For Love and Vengeance (4 page)

“I promise that we are going to find and punish the men whose total
lack of judgment would lead them to think they could take what belongs to us;
that they could hurt what belongs to us, and get away with it!”

Jason watched Josh as he came further into the room. He was supposed
to be the carefree brother. Jason had never seen him like this and it gave him
pause. In that moment, hearing Josh’s words, he realized how much he had
allowed his emotions to overtake him.

This seemed to be a developing pattern whenever he spent too much time
in their company. Mere weeks ago the outpouring of all this emotion in front of
these men would have made him cringe. Yet somehow, at this moment, he no longer
cared. Knowing that he had these men watching his back gave him the space he
needed to concentrate on Aviva, to take care of her if she would allow it.

Knowing they didn't want his verbal offers of appreciation, Jason
didn't give it. Rather he changed the subject. He wanted to know what Josh had
managed to find out on his little excursion to the
cell
.

“What did you find out?” Jason asked, his mantle of composure once
more in place.

“You were right. He's a fool. He didn't know anything. He had a photo
of you in his pocket,” Josh said, raising his chin towards Jason. “He was told
to watch the hotel and call this number if he saw you.” Josh handed Jason a
small slip of paper containing the contact details.

Standing, Jason took the parchment and looked down at it. “Who's he
working for?”

“No one. He's just a guy, down on his luck, looking to make a buck or
two. He nearly pissed his pants when I grabbed him by the neck. That number's
all he knows.”

“Are you sure?” Jason questioned, not wanting to leave any stone
unturned.

“I'm sure,” was Josh's emphatic reply.

With a nod of his head, Jason reached for the phone resting on the
stand and dialed the number on the paper. After two rings, it was answered.

“Yes?”

“This is Jason King. I understand you're interested in my whereabouts
so I thought I'd give you a call. As you already know, I'm here in good old
London town. I don't know who you are and I don't want to know who you are.
However, what you need to know is…I'm coming for all of you, and when I find
you, I’m going to kill you.” Jason didn't wait for a response. He slammed down
the phone in its cradle, certain they had got the message.

Now the waiting game began. The ball was once again in Jake's court.
They needed information as to how many people they were up against.

Aviva awoke to
the sound of mumbled voices coming from the main living area of the suite. She
surmised that the occupants were Jason and his brothers and maybe his father,
Jackson, although she had yet to see him.

If she knew one
thing about Jason, he was probably already making plans as to how he would achieve
retribution for her abduction. Some people might have thought that the best
course of action would be thankfulness for being alive and to move on. But if
she knew Jason, and she did, they were discussing what had happened to her, and
she had every intention of being a part of the discussion.

Throwing back the
covers, she moved as quickly as she could into the bathroom. Once finished, she
realized she had no clothes. Looking around the bathroom, she spotted two terry
robes hanging on the inside of the bathroom door. Deciding one of them would
have to do, she pulled it on and was ready to face those gathered in the living
area.

She had been
right in her summation. The three brothers were the occupants of the main
living area of the suite. However there was no sign of Jackson and Aviva felt a
small pang of sadness at his absence. His fatherly affection was something she
felt in need of at that moment.

Jason was
immediately aware of the opening of the bedroom door. Throughout his
conversation with his brothers, he had been keeping his ears peeled for any
sounds coming from the bedroom.

“Hi, Angel,” he
said, cutting off whatever Jake had been about to say.

Aviva knew Jason's
tactic was his way of ensuring that she wasn't privy to their discussion, and
she wasn't having it.

“What were you
all discussing?” Aviva knew the answer she would get before it came. They would
close rank and try to sidetrack her. They had done it before on the day she had
been kidnapped. She had known they had been up to something on that day, just
as sure as she knew they were up to something now.

“Nothing
important. Just chit-chat.”

“Jason King, you
have never indulged in chit-chat in your life. Don't try to mug me off!”

“It's true, Vee.
We were just waiting around for you to wake up.” Giving her a beguiling smile,
Josh backed up his brother’s answer to her question.

She wasn't fooled
for a moment. Did all the men in this family think that one flash of their
dimples was enough to throw her off track? Well, two could play that game.

“Joshua, if I
were less polite, I’d say you just told me an untruth.”

“Ahem.” Josh
cleared his throat.

“Why’s your face
turning so red?”

“Ah...I think I
may be coming down with something.”

