Poisoned Rose (Dark Roses #1) (20 page)

VI

              Hawk climbed out of the Escalade under the cloak of darkness.  Up and down the street he heard car doors slamming, Mason soldiers jumping out of vehicles, armed and ready for the final battle.  He checked the custom AA-12 that was slung over his shoulder, then the Berettas in the holster at his hips, the knives in their sheaves across his chest and finally, the vial of acid in his pocket.  He was embarrassed to admit, even if it was only to himself, that his heart was racing.  At twenty two he had been killing for nine years, but the night that lay ahead would be different.  He was about to kill his own blood.

              Staring up at the twelve thousand square foot monstrosity, he was offended that his uncle was arrogant enough to set himself up in broad sight.  He had left New York with the single aim of taking over L.A, and kidnapping Angelina was pivotal to his plan.  She had been a hostage for five days, and that was five days longer than his father had wanted.  Carter had delivered the ultimatum mere hours after Angelina’s kidnapping; abdicate the L.A Mason Family throne or lose your daughter.  Mario had decided he would do neither.  The night’s final battle would be the end of the shortest, and bloodiest, underworld war in L.A’s history.

              When Mario stepped out from behind his Escalade, his guns were up and there was no pause in his step.  With his sisters, Hawk was right behind him, AA-12 at the ready as every other Mason soldier moved forward, a wall of impending death.  There would be no stealth, no sneaking up and over the walls; Mario wanted a hostile attack, and that was what they were about to deliver.  It was rare for a boss to take the lead, but Mario wouldn’t have it any other way, the surveillance cameras capturing the image of him leading his army into battle.  As he gunned down the four guards at the front gates, Honor and Ty aimed their Milkor MGLs and launched grenades into the walls, killing any of Carter’s soldiers that had rushed to the forefront.

              Once they were in the grounds, the alarms started going off, red strobe lights hissing across the sky, the sirens blaring, attempting to reach law enforcement.  No one was coming to help them, Mario had made sure of that.  Reaching the marble steps, his machine gun all but disintegrating the front doors, Hawk caught sight of Halo shooting through a window, a soldier slumping on top of the broken glass, blood flowing in a steady stream from the bullet hole between his eyes.  Through the double doors, Mario and Vivienne raced up the staircase, backed by more soldiers than he managed to count, while others dispersed in all directions.  He could hear Angelina’s screams echoing through the halls and he felt rage race through him as he rammed into an enemy soldier, tackling him to the ground before ripping his chest open with his knife.  He could hear his father yelling at Carter to open the reinforced metal door, and Ty bolted up the steps, grenade launcher in hand.

              Hawk burst through the kitchen, coming face to face with two of his cousins, both with their guns aimed at him.  Honor came through the door behind him and he launched himself at one of them.  Carter’s son had no time to react, Hawk was older and more experienced.  They brawled but with his gun point blank to his cousin’s chest, Hawk registered who he was fighting and for a moment everything stopped.  The cousin whose name he had erased from his memory was the only one who was like him.  Out of all of them, they shared the same curse.  One blue eye and one green eye stared back at him, filled with hatred and spite.

              ‘Why?’

              He found himself asking.

              ‘Because your time is over.’

              The shot exploded and his cousin’s head fell back, the eyes he knew too well blinking for the last time.  Hawk took an anguished breath as the roars from upstairs filtered through the ceiling, Mario taking on Carter.  No sooner had it started than it was over but the damage was irrevocable.  Angelina was found shackled to a bed, her body destroyed.  They took her home but she was gone soon after.  The struggle for power was over, but it would never be over for them.  They were destined to relive it again and again, every night, for the rest of their lives.

Thirty Three

              Hawk opened his eyes to find Aurora standing at the window to his room staring out at the sunset.  His heart soared at the sight of her, the knowledge that she had been waiting for him to wake up.  He cleared his throat and whispered her name but when he tried to move pain shot through his shoulder and he gasped.  She rushed to his side, sitting on the chair beside his bed and taking his hand, smiling at him and pushing his hair away from his forehead.  Except it wasn’t Aurora, it was Honor, and Ty was with her.  He had been on the other side of the room and had moved to stand behind her when Hawk had woken.

              ‘Hey baby brother, how are you feeling?’

              If Honor was being affectionate, he knew that his condition had been bad enough to scare the shit out of her.  He tried to talk but his mouth was dry and Ty handed him the bottle of water that was next to his bed, taking the lid off for him.  It was something he never would have done in any other situation, but Hawk was glad he did.  It saved him the embarrassment of having to ask for help.  As he drank, he remembered the events that had led up to his shooting and he tried to prepare himself for what he knew was coming.  Looking at Honor and Ty’s faces, he could see relief, and he felt awful.  He should have been happy to see them but instead he was devastated that it wasn’t Aurora.  If she had been waiting for him, he would have known that she was able to look past what he had done.  But she wasn’t there, and he didn’t blame her.

