CANNONSIX YEARS LATERโCOME IN. TEN fucking four, whatโs your stats?โThe inobtrusive buzz sounded in the comms and I fucking went nuts.If Jason fucking Bates died in this humid and stifling country, Iโd unearth him and kill him for a second time.My comm uselessly tucked in my ear, I called again for any sign of life, my rifle pointed towards the warehouse couple miles away.Shit in Mexico hit the fan, the minute I realized that my target was no more than a rogue terrorist gang taking immigrants as hostages. Whilst I couldnโt call my old boss, I had resorted to asking for help from the three most annoying fuckers I hadnโt seen in years.Jason Bates.Fucking Blaze.And stuck up in the ass, Holy.โCannon?โ Holyโs voice came with a pitch and I hissed.โJason went in. Motherfucker hasnโt said a word sinceโโI know. Blazeโs comms is dead. Seems like they knew we were coming; theyโve got jammers all over the placeโโYour computers able to fix that or what? I need eyes and where I am, I c
NICOLEHEART in my mouth, drained physically and mentally, I held onto my two sons.Lucasโ words rang in my mind like a sick twisted broken record. One that hit a delicate spot in my body, tearing me up from the inside.โIโm letting you be free, Nixโ, heโd said and in a moment of weakness, I had believed him.Only you know what being free meant?Freedom meant Lucas sending his goons to kill me at the airport.Freedom meant me fighting nook and cranny for my boysโ lives.All the bullshit things that had happened to me were my fault.All the bruises inflicted on me by Luke and his brutal men were on me and I fucking deserved it.I was the woman who had cried wolf, ran into the hands of the angel I didnโt know in a bid to escape the devil I knew. The devil who was my boysโ real father.Lucas Hawkins had turned into the behemoth I hadnโt seen coming, the minute Jr and Connor turned two, something sinister grew in him.Suddenly our boys werenโt his. Suddenly the love heโd showed our boys t
CANNONSTITCHED UP KNIFE WOUNDS, bullet holes were fucking childโs play compared to the shit that unfolded in front of my eyes.And this one, motherfucking damn it, hurt as hell.I had a kid. Jesus Christ, I had two. Two boys that looked like shit because their pussy as fuck mother couldnโt tell me about them.Sheโd tried to run.Like a fucking pussy, sheโd tried to run and for the fuck of it, I was ready to shoot. I was ready to shoot her brains the minute my two kids called her their mother.One of them looked like me while the other had inherited her caramel hair. Fuck!Whipping out my cell, I made a call angry as fuck at the turn of events.He answered on the first ring.โI donโt care whether sheโs your responsibility or not. We land, Iโm taking out my shit on herโโBy killing her?โ Berkely countered and the thought of it didnโt sound too bad.It didnโt matter whether she was the mother of my kids. Falling for those gravy-like eyes and an angelic face was way past my MO.She was st
NICOLEI WANT MY KIDS.Three words that alarmed me beyond words. Our boys sleeping on my lap, my eyes glossy I searched for his gaze in the narrow front view mirror.โYou canโt take them away from me. They are my kidsโโYou put them in danger!โ his voice sounded like metal being scraped against another metal. Terrifying and so true and I hated myself at that moment.โI did what I had to do to keep them safeโโWhatโs that supposed to mean?โI would fight for my boys. Even if it meant going against the man, I thought of every damn second of the day.โTheyโll never forgive you if you take them away from meโ, I almost resorted to tears knowing damn well if Cannon filed for custody I would be separated from my kids.Iโd spent time with Lukeโs lawyers to know enough about what was ethical and not ethical.Case scenario, not telling Callan about his kids. My kids going hungry for two days because I fell into a trap. Letโs not forget the injuries on them. Everything aforementioned being like a
CANNONCANNON JUNIORS, WOULD YOU LOOK AT THATPindrop whispered and for the most part of it, I ignored the fucker.My associates wouldnโt know what this felt like it even if it hit them like an IED blast from a ten-foot radius. My boys lay on the bed in the witness room and the fucking sight in front of me was enough to wish that they stayed in my home forever. That they lived with me for an eternity, heaven be damned.Too scared to even touch them, my large as fuck hands leant at the edge of the bed. Tainted, scarred, I didnโt want to pass my sins to them.I didnโt want the ink that tainted my damn life to taint theirs. I was their father but at the same time I was a God damn soldier who had more blood on his hands than a murder weapon. And for the first time in my life, I was fucking prepared to leave the rogue life behind me.No more guns.No more missions.And no more motherfucking bodyguarding.Living in a cute suburban house with a white picket fence surrounding me sounded as bo
NICOLEHETEROPATERNAL SUPERFECUNDATION, that's what the doc had explained and upto now I still couldn't grasp anything.Old me would have laughed at my situation, at the odds of my life turning into the telenovela I used to watch on Telemundo.New me however was terrified to the core. Lucas was Connor's father and he knew about it and he wanted us back. The thought of going back to him irked me worse than drinking pickle juice.My hands brushed Connor's hair while Jr snored to my left. How did things go so downhill?How did my life end up like this? And my sons. God knew things had changed so drastically.Lucas was a monster and I'd be a fool if I let him get close to Connor or Jr for that matter.The car we were in moved at a slow pace and I watched the trees swing at a carefree tempo and at the moment I envied that.I envied the freedom the barks of wood had. Swinging with the breeze, doing whatever the fuck they wanted.But this was freedom right? What I had at the moment was freed
