Barber Shop Ink - Book 3: Riverworth Read online

  My encrypted, but out-of-date phone rang, Georgiou’s name flashed across the screen. I took a deep breath accepting the call without saying a word as was Morningstar’s way.

  “Ragazza Dolce,” Georgiou greeted. ‘Sweet girl’ he called me. “You make this old man very sad by staying away for so long.”

  “Nonno,” I replied, “it’s good to hear your voice.”

  Georgiou wasn’t blessed with granddaughters and had taken special shine to me. Nonno - grandfather, he had insisted that I called him when it was just the two of us. If we were in the company of others, the privilege of calling him Georgiou was mine. Calling him by his first name was a great honour, a sign you were a trusted, respected close friend of Don Marino.

  “You could hear it any time you wanted. You know this Ragazza Dolce, you just have to call.”

  “Nonno, you know why I couldn’t,” I mumbled.

  “I do, and I understand. But understanding doesn’t diminish the pain in my heart. One might be led to believe I offend you, somehow.”

  I hated the pain and hurt in his voice.

  “Nonno, you know it was nothing you did. The pain you feel was my doing, and I can’t apologise enough for that. It tore out my heart to walk away and cut ties with you, but it had to be done.”

  “I know why you left, and I admire the grace in which you did it. You have more courage and bravery than most of the men in my service. I am very proud of you, Ragazza Dolce.”

  Even after all this time, receiving praise from Georgiou made me smile and pride bloom in my chest.

  “Speaking of men in your service,” I used this opportunity to segue into the business part of the conversation. “You know I had nothing to do with the accusations of Nicholas Vex. Nonno, I would never threaten you or the famiglia.”

  “You don’t even have to say the words I know this. Gianni, on the other hand, is a different matter. My son is still a little hurt by your departure. I hope you know I would never sanction taking innocent lives to send a message.”

  “I know Nonno. So, where do we go from here?” I asked already knowing the answer.

  “Now, Ragazza Dolce you must come and visit me,” I could hear the smile in his voice. “We will sit down and discuss this like professionals.”

  I had to admit, although he was part of a life I wanted to forget, I was looking forward to seeing Georgiou again. “I will,” I agreed and then added, “Nonno is it possible for me to make a request.”

  “How could I deny you anything, Ragazza Dolce? Please tell me what has you so anxious.”

  “I would like to request Nicholas Vex and Gianni are present at the sit-down. Vex has already lied, and it cost two innocent people their lives. I want no more lies or miss communication between our families. Besides, I would like to look Vex in the eye when I call him out on all his bullshit,” my tone becoming angry at the end.

  “Lingua Ragazza Dolce,” he scolded – Language sweet girl.

  “Sorry Nonno.”

  “While I might not like it, I understand why you let it slip,” he laughed. “I will make sure that this Nicholas Vex and my son are present. You have every right to confront your accuser.”

  “Thank you Nonno, I hope this can be resolved with no further loss of life.”

  “You and I both, Ragazza Dolce. You and I both.”

  So, that is how I find myself in the belly of a cargo plane. freezing my ass off wishing I was back home in my very comfy bed in the arms of my hunky fiancé.

  I had to keep reminding myself to not think of Memphis, Barber Shop Ink, Cassidy, Jax and the boys. I had to stick to the plan. Get in, deal with this mess and get out as fast as possible with little bloodshed.

  For the millionth time since I left I prayed that Memphis is not angry at Jax. I knew he would be angry at me, but I didn’t want to cause any grief between him and Jax, they had been friends for too long. Memphis would go to Jax as soon as he realised I had gone demanding answers. I was going to owe Jaxon big time.

  I also prayed that he would not read too much into me leaving my engagement ring behind. It killed me to take it off but, I had too. For the next however many days or weeks – God I hope not weeks – I locked Hedge in a box and it was Morningstar was who was in control.

  I couldn’t separate Hedge from Morningstar if I wore my engagement ring. I had no way of knowing what I would have to do, and it would ruin me if something happened to my ring. So, I left it with Memphis for safe keeping until I came home.

