Claimed by Shadows (The Shadowmen #2)

Chapter 29

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

“BORN TO DIE” BY EUPHORIA, BOLSHIEE

NIKOLAI

T his is really fucking stupid, Nik , my inner voice tells me as I make my way down to my father’s office. He’s currently in a meeting with his lieutenants, so I have a narrow window to get the information that I need to finally be able to further my cause. Though, because of Sergi’s raging paranoia, the only way in doing so is by going old-school with a USB that bypasses his security and will allow me to download everything on his private computer.

All of his financial records so I can gain access to the many bank accounts he has, personnel files which contain the material he uses to blackmail pretty much everyone he works with, plus historical records that details how he rose from a piss-poor Russian immigrant to the leader of the London Bratva.

There’s also his safe, which I know contains more, and all of it is only accessible via his office. Nothing remote can touch anything, hence why I’m going against the advice of my men and that inner voice and making my way to his office, a lock picking kit in my suit trouser pocket.

I pass guards, though they don’t give me a second look, used to me coming and going all over our mansion. I am the heir after all, and I’ve made sure to give the impression that I am devoted to my father and his mission to accumulate more power.

Luckily my father doesn’t have anyone outside his office, something I’ve observed via our extensive camera network—which I’ve hacked into and will not be showing this trip of mine as I’ve looped the footage to show nothing amiss. Dima is on standby if I need him and Andrei is outside my father’s meeting room to alert me when Sergi is finished.

Giving a final check around me to ensure that no one is watching, I slip on black latex gloves to mask any fingerprints I might leave behind, then pull out my lock picking kit and get to work. The small snick sound of the lock disengaging is the only noise as the door unlocks. I hurriedly open the door a fraction, slipping inside before shutting and relocking it, just in case. It will give me a few seconds to hide if need be.

The room is dark, only the moonlight from the open curtain lighting the space. It’s enough for me because there’s no way I’d be putting a light on anyway. Far too risky.

His computer sits on his large wooden desk. So on silent footsteps, I make my way over to it, inserting my USB drive and letting it do its thing. The screen lights up briefly, but luckily isn’t visible from outside the balcony doors to the side of the desk so won’t give me away.

As the files start to copy, I crouch down, knowing the safe is on the left-hand side of the desk, made to look like drawers. Using a master key that I had made, I open the false front to reveal the safe.

A smile tilts my lips at the old-school dial. I wouldn’t be able to easily access it if my father fully embraced new technology and went biometric, but he likes the old ways, and so all I need to do is crack the code, which isn’t so difficult once you know how to do it.

It takes a few minutes, my pulse pounding the entire time, but finally the clunk of the bolts turning sounds and the door pops open. Reaching inside, I carefully withdraw the contents. On the top of a stack of old manilla folders sits a knife, a switchblade by the looks of it.

I freeze as I recall Iris telling me of the night she was taken, Sergi also taking the blade Rowan gave her and using it to cut away her clothes. My jaw clenches, and even though my mind screams at me to leave the blade, I can’t forget the sorrow in Iris’s face at its loss.

So before I can think better of it, I slip the blade into my pocket, resolving to give it to Iris the first chance I get. She’s been released from Serene Haven as of today and is back on the World’s End Estate with the Shadows. I’ve been keeping tabs, checking in with her progress without anyone the wiser, so I know that she’s worked through much of the trauma from her stay here.

Letting out a breath and refocusing on the task before me, I get back to the manilla files. Taking my phone out of my pocket, I start taking pictures, which uploads to my private cloud storage and are immediately backed up to a second location. You can never be too careful.

Suddenly, my phone lights up.

Andrei: They’re done and heading back, now!

Moments later, I hear voices approaching. Shit. My father is back early, talking with a lieutenant by the sounds of it. My heart races. I can’t be caught here; it would ruin everything I’ve been putting into motion these past few years. Sergi would never trust me. Fuck, he really would kill me this time, slowly.

As the voices get closer, I hurriedly replace the documents and close the safe, my hands steady despite the rush of adrenaline flooding my system. I glance at the computer—the file transfer is at 89%. Motherfucker ! I can’t risk leaving the USB, but if I pull it out before it’s ready, I’ll lose it all.