CANNONโThis is you starting a normal life with your woman and your kids beside you. Enjoy you fucking retirement Asher donโt whine at everything like Jason doesโJason was a whiny pussy, everyone knew that and although I had sworn, I wouldnโt fall in that category, shit around me was making no fucking sense.โI hate people, you fucking know thatโโDonโt we all? But for the first time, soldier, shit ainโt about you only. They have to lead normal lives. Blend in with people if you want them to survive from the fucker thatโs after themโBerkelyโs translation for, the limp dick who thought he would survive if he tried to take me on.Lucas Hawkins wasnโt a shark in my world, he was a mere tad pole growing his skin and I would kill him any day if he tried to come close to me and my family.โIโll kill him before he does soโ, I roared my grip on the phone hard enough to break it.โHey thatโs our job. Your job is to be there for them, now for safety precautions lose the number CannonโโHow su
NICOLEDON'T GET ME WRONG. I LOVED BARBEQUES. My dad and I went to some of them very often every time elections were close by but this was different.We were going to a normal barbeque-ish gathering with people we didnโt know. God, if it were those cranky men from back in the days I used to converse with, I wouldnโt be this nervous.Senators were easy to charm but normal fucking people, that was hard and with what happened with Lucas the last thing I needed was seeing people.I rubbed my hands together standing by the foyer as I waited for the boys. They had been nervous as hell too.Well Jr mostly. Connor seemed ecstatic to go out, to make friends.Smoothing the crispiness of my dress again, I raised my head ready to shout for Jr and Connor that we were getting late only to find Callan leaning against the wall with a devilish grin.He owned the color black. Every black thing he wore seemed to be interwoven with him, seemed to perfectly match his physique and his aura. Because come on
CASSANDRA BATESTHREE WEEKS OF INCONSISTENT NAGGING.I was so mad at him, I wanted to kick him in the shins for everything. But hurting him was hurting myself too and I wasnโt prepared for that.The first week Kade had made it clear no woman of his was staying in a walk-in closet carrying his kid and so heโd rented a luxurious penthouse for me.I took it under the one condition I would be paying rent monthly. That was my first mistake, assuming he would even take my money after the lustful and apologetic look he gave me when he left me in my new apartment.The second week was even more stressful. With him showing up at my apartment door with breakfast and baby necessities I didnโt require yet.The third weekโฆIcarus woke up and I had been beyond thrilled knowing I hadnโt somewhat killed him. I visited him everyday and everyday Kade Hawkins was there, waiting for me with a grin and donuts and healthy drinks I hadnโt asked for and I rejected them.Rejected him. Not missing the pained ex
LUCIA AMATOTHEY said when your turn to die came, you could feel it in your bones. Feel it in the way you faded into nothingness not knowing what was beyond death.When that bullet had hit me, somehow that feeling had latched onto me. The feeling of welcoming death and saying goodbye to everything.Yet when I opened my eyes, light stinging my eyes with a vengeance, the last person I expected to see was the love of my life glancing down at me like an answered prayer.โHey, princessโ The smile he wore was enough to tell me everything was okay. I wasnโt dead. We werenโt separated, everything was going to be okay yetโฆMy hand searched for my tummy, the IV needle injected to my hand hurting far worse than a bee sting.โHey, hey, heโs fine. The babyโs fineโI didnโt realize there were tears in my eyes up until he said that.And when the first tear fell down my cheeks and the rest came crushing like hail, my throat throbbed as I whispered โSorryโ over and over again.I jumped in front of hi
KADE HAWKINS/ CONNORTHERE WAS only so much shit a man like me could take before he went berserk.I was on the verge of losing the one man who I would call my brother. The one man who was more of family to me than anyone else in this shitty world.On the same fucking day, the woman I would have gone to war for dumped my sorry ass. Regretfully telling me she was done with meโฆfor good.And that shit, her tears, her words ate me up, nothing bloody made sense anymore.โShe needs a minuteโ, my brother from another father quipped beside me not knowing the hell I was going through, the sting that was Cassieโs words and the gnawing fact that I had hurt her and I hadnโt apologized to her yet.โSheโs done with meโ, I muttered and we stood in foreboding silence looking at the theatre doors where Iceโs surgery was still going on.โGood because her handing your ass is your wake-up call to chase after her and earn her forgivenessโ, Jr continued, I still couldnโt understand why they all stayed.Jaso