“Oh, you poor
baby, let me see if you’re running a temperature. This damp weather can play
havoc with one’s health,” Aviva said walking towards him, deadly intent in her
eyes.

Josh panicked,
flashing his eyes towards Jason, silently pleading for help. After all, he’d
only been trying to help him.

Jason took pity
on him. “Come on, Angel, leave the man alone. He doesn't need you mothering
him.”

Stopping her
advance, Aviva looked at each of them in turn before replying. “Oh, you don't
want me to mother him, but it's alright for you all to mother me? I want to
know what you were talking about. I know it concerns me, and I have a right to
know!”

“We wanted to
know what had happened to you while you were held and how you managed to get
away.” Jake held her eyes with a penetrating stare. Feeling cruel for
distracting her in this way, he knew Jason would have something to say to him
later. But he had realized weeks ago that Aviva could wrap his brothers around
her little finger. Someone had to hold firm in the face of her determination.
As the oldest, that task fell to him.

Aviva gave Jake a
look of disbelief, but he didn't budge, not even when he felt his brothers’
stares boring into him. This small woman standing before them was stronger than
Jason or Josh wanted to admit. He knew it and she knew it. He also knew
whatever she had gone through was still taking its toll on her. He was even
more certain that none of them were ready to face the story she had to tell.

As the tension
mounted, Josh decided the best course of action was to attempt to distract her.
He could see Jason was pissed off with Jake, and if Jake succeeded in upsetting
Aviva any more than he already had, he and Jason would probably come to blows,
and none of them needed that.

“Aviva, you must
be hungry.” Not waiting for her response, Josh continued speaking, giving her
no opportunity to decline. “Jake, why don't you call room service and order us
some food.”

“Thank you, but
I'm not hungry.”

“Come on,
sweetheart, you have to eat something. You've been asleep for over twelve
hours. You need something. Tell her, Jason.”

“Seems to me, you
two have everything covered, so why include me now.”

“Oh, for God’s
sake! Don't start – any of you. I'm not in the mood. Joshua, seeing as how
you're so interested in food, you order it. Jason, I need some clothes and,
Jacob, when I'm ready to discuss what happened to me, I'll let you all know.
Now if everyone knows what they have to do, I'll leave you to get on with it!”
Finished, Aviva did an about face and left the men with their mouths hanging
open.

Closing the
bedroom door, Aviva sat on the bed and stared into space. She knew she had just
been a complete bitch to all of them, and she knew they didn't deserve it. They
meant well, cared about her, probably more than any other human beings ever
had, apart from her mother. The reality was she had just spent eight days with
the loss of control over her life, her body, and her will. She needed to take
back control.

There was a soft
knock on the door before Jason came into the room with a tablet computer. “I
called the boutique downstairs and they can provide everything you need. You
can use this to place your order and they'll bring it right up.”

Handing her the
computer, Jason hesitated. “Do you need anything else, Angel?”

“No, thank you.”

“Are you sure?”

“I'm fine, Jason.
If I need anything, I'll ask.”

“Okay, the food
will be here shortly. I'll let you know when it arrives.” Jason hesitated, as
though he wanted to say something else, but obviously changed his mind as he
left the room without further comment.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Did she say
anything?” Josh asked as soon as Jason returned to the living area.

“No, she's just
sitting on the bed, staring into space.”

“How are you
going to handle this?” Jake wanted to know. “I recognize the difficulty of the
situation, but the more information we have, the better our chances of coming
out of this unscathed.”

“I know that,
Jake, but I also have some understanding of what she's going through, and the
worse thing I can do at this stage is force the issue before she's ready.”

“Okay, so we
wait.” Jake thought it best to refrain from stating the obvious. The longer
they delayed, the more time the culprits had to plan or abscond. They were
being watched so clearly it was no secret they were in town or where they were
staying. By now, they probably knew Aviva was with them. It was only a matter
of time before they made their move.

He didn't like it.
Jason wasn't thinking straight. He was too preoccupied with Aviva and that fact
alone could get them all killed.

The hotel was too
big. People were constantly coming and going. He had set security in place, but
that might not be enough. They were too conspicuous. They needed to get out.
Coming to a decision, Jake knew they needed a change of venue. The last thing
he needed was some kind of battle playing out on their doorstep.

It was as though
Jason had read his mind. “We need to get out of here. Do you guys have
somewhere else we can go? We're too open, vulnerable with all the coming and
going of a hotel.”