The sound of the door unlocking has my head snapping up towards it and I watch as the door handle turns. My body acts before my mind catches up, and in a split-second decision, I duck behind one of the heavy balcony curtains, barely breathing.

I hear Sergi enter with his lieutenant, their Russian conversation filling the room as the lights switch on. They’re discussing a major deal, one of the many that Sergi is setting up to bring more guns and unsuspecting girls into the country. Bile hits the back of my throat at the casual way they talk of these poor girls and women, who believe they are getting a better life, but instead are sold into the sex trade, forced into a life of servicing the lowest of the low.

I shift slightly so I can see the computer screen from my hiding spot—97%.

Fuck.

Sergi walks around his desk, then frowns, noticing something amiss. He starts to look around suspiciously, and my pulse is like a turbulent river, thundering in my ears as I inwardly curse.

This is really fucking bad .

Just then, as if to tighten the noose around my neck, the file transfer completes. The USB ejects with a soft sound that might as well be a gunshot for how loud it is. Sergi turns towards the computer, his gaze narrowed.

A loud knock at the door has Sergi looking up, Dima standing on the threshold, distracting Sergi and his lieutenant by asking something about the upcoming shipment of girls. My father strides back towards the door, his focus on Dima as is his lieutenant.

Silently, I dart out from behind the curtain, grabbing the USB and then darting out onto the balcony. I don’t stop as the noise of the glass door opening and shutting is loud in the room, my heart pounding as I scale down the side of the house. The door crashes open above my head and I hear my father cursing and ordering a search of the grounds as I slip into the arched doorway that leads to the kitchens, stripping off my gloves and sliding them into my pocket, using the servants’ staircase to head back up to my wing of the house.

“CONTROL” BY ZOE WEES

IRIS

We arrive back at the estate just as the sun sets, and my heart gives a jolt when I step out of the truck and look up at the looming building before me.

“Come on, Peaches, let’s get you upstairs and settled,” Hunt says, coming up next to me and tangling our fingers together. His warm palm fills me with confidence, and I let him guide me to the staircase as the twins grab my bags.

“Still refuse to use the lift I see,” I mutter, but his deep chuckle tells me he definitely heard me. His hand lets go of mine, and just as I turn to ask him why, a squeak falls from my lips when I’m swept up into his strong arms.

“Far be it for my wife to overtire herself her first night back,” he rumbles, his lips tilted into a delicious smirk that has flutters in my core heating my cheeks. “Well, not by walking up the stairs anyway.”

“How gallant.” I giggle and flush at the implication in his words as he starts climbing the stairs, my arms wrapped around his neck and my face nestling against his broad chest.

He gives a small laugh, bending his head so his lips are closer to my ear. “Let’s see if you still think that when my cock is deep in that sweet arse of yours while Roman fucks your cunt and Rowan your smart mouth.”

Fire.

I am made of pure fire as his dirty words set me alight, my breath stuttering out of my lips as he straightens up and carries me to their flat. Our flat, I guess.

Because he’s a fucking show-off, we make it there in half the time it would have taken me to walk myself, and to my surprise, he doesn’t lower me down, but instead moves aside for Roman to open the door.

“Welcome home, Princess,” Roman says, his lips splitting into one of the widest grins I’ve ever seen on him.

Roman steps aside, allowing Hunt to carry me inside, and as soon as I see what they’ve done, my mouth drops open and tears sting my eyes. The space is utterly transformed, gone is the bachelor pad from before, and in its place is my dream interior. Muted rainbow colours are everywhere, so many patterns from the hand-woven Persian rugs to the blankets that cover the leather sofa, which is the same one from before, and I’m glad because it holds some awesome memories. The room is lit by lamps, also with colourful patterned lampshades so that it looks like an exotic paradise, like out of my favourite retellings of Aladdin that my father used to read to me as a child.

“Do you like it?” Rowan asks as Hunt finally sets me on my feet, though he keeps his arms wrapped around me.