              ‘I feel like shit.’

              Honor laughed and Ty smirked as he told the truth, omitting the fact that it wasn’t just physical pain he felt.  He caught Ty’s eye and Ty shook his head, apologizing for what he knew Hawk wanted to ask.  Then Honor spoke up.

              ‘Aurora was with you the whole time you were out but she just left… I’m sorry.’

              He looked at his sister.  Aurora still cared enough to want to make sure he pulled through, but she didn’t want to face him when he woke up.  Honor and Ty were the only two people who knew how deep his emotions ran, and he was thankful they were the ones who were there when he woke.  He didn’t think he would have been able to keep it together if it had been anyone else.  For the first time in his adult life he found himself choking back tears.  Honor held on to his hand and looked at Ty before she spoke.

              ‘We had the emergency Sit Down and everyone’s supporting us.’

              Hawk made a rough noise, trying to indicate that he thought that was a good thing, then Honor stepped in and told him what had happened within their family.

              ‘The boss hosted a teleconference with grandfather, our uncles and Aunt Rosalie.  He came straight out and accused them of conspiring against us.  As expected they were outraged but he told them that if they wanted to prove their innocence, they had to fly out to L.A.’

              That meant that within the coming weeks, their six remaining uncles, their aunt and their grandfather would be arriving in town, some with the intention to provide support and clear their names, others with the aim of bringing everyone down.  The problem was, they had no idea who would take what action.

              ‘Grandfather in particular is offended but we knew he would be.  He is playing along though.  He instructed everyone to stay in different hotels across the city and is allowing us to track movements but has made it clear that there will be no personal cell taps.  He says that given everything that happened with Carter he understands the boss’ stance, however we are all still blood related and deserve some level of respect.’

              He scoffed as Ty remained silent, unwilling to weigh in on the issue.  It was common knowledge that their grandfather engaged in favoritism.  He had sent some of his children to different states to build their own empires, and had forced others to stay with him.  While their eldest uncle Leo was the heir to the New York throne, Carter and his twin brother Cash had been named captains and refused their own states.  With Carter dead, Cash was the obvious number one suspect, but it wasn’t that simple.  Some states did better than others, and some of their uncles refused to accept that it was because they didn’t work hard or smart enough.  Los Angeles and Chicago did the best, so their uncle Hunter was lower on the list of suspects, as was their aunt Rosalie, but not because her state did well.  She was lower on the list due to different reasons.  However, none of that mattered.  Everyone was a suspect, high or low on the list, and their world was about to become a much more dangerous place, for the other L.A Families also.

              Thinking about it made him even more depressed.  Before whatever it was he and Aurora had had, he would have been prepared for the war. That had been what his life was about.  But after learning what it felt like to love and be loved, only to have it snatched away, he wasn’t sure how he was going to cope.  He knew he had to come to terms with the fact that he was going to spend the rest of his life alone because he had destroyed his one chance at happiness.  It was time to rebuild those walls, only this time they were never coming down again.  He decided to change the subject.

              ‘Ty, can you give us a sec my man?’

              ‘Sure, I’ll be outside.’

              He noticed that Ty had patted Honor’s shoulder when he had spoken and she had turned to watch him walk out of the room.  When Honor looked back at him in confusion, he broached the topic he never thought he would.

              ‘He’s a great guy you know.’

              She looked surprised but the rushed shake of her head and the blush that spread from her chest to her cheeks gave her away.  While her words denied that she had feelings for Ty, her body indicated otherwise.

              ‘I was coming to the surgery for my arm so I told Ty I’d give him a lift because he shouldn’t be driving yet.’

              Her awkward excuses flowed one after the other, as if she was trying to justify her actions in as many ways as possible.  He wasn’t even sure she realized she was doing it and he wondered if she even knew how she felt about Ty.

              ‘I’m just saying, you could do a lot worse.’

              She started to shake her head again but stopped and looked away.  If the room hadn’t been so quiet, he wouldn’t have heard her next words.

              ‘I know.’

              Then she patted his hand and left.  He heard her tell Ty that it was time to go and the hitch in her voice let him know that as much as she denied it, Honor was starting to fall in love with Ty.  He hoped she wouldn’t block him out, they were perfect for each other, and if anyone deserved a happily ever after it was them.

              He had been stupid to think Aurora could look past his flaws, that she could love him despite all the evil he had committed.  He had let himself believe that he had good in him and maybe, just maybe, he could be happy.  Somewhere along the way, he went from cherishing the moments he had with her and accepting that the memories would keep him going for the rest of his life, to fantasizing about having a life with her, where he could live in each moment without having to struggle to memorize every detail.  But his father had been right.  They weren’t good people, and it was time that he learnt to live with that.