“I was just thinking
the same thing. Josh, that's your department. What you got for us?”

“There's a place
in Hampstead. Not too big, set back from the road and I have the perimeter
wired. It should suit our needs.”

Trusting his
brother's judgment, Jason nodded his head in agreement. “Okay, set it up. Jake,
have you heard anything more?”

“Not yet.”

“As soon as you
hear something, we go. We need to hit them quickly. Then we need to get out of
England.”

Jason began to
pace, deep in thought. “I'll be forever grateful that I have Aviva back in one
piece. But something doesn't feel right.”

Jason's words
were no more than a mumble of his deepest thoughts. His brain working
furiously, needing to decipher what was going on. Until he knew for sure, he
would be unable to place himself in the mindset of his opponents, to get a grip
on their twisted thinking.

He needed Aviva
to speak to them. But he had given his word that he would wait until she was
ready. Only his promise presented one problem, by then it could be too late.

Josh watched
Jason pace, troubled by the same uncertainties. “I was thinking the same thing.
I don’t understand why they’d go through all this trouble, not to mention
expense of, kidnapping her, secreting her out of the country, only to allow her
to walk out. It doesn't make sense.”

Jason kept
moving, back and forth, back and forth. “It makes perfect sense, if you
understand the type of low life we're dealing with. I'm sorry to say that I do.
Aviva means nothing to them. She was just a pawn in their maneuvers to get to
me. If it had been to their advantage, she'd be dead.” Jason spoke in his most
passionless voice, indicative of his extreme anger.

Jake and Josh
looked to each other, nodding. The game was definitely on. They all needed to
tread very carefully.

The knock on the
door drew the men’s attention. Jason opened the door to find the waiter
standing behind a two tiered trolley loaded down with covered dishes that emitted
delicious aromas. The smell of the food caused Jason's stomach to grumble and
he realized how long it had been since he had last eaten. Gesturing the waiter
forward, he stood back to allow him admittance, following his every motion, his
attention on high alert. He was taking no chances that the man wasn't exactly
who he portrayed, a hotel employee.

“Good afternoon,
Tom. Just place the trolley by the table. We'll deal with it from there.”
Hearing Josh call the man by his name was enough for Jason to relax his guard
at having a stranger in their midst. Following his instruction, the waiter
placed the laden trolley beside the table, bowed and made his way from the
room.

“I'll go and get
Aviva and see if she wants something to eat.” Jason's words trailed off as
another knock sounded at the door. Again on alert, he approached it with
caution. Jake and Josh took up positions on either side of the door, both at
full attention, muscles bunched, prepared for the unexpected.

Their actions
showed men on edge, and when men as physical as they acted this way, a
situation could change in an instant. They needn't have worried. Outside stood
a pretty brunette carrying numerous bags. Aviva's clothing had arrived.

~~~~~~~~~~

Hearing the
second knock, Aviva came into the living area to see a pretty young woman
standing on the threshold of the suite. She was holding a mass of shopping bags
with the boutique insignia emblazoned across it. She also saw Jason was standing
in front of the door while his brothers stood off on either side as though ready
for some kind of attack. Until that moment, Aviva had felt safe. But if these
huge men were worried about infiltration, maybe she needed to revise her
thinking.

The young woman
was fluttering her eyelashes at Jason in a way Aviva didn't like. What the heck
was she playing at? She had a job to do and she had better stick to doing just
that and bloody well leave the eying up of her man alone.

Aviva took a few
steps forward, ready to put the hussy in her place with a few choice words. She
saw the moment Jason became aware of her presence and turned his head in her
direction.

Aviva saw a
shadow appear behind the young woman. Her eyes widened in shock. There were two
men standing behind the lady at the door. Men Aviva recognized. They had guns. One
aimed at her, the other at Jason's back.

At her expression
of horror, Jason spun around and saw the guns pointing at them. Appearing
unconcerned, Jason took a long stride back into the room, deliberately using
his larger body to obscure the gunman’s line of fire that was directed towards
Aviva. He took yet another step backwards. The young woman stumbled into the
room, having been pushed roughly by one of the would-be intruders. Jason
extended a hand backwards, beckoning Aviva to him, his eyes never leaving the
men now slowly moving into the room.

Aviva was rooted
to the floor. Fear again gripping her, images of the past week running through
her mind, rendering her immobile. She could no longer physically see the men,
but her imagination had taken over. They were all going to die. Jason and his
brothers were going to die.