Before the Storm: A Dark Mafia Romance (Frost Industries Book 4)

The moment I lock eyes on the Legion walking toward us, my blood cools. Not because they’re technically our enemy, but because they have no reason to be in Chicago.

They’re the gatekeepers of the New York underworld. They keep things running the way it should, keep the families that run the city in line, and they take care of problems when need be. The most recent issue they helped us take care of was Elijah’s father and uncles. The day they took out Angelo, Paul and Tony Russo, I swear Chicago became a better place.

Wiping those men off the face of the planet, men who sold women and children for profit, was the best thing I’ve ever done as the head of the family. They deserved a much more gruesome death than the one they were afforded, but that’s how things played out, and I will never regret the actions we took to pull that off.

Except perhaps involving the Legion.

The closer they get to my family, the more dread that fills me. I don’t want them anywhere near any of my family, but certainly not Ayvah. She’s too new to this life. She doesn’t understand who these men are or how dangerous they are. Far more dangerous than even me.

“Storm,” Crew regards me with a curt nod as the four of them stop in front of us. He’s older than the other men and his eyes are what captures your attention the moment he enters a room. One blue, one green, and each as cold as the other. He’s every bit the ruthless leader people would have you believe.

“It’s nice to see you again, Crew.” I force a tight smile to my lips, but I’m certain it doesn’t reach my eyes.

“Likewise.” He surveys the group until he stops on Wynter and Everett. “I see congratulations are in order.”

“Thank you,” Wynter says quietly. There aren’t many people who can scare my sister, but I get the impression these men are on the list of those who can.

“What brings you gentlemen to Chicago?” I ask in an attempt to drag their attention away from my baby sister. Although I know she can hold her own, I don’t like the way Kaos looks at her. He’s a scary mother fucker, tall as hell, built like a tank, and covered in scars and tattoos. His clipped hair and dark eyes making him seem even more menacing, if that were even possible.

“We have some… business to attend to.” Bishop smiles as he steps forward until he’s beside his father. If you didn’t know the dynamic within the group, you would at least suspect the two were related in some way by their sharp cheekbones and defined jawlines. Bishops deep green eyes match one of his fathers, and his messy dark blonde hair is styled for the occasion.

“We heard there’s a little birdy in town that’s causing you some problems.” Kovu chuckles. Each of these men is a loose cannon, but none like him. His ocean blue eyes are wild and unpredictable, and the fact he’s wearing a suit is a miracle. From what I can tell, he prefers to be comfortable because he tends to get bloody.

“You could say that.” I pull Ayvah closer. “Does Annalise have anything to do with what you’re doing here?”

Kaos laughs, but there’s no humor in it. In fact, there’s nothing but darkness. “Who do you think you are questioning us?” He growls.

“Be nice, Kaos.” Bishop shakes his head before continuing, “It seems we have a common enemy. One we would like to extinguish before she can move into our city.”

“I wouldn’t have thought you would have any issue with what she’s doing,” Wynter says. She doesn’t know when to shut up. Her fierce independence is both her greatest strength and her biggest weakness.

“I can assure you, Wynter, if there is one act we do not, and will not, tolerate, it’s trafficking of any kind. Drugs are taken by people who are addicted to them. Guns are sold to those who theoretically know how to use them. But human beings…no one has the right to sell another human, and we will not have that in our city,” Crew’s words are as tight as his jaw, to the point I wonder if he’s going to snap something.

“I think what Wynter was trying to say was—” Everett starts.

“No. I said what I said, Ev.”

“So why don’t you tell us a little about what you’re doing to rid yourselves of this little issue.” Kaos seems bored, but he wants the information and he knows we’re the only people who can give it to him, because as far as I know, we’re the only ones to go against the Lounders and survive. We’re not out of the woods yet, but we’re a lot further than anyone else has been.

“Perhaps somewhere more… private,” Crew says, his eyes falling on Ayvah under my arm and I immediately tense as he peruses her body. If there was a way I could keep her locked up at the estate for the rest of our lives, far away from men who look at her like this, I would. But something tells me she wouldn’t appreciate that, and I’m already walking on thin ice.

Kovu’s lips tug into a sly smile as his eyes trail down Ayvah’s body. I never should have asked Wynter to get her this dress, but I’m a greedy motherfucker. I wanted to see my woman in something that would make her feel like the queen she is, and when she walked toward me, she held her head high. I haven’t taken the time to consider the idea that Ayvah isn’t strong enough to be with a man like me, but tonight any doubt is gone. She fits in even though under the surface she’s nervous. It’s invisible to the eye, but clear to me in the way she grips onto my jacket, and how she holds onto me a little tighter than she needs to.

