Bones (Dark Kingdom, #5) — Chapter no 12

CHAPTER TWELVE

MIA

I DIDN’T SWIM for very long. My side hurt too much to actually enjoy it.

Instead, I sat in the shallow end, just soaking up the night heat.

Getting out of the shower, I enter his bedroom and see a door to the right.

Hoping it’s a closet, I smile when I’m right. It’s large—the floor is white marble with a black inlay design in the shape of diamonds, and it’s cold on my bare feet. To my right is a set of dresser drawers. I open the top one up and see watches of various colors and sizes—all expensive designer brands.

The second drawer is full of cuff links. Shutting it, I turn and look around to see the rows and rows of clothes hanging. To the left is nothing but shoes— everything from tennis shoes to boots to dress shoes. Some are still in their boxes.

Stepping up to one of the racks, I run my fingers over the dress shirts, feeling the softness of the fabric. I come to his T-shirts and drop the towel from around my chest. Standing up on my tiptoes, I remove a black one. It says Kingdom in gold letters on it. I slide it on. One shoulder hangs off, the sleeves come down to my elbows, and the hem reaches mid-thigh. It’s huge, but I have nothing to wear here. Plus, it’s really soft and smells like him.

When Haven told me what happened to Luca, I panicked, grabbed what I could, which was only my phone and purse, called an Uber, and got to the private airport as fast as I could. I don’t know how I’ll get my stuff here.

Opening another drawer, I find his boxer briefs. I don’t have any extra underwear, and I refuse to go without. I pull on a black pair and roll the band down a few times, hoping that will help keep them up.

Exiting the closet, I turn off the light and then leave the bedroom. It’s on the first floor. I walk down the hallway to an opening. It’s the living room.

It too looks like no one is ever here. Bare, dark gray walls, and no throw pillows, blankets, or decorations of any kind.

I turn around the corner and walk up the stairs. My bare feet sink into the plush carpet while my hand grips the dark banister. I make it to the top and

take a right. The second door on the left is partially open, so I step inside.

It’s a media room. I recognize it because my father’s house in Italy had one. It’s got a huge screen at the front of the room. Three rows of five black leather chairs that have blue neon lights underneath them.

The back wall has shelves of movies on it. I walk over, scanning the DVDs, and come across what looks to be a photo album. I remember my mother saying that she would make me one but never did. Not sure why I’d need pictures to remind me of a nonexistent childhood.

Picking it up, I sit down on the floor cross-legged and open it up. The first page has a picture of Dillan and a woman. I’ve seen her before. At the hospital. Dark hair, blue eyes. I don’t know her name. But she’s standing in a hallway with him. Looks like a school, but I can’t be sure. I’ve never been, just from what I’ve seen on TV shows. He’s got his arm over her shoulders. She’s holding a Louis Vuitton purse in one hand and her cell in the other. She’s got a bright smile on her face. He stares at the camera, looking almost numb. The flash illuminates his hard blue eyes and sharp jaw. He doesn’t have any tattoos that I can see—not like he does now—and it makes him look so young. He’s wearing a white T-shirt with jeans. She’s dressed in designer heels, a skirt, and a sweater. She’s leaning into him, both arms wrapped around his waist.

I flip the page and see another picture of him. He’s on a baseball field this time. Dressed in a blue-and-white uniform that says Wildcats on it, he’s got a bat in one hand, a ball in the other, and he’s smiling. One that shows off his dazzling smile and two dimples. He’s beautiful.

Turning again. I see another picture, and I frown. He’s wearing a T-shirt like I have on, but it’s white with black letters reading Kingdom across the chest. He still doesn’t have any visible ink. He stands there with my brother Luca in a hallway next to a set of glass double doors. I tilt my head to the side. “Why does this look familiar?” I whisper to myself. “Like I’ve seen this before.” I didn’t know him. I never met the Kings …

Twelve years old

I walk down a hallway and come to a stop when I see a guy standing at the other end.

Luca has a visitor? It’s not uncommon for my brothers to have friends over. But I’m always told to stay in my room whenever they have someone

over.

His body stiffens, and he starts to turn around, but I run down the hallway and into my room. “Hello? Luca?” he calls out.

I slam the door shut.

“Luca, this isn’t funny,” he growls.

The door is shoved open, and I jump back with a shriek when the boy enters my space.

Blue eyes quickly scan the room and then land on me, and I drop mine to my bare feet.

“What are you doing in here?” he asks. “Who are you?” he questions, stepping farther into my room.

“I asked you a question,” he snaps when I don’t answer.

I jump back but look up at him, my heart racing. My breathing is erratic.

No one is supposed to know I exist. I’m going to be in trouble. If I’m lucky, maybe he won’t say anything. “No one,” I answer softly.

He goes to open his mouth, but I hear my brother. “Bones?”

