Saint: A Dark Romance (Saint and Sinners Book 1) Read online

  Natalya poked her head into the kitchen. “Chef, we have a special order. Lobster tails with chive butter and sage rolls. Short ribs with mushrooms and lentil pilaf. They ordered our best vintage.”

  Ryan didn’t look up from his fish. “Adeline.”

  “On it, Chef.”

  Our best wine and lobster tails? These were the kind of customers we wanted becoming regulars.

  I marched through the kitchen, collecting ingredients for the portions I’d make myself, and doling out the sauce and rolls to Stevie and our pastry chef, Milos.

  Soon, I had the lobsters grilling and the scent of the lemon butter was wafting in my nose. Maybe I’d pop to the grocery store after work and then visit Daddy. The meal I made us would be nowhere near as fancy as this, but Dad never complained about my steak and potatoes.

  Stevie brought out the sauce, setting it beside me as I presented the plate and then added the final touches. It went out the door with my final thoughts about it. On to the next dish and customer.

  “Order of macaroni crab and squash salad,” said Ryan. “Adeline, get on it.”

  “Yes, Chef.”

  Another trip into the walk-in fridge, I returned loaded down with ingredients and found Natalya at my station.

  “Something wrong?” I asked.

  “Just the opposite. The guests took one bite and asked to compliment the chef. Do you have a minute to talk with them?”

  I glanced at the clock and then at Ryan who was already frowning at my standing there and chatting.

  “Tell them their compliment is received and appreciated.”

  Natalya saw where I was looking. “I know you’re busy, but they were most insistent on speaking to you in person. Please, Addy. They’re the kind of patrons we want coming back.”

  “Okay. Just one minute.”

  I followed Natalya out, smoothing down my jacket, and quickly taking off my hat to fuss with my hair. Waterford was middle- to upper-middle class. The cute mom-and-pop eateries were found in this borough while Leighbridge laid claim to the fine dining and Michelin-starred restaurants. Salvatore slashed staff pay to the bone in aid of bringing that fine dining to our side. Helping him achieve that dream meant good things for my financial future.

  Natalya led me around the bar. The dinner rush hadn’t quite started. A few couples and small families murmured to each other over candlelight, basking in the soft classical music.

  “Sirs,” Natalya said. I made out an elbow and jacket hung over the chair from around her back. “This is your chef, Adeline Redgrave. Adeline is a promising young talent which I’m sure needs no announcing.”

  “Absolutely not.”

  I froze.

  Sweeping aside, Natalya left me bare and exposed to their eyes. Sinjin and Cash sat eating my food as though it was the most natural thing in the world.

  “I only wish I could’ve tasted what she does with rabbit,” Sinjin said.

  His smile stuck two pins through my feet, leadening my bones. They found me. In a week, they discovered my name and restaurant.

  Natalya laughed. “I’m sure we can make that happen, sir. If you book a catered evening with us, we’d tailor the menu to your liking.”

  My internal voice screamed for Natalya to shut up. These were not patrons we ever wanted back.

  Cash set down his glass and waved a hand at her. “You can go.”

  Bowing, Natalya left us alone.

  The silence stretched between us, and my jaw clenched feeling that smile corrode my insides one molecule at a time.

  Sinjin took another bite of his lobster and moaned. “Damn, girl. You don’t mess around in that kitchen.”

  “How did you find me?” I rasped.

  “Prestige scanned your license at the front desk,” Cash replied easily.

  “To the man’s credit,” said Sinjin, “he wouldn’t be lowballed. Demanded a high price to serve you up to us on a platter, Adeline Redgrave of 145 Broad St, Rockchapel, apartment 4... B.” His lips made a little pop around the final letter.

  I glanced to the left and the charming couple sucking down plates of tomato pesto and salmon.

  “You won’t do anything to me here. Not in front of all these witnesses.”

  “We know how to handle witnesses, Bunny.”

  “You’re not going to handle me.”

  “Oh ho,” Sinjin crowed. “Didn’t I tell you I liked this girl, C? Normally, I’d love to play this out and see how long the tough act lasts, but I’m afraid we have to eat and run.”

