Cross (Dark Kingdom, #4) — EPILOGUE

EPILOGUE

CROSS

“YOU SURE?” I ask, leaning back in my chair in the conference room.

Jeffrey nods. “Positive.” He tosses some papers across the table. They slide to a stop in front of me.

Sitting the front legs down, I pick the report up.

“What are you doing with this information?” Bones is the one who asks.

Jeffrey throws his hands up. “You’re the only ones who know what I’ve found. I know you Kings prefer to handle your own shit.”

“We do.” Titan nods.

“Then …” He pushes his chair back and stands. “I’ll leave you to it and wait for your phone call.” With that, he picks up his cell and the bag full of money off the table and turns, exiting the room.

I slap the papers down on the table and place my tatted forearms on the surface. “He went to the police. Gave a statement.”

“Of course, he did. Mitch is a pussy.” Titan scoffs.

Shuffling through the papers, I pick up the tattoo stencil. I’ve been collecting these since I was young. When I got my first tattoo. The skull with a tilted crown and crossbones—all the Kings have one.

“So, he wanted to kill her and frame you for it?” Grave growls.

“Looks like it.” I run a hand down my face, feeling my stubble. “And I’m guessing he wanted Rachel to take the fall.” Two birds, one stone. Kill Alexa, put me in jail for loving her, and frame Rachel for having a past with me.

“Rachel is just as guilty as him,” Bones states. “Doesn’t matter what the motives were, she still acted.”

I can’t disagree with that. She is the only one who could have gotten into my safe at Tit for Tat and grabbed the stencils. I had them in a case. One was found outside of Lucky’s in the parking lot during Jeffrey’s inspection.

I know it wasn’t Alexa. So, Rachel is the only option.

“But the fire was started with accelerant inside of the bar. Wouldn’t they have known she wasn’t there?” Titan adds.

“I don’t know.” I rub my temples, feeling that headache coming on again.

“Maybe once they got there, they realized there was no turning back.

They burn down her bar. It gets blamed on Cross, and then she never speaks to him. Actually, that works out better for him because she’s still alive, and he can slide in.” Bones guesses.

“It doesn’t matter,” I mutter, lifting my head. “The why, the how. All that matters is they did it.”

“What do you want to do?” Titan asks me.

I glance over at Derek who sits there silently next to Grave. He looks as pissed as I feel but hasn’t said one word. I told him to be here this morning to witness our meeting with Jeffrey. He’s going to see how we handle shit and get a chance to redeem himself with the Kings. He will be my brother- in-law one day, and I’d hate to have to kill him. “What we always do,” I answer.

_______________

“DID YOU SEND the text?” I ask Derek while standing at the bar inside of the Airport. I’ve been here way too much in the past couple of months.

“Yeah.” He nods, double-checking his phone. “Should be soon.”

For someone who once hated us, he’s more than willing to help us out now. Derek is the only connection we have to Mitch that Mitch won’t see coming. And since he saw the report and understands what Mitch and Rachel tried to do—and the fact that Alexa’s life is still in danger—he’s out for blood. We’ll make a King of him yet.

I tip back my rum and Coke, looking over at Titan. He stands at the other end of the bar and nods, acknowledging me. I can’t see Grave or Bones right now, but I know they’re here. We split up to cover more ground. This place is too big for one person, and we don’t want to miss anything.

“They’re here!” Derek shouts, holding his phone up to me. “In the basement playing blackjack.”

“Let’s go,” I order before throwing what’s left of my drink back and signaling to Titan. He steps away from the bar. “Respond,” I tell Derek, but he’s already typing away.

We push away from the bar and make our way through the crowd to the elevator. The basement spans the entire airport underneath. The west wing is where their jail is; the east wing is their casino. It’s nothing like Kingdom —it’s illegal and off the books. They don’t even check IDs. Anyone of any age can come down here and try their hand.

We exit the elevator, and I fall back, allowing Derek to get ahead of me. I watch him make his way through the crowd and over to a table. He slaps Mitch on the back and starts up a conversation with him. Sitting beside him is Rachel, sipping on a margarita. They have no idea what is about to hit them.

Derek leans down, whispering something in his ear. Mitch nods a few times, then turns to say something to Rachel before he gets up and walks away with Derek.

They start to walk past me, and I turn my back to them, ducking my head. Once they are out of sight, I turn and make my way over to the table.

Rachel sits there playing blackjack. Removing my wallet from my back pocket, I pull out a hundred-dollar bill and toss it down while taking the seat beside her—the one Mitch was just sitting at.

“That was fast …” She trails off, looking over at me. “Cross?” She

swallows nervously.