The boy turns to face Luca, and I shut the door, locking myself in.

“Who the fuck is in that room?” I hear the guy ask my brother.

He sighs, repeating my words. “It’s no one …”

“I saw her. Luca, your dad wouldn’t have a ‘no one’ in this house.

Especially a child. Who the hell is she?”

“It’s complicated,” Luca answers.

“Then simplify it for me,” Bones demands.

“I—”

“Boys.” I hear my father interrupt them.

“Bones.” Another male’s voice comes from the other side that I don’t recognize.

“Father.” I hear the guy named Bones respond.

“We’re headed to Kingdom. Have some business to handle. You guys will come,” the man he called Father orders.

“Dad, I have baseball practice in an hour,” the kid argues.

“And I don’t give a fuck!” the man snaps. “That shit isn’t important.

Kingdom comes first no matter what.”

“Yes, sir,” the kid known as Bones growls.

I hear their shoes slap on the floor and then silence.

Opening my door, I peek out through the crack to see I’m alone once again. Closing it, I lean my back against it and slide down to my butt and

let out a long breath. My dad will be so pissed if he knows someone saw me.

That was Dillan! I never knew what had come of that—Luca’s friend seeing me. My brother had come home later that evening, bloody and in a bad mood. I didn’t dare talk to him after he’d spent time with our father alone. The blood never bothered me. I knew we were a Mafia family. I grew up thinking that everyone’s dad got “rid” of any problem that came their way. That it was perfectly fine to walk into a room and see cash lying around with drugs and guns. I knew not to touch them. Luca taught me everything I needed to know about our family. Our parents moved back to New York—where our father was from—when I was very young. My father would go back and forth quite a bit, but my mother rarely did. From what I would overhear, she was too busy drinking and popping her pills to stay up during the day and sleep at night. She had four boys that my father wouldn’t allow her to control. And me? Well, I didn’t exist to anyone. Except Luca.

He made sure that I had the best nannies who would teach me about the world. When I moved to Italy at thirteen, they followed. What they didn’t teach me, I learned from TV and books. I may not have ever graduated high school, but at least I knew how to read. That was the one thing Luca was adamant that I learned when I was younger. My father didn’t care if I even knew how to tie my shoes. To him, my only reason for existence was to eventually use for his benefit. And women don’t need brains to lie on their backs and spread their legs.

Turning the page, I see another picture of Dillan. He’s in a hospital bed.

He’s got his right arm in a cast, and just like before, he looks void of any emotion—a broken soul. The girl is with him again. She sits on the side of his bed, talking to another girl. She’s got bleach-blond hair. I know her too.

She was at the hospital last night. She was sleeping on Nite’s shoulder. He had moved her off him when Dillan ordered him to get rid of me. Again.

This does nothing but prove how much of an outcast I am. They’ve all been friends for years. And I’m just Luca’s sister who no one knows existed.

BONES

MY OFFICE PHONE rings, and I pick it up. “Hello?”

“Sir, Nite and Titan are in the meat locker and ready for you,” Nigel informs me.

“Thank you.” I hang up and exit my office, stopping by my brother’s. I enter Grave’s to find him sitting at his desk, leaning back in his chair with his black combat boots propped up on the surface and talking on his cell phone.

“It’s whatever you want,” he says, smiling. “If you want that, then get it.”

He snorts. “Of course …”

I clear my throat, and he drops his feet, sitting up straight.

“Hey babe, I have to go. Yeah, be home soon. Love you.” He hangs up quickly.

I exit and stop by Cross’s office. “They’re here.” I pop my head in, and he’s typing away on the computer, giving me a finger for one second.

Making my way down the hallway, I come to the front of our office and push the button on the elevator. It opens, and I step in and turn just in time to see Grave and Cross coming toward me, so I hold it open for them.

Standing silently in the glass box, I push the button to take us down, and my brother turns to face me. Here we go.

“You don’t actually believe her, do you?”

“I do.” The poor thing isn’t lying.

“She’s a Bianchi,” Grave adds. “We don’t fuck with them.”

“Luca …”

“We’ve been friends with Luca since we were young. We don’t do business with Matteo or the twins. And we sure as fuck don’t get in bed with a Bianchi that we never knew existed.”

My jaw tightens, but I don’t say anything. He’s right, but this is different.

She’s different. I have blood on my hands, but I’m not going to add hers to it. “I made Luca a promise,” I say through gritted teeth.

“Yeah, well …” Grave looks over at Cross. “We all know how easily those are broken.” The elevator dings before the door slides open and Grave storms out.

I look over at Cross, and he’s flipping his Zippo open and closed. If he’s affected by what Grave just said, he doesn’t show it. Cross made Grave a promise not to sleep with his fiancée’s best friend. Of course, Cross broke it and slept with Alexa, and she’s recently moved in with him. I like her, and Cross loves her.