  “We’re leaving,” Cash told me. “Now.”

  “I’m not going anywhere with you two, Killian. Wake the fuck up from that dream.”

  “Sweetie, I suggest you wake up and come to understand the situation you’re in.” The muzzle poked out from under the tablecloth. “I’m not asking.”

  My eyes bugged. “He—!”

  Sinjin was out of his seat in a flash. Grasping the back of my neck, he pressed my face into his chest and leaned over my ear. “None of that, Bunny.” His whisper was warm breath sending shivers up my spine. “We’re going to have a chat. That’s it.”

  “You don’t have to do this. I didn’t go to the police, and I’m not going to. You have no reason to see me as a threat.”

  “Who says that we do?” Sinjin skated down my chin, tracing a line with his mouth that curved my jaw. He tipped me back, raising me to lose myself in swirling pools of blue and gray.

  The breath trapped in my chest as he curled around my neck. Heart hammering, heat suffused my body.

  He’s feeling my pulse.

  The racing traitor was letting him draw all the wrong conclusions. Then I noticed something pressing into my abdomen.

  “Don’t speak. Don’t scream.” He was so close, I felt his lips form the words on my cheek. “Wave to the nice people and walk calmly to the door. Understand?”

  With a knife in my stomach and a gun trained on me, I understood.

  “You’re putting in quite a lot of effort into trapping the bunny that got away.” Slowly I turned, taking one step. Then another. “Should I be flattered?”

  “Deeply.”

  The three of us passed an empty table when Sinjin spoke up.

  “Wait. Almost forgot.” He doubled back and scooped up his plate. He grinned at me. “Shall we?”

  I stared at him in disbelief. This fucker is certifiable.

  And I’m letting him lead me into a dark alley at night.

  We walked out, receiving a curious glance from Natalya on the way. Cash smoothly stepped into my path as I made eye contact with her. These men weren’t stupid.

  The darkening sky brought frigid blasts of wind with it. It sent a plastic bag whipping wildly through the alley, skimming close to the men posted up on the nail salon’s back wall.

  Cash prodded me to the center of the narrow space, enclosing me on all sides in their web.

  “This better be the spot where you kill me,” I voiced. “Because wherever it was you tried to take me the other night, you’ve seen I won’t go quietly.”

  “What are you afraid of, darling?” Mystery Man said. “That we’ll pass that pussy around until we get tired of you and then put a bullet in your head?”

  I held his gaze. “Yes. I’ll skip to the bullet, thank you very much.”

  To my surprise, he chuckled. “I’ve racked up quite an impressive rap sheet, if I say so myself, but rape isn’t on it.”

  “Then who are you people?!” I burst out. “What do you want from me?”

  Sinjin circled me, still picking off his plate. “It’s like this, Bunny. You’ve seen our faces. Know that we’re the Merchants. You saw Spencer meet with his unfortunate end. You say you won’t go to the police—”

  “I won’t. I haven’t. I had that option for an entire week and I didn’t take it.”

  “Why is that?”

  I jumped. I hadn’t noticed how close Cash had gotten to me. His exhale tickled the hairs on my neck.

  “Because...”
I dropped my gaze. “Raiden knew what he was doing when he framed you for that job. He knew it’d paint a target on your heads and set off a war that no one wants. Not you and not this city. I’d gotten used to walking around with just the pepper spray for a lewd old man, instead of the spray, pocket knife, spiked keyring, and quick step from my bus stop to my apartment.

  “People like Raiden Spencer live high in their towers, far from the fear and spilled blood, and they don’t care about the people dying for their greed. I’m sorry he is dead.” I glared at Sinjin. “And you are a sick, twisted son of a bitch, but I won’t have the Merchants declare war on me to avenge the death of a man who is little better than you.”

  “What I tell you guys?” Sinjin threw at them. “This one’s got some common sense in her head, and damn”—he ripped off a bit of his sage roll—“she can cook.” He nodded. “Alright, decision made.

