The Devil's Own- Cassidy's Story Read online

  The Devil’s Own

  Angela Stevens

  Copyright © 2019 by Angela Stevens

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Foreword

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Also by Angela Stevens

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Foreword

  The Devil’s Own was first published in the Dark Secrets Boxed Set which came out in September 2019. It is now marketed as book one in Angela Stevens’s Hell Bent Series.

  Chapter 1

  “For fuck’s sake, Ryker, why’d you bring her along?”

  Falcon glared first at Ryker, then turned his eyes on her. Cassidy’s heart kind of did an itsy-bitsy double step when those smoldering steel blue eyes locked onto hers.

  Falcon was almost ten years older than she was, three more than Ryker. At twenty-seven and a half years old, the guy had been in prison once, and since getting out, he had worked his way up Kane Munch’s thug ladder. Kane now trusted Falcon to drive him around, and rumor had it Kane had taken Falcon under his wing to groom him for bigger and better things.

  “You know why.” Ryker turned Cassidy to face the counter of the café. “Go get yourself something and take it outside to eat.”

  “What? Ryker, it’s nearly thirty degrees out there, I’ll fucking freeze.”

  “What did I tell you about that mouth? Just fucking do as I say for once, will you?” Ryker looked exasperated.

  Cassidy lowered her eyes to her feet. “Fine,” she said but remained where she was. “Um, I don’t have any cash.”

  “For fuck’s sake!” Falcon thrust his hand in his pocket and pulled out his wallet. “What do you need? Five?”

  The thing was bulging with bills, no doubt earned through one of his many dodgy deals.

  “Jeez, what am I gonna get for five bucks, you skinflint.”

  He moved to the ten and she gave him a hard stare. Falcon sighed and handed her a twenty.

  Cassidy snatched the twenty from him, knowing she had pushed her luck. “Thanks, Falcon, I don’t mind if I keep the change.”

  For a fleeting second, his fingers touched her hand, and tingles rushed up her arm. Her cheeks heated, and she tucked the twenty in her jeans pocket, and sidled over to the counter where she pretended to peruse the menu.

  When she glanced back, Ryker and Falcon had their heads together, paying her no attention. Hmm, they were up to something. That in itself wasn’t unusual, since they were always up to something, but what ticked Cassidy off was they weren’t including her. When she was a kid, she hated being left out of their schemes, and now at a hair’s breadth away from being a legal adult, she still resented it.

  Fuck ‘em. I’ll show them. Whatever they were plotting, she could handle it. They think they are so freaking clever, but they aren’t. She glanced over her shoulder at them. They occupied a corner table and Falcon had his back to the wall, his eyes on the door. She wondered if they were expecting someone else, or if he was just waiting for her to leave.

  Ryker sat near the window looking down the street. Her normally cool-headed brother looked uncharacteristically nervous. His knee jostled, and he twisted a match around and around his fingers before breaking it in half and dropping the barely-hanging-together two pieces onto the table. His eyes lifted to hers, and he adjusted his demeanor, sitting back in his chair and folding his arms in front of his chest.

  “You decided, love?” The woman behind the counter chewed on bubble gum and drummed her fingernails against the wood, waiting for Cassidy’s order.

  “Yeah, I’ll have the double breakfast sandwich with bacon.”

  “How’d y’want that egg?”

  “Over-easy. Leave the yolk runny.”

  While Cassidy waited for her order, she took another surreptitious glance at her brother and his friend. They now had their heads together, whispering between themselves. A loud engine revved outside and they looked up simultaneously. She followed the two men’s gazes as they looked out the window. A fancy-assed sports car had pulled up outside. Huh, so that was what they were up to.

  Falcon and Ryker stole cars for Kane Munch, who used them mainly for parts. Recently, Cassidy suspected Ryker and Falcon might be expanding that little business with a side angle of their own. The sports car they were both eyeing up wasn’t the type of car Kane ordinarily dealt with. He had a nice little racket with high-end continental SUVs.

  “Here y’go.” The woman who took Cassidy’s order pushed a plate toward her.

  Cassidy snatched it up and went outside where she had the pick of tables. No one was foolish enough to sit outside in Chicago in October. Cold shot through her backside as her butt hit the freezing metal chair. Cassidy wished she had ordered herself a nice steaming cup of coffee to go with the sandwiches. She thought about going back inside to get one, but Ryker would get mad, thinking she was spying on them.

  She bit into the first sandwich and chewed on the crispy bacon. Egg ran down her chin and she wiped it away with the back of her hand. Even though sitting out all alone wasn’t her idea of a fun Saturday morning, she knew it beat the alternative. Ryker had brought her along for a very good reason—to keep Kane Munch away from her, and for that she was eternally grateful.