“Rachel.”

Her breathing picks up, and she looks at the dealer wide-eyed, expecting him to help her out. He won’t. They don’t get paid for this kind of shit.

That’s what makes this place so dangerous for women like her and Alexa.

They will turn a blind eye and walk away.

I reach out and pick up her drink. She has over half left. “Here.” I hold it out to her.

She takes it with a shaky hand. “I don’t know …”

“Shh,” I tell her, pushing her hair behind her ear, and a shiver runs through her. Leaning in, I whisper in her ear, “Drink up. You’re going to need the liquid courage.”

The ice rattles in her cup from her shaking hand holding it, but she does as I say and brings it to her lips. She takes a sip and goes to pull it away, but I put my hand under it, keeping it tilted to her lips. She can’t swallow fast enough, and it drips onto her exposed chest and shirt. “Good girl,” I praise

her, and she chokes on it as I pull it away. “Let’s go for a walk.” I grab her arm and yank her from the table.

“Cross … please,” she begs, her heels trying to keep up with me. “I didn’t start that fight. Alexa attacked me.”

I laugh at her. She really has no idea what this is about. Good for her sticking to being innocent. She stays silent as I pull her down the tunnels and to the other wing of the basement. We come to the cells, and Turner stands there.

“What is this?” she asks nervously when she spots him.

“Rachel.” He nods at her. “Cross, the Kings are waiting for you.” Then he opens the door.

She goes to spin out of my hold and run away, but I grab her hair, yanking her to me. She screams out as I bend and throw her over my shoulder. She kicks her legs, and her fists pound my back the best she can, but she’s weak.

I pass the row of cells and come to the next open door. Stepping in, I see Bones, Titan, Grave, and Derek in the larger solitary cell with Mitch kneeling in the center. He has his hands zip-tied behind his back, and he has two more around his neck, but it’s not pulled tight enough to cut off his air.

Not yet anyway.

I drop her in the middle, and she falls to the floor next to him. She quickly jumps to her feet, but Bones grips her hair, forcing her to her knees.

“Cross …” She cries like I’m going to save her.

“I know what you did,” I tell her, not wanting to waste time. Alexa is over at Emilee and Titan’s right now with the rest of the girls. They are having a girls’ night—whatever that consists of—and I plan on crashing it and taking her home.

“What the fuck, man?” Mitch snaps, still pretending he has no fucking clue.

“No. No. I didn’t do anything,” Rachel rushes out. “It was Mitch …”

“You bitch!” He goes to throw his body into hers, but Derek grabs him by the zip ties around his neck, pulling on it, choking him.

“Look familiar?” I drop a stencil from Tit for Tat in front of her.

She begins to cry. “It wasn’t my idea.”

“You wanted her dead!” Mitch manages to get out, still fighting Derek’s grip. “You told me … I have proof of that.”

He does. I saw the photos in the report of their text messages. He did his part to throw her under the bus and was very careful with how he worded things. I’m sure, in person, he fed her full of shit. Got her wound up by promising her the world with me once Alexa was out of it.

“It may not have been your idea, but I have footage of you inside Tit for Tat removing those from my safe.” I pulled the footage an hour ago, and sure enough, it was her. Thirty minutes before I got the call about Lucky’s being on fire.

Bones shoves her forward, letting go of her hair, and she buries her face in her hands, now sobbing.

“Did he tell you that you could have me if Alexa was out of the picture?”

I ask.

She nods at my question.

I kneel in front of her. Reaching up, I push some hair from her tear- streaked face, and she flinches from my touch. “I was done with you before Alexa came into my life,” I tell her.

Her red-rimmed eyes widen at my words, and I stand to my full height.

“I’m sorry,” she sobs.

“Too late,” I say. Pulling out my Zippo, I flip it open and strike it across my jeans.

“Wait! No!” Mitch chokes out. “I have something … diamonds …”

I flip it closed, putting out the flame. “You what?” Bones is the one who asks.

He swallows and licks his lips. “I know where the diamonds that you’re looking for are.”

I hear Turner step into the cell behind me.

“He’s bluffing,” Derek hisses, yanking on his zip ties and forcing Mitch to look up at the ceiling.

“What is it that you know?” I ask him, nodding to Derek that it’s okay for him to let up.

He lets go, and Mitch takes in a deep breath. “I have them.”

The cell falls silent, and I reach up, scratching my chin. “You?” I question. He’s clearly lying to buy himself some time to try and figure out how he’ll get past us. But how would he even know we’re looking for them?

Bones snorts, clearly also not believing him.

