Love Renewed (Entwined Hearts #3) (38 page)

“I’ve been tracking him,” Lewis explains.

“I thought I said thanks but to go home, let me deal with it,” I complain. I already have enough blood on my hands with the people who have been dragged into this situation.

“I know what you said. I sent my friend back. But you were in the hospital. If I hadn’t have acted quickly, and stayed, you would have lost him. Worse, you would always be looking over your shoulder. Not for you Dane. Libby. She would’ve been who he’d have gone for…and it would’ve been just as you finally let your guard drop.” My shoulders sag, I know he’s right. I just wish he wasn’t, I wish other people didn’t have to get tangled in whatever the fuck this is.

“Do you know why?”

“Why?” Lewis asks, his eyes narrow then widen. “Why he’s done all of this?” I nod. “He’s jealous. Pretty simple. Fucking scary, though. People will go to these extremes because of jealousy? Fuck bro.”

“Explain,” I order. It’s not his fault, but I’m holding myself together. Thinking about Ryan makes me savage.

Lewis chuckles, light-heartedly ignoring my tone. That’s good. I have no doubt in my head that he can handle himself. I don’t need him being pissed at me. The jokes, the messing about. It’s all an act. A front. I know underneath he’s a dangerous bastard. I can see the darkness that sits inside me, shining in his eyes. “It started simply with the fact that you got Libby. I found his place man…fuck…the dude is seriously fucked up. He had photos of Libby all over the house.” Lewis shakes his head then pushes both his hands behind his neck linking them. “Shit,” he whispers this time looking down.

“Where is his place?” I ask.

“It was this little run down house, looked like it hadn’t been lived in for years. He was squatting. Over by the river, a condemned house on a piece of land,” he replies.

“Was?” I question, not missing that word added in.

“Yeah, was, I burnt that fucker to the ground.” His eyes meet mine and there’s the darkness I see reflected from my own. Nodding, I wait for him to continue.

“When Jenson recruited you? He was looking into Ryan too. He picked you…this you know. What you didn’t realise is that Ryan knew that he was on the cusp of being recruited, that you beat him to it. He knew that he made that happen by taking Libby from you, setting off that chain of events. To say he was pissed would be an understatement. The fact that he should have been wanting to shove his own dick in a grinder, being that it was all his own fault, was irrelevant. He wanted revenge on you. Then you went dark. He couldn’t reach you. Eventually, Libby got away and those years he festered. His break was you coming back, finding your family. By this point, he’d managed to make connections with people like Dex. Petty crimes and thieving, thinking he was a big boy but not actually being one. He was going to use Pea. He had photos of you and her together. Then his course changed when Libby came back and everything slotted into place for him. He’s a sick fuck. But I’ve smoked him out of wherever he’s been. There’s nowhere left so he’s dangerous. He has nothing left to lose. He’s going to your place. Now. He thinks you’re both there, plans to shoot you both. He was drunk, stupid and rambling the other night at some bar. I listened. Then I watched him break into your house this morning. I was going to go in, but you said you wanted to deal. I knew where you all were, I spoke to Con yesterday. He told me you were all having a family barbecue.” A look of disgust washes over his face as his lip curls. “Sorry dude, but you English are strange. It’s fricking freezing out here and you’re having a barbecue?” I roll my eyes and smirk.

“Need to ask you another favour, well actually two,” I tell him.

“Shoot.”

“First. Make sure Davy gets what he deserves for hitting Nova. I can’t deal with him or I’ll end up killing him too.”

“That fucker! I knew I didn’t like him. I wish I’d known sooner I would have sorted him before coming here. Consider it done,” he tells me smirking. Then he asks, “What does Libby know about me?”

“Nothing. She’s asked, but I have said that my business is hers, just as your business is for whoever your person is,” I answer.

“I don’t have a person.” He doesn’t give me a chance to respond before continuing, “What is the other favour?”

“Can you go to Saul’s? Sit somewhere, make sure nobody leaves. Call me if they do.”

“Sure, but don’t you want me to come with you...you know, just in case?” he asks.

I snort with hollow laughter. “No, this I can do on my own. Don’t forget Lewis, you were a bounty hunter, a tracker…I’m a killer.”

“I’ve killed my fair share too Dane.” His voice is guttural.

“I know, but I told Nova about it. Not that I’m here now, but that it would happen at some point. She asked me to make it quick. She hates him, but she hates the thought of me letting the dark in even more. I think she worries that I’ll go back to it. I never will, though, not now I have her. Anyway, this is what I’m trained for and he’s mine. All fucking mine,” I say and Lewis smirks.