“She is a pretty little thing, isn’t she?”

I growl, the sound inhuman. Although I want to shove her behind me and out of their eye line, I know men like the Legion. As soon as I show my hand, they’ll know Ayvah is my weakness, and if there’s a group of people I can’t afford to see me as weak, it’s them. They use a man’s weakness against him. They don’t have the same morals, for lack of a better word, that we do, and they won’t hesitate to take out women and children if it means they get what they want.

“She’s a little young for you, Saint James,” Bishop comments.

I breathe through the rage that flames to life in my chest. It’s not that I haven’t considered our age gap, but twelve years seems insignificant when I feel as strongly as I do about her. She’s mine. My woman. My life. My love. A month ago I would have shied away from that admission, but I felt it the moment I saw her. I knew I had to have her. No matter the cost, Ayvah was going to be mine, and nothing, not even her could stand in my way.

“I thought you wanted to talk Lounder, not my choice of woman,” I quip, trying my hardest to sound unaffected by their comments.

Kaos chuckles. “He’s got you there.”

Kovu shoots his friend a glare, but he’s lost interest in the conversation. I’ve only met him the one time, but he doesn’t seem to have a very long attention span.

“We followed Annalise a couple of weeks ago to a warehouse by the docks. It would make the most sense for them to have their base around there somewhere. We surrounded the building, no way in or out without our knowledge, but when we went in there was nothing. Not a trace of them,” Everett explains and I pinch the bridge of my nose. Every time I think about how little we’ve managed to accomplish over the last few months, anger seeps into my veins and red clouds my vision. We have more tech than any other criminal organization in the country, Everett makes sure of it, but somehow they seem to beat us at every turn.

“You think they went underground?” Crew asks.

“We couldn’t find an entrance or exit point, and they’re not in the tunnels under the city. Tommy knows every inch of that system and we’ve checked it. They’re ghosts.”

“Interesting.” Bishop brushes his fingers across the stubble on his chin.

“Frustrating is a better word,” Rayne says.

Commotion catches our attention by the entrance, and as if on autopilot, each of us moves in front of the women, forming a human shield.

Rayne looks around frantically, presumably for Snow and Elijah, but I’m not worried about our littlest sister because no one in their right mind would try to touch her with her husband around. Not if they want to keep their head attached to their shoulders at least.

The ground vibrates beneath our feet, dragging my attention to the wooden dance floor we seem to have congregated on at the same time a deafening explosion rocks the ballroom. Ayvah drops to the ground behind me, her hands gripping on to my leg as she tries to pull me down too, but I have to deal with whatever this is, even if my ears are ringing so loudly I can only faintly hear the frightened screams of the innocent side of Chicago.

Fine dust begins to fill the room, marring all the pretty dresses and expensive suits Chicago’s elite wore to the charity event, but as far as I can see there’s no one coming through the doors.

“What the fuck is going on?” Everett yells over the chaos.

“No fucking idea,” Rayne replies, his eyes surveying the room. He’s the best at this shit. He can spot someone that doesn’t belong from a mile away, but when he comes up empty and turns to me waiting for direction, I can’t help but sigh.

Another smaller explosion rocks the room, but this one seems further away.

“That one was on the street,” Crew tells us, his fingers flying over the screen of his phone.

“It could be a trap to draw us out,” I say as I turn in a circle, checking each and every entrance and exit point. There would be people coming through the doors if this was an attack. But there’s no one. Just innocent people terrified for their lives.

“I have a team around the building, but they haven’t been able to apprehend anyone.”

“Annalise,” Everett and I say at the same time. She’s becoming a real pain in my fucking ass and I can’t wait for the day we can wipe her from existence. Perhaps I should feel bad for wanting to eliminate my best friends sister, but she’s done nothing but make our lives hell since the moment she stepped into this city and seeing as she almost killed Wynter and the baby not so long ago, I suspect Everett will breathe a little easier the day she’s no longer a threat to his family.

“Take Ayvah, Wynter, Emerson and Snow back to the estate. I want the five of you in the panic room with the security system activated. You can run point from there,” I order.

“You should take them,” he argues.

I shake my head. “No. I need to be here. Annalise is going to be gunning for you. It’s better you’re safe with the girls, and we need your eyes on the situation more than we need someone else holding a gun.”

None of us like being sidelined, especially when the threat is so personal, but right now having Everett here is a liability, and that’s something we definitely don’t need when it comes to Annalise and her intention to take over the city.

The Legion turn to their leader for directions the same way my brothers do me, and we turn to one another silently agreeing to work together on this.

It seems we have a common enemy, and any time we spend with these men as allies is substantially better than them being our enemy.