Grave had always been high on drugs or drunk off his ass. Now that he’s clean and sober, I think Grave just feels out of control. Things are taking place that he doesn’t have a say in.

We walk down the hallway and enter the metal door at the end of the hall, stepping into the meat locker. Nite and Titan are already inside with

Jeremy.

The man jumps to his feet. “Bones …”

I raise my hand. “Sit down.”

Jeremy licks his lips nervously. “Bones …”

“If you don’t sit down, I’ll break both of your kneecaps,” Titan warns casually.

Letting out an aggravated breath, Jeremy does as he’s told.

“What happened?” I’ll give him one chance to tell me how things went down last night. Let’s see what he does with it.

“What do you mean?” he asks, tilting his head to the side.

Reaching into the pocket of my jeans, I tell him, “That was not the correct answer.”

Titan grabs his arm and stretches it across the table as I flip open my pocketknife and stab him in the hand with it.

His shrill scream fills the concrete room as blood instantly pours onto the surface. I yank it free and wipe the blood off on my jeans before shutting it and placing it back in my pocket. Titan lets go of him, and he falls out of his chair like butter melting to the floor, cradling his left arm to his chest, crying. Then Titan bends down, grabbing his shaking body, and rips his

shirt up and over his head.

“Put his hand on the table,” I order.

Titan picks him up with his hands under his arms and sits him back in the chair. Snot and drool run down his face and naked chest while Nite steps up behind him. Titan hands him the shirt, and Nite wads it up before cramming some of it into Jeremy’s mouth while holding it in place.

Grave stands beside the table, lifts up his shirt, and removes his studded black leather belt from his jeans. He then wraps it around Jeremy’s forearm and pulls tight, cutting off the blood supply. Cross comes up to the front of the table and removes his cross necklace and lighter. He runs the flame along the metal while Titan unscrews the lid to a water bottle and pours it over Jeremy’s wound, washing away the blood. He cries into his gag when

Titan takes his own shirt and wipes off the water with the edge of the fabric, drying it off.

Cross flips the Zippo closed and then presses the cross to the knife wound on Jeremy’s hand. He sobs behind the gag as Cross does it several times before it’s cauterized. Then everyone lets go of him and takes a step

back.

“I have all night,” I tell him.

Trying to catch his breath, he yanks his shirt from his mouth. Watery eyes meet mine. “I didn’t—”

“The cameras don’t work.” I interrupt whatever lie he was about to tell me. Although I wasn’t lying—I do have all night—that doesn’t mean I want to spend all night here.

“A man came in,” he rushes out, holding his arm.

Ah, now we’re getting somewhere. “And?”

“And he asked me if you were available.”

My brows rise. “Me?”

He nods quickly and sniffs. “I told him no, but Luca was there. Up in the office. And he asked me what time we closed.” He closes his eyes tightly

and starts sobbing again.

“And?” I snap, making him jump.

“He paid me a thousand dollars in cash to cut the security tapes,” he admits shamefully.

I reach up and rub my chin. “You let someone shoot Luca for a thousand dollars?”

“No. No.” He shakes his head quickly. “Shoot? He didn’t say that. He never said that he was going to hurt Luca.”

“What the fuck did you think he was going to do?” Cross snorts.

“He wanted to talk to Bones. He asked for him by name …”

“Everyone knows who the fuck Bones is.” Titan slaps the back of his head.

“But why did he think I’d be there?” I speak my own thoughts. If someone wanted to talk to me, they could have shown up here at Kingdom or called me. The Kings don’t hide. We don’t have to.

“Seriously?” Grave arches a brow at my question. “How long do you expect us all to pretend that you don’t own half of Glass?”

“It’s not public knowledge.” I ignore his previous question.

“The Bianchis know,” Titan speaks.

“Did you know the guy?” Grave asks Jeremy.

“No. Never seen him before.”

My eyes go over to Titan, and he shrugs, thinking what I am. Everyone in Las Vegas knows who the fuck the Bianchis are. So if it wasn’t one of Luca’s brothers, then who the hell was it? I take the pocketknife out and flip it open once again.

“What are you doing?” Jeremy tries to jump up from his seat, but Nite holds him in place by his shoulders while standing behind the chair. “I told you everything I know.”

“You did,” I agree. “But you also sold Luca out for a thousand dollars, and I can’t have that.” Whoever shot Luca knows this guy is weak. They put a target on his head, maybe on purpose. Either way, he can’t be trusted.

Not with my business and not with Mia’s life.

“Wait. Wait.” He lifts his hands in surrender. “I can help you—”

“No, you can’t.” I interrupt him. “Nite.”

He grips his hair and yanks Jeremy’s head back while I reach out and slice the blade across his neck from ear to ear. His body jerks as blood pours from the wound and down his bare chest.

One problem down. Just a hundred more to go.