Bones (Dark Kingdom, #5) — EPILOGUE TWO

EPILOGUE TWO

BONES

MIA: WHEN WILL you be home?

Me: In about an hour. I type out the response to my fiancée and then pocket my cell. Looking up, I watch the man secured to the chair in the middle of the room. He thrashes in it, trying to break the rope that Titan tied

him up with.

“You’ve been a busy man,” I say.

He glares up at me, baring his teeth. “You have no idea. Is this supposed to scare me?”

Grave laughs, and Cross smirks, flipping his Zippo open and closed. I ignore his question. “But I do have an idea of what you’ve been up to.” He stiffens at my words.

“It shouldn’t have taken me as long to put the pieces together, but the moment I did, they made perfect sense.” I take a step toward the chair.

“You know nothing,” he growls.

“You were the only one who knew I had bought Mia. You were the one who handed her over to me.” His eyes narrow at that. “I had Tristan pull up his surveillance footage that night of the auction, and what would you know? You followed me to his house and, I’m guessing, to the private airfield. But how did you know where I went?”

He snorts, refusing to answer.

“Cross,” I say, and he pushes off the wall, walking over to us. He flips the Zippo open again and lights it up before placing it in Richard’s face.

He pulls away the best he can, watching it out of the corner of his eyes.

“Wait. Wait. Wait,” Richard rushes out.

Cross looks at me, and I shrug. Why not let the man speak. Cross closes the Zippo and takes a step back from the chair.

“Speak,” Grave growls.

“From the beginning,” I add. I know quite a bit from the messages in Matteo’s phone that we had taken from his pocket before we set the pizzeria on fire, but some things are still missing.

“I—” Richard licks his lips. “Matteo called me and said his father told him to get rid of Mia however he saw fit.” I fist my hands. “I said I would take her.” He stops, and the silence drags on. Cross lights his Zippo again, and Richard rushes to finish. “He didn’t acknowledge my offer. So I asked why her father was waiting until now to get rid of her. He said that your father had promised John an arranged marriage, but since he passed away recently, there was no way it would happen. So she was no longer needed.”

I feel my brother’s eyes on me, but I can’t look away from Richard. I have no doubt that my father made such an agreement. He was always willing to do something to make a buck. And I’m sure that John was offering a pretty penny for it.

“I told him not to kill her. That there was a way to profit off her name …” He trails off.

“The auction.” Titan finishes his sentence.

Richard nods quickly. “I knew who you were the moment I saw you sitting in the crowd. I called Matteo, and he said to keep an eye on you.”

“So you followed him afterward.” Grave snorts.

“But you didn’t know where I went. So how did you know where she was?” I wonder. He had to have been the one to tell her brothers she was at my beach house.

He stays silent, and Cross sighs. Instead of pulling out his Zippo this time, he slams Richard’s face into the table. “Keep going,” he demands.

Richard takes in a sharp breath, blood running down his face now.

“Matteo just went down the list of the properties you own.” He licks his busted lips, and I close my eyes. Of course he did. Fuck, I was so fucking stupid. “He watched her for a couple of weeks, waiting for you to return.”

He laughs at that. “He really thought that you’d hit that ass that first night.

But when you never returned, and she hadn’t seen a single person, he decided he needed some reinforcements.”

“And when she didn’t run right back to Bones, you helped by shooting Luca.” Titan guesses how things played out after her brothers knocked her around.

He bows his head, and his laughter fills the room. “You couldn’t be more wrong.”

I step forward and punch him in the face, making his head snap back.

“Then make us understand,” I shout, not in the mood for this shit.

Fresh blood pours down his face. His eyes blink to clear the fog. “Matteo called me and said he was sending her back to you. He knew she’d go running like a scared little bitch.” He spits blood at me, and it lands on my shirt. “I told him you’d never fall for it. She was useless, and that he got your money, and he should just give her to me. Otherwise, he should just kill her.”

I hit him again, and the inked skin covering my busted knuckles splits from the breaking bone. Cross grips his hair and yanks his head back, forcing him to look up at me. “Luca?” I demand through gritted teeth, needing more.

He gives me a bloody smile. “I was there for you. I wanted you dead.”

His left eye is swollen shut, but his right one narrows up at me.

“If she didn’t return to Bones, you could take her.” Grave is the one who speaks.

“But you weren’t there,” he spits out angrily. “I knew Luca was the one who called you and sent you to save her because Matteo said that he had sent him the video of us. I thought I’d go ahead and take care of him.”

“Take care of me later.” I nod, understanding.

“How’d you keep the Bianchis from knowing you were the one who shot Luca?” Titan wonders. “They would have killed you on the spot.”

He shakes his head, trying to free his hair from Cross’s hold, but it does no good. When he doesn’t answer right away, Cross shoves his face into the table again. “Matteo didn’t care.” He cries out but manages to continue.

