Vengeful Commander (New Orleans Malones Book 2), page 1
VENGEFUL COMMANDER
LAYLAH ROBERTS
Laylah Roberts.
Vengeful Commander.
© 2022, Laylah Roberts.
Laylah.roberts@gmail.com
laylahroberts.com
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher.
Cover Design by: Allycat’s Creations.
Editing: Eve Arroyo
Photographer: Golden Czermak; Furious Fotog
Cover Model: Nick Pulos
Created with Vellum
CONTENTS
Let’s keep in touch!
Books by Laylah Roberts
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
Epilogue
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BOOKS BY LAYLAH ROBERTS
Doms of Decadence
Just for You, Sir
Forever Yours, Sir
For the Love of Sir
Sinfully Yours, Sir
Make me, Sir
A Taste of Sir
To Save Sir
Sir’s Redemption
Reveal Me, Sir
Montana Daddies
Daddy Bear
Daddy’s Little Darling
Daddy’s Naughty Darling Novella
Daddy’s Sweet Girl
Daddy’s Lost Love
A Montana Daddies Christmas
Daring Daddy
Warrior Daddy
Daddy’s Angel
Heal Me, Daddy
Daddy in Cowboy Boots
A Little Christmas Cheer
Sheriff Daddy
Her Daddies’ Saving Grace
A Little Winter Wonderland
Daddy’s Sassy Sweetheart
MC Daddies
Motorcycle Daddy
Hero Daddy
Protector Daddy
Untamed Daddy
Her Daddy’s Jewel
Fierce Daddy
Savage Daddy
Harem of Daddies
Ruled by her Daddies
Claimed by her Daddies
Stolen by her Daddies
Haven, Texas Series
Lila’s Loves
Laken’s Surrender
Saving Savannah
Molly’s Man
Saxon’s Soul
Mastered by Malone
How West was Won
Cole’s Mistake
Jardin’s Gamble
Romanced by the Malones
Twice the Malone
Mending a Malone
New Orleans Malones
Damaged Princess
Vengeful Commander
Men of Orion
Worlds Apart
Cavan Gang
Rectify
Redemption
Redemption Valley
Audra’s Awakening
Old-Fashioned Series
An Old-Fashioned Man
Two Old-Fashioned Men
Her Old-Fashioned Husband
Her Old-Fashioned Boss
His Old-Fashioned Love
An Old-Fashioned Christmas
Bad Boys of Wildeside
Wilde
Sinclair
Luke
Standalones
Their Christmas Baby
A Cozy Little Christmas
Haley Chronicles
Ally and Jake
1
Crunch!
Victor smashed his fist into his opponent’s face. The roar of the crowd barely registered. He wasn’t here for them. The other guy stumbled back, his hand on his face as blood poured from his broken nose.
Come back at me.
Give me a decent fight.
It would be easy to end the fight now. A few punches to his ribs. A kick to the back of the knee. A choke hold when he fell.
But Victor wasn’t ready for the fight to be over. He could still feel that burning, sizzling need inside him. And he had to do something to release it.
So, he waited for the asshole to shake off the pain of his broken nose, wipe the blood away, and move back to him.
Smack! Smack!
He pummeled the guy, punching his torso then darting back.
Come on, asshole.
The guy groaned, swaying while the crowd’s roar increased. They could scent his desire for blood. To make this asshole suffer.
In these underground fights, there was only one rule. Do not kill your opponent. Because no one wanted the hassle of taking care of the body.
Come at me!
But the dickhead just crumpled to the floor in a heap.
The crowd was on their feet as Victor gave the bastard a final kick in the stomach. Yeah, it could be seen as unsportsmanlike. But then, this wasn’t a sport down here.
It was dirty, nasty, bloody survival.
Just the way he liked it.
Besides, he had his reasons for hating this asshole. His friends rushed forward to drag him away as Victor glanced around.
Did he have time for another fight?
He hit the cold gaze of his oldest brother. Regent shook his head, knowing what he was thinking.
Fuck. He clenched his hands into fists but didn’t let anything show on his face.
It wasn’t enough—not nearly.
He nodded as George, the guy Regent hired to manage the fights, approached, talking about how he wanted Victor to fight this new up-and-coming fighter next week.
He’d heard it all before. This was getting . . . mundane. Boring.
