Lennox, p.1
Lennox, page 1
Lennox
Retribution Kings Book 1
Ella Miles
Copyright © 2022 by Ella Miles
EllaMiles.com
Ella@ellamiles.com
Cover design © CBC Designs / Designs by Daqri
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.
Contents
Retribution Kings Series
1. Lennox
2. Lennox
3. Rialta
4. Lennox
5. Rialta
6. Lennox
7. Rialta
8. Rialta
9. Lennox
10. Rialta
11. Lennox
12. Rialta
13. Lennox
14. Rialta
15. Lennox
16. Rialta
17. Lennox
18. Rialta
19. Rialta
20. Lennox
21. Lennox
22. Rialta
23. Lennox
24. Rialta
25. Lennox
26. Rialta
27. Lennox
28. Rialta
29. Lennox
30. Rialta
31. Lennox
32. Rialta
33. Lennox
34. Rialta
35. Rialta
36. Lennox
Also by Ella Miles
About the Author
Retribution Kings Series
Lennox (Book 1)
Rialta (Book 2)
* * *
Hayes (Book 3)
Lilith (Book 4)
* * *
Gage (Book 5)
Nova (Book 6)
* * *
The Retribution Kings Series is a spinoff of the Retribution Games Series. If you want to read Beckett and River’s story, start with Mistaken Hero
Chapter 1
Lennox
“We need to speak—alone,” I say, staring into the eyes of a monster. By all accounts, this man wants me and my friends dead. I shouldn’t be here. I shouldn’t be considering what I’m about to do. But even monsters have their weaknesses, and I know exactly how I’m going to exploit his to get what I want.
Unblinking, the monster’s dark orbs stare back. The whites of his eyes aren’t visible—just dark pupils. He doesn’t reveal at all what’s going through his head or even if he fully realizes who I am. We’ve interacted before, but to him I’m just a minion doing Beckett’s bidding. I’m not a player in this game, not a leader, so therefore, I’m a nobody to him.
The men around him draw their guns and aim them at me. I shouldn’t have been able to get past the other guards and security system, but I did. That makes me dangerous in their eyes.
There is no reason Vincent Corsi should take this meeting; he’s a powerful mafia leader. But I’m not going to reveal my hand unless he talks one on one.
I stare Corsi down, silently imploring him to meet with me in private. What I have to discuss is going to be well worth his time and the risk of meeting me without his security.
His eyes skim me up and down like a predator stalking his prey, making it even more obvious that he doesn’t actually see me as a threat. Maybe he shouldn’t. I have very little power. I have no army of men that will follow me. My combat skills are proficient, but others are better. I don’t have a lot of money to pay people to attack him. It’s just me.
But something in my gaze makes him decide I’m worth taking a chance on. With the slightest gesture of his hand, the men all lower their guns and file out of the room.
“This better be good,” Corsi says, sitting behind his mahogany desk with a glass of whiskey in one hand. He doesn’t offer me a drink or even motion for me to take a seat, but then again, I’m not his guest. I’m an intruder who just showed how incompetent his men are.
I take a seat in front of him anyway and grab the bottle of whiskey, helping myself to a glass from the corner of his desk.
His jaw twitches as I pour myself some of his Johnnie Walker Blue, but he doesn’t shoot me or tell me to stop. The man has a reputation for being ruthless and killing men for less, but he also respects a man for having some guts around him.
“You have a problem,” I say leaning back in my chair.
“I have many problems. Get to the point before I eliminate the one sitting in my office.”
I smirk. “I want to marry your daughter.”
Corsi freezes. I don’t know what he was expecting me to say, but it wasn’t that.
It gives me a minute to study the man. Corsi can’t be much past fifty, but the years of pain and loss he’s suffered have really taken a toll on him. His hair is practically all grey, sunspots cover his skin, and deep wrinkles crinkle his forehead, eyes, and mouth. Those dim eyes are sunken into his head like he hasn’t slept for years.
“You want to marry Rialta Corsi?” he asks.
“Yes, I want to marry her.”
He narrows his eyes, trying to read my mind and motivation. But I won’t let him see past my hard exterior. No one gets to know my real reasoning for this decision. No one gets to know my tragic history. No one but me.
“Why would I ever agree to that?”
“It’s the best solution to your problem. The man you chose to do it fell for your adopted daughter instead. And as much as you’d like to force him to marry Rialta, you won’t. You love River as much as you love Rialta, and you won’t take away her happiness. But you can’t wait any longer to get Rialta married.”
He frowns. “I can take as much time as I please.”
I shake my head. “You can’t. You’re tired of doing the job. You’re ready to pass down the torch to new blood.” I pause. “And cancer is coming quickly for you. I’ve seen your medical records. You need your legacy secured before you go.”