“Dane fucking Matthews,” Ryan spits.

His voice is behind me as I close the front door of my house, no longer a home, not now he’s been inside. I spin around and face him. He looks similar to how he did years ago. Blond hair, which is shaved nearly to his head. He’s skinnier that he was. Drugs probably. Still fairly big though. His face is gaunt, his hand shakes and the gun he’s pointing at me shakes with it.

“Ryan. What a nice surprise. I’ve been looking for you,” I answer coolly.

“I bet you fucking have. You’re a piece of shit Matthews, you know that?” he spits.

“So I’ve been told,” I answer taking a step forward.

“Stay the fuck back!” he shouts.

“I thought you came here to see me? Why do you want me to stay back?” I ask taking another step.

“You…you fucker!” he spits and I lunge forward grabbing his hand and slamming it repeatedly against the wall until he drops the gun. Using that moment to my full advantage I rear back and slam my fist into his face. He stumbles backward into the wall and I punch him again.

“Fight back,” I tell him. “Or can’t you hit me because I’m not a fucking woman?” I shout, punching him again, and again. I land a punch into the side of his ribs then the other side. Holding his shoulders, I throw my head backward bringing it forward with force cracking it straight into his nose.

He screams as the blood rushes down his face. I smile, but that drops when I think about what he did to Nova. So I punch him again, straight into his broken nose. Blood sprays over my hand and I wipe it down his top, swinging again straight into his stomach, he doubles over and falls on the floor. Quickly he stumbles but gets to his feet again glancing at the gun on the floor that I kicked away.

“I never liked guns,” I tell him with a smile. “There’s nothing personal about it. Now a knife,” I say pulling mine from the back of my jeans. Luckily I always keep a weapon hidden in my car. “Knives are such pretty weapons, such precision and you can look your victim in the eye,” I explain as I push it into his thigh and he screams. I smile.

“Do you know what I’d like to do to you?” His eyes widen as I show him the dark inside me. “Did you ever listen in history…ever hear the term, hung, drawn and quartered? No?” I stop and bark out an empty laugh as he stands still in front of me, blood drips from his bent nose and mouth, his eyes are both starting to swell. “But I’m not going to do that. I promised someone I love that when I did this I would make it quick.” He tries taking a step back as his eyes fill with tears. “You know that person, you know what you did to her don’t you Ryan?” I smirk as those tears start dropping. He played at being a big boy, but the truth was he never trained properly, he was never in my circles, and he has no real idea of what I’ve done and what it takes to do those things. All I know is he hurt her. “You kept her from me.” I take a step toward him and he takes another step back. “You beat her.” My eyes narrow on him as my anger increases. “You touched her,” I grind out and take the few steps I need until he’s pinned against the wall. “Now I may not choose to go down the route I wanted to, but I’m not going to make it easy. Nova will never know how you died Ryan,” I say and laugh while glowering at him.

“No, please don’t, please. I’m sorry. I was jealous. Everything I did was wrong. I’m so sorry, please…don’t do this,” he bleats out in between sobs.

“Do you know how many people have begged me for their lives…and I’ve still killed them? Do you think any of them hurt someone I love in the way you hurt Nova? Do you honestly think you have a chance at me letting you go? You thought I was surprised when I arrived here to find you? Does it not cross your mind that there’s a reason I’ve not got Nova with me, even though I’ve had her glued to my side for weeks?” Ryan starts shaking and repeating the word no over and over again. “I would say I’m sorry, but I’m not. You hurt her, for that alone I would kill you, but you messed with her head…and mine. Worst of all you touched her.” I take a breath.
You touched her!”
I roar out and at the same time I thrust the knife into his stomach, twisting it right, then left, gutting him as much as I can. Ryan screams out before I knock him to the floor. Looking down at him I grind my teeth then spit on him while pushing my boot into his throat.

“You’re lucky it’s this quick. Lucky I haven’t taken my time with you. Lucky that I love her so damn much to give her this. Say goodbye Ryan, it’s time to stop breathing decent peoples’ air,” I tell him pushing my foot down into his throat, watching him choke, the last breath splutters out as the blood pools over his stomach and chest. When the light extinguishes in his eyes, I know, that will be my last kill. Unless someone hurts my family—I’m done.

I make my phone call. Hopefully, this again will be the last of its kind. “Go,” I hear as the phone is picked up.

