“How’d the meeting go?” The rain hasn’t let up since Vin left home, and the constant pitter-patter was starting to irritate him. He fixed Soren with a bored stare. “Do you even have to ask?” the crime lord replied. “Any news for me?” Soren smirked as he opened the car door for Vin, droplets of rain wetting his shoulder as he protected his master from the rain. “I have a package waiting for you at the warehouse,” said Soren as he settled into the driver’s seat. “Finally.” When the duo arrived at the said warehouse, Z was already there, picking at his nails waiting for them. “Took you guys long enough,” Z muttered as he slid the door open to let the two in. “It was freezing.” Vin ignored the complaint, while Soren snickered at Z’s expense. The warehouse as they call it was an old storage facility for their weapons. Towers of empty wooden crates lined each of the four walls. Vin didn’t want to dump them for they made excellent soundproofing, perfect for activities like this. “Loo
Callie saw Vin’s men off with a small smile while Ella started to set herself up in the guest bedroom. The doctor insisted saying she wanted to be there in case Vin needed her.“Well, uhm… I’ll see you in the morning, then.” Callie left Ella to get settled in. As Callie climbed up the stairs to retreat to her own bed, she spared a glance at Vin’s room.Her feet started moving on their own, entering Vin’s room quietly and gazing at his sleeping form. The beginnings of a song bloomed from her chest and before she knew it, Callie was humming a soft melody.Maybe it was her shock, but seeing Vin now, she finally figured out why she was so terrified. The chaos of seeing a bleeding Vin and his men scrambling to help him reminded her of her parents’ painful death. Tomorrow marked the sixteenth year of their passing, which didn’t help her mood at all.Callie sang in a hushed voice, careful not to wake the crime lord, but her feelings were all there. Her song soothed her pain and she hoped tha
Callie watched with mixed horror and fascination as her bullies’ faces blanched at the sight of Vincent Baros before them. Her breath caught in her throat at the notion of him exposing himself, but it didn’t matter who they thought he was. Vin walked and talked with certainty, and there was something in this aura that made him so terrifying. Whatever it was he told them, it must have been awful. Vin walked back to the car with the same swagger, smirking as if he were proud of what he’d done. “What did you do? What did you say to them?” Callie asked when Vin returned, craning her neck over the dashboard to see her classmates run back into the building. “I don’t want to talk about it either,” Vin repeated Callie’s words back to her with a small amused smile before putting the car into gear. The car eased out of the campus and into the near-empty highway. It was still a few hours before nightfall, but as they entered the Ashen City, some people have already set up candles and lanterns
Vin was frantic, his phone ringing nonstop as he wove through the traffic, blaring his horn at anyone who dared slow him down. The McLaren GT sped forward, side by side with ambulances and firetrucks. And with each car they passed, Vin’s anger escalated tenfold.“You’re wrong, Callie.” Vin, but the words out past gritted teeth. “There is no light, no hope, only suffering.”And as if to emphasize his point, Vin abruptly turned and stopped the car in front of a burning building, one of Vin’s properties, Callie assumed. But the fire was the least of Callie’s concerns.Before she knew it, Callie had unbuckled her seatbelt and rushed out of the car. In front of her, people were running and screaming for help. And it wasn’t just at this place. Everywhere in the city, this must be the scenario, with overwhelming terror all around.“Vin!”The crime lord pushed past Callie to catch the woman approaching them in his arms. She was gorgeous, with long blonde hair and a body that could stop a truc
Vin kissed the top of her head. Kissed. What did that mean? Callie didn’t know but it left her heart racing a thousand miles an hour. She couldn’t dwell on this. He wasn’t a friend, he was her owner. And it mattered not how morbid it was, Callie found that the explosions helped distract her from obsessive thoughts. She had a job, and she fully intended to do it well. Callie didn’t stop to rest until all the women and children who had begged for Vin’s help had been loaded onto the trucks. And even as her own truck—the very last one of the rescuer’s trucks— headed for the temporary shelter in the Tomb’s underground den, Callie scanned the road, block to block for any signs of survivors. “How old are you?” Callie asked Chris, her bodyguard at the moment. He sat beside her near the mouth of the truck, his rifle carefully strapped to his body. The young soldier cleared his throat. With his blonde curly hair and the nervous curve of his mouth, he looked no older than eighteen. He must
When Callie woke up, it was to the sound of weeping. Despite the pounding in her head, Callie forced herself to open her eyes. She was lying on her side, her head resting against someone’s lap. The hand in her hair stopped mid-stroke when they noticed she was awake. “Miss, thank God.” It was a woman’s voice, lowered yet relieved that she was awake. “What happened?” asked Callie. When she tried to sit up, the room spun. Shit. She might be concussed. A hand gripped her tight, allowing her to settle in a sitting position. It was then that she felt the bite of rope against her wrists, which were tied together in front of her. In her mouth was the rusty taste of iron, and her cheek throbbed with a dull pain. Even though she was with a few women, no one answered her. Their eyes shone with fear, and their hands trembled against Callie’s skin. “What’s going on?” Callie repeated, this time with more force. She looked around, squinting in the dim light, trying to make out of the situation
Vin’s fingers closed around his gun before he could think about it. His blood boiled as he watched Callie scramble from the ground to run away. Ella was about to get a scolding about leaving the knife with Callie, but he’ll save that for later. Right now, he needed to get to his songbird. “Move out,” he ordered quietly, and like a well-oiled machine, his men got to work. Taking advantage of the chaos, Vin blended into the crowd, keeping the gun close to his chest. From the corner of his eye, he saw Callie’s guard, Chris, closing in as well. The screams and gunshots faded into the background as the mafia boss hurried to reach Callie. His vision darkened when Callie fell and the man in pursuit pushed her roughly on her back. Rage consumed him at the sight of Callie, on the ground, disoriented and confused. Her cheek was already bruised, and a shot of fear tore through his insides when the barrel of the rifle dug into her face. The man’s words barely registered to Vin, but he knew th
Vin didn’t sleep that night. There was too much on his plate. Apart from the refugees in his den, he had to make sure they were prepared for any other attacks, and that was on top of tracking trucks full of women that he was sure would be trafficked if he didn’t retrieve them immediately. It was a race against time.When things pretty much settled, the crime lord looked upon the den and his chest stirred with a mix of emotions for his people. It was up to him to set things right, as quickly as he could.“Hey.”Vin looked up and spotted Soren walking up to him with a paper cup steaming with a dark liquid that he madly craved.“Thanks, man,” Vin muttered as he reached for the coffee cup.But to his surprise, Soren pulled the cup away. “This isn’t for you, it’s for me because I will be handling matters starting right now.”Vin scoffed. “You what?”“You heard me right. You will haul your ass upstairs and get some sleep in.”“I’m fine,” Vin replied. “I’m not tired. Give me the cup.”But Sor