It wasn’t enough anymore. The fights were barely touching his need to do something . . . anything to help relieve the demons inside him.
Walking to where Regent stood in their private, secure area, he picked up the T-shirt he’d dropped and slipped it over his huge frame. He’d always been big, even as a kid he’d towered over all the other kids. He’d seen the way other parents had eyed him warily, as though worried he’d attack their children.
If they could only see him now.
But his size was his one advantage over other people. He wasn’t a leader like Regent with a cunning mind, wasn’t driven and smart like Jardin, or charismatic like Maxim.
Victor was strong, muscular, and he could fight. That’s all he had to contribute.
Regent met him part way. His bodyguard, Jose, stood behind him. Victor wanted him to start traveling with more bodyguards, but Regent didn’t trust many people. He had a couple of guards at the house and his lieutenants. That was it.
And he got it. After Alice, they were all on edge and less trusting.
“Let’s go,” Regent said, eyeing him as they walked out the back door. Their car was waiting for them at the curb.
Jose held the door for both of them. Regent slid into the car with a nod, making it all seem so easy.
Victor always felt awkward when Jose or one of the other guards did this. He’d have been happier being the bodyguard.
That’s what he’d been born to do. To guard his brother. To take a bullet for him if necessary. That’s what his father had always impressed on him.
How disposable he was. How it was his responsibility to keep Regent alive.
Victor knew Regent didn’t see it that way. But it was what it was.
He should have fucking realized what Alice was up to. They’d let her into their house, close to their precious sister, and none of them had realized she was the rat.
He should have guarded Regent better.
Instead, Regent had been poisoned. He’d nearly died.
After he’d climbed in, Regent handed him an ice pack and some antiseptic for the scrapes on his knuckles. The privacy screen was already up, separating the back and front seats.
“I’m fine,” he grumbled as Jose shut the door.
“You don’t know where that asshole has been. Clean the cuts or I will.”
Victor shot his brother a look. He sounded stressed. That wasn’t normal for Regent, but there had been a lot of shit going down lately.
Since they’d discovered Alice had been working for Patrick McMahon, Regent had grown even colder. Removed. Detached.
It probably didn’t help that Lottie had moved away with her two men. Lottie had always given Regent someone to fuss
His oldest brother needed someone to protect and look after to keep himself from becoming an emotionless robot. To keep him human.
Maybe he was the same.
“You hear anything?” he asked as he applied the cream with a wince.
Punch a guy in the face until he broke his nose? No issue. Put antiseptic cream on open cuts? Yeah, he wasn’t so fond of that.
But he did it. Then he applied the ice pack to his right hand which was worse off than the left one.
“Nothing.”
After discovering that Alice had been feeding information to Patrick, Regent had gone on the warpath. He’d destroyed anything that was even related to Patrick McMahon. The destruction hadn’t ended until they’d discovered the slippery asshole had left town.
At the time, Regent had been furious. He’d wanted to chase him to the ends of the earth. Unfortunately, they’d had little to go on.
That was until a few weeks ago, when the rumors had started up. Whispers that Patrick was back in town.
“All smoke and mirrors,” Regent said. “All rumors. But no one is willing to say for sure that it’s him. Someone has to be helping him. I made sure there was nothing for him to return to,” Regent said grimly.
“Why come back? He has to know that we’ll be coming for him. I don’t like it.”
Regent grunted. “I want him found. I’ve got all our lieutenants and their soldiers on the lookout, ferreting out any sightings of the bastard. He’s going to pay for what he did.”
Not only had he placed Alice in their house and had her poison Regent in an effort to take over their territory, but he also had to be behind the FBI issuing a search warrant for their house.
In the months since the FBI raid, things had been mostly quiet. Regent had tightened his control over the city.
“We’ll find him. And if he’s working with someone, we’ll find them too.”
“They’re playing the long game. They’ve been too quiet. They should have made a move by now.”
And he knew that was pissing Regent off.
“Maybe you cleaned out the city too well,” Victor said. “Perhaps we should have tried to get someone to turn on him.”
Regent grunted. “Maybe. I wasn’t thinking that clearly.”
Yeah, Victor had noticed.
“You pulverized that guy tonight.” There was a note of question in Regent’s voice.
“I did.”
“There something I need to know?”
“Fucker’s a rapist.”
He saw Regent stiffen out of the corner of his eye. “What? He works for Santiago, doesn’t he?”