His face boils red. “I can do this job as long as I want! I don’t need one of Beckett’s guard dogs coming in and telling me I need to step down. I may be dying, but I won’t go as quickly as you’d like. I have years left.”
“I don’t have to tell you to step down because you already know it’s the truth. It’s what you want to do. You need Rialta married. You need Rialta safe. You need your legacy protected. And then you need to retire and live what’s left of your life in peace.” I take a slow sip of my drink, not letting him see the fear beating through me.
I have no idea if what I’m doing is the smart move, but I have to try. It’s the best way to protect everyone I love—Beckett, River, Hayes, Gage, and even Rialta.
War will continue without Rialta married and the chain of leadership established. The Corsi men need a strong leader, Rialta needs a protector, and I need power I’ve never had.
“What about the Retribution Kings? You’re just going to abandon them? Because you can’t do both. You can’t lead my men and still be a Retribution King,” Corsi says.
“I will gladly relinquish my membership with the Retribution Kings. My loyalty will be to the Corsi men.”
“You’ll have to change your name to Corsi. None of my men will follow your lead if you aren’t willing to take the blood oath. This isn’t how it’s usually done. For generations, the role passed on through blood from father to son.”
He pauses as if the next part hurts him to say. “But my son was killed, along with one of my daughters and my wife—leaving me Rialta. I should marry her to someone within the family, but I won’t do that to her. There is no one worthy of her in our family.”
I suspect he won’t ever think anyone is worthy of Rialta. But it’s still shocking that he hasn’t found a man within his ranks he trusts. I suspect it’s because he thinks one of his own men is a traitor. He thinks one of his men killed his children and wife. He thinks one of his own men has been trying to kill Rialta her entire life.
He doesn’t trust them. Beckett gained his trust, but then he fell for the wrong woman. He fell for River instead of Rialta.
Corsi doesn’t trust anyone. But he knows what has to be done, so he’ll agree to this. He doesn’t have much choice.
“My name already is Corsi as far as I’m concerned. I’ll take whatever blood oath you want me to take. I want to be a leader of a strong organization like yours. The Retribution Kings have failed me too many times. I want this. I was born to lead. I know I’d make a good mob boss and husband for your daughter.”
Corsi doesn’t say anything. He’s back to just staring at me, trying to read my mind. But he won’t be finding the truth. No one knows the darkest secrets of my soul, and he sure as hell won’t figure it out in this meeting.
Protecting Beckett, Ri, Hayes, and Gage are only a small part of my reasoning. But even if that was my only motivation for marrying Rialta and becoming a powerful mob boss, it would be more than enough.
Corsi does know what I’m protecting. My true loyalty is to my friends that are more like family.
“What makes you worthy of my daughter?” His stern look tells me this is the question he cares most about. He doesn’t care about the Corsi organization. He doesn’t care about my leadership skills. He cares about his daughter. I respect him for that.
“I’m not worthy of your daughter. No person alive is, but I hope with time I will prove worthy of her. I will say this, though: I’m a skillful fighter, intelligent, level-headed, calm, disciplined, focused, and honorable. And above all—I’m fiercely protective. I ’ve protected my brothers Hayes and Gage more times than I can count.
“You’ve seen how I’ve already protected Beckett, Ri, and Rialta. If you are in my circle, I’ll protect you with my life too. I know you want Beckett and Ri to continue protecting Rialta. I’ve already worked with them, so we’ll continue to be a good team to keep her safe. Hayes and Gage are loyal to me and will help protect her as well. I promise you Rialta will be safe with me. I’ll never hurt her or let anyone else hurt her. I’ll protect her with my life.”
It’s not a lie, but it’s also not the whole truth.
Vincent Corsi knows that. Is it enough to convince him?
“I’ve tried to find a man for Rialta before. I held a contest, a competition where men were willing to risk their lives to have her. Beckett won, but he didn’t love her. The only way a man will truly protect her with his life is if he loves her.”
My eyes widen in shock, and my mouth falls agape. I wasn’t expecting to have to profess my love for Rialta. “I…um…I…” I stutter, unsure of how to convince him that I love Rialta.
“I know you don’t love her, but I hope that changes. So my challenge to you is to figure out how to love her. That is the only way I will let you marry her, the only way I’ll turn this job over to you someday.”
“And if I don’t convince you I’m in love with her?” I ask, apprehensive of what he’s going to say.
“Then you can try to persuade me in a different way—by finding the man responsible for the deaths of my children and wife. It’s the biggest threat to Rialta—find him and bring him to me. Then convince her to marry you and produce an heir together. Only then will I step down and give you my job.”
“So my options are: prove that I love her or find the man responsible for your family’s destruction? A man that no one has been able to find for twenty years?”
