The Devil's Game (Rhodes to Hell Book 1) Read online

  The Devil’s Game

  Rhodes to Hell Book One

  K. B. Saint

  Studio Four Twelve Publishing

  Copyright © 2020 by K. B. Saint

  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.

  —Playlist—

  https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3vPl8Lt8RFoPV7EX1TiW1s?si=5uq3fpV1TTK1RY8HuZUPug

  This is my family. I found it all on my own. It's little, and broken, but still good.

  Yeah. Still good.

  Lilo and stitch

  For those searching for the family they never had.

  Keep searching, magic is waiting.

  Trigger Warning

  This book is a dark romance and has dark themes. As such is only recommended for those 18 and older. There will be swearing, mentions of drug use, and sexual situations. There are triggering topics so if you have many triggers this book may not be for you.

  Chapters

  Prologue

  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

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Prologue

  HOLLIS — PRESENT

  “Hollis! Where the hell are you?”

  Elijah’s gruff voice booms into the warehouse where I’ve been waiting on him. I’m slightly out of breath after spending the last five minutes bloodying my fists and putting this dude in front of me into a possible coma. I hope he can pull out of it so we can get some kind of answers. I’m usually a bit more tactful and get the information before beating them unconscious, but he struck a nerve.

  “Over here,” I call back, wiping the blood on my hands onto my blood soaked jeans before looking down at my handiwork.

  Elijah walks further into the warehouse and spots us on the other side of the office. His dark eyes hold mine as his frown deepens but the smile on his face conveys another message entirely. He’s proud. “Goddammit, Hollis, I fucking told you to wait until I got here.”

  “He pissed me off,” I shrug, referring to the dumb ass who had enough balls to steal product from Elijah in the first place. “He wouldn’t stop begging, man. So, I stopped the annoying shit. You know I’m not the most patient person.”

  “You just texted me six minutes ago, motherfucker,” he laughs, holding his phone up so I can see the timestamp on the last message I sent him.

  I raise my eyebrows and shrug again. “A lot can happen in six minutes.”

  He nods and motions to the man lying on the ground. “I can see.”

  “What do you want to do with him?” I ask, unsure if he just wants me to pull my gun out and shoot him or not. It’s a cut and dry case, the dumb ass on the floor was caught selling Elijah’s stolen product, so he definitely deserves to die. Everyone knows our shit by its unmistakable quality, so he knew what he was doing before we caught him.

  He signed his own death warrant the moment he thought it was okay to do anything but return what wasn’t rightfully his.

  “Well, I wanted you to wait until I got here so I could see if he’d tell us who he got it from. I know this motherfucker didn’t rob ManMan himself.”

  “I left him alive,” I reason.

  Elijah laughs again. “Yeah, thanks for being so considerate. I guess we can chill until he wakes up.”

  “Want me to wake him up,” I ask my lip curling into a sinister snarl. I’m itching to use the chain dangling in Elijah’s right hand.

  “If you touch him again he’ll be dead for sure.” He moves the man's head with the tip of his work boot and to get a better look at the damage I’d done, I’m sure. “I’m surprised he ain't already dead now. You must’a got popped on first for you to get at him like you did.”

  “Nah,” I chuckle. “He just said the wrong thing.”

  “Which was …” he draws the words out, making me laugh again.

  “He told me my father wouldn’t want this life for me.”

  Elijah’s eyes fall back to the man and he shakes his head. “Wrong line, dumb ass.”

  He knows more than most about how little my father’s—his uncle’s—opinion matters to me and how much it triggers me to have people bring up anyone in my family. I stopped caring about my family a long time ago when they decided I was better off on the streets when I was only a kid.

  I’m not little anymore though, and while I still see my younger sister on occasion, I never returned to my father's home and I do what I have to do as a man to survive. It’s not a pretty life, but who ever said life needed to be pretty to be lucrative?

  Surviving for me means using my fighting skills to beat people up on a daily basis for one of the most powerful men alive.

  Preston pays us well enough, and I get to enjoy pounding people into the pavement, it’s a win win situation in my opinion. I even get to use my gun some days. Those days are my favorite. I haven’t always felt good at everything I do, but I know now I was definitely born to kill.

  “You know,” Elijah says, moving away from the man currently knocked out in front of us, “I think we should go to the gym after this. You’ve been extra fucking tense lately.”

  “Shut the hell up,” I say, waving him off. “You’re the one who got me knocking all these motherfuckers out looking for your shit. I’m not tense, I’m just ready for the next fight.”

  “I’m sayin’ bruh, why don’t you go fight for leisure like you used to?”