“How did you know?” I ask, still gazing around the space, seeing that the walls have even been painted in a stunning deep yellow.

“My sister may have shown us your Pinterest boards,” Hunt confesses in a gruff whisper against my ear, and I shiver. “And we didn’t want you to feel like this wasn’t your home too.”

“It’s…” I swallow hard, the tears threatening to fall from my eyes. “It’s everything I could have wanted and more.”

“Wait until you see the bedroom,” Roman says, his eyes bright with excitement as he takes my hand and tugs me away from Hunt, who growls like the alpha beast he is.

Roman pulls me along, giggles spilling from my lips as I look around at all of the things I would have chosen for my own house. He drags me down the hallway that used to lead to Hunt’s and Willow’s rooms, but instead of two doors facing each other, there is a single door.

“Ready, Princess?” he asks, his lips pulled into that infectious smile that has my own dragged upwards. My muscles twitch, my nerves tingling as I give him a nod, and like a showman, he pushes open the door with a flourish and then pulls me into the massive space.

The walls are painted a stunning teal colour with the biggest four-poster bed I’ve ever seen, draped in jewelled-coloured silk and covered in so many cushions and blankets I’m not sure how we will fit in it too. There’s an incredible rug on the floor, a woven hummingbird flying in its centre, and stained glass mosaic lamps fall from the ceiling, giving a soft light that bounces around the room. There are other smaller rugs piled one on top of the other, large cushions, and carved wooden furniture dotted around the space, and through an arched doorway, I can just spot multicoloured tiles that lead to a bathroom that is more like a Persian spa.

“Oh my god, this is… I have no words for how perfect this is,” I whisper, my voice choked up with the emotion that is threatening to overwhelm me right now. It’s just so perfect, and the fact that they went to all this trouble just for me astounds me.

“I’m glad you like it, Peaches,” Hunter says, bringing in some of my bags and setting them on the floor. “Why don’t you unpack and I’ll go make us some dinner? I’ve been reading up on that Ottolenghi style food you were talking about the other week.”

Before I can respond, he’s pressing a kiss to my temple and sweeping out of the room. I take another look around, Rowan entering the space and bringing the last of my bags.

“Thank you, truly,” I say as I catch his honey amber eyes. He places the bag on the floor, then comes up to me and pulls me into his arms. As I wrap mine around him, warmth at my back and the scent of peppermint, lavender, and lemon tells me Roman is sandwiching me between them.

“You never need to thank us, Princess,” Roman murmurs against my hair, placing a kiss there.

“We would do so much more than redecorate our house for you, Lamb,” Rowan adds, kissing my forehead as I look up at him. “And one day, I swear we can leave the estate if it’s what you want, but for now, we have to stay here.”

His jaw works and I reach a hand up to cup his cheek, my brows furrowed.

“What’s wrong, Roo?” I ask, my eyes looking between his to find pain in their depths.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t stop him that night. From taking you. So fucking sorry, Iris.” His voice is tight and his eyes sparkle like amber jewels as he looks down at me.

“Hey, it wasn’t your fault, my love. You couldn’t have done any more than you did. You were outnumbered, and I wouldn’t have let you put yourself in danger,” I assure him, my voice thick as emotion makes it hard to speak. Then I use my grip to pull him down to my lips. “I couldn’t live in a world where you’re not in it, Rowan Kent.”

His breath stutters over my lips before he closes the distance, his soft lips pressing against mine as the salt of both our tears flavour our gentle kiss.

It’s strange, because although I wouldn’t want to live through what happened after that terrible night ever again, I’ve come to realise that the time I spent in Sergi’s mansion made me stronger. It contributed to the woman I am today, a woman who I am learning to love in spite of all the shit I’ve gone through.

My trauma has shaped me, has given me almost as much as it took away. I know that I can come through the most appalling of situations and not only survive but be stronger for it, and that knowledge is something precious that not everyone gets.

A small flutter in my womb reminds me of the other thing that time has given me. It gave me a life worth protecting, even if its conception is steeped in pain. And as my twin lovers, my soulmates, hold me between them, I just hope that when I finally gather the courage to tell them, they will see the good too.