headlock.

“The file you sent, with all the locations of illegal activity… All those areas are now secure, and we would like to thank you for that. You saved a lot of lives with that information and reunited many families. We also gathered enough evidence from the file to make several arrests. Fifteen high profilers are detained. That doesn’t include the

“Here to chance your luck? You won’t get far, you skinny prick. I’d snap your legs before you even got out of that chair and beat the shit out of you with them.” He goes pale. Did I just threaten a detective? Shit.

“We are providing you with protection. You and your family, your friends and your partner, Miss Rhodes. No one protected you before, Mr Mitchell, and we understand you went through a lot of traumatic situations and were let down by the system. You were attacked. Blackmailed. You were used as a weapon. And we want to do what we can to show our support.” “Is this a joke?” “No,” she says bluntly. “We aren’t asking. Within the hour, enforcement officers will arrive at the manor with highly skilled firearms units. We’ll have a helicopter overhead. Your team and Sebastian Prince’s can stay if they want. But our officers are here for you.”

I was ruined by the head of Police Scotland. I was catapulted into the underworld by her when I was a teenager and violated in every way possible, and yet, here I sit with words offering me deep apologies and protection, thanking me, with Police Scotland stamped at the top. They fired Bernadette, and she’s now a wanted person. And I’m protected. Is this real?

I think my dad is actually dead.

“Then Dragon Breath Pavel will be breathing down my neck about Nikita’s whereabouts. All she does is sit in the bedroom and watch her laptop. Can I accidentally shoot him?” “Sure,” I say seriously as Ewan says, “No.” “What’s his deal anyway?” Dez asks, chewing on slices of orange. “He hates your guts.” “I think he’s in love with her. He’s the one that told her to pretend to sleep with me in front of everyone. If her father found out it’s all fake, then it’s her that’ll get the biggest punishment.”

“You want to get stoned?” Ewan stares at me, and I shrug. “Old bastards like you can get baked. Up for it? I won’t tell my mum.” Ewan rolls his eyes. “Little wanker.”

Dez claps once for dramatic effect. “Let’s sneak a joint before they patrol around the pool house again.”

Me: If you don’t get your phone from the bedroom and respond to me, I might just take your ass while you’re asleep. Me: That sounded bad. Sorry. But please let me fuck your ass again. It’s very pretty, but it looks even better with my dick buried inside it. I’ll go slow and very, veryyyyyy gentle.

“This is retaliation from one of the underworld leaders you angered. Don’t worry, he’s dead now.” He waves his hand towards the burning manor. “And that woman is in no state to cause this.” Kade frowns. “How do you know?” An evil smile crosses Tobias’s face. “Because, son,” he says, raising both brows, “I have Bernadette Sawyer.”

“Demanding Kade is cute,” she says with a smile. Base tuts. “You both make me sick.”

“You knew my dad was alive?” A short nod, and he glances at my dad. “Security at the manor was breached, so getting that information to you would have been a risk. Instead, we’ve been working here for the last two months. We finished the renovations and the system operating room. Then, when Bernadette finally surfaced, we ambushed her transfer as it was going through Glasgow. She’s been here for the last three weeks.”

“We all inhaled a lot of smoke. You’re pregnant, so you can use it first.” For the first time in years, Luciella, my pain-in-the-ass twin sister, smiles at me – a proper, full-on smile. “Thank you, Kade.” It throws me off. I nervously look around the room. “Yeah.”

She won’t lose Base. He’s an asshole, but he won’t walk away from his own kid. He’ll hide them and most likely himself. He’ll step up. He and Barry are obviously still arguing outside. He’s borderline flirting. It’s like it’s built in to his personality that he can’t have a conversation without picturing the person naked, and I should know – he’s been flirting with me since we were fucking teenagers.

“Where is Bernadette?” I ask Dad. “I need to see her with my own eyes.” “In the room you built for her. She’s been drugged up for twenty-two days and locked in a cage.” I lean my elbows on my thighs, crouching in front of Stacey as I look at my dad. “A cage?” He smirks. “You’ll see when you go downstairs.”

the entire manor was bugged, and you had several rats in your team.” He shrugs. “I killed them by the way. You’re welcome.” “What about the people who attacked the manor?” “I caught their boss in the tunnels and cut his head off. He had long, greasy hair, so I wrapped my hand around it…” He mimics the move with a cloth then swishes his arm. “I cracked about four bodyguards’ faces in with it. Then I threw on their uniform and used the radio to track where everyone was.”

it’s Base who scoffs and speaks through his pain. “That’s just fucking selfish. You want her to suffer, thinking you’re still dead? I would’ve thought a psychopath like yourself would want all her attention.” Dad glares at him. “The world will think you all burned to death in the manor, so you are also dead, Sebastian. I’m more than happy to make that permanent. Just because you’re the father of my future grandchild does not grant you immunity. If you ever talk to me like that again, I will fuck you up more than Bernadette Sawyer ever did.”

We reach the metal door I designed, and Dad enters the code, followed by a beeping sound. The door opens, and I grimace, covering my mouth and nose at the strong smell of urine, unwashed skin and vomit. The small light in the corner illuminates a thin Bernadette curled up into a ball inside a large animal cage sitting in the middle of the room. There are lines attached to her veins – the blush pink dress I’ve seen her wear loads of times is filthy, and she has an outgrowth of roots, dark against the wine-red hair she always had. She’s pale, make-up non-existent, no expensive jewellery cradling her body.

Base comes forward too, but his reaction is totally different from mine. He snorts out a loud laugh. “She looks like fucking Gollum in a wig.”

“We can’t do anything. We need to hurry up.” Kade shakes his head. “I see no reason to hurry up.” “Base has been waiting outside for five minutes already.” “So? Fuck him,” he retorts then pauses. “No, fuck me. Or let me fuck you.” “So you are trying to have sex with me?” “Yes.” “Not happening,”

“You’re touching my cock. The mixed signals are fucking with me, Freckles.”

“If I could keep you hidden in this building for the rest of our lives, I would.” He kisses me again. Possessively. “I have no idea what’s going to happen next. Once I deal with Bernadette, everything is black in my head. It’s like I know deep down, after what she made me do, I don’t deserve a happy ending. I don’t deserve to have you. I killed husbands, boyfriends, fathers, and there were a handful of wives who got in the way. I… I… Why should I be allowed to have you?” “Because it’s not up to anyone else. I want you. I love you. You were trapped and blackmailed. There’s a huge difference between being forced to kill and doing it for fun.”

“Well – you are. The sooner you believe that, the better. You’re my other half, and one day, you’re going to be the best father in the world.” I cup his cheek and stroke it. “One day at a time. You’re not a bad person, Kade. You’re everything to me.”

“She killed Jason. I’m not going to grant her mercy by making it quick.” “Then make it hurt. Make it hurt for as long as you need.”

I want her to feel unimaginable pain for a long, long time. I want it to hurt. I want to hurt her. She took what was mine. She warped Kade’s mind and turned him into a… machine. She tried to destroy him, but as he places soft kisses over my face and helps me wash my hair, I realise the only thing she did was try and fail to do all those things. Because he’s here, with me, loving me forever.

“You aren’t really bleeding much now though, are you? Can I fuck you?” “Hm,” I say, considering. His eyes glint. “Please?” There’s a bang on the wall beside us. “The partition between us is thin. Don’t you dare make me share a room with Barry.”