Let's not rush ahead; damn, give me a minute.
Where was I? Mhm, yeah Barat's little visit had sparked a fire under my ass. Fuck Cousin Cassandra and her offer. God knows what I'd be forced to tolerate just to keep a roof over my head. I'd rather be miserable in my own suite in a mansion with staff at my beck and call.
Did I not tell you? Forgive me, Papa Knight's one stipulation for meeting was my agreeing to move in with him.
Fuck yes, Papa Knight. From that day forward, I saw myself calling him nothing else.
"Let's go," I told Barat.
The man's eyes bugged as if he'd been expecting and was prepared for a pushback.
Like I said, my bags were packed, and I had essentially been schlepping around my house waiting for the days to run out when I would be forced to leave. With nothing holding me back but sentiments the decision wasn't a difficult one. Think about it: Jump on the Greyhound to no-ville and waste away in obscurity or go live in a mansion.
With a better offer on the table, I took a last walk through the house which had been my home for eighteen of my twenty-two years. The only room I couldn't bring myself to enter was mum's. My whole body locked up as if there was an unseen forcefield at the threshold stopping me from entering.
Tears pricked my eyes. All my emotions from the happy ones to the sad painful ones rolled into a ball and lodge in my throat.
Did I bend, did I come close to breaking? I'm not ashamed to say my knees shook, and I near sank to the floor and slip back to the dark silent place I'd been wallowing in for weeks. Through the worst of it I closed my eyes, clenched by hands into fists at my sides, as I breathed in, deep and steady. I don't know how long I stood there for, but I opened my eyes, exhaled in slow measured breaths and, let that shit go.
Everything but the anger.
By the time I made it back downstairs and closed the door behind me for the last time, night had fallen. The street stood empty and a few of the surrounding houses were lit up like Christmas trees, while most lay dark. I didn't look back. Squaring my shoulders I descended the porch steps.
Barat had had my belongings loaded into the back of the Range Rover parked in my driveway. The damn vehicle fit the man's aesthetics. All-black and tinted up like it was built for stealth, sitting pretty on twenty-four-inch rims.
A second man and a woman stood by the open back door waiting for me to enter.
"Ms. Hollis, I'd like you to meet Nathan Carter." Barat stepped forward to make the introductions.
The tall blonde man's sleepy blue eyes swept over me. As if tallying the sum of my person in one quick calculation. Then, after coming to a satisfactory answer he dipped his head.
"Call me Nate," he said, voice butter smooth and just as soft.
"Nate has been assigned to you and will be your bodyguard for the foreseeable future." Barat explained.
My gaze passed over the big man, noting the pair of massive guns tattooed on his inner forearms. The unique shape and style reminding me of weapons you'd find in those military science-fiction video games.
"And this is Regina Shaw, your driver."
Regina was almost as tall as Nate six-plus feet stature. Though not as muscular. Where Nate clearly worked out and had the arms and chest to show for it, she more had a runner's sinewy build.
Her mahogany skin stood out against the pale pink of her slim-fitted blaze shorts set, showing off her small waist and firm ass. The woman was tattooed too. The hot-as-fuck big knife riding her right thigh and six set of throwing-knives on the left, were so surreal, they look as if I could walk over to her and lift them off her skin.
The shit turned me on.
Don't question it. I'll never lie to you about my feelings on any given subject or waste fucking time explaining myself.
Absently, my mind flashed to the switchblade tucked into my back pocket. I'd taken a quick shower and changed into black low-riding skinny jeans and a black mini crop-top, shamelessly showing off the underside of my proud breasts. If I raised my arms too high, I'd risk flashing my pierced nipples. The word bitch was scrawled in sparkly gold across my chest. To keep my damp hair from annoying me I'd swept it up into a loose bun. More than a few of the unruly curls had slipped free and were framing my lightly made-up face.
"Nice to meet you." Regina regarded me with unflinching brown eyes, with the same dreamy-eyed squint as Barat and Nate.
Three was hardly a coincidence but one more sleepy-eyed associate and I'd have to conclude Papa Knight only hired people who walked around looking as if they were in a daze.
The woman reached a hand up and swept her bangs out of her eyes. Streaks of blue stood out in the layered pixie, as jet-black strands fell back into place.
My gaze slid from her round face to the all-black leather interior, eyeing the Alcantara inserts on the seats and matte carbon fibre trim panels with an appreciative eye.
Aggressive and understated.
I smacked my glossy lips, slung the strap of my black duo crossbody bag hanging off my fingers over my head and walked forward. More than ready to move the fuck on. My life was at a crossroads. I could feel it as I stepped up on the running board and tilted my face to the dark sky. Loving the caress of the breeze cooling my warm skin, I paused long enough to enjoy the moment. Crickets chirped in the nearby bushes and not too far off, a dog barking cut through the otherwise quiet neighbourhood. Sending a prayer to mum to watch over me I ducked into the Range and sat.
Shit, was comfortable.
Did I have questions, doubts? Plenty.
