PUSH: Ultra Alpha MMA Badboy Mafia Romance (Southside Brotherhood Book 2) (43 page)

“You better not get me in trouble.”

“Nope. Cross my heart. Just go back to work; pretend everything is normal. I’ll get back out on my own.”

When she tiptoed away, Flynn sniffed, working his way down the hall toward the office.

Ironically, Molly had told him his father kept the thumb drive in a hollowed out copy of
Hamlet
. Another beautiful family epic with a happily ever after, just like the Dunleavy dynasty.

There was no sound now except his blood moving through his veins.

The floor on the old house squeaked under his weight, but Flynn didn’t temper his steps. No one was here, and his task would be fast and exit-easy.

That thumb drive would have all the codes, computer passwords and who knew what else. He should have enough time to log onto the laptop he’d brought, download the files, get into the safe for a good cash load, and finish up by getting what he needed to access the bank accounts Colin kept in Flynn’s name — accounts with at least seven figures.

A soft
beep
stopped him as he stood next to the office door. Security was on, but it didn’t matter. By the time Colin figured out what was amiss, it’d be too late. With the flash drive back in place, Colin would be none the wiser until shit blew up.

Once inside, Flynn let his eyes adjust to the dim light as he scanned the twelve vertical feet of book shelves, stopping on each faded, green-leather, bound spine for the gold lettering of the classic novel.

His heart kept pace with his eyes as they darted for what felt like hours over the hundreds of volumes that filled the shelves. Finally, he locked on to the single word title, and he felt more nervous than ever.

The book had that musty, antique-paper scent, but instead of pages of text, there was a perfectly cut out square in the middle of the pages.

Flynn fingered the little storage devices, not just one, but three.

“Fuck,” Flynn whispered. This would take longer than he’d thought.

The good news, they were right where Molly said they would be. The little flash drives felt so small and at the same time so heavy as he powered up his laptop and pressed the first device into the USB port.

“Come on, baby. Show me what you got.”

The drive opened up, and there were thousands of files. He didn’t bother to look at what they were. He just needed the data. He could filter through it later.

The first took a good twenty minutes, the next two about fifteen each and Flynn felt his heart starting to hit the inside wall of his chest. Just being in there for so long was turning his fingertips cold.

The last drive seemed to stick on a file as Flynn looked at his watch and stared at the unmoving progress bar.

“Fuck,
come on.
”

The silence in the enormous house turned ominous. A flash of light from the driveway spun Flynn’s head around.

He felt his breath stall in his chest, held it until his lungs burned, waiting for the download to complete.

Come on, come on, fuck. Chill out, no one’s here, man. He’s gone until tomorrow night. Just take a breath and nut up. Almost done.

Just as he felt his heart begin to slow, the sound of light footsteps hit his ears like a bomb.

“Hey!” Molly’s urgent voice came through the doorway.

“What?” Flynn whispered, but he knew already.

“He’s here! They’re coming inside! You gotta go!”

“Fuck!” Flynn whispered, the progress bar at ninety-nine percent

“
NOW!
Please, you
got to go
!” Molly was shaking as she flipped her head to look down the hall, then back at Flynn. “They’re coming!”

One hundred percent.

Flynn snapped the laptop shut and jerked the last flash drive out. Stumbling around in the dark, he threw them back into the book and shoved it on the shelf.

“Molly,
go
, take this. Put it outside the back door under that big white rose bush. Okay? Please, don’t ask. Just do it. That way.”

Flynn shoved the laptop into her hands and gave her a push in the opposite direction from the back door.

“Go!
Go somewhere until they’re settled in, in bed or whatever. Go! Trust me, just leave that where I told you — I’ll get it. Thank you, Molly.”

Flynn watched to be sure she made it around the corner toward the guest wing, then he made his way to the main stairs. If he got caught, he sure as shit didn’t want Colin to think he’d been in his office.

Muffled voices were coming from somewhere. In this cavernous old house, things echoed and shifted, and in the dark, he couldn’t see shadows.

Flynn froze. The scrape of shoes on the wood floor from directly behind him as he came around the corner toward the massive curved staircase. Just as he turned to bolt upstairs, he felt the cold steel press into the back of his head.

“Hello, son.”

***

The light gray cement floor darkened in spatters of crimson under Flynn’s face as his breath came out in a ragged, wet burst.

“You have to know me better than that. You think I don’t know she’s been gone? That you’ve been together at that house? You cannot outmaneuver me, son. It’s not your instinct. Besides, you haven’t the resources. If I wanted you dead, I could have taken care of that already.”

A burning, intense pain throbbed in his side under his left arm where one of the goon squad swung a 2 x 4.

One of the two black suits held his own blood back with a piece of gauze where Flynn managed to swing on him and slam his face into the cinderblock wall. Cement floor, no windows, painted stark, glossy white with a drain in the middle of the floor and a utility sink and stainless steel shelves against one wall.

The room was always locked when they were kids. But, as they’d gotten older, Colin had stopped hiding it, and now both his sons knew its purpose. After all, cleaning up blood was a lot of work when there were carpets and furniture involved.

“
Fuck off
.” Flynn spit as blood filled his mouth.

He pushed up off the floor. Taking a breath was like stabbing himself with ten knives, but fuck if he was staying down. Let them take another shot. They could beat him until their hands ached — as long as he lived. He just had to live.

His left eye was swollen shut, cutting down his peripheral vision, but he could hear the movement to that side, so he turned to keep his good eye on the threesome.

“Why can’t you just do as you are told? Why must you make life so difficult for yourself? You're not hurting me. You realize that, right? You never did understand. You have the violence. It’s your defiance that keeps you from your potential.”

