Arranged love

“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.Content held by NôvelDrama.Org.

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.