“J, I need you to sort out a team for clean up at my house. Last time I’m asking for this.”

“Ryan?” Jenson asks.

“Thanks, brother. Yes.”

“I wish you’d let me join you for the fun.” We’re both silent before we disconnect. I strip my clothes, boots and bag them all, leaving them next to the body, knowing they’ll be burnt. I move to the bedroom and take a shower, grabbing some things to change into. Once clean-up is done, I’ll get this house on the market. Until then Nova and I can move back to New York if she wants. First though, I need to go back and tell her Ryan’s gone and hope she really understands why I had to do this.

EIGHT MONTHS LATER

Planning a wedding is a ball ache. Even when it’s only for a small number. I still wonder sometimes how Dane convinced me to have a Christmas wedding. Oh yeah…I remember it was the proposal. Not discounting him, in general, or all the hot sex.

“Baby, do we have to have the shower curtain in the bathroom pulled across all the time?” Dane calls from upstairs.

“Yes, I’ve told you. After you have your shower and the curtain’s wet, if you don’t leave it open then you’re inviting mildew into the folds,” I yell back.

“I get that Nova, but seriously, every fucking time I walk in the bathroom the damn thing attacks me!” I giggle quietly. “I know you’re giggling woman.”

“Well, if you would just agree on a house, we could buy somewhere instead of renting, then we could put in a proper bathroom…with a fricking shower door!” I tell him stopping on a photo of a wedding bouquet. “I want tulips,” I shout.

“I’m right here,” he whispers in my ear and I jump.

“Seriously, that shit is not on. Don’t make me put it in our wedding vows,” I grumble.

“What? Thou shall not sneak up on the wife and scare her?” he chuckles.

“It could be a thing!” I snap.

He runs his arms around me and I instantly melt.
Damn man
. “Baby, if you want tulips we’ll have tulips. Whatever you want.” His voice vibrates into my ear and sends a shiver down me.

“I wish it was that easy when it came to buying a house together.”

He stiffens slightly at my words and says, “Let’s not talk about that now Nova. I want to take you somewhere.”

I turn so I’m facing his chest and throw my arms around his neck. “Sorry big guy. I’m all yours, let’s go.” He plants a soft deep kiss on me and then we lock up our rental house and get into the car.

We live quite far from our family now. Not liking anywhere to rent in London we moved just outside. So it always takes a while to get back to them. I assume that’s where we are going today as the car heads in that direction. Moving wasn’t hard. Well, the actual task of moving wasn’t fun, but leaving the old house was easy. I knew why we moved. Dane killed Ryan there. It doesn’t bother me like maybe it’s supposed to. I wonder sometimes, whether it should. Whether there’s something wrong with me, compared to other
normal
people. When he first told me, I was shocked. Dane had upped and left a family weekend, with no explanation. He was gone for hours and came back wearing different clothes. I dragged his ass into the bedroom the minute he walked through the door. I was so mad. I know why, it’s because I was scared. For those four hours, I had no idea where he was or if he was okay. I could have punched him. Then he started to explain about Ryan being at our house. He said he had a tip off. Told me we needed to stay at Saul’s that night, but we could go home the next day. He must have felt my apprehension when his sentence hung in the air and I froze.

“We’ll stay at a hotel until we can rent somewhere.” The words rolled right off his tongue like they were inconsequential.

“Do you not want to go back to your home?” I had asked him.

“No, because it’s not your home. We’ll make a new home. Together.” It was that easy. I never went back there. The only problem with that is that we haven’t found a house we can agree upon. Actually come to think of it, Dane hasn’t liked any of the houses we’ve looked at over the last eight months. On top of all that we have a wedding to organise, which is only five months away now and I’ve started a new job as a teaching assistant in a primary school. I adore it and the children, but it does keep me busy. The day we temporarily moved into the hotel was the day I told Dane that I’d quit my job.

“Good,” he’d replied at the time, and I think I just sat there staring at him. “I don’t want you working there, and I don’t really want to move to New York. I will, don’t get me wrong, for you. I’d move to the other end of the planet. But I’d rather be here with family, it’s where we belong. Anyway, I don’t want you working with that bitch and I really don’t want you being anywhere near that arsehole.” It was then I remembered he knew about Davy punching me.

“Don’t kill him, seriously he’s not worth it,” I told him which made Dane throw his head back with laughter, but he never actually said anything else about it.

We’ve settled into our life really easily. My job is just a little closer to where we used to live than it is to where we live now, but that’s good as I want to move back that way. Eventually, if my husband to be ever makes up his damn mind.