Thirty Four

Six weeks later

             
Aurora thanked Honor for letting her in to the Mason training center and held on to the banister as she made her way up the steps to the second floor.  Her heart had started racing before she’d left the house and her palms were sweating as soon as she’d pulled up to the building.  She could hear the fighting in the ring as she took the last two steps and froze the moment she saw him.  Hawk was shirtless, in black boxing shorts and trainers as well as a black helmet and gloves.  Ty was dressed in blue and they went back and forth across the ring, throwing every move imaginable at each other and taking blow after blow, springing straight back to attack.

              As soldiers started noticing her, she covered her new tattoos at the juncture of her elbows, the red roses out of place amongst the blue.  Given the environment, she wasn’t surprised at the unwelcome looks she was getting.  Some of the soldiers wouldn’t know who she was, and all strangers were considered threats, while others knew exactly who she was and that she sure as hell wasn’t a Mason.  But she wasn’t leaving until she had finished what she was there to do, and so she waited, putting up with the glares and sleazy glances.

              It had been six weeks since she had walked out of Aiden’s surgery and in that time, there wasn’t a day that went by where she didn’t think of Hawk.  But she had forced herself to think about her life, to reassess everything that had happened and how it had changed her.  She had gone with Vince to Switzerland on business and had stayed behind, spending time on her own in the family chalet, learning who she was.  It had been while she was over there that she had realized that she couldn’t keep blaming herself or Hawk for Mike’s death.  She had been ready to marry Mike and Hawk had let him die in the name of business, and none of that mattered.  It was what it was, no amount of self torture was going to change that.

              As she stood waiting for the boxing match to finish, she tried to remember everything she wanted to say to him.  She was rubbing her palms against her jeans when Ty saw her and stopped, copping a right hook to the jaw that sent him crashing down.  Hawk knocked his gloves together and stayed light on his toes, waiting for Ty to get up but instead, he took off his helmet and said something that she couldn’t hear.  She didn’t need to though as a second later Hawk spun around, and she felt her knees go weak.  He took off his helmet and stepped out of the ring, and she started walking towards him.  When they reached each other, he spoke first, his voice gruff, his chest puffing as he panted from exertion.

              ‘My office is upstairs.’

              Then he walked past her and she felt gutted.  She sensed Ty watching her but when she turned to make eye contact, he looked away and stepped out of the ring, heading towards what she assumed were the showers.  She followed Hawk and ran through everything she wanted to say in her head.  She had one chance at getting it right and she would never forgive herself if she blew it.  When they got to the office, Hawk threw his helmet onto one of the seats and went to the mini fridge in the corner of the room.  He took out two bottles of water and offered her one, but when she declined he put it back, and gulped down half of the other as he moved to lean on the front of his desk.  She cleared her throat but didn’t sit down.

              ‘I’m sorry I left before you woke up, I didn’t think it was right for me to be there… sorry, let me start again.  The reason I left before you woke up is because I wasn’t sure of what I felt after what you’d told me in the apartment… wait, I’m sorry…’

              She was stuttering and Hawk’s expression was blank as he watched her.  He’d put the bottle down on the desk and crossed his arms.  She sighed, and blurted out everything she felt.

              ‘I’m still in love with you, I never stopped loving you.  I should have stayed and given you an explanation.  You deserved that, you deserve so much more than that.  I didn’t know who I had become, so much had happened in such a short time and I never got the chance to stop and get to know myself.  You were honest with me, you opened up your heart and let me in and I let you down.  I was selfish and I ran as soon as it got tough.  I don’t blame you for Mike’s death, I want you to know that, and if you’ve moved on and you don’t love me anymore, I don’t blame you for that either.  But if you give me another chance, I will spend the rest of our lives proving to you that I’m the type of person you deserve.  I know I already said it but I love you.  I’m in love with you.  I always have been and I always will be.’

              She was flushed when she finished, but Hawk’s expression hadn’t changed and she knew he had moved on.  She had lost her chance to be with him.  She felt herself tearing up, feeling a physical pain at the loss of any chance of happiness she had left.

              With nothing left to say she started to walk out.  She had almost reached the door when he called out her name.  She turned, expecting him to tell her never to contact him again.  But he closed the distance between them, cupped her face in his hands and kissed her like she’d never been kissed before.  She wrapped her arms around his neck as she started crying and she could feel him start to smile.   Then she was looking into his eyes as he spoke the words she never thought she’d hear.

              ‘I have loved you from the moment you opened your eyes, and I will continue to love you long after I close mine.  I will always be yours Aurora.  I don’t exist without you.’

The End