Fierce King by Ivy Mason

Nine

Coulter

Family dinner that night was filled with an incredible tension. With father giving Bourbon and I his all-too-knowing gaze, like he knew exactly what we’d been up to, and Bourbon sending me glares filled with hatred, I'd barely been unable to stomach the delicious food Marisol prepared.

Unless we were working for the family, we were expected to sit down and eat together on Sundays. To pretend that we were a normal family with normal things to talk about.

My mom babbled on and on, talking about the new and upcoming charity event, something she was all too happy to host. The woman put on airs in front of her friends, all to hide the fact that for the first few years of my life, we'd grown up in a trailer north of Naked City, the sketchy side of town.

I'd mopped my bread, freshly pulled from the oven, into my gravy while she droned on, giving her the appropriate responses she expected, while my younger twin brothers fought over the last of the sweet buns.

Even though we had the same blood coursing through our veins, they didn't feel like my brothers. They were eleven years younger than me, only thirteen years old, and I barely even saw them.

I also had my suspicions that the only reason my parents had had an "accidental pregnancy” was because my father had grown indisputably disinterested in my mother. Of course, everyone knew he had his side pieces, but he'd gone as far as parading his latest fling around the house, right in front of my mother.

Only two months after that, mom had unexpectedly become pregnant, and all other women, secret or not, were banned from the house. The deal was cemented when she'd given him male twins, more strength to add to the King family name.

My father would have to kill her to get rid of her now, and I would never let that happen.

As much as she annoyed me, I watched everything he did around her, even paid to have extra security secretly installed in her room.

Sure, Knight hated having to occasionally watch their fucking but I didn’t trust my dad to not try anything, so it was worth it.

I wasn't the one who had to watch when they had sex, so it was no skin off my back. Plus Knight said it “only lasted about ten minutes or so,” only enough to keep my mother happy, before he disappeared to one of our many clubs where he conducted his more sordid affairs in the privacy of his back office.

Dessert had just been served when my father spoke the words he was finally dying to speak all night. He'd put down his glass of rum, casually eyeing Bourbon. "So. I heard you still haven't finalized the deal with Dimitri yet."

The slight hesitation of Bourbon's fork as he slid a small bite of one of Marisol's famous dulce de leche cakes into his mouth was the only indication of his panic. He shook his head, sucking the moist piece into his mouth and swallowing it down before answering. "Not yet. But we're close."

“You said it was a done deal." My father answered, appearing as if he wasn't particularly concerned but I knew that all his focus was on Bourbon's answer.

Bourbon's eyes went to his plate. “That was before Rose was taken."

Of course my father knew about her disappearance. As head of the family, he knew everything when it came to the King business.

He grunted. "I don't understand what her disappearance has to do with the negotiations."

Bourbon leaned back in the chair, looking relaxed even though he was anything but, and I clenched the fork in my hand tight, worried he was going to blab the truth. I'd messed up too many times, and Bourbon had probably had enough.

"Her kidnapping happened on our territory, he expects us to take care of it."

Father's eyebrow crooked upward. "And you haven’t dealt with it yet?”

Bourbon's shoulder came up. "Almost. We found the person responsible but we haven't found her yet."

"And you haven't tortured the information out of him yet?"

"We can't." Bourbon gave him a bland look. "He's dead."

At this, Bourbon glanced my way. Our eyes met for less than a second but I knew he'd just given us away. My father noticed every single thing in this house, especially when it came to me and Bourbon.

My father put down his glass and leaned forward, his look fierce. My mother immediately stilled, straightening, and even my twin brothers were tense. He pointed the end of his knife at Bourbon. “No son of mine would ever put their own desires over family business. If I find that either one of you had anything to do with the disappearance of that girl, I will kill you myself.” There was a weighty pause and mom sucked in a short breath, then swallowed it down. My father didn’t look at her, but kept his gaze on Bourbon and guilt tore through me. “Is that understood? Kings understand that family business comes before anything else. I have four sons, and no need for all of them."