“With Luca out of the way, he would be next in line to take over. Plus, he knew Luca had too many enemies to count, and Matteo was more focused on Mia.” His one good eye finds mine. “He was obsessed with the two of you.” He grits his bloody teeth. “And you fell for the bait. She was the best- kept secret until you ruined her!” he shouts at me. “Paraded her around like the fucking whipped whore she was—”

“You mean you could take her against her will, and no one would look for her because no one knew she existed,” Grave growls, interrupting him.

“And those who did, didn’t care.”

“John was just going to kill her. I saved her!” he screams.

“You helped kidnap her and sell her!” I scream back in his face before punching him again, feeling more bones break.

Cross steps back, and Richard starts laughing maniacally. The sound bounces off the concrete box we stand in, making the hairs on my neck rise.

I’m so angry I’m shaking. “You think you had her first?” He looks up at me through his lashes. The good eye is starting to swell now too. “You might have fucked her first, but I was the first one to touch her.” He laughs once again, his busted lips turning up in a bloody smile. “Drugged and naked… the bitch never even knew.”

Grave pushes off the wall, heading for him, but I place my hand out, hitting his chest and pushing him to a stop. Richard is mine. Although I’m thankful my brother wants to stick up for his future sister-in-law, no one touches him but me.

His eye falls to Grave, then back at me. “Remember that the next time you fuck that useless cunt.”

The blood rushes in my ears at his words. Matteo had mentioned another video, but I never found one on his phone. Probably a good thing. The one I did see haunted me for weeks and still does at times.

My legs start to move, and I realize I’m walking toward him. Placing both hands on either side of the chair, I lean down and ram my face into his, knocking it back. His blood covers my face, and I get an instant headache.

“Load him in the car,” I order, pushing off the chair and turning my back to him. We’ll bury him in the desert tonight. “I’ve heard enough.”

His laughter fills the room, making me pause, and I turn back to face him. Leaning over the best he can, he spits blood onto the concrete floor.

“But I’ve got so much more to say.”

“Nothing worth listening to,” I say, turning and opening the door.

“How’s your arm doing?” he asks.

I pause again, listening to his laughter growing louder.

“What about his fucking arm?” Titan demands, and I turn to see he’s got his hand wrapped around Richard’s neck. “Huh?” He shouts in his face, then pulls away, punching him. “Fucking speak!”

Richard’s head lolls back while he sucks in a breath before lowering it to look at me. “You think those guys randomly chose to follow you that night?” He smiles up at Titan. “I was a little disappointed. I would have fucked his bitch too.”

I feel all the Kings’ eyes on me, but I ignore them. My heart is pounding in my chest. How does he know this? We’ve never told anyone. I don’t talk about what happened that night. None of us do.

“Come on,” I say, wrapping my arm around Emilee, trying to keep her up. She’s wasted. I only had water. I have a tournament this weekend and have to be up and at the field early in the morning. She’s been begging me to go to this concert for weeks, so I figured why not? It couldn’t hurt to go out. I’m not much of a partier, but I do like the band that was playing.

“We can’t go to my house, Bones …” Hiccup. “My parents are home.”

“We’ll go to mine.” My father doesn’t give a fuck what I do. Plus, he’s in New York right now meeting with Mr. Bianchi. He said something about the future of Kingdom, but I wasn’t really listening to him. I hope he fucking sells his shares so I don’t have to worry about it.

I’m a senior in college. Emilee is a sophomore. Her parents still think she’s a virgin. There’s not a hole I haven’t fucked on her body. I open my passenger side door for her, and she falls into it.

I shut it and walk around to the driver’s side. Starting it up, I pull out of the parking spot, and she’s already leaning over, unzipping my jeans.

“Wait,” I tell her, pushing her away. We’re not far from my house.

Sitting up, she sighs heavily. The last thing I need is her puking all over us. “You—”

The side of my car is hit, cutting off her words, followed by a scream. I smell smoke, and my face stings. I reach out for her, but I hear the sound of metal grinding to my left. Then there are hands on me. I’m pulled from the car. I can’t see. Everything blurry. My eyes burn. I can hear Emilee screaming in the far distance, but I can’t get to her. “Em—“ Pain explodes up the side of my arm, and I roll away from it. Something hits me in the back, taking what little breath I had left away. Blood fills my mouth, and I start to cough. What feels like hands grab at me, and I hear a snap, followed by unimaginable pain. Then everything goes black.

Richard’s laughter brings me back to the present. “You never did find those guys who dragged you out of your car and beat the shit out of you, did you?” he asks.

No. I woke up in the hospital after emergency surgery, found out I had a broken arm among other injuries. But it was over. The one thing I ever wanted was no longer a possibility. My baseball career had ended. As far as I knew, so had my life.

“Funny what you’ll do for money,” he adds, smiling up at me. “Your father paid those men five hundred dollars. Total. To take you out.”