  Ever since Cassidy could remember, she’d attracted unwanted attention from the leader of the Bowker Street Devils. Kane looked at her with lust in his eyes and that made her want to puke. When Kane first took interest in her, Cassidy hadn’t been too concerned because since her dad died, his best friend, Cory, had taken it upon himself to watch over her and Ryker. He gave them money when they needed it, bought her cute trinkets, and he made sure she saw as little of the violence that surrounded the Devils as possible. Kane didn’t go near her while Cory was around. He even tried to protect Ryker, but as her brother was over eighteen, there was little even Cory could do to keep him out of the Devils’ business.

  The thought of Cory brought a tear to her eye. It was six months ago when he’d been killed in a shoot-out down at the docks. The rival Creed Brother gang had tried to move in on Kane’s territory, and after the bloodshed, Cory and Darren, a guy not much older than Cassidy, were gone, and four of the Creed gang were dead, too.

  Since Cory passed, Cassidy had tried to keep her head down and avoid Kane as much as possible, but she sensed his interest was growing. Ryker saw it, too, and he didn’t like it. But there wasn’t a lot Ryker could do except keep her with him and away from Kane. But Cassidy knew she was running out of time. In another week, she reached her eighteenth birthday and then neither Ryker nor Falcon would be able to prevent the inevitable.

  A man walked past her, his eyes raking over her as he opened the door to t
he café. She pulled her coat tighter around her and shivered. Finishing up her sandwich, she looked back in through the window. The man was sitting opposite her brother and they were deep in conversation.

  She scoured the area. They didn’t normally come this far across town, and there wasn’t much around here to do. Across the road, there was a Catholic church that sat back on a green patch of ground, its windows filled with a faint orange light that glowed against the grayness of the brickwork and the wintry looking sky. Checking that Falcon and Ryker were still busy, she got up and jogged across the road.

  Cassidy wasn’t religious, in fact she’d never even given religion a thought, but the church looked warmer than the sidewalk outside the café. She wandered up the path and stopped outside the two huge oak doors. In the center of the right one, there was a smaller door set inside it. Cassidy pushed on it and was surprised to find it open.

  She stepped inside and was overwhelmed by the vast interior. The roof towered above her, and in neat rows, long oak pews were precisely laid out facing the altar. The door clanged shut behind her and she almost jumped out of her skin. When Cassidy pulled herself back together, she wandered down the aisle. A beautiful statue sat on the altar, and she went to examine it more closely. It was a woman holding a baby, and it stood about two feet high. The color suggested it was gold, and she wondered why anyone might leave something so valuable lying around in an open church.

  Cassidy reached out and ran her fingers over the smooth surface, admiring the folds that had been cast into the skirts of the woman. How much would something like that weigh? She put both hands around the base and went to test it.

  “You gonna steal that?”

  The voice almost scared the living shit out of her, and she leaped back from the altar, her eyes searching for him. A man wearing tight black jeans and a dark charcoal gray shirt with a clerical collar stood up from the end of a pew.

  He was much younger than she would have imagined a priest to be. In fact, he didn’t look much different in age from her brother or Falcon. If she had to guess, she’d put him in his mid-to-late twenties. The priest was also far more good-looking than any priest she’d ever seen before. He had an edgy haircut, kind of asymmetrical, and even more surprising, under his rolled up sleeves, she could see an intricate set of tattoos.

  “I was just wondering how heavy it was.” Her cheeks burned at the accusation. She might be a member of the Bowker Street Devils, but she’d never steal from a damn church!

  The priest walked towards her. “Try it.”

  “Um, it’s okay.” She withdrew her hand and stepped back.

  He grabbed the statue with one hand and held it out to her. “Here, take it. Go on, satisfy your curiosity.”

  Cassidy took it from him and was disappointed. The statue weighed hardly anything.

  “It’s fake.” He walked away from her. “Come here.” The priest stopped by an ornately carved cabinet in the corner.

  Cassidy went to him as he opened up the old doors. Inside were three shelves filled with the exact same statue. He took one out and handed it to her. “They’re all replicas. The real one is under lock and key in a secret location. At least once a week someone comes in here and runs off with the Madonna and…”

  “Who’s the Madonna?”

  “The statue in your hand. It’s Jesus’ mother.”

  Her cheeks grew even hotter. “Oh, yeah, I knew that.”

  “You can take it if you like. It’s not worth anything, I’m afraid, but if you want it…”

  Cassidy shook her head and gave the statue back. “I really did only want to know how heavy it was.”

  The priest closed up the cupboard and placed the Madonna back on the altar. “I was just going to make some coffee, you want one?”

  “Um, I should go. My brother will wonder where I am.”

  “Okay, but if you ever want to come back, I could show you around.” He put out his hand. “I’m Liam.”

  “Shouldn’t you be called Father something or other.”

  “You can call me Father Liam if you prefer, but I always think that sounds too fuddy-duddy.”

  Cassidy laughed and took his hand. “I’m Cassidy.”

