Steel Hearts - Patchwork Princess Ch. 03

"Like what?" she asked.

"Like some video footage of where those delivery men returned to and who they met with," he tried once again to be vague enough not to alarm her.

"And who was that?" she pushed, getting frustrated with the lack of detail in his responses.

"We are hoping you can tell us," Teddy chuckled. "I know it's been a stressful day, baby, but I can't tell you anything until we see the footage ourselves. I thought you would want to be with me when I took a look."

"I thought you knew and were just being an arsehole and holding information back until we got to the shop," she said with a sigh, taking a deep breath and continuing to walk.

"I have always been honest with you because I know what a betrayal it would be to you if I were anything but honest and open," he reached over and took her hand in his. "I will never give you a reason to doubt my intentions. You can trust me to keep you safe."

"I know," she said quietly. "You're right. It's just been a stressful day, week, month, and year! I'm sorry, I'm just tired of the drama."

"You can say that again," Carter murmured, reminding Teddy and Holly that they were not alone on their walk back to the shop.

"There is something you should know before we go inside," he said.

"And that is?" she prompted, narrowing her eyes.

"My sister Grace will be there. She can be a bit overwhelming at first, but she means well," he explained the phenomenon that was his sister. "Also, she sings with her band, and if you ask her nicely, she might consider filling the open music slot because the band you organised has covid now."

"Why didn't you tell me that earlier?" she asked.

"Because Saxon and Beau are overprotective arseholes and wouldn't have let her sing at your event, but she found out about the band pulling out and insisted I offer her services. The security presence around her will be huge unless we catch this motherfucking stalker before then," he grimaced. "Honestly, the security presence around her will probably be huge regardless. As I said, they're overprotective arseholes."

"Two of them, like a menage?" Holly asked, her eyes wide.

"Not like, is," he stated. "It works for them, so I don't question it," he shrugged.

"Lucky girl," Holly gave a small giggle.

"Yeah? That won't be happening for you," he growled, making her giggle even more.

They climbed the four rear steps, and suddenly there was a woman in front of her hugging her and talking excitedly.

"Oh my gosh! You're here!" Grace hugged Holly, pulling her away from Teddy momentarily.

"Holly, this is Grace," Teddy introduced the women as he reclaimed Holly for himself and turned to the two women with them. "This is Carter. You know Medusa."

"You have no idea how good it is to meet you finally," Grace complained. "I was at your place on the night of the doll, but you weren't up to meeting anyone, and well, they weren't leaving me behind today even though you probably still aren't up to making new friends."

"Take a breath, beautiful and let her get a word in," Beau suggested as he came up behind Grace. "Come on inside. We've set up in your office. It was the only space large enough for us all. We thought that might be more comfortable than closing the store and doing this conference picnic-style on the shop floor."

"We could have stayed at the pub," Carter said, but the suggestion was met with silence.

Holly smiled as Teddy's hand pressed against her lower back in a comforting way. Knowing he could feel the uneven skin of the scars, there was no longer a frightening prospect for her, and she found she enjoyed the constant physical contact he wanted with her regardless of where he touched.

Four large men already sat at the desks they had pushed together like a conference table waiting for them. These men must be the sexy six who were at her apartment with Grace the night the doll was delivered. As she took her seat, she noted that the package that had been delivered to her shop now sat in the middle of the table.

"Is Jack still here?" Carter asked, looking around at the men and noticing the missing one.

"He's organising a search of the delivery," Saxon said. "At this stage, we can't be too careful. We believe this package was meant to shock more than hurt, but there was a small surprise in one of the other boxes as well."

"May I?" Medusa asked, indicating the package. With a nod from Saxon and then Holly, who she looked at for permission as well, Medusa pulled a beautiful crystal candy dish with an equally beautiful silver lid from the box. When she lifted the top, she tilted her head and raised an eyebrow. "I take it they're not jelly beans?"

"Snail and slug pellets," Ian answered. "Pretty to look at but deadly to eat in that quantity."

Holly couldn't help the small gasp that came from her mouth. Ian was right. The candy dish with its little blue pellets was stunning and had she opened the box unknowingly. She might have mistaken them for jelly beans. She wouldn't have grabbed a handful and shoved them into her mouth without thinking, but she might have tried one.

"You would have known what it was as soon as it touched your tongue," Ian answered her gasp. "I don't believe this was meant to hurt you, more frighten you, like the doll did and make Teddy want to hunt down whoever is doing this. Like he did ten years ago."

"You've heard of a police lineup where they bring in a group of people, some innocent, some not so much?" Mitch rumbled, placing six photographs of older women in front of Holly and Carter to look over. "If you know any of these women, can you tell us their names and how you know them, please?"

