Beautiful Thorns (Boys of Bellerose #4)(2)
Author: Jaymin Eve

 

“My little Billie Jean. No words for your dad? Just worry for this punk-ass bastard?”

 

That voice, so fucking familiar, almost sent me to my knees. The shock… the shock was near debilitating as my brain tried to comprehend that the father I’d thought was dead for nine years was standing here before me.

 

Apparently alive and well and a fucking gangster.

 

“What did you do to Angelo?” I snapped back, finally finding my voice. “Let him go. Please. For me.”

 

What a stupid line. This man had faked his death and disappeared for nearly half my life. He clearly didn’t give a single fuck about me.

 

“Sorry, kid. I need to make a point to Giovanni, and what better way to do it than with his prized son and heir. After what this bastard did to you, this is the least he deserves.”

 

What he did to me? My father had to be referring to when Angel had left me and married Vee, which meant he’d been keeping an eye on things even from his grave.

 

“Billie!” Vee screamed again, and this time she was close enough that my ears hurt. She reached me in the next moment, and in the split second where I turned to see if she was about to shoot me in the back, my bastard back-from-the-dead father scurried out the door.

 

“No!”

 

Sprinting toward the door he’d just exited through, I burst out into the night, only to find a dozen or more men surrounding my father, guns pointed in my direction.

 

Vee yanked me back into the room, just as shots rang out once more, and there was no way the cops wouldn’t show up sooner or later.

 

“Let me the fuck go,” I screamed as I swung a fist and clipped the side of her face. “Don’t fucking touch me, you traitorous bitch.”

 

She backed up a pace, gun still in her hand but pointing toward the ground. Her other hand was pressed to her cheek where a red mark was already forming. “Nice hit, Billie,” she said, not sounding mad at all. “But if you go after Wilson, you’ll be dead faster than you can scream out Angelo’s name. He won’t kill him yet. This is a major power play against the Riccis. And there’s a reason for everything he does. But… we have time to save him.”

 

The way my brain was swirling made me sick.

 

“Wilson?” I echoed, dumbfounded.

 

But there was no chance for her to reply because Grayson upended an entire glass table behind us, smashing it over the bodies of the remaining assholes who had been in here earlier. Vee looked over her shoulder, a pleased smile entering her face when she saw it was only her people left.

 

“That went better than I’d hoped,” she said quickly. “No deaths on our side. Exactly as planned.”

 

The need to smack her in the face once more rode me so hard that I actually had my fist clenched, and it was moving before I managed to stop myself. She’d let me have the first one, but the second might get me shot.

 

“Angelo got kidnapped,” I sharply reminded her. “Fucking. Kidnapped.” You insane bitch.

 

“Not the first time and won’t be the last,” she shot back. “They’ll probably keep him here in Europe for a bit until the heat dies off, and then he’ll be transported to America to use in this fucking insane war with Giovanni. We’ll find him before they can do too much damage.”

 

There was a cold, calculating streak in Vee that, in all fairness, she’d never really hidden, but she also hadn’t exactly advertised it. I should have seen it though, especially when Angel told us that Vee was his choice to take control from Giovanni. He wouldn’t have suggested someone who wasn’t capable of the job.

 

“Thorn,” Rhett rasped, reaching me in a sweaty mess. Some blood was sprinkled across his face, but otherwise he looked uninjured as he threw his arms around me. “You’re okay.”

 

Physically, yes. Mentally… so fucking fucked up.

 

“Are you okay?” I managed to choke out as he wrapped me up in his familiar hug. “Not hurt?”

 

“Totally fine,” he reassured me, before pulling away to press a kiss to my lips. I was still too shocked to even kiss him back. “Billie?”

 

Blinking rapidly, as if that would help clear the fog in my head, I whispered, “He took him.” I cleared my throat and tried again louder. “He took him.”

 

“Who?” This came from Jace, who had reached us now. Grayson was right behind him. The three of them crowded around me, blocking Vee completely from sight. “Who took who?”

 

I was trembling. I hadn’t even realized until this second, as the adrenaline wore off and the pain crashed, that my entire body shook. “My father. Back from the dead. And he just took Angel. He plans to use him to destroy Giovanni.”

 

Grayson rumbled and then took off through the same door I’d used, but it was too late. They were long gone now, all those men and guns and the damn father I’d lost.

 

Along with the love of my life.

 

Well, one of four. But that didn’t mean I could spare any of them.

 

We had to get Angelo back, no matter the consequences.

 

 

 

 

 

two

 

 

 

 

 

BILLIE

 

 

Rhett led me over to the couch, careful of the broken glass and furniture that littered the floor. He was taking such painstaking effort to keep me safe that it eased some of the swirling panic that had been holding me in a near incoherent state.

 

Jace had followed Grayson and so had Vee, with the rest of her people, and so it was just me and Rhett in the awkward silence.

 

“Thorn, love, you’re starting to scare me.”

 

That knocked more shock from me, oddly, and I managed to suck in a deep breath and turn to face him, to see him clearly, without the fuzziness of vision that I’d been experiencing. To my surprise, some relief crossed his face before I even said anything. “You were nearly hyperventilating,” he said softly in explanation. “Your breaths are short and rapid, and I wasn’t sure if you were going to pass out or not.”

 

That might explain the fuzziness.

 

Thankfully, a few more deep breaths added clarity that had been missing a few seconds ago. Clarity and anger.

 

“Gray and Jace?” I said shortly. “Can we check on them?”

 

I was pushing up from the couch as I spoke, but it turned out there was no need so sat my butt back down. They were literally walking through the door, safe and uninjured. From what I could see anyway. Everyone was a little beat up and spattered in blood from the fight, but I couldn’t detect any life-threatening injuries.