  I planned on coming home. I was coming home, I would reclaim my ring, put it on my finger and never take it off again.

  I opened my encrypted laptop and connected the new smartphone Henry gave me and installed all my usual firewalls and encryption software. I left a similar phone with Jaxon. I wanted a way to contact Memphis. I had restricted the phone to receive calls and text only, which would piss Memphis off. I did it, so I wouldn’t get distracted. I told Jax not to give it to Memphis for seventy-two hours. I knew there is no way he could last that long. I knew Jaxon would break and give it to him at around the forty-eight-hour mark.

  I made sure Jax had a copy of all the evidence I had on Vex on a jump-drive. There was also a backup copy to be delivered to him in two weeks unless I called it off. I had the files on my laptop and now on my encrypted phone. I wanted the ability to access the evidence anytime, anywhere no matter what.

  I plugged the headset to the phone putting in the earbuds underneath the noise cancelling headphones I was wearing. I brought up the video recording app and switched the camera to selfie mode and took a moment to look at myself. I looked different, I had changed my appearance in the car while Henry drove me to meet the plane.

  I covered my true eye colour with hazel contact lenses. I had on a blonde shoulder-length wig, I darkened and thickened my eyebrows and changed the shape of my eyes and lips with the skilful application of makeup. I had on tortoiseshell frame glasses and generic nondescript clothing. I would look like just another mid-level company employee hitching a ride to London with the supply plane.

  The cargo plane I was travelling in was full of medical supplies. Supplies that were going to a World Health Organisation tent hospital in some obscure little country that was so small the media didn’t care about it. The WHO did, and my uncle was more than happy to help. The more things he involved himself in that were legal, the less the authorities would look at his illegal activities.

  I could disembark the plane blending in with the other company staff members who were travelling on this flight. The difference being they were in relative comfort in the small passenger area of the plane while I was in the cargo hold so I wouldn’t be seen. I looked at myself in the screen that was dimly lit by the ambient light in the cargo hold signed and hit record.

  “Hi Baby, I know you’re angry with me but let me just say two things first. One, I won’t explain myself on a recording. Two I am coming back, don’t for one second think I’m not.” I exhaled resting my head back on the stack of blankets on the pallet behind me. “God, Baby I am so tired, and I wish I was in bed with you right now.

  Please don’t be mad at me. I love you Memphis. I am coming home, and I am marrying you,” I ended the recording and sent the file to his encrypted phone.

  I looked off in the distance zoning out for a while. I just listened to the sounds of the massive plane in flight, the whirring of the engines and the rushing of air along the fuselage. I pulled a blanket up around me and got as comfortable as possible. Letting fatigue claim me as a tear slid down my cheek offering once again in silent prayer, please don’t hate me Memphis.

  Chapter 2 Hedge

  I fell asleep and stayed that way for a long time. Next thing I knew the captain was broadcasting an announcement to the passengers which he also sent through the cargo hold, waking me.

  “Attention passengers and crew this is the captain speaking, we are approaching East Midlands Airport. We will begin our descent in thirty minutes.”

  I would have pr
eferred to fly in closer to central London, but when catching last minute covert flights, beggars can’t be choosers. East Midlands Airport is the UK’s number one pure cargo airport. That’s what the website when I looked it up to see how much backtracking I would need to do.

  I took the remaining flight time to gather my things together, check my appearance making sure everything was in place. The moment the plane’s wheels hit the runway I was up. I made my way to the service elevator and up into the galley at the back of the passenger area. Once the plane had finished taxiing to the terminal, the passengers had gathered their belongings, I filed in behind them. Just another passenger disembarking from a long flight. Everything timed to perfection.

  After clearing customs, I lined up with the rest of the passengers and caught the shuttle bus to Jurys Inn. The company employees were staying there before catching a connecting flight the next day. I checked in, went to my room showered and changed, not just my clothes but my appearance.