  “I’m in the gym every morning, man.”

  “Not for fun. You go to train and while being dedicated is all good and fine, do you ever have fun?” He’s pushing his limit getting into my personal life, and he knows it, I can see it clear on his face he’s already regretting opening up this can of worms with me.

  “Look, Elijah, you’re not the fun police,” I snap. “What I do when I’m not working doesn't concern you unless I’m bringing shit to the family and I’m not, so drop it.”

  He respects my request and lets the subject go, which I am glad about. Not having this conversation ever will always be better in my book. It doesn’t matter what I do outside of the business we share, I take care of my what’s important either way.

  We only wait a few minutes for the man I brought to the warehouse to wake up. After a little more coaxing on my part, Elijah gets the real culprit’s name and we wrap things up quickly after.

  I put a bullet in his skull and watch as he bleeds out onto the abandoned warehouse’s fil
thy floor. The dirt mixing with his blood makes the fluid thicken and causes its crimson color to turn ashy. I nudge the guy with my boot one last time before confirming he’s dead to Elijah. “I’ll call Messiah and have him come get the body.”

  “Perfect. I’ll see you in the morning, man. Let me know if you want to hop in the ring with me tonight,” he challenges, a sly grin on his face.

  “I’ll text you if I change my mind,” I tell him as I open my car door, but we both know I won’t hit him up about fighting tonight. I need a shower badly and I am not trying to box with Elijah. Especially not with how our last fight ended. “I’m headed home now man, but I’ll hit you up later.”

  “Aight, bruh. Hit me up.”

  I nod and get into my car and drive away from the warehouse in silence before calling Messiah. I tell him he has a mess to clean up and it doesn’t surprise me when he actually sounds excited. His ass has always been just a little crazier than me, but it’s why we work. I don't mind doing the killing and Messiah enjoys the disposal side of things. Clean up is not my cup of tea.

  When I get to my building, I hop out at the curb and throw the keys to Jerome so he can clean and park my car. He’s paid to know exactly what I expect, so when he gets a good look at me and notices my appearance, he simply nods and greets me like normal. “Hello, Mr. Knox. Will you need the car later?”

  “I shouldn't, Jerome, but make sure it's clean.” I walk around to the sidewalk and he passes me on his way to the driver’s side.

  “Yes, sir.”

  He gets in my car as I hurry into the building. My apartment is in a nice area and I usually try not to get out in the front after bloody fights like the one I just had, but the underground garage is being renovated right now, so I don't have much of a choice.

  As soon as I make it into the quiet lobby the sound of a woman's shrieking makes me reach for my gun and jerk my attention toward where the sound came from. A girl I don’t recognize catches my eye as she runs toward me, her big brown eyes lighting her face up. “Oh my god! Are you hurt?” she asks once she gets closer, inspecting me closely.

  She tucks her dark hair behind her ear and her eyes roam all over my body but I just stare back at her.

  “Are you okay?” she asks, her eyes finally moving to my own and her full lips turning down some like she doesn’t understand.

  I frown.

  “Who are you?” I growl out, annoyed to have her in my face when I obviously need a shower.

  “Oh … um …” she breathes out a ragged nervous breath while she continues to look over my body for the source of all of the blood on my clothing and replies, “I'm Ruby.”

  She smiles, reaching a hand out and seems so happy and willing to shake my hand even though the dried blood on my hands and clothing should be a good enough reason for her not to. I stare down at her hand without touching it and she slowly retracts it, catching the hint. She keeps the unusually attractive smile on her face though.

  “I'm new.”

  “What happened to the old receptionist, Kelly?” I figure she’ll be able to tell me why the fuck she’s here instead of the person I’m comfortable with.

  “I think she had her baby early or something. I usually work at another building, but I think I'm here until she comes back.”

  I look her up and down once more and shake my head. “Stay out of my way, Ruby.”

  She doesn't listen, just like I expected and quickly follows behind me. “Are you sure you don't need to go to a hospital, you must be hurt. There’s a lot of blood on you.”

  I look over my shoulder and eye her harshly as Nathan opens the elevator door for me. “It's not my blood.”

  I step into the elevator and I notice a faint smirk on Nathan's lips. He's obviously amused with her wide eyes and the way her pouty lips are hanging open. She doesn't say anything else, but holds my stare as the elevator doors close. If the sinister grin on my face isn't enough to scare her ass away, I know I'll have to figure out how to handle her some way or another.

  Her over concern about me is weird and arbitrary as fuck, but as I get to my apartment, I can only assume it’s probably because of the amount of blood covering me.