"Well, going from left to right," Carter began. "That woman looks sort of like Petra. So it could be her sister, maybe?"

"I guess," Holly agreed and then, remembering the instructions, added. "Petra and her husband Nico are the caretakers for the cabin I own, where I did all my rehab after I left the hospital. So I... we lived there for a long time." She waggled her finger, indicating Carter and herself. "I don't think it's her, but could it be a relative, maybe?"

"This one's face feels familiar, but I don't know who she is or anything about her. Do you?" Holly asked Carter, who shook her head and moved on to the following photograph. "That's my nosy neighbour Mrs Jacobs," Carter said about the third one.

"Oh, wow, it is, too," Holly laughed. I barely recognised her. Did she change the colour of her hair or something?"

"Or something," Carter laughed. "I think the Dame Edna glasses seem to get bigger every year. This one is Magda Knezovic," she pointed at the next photo. "She is the woman whose delivery contained that candy dish, but I find it hard to believe she would do that to us. She calls us family now. She's intrusive and an over-sharer, but she's always been that way. She bugs Holly, but I think she is just a good saleswoman who knows how to make you feel comfortable with her."

"I never felt comfortable around her," Holly shivered to show her dislike.

"You just liked our old supplier and didn't like that he didn't even tell us he was retiring and selling his business to Magda," Carter accused. "You barely gave her a chance."

"How many people do you know I tell the details of my life to?" She paused for a moment. "I'll tell you how many, three, okay, maybe four since he is so insistent," she poked a finger in Teddy's direction. Some big old European mama doesn't have any right to the details of my life no matter how hard she pushes," her voice rose with her frustration about the woman.

"Okay, let's take a breath and rewind for a moment," Beau spoke for the first time since taking his seat at the table. "Carter, explain exactly what happened to your last supplier and when that was?"

"There's not much to tell. Sid was there one week and gone the next. Magda showed up with his catalogues and told us she had taken over his business when he retired. It was a shock because Sid had helped us when we started our business, giving discounts and making suggestions about designs and what worked well for the other business he dealt with. He was practically part of the team. The fact that he didn't even say goodbye hurt. Some of us just take longer to get over things than others. Magda is delightful. Like an old European mama, she is nosy and always encouraging us to do more, more, more," she gave a soft laugh.

"But you felt she was intrusive?" Beau asked Holly.

"She was always asking about our social lives and dating lives. Wanted to know about our friends and boyfriends," Holly shrugged. "I barely have a social life, so it's no big deal, but I still didn't like it. It was a working partnership no need to talk about our lack of social life. She started about a year ago,"

"I see," Beau nodded, as did the other men at the table, along with a bit of grumbling. "Sorry to interrupt, go on," he indicated the last two pictures.

"I think that's Angelo's wife? But, of course, she's not at the café often, so that I could be wrong," Carter frowned.

"You'd know better than me you have Angelo wrapped around your little finger," Holly lifted her hands in the gesture of having nothing to add.

"I don't know the last one," Carter said, peering at the photo.

"Me either," Holly said and sat back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest and staring down Saxon, who had still said nothing. "Want to tell us what that was all about now?" she asked.

"The underworld wars were lethal and bloody. I was a kid when the wars started with the death of my father and brother and the bombing of the school that most of my father's men's children and I attended, including several of us, around this table. It was toward the end of those wars that your family and Teddy's were taken out, and you were kidnapped," Saxon began and held up his hand when she went to interrupt him and tell him she knew about the wars.

"The reason they targeted the school was so they would also take out any kid, like me, who could grow up to seek revenge for the death of their family. That didn't work out very well for them or the people who took you," he said. "The problem with revenge is that it has a self-propagating cycle. Teddy got revenge on the Kallikantzaros who took, and he believed, killed you because your grandmother manipulated him that way. So now his family are looking for who took out the idiot who abused you and the rest of his family. Then if they succeed, I will go after them and end this once and for all. I plan to end this once and for all just because of the threat to one of my family, not his death," he amended. There were nods and murmurs of agreement from the other men at the table before he went on.

"Make no mistake, in my home; I am the brother and family man who runs a legitimate business and gives back to the community that people have grown to respect, if not love. To the underground, however, I am a scary motherfucker and have earned that reputation through my actions. I don't delegate. When and where it matters, I show up to sort shit out," he told her, looking into her eyes and showing the darkness within his.

"So, what does that mean, exactly?" Holly was a little scared and swallowed loudly as she waved her hand over the photos.

"Those six women were made widows about ten years ago by Teddy. They are in your life to try and discover who took revenge on your behalf while you were healing in your cabin. Teddy has now led them to our door, and while they have the money and connections to make a decent attempt to get to him through you. They have no idea who they are playing with now or what I am capable of," Saxon said unemotionally.