  As she stretched to shake hands with him, the sleeve of her jacket rose up. A tiny red and black tattoo peeped from underneath and Liam’s gaze fell upon it. Cassidy quickly hid the tattoo back under her sleeve, but he pulled her arm closer to him. His fingers brushed her wrist as he swept her clothing out of the way so he could examine it. Cassidy saw the recognition on his face, and shame washed over her.

  She was fourteen when she’d been given the tattoo. Cassidy had a distant memory of crying through the whole process. It felt like a brand, and it kept her tethered to the Devils. Liam drew around the outline of the devil’s face, then he pulled her sleeve back over it. “I can help you, Cassidy.”

  She shoved her hand into her pocket. “No one can help me.”

  “You’re wrong. All you have to do is ask. You do not have to stay with these people.”

  “I should go.” Before this conversation got her into more trouble than she could handle, she ran down the aisle and out the door.

  When she hit the sidewalk, she spotted Ryker looking up and down the street. He turned to Falcon, and her heart fell at the look of panic on his face.

  “Ryker.” Cassidy waved her arms to attract his attention.

  He turned to the sound of her voice, and relief appeared. “Where the fuck were you, Cassidy?”

  She pointed to the church behind her. “I was keeping warm inside.” She glanced back at the church door and saw the priest standing at it. When she looked back at Ryker, he was staring at Liam.

  Ryker put out his hand, beckoning her with his fingers. “Come on, we need to get back.”

  Cassidy held his hand as they set off down the street. “Is everything okay?”

  “Yeah, it’s fine.”

  Cassidy looked at Falcon for confirmation, but as usual he wore a poker face and gave nothing away. A second later, he cracked a smile, “You wanna come on a job, Cassidy?”

  “Really? Can I drive your truck?”

  “Yeah, why not.” He threw her the keys, and she ran around to the other side.

  “Fuck you, Falcon. I told you I don’t want her involved in any of this stuff. You know she doesn’t have a license.”

  “Relax, she’ll be fine, we’re just picking up a few parts. Besides, if she works with us, we can control what she sees.”

  “Please, Ryker, I wanna help, and I could do with the cash.”

  Falcon ruffled her hair. “You two will be a proper little Bonnie and Clyde duo.”

  Ryker narrowed his eyes at Falcon. “They were fucking lovers, not brother and sister.”

  “Same difference.”

  “You really want to goad me? We’ll drop her back at the motel.”

  “You said you wanted to keep her away from Kane. If she’s working with us, you know she’s safe.”

  Ryker rubbed his hand over his chin. “Fuck, okay.”

  “Seriously? I won’t let you down, Ryker.” Cassidy climbed into the truck, a grin from ear to ear. “Come on, then, tell me where we’re going.”

  Chapter 2

  “You stay here, you hear me?” Ryker leaned on the roof of the truck as he bent his head through the rolled-down window. Falcon had climbed out the back and was scanning the area.

  “Whatever you say, boss.” Cassidy saluted him and tried to hide her smile. She wasn’t going to push her brother. Eventually, she wanted a more active role than keeping watch, but she’d take this over being excluded altogether.

  “Keep the engine running, honey.” Falcon winked at her and set off toward a large warehouse with Ryker striding behind him.

  There were warehouses all along the docks but most of the ones in this section were old and dilapidated. She knew the Devils did a lot of business down there. They used the abandoned buildings for some of their shady deals and storing stolen goo
ds until it was safe to sell them. Falcon had told her they were picking up car parts and taking them down town to one of the Devils’ facilities. Cassidy had no doubt that Ryker and Falcon had stripped them from luxury vehicles they picked up in the city and dumped in remote locations.

  While she waited in Falcon’s truck, she rolled up the window and blew on her fingers. She fiddled with the heater, but it didn’t make a blind bit of difference to the frigid temperatures. Bored, she pulled out her phone and opened up Candy Crush. Stupid game! Cassidy had been stuck on level three hundred for two days.

  As she failed the level one more time, a movement between two buildings caught her eye, and she frowned as she tried to see what was going on. Down a small alleyway across the road from where her brother had gone, there was a white transit van. A door to one of the buildings opened and a guy wearing a black leather jacket and a blue bandanna emerged, dragging a woman behind him.

  Cassidy’s breath caught in her throat as she saw the woman’s hands bound in front of her and tape across her mouth. The man flung open the back doors of the van and pushed her inside. The emblem on the back of his jacket made Cassidy tremble. The Creed Brothers!

  He turned suddenly as another couple of guys appeared from the door, herding a group of bedraggled-looking women out. Cassidy leaned on the steering wheel to get a better look to see if those girls were restrained, too. Her heart was clattering in her chest as she realized what was happening.

  A loud blaring sound made her flail backward in her seat, and her phone skittered off her lap, dropping down the side of her seat. “Shit, shit, shit.” Cassidy’s eyes darted to the men, wondering how she could have been so stupid as to lean on the horn.