Mum had a lot to answer for, but since I couldn't raise the dead, Papa Knight was damn well going to make it make sense. My whole life he'd been missing in action, and from all the bobbing and weaving Barat did to avoid my pointed questions, I got the sneaking suspicion Papa Knight had known about me. Which meant the fucker had been keeping tabs on mum, knew she was sick, and did nothing to help.
Fuck. Him.
I wanted to know the truth. I deserved to know why he was cool with watching me from afar. Do you know how many father-daughter dances I missed? How many Christmas-wishes I wasted as a girl, wishing for a daddy. I missed and longed for a man mum had turned into a giant in my heart. And all this time he was alive, he just didn't fucking want me.
I was so pissed.
At myself.
Mum.
Him.
But do you want to know the worst part, the truth I couldn't bring myself to face as we sped away into the night, leaving the city lights behind? Did she know? Did mum know the man I idolized didn't want me, and to make shit a little easier, told me a fucking lie.
The bastard didn't even have the decency to come to me himself; he sent one of his lackeys to fetch me like I was a damned lost dog.
An hour later I was in the Hills, stopped at a tall golden gate guarded by a set of black marble statues of Cerberus on either side. The pit of my stomach fluttered with nervous energy, though you wouldn't have been able to tell. For the whole ride I sat stone-faced, my gaze set on the passing world beyond the tinted windows. Barat had tried and failed to engage me in conversation until finally he gave up and turned his full attention to the phone in his hand. Both Nate and Regina kept their heads straight and didn't say a word.
I was grateful, the need to reserve my energy for the confrontation ahead didn't leave room for much else.
Some fighters wisely size their opponent up before they make the first move. Others go in swinging. Me? Oh, I was going in with guns blazing. I didn't give a shit about the fallout.
The heels of my MK Blaze booties clicked against the polished tile as I followed Anthony through the double doors into a grand foyer, for a second, I thought I'd stepped into the lounge of an exclusive hotel. The space could have easily fit my entire house.
Well, shit.
At first glance, no one was in sight, not even a butler. Barat and I had simply walked up to the front doors before they clicked open with the same automatic ease as the gate.
I barely had time to look around before a slender brunette popped up out of nowhere. Honestly, I blinked and there she was, smiling down at me like a wolf baring its teeth. It wouldn't have been much of a concern, if the woman wasn't flashing massive incisors.
Did she pay to get those done? Was this the new veneer trend for the rich and bored? I wondered, already dismissing it as stupid.
"Tony." A pair of grey eyes with an unnatural shine pinned me to the spot as she spoke to the attorney. "Who is this?"
"It's for the master to say," Barat answered, stepping closer to me as if to shield me without offending the scrawny jackal.
She reached out a bony hand to tuck a springy curl behind my ear. "It's probably my birthday surprise. And you've ruined it." She pouted.
It. You heard right. The word rattled around in my head like a loose screw. And why would anyone be giddy to have a perfect stranger as a birthday gift? And to do what? Have I died and transitioned to bizarro world and not noticed?
"Doesn't matter." She brightened, eyes sliding down my body with open interest. "I don't want this one with the others, I think I'll keep her close." Her tongue flicked out like a snake's, swiping across her bottom lip as if she could already taste my pussy. "Come."
Seeing red, I slapped the bitch's hand away. "Where's Hollis?" I barked at Anthony.
"Oooh. She's feisty. Nothing a few days of training won't fix."
Quick as a flash I drew for my switchblade. I flicked it open and pressed it to her jugular. "I'll let you have a taste sweetie, after you bleed for me. Would you like that, would you like to bleed for mommy?"
I told you I'm a hot head, and fuck if didn't have a thing for blood. Never stopped to wonder why; I've always been fascinated. Someday I'll tell you about the asshole walking around with my initials carved into his forehead. Sometimes I nut thinking of how hard I'd come riding his face with my knife sliding up and down his dick, coated in blood and precum.
"Hollis, put the knife away." That voice.
Have you ever heard a melody you're certain you've never heard before? But deep down you know it—like a forgotten fragrance pulling you back to a time and place, and you feel instantly at peace.
Papa Knight's voice had this same effect on me. Still, I'll be damned if I didn't teach the disrespectful wretch a lesson. Firming my grip, I drew my blade across her pale throat.
A hiss rushed past her bared teeth, grey eyes flashing darkly with retaliation. She raised her hand, but Papa Knight was there to stop her from striking me.
A pity.
"Enough Calista."
We stumbled apart, with him standing between us.
I noticed something, his soft voice didn't rise so much as an octave, but the way Calista quivered, as if he'd slapped her, left an impression.
"She cut me!"
"Next time you'll learn to keep your hands to yourself."
He wasn't angry.
Grinning, I leaned around his straight back to see my prize. The thought of fresh red beading up to the surface, staining her pale skin, made my nips hard as fuck.
Don't get prudish on me, you should know by now I don't hold shit back.
Damn, if I wasn't disappointed with the thin red line marring Calista's throat. Could've sworn I'd cut deeper, and I swear the longer I stared at it, the smaller it seemed to get.
"Go join the others, we'll be there shortly."
Calista's angry gaze cut to me. Yeah, I don't think she liked my way of saying hi. Hell, I didn't like hers either.
"Calista." Hollis asserted in the same even tone.
"Yes, father."