“I was working for your father as an advisor. I’ve always positioned myself in criminal families. Government isn’t my thing and they would look too closely for me to get away with it. Becoming your father’s advisor was easy, honestly. He wasn’t the worst Castello, but the family was slowly, very slowly, losing power. Then I met you and Axel. Like everyone else, I thought you would be great at first. Then your mother died.
“Then I saw it. I saw what sort of potential Axel had and cultivated it. I knew you could be useful. I never thought you would ever want out, so I positioned him to make you his second in command, along with me. Along with the hand-picked loyal people I’ve met over the years. Talyn is still in this prison somewhere. I’ve known him for over a century. One day I went to him and said I found the Magi that could make us everything we’d ever wanted to be. Rich, powerful, immortal. With Axel, nothing would ever stop us, and when he passed away of old age, we would have a trained and hand-picked successor, one Axel taught to live on for him.”
Missy shrugged, still smiling. “It’s not a complicated story.”
“But it ends here. He’s not coming to break you out.” Vincent was staying nonchalant as well.
Sawyer was trying to comprehend how old Missy was. And she was in love with Axel, it was clear every time she said his name. She fell in love with a boy and helped raise him into the man he became. Something about it made Sawyer a little sick to her stomach. It could have been Vincent.
“Yes…” Missy’s face turned sour and bitter, like suddenly she had a bad taste in her mouth. “I never thought he would leave me and Talyn here. I never…”
“He thought you were freaks,” Sawyer mumbled.
“Oh, I thought he would leave you in a prison to die. And there was a time I thought you were loyal enough to kill yourself. Loyalty. That’s what I think was always missing from you. Sure, you had that teenage girl love for him, but you will never know the depth of Talyn’s and my need for him. Our hopes for his future. Our future.” Missy had ignored what she said and continued to drive that painful nail into Sawyer’s mental coffin containing her feelings for Axel.
“Yet you’re still here and haven’t proven that loyalty,” Vincent noted softly. “He’s left you, Missy. And Talyn. Maybe we can talk to him next. From what I know, he’s been locked away in a lonely cell since the moment we caught him. We want to learn more about his kind and so we’re not bothering him about Axel. Maybe I should start.”
“Or maybe we can use Missy for the science experiments and learn more about doppelgangers,” Sawyer muttered, knowing everyone in the room was ignoring her now.
“He’ll come for me!” Missy screeched. “He has to! I made him what he is.”
“Then you should know,” Sawyer snapped. “We’ve had this conversation. If you know Axel as well as you think you do, then you should know he’s never coming for you. You are officially dead weight, damn it. Your loyalty to him might be that deep, but it doesn’t go the other way, Missy. We’re tools. You, Talyn, me. We’re all just pawns in his fucking game, damn it. Stop thinking you’re more important to him than you are. He could have tried to get Talyn out when you switched places with him. He left Talyn once already. He’s. Not. Coming.”
“Sawyer.” Vincent’s tone was patient but strong. He wanted her to stop. “Missy, we’ll stop bothering you.”
Missy had tears in her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. Sawyer had thought Missy would go down by now. Thought she would have finally followed the last order. Now Sawyer knew why it hadn’t happened. Missy wasn’t allowing herself to believe it. She refused to think, for all her centuries, that a man she helped make would leave her here to rot and die.
The power in that, Sawyer didn’t understand. Or maybe she did. She refused to die because she hated the man that much. Missy was refusing to because of how much she loved him.
Two sides of the same coin, in a really sick and fucked-up way.
“Let’s go, Sawyer. She’s not going to say anything.”
“I could have told you that,” she replied, following Vincent out of the room. “Did you get what you wanted?”
“I think? I’m not sure. I just needed to hear that. I never…She made him. She and Talyn, and my family.”
“It could have been you.” Sawyer’s mind kept going back to that. The Castello brothers were very different men, but in some ways, they were very similar. Vincent and Axel shared a cunning mind, though Vincent’s was tempered and controlled by his emotions, even when he wanted to lock them away. Axel was unbridled intelligence and cruelty and normally had no emotions. When he did, he had no control over them, unlike Vincent.
Two sides of the same coin,
“It could have been me - you’re not wrong. Weird to think about.”
“Do you really want to talk to Talyn?” she asked softly. She was willing, but by now, she figured there wasn’t anything they could learn from him. Missy was free more recently and would know recent changes to Axel’s organization where Talyn wouldn’t.