Silence follows. My heart picks up at his words. I always knew I was a target that night. I just didn’t know why. I thought maybe it was someone from college. Or I’d fucked one of them up before and it was retaliation.

But I never thought my own father was behind it.

His laughter fills the room. “You think he gave a fuck about your baseball career? He had a hundred million on the line with John. You were worth nothing to him unless you took your place at Kingdom and married the Mafia princess. Then the bastard died. And well, John knew his chance at Kingdom was over.”

Cross steps back into him. The lit Zippo at his neck once again. “It was you. You were the one who called in the anonymous tip to Marsha.” That was who the news reported Mia to be—Mafia princess. “But why? You said she was the best-kept secret? Why would you out her to the world?”

He clenches his mouth, refusing to answer that.

“Enemies.” Grave is the one who speaks. “If the world knew who Bones was with, it would put a target on his head. Every enemy he ever had would come after him, knowing she would be his weakness.”

Richard wanted me dead so he could take my Queen. That’s the only way he was going to get her. Over my dead body. I’ll never give her up. And I don’t plan on dying any time soon to give him that opportunity. So I’ll do what needs to be done.

“Bones?” Grave gets my attention, placing his hand on my shoulder, and I jump back.

Richard laughs at my unease, knowing he’s gotten to me. It’s time to end this. My queen is waiting for me at our house, in our bed. And I want to be there, holding her, fucking her. Reminding myself that I may have failed her before, but it won’t happen again. I will be the one she can count on.

Going over to the cabinet, I open it up and grab what I need before going to stand behind Richard. He’s trying to look over his shoulder to see me on either side but is unsuccessful. I grip the concertina wire at each end and then start wrapping it around his neck.

He’s shouting, blood instantly running down his neck and chest as I wrap it around three times. Once satisfied that I’ve done it enough, I hold the ends, feeling the sharp blades digging into my palms. But I don’t let go.

Instead, I pull on it harder, watching them cut up his neck like it is my

hands. “I’m going to hold this here until you slit your own throat.” I growl through gritted teeth.

“If I was you, I’d make it quick,” Titan adds, and Grave laughs.

His body thrashes in the chair for only a minute before he stops, and then it sags. I let go of the wire, and it doesn’t move, the blades now embedded into his neck doing exactly what I intended.

“Christ, Bones.” Grave sighs, looking down at my hands.

I drop my eyes to look at them as well and see blood. “I’m fine,” I say, wiping them on my jeans, ready to get the fuck out of here.

“Go.” Titan nods to the door, reading my mind. “We’ll take care of him.”

Normally, I wouldn’t leave the Kings to clean up my mess, but for once, I have a reason to want to go home. I mumble my thanks and rush out the door.

I make it home in less than fifteen minutes. I enter the house and go straight to the shower. Turning on the water, I get undressed and step inside.

Just as I turn to let the water wash off the blood, I spot Mia entering the bathroom, rubbing her sleepy eyes. I woke her up.

“Dillan?” She yanks the door open and steps inside, not even bothering to remove her Kingdom T-shirt. “Are you okay?” Her wide, silvery-blue eyes drop to my bloody hands before meeting mine. “What happened?”

“I’m fine,” I say, reaching out to her, and she doesn’t flinch when I grip her hips with my bleeding hands and pull her body flush with mine.

“But—”

I lower my lips to hers, and she doesn’t hesitate to kiss me back. I spin her around, pressing her back into the wall. My cut and bloodied hands gripping the hem of her T-shirt, needing her naked and my cock inside her.

Needing to remind myself she belongs to me. Tonight, tomorrow, and the rest of my life.

Twelve years old

“No self-respecting man marries for love, Dillan,” he states while sitting

across from me at the table.

“Then why get married?” I wonder.

“For power. Wealth.” Leaning back in his chair, his eyes meet mine.

“You will one day marry, but it will be who I choose for you. Think of it as a business transaction.”

“And if I don’t want to?” I ask.

His eyes harden on mine before he answers. “The Reeds aren’t weak, son. You’re not a motherfucking sheep. You’re a goddamn King. And a King does whatever it takes in order to run his Kingdom, do you understand?”

“Yes, sir.”

Pulling away, I watch her open her heavy eyes, and for once since my father died, I wish he was still alive. He never brought up marriage again. It was as if we had never had that conversation, and I now realize why.

Somewhere along the line, he found the woman he would force me to marry. Too bad the fucking bastard isn’t here to see how much I love her.

He was right about one thing. I’m a fucking King, and I will rule my Kingdom with my Queen. But she will come first, even if that means

destroying everything I have for her.

“I love you,” I tell her.

Her eyes search mine, the concern in them evident. “I love you,” she whispers, her eyes dropping to my bare chest, and I lower my lips to hers again, ready to prove to her just how much.

THE END

Thank you for taking the time to read Bones I hope that you enjoyed it.

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Want to see where it all started? Continue on to read the prologue of Code of Silence (The Dark Kingdom #1).