“I swear,” he rushes out. “I was here to meet up with Kale weeks ago …”

He side-eyes Rachel for a quick second. “He gave them to me to hold just in case Turner was setting him up.”

“Bullshit.” Turner laughs at the mention of his name.

We never did find the other six—the ones we owe the Mason brothers per our deal. Like we had expected, they weren’t inside of Kale. We hadn’t given up looking for them, but that was put on hold after finding out who was involved in the burning of Lucky’s.

“I’ve worked for Kale for the past couple of months. He approached me here at the Airport and asked me to move product for him.” He licks his lips. “I was going to tell him no, but he had seen me talking to Alexa and promised me I would have her.”

I punch him in the face for even saying her name. I go to do it again, but Turner pulls me back and Mitch spits blood onto the concrete floor.

“You’re lying!” I shout.

He shakes his head. “He knew her. Said he was friends with Lucky, who gave her the bar. That’s where I first met him last year. I was up there seeing her, and he sat next to me at the bar.” Blood drips down his chin. “He knew how much I hated you all. He asked me to work for him, then …”

Grave snorts.

“It’s true.” Mitch goes on. “How do you think Derek knows so much about you guys?”

We all look over at Derek. He nods, not even bothering to deny it. “Mitch told me everything I know.”

“Kale told me how he was friends with the Three Wisemen and how they stiffed him out of Kingdom.” He licks the blood from his busted lip. “He saw you with Alexa here at the Airport and came to me.”

I start to pace the room, my right hand playing with my Zippo. It makes sense. It’s fucking crazy, but it connects the dots we’re missing.

“He then called me and said that plans had changed. You were hot on his trail, and he needed to get rid of you, and the best way was through Alexa. I never meant to kill her. I knew she wasn’t at Lucky’s. I just needed her to think you were after her,” he admits.

Rachel sobs, knowing that whatever he had originally told her was bullshit. He set her up. It was about Mitch getting back with Alexa all along.

“But Derek showed up before it could burn.”

No one says a word, letting everything he’s confessing set it. Bones was right—he’s telling on himself like the scared little bitch he is, thinking the truth will set him free.

“I swear,” he continues when none of us say anything.

“Okay,” I bite, coming to a stop. “Where are the diamonds?”

“I …” He trails off, looking over at her again.

“Look at me,” I demand, running out of patience. I have a girls’ party to get to.

“I saw you here the other night with her at the bar, and I wasn’t able to get ahold of Kale. I knew something was wrong when I saw you guys head to the basement,” he states. “I panicked and swallowed them.”

Bones eyes light up, and Titan gives a soft laugh at the change of events.

Finally, luck is on our side.

“I can get them,” he rushes out. “I just need ten minutes.”

“That’s not necessary,” Bones state, flipping open his knife. “Derek,” he orders.

Derek grabs the zip ties and yanks Mitch to his back on the concrete floor. Grave straddles his legs while Derek holds the side of his face down.

Mitch tries to fight them as Rachel jumps to her feet and tries to run away. I grab her from behind, wrapping one arm around her stomach, pinning her arms to her side while the other comes up to cover her mouth and force her to watch.

Bones shoves the knife into his stomach and cuts downward—blood pours out and onto the floor around him. Bones reaches in and digs around for a few seconds and then pulls out a tiny bag. Bones holds up his hand as blood drips from it onto Mitch. He lies there, his body convulsing a couple of times, then stops completely—he’s dead.

“I believe we had a deal,” Bones announces, standing and tossing the bag to Turner, who catches it midair. Some blood splashing on his clothes.

He smiles. “Never doubt the Kings.”

“Hold her.” I shove Rachel into Grave’s arms as he stands.

I kneel, flip the Zippo open, and light it once again on my jeans. Holding it to Mitch’s pants leg, I wait for the flame to catch and light him on fire.

Then I stand and turn to Grave.

“He said she’d be there.” She sobs in his arms. “That leaving the stencil behind with the company name would frame you. But you’d get off because of your connections. She’d be dead … and I’d have you.” She rambles out everything we already knew. Mitch played her, but she would have killed Alexa to play me.

“You were willing to let her die for what you wanted,” I growl, the burning body quickly heating up the cell.

She sniffs, her eyes full of fresh tears. “Cross … please?” Her hands reach to me to get away from Grave.

He lets go of her, pushing her into my chest. “Now I must do the same.” I shove her down to the floor onto Mitch. The fire catches on her clothes, and she screams as it attacks her like a wild animal needing to feed in order to survive.

The smell of burning flesh gets stronger. It’s a smell you’ll never forget.

It lingers for hours. And we all stand around watching them burn, making sure nothing is left, knowing that my Queen is safe.