The CrimeLords' War (The Adventures of Xavier & Vic Book 7)
The Adventures of
Xavier & Vic
–
Book 7
The CrimeLords’ War
By
Liza O’Connor
∞
Cases to be Solved:
The Dangers of Laying Down
The Unlucky Roulette Wheel
A Very Muddled Case of Many Wives & Lovers
Annoying Idiots and Assassins
The Crime Lords’ Wars
The Missing Partner, yet again
The Abduction of Little Maddy
All rights reserved.
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All characters in this book come from the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names, titles or professions. They are not based on or inspired by any known individual and any resemblance to a person living or dead is purely coincidental except for Queen Victoria. I would never place a false queen on the crown, for it would change the entire Victorian era into something else.
Table of Contents
The CrimeLords’ War
All rights reserved.
Table of Contents
A Note on Punctuation:
Blurb
London, England August 1896
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
OTHER BOOKS BY LIZA O’CONNOR
HISTORICAL
The Adventures of Xavier & Vic
Untamed & Unabashed
CONTEMPORARY
A Long Road to Love Series
White Oak Mafia Series
Requires Rescue Series
Ghost Lover
SCIENCE FICTION
The Multiverse Series
Artificial Intelligence Series
A Note on Punctuation:
I go by the English Logical Punctuation rules when it comes to commas and periods used within dialog. This means when the Queen says, “I declare you a ‘Knight Bachelor’.”
By U.S. rules, it would be: “I declare you a ‘Knight Bachelor.’” However, that is illogical. The single quote only discusses the Knight Bachelor. Thus, the dialog single tags should surround the word of knighthood, before the punctuation for the sentence.
How did we come to be illogical? Yes, I’m from the U.S. Long ago we had shoddy printing presses. Thus, fragile, half-block punctuation was always protected by the tall dialog marks when possible, regardless of logic. Since the shoddy presses no longer exist, we need to return to logical punctuation, and I am more than willing to be a forerunner in this matter, because quite frankly, it makes us appear silly.
Blurb
Chaos abounds in Late Victorian England. Xavier goes off on a mission without Vic because her protector, Tubs, is not well enough to keep Vic from harm right now. In fact, Tubs is dying and the doctor doesn’t expect him to live for more than a week. Upon discovering Tubs’ dire situation, Vic sets about rescuing him instead.
Good thing too. To all appearances the two strongest crime lords of London have declared war on each other. Only the two attempts on Vic’s life tells her this is all a clever plot by a third party—worse yet, a female villainess.
To stop the crime lords from destroying one another, leaving their territories open to the Russian spy, she must bring Seth and Samson together, share what is really going on, and get them to agree to work against this third party. Not an easy task since Seth Sojourn thinks Vic is nothing but a foolish sop. Unfortunately, Xavier has gone missing, so it’s up to her to convince the angry crime lord that her plan is best. Otherwise, this villainess will kill everyone who gets in her way and bring England to its knees.
London, England August 1896
Chapter 1
Vic Hamilton woke to the silent, stealth rustle of cloth. Certain she was seconds away from being chloroformed in her bed, she rolled off the edge, intending to take the abductor out at the knees.
A loud ‘umph’ confirmed her success.
However, the language that followed made her cringe. She typically didn’t shy from colorful expletives. In fact, she was known to create a few herself, albeit not this expressive. No, the reason she cringed was due to the owner of the curses. He was not an abductor, but rather her secret husband and investigative partner, Xavier Thorn.
“Sorry, I thought you were about to chloroform me.”
Her apology silenced his tirade as he stared at her with those dark intense hawk eyes. “Were you having a nightmare?”
“No. I just woke up and heard someone in the room. Since you normally make a big production of waking up, I presumed it wasn’t you.”
“Ah…” he replied softly.
Her eyes narrowed as he dressed in the dark, putting on a slightly shabby suit he typically wore for surveillance work. She glanced at the window where no hint of the sun rising had yet to occur. Thus, her temper rose.
“We had an agreement that we’d no longer do jobs on our own; we’d always work together.”
With a heavy sigh, he stood and offered her his hand. Once she was up, he sat on the edge of the bed and pulled her down next to him.
She expected him to claim he’d taken an assignment from the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the idiots wished him to work the situation alone, despite the fact that all the cases, where she helped, had ended successfully and the last one he worked alone nearly got him killed…would have if she had not found him.
“Vic…”
“You promised,” she countered before he could even start his explanation.
“Yes, I did. And when I could be certain Tubs could keep you safe, your involvement in all my cases was reasonable. That has unfortunately changed now with Tubs out of service.”