Santiago owned most of the strip clubs in New Orleans. Many of them had brothels out back with added extras. Not something that Regent was interested in getting into. He might be the leader of the largest criminal syndicate in New Orleans, something that would’ve made the old man proud, but he drew the line at getting into selling skin.
Sometimes Victor wondered if he even wanted to run any of it. If he wanted to be the criminal King of New Orleans.
But Regent had never confided in him whether this was something he wanted. Regent played his cards close to his chest. Almost as close as Victor did.
“Yep. Raped three hookers last week. He claimed it wasn’t rape.”
Fucker.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Regent asked. “You know I would’ve taken care of him.”
“You can’t go around murdering Santiago’s men.”
“I can when they’re fucking rapists,” Regent snapped.
“Well, now you don’t have to. Because I took care of it.”
“He’s still alive.”
Victor allowed himself a slight grin. “Not for long.”
There was a long moment of silence. “You’ve taken care of it?”
He tried not to let the words get their claws into him. He told him that Regent didn’t mean it to sound as though he doubted him.
As though he couldn’t complete a job. As though he couldn’t organize a fucking hit. That was child’s play for him. Their father might have spent the majority of his time teaching Regent how to run the organization, but he’d taught Victor his role.
“Yeah. I did.”
“Vic, I’m not doubting you, brother.”
Victor shrugged. “I’d get it if you were.”
“Victor, I have never fucking doubted you. Ever. You’ve always been there for me. You know how much I value you.”
“Let’s not get all mushy and shit, yeah? I’m not fucking hugging you.”
There was a beat of silence then Regent let out a small sigh. “Yeah. Right.”
Guilt swirled in his gut. He knew all his siblings wished they could get closer to him. That he’d open up to them. Let them in.
But that was another of his father’s lessons. To protect all of his siblings, and keep them from getting too dirty.
And if he let them in, let them get close, they might just find out how fucking filthy he’d had to get in the name of protecting them.
He’d done shit that he knew he could never do enough penance for. But if he could take care of a motherfucking rapist now and then, well, he thought that might somehow balance out the scales.
“We need to find someone close to Patrick who’ll talk or turn on him,” Regent said.
“We’ll find someone. And when we do, I’ll get him to co-operate.”
That’s what he did best, right?
“I know you will. But you know you don’t have to, right? You mean more to us than your ability to make someone talk. To make a rapist pay by pulverizing him. You don’t have to get your hands dirty.”
“Sure.”
Regent sighed. “Glad we cleared that up.”
The rest of the drive home was in awkward silence. Victor stared at the huge house that held more bad memories than good. At least for him. Regent seemed to like this place. Lottie had shut herself up in here for years, hiding from her demons, from the world. Not that he blamed her.
He clenched his hands into fists as he remembered everything she’d been through. They should have protected her better.
He’d failed her.
He glanced at the time. He still had a few hours to get some sleep before he was needed elsewhere.
“You’re going to bed?” Regent asked as they walked into the dark house.
“Yep.”
“And you’ll be leaving again at four-thirty?”
He stiffened. He hadn’t been aware that his oldest brother had noticed him leaving every morning.
“Yep.”
“And you’ll return by eight?”
“Is there a problem?” He turned on the stairs to look at Regent. “Did you need me for something?”
“At that hour of the morning? God no.” Regent had always been a night owl. “But you can’t keep surviving on a few hours’ sleep.”
“I’m not going to slip up and make a mistake,” he growled. “I’m fine.”
Regent ran his hand over his face, looking tired. “I’m not saying that you’re going to make a mistake, brother. I’m worried about you. Someone could get to you.”
Victor scowled. “I’d like to see them try. I’m a grown man. I can look after myself. You’re just looking for someone to cluck over like an old hen now that Lottie is gone. I don’t need the overprotective shit, Regent.”
Regent threw his hands up in the air. “Sorry for caring. I’ll stop clucking.”
“Good. Why don’t you go visit Lottie? You can fuss all over her until Liam kicks your ass.”
“Liam will never be able to kick my ass,” Regent growled. “Where’s the brotherly loyalty?”
“Go see Jardin if you want that.”
“And what would I come to you for?” Regent asked, sounding disgruntled.
“You come to me if you want brute force or someone to help bury the body. You know that.”
A few hours later, he stood in the shadows and waited.