“You okay, baby?” Dane breaks me out of my thoughts.

“Hmm? Oh yeah, just thinking about the last eight months. So much has happened.”

He grabs my hand and laces his fingers through mine. We continue driving in silence. I must fall asleep because the next thing I know Dane’s gently nudging me and calling my name.

“Where are we?” I ask rubbing my eyes. The surroundings look vaguely familiar, but I can’t quite place them properly. Then I see the rest of our family up ahead through some big open gates.

“Let me show you.” Walking to my side of the car he opens the door and takes my hand, leading me toward the group. As I walk through the gates, I start greeting everyone until Soph laughs.

“Go see!” she says pointing. I turn my head and realise where we are.

“This is the old swimming pool,” I say confused. “What’s happened?”

“The swimming pool has been revamped, but can you see that building behind it?”

“Uh-huh, it’s beautiful,” I whisper.

“It’s ours.” His reply winds me.

“Ours?” I question.

“A little less than eight months ago I bought this land. I had planning permission rushed through and created our haven. We have nearly two acres here. I didn’t want to pull down our pool, it was part of us. So I had them rebuild it.”

“Dane,” I cry catching my breath as tears dance down my face.

“You can change anything you don’t like. This is our home, but because I wanted to surprise you I had to design everything with what I thought you’d like. So whatever you want to change I’ll get it organised.”

“Nothing. I want to change nothing. I love you, I love this place and I’m so happy.” Throwing myself into him he holds me with ease as I calm the crying down.

“Can we look inside?” I ask once the tears have dried.

“Of course, baby. Let’s all go.” He moves us and everyone follows, walking to the big house. As we all step into the foyer, I look up at the inside balcony and double staircase, my mouth hangs open.

"Well, fuck me sideways with a badger. How much fucking money do you have anyway?” Soph blurts and we all burst into laughter.

“Seriously though, you could share some with your sister,” Pea says her mouth gaping open too.

“What do you need?” Dane asks his serious tone making an appearance.

Pea laughs. “Erm, a chauffeur would be nice with everything your niece needs,” she says motioning to Ellie.

Then Soph chimes, “Well, if she gets a chauffeur, I want a chef. Not that Saul wants anyone else cooking for him as he'd miss my food.” Saul starts choking and everyone laughs again. "Sorry it went down the wrong hole," Saul says.

“But you’re not drinking anything," Soph moans crossing her arms. Laughing again I look at my family. Laughter is the main noise you’ll hear from us all these days. It’s a strange feeling having a family again. Sometimes I find myself thinking about my parents and my little brother. I still miss them, so now when I feel low, I talk to Pea. She understands loss, and she helps me deal with it.

I’ve also managed to find out where they were buried, and that I have a trust fund. My parents had a fair bit of money. Not the kind of money Dane has. But still, it’s nice to know I’ll never have to live in a hostel again. His mother hasn’t contacted either Dane or Saul since the night I punched her. The last they heard, which was about four months ago through the grapevine, was that she had moved overseas and was apparently marrying a wealthy new husband. Good luck to him. He’s going to need it.

Dane and I made our own trip overseas back to my home in New York to sort out my apartment and my belongings. Then we paid a visit to All Saints Shelter and saw Edna, she was so pleased for me. I was happy to be able to hand over twenty thousand pounds to the place. Dane outshone me when he handed her a cheque for one hundred thousand.

“You kept her safe. There’s no amount of money I could give you that would ever repay that kindness,” he told her and I got slightly emotional.

I never saw Mel or Davy. I heard they were together though. I’m glad. It means that the cheating wasn’t for nothing. If I can believe they were or are really in love, then I can forgive. It doesn’t matter anyway though because I love my man and nothing could top way he makes me feel.

“Okay one more thing,” Dane calls out catching everyone’s attention. “Because today is special and we’re all here together.” He looks around at each person. “Because we all now have a real family. I asked my baby brother…” I watch Saul roll his eyes and I smile at the warmth in them. “To see if he could find someone decent to take a group photo. I’d like to make this our tradition. Anything good happens. A wedding, new baby, new homes,” he says gesturing around, “I’d like to capture it. So if we could all go stand over there by the French doors, the photographer will organise us and take a snapshot. We’ll have a copy made for each of our homes.”

Once the photo is taken, we crowd around the photographer. He flicks through the images and I look over to Dane, who catches my gaze.

“I love you,” I mouth the words to him.

“Always,” he mouths back.