14 Months 12: St Patrick's Day

Over the two weeks following the attack on the Blackjacks, eleven of the thirteen men had recovered enough to make their way home for the funeral of one of their brothers. However, Kai and Zander required the services of private nurses to be able to return to their hometown, but they were determined to be with their brothers as they mourned the loss of one of their own. Bear had gone down with three shots to the chest as he had struggled to block the attackers from entering the car. Roo the other driver and Bears best friend was still unconscious and being kept alive by extreme measures as they all came to terms with what had happened.

Despite the best efforts of the Alliance and the four brothers uninjured in the attacks, Sophie, Layla and Stella had not been located. Hard information about who had targeted them was scarce and the suspects many. Two of the decoys had also succumbed to their injuries despite heroic life-saving measures being taken, one of them being the woman who had claimed to know who had ordered the attacks. She had put the blame squarely at the family's feet moments before the attack. Most of the leading players in the various families of the underground were accounted for. They had been within their home territories with their trusted men on the night, dispersing suspicion that they had been behind the synchronised attacks. That didn't diminish what the woman had said in the car, but it did make isolating the attacker more difficult.

"You think there's a new player on the scene about to start a war by trying to unite the old families before the Council could?" Asher asked for about the tenth time. His analytical mind still raking over what little they did know about the plans formulated by each of the different factions of their world.

"I have a theory," Kai said quietly having a similar suspicion to Asher although neither of them had voiced it until now. Kai spoke so rarely that when he did, everyone went quiet and turned to look at him. He'd broken his left arm and leg in the accident, as well as more than a few ribs and he still wore the casts requiring a wheelchair to move around between the houses which was why they had all started staying in the seventh house a majority of the time.

"Well," Jack prompted after a few beats of silence. "Let's hear it then. It can't be any worse than anything else we've come up with so far."

"Ash, you said Jayce held you back from getting to the airport earlier to take the flight as planned?" Kai asked.

"Yeah, it's the only reason we were still there when the call came in about the accident," Ash nodded.

"Jack called you, but Jayce got a call too, didn't he?" Kai prompted going over old information, making his brothers frown until Jayce interrupted in a defensive pose.

"What are you trying to say? That I knew this was going to happen and didn't warn anyone?" Jayce was horrified. "I was worried about the decoys; I had a gut feeling something wasn't right. I wanted to know Roo had gotten Zander and the others to their plane before we left. If I had even the slightest inkling of what would happen when the girls arrived home, I would have been right behind them," he shook his head knowing how it could look like he knew more than he did, but he didn't. "I've already told you Henry called less than a minute before Ash got the call from Jack."

"Calm down, brother. I didn't accuse you of anything. I am trying to point out the fact that by our known chain of events, Nick called Jack immediately from the crash site. Jack called Ash pretty much immediately after that so, how the bloody hell could the council have called Jayce even only seconds before Ash got his call?" Kai asked, pointing out the glaring oversight they had all made. They also picked up the other two girls and took them into safe houses around the same time. Rob wasn't happy although Bart seemed to agree with the council."

"You think they knew? Maybe they had intel about it and swooped up the girls they could get to before the family or whoever took our girls?" Connor asked.

"I think they, along with what's left of the Calabrese and other original family outfits could be working together as the new players in the underground we have been hypothesizing about," Kai shrugged. He leaned back then having said what he needed and listened to his brothers debate the feasibility of such an outlandish suggestion, before saying outright, "I think the council could have been in on the attack if what Nick remembers is accurate. They hadn't planned to kill any of us just incapacitate us. They couldn't have counted on Bear fighting back and taking out one of their men."

"There's no proof he did except that you all heard a gunshot and he was the only one with his gun in his hand when they found us," Jayce said. "We don't have proof of anything right now."

"Okay, I'll live up to my reputation and be the arsehole here," Nick raised his voice above the general murmuring. "Let's say Kai's theory is correct and the council has been working with a new player in the underground. We changed our plans at the last moment to include the decoys. Not all of us had that information until mid-afternoon. How could the council have known you chosen ones had all separated unless one of you checked in with their mentor and told them of the changes to our plans." He looked directly at Jayce although he hadn't verbally accused him of doing anything. Every eye in the room following his gaze and landing on Jayce.

"It wasn't Jayce," Connor stepped in. "Daniel calls every couple of days to check on Layla because she was so broken when we found her and took her from the family. "I didn't think anything of it when he called to check that we were prepared for the event. I didn't give him our schedule, but I did mention the decoys and that we were more than prepared this time. Except we weren't. Were we? I'm sorry guys, I never once thought we would have to guard against our mentors."

"We don't know if we have to now," Jayce said. "It's only one theory out of the many we have come up with over the last two weeks since they vanished into thin air. Not even one red herring has been found to give us hope."

"Okay, I'll play rather than leave Nick looking like the total arsehole of the group. If we are getting everything off our chests here then..." Matt paused and rubbed his face with both hands before looking at each of the chosen six in the eyes before speaking again. "If this was a game and all three of these women were on short term contracts with you anyway why are we so prepared to put ourselves and our brothers through more danger to get them back. These aren't wives, mothers, sisters, they are game players and were never meant to be permanent fixtures in our lives."

