Cover of Leather & Lark (Ruinous Love Trilogy, #2)

Ruinous Love Trilogy, #2

Leather & Lark

by Brynne Weaver


Genre
Romance, Thriller, Crime, Contemporary
Year
2024
Pages
403
Contents

Chapter Two: Bull’s-Eye

Overview

One year after the reservoir cleanup, Lachlan assists his boss Leander Mayes in torturing drug dealer Robbie Usher and ends the ordeal with a clean execution. Lachlan asks to retire, but Leander refuses, leveraging a lost contract caused by Lachlan’s Halloween misstep. Lachlan departs for Rowan’s restaurant opening, knowing he remains bound to Leander.

Summary

In Leander Mayes’s basement, Lachlan stands by as Leander plays darts with captive drug dealer Robbie Usher, whose teeth Lachlan has already pulled. Lachlan resists the cruelty, preferring clean kills, but Leander reminds him their victims are not innocent, citing Robbie’s rainbow fentanyl targeting kids.

A security alert interrupts, and Lachlan retrieves pizza. Leander blends pizza, beer, and Robbie’s extracted teeth into a slurry to force-feed as a "last meal." Lachlan recalls when Leander first found him and his brothers after Lachlan killed their abusive father, establishing the debt that has bound him to Leander since.

Leander orders Lachlan to hold Robbie and pinch his nose so the mixture goes down, rationalizing it as justice for the Nelsons’ tube-fed child. To end the suffering, Lachlan shoots Robbie in the head. The execution quiets the room and his mounting headache.

Lachlan asks to retire. Leander refuses, pointing to the previous Halloween job where Lachlan angered Damian Covaci, collapsing that contract and others. Leander frames their work as customer service and implies Lachlan must fix the damage or keep working.

Allowed to leave for Rowan’s new restaurant opening, Lachlan departs, acknowledging he remains trapped under Leander’s control despite his desire to be free.

Who Appears

  • Lachlan Kane
    Narrator; contract killer bound to Leander. Assists in torturing Robbie, ends it with a clean headshot, and unsuccessfully seeks retirement.
  • Leander Mayes
    Lachlan’s manipulative boss; orchestrates Robbie’s torture and force-feeding, denies Lachlan’s retirement, citing the Covaci fallout.
  • Robbie Usher
    Drug dealer behind rainbow fentanyl targeting kids; captured, mutilated, force-fed, and executed by Lachlan.
  • Rowan Kane
    Lachlan’s brother; off-page, opening a new restaurant, anchoring Lachlan’s desire to leave Leander’s world.
  • Fionn Kane
    Lachlan’s brother; referenced in backstory as caretaker during their violent past, highlighting family bonds and motives.
  • Damian Covaci
    Client Lachlan offended during the Halloween job; his fallout keeps Lachlan indebted to Leander.
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