ABOUT BRUTAL SAINT
I’ve waited almost two months to see my little angel again, and she doesn’t disappoint. Adrenaline seeps into my veins as I cross the street. It’s time to crack some skulls and take what’s mine.
Cole Saint
What are the chances that the man I shared a toe-curling, name-screaming, raging hot one-night stand with is part of the crime family that’s after me because I saw something I shouldn’t have? One hundred percent. The chances are one hundred freaking percent. At least I wasn’t stupid enough to give him my real name.
* Brutal Saint is the second of four books in the Vicious Empire Series. In order to understand the ongoing story, Cruel Saint must be read first.
CHAPTER ONE: HARLOW
Everything I own is in my backpack.
It’s an old habit that has worked for me ever since I got out of the system eight years ago.
I learned early in life to keep my valuables close and not to plant roots.
Growing up in foster care meant I moved around when I least expected it. People came and went, and I got used to taking care of myself.
I’m not completely on my own now. I have my brother, James, down in Oregon and my sister, Genie, here in Seattle. We were lucky enough to find each other again, but it hasn’t been easy. We grew up apart, and reconciling the close siblings we once were to the damaged adults we’ve become hurts my heart. This is why I dropped everything to come to Seattle when my sister called me a week ago.
She was in a bad place with a shitty boyfriend, and she was scared. She’d had enough and wanted to get out.
“Why are we going to meet this person? Do you know them? Why don’t we just leave?” My questions pour out of me, one after the other, from the driver’s seat of my car.
I should probably shut up. Genie is already showing signs of withdrawal, and I shouldn’t agitate her until I can get her home and to the help she needs, but something isn’t sitting right in my head.
Everything inside of me is yelling at me to cut and run.
“Just—I need to do this, or he’ll come after me. I’ve got to hand something off, then he said I’m done and he’ll let me go this time.” Her hands tremble in her lap as she looks down the street before pointing in front of us. “Park over here; it’s a few blocks away.”
The whites in my knuckles, which are clenched around the steering wheel, glare at me when we drive under a streetlight, and I park in the first spot I see.
Neither of us has much of a jacket on, and I twist from my spot in the driver’s seat to pull out an extra pair of mittens that I picked up for Genie at a secondhand store last week.
Her hands stop shaking for a brief moment as she looks at them, and I wonder if the mittens bring back the same memory as they do for me. As soon as I saw them, I had to get them. They match the outfit her favorite television character wore when we were little. I remember she wanted a pair so bad when we were kids. They had even smelled like strawberries when they were brand new.
The ghost of a smile haunts her features as she puts them on and lifts one hand to her nose. Inhaling deeply, she closes her eyes.
She remembers, and I’m sad all over again. I wish I could take her back and give her the childhood we all should have had.
I can’t go back, but I can go forward.
As soon as we leave this city, I’ll be there for her every step of the way. I won’t give up on her. Out of the three of us, she fought the hardest for our family, and now I’ll fight for her.
Turning the car off, I look over to the passenger seat, and her expression worries me.
Empty eyes stare down a dark road into the distance, and I wonder if she feels like running away as well. Maybe I could convince her to leave with me right now if I pushed a little.
“I love you, my little Harley.” Her voice is a whisper. “I don’t remember if I said that when you came to get me. My brain isn’t working right.”
I whisper right back, “I know, Genie. I love you too.”
I want to cry.
I want to let it all out.
Years of being separated.
Years of feeling alone—but I hold it in, and I smile.
I always smile. Even through the pain.
I smile.
When she turns her head to face me, her eyes are glassy, and I swallow a lump in my throat. “Thank you for rescuing me.”
I choke back all of my words and nod sharply.
“Let’s do this and leave tonight. I’ll have us home in five hours.” I smile—again.
We have everything we need in the car anyway. I made sure she packed her belongings before we left. There’s no way I’m taking her near that asshole ever again.
Her lips thin into a tight grin before something else flashes across her face. “Can I get the keys to the trunk?” She reaches her hand out, and I drop them into her upturned palm.
The cold air slaps me as we step out, and I lock my door the old-fashioned way since the car was built decades earlier. When I look over the top of the car at my sister, her eyes are lowered to the side.
“Those flowers.” She shakes her head before she circles to the trunk and opens it.
While she rummages through the contents, I glance down to what she was looking at.
There is no mistaking my beater in this city. I bought this car from a flower shop that went out of business last month, and you can’t miss it—it’s got large daisies and roses painted all over it.
It was all I could afford.
Genie shuts the trunk and joins me with nothing in her hands.
“Everything okay?” I ask.
“Yeah, just checking on our things. We need to get going. I texted the address a few minutes ago. She said she’s coming.” Genie tightens her thin coat around herself to keep the chill out, and I follow her across the street and down an alley.