"I'll take this one for the team," Zander spoke after the silence had stretched out while each man considered the question. He glanced Darius's way as if expecting him to react the most to what he was about to admit. "I never had any intention of handing Sophie over to the council or releasing her completely," he admitted. "I can't even tell you why I would risk my position by keeping her close and hiding her from those who wanted her, but I would have. There is just something..." his voice trailed off as he looked at Darius who was nodding.

"I felt the same," Darius admitted.

"I didn't feel that way about Stella, but neither do I want to see her back in a place like where I took her from," David said.

"I think I could have grown to feel that way for Layla, but I agree with David, I can't think of anything worse than knowing Layla was shattering into a million pieces all over again," Connor agreed.

"I'm heading back to Garden City tomorrow with Nick and Tom," Jack said. His wounds were still healing, but he couldn't sit behind his technology anymore. "It was the Calabrese stronghold, and if someone is trying to use the girls to summon the old family ties, there will be word on the street there before anywhere else. We'll work with the Knights and keep a low profile."

"I'm coming," Darius said emphatically. "Con and Dave can coordinate with Zander from here in case they somehow make their way home."

"If they manage to escape do you honestly think they will try to get back here? I mean they weren't exactly safe with us. Chances are they will just take off and disappear if they get the opportunity." Nick said, not pulling any punches.

"Even more reason to find them sooner rather than later," Dave growled. While he may not have been as attached to Stella as the other men were to Layla and Sophie, he did care about her enough to want to know she was safe. If the council weren't involved in their abduction, then he would hand Stella over to be kept secure with the others. Nick was right. They'd done a shit job of protecting the women, especially Sophie and he felt he owed it to all three of them to find them and give them the choice of running or staying under the protection of the Alliance.

Connor sat back and listened, guilt eating at him. He had asked Layla to trust him and promised that he and his brothers would keep her safe. He hated to think about what was happening to her now. No, if his girl found a way back home now, there was no way she would trust him again. He sighed inwardly and let his brother's plans wash over him. He knew that with missing people the likelihood of finding them grew exponentially less with each passing day and it had been two weeks. He had all but resigned himself to the fact that Layla was gone from his life for good.

*****

Justin looked unemotionally at the slumped form of the woman on the floor. In the past, her welted exhausted body would have pleased him and satisfied his dark needs, but she was a poor substitute for the one he wanted to be crumpled at his feet and begging for mercy. He had been careful with Sophie over the last two weeks. After their first encounter when he had found far more than he had expected in her, he had decided to wait until their wedding night to fuck her properly. That didn't mean he hadn't enjoyed kissing and caressing her every chance he got while instilling his rules into her. That teasing was a torment for both of them however and only made his need for her and the release of all of the tension between them even greater.

He had spanked her once in that first week but found the desire to do more than just spank her too alluring and had to walk away and take it out on the woman he kept in an apartment in his hotel—the same woman who now lay slumped on the floor in exhaustion before him. Thank God the wedding was tomorrow he grumbled to himself and left the woman to the care of others after his harsh use. It would be the last time he would need to call on her, and he whistled a light melody he had heard Sophie often play as he closed the door behind him and walked away, with his men trailing behind him and the sweet young girl he was about to marry firmly in his mind.

Sophie appeared to have accepted her fate and her place with him. She had learned the basic rules fast, giving him no reason to punish her or her friends further. She had earned rewards from him each time she proved her loyalty by not succumbing to temptation and taking the different baits he left for her. He had left a phone in the living room when he had allowed her to meet with her friends to discuss the wedding once. He also gave her contact with a tender-hearted cook who made her favourites and could have given her access to the outside world when left alone at breakfast while he went to take a phantom call. There were several other occasions as well, and each time she had risen to each of his challenges and met them head-on showing she understood the rules of belonging to him.

He walked the half a block to the laneway that led down to the small church and imposing convent building. His grandfather had bought it from the archdiocese when the older nuns had been rehoused in the main convent building outside the city, and the younger nuns had gone out into the community to continue their work. Now the beautiful old chapel and renovated convent with its parklike gardens were hidden behind businesses on all four sides and accessed only by two laneways on opposite sides was privately owned and guarded by heavy security. Justin smiled as he approached the stone chapel of Saint Patrick, seeing wedding preparations occurring. Tomorrow the Calabrese family would see Angelo's granddaughter willingly join with him and following the elders of the family; they would pledge their loyalty to him and his organisation. The culmination of ten years of planning despite nobody knowing the whereabouts of his bride to be for the last three years or more.

While his public persona was known to live and work from one of the large semi-residential buildings on the surrounding streets, it was a heavily guarded secret that they had converted the convent to house himself and his most trusted of men, his sentinels. Most of his men lived in the hotel where he spent a great deal of his working day, and they all patrolled the grounds of the convent and chapel at regular intervals. With only two ways in or out of the residence and only one readily accessible to the public, he felt secure in his choice of a home for Sophie and their future family. From inside the converted convent that acted as his home now, the three women could easily believe they were in a semi-rural setting—the brick walls covered by large trees and creeping vines, disguising the heart of the city.