“The hell it has!” she yelled. “Our agreement had nothing to do with Tubs being attached to my side. It was solely based on the fact that we perform better together than apart. Bad things happen when we try to do cases on our own. We need each other!”
“Not on this case. It will go far more smoothly without a trouble magnet.”
She couldn’t have been more shocked had he slapped her. “That is not my fault. I’ve no idea why trouble likes to find me. However, I’d like to point out, that when it does, it ends up dead or in jail.”
“With Tubs…yes it did. But he is recovering from taking three bullets in the chest…meant for you.” Xavier gripped her shoulders painfully. “He is the only one who could have survived those shots. Had it been me, I would be dead now. Had he not been there, you would be buried in the cemetery.”
“And had it not been for me, you would have been dead three years ago!”
He sighed. “Yes, and if I disappear and don’t return from this mission, you have my permission to find me.”
“Your permission?” She smashed her hand into his chest. “I don’t require your permission for anything. I am your equal partner.” She pushed herself from the bed and stormed to her closet.
“You cannot come with me,” he growled.
“I can go anywhere I wish. You are not my master,” Vic declared as she pulled out her own slightly shabby dark suit.
Xavier sighed and pulled her from the closet. “Never mind dressing. The matter is not worth us having a fight over.”
“Really?” She could not believe she’d won so easy. Nor the implications behind it. “Were you breaking our agreement for something unimportant?” She didn’t like that possibility in the least.
He eased her down upon the bed and kissed her, or tried to, but she refused to open her mouth to him. He gathered her hands above her head, as if he feared she’d pummel him for his answer.
“The truth?”
She nodded, knowing by his sad eyes that she wasn’t going to like the ‘truth’ but still, it’s what she wanted to know.
“This mission is very important. While there is little danger to me, the results of what I discover or don’t discover will impact the future safety of this country greatly.”
“Then let us do it together,” she pleaded.
He shook his head. “Not without Tubs.”
She frowned at his decision to put his country in danger rather than allow her to come with him. “Xavier, you cannot allow England to come to harm over your irrational concern for my safety. We must do this mission.”
“Do you have any idea how much I love you?”
She smiled at his question. “Yes, but you cannot put me before our country’s safety.”
He leaned in and kissed her. This time she opened her mouth to him, happy he had finally reached the rational conclusion: they must go together and save England…once again.
When he pulled back, his eyes were filled with worry. “Forgive me,” he said and climbed off the bed.
His words confused her. Forgive him for what? Then she realized he still intended to go on this mission alone. The hell he would! She tried to push herself off the bed, only her hands were inexplicably attached to the bed’s headboard.
“Xavier, uncuff me now!” she yelled.
Instead, he gave her one last look of sad misery before he left the room, closing the door behind him.
Vic called for help, hoping she could still follow Xavier, only no one could evidently hear her yelling.
How was that possible? It was two in the morning. The house was silent. The staff slept only a floor below. How could no one hear her?
Her temper boiled.
Gregory had ears of an eagle. Which meant her butler-parent had sided with Xavier in this matter. She was to be incapacitated as long as Tubs was.
She stopped yelling and tried to sleep, only she couldn’t because her nose itched and she had no hand to scratch it. Thus, she lay in angry resentment until Gregory arrived at eight a.m. with a breakfast tray.
“Am I to be held prisoner then?” she asked in outrage.
His brow furrowed in confusion.
While she appreciated his very fine acting, it did not quell her temper. “Don’t you dare tell me you are unaware that I’ve been made a prisoner in my own house!”
His look of bafflement increased.
She jerked her hands so he could see the handcuffs.
“Dear Lord!” Gregory stated and set down the tray of food. He searched his pocket and then rushed to unlock her.
She waited until he’d released both hands before yelling at him. “You knew damn well what Xavier did, or you would not have the key to his handcuffs, nor would you have ignored my calls in the middle of the night.”
Gregory now looked as angry as she felt. “I did hear you, but Xavier said it had to do with the mission he was on and you were not to be interrupted. He then handed me this key and said you would want it in the morning along with breakfast in bed.”
She wrapped her arms around Gregory and hugged him, relieved to know he had not sided with Xavier.
“I’ve a mind to have the door locks changed,” Gregory muttered.
“Don’t bother. He’d just pick the lock,” she replied. “But if you want to let Arroo chew on his dress shoes, that will be fine by me.”
Gregory stared in outrage at her. “Then this is some game between the two of you?”
“Nothing close to a game.” She then explained what her partner had done. To her consternation, Gregory no longer seemed angry at Xavier.
“You agree with what he did?” she yelled.
“No,” Gregory stated firmly. “But I understand why he did it.” He sighed heavily then sat down in a chair. “I wish he would have spoken to me first, for I fear his plan is doomed to fail.”