  It’s definitely not normal.

  I hope she won’t be much of a problem. With a face as pretty as hers and the naughty glint in her eyes, I am sure she has plenty of things to occupy her time, but I have a feeling I’ll be seeing a lot more of her whether I like it or not.

  MESSIAH — PRESENT

  “Hollis needs us to get a body,” I tell Nicholai. “Think you can help me before you and Salem leave?”

  “It’s fresh?” he asks, twisting around on the barstool to look at me, rubbing a hand over his low cut blonde hair.

  “I’m assuming, since he just called me.” I chuckle, walking out of his kitchen. “Let’s go, motherfucker.”

  He groans, but I hear him get off of the stool and follow me anyway. “You know Salem is going to be pissed if we pick her up with a body in the trunk.”

  I laugh because I know he’s right, but we don’t have a choice. “She’ll get over it.”

  We leave the townhome he shares with his little sister, and when we get into my Tahoe my mind goes to what Hollis left behind for us. He never gives me any details over the phone, just leaves them coded into a seemingly harmless conversation which typically sounds like we're talking shit.

  I drive and Nicholai already has the music turned up and I’m thankful because I don’t want to talk, especially to him. He never typically talks to anyone other than Salem anyway. He’s good to have on my side, but we’ve never been close. I’m not sure if he’s close with anyone, honestly. He’s still my brother at the end of the day.

  The warehouse we pull up to is one we use often enough for me to feel comfortable here. I pull the Tahoe into the back of the building and without a word Nic jumps out and lifts the metal door so I can pull through. He closes it behind me. I see the body immediately and I circle the truck around, angling the back toward the dead fucker who stole from Elijah.

  He should’ve known better than to steal from us.

  I get out of the car just as Nicholai walks up beside me and as the smell of death seeps into our noses we admire Hollis’ work. A single bullet to his head, a Hollis specialty, but the man’s face is mangled and I can tell Hollis had some built up anger when he beat this dude. I don’t know what he said, but it must’ve been bad, because Hollis wasn’t one to do extra shit.

  “Dude got the works,” Nicholai laughs. “Hollis must be in a pissy mood.”

  “I was thinking the same.”

  We don’t say anything else as we clean up the area and it takes us less than ten minutes to bag the body up and get it into the back of the Tahoe. It’s not ideal to have a whole dead body in the back of the truck when I’m picking up Salem because she always says she can smell it in her hair for days. She’s just dramatic when it comes to dead bodies.

  Once we are out of the warehouse I head straight for Preston’s gym where we dropped Salem off earlier. She hates it up there, but there was no arguing with the orders Preston gives. He always gets what he wants, and the pay is good, so we all do what we’re told. Not Nicholai, but he isn’t like the rest of us. He likes to push the limit.

  “Call her and tell her we’re outside, I don’t want to go in,” I tell Nicholai and he pulls his phone out.

  When she answers I can hear her loud voice through the phone telling us to come inside. “Why?” Nic asks, and I tilt my head against my headrest, not wanting to go in at all. “No, come on Say. I’m not coming in. Just come on.”

  He doesn’t have to listen to her complaining about his orders because he hangs up before she can get to them and I laugh. Nicholai looks up at the gym and shakes his head. We only wait a few minutes before I see her and she’s already pouting.

  “What the hell is she so fussy for?” I ask out loud. I know Nicholai doesn’t know the answer and don’t expect him to answer me.

  “She d
oesn’t want to go tonight.”

  I know what he means, and I drop it. I don’t always want to go on jobs either, so I can’t judge her, but our feelings never matter to the end game, in the end we’ll all do our job.

  I won’t have anyone helping me toss the body pieces into the burner and Salem won’t have anyone telling her she doesn’t have to go. It’s just what we do to survive.

  When the back door of the Tahoe opens, Salem gets in and the whining starts immediately. She must already see the body bag because there’s not much of a smell or anything. Maybe she can just sense death or something.

  “Ah, what the fuck, you guys! You couldn’t drop it off before you got me?”

  “Just get in and shut the damn door,” Nicholai says, not looking back at her at all. “You’ve seen worse.”

  I laugh. “Hell, she’s done worse.”

  “It was an accident, Messiah,” she grumbles from the back seat and I see her cross her arms over her chest in the rearview mirror. I love when she gets all pouty and crosses her arms because she’s never wearing anything more than those little crop top things only covering a little of her chest. It doesn’t leave a whole lot to the imagination. She catches me looking at her in the rearview mirror, but I hold her stare. “You always bring stupid stuff up.”