Free Kace (Allen Securities) by Madison Stevens Page A

he’s right back out to do it all again. My way, a piece of shit like him gets the beating he deserves, and he doesn’t ever fucking touch her again.” Finn stepped forward. “Tell me again that my way is wrong.”
    Kace took a step forward himself. “It’s not legal your way. We have laws for a reason.”
    Finn leaned forward. With a twisted smile on his face, he whispered, “But tell me my way is wrong. That they don’t fucking deserve it. That my way doesn’t make the world just a little safer at night.”
    Kace breathed in heavy through his nose. His anger was kept just barely in check. As much as he wanted to say it wasn’t true, he knew it was. For all the times he pointed to the law as this great thing to uphold, he knew that some people slipped through and got away with murder. Finn was a prime example of that. But then, so was the boyfriend.
    “You know the problem with you?” Finn stepped back and turned to the cars. “You think we’re worlds apart, but seem to forget I’ve met your family. We do what we have to for those who mean something when the time comes.” He turned to stare him in the eyes. “No matter the cost.”
    Finn walked back to the car and got in without a second glance.
    Liam stood silently behind him as they stared at the car.
    “His father used to beat his mother,” Liam said when he turned around. “No one could ever do anything for her because he was the boss, and you didn’t cross the boss.”
    Kace could feel his anger turning to pity. Feeling something for someone like Finn wasn’t something he wanted to examine too carefully. It put them too close to being similar. Putting a lid on those feelings, he faced the problem at hand.
    “Did you find anything useful?” Kace asked.
    Liam held up a small bag. “It’s not much. A smudged partial print, a cigarette butt, and a candy wrapper. Not enough for the cops to bother with, but it might be something for us. You okay with this?” Liam held up the bag. “I know you haven’t always been a fan of the way we go about getting information.”
    Kace glanced toward the car and then back at the bag. For as much as he didn’t want it to be true, Finn was right. There wasn’t much he wouldn’t do to protect the people he cared about. And right now, Jessica was in danger.
    “Do it,” he said. “Let me know when you have something.”
    Kace walked to the street and glanced around. The sun would be up soon. He could feel the need to sleep deep in his bones.
    “What are you going to do when this all goes down?” Liam asked.
    Kace sighed. “I don’t know.”
    “We need people like him,” Liam said quietly. “The city is being flooded with people that are outside your reach with the methods you use. He’s outside all that. And despite some of his criminal behavior, he’s the one thing keeping things from tipping to the side of bad.” Liam scrubbed his face and seemed to struggle with what he had to say. “Things are tough right now. He can’t really trust many of his men, and the ones he does trust have to watch the others. If things don’t end in his favor, I’m afraid we could all be sorry.” Liam sighed. “He needs us more than he ever wanted to, and if we’re all going to come out of this alive, we need him.”
    Kace nodded. It seemed to counter everything he had learned from Lt. Jackson.
    “Keep me posted on the results,” he said and climbed into his car. He was going to have to make a decision at some point but right now, all he wanted was a hot meal and a good sleep.
    He shoved his thoughts down and drove toward home.
     

Chapter Eight
     
     
    Jessica tossed the covers off at the first sight of morning and cursed the new day. What was the point of even trying to sleep when it never came or, when it did, her thoughts were filled with Kace? If she didn’t start getting some decent sleep, she was going to lose it. The last time she had slept well was at the beginning of the week while in his arms. Here