CASSANDRA BATESEVERYTHING HURT.Physically, emotionally, mentally, I wasnโt doing okay even as the doc assessed me for the hundredth time in the night.Seating at the edge of the bed, trying to piece everything together, I was on the verge of insanity and knowing that Icarus was somewhere in this massive hospital trying to hold onto dear life because of me devastated the hell out of me.The doc offered me a wan smile, all I could do was pretend that I wasnโt going mad when the truth of the matter was, I was. Indeed, going mad.โEverything looks fine, Ms. Bates given your umโฆearlier predicament. A few scratches here and there, nothing major enough to affect the baby. I would recommend a few ointments for the-โI had already tuned him out the minute I heard a word I didnโt think would ever be directed at me.Reality came crushing in and with it so was confusion and happiness and anxiety and everything a person like me whoโd just been kidnapped and slapped with a dose of heartbreak coul
ICARUS โICEโ HAWKINSEIGHT YEARS AGO, I WAS THE SAME fucking schmuck working for Lucas Hawkins. A scrawny kid with a maid for a mother, no father, no money, no fucking worth to anybody.And hell, I would have been the same loser all my life after mumsy died of typhoid or some shit of the sort had it not been for HIM.KADE FUCKING HAWKINS. MY GODDAMN SAVIOR. My partner in crime. My brother.The same bossโ son who thought we were equals. The same kid who had everything I never had and hated it.Money. A powerful father. Power. He had it all and the fucking kid hated every inch of it.I envied him. All my eighteen years of being his best friend and I envied everything he had. But apart from envy? I looked up to him. He might have been a sour pussy, hell a pain in the ass but the kid had his heart in the right place, had that urge to do what needed to be done to get ahead in life and I respected that because I wanted it too.And when the kid got his first dose of power, I straight up jump
CASSANDRA BATESโW-WHAT?โA pulsating headache threatened to split my head apart as I winced.I moved my handโฆat least tried to anyway because my hand felt numb. Both my hands felt numb and any tiny movement made something rattle against my body.Prior memories of what happened came to my mind all at once upping the headache even further.I was crying, damn it after what had happened with Lucia, Kade and Jace, I had ended up like some hobo on the street crying thenโฆthenโฆMy eyes shot open and like someone had knocked my head with a bat, everything came back biting me in the ass.The unwelcomed light ate my eyes without mercy but thatโs not what made my heart pulsate madly in my chest.It was everything in my surroundings, it was in the way, my hands, my legsโฆI was tied up!I was tied up!What was this placeโฆhowโฆoh God what wasโฆI sat in the middle of the largest warehouse Iโd ever seen and I would have been at ease if there were other thigs in here but noโฆit was me alone in a creepy p
JACE `JR` ASHER/ TRIGGERLEFT, RIGHT, FRONT, THE beeping machines haunted me. I hadnโt slept a fucking wink not that it had mattered because the fucking doctors took their time in there.Four hours and counting, theyโd completed the surgery but none of them geeky fucks had showed their asses to explain what was going on.How was she?How was my kid?โHow are you holding up?โ Ontario shot me a passive look and I shot him an equally tired one.Everyone was here but, in all honesty, I felt alone. I felt helpless and most of all I felt like someone had gutted me and yanked my entrails from my body.The chief, Flames, had brought every goddamn man in B&A to console my ass but heโd avoided me entirely and I had a good hunch it was because of the one man no one talked about.My bloody fucking asshole of a brother.The one whoโd escaped his grave and unleashed hell on me.I didnโt answer. Ontario lay his arm across my shoulder.โYou should have never fallen in love, buddy. Christ, you look wo
CONNOR/ KADE HAWKINSTHE WINSTON BLUE DIAMOND ring THE SIZE OF MY HEAD stared back at me and I could only stare back at it nursing a whole lot of emotions that wracked and unnerved me.I breathed but I wasnโt really breathing.I tried to think but every ticking moment went to what happened yesterday.Stupid. Fucking stupid.Why hadnโt I realized, why hadnโt IโJr was alive! They all were and I hadnโt searched enough, hadnโt spent every last dime of daddyโs money to look for them.I had been stunned the minute the forty something year old man stared at me like he knew me while ironically aiming a rifle in my damn face.Then as if all the memories that had been caged in a tight little box had been unleashed, I remembered him.Remembered him with my father.Remembered him carrying me in his shoulders telling meโฆtelling me to call him Uncle Jay.And thatโs what I remembered; he was Uncle Jay. The cool uncle. The one who pissed my fathโCallan most of the times.And the man who peeked at me
JACE โJRโ ASHER/TRIGGERโJ-Jace, THE BABYโโT-the babyโHer blood oozed from that spot on her chest I was trying so hard to apply fucking pressure on.Her eyes were dimming and there was nothing I could do as I held her, my hands trying their best to incorporate every single fucking thing I had learnt from B&A about handling a situation like this.โStay with me, princess. Okay? S-stay with meโMy voice croaked; my heart pumped so hard I could hear the blood thrum in my ears with an uproar.She was making it. She was going to make it. The baby was going to make it.She had to. They fucking had to.My hands were bloody, covered with her life, covered with my mistakes, when she opened her lips to speak, I saw life ebb out of her the same way my mother and fatherโs screams had assaulted my ears as fire took them away from me.โLuce? Lucia? Come on, baby. Donโt, donโt do this. DonโtโโAnd when my eyes couldnโt see shit, every noise I had tuned out since Luciaโs body went limp in my arms ca