"Or if they do, they haven't heeded the warnings," Beau added, just as grim-faced as Saxon.

"This woman," Ian cut through the tension and pointed to a photo neither of them had recognised. We believe she is the group leader and the woman who saved your life to try and spare her son the retribution that came his way, regardless of her actions. We believe she found you, Holly, in her son's house drugged and branded. She tried to cut out the Kallikantzaros brands and tattoos before dumping you at the hospital. We believe it is her that has been playing this game of cat and mouse, making her sisters and sisters-in-law infiltrate Holly's life to discover who would have killed their husbands and sons for her," he explained, making Holly look at the photo closer.

All these people had infiltrated her life to try to get to Teddy. It didn't make sense. She hadn't wanted him in her life until he had barged back into it weeks ago after seeing each other at the fight club. Was it all coincidence, or did they manipulate events to bring him back into her life? Then, as if reading her mind, Ian spoke again.

"We believe they had been biding their time for a while, making headway into your life and friendship circle. Doing a variety of things to try and flush out the man who killed for you and not realising that it was a crew of teenagers, they were looking for older men like Mitch," he quirked a smile as the big man grumbled under his breath about respecting his elders.

"I think the number of men around you at the moment has confused the women, which is why they have stepped up the taunting from texts to gifts to try and get a reaction from us," Teddy said.

"Well, it worked," Carter laughed, looking around the table. "You're all here."

"We are here as a show of force and to ensure these ladies understand just which family they are dealing with now. I don't care if they think it was me or Mitch or Teddy, we are one brotherhood, and there are consequences for messing with anyone of us or the people we love," Beau said with the confidence of someone who thought they were invincible.

"We have proof of who is doing this to you after today's delivery," Ian indicated the photos.

"These ladies will find that their allies who have helped them with manpower and safe houses are about to withdraw their support and warn them from pursuing revenge on the mysterious man who decimated their family so long ago," Saxon said. "If they don't back down, we will ensure it stops once and for all."

"You'd kill them?" Carter gasped.

"No, but we would ensure that the police get hold of some incriminating evidence we have discovered that would put them away for a long time," Ian explained.

"We're all above board. I don't know how else to convince you," Medusa huffed at Carter. "You must stop thinking that all MCs are like what you see on TV or knew when you were younger."

"I'm sorry but ...," she stopped and looked around at these men, and her usual excuse died on her lips. "I apologise," Carter said contritely. "I know that's not who you are. I do."

"I have a reputation that I have cultivated that would make most people believe the worst of me," Saxon nodded his understanding. "It's understandable that you asked for clarity."

"We have all cultivated fairly fearsome reputations over the years. Others have hidden their darker side so deeply only those involved with them would discover it," Steve nodded. He had gone to great lengths to bury his dark past.

"So, what does this mean for us?" Holly asked, indicating herself and Carter.

"We have a plan, but you will have to put your trust in us to do what we say we can do," Teddy spoke. "I love you, and I want this shadow hanging over our lives gone. So, now we are going to make that happen," he smiled encouragingly at her before looking at Carter. "You are partners in the business, which will take a hit in the short term to enable it to flourish in the longer term. So, you both need to be on board with what we are about to suggest."

"There was a small explosive in your delivery. It wasn't big enough to do more than cause a small flash burn to the victim. We propose to let it go off but create a bigger event and have the fire ambulance and police arrive. There won't be much external damage to the building, but we can have our friends at the fire Service declare this old building structurally compromised from the blast and have it shut down for a week or two," Beau began to outline their plan.

"This should flush them out because their usual source of information will be unable to access you," Ian said.

"She has our phone numbers for work," Carter interrupted. "And one of those women is my nosy neighbour.

"I'm sorry, Carter, but your phone was damaged in the explosion, and Holly changed her number after all the veiled threats she had received," Teddy said carefully, knowing he hadn't spoken to Holly about this.

"I get that we can keep all our contacts and use other phones in that two-week gap. But tell us the whole plan. What do you expect will happen in just two weeks? You said they were biding their time. So why wouldn't they just wait us out?" she asked.

"Nobody who lives in the underworld is without secrets, and nobody is immune to hacking. Without the friends or the cash flow those women have enjoyed, I don't imagine playing the long game will work for them any longer, especially when their past sins come back to haunt them. They may have started this game, but we are far more experienced at making countermoves to hold off any coming attacks. Sometimes we are betrayed, and things don't go as we plan, hence Mitch and Daisy's recent injuries, but trust me, we always win in the end. It's who we are," Saxon said, his voice strong and full of confidence. "Trust me, ladies, this will be done in two weeks if you agree to allow us to explode the device tonight."

*****