  I changed into a rusty red coloured wig cut into a wavy bob, put in pale blue contacts, applying minimal makeup except what I needed to change my facial features. I wore a black and grey tearaway tracksuit that was the uniform of a charity cycle team out of Sheffield that was making their way to London. I changed out my luggage from a wheelie case to a team duffel bag. Wiped down the room leaving no trace I had ever been there and exited the room.

  In the lobby I deposited the wheelie case, now filled with hotel linen to add weight - to the pile of luggage for loading onto a waiting coach. I walked out the front door and onto the team bus. Half an hour later the bus came to a stop in Leicester, the first stop for the days ride.

  I exited with the rest of the team, walked around the side of the bus taking off my tracksuit jacket as I walked. I dropped the jacket picking up the duffel bag walking around the back of the bus. I pulled the team logos off the duffel bag depositing them in the nearest bin. I unzipped the straps from the duffel converting it to a backpack and placed a beanie on my head.

  I kept walking, cutting across the park heading towards my destination. I noticed a homeless lady asleep on a park bench. Gripping the front of the tracksuit pants I tore them from my body like a stripper as I walked dropping them on the back of her bench seat. In a matter of minutes, I had gone from a charity cycle team member to a nondescript backpacker wearing black tights and an oversized tee.

  I walked into the closest car rental office, and using a brand new, one use only ID hired a car. I paid cash for an ordinary looking mid-sized sedan to drive the almost three hours to London. I was dead on my feet by the time I got to West Brompton where I dropped off the rental car. After yet another outfit and luggage change I boarded a train.

  At Earls Court, I changed the look of my luggage again, changed my beanie to a crotchet slouch cap added a scarf and faded black denim jacket. After leaving my beanie for another homeless person, I boarded the train headed down the Piccadilly line looking like just another college student heading home to Knightsbridge.

  No one knows about my flat in Knightsbridge of that I made sure. It wasn’t in my name, the mortgage not paid from my accounts, and the utilities not addressed to me. As far as the world knew, John Benjamin, a thirty-six-year-old businessman who travelled a lot, owned the flat. If any of the neighbours saw me, I was John’s little sister Annie who sometimes crashed at his home to unwind from college.

  I slipped into the flat undetected.

  All I wanted to do was go to sleep, I had been travelling for almost forty-eight hours straight, but I had a few things to do first. I checked that the flat was secure. That all the security systems are operational, that all emergency exits were accessible, and all weapons sharpened and loaded.

  I stripped off pulling off the tight wig and hair cap taking the longest hottest shower of my life. I got out of the shower dressed in the tee that Memphis had been wearing the night I left. It still smelt like him, it made me feel comforted and homesick all at the same time. I braided my hair as drying it would take too much energy and crawled into bed with a hot cup of lemon tea.

  I was so tired, but I felt alert at the same time. I needed to sleep, I needed my mind focused and sharp. I needed to be on my A-game when dealing with Georgiou, Vex and my uncle. But, I couldn’t sleep. I knew why I couldn’t sleep it was because I was in bed alone.

  It has been a little over eighteen months since I have slept alone without Memphis, without my head resting on his chest. The rhythm of his heartbeat singing me to sleep and then waking up in his arms in the morning. I pulled out my phone, opened the video app and hit record.

  “Hi Baby. I just wanted to let you know I have arrived at my destination. Very freaking tired, but safe. Please don’t be mad at Jax he’s only doing what I asked. I love you Baby with everything I am. You are my life, and I wish we were together right now. I’m dog-tired, but I can’t sleep. I know that if you were with me I could fall asleep in your arms without a care in the world. I love you. I love you. I love you. I will be home as soon as I can, and I will talk to you soon. I love you.”

  I finished the recording and sent it to his encrypted phone. I turned off the light and pulled the front of the tee up to my nose. I inhaled letting the lingering smell of Memphis sooth my soul and send me off to sleep.

  Chapter 3 Memphis

  “I’m sick of this shit!” Jax hissed.