He hurried around the chapel and through the parklands to his home, eager to see his girl. He had expected to feel little for her when he had ordered her retrieval. He had assumed that she would be more of a burden that he would need to endure to get the status he wanted within her family and the men who remained loyal to a dead man and his few surviving albeit distant relations. Instead, he had found himself captivated by the girl and eager to make time in his busy schedule to spend time with her. Of the six trusted sentinels who lived and worked closely with him, he had chosen carefully one, his right-hand man, Lachlan, to be her constant shadow while the others provided security to all three women and himself on six-hour shifts. These were the only people to interact with Sophie and her friends aside from the household staff and himself.

It was irritating not to have his men at his constant beck and call, but it was short term inconvenience for long term gain. For the last three weeks, including the night his men had taken Sophie and brought her to him, he had made a production out of being seen in the neighbourhood beyond his home. He had his intelligence and a reasonable certainty that he was above suspicion when it came to Sophie's abduction, and he had ensured no one had spoken to the three women about where they were being held. There would be an elaborate ruse when taking them to the chapel the following day. He felt confident that all of the trackers embedded in the women's bodies had been found and removed during their first hours within his compound before they had been allowed to walk around his home freely.

Justin stopped just before he entered the living room. He could hear her playing the piano again and knew she would stop when he entered. He tried to place the song she was playing but found it elusive. He raised an eyebrow at the men who stood at his back and touched his ear, making his question known. They shrugged almost in unison and cocked their heads.

Her sweet voice cut into the music, "See, I thought love was black and white. That it was wrong or it was right. But you aren't leaving without a fight. And I think, I am just as torn inside," her change to the chorus was swift and the pause minute as she continued. "'Cause I don't know who I am, who I am without you. All I know is that I should. And I don't know if I could stand another hand upon you. All I know is that I should. 'Cause she will love you more than I could. She who dares to stand where I stood."

Holding up his phone, the youngest of Justin's men showed the Shazam screen displaying Missy Higgin's name and Where I Stood, as the name of the song Sophie was singing. Grunting and having heard enough, Justin entered the room and as usual, heard Sophie's fingers clatter to a discordant halt on the keys.

"I'm sorry, I didn't hear you come in," Sophie said, quietly getting up from the piano quickly and crossing the room to greet Justin just as he had trained her to do. When he was in a room, her attention had to be on him and him alone. As soon as she was close enough, his hand snaked around her waist, and he drew her to his body.

"I'm not surprised, Baby Girl. That was quite the performance," he said softly before kissing her deeply uncaring of anyone else in the room watching them.

"Good afternoon, ladies," Justin greeted the other two women in the room solicitously, but he would be grateful when he sent them back to the Alliance after the ceremony tomorrow. While Stella had taken to her new situation reasonably well after the initial harsh treatment, the smaller girl Layla acted like a frightened rabbit and froze in fear when approached by any of his men. It had become tedious watching Sophie cater to them when she was the most important of the three.

"Hello, Justin," Stella said then drew a breath as if to say more but seemed to change her mind as Layla shifted uncomfortably beside her.

"Stella," he acknowledged. "Do not look so concerned Layla. I am a man of my word. You and Stella will be returned to the Alliance tomorrow evening after you have completed the job you were brought here to do."

Layla's eyes flicked to Sophie, but she continued to say nothing. She hated what Sophie agreed to for them and the plan Sophie had for after they were gone. They had tried to gain information about which city they were in by hanging out in the kitchen and peering into the pantry and refrigerator for local brands. Trying to catch sight of anyone delivering mail but there didn't even seem to be cars anywhere within view of the windows they could see the garden from, they couldn't see beyond the manicured lawn past the towering trees with any accuracy. Layla believed the garden was walled to look rural and idyllic while being surrounded by buildings but Stella wasn't so sure with very little noise from traffic or typical cities being heard in the house.

Stella was more pragmatic about their captivity and possible release. As always, she made the best of the bad situation and flirted with her captors to gain more privileges and access to the staff who she talked to like an airhead trying to glean any information she could for Sophie before they left her to fend for herself. Not that they had been able to do anything to help her during their time there. Justin seemed to treat her well. Sophie hadn't been harmed as she and Layla had been occasionally when something upset Justin about their or Sophie's behaviour when he was away from home. When he was there, he kept Sophie with him constantly, mostly behind closed doors.

"Come and tell me about the wedding plans you have completed while I was gone," he led Sophie from the room trailed by half of his sentinels the other half remaining with the other two women.

Over the last two weeks, Sophie had come to terms with the latest twist her life had taken. She knew there was no way out for her and apart from an act of God himself, she knew she would never see Darius or Zander again. She had doubted that the Blackjacks had even survived the attacks until in a rage, Justin had shown her proof, not only that they lived but that his men could get to them anywhere at any time. She hadn't loved Darius, but she had cared about him, and he had treated her like she was special to him. Her feelings for Zander, though, were more complicated. He was such an intense man, both in his affection for her and fury at her risk-taking. There was beneath it all, however, a close bond she couldn't deny, and she knew she would miss him as well as his rare smiles and laughter in her world.