My nerves settle a fraction when I realize we are meeting a she and not a he.
We approach an office building, and alarm bells go off in my mind when Genie pulls out a key and opens a back door in the loading area. I hold my question back. I don’t want to stress her out any further.
The building looks like it isn’t finished, or maybe it’s being renovated, but at least it’s warm. I follow her into the main area, where she unlocks the front door to the street before turning and walking down the hall.
She stops abruptly, then spins to look at me, and her expression catches me by surprise.
She looks lost. The sister I remember is gone, and I hope she’s only hidden away while we get this done.
“You’ll wait in here.” She turns to what looks like an office and urges me through the doorway. “Hide if you need to, but don’t let anyone see you no matter what. Do you understand?”
She’s anxious all over again, and I nod, hoping not to push her any further. I step into the room, my own nerves firing on all cylinders, and she turns to walk further down the hall into the next room.
I stand still, waiting, staring at the hall for what feels like an hour when I finally hear the front door open, and it’s just now I realize this office doesn’t have a door on it yet.
I take five steps back into a corner and cloak myself in the shadows as a man walks by and glances into the room without stopping. There is no recognition on his face. I’m sure he hasn’t seen me, and I release my breath in a deep sigh.
My sister’s voice travels through the wall when a chill runs up my spine.
She said she was meeting a woman.
Panic grips my heart, and I take a step out of the shadows without thinking when a gunshot sucks the air out of the room.
I don’t know if I screamed, but my hand is over my mouth as I take a step back into the corner and freeze, my body going numb.
Less than twenty seconds later, a second gunshot echoes in the empty building around me, and tears burst from my eyes in the silence.
Heavy footsteps thud into the hall and past the room I’m in without stopping.
I wasn’t seen.
As soon as the front door closes, I run as fast as I can into the next room.
It’s a larger, open area, but I find my sister right away. She’s lying on the floor.
She looks like she’s sleeping, but I know she’s gone.
A pool of blood swells around her, and her vacant eyes stare up at the ceiling.
I reach for her hands. Everything slips away from me as I touch the mittens I just gave her to keep her warm.
I remember seeing a phone in the room I was hiding in, and I stand to hurry back to it when the front door opens again.
I waste no time. I can’t be found here, so I run back to the only hiding spot I know.
A different man stops at the entrance to the room and looks in. I stay still in the shadows, knowing my life depends on it. He glances down the hall toward the other room and pauses before turning and heading toward Genie.
Taking a deep breath, I look around the area. The phone sits on the desk, just out of my reach, but it isn’t plugged in. The cord is wrapped around the handset, and I’ll make too much noise trying to set it up—if the lines are even working.
I consider using my own phone, but I know these things can be tracked now. I glance at the hall.
I have to assume more people are coming, and someone will eventually walk in here and find me.
I’m not ready to leave Genie like this. I have a couple of places to lie low until I figure out what to do.
Right now, I need to get out of here.
I remember seeing an emergency exit just before this room. If I run into the hall and back out, maybe I’ll get away before anyone sees me.
I pad quietly to the office entrance and glance once down the hall toward the room where Genie is. My heart aches that I have to leave her here.
I didn’t rescue her.
I hid in a corner while she was murdered.
I couldn’t save her.
She needed me, and I let her down.
My emotions build to the point of explosion. I use my anger to push me around the corner, and I slam my body against the door.
The sound is loud.
I’m sure I was heard, but if I run fast enough I should be around the first corner before anyone gets out of the building.
The cold air hits me, cooling my tears, and I run away and into the night as fast as I can. Each building I pass and every alley I clear takes me closer to my car, and I jump in and start it up, peeling down the street without looking back.
Once I’m far enough away, I pull out my phone and send off a message. I’ll find a place to hide out, then I’ll leave town in a few days and go home.
Home.
The place where we should all feel safe and loved.
Genie doesn’t get to go home.
Tears pour down my face, and I finally let myself sob. I want to hear my pain, and I cry and scream as I drive toward the little hole I’ll hide in.
From there, I’ll get a message to James and make my way back to him in Portland.
James was the one who told me not to come here.
He said Genie was mixed up with the wrong crowd and she was too far gone, but I know she wanted to come home.
I didn’t listen to him. I waited until he went to work, then I snuck away and drove up here against his wishes. He’s been texting me almost every hour since.
I wanted my family back, like it used to be before our mother died and we all got pulled apart. I barely remember her now. She wasn’t present when she was alive, but I know she loved us. She put herself out there, worked twenty-hour days and did everything she could to keep us fed. Her life was a losing game, and she did just that. Then we all lost each other.
When my mother was gone, Genie filled her void. She made sure I ate and went to bed. She took care of me, and now I’ve let her down when she needed me most.
I love you, my little Harley.
I’ll never hear that again.