She nodded in agreement, but then worried Gregory’s reason for failure was not hers. “Why?” she asked.
“Because I do not believe Tubs will ever recover sufficiently to resume his duties.”
Vic felt as if the wind had been knocked out of her. “No…he has to get better. Sara and Ham need him. I need him.”
Gregory’s brow furrowed. “Then let us hope I am wrong.”
“Why do you think he won’t recover?” she asked softly, hoping she could find fault in his reasoning.
“Since he came home, he has made no improvement. He simply lies in bed playing with his son. Sara has tried to get him to rise and walk to the bathroom, but instead he continues to use a bedpan, which given his size is not optimal. Nursing him as become a full time job for Sara and a part time job for Casey and Fagan. They have to lift him from his bed so Sara can clean the linens.”
Now she knew why Cannon and Arroo were being so difficult these days. “Sara is no longer caring for the pups?”
“No, she hasn’t the time. Caring for Tubs is a full time job. I have given Delia full responsibilities of the pups…”
Vic opened her mouth to complain, but Gregory never gave her a chance to voice it
“But that is not working to my satisfaction. The pup and Cannon require a firmer hand.” He sighed. “Yours.”
Her temper rose. Was she to be nothing more than a trainer to pups now? Had her value fallen with the loss of Tubs to nothing but an ordinary mother?
“At least until I can find someone capable of being a firm trainer for the dog and a proper nanny for Cannon.” He sighed heavily. “Unfortunately, Cannon’s propensity to bark and growl is making this a difficult hire.”
“I thought we had broken him of both habits?”
Gregory raised his right eyebrow. “He’s regressed, which you should know. Why haven’t you noticed?”
She grimaced. She had thought on several occasions that there seemed to be an echo to her own growling. She stood up from the bed. “This is all my fault. My guilt for Tubs taking my bullets is the source of both my pups’ bad behavior and Tubs’ lack of improvement. I will see both corrected at once.”
The relief in Gregory’s eyes shamed her. He rose and kissed her forehead. “Thank you. Fixing those you love is far more important than chasing after Xavier in the middle of the night.”
“His mission was vital to the safety of the country,” she chided.
“And your mission is vital to the wellbeing of your family. In my opinion, that is far more important. There are probably a hundred men who could do whatever Xavier is doing, but there is no one but you who can motivate Tubs to get out of his bed. Nor can anyone else teach your son to grow up into an admirable young man. Without you, Tubs will succumb to pneumonia and die. Meanwhile Cannon will turn into a feral dog and suffer a fate worse than Richard the werewolf.”
She almost objected that Richard was not a werewolf, merely a man with unruly hair follicles, but silenced her tongue. His point remained valid. If Cannon persisted in behaving like a dog, he would suffer ill-
treatment much like Richard had.
Gregory’s harsh predictions scared her into action. She attempted to run from the room to rescue Tubs and Cannon, but Gregory gripped her arm. “May I suggest you dress first and eat your breakfast? You will need all your strength to shift their futures, I promise you. I have tried and utterly failed on both.”
She blinked at him in shock. She had never known Gregory to fail at anything. He had been a formidable force of nature since the day she entered her Aunt Maddy’s house after she and her sister Claire survived the shipwreck that took both of their parents.
“I will dress and eat first. Then I will begin the most important mission of my life.”
Gregory nodded his approval. “This will not be a short mission, but if you persist, you will succeed. Of that I am certain.”
With such a positive proclamation, Vic dressed then quickly devoured her breakfast. Ready to take on her mission, she hurried downstairs and followed the cries of ‘bad dogs’ to find Delia crying over a broken vase and a ripped skirt.
“Cannon, Arroo,” she yelled. “Here and Sit!”
To her shock, the pups growled at her. She stormed towards them and they scattered. While Arroo was too fast to catch, her son had yet to learn how to walk. She snared him by the waistband of his pants. He growled and snarled at her.
“Enough!” she scolded and then looked at Delia. “I’ll be handling Cannon today. You have my permission to ignore Arroo entirely. And if he causes any serious problem, have Casey throw him outside.”
Both Cannon and Arroo stared up at her in utter shock.
She glared at Cannon and then the bloodhound. “I am ashamed of both of you. I intended to take you on an important mission, but instead of finding my good pups, all I have are two very bad dogs. That is totally unacceptable. And until I see a vast improvement in both of you, this pack is disbanded.” Her focus turned onto the half grown hound. “And Arroo, if Casey does have to throw you outside, I strongly advise you to go beneath the steps and hide. Otherwise you’ll probably be stolen by some urchin wanting to make a quick dime or you’ll be attacked by some larger and meaner stray.”