  “We did bring you into this alley to kill you, Bunny. Put your body in that dumpster over there and let the pretty Natalya find you.” He shrugged. “You understand that men in our position can’t let a witness run around free, even if she promises not to say anything.”

  “But I—”

  “Shhh.” He passed his plate to Cash to put a finger over my lips. “It’s not you, it’s me. I have trust issues.”

  I stepped back and bumped into a hard body. I looked up into Brutal’s eyes, recalling visions of plastic and gloves. “Where does that leave us?”

  “It leaves us with this. We’re offering you a job.”

  “A— Excuse me?” It wasn’t possible I heard that right.

  Sinjin jerked his chin. “Mercer.”

  The man I now knew to be Mercer slipped a card out of his pocket.

  “Be at this address tomorrow. Three o’clock,” Sinjin said.

  The men strode off like the matter was settled.

  “Wait— Hold on!” I cried, reading the address scribbled down. “I already have a job, and even if I didn’t and was sleeping on that couch cuddled with Captain, I wouldn’t work for you.”

  “Oh, did I forget to mention?” Sinjin faced me, walking backward out of the alley. “If you don’t show up, we’ll pay your friend, Gianna Cross, a visit. Maybe pick her up when she’s out back behind the Harmony hooking up with her boss. After that, we’ll swing by Papa Redgrave at Waterford Retirement Home.”

  My lips parted, but nothing came out.

  “Goes without saying that if you rethink your no-snitching stance between now and then, they’ll both be dead before the cops track me down. Matter of fact, Brutal and Cash are off to babysit them now.” He waved. “Until tomorrow, Bunny.”

  The card crumpled in my fist.

  I stood there long after they’d gone, tears transforming to stinging ice in the bitter wind.

  “Adeline!” Ryan burst outside. “What are you doing out here?”

  My mentor towed me inside.

  “I need you cleaning and steaming the bok choy. There is nothing more important.”

  SINJIN

  Glowing specs passed by below. Hundreds of people moving too fast. Seeing too little. Feeling nothing at all. They were foolish not to stop and breathe in this city.

  Cinco was a marvel that deserved to be admired. Malice and corruption seethed under the surface like writhing worms under a kicked-over rock.

  It was a criminal’s wet dream.

  In Cinco, the stakes were higher. The women fucked harder. The alcohol burned sweeter.

  The fear was palpable.

  I tasted it on my tongue every time we did a job—surging on the power that we could take what we wanted, when we wanted, and no one would ever stop us. No one would get in the way of what we were truly after.

  “Sinjin.”

  “What?”

  Mercer joined me at the window. He placed a drink in my hand. “Do I have to ask, Sin, or will you just give it up?”

  “Unlike what you’re used to, I make you work for it.”

  “Why her?” The question flowed smooth and calm. “Why did you give that girl our address? Why are you bringing her on?”

  “She’ll be useful to us.”

  “How’s that?”

  “Bunny will reveal that to us as time passes. I have no doubt about that.”

  He fixed out the window. “I don’t understand why you didn’t kill her the first or second time you had the chance.”

  “You’re asking me that? Usually you’re whining and whimpering in the corner when things get bloody.”

  “I don’t do the whimpering,” he said, amused. “I’m a lover, not a fighter—though I recognize lethal measures are sometimes necessary. We wouldn’t be on the same side if I didn’t. I’m not saying I wanted to kill her. It brings me no satisfaction to kill an innocent woman, but I know a little something about breaking a person, Sinjin. She’s got that look in her eyes that says we’ll die trying.”

  “I know.” My cock twitched in my pants. “Doesn’t that sound like fun?”

  I thumped his shoulder. “That’s what we need. Fun. The knights drank till they pissed themselves and visited every brothel in the village before they went off to war. Why shouldn’t we?”

  “We should... until she inevitably becomes a problem. What will you do then?”

  I sighed. “The bunny intrigues me. The second that’s not the case, I’ll get rid of her. Does that put your mind at ease, Silva?”