“Fuck. Off.” Flynn felt his heart race as he pulled his shoulders back.

The two walls of black-suited muscle took a step forward, daring him to come closer to his father.

“If only you would be more like your brother. He understands, has the instinct for our business. I raised you both to take your place next to me. Only you, my dear son, have pushed back every step of the way. Remember when you were twelve, when you got your nickname? You hated it.” Colin smiled as Flynn remembered how they had called him Push for a year before they realized he was going to swing on them every time they said it. “Because that’s all you ever did, push back. Don’t you appreciate our life? You want to end up in that hole down in Detroit? Is that the life you want?”

“I want her. That’s all. I don’t give a shit what kind of life I have. Just let her go, and I’ll be gone.”

“I don’t care what you want. What matters to me is securing this family’s future. I need her for that, to bring us into the legitimate world with more money than we ever imagined. What is it that you want? What can you do for her? You keep her in an old lake house. You can’t even take care of her. But you’re right about one thing, I don’t care about you, not your life. It’s true I raised you, and you're lucky for that. Without me, you would've been raised by the state, eventually found your home in Jackson State Prison. Probably should be there now. It’s where you belong. It’s me that kept you from that, because I’ve always been too soft-hearted.”

Flynn spit again, the color more pink than red now.

“Yep. Your next Father’s Day card said just that.
You’re too soft-hearted, Dad. Please, fuck me up some more
.”

“You had your place here. You’ve been a good dog when you fought, showed me you have what it takes. But then like always, you get too caught up in your own head. Overthink things.” Colin pointed to Flynn’s forehead with a sick, playful smile “Don’t fool yourself, you and I are not so very different. Your hands are plenty dirty, don’t forget. You’ve done your job just like the rest of us. Bloodied your hands.”

“What the fuck do you want?”

“I want her to finish what she started, to stay the course with the family. We have a debt to pay, Flynn. I know you don’t respect the way things are done, but it doesn’t change anything. I take care of my responsibilities.”

“Yeah, you sure do.”

“Stop it. Grow up. I’m not telling you to bring her back. Fuck her. I don’t care. But, she will show up and finish this work, or you’re both going to end up down here and you will get to watch me fuck her right before I stick a damn knife in you.”

Flynn blew up, his body rising like a shark from the water to smash a punch in Colin’s mouth just before the goons managed to get their hands on him. Flynn twisted, screaming as the pain from his ribs shot white light across his vision.

He tore one hand free, lurched forward as Colin’s hand went to his face and shot one more bullet from his fist into his father’s gut, sending him folding over.

“No, it’s okay.” Colin chuckled.

The goons took Flynn in a headlock, and he saw stars dance in his eyes as one slammed his fist into his gut.

“That is who he is, an undisciplined dog who needs to be trained. I expected nothing less from you, son. So, here’s the deal.”

Colin’s face turned to stone as he moved close enough that Flynn could see the gold fillings in the back of his mouth as he spoke. His breath was hot and smelled of Scotch.

“She finishes her work, or she will never see her mother again. I know what her currency is. I’m four steps ahead of you. You can’t trump the master, son. You do what you’re told; keep watching over Topher’s little gym. I know you’ve been there. You’re still fighting those losers. Maybe it’s where you belong. But, her — make no mistake, she will finish this job. She will marry me because that is the contract, son. Our life is not about love, it’s about honor and making good on our word — which I intend to do.”

Colin stared Flynn down as Flynn fought, his hands pulling at the locked arm around his throat. Another gut punch from Thing Two left him struggling to breathe as stabbing pain radiated up and through his cracked ribs.

When his father stepped back and nodded, the Things dropped him like a brick.

“Get out. Tell her to finish her work. Fuck her if you want; it doesn’t matter to me. She’ll belong to me soon enough.”

“She’ll never fucking belong to you. If you ever touch her, I’ll tear your fucking throat out.”

“We will see, won’t we?” Straightening his tie and looking at his watch, he said, “Throw him out with the other trash,” and then walked out.

***

“Jesus! What happened? Where’d you go?” Lilly’s hair was a wild mess, her eyes wide and scared.

Flynn felt a knife in his heart, knowing fear had dared touch her. “I’m okay, babe. Just had a little run in at the house.”

“Why? What were you doing there?”

“Had some loose ends to tie up. Don’t worry, I’m fine.”

“You are not fine. You’re hurt. Really hurt.”

“I’ve been hurt a lot worse. This is nothing. I’m going to take a shower.”

Flynn tried to smile but even that hurt.

He could only see her out of the swollen slit of his right eye, but that was enough to recognize the sheer terror on her face.
It was a sight that hurt him worse than anything they'd done to his body. He knew feeling safe was her absolute, and he could see right now, his shield around her was wavering.

“Babe. Look at me, I’m fine. It happens. I’m bruised, but I’m fucking here. You’re okay. I’m making sure of that.”

“How? I mean, it looks like you should be dead. You could be dead. Then what?”

The pitch of her voice raised and Flynn felt his skin turn cold.

“I’m not dead, and I’m not going to be dead. Babe, calm the fuck down. I got beat up. In my life, that’s like a regular occurrence.”

As soon as he said it, he could see that wasn’t the ticket to get her on the calm-the-fuck-down train.

“
Exactly!
I can’t do this, I can’t.” She was still sitting in bed, the quilt covering her legs, which were visibly shaking.

“You
can
. Shhh! Fuck, Lilly, it’s okay.”

“It isn’t
! Is isn’t okay, and it won’t be okay! I hate this. I wish I’d never come here. Never left home, never met any of you. This is worse! This life is not fit for animals!”