  “I don’t give a rats-ass Jax. You know what’s going on and where she is. Fucking tell me!” I yelled back.

  The last two days have been a nightmare and the longest forty-eight hours of my life. I wanted answers, I want them now, and I wasn’t leaving without them.

  “Didn’t she leave you a note? She was supposed to leave you a note. She said she would leave you a note.”

  “Yes, she left a fucking note,” I growled thrusting the crumpled piece of paper into his chest.

  I had read and re-read the note from Hedge a thousand times hoping to find a clue. A hidden code, anything that would let me know where the hell she was and why the fuck she left.

  “I am going to fucking kill her,” Jaxon declared read the letter, letting out his own frustrated growl. “She told me she would leave you a note explaining everything. I told her she had to be the one to fill you in; not me. I told her I didn’t want to get involved.” He ran his hand across his head muttering under his breath, “stupid, stubborn, fucking… Don’t worry Jax I’ll explain everything. I’ll make sure Memphis understands,” Jax said mimicking Hedge’s voice. He growled out in frustrating, “I am gonna kick her ass.”

  “Not if I get to her first,” I said snatching the note back.

  A fucking note!

  Hedge had left our bed, our home. She had left me in the middle of the fucking night leaving behind a fucking note. A note that said nothing.

  Explained nothing!

  I woke expecting to find my fiancé in bed beside me or at least in the apartment. I stretched my arm out to her side of the bed to find it cold. Thinking she might be in the kitchen or having coffee on the deck, I went to find her, but she was nowhere.

  Thinking she might have woken early going for a run, I returned into the bedroom to see if she had left a Post-It note on the bathroom mirror as was her normal way but no, no Post-It. I walked back into the bedroom getting worried picking up my phone to call her. I dialled her number, within seconds her phone rang and buzzed on the table beside her side of the bed.

  What the mother-loving-fuck?

  She never left the apartment without her phone. I threw on some clothes heading down to the shop to see if she was there. I picked up my phone again and I saw what I had missed before.

  There on my bedside table next to my watch was her engagement ring sitting on top of a folded piece of paper. My heart stopped, the bottom dropping out of my stomach. There was only one reason she would leave her ring.

  She left me.

  I shook myself. No there was no way she would do that. I looked around the room searching for clues. All her stuff
was still here. Her clothes were still in the closet right next to mine. The photo album Jax and Cassidy made for her birthday was still sitting on the dresser, I knew she wouldn’t leave without it. I picked up her engagement ring slid it onto my pinkie finger opening her note.

  Memphis,

  I love you. I love you. I love you.

  Please don’t be mad at me and please don’t take your anger at me, out on Jaxon it is not his fault. I will fix everything, and then I will be back. I will marry you. Our house will be full of babies and love and laughs until we are both old and grey.

  I won’t tell you where I am, please don’t attempt to find me. I had to do things this way to keep you safe.

  I’ll be home as soon as I can.

  I love you. I love you. I love you.

  Please don’t hate me.

  All my love Jupiter Calliope Riverworth.

  Not only did she take off in the middle of the fucking night, but she gave me her real fucking name on a bullshit note. The stupid piece of paper explained nothing.

  “Explain Jaxon now!” I barked. I was sick of not knowing what was going on.

  “Okay,” Jax said in frustration turning and walking down the hall.

  What the fuck!

  “Jax, where the hell are you going?!”

  It was just after six am. Jaxon and Cassidy had been away for the last two days at a convention where Cassidy was presenting. They had gotten back late last night. I had planned on waiting until a more reasonable hour. But once I had re-read her letter for the millionth time I got on my bike and sped over to his house. I was sick of waiting for answers. I beat on his door until an angry, bleary eyed Jax opened the door.

  “I guess she’s gone then.”

  “Yes, she fucking gone,” I shoulder checked him as I barged passed into his home.

  “Start talking Jax.”

  “It is too fucking early to deal with this shit I need coffee.”