  He swept out his arm, bowing deeply. Mercer took off and surrendered to the hold of the party while I returned to admiring my city.

  The music turned up, bass thumping and rattling the ice cubes in my glass. The perfume touched me first, then the hands snaking around my waist.

  “Sinjin,” she whined. “Why are you standing over here being boring? Come play with me.”

  I gritted my teeth. For the fucking life of me, I’d never understand why women put on that little girl voice. What could be less fucking sexy to a grown man than for his date to pout like a seven-year-old?

  Adeline wouldn’t pout or whine. She’d give it back as good as she got—even while a man put her on her knees.

  My tongue darted out, seeking the ghost of her on my lips. Twice she faced me and twice she didn’t cower. Didn’t plead. Didn’t show the respect I’d come to demand from those who did and did not know my true self.

  “A little bunny hops in the path of wolves,” I whispered, “and she wasn’t afraid.”

  “What?”

  I lifted my arm, hooking around her neck and bringing my drink to her lips. She drained it without complaint.

  Cash and Brutal were taking care of our new pet. Mercer and I had our own shit to do.

  The party he got us into was in another rich boy’s penthouse and filled with another stable of drunk cokeheads that couldn’t tell the girl they were trying to hump from the crack in the couch cushions.

  Except for Mercer, of course. Sober as a judge and knowing exactly what to do with the two naked women on his lap.

  “Candy,” I said. “If you want to play with me, you have to deal first.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You’re Corbin’s favorite ride.”

  She swatted my chest, giggling.

  “The guy spends every last cent he has to slither into bed with you. Someone that taken has deluded himself into thinking you’re his girlfriend. Don’t tell me the guy doesn’t share more than he should with you.”

  Candy shrugged delicately, smiling away. “Client confidentiality is binding between escorts too. Sorry, Sinjin. There’s nothing I can say.”

  “No?” I molded her to me, slipping my hand under her shirt and stroking the small of her back. Candy immediately rubbed my crotch, enticing my uninterested fella to sit up and take notice.

  Corbin of the Harlow Kings couldn’t stay away from Candy, but I personally had no trouble turning her down. The little girl voice killed my erections stone-dead.

  But tonight, my cock would get over his hang-ups.

  “I’m not asking
for his deep dark secrets here. I want to know if the Kings plan on striking back for the jeweler.”

  She winced—which said more than enough.

  “Oh yeah, Sinjin. Angelo’s raging. No one strikes the Kings in their own territory and gets away with it. What were those guys thinking?”

  “I heard it was a frame job,” I said. “Anyone can put on a mask and knock over a shop.”

  Candy shook her head. “No, these guys had a yellow M stitched on their masks. Only the Merchants do that. It was definitely them.”

  If Candy doesn’t buy it, the Kings won’t either.

  “They’ve got the word out for anyone who knows who these guys are to give them up. They’ll be paid more money than they can count if they do. Makes me wish one of those guys was deluding himself into thinking I was his girlfriend too.”

  I chuckled along with her.

  “How much money we talking?” I asked.

  “Hundred grand for a bitch taking orders. Quarter of a mill for the guy giving them.”

  I whistled. “They got any takers?”

  “Not yet. No one’s talking. Why?” She squeezed my dick through the fabric, stroking more insistently. “Do you know something?”

  “Nah. Just whispers. Couldn’t go to Angelo with that.”

  “Then why are you interested?”

  Grinning into her eyes, I shifted them to burning, fiery cognac brown. Her ivory skin turned tawny. Blonde hair darkened at the roots and spread to the tips. I wound it around my finger, catching flecks of red in the light.

  “Because,” I began, “when I finally know what I need to know, Angelo and I are going to have a chat.”

  “As long as you split that finder’s fee with me, daddy.”

  I refused to let the voice destroy the image of Adeline.

  “You’ll have to give up a lot more if you want your cut.”

  “Oh, I can give it up.”

  ADELINE

  I looked from my phone to the building and back to my phone. Stubbornly it insisted I had arrived at my destination.

  What the hell am I doing here?