Vincent Corsi nods with a slim smile. “Yes. I don’t know why you really want this, but I don’t care as long as Rialta is taken care of. She will be protected if you fall in love with her, or she will be taken care of if you eliminate the one man who wants her dead. Either way, she’ll be safe.”
I swallow the hard lump in my throat.
“Falling in love with Rialta or finding your enemy will take time. It might be a long time for Rialta to be unmarried and unprotected. The men might grow restless and try to prove themselves worthy of being your heir. A civil war could be started again in the meantime.”
I need this settled as soon as possible. I don’t have time to deal with his ridiculous stipulations.
Corsi nods. “Which is why you’ll be married as soon as it can be arranged.”
I sigh, relieved at how easily my plan came together.
“But my conditions remain. If you want to take over my job, then you must fall in love with Rialta and produce an heir or kill the man who wants to end the Corsi line. You have one year. If you fail, I’ll kill you. You’ll have to take an oath at your wedding in front of my men, vowing as much.”
My heart beats erratically. This just became a suicide mission. I can’t win. I can’t fall in love with Rialta, and finding and killing her mysterious enemy is impossible. Producing an heir with her might just be the only part I can muster.
One year.
Being married to her with access to the Corsi men for a year should be enough; it has to be. But when my time is up, I’ll be hunted by some of the most dangerous men in the world.
“Do we have a deal?” Corsi asks me.
I down the rest of the expensive whiskey in one gulp, knowing I have my work cut out for me. There’s no way I’ll ever fall in love again. It was too painful the first time.
I have no idea how I’m going to be able to find this mystery man, either. One year and then I die if I fail.
I can’t fail.
I have to find a way to do the impossible.
I don’t have a choice.
I slam my empty glass on the table.
“You have a deal.”
“Good, then I’ll announce your engagement, and you’ll be married within the week. The clock’s ticking—one year.”
I stand and walk away before I think too hard about the deal I just made and how it will probably be the end of me.
Chapter 2
Lennox
I look up at the skyscraper disappearing between the dark clouds hanging low tonight, blocking out all the stars. A flash of lightning lights up the sky before rescinding back into the gloominess.
I hesitate for a second on the sidewalk, dreading going up to Ri and Beckett’s apartment to meet Rialta. She needs to hear from me that I’m the man she is to marry. I don’t owe her a lot, but I owe her that.
I start walking toward the lobby door when a woman slips out. I don’t think anything of her, but then I get a flash of her dark wavy hair and recognize her.
I halt and wait for Ri and Beckett to follow her out, but soon she’s halfway down the block and still alone.
Jesus, she’s not going to make my life easy. She’s not supposed to go anywhere without a security escort. It’s only been a few hours since I agreed to marry her, and she’s already breaking all the rules. I’ll be lucky if I get her down the aisle next week in one piece.
I quickly text Ri and Beckett with an update before setting off after Rialta. I don’t know what Corsi has told them yet, but I should talk to Rialta before talking to Ri and Beckett.
Jogging, I could easily catch up to Rialta, but I take my time to see what I can learn about her. I want to know where she’s going in the middle of the night. If I’m lucky, it will help me convince Corsi or Rialta of our love. If I’m really lucky, their enemy will reveal himself, and I can be the hero.
I shake my head at the ridiculousness of it all.
Rialta is walking fast in heels and a flowy black dress. Even without a jacket, she doesn’t seem bothered by the chill in the air from her speed walk.
I keep my distance in the shadows, even though I want to race to her and lecture her about walking alone at night. Even if she didn’t have a killer after her, it wouldn’t be wise to walk alone at night on the streets of Chicago as a young woman without any way to protect herself. But I’m too curious to see what she’s doing to stop her yet.
A Corvette screeches to a stop next to her.
Shit.
I’m nearby but not close enough to intervene. I take off in a sprint and pull my gun out, but before I can do anything, a man’s arm pulls her into the passenger side of the Corvette and speeds off.
I run at full burst, at least hoping to follow them long enough to see where he might be going. I study the car carefully, memorizing every detail to aid in a search later.
I haven’t even married her yet, and I’ve already let her get kidnapped and probably killed. Vincent Corsi will kill me for this. Ri will be devastated at losing the only semblance of a sister she’s ever had. And war will start again in this city like never before.
The Corvette turns the corner, and dread fills my heart—I lost them.
If this is the man who has been trying to eliminate her entire family since before she was born, Rialta will most likely be dead before I can find her.
I pull out my phone and dial Ri’s number as I keep running to the block, hoping I can see which way they’ve turned.
I can’t believe my eyes.
The Corvette has stopped a couple of blocks up on the side of the road.
It’s not too late.
I hang up before Ri answers. Sticking to the shadows, I move swiftly down the street toward the parked car. They could speed off again at any moment, but I don’t want the man driving to spot me either.