Rage burned in my stomach and I clenched the fork even tighter, trying to keep from stabbing him in the eye.

The silence stretched out, except for my father's breathing, which had gone heavy.

I was pretty sure that threatening his own sons brought him the greatest of pleasure. You could see the furious excitement in his gaze, the way his fingers trembled with anticipation, as if he were itching to choke one of us out.

It was Bourbon who broke the wall of silence. He leaned forward, putting himself physically between me and my father's line of sight. His voice was low and stark with promise. "If anyone in this room had anything to do with the disappearance of that girl, I will kill them myself, and bring you their head."

After a silent beat, my father straightened with a grunt. "Good."

I quietly opened my lips, exhaling a silent breath, counting down the seconds before I could get the hell out of here. I was not looking forward to meeting Bourbon alone, where I knew he was going to lecture me on the danger I'd put ourselves in.

Not only was Dimitri waiting for her dead body to be delivered, but my own father wanted heads to roll.

As soon as my father was done with his drink, giving the unofficial signal that dinner was over, I leapt to my feet and rushed towards the door, grateful that my keys were already in my pocket. As soon as I was out the front door and out of sight, I ran, racing towards the garage, ignoring Bourbon's voice calling after me. The sound of my Shelby roared as I tore out of the garage, forcing him to jump out of the way as I barreled down the driveway, cursing at me.

Seconds later, my phone rang, and I hung up on him, putting my phone on ‘do not disturb’ while I waited for the gate to open.

I kept it on through the rest of the night, occasionally checking my messages in case I missed anything important. By midnight, I'd had ten missed calls from him, and just as many angry texts.

I ignored them all, knowing he was going to kill me as soon as he saw me.

I drank more than usual that night, dealing with business at one of my more lesser known clubs to keep out of sight.

In the meantime, I hired two more strippers, and dodged more calls from Lucy, annoyed with myself that I hadn’t dealt with her yet. I also collected payments due from several of the clubs in the vicinity, even though I was a few days early. The highlight of my night was watching Candi, one of my favorite strippers, as she took down the house with her routine that included both fire and ice.

I waited until four a.m. when the club finally closed down for the night and, after my standing appointment with Candi when I came to the club, I walked her out the back door to her car. The sky was growing lighter and the streets were practically empty.

I watched her leave, then slid into the seat of my own car, exhausted.

"Hello, little brother."

I nearly shit myself at Bourbon staring at me from the passenger seat, a Glock 45 in his hand, pointed right at me.

"What the fuck?!" I groused, then swallowed down anything else I was going to say when I noticed that the safety was off. My throat was suddenly dry. Had I finally pushed him too far?

“No talking." His voice had the cold edge he used when he was talking with someone he was about to kill, and I knew this was as serious as it was going to get between us.

My mouth snapped shut and I gingerly placed my hands on the steering wheel so he could see them. I didn't want him killing me on accident.

“You see, Coulter, this little stunt has created a fuck ton of problems. And once dad finds out, which he will, he’s going to lose his ever loving mind. Dimitri is one step away from putting out a hit on us; I'm fairly certain he already suspects the truth. So it’s time for you to man up, Coulter. Time to take your place in this family instead of letting me take care of all our problems. Are you ready to do that?”

I nodded, not speaking.

“Now, tell me the truth. You want Rose?"

I nodded. There was no way in hell I was giving her back.

"Fine." He said, and my face slacked, completely shocked at his response. He answered my unasked question. "The problem is, I want her too.”

My lips parted at his confession. He’d surprised me again. I thought him determined to give her back, or kill her, something to make up for what I'd done, to fix the rift between the Bratvas and our family.

I waited in suspense for his next words. What was he going to do next?

“We're going to play a game, a competition between you and me. The winner gets the girl, and the loser has to take care of the consequences." His eyebrow crooked upwards. "You willing to put your life on the line for her?"