“No. He’s fine where he is. We made that deal with him. He’s on his best behavior, teaching us about his kind. One day, since he can’t change forms, we’ll parole him.”
“Why didn’t I know that?” she demanded in a hiss.
“Because he won’t be paroled until we’re all dead. He’s immortal. He’s biding his time. He knows he’s not in danger if he doesn’t give up anything on Axel, and in the long run, this helps him more and us more as a people. Funny, isn’t it? He became neutral. Why is that?”
“I would guess it’s because Axel didn’t save him from me that day in the hangar bay,” she answered, considering it. “He was using a portion of Axel’s magic and Axel hung him out to dry when he ran out. Axel always thought it was gross for Talyn to be what he was.”
“Exactly.”
“You should have told me sooner,” she said with a bite.
“I learned last night, actually. I had been hoping to play Missy and Talyn against each other and called Thompson myself about it. He let me know. He actually gave Talyn over to research teams and such. He’s technically no longer in the custody of the IMPO. Why didn’t you ever try talking to Talyn?”
“He’s been in prison too long. He wouldn’t know any relevant information.” It seemed simple to her. Vincent went through a lot to get to a conclusion she had already found. Talyn wasn’t going to be helpful.
“That’s also a valid point.”
Yeah, she knew that, so she didn’t respond.
They walked out of the prison together, Sawyer waving at the guard at the desk. When they were back in her car, she sighed, not starting it up immediately.
“We need to talk,” she admitted to him.
“About?” He frowned, his dark olive-green eyes becoming hard.
“Us.”
That got his jaw to drop. “Do you…want to…end it?”
“You’ve been pushing me away,” she whispered. “This? Vincent, you barked an order at me, even when we had made a deal to let it rest, just until after the New Year. You can’t…treat me like that.” She shook her head. “No, I don’t want to end it, but I need…”
“You need me to be…normal, and I haven’t been.” He looked away from her again. “I’m sorry. There’s been a lot on my mind.”
“I know, but I need you to not let this keep getting to you. Vincent, you’re erratic, and that could get one of us hurt. And that’s not something I’m willing to allow.”
“I understand. I’m trying.”
“You’re getting better every day, but then something comes up and you fall back into it, this obsession. This need to do everything right now, even when you don’t have to.”
“And you don’t want to get him? Right now?”
She thought about that. Her immediate answer was yes. If he were easy to get to, she would do everything in her power to finish it. But that wasn’t the answer she could give him. It was more complicated than that.
�
�I would rather do this right, and make sure we all get out of it on the other side, than rush it because of my personal feelings and get someone hurt.” She met his gaze and they sat there for a minute.
“Nothing I’ve done could hurt anyone else.”
“Except yourself,” she corrected.
“Sawyer…” He sounded annoyed and exasperated with her.
“I’m tired of this argument. Let’s just get back to the guys,” she said quickly, not wanting to do this again. She was tired of telling him to back off, calm down, focus.
She was just scared to see what happened when she let him off the leash. She was so scared.
11
Vincent
Vincent’s heart pounded as he sat next to her. Fuck. He’d really thought there for a moment that she was going to say she couldn’t be with him anymore. That she didn’t want to be with him anymore.
It had been the most terrifying second he’d ever experienced. He couldn’t do this without her. He would have fallen apart weeks ago. He thought he was holding himself together all right. He didn’t think it was so bad that she was that frustrated. Sure, she’d gotten hot with him once or twice, but today had been different. She’d been furious with him for needing to do this right now.
Glancing at her in the driver’s seat, he swallowed a lump in his throat as they pulled up to the gym. He should tell her why this was driving him mad. It was everything. All of it. He didn’t just need to catch his brother. No, the team had to kill him. They were never supposed to be the executioners. This wasn’t the role of the IMPO. It had been a mess in the Amazon, assisting the IMAS because Quinn was being forced to go. They weren’t supposed to be the hand that delivered judgement.
Not him. Not his team.
Not her. He’d never wanted this for her.
They had done so well, that first case. They had caught the killer, and he was getting help. They had opened up the ability for others to come in and clean the area up. Then, it all went to hell.
He was tired and mad. Not just at his brother, but his bosses. Vincent had to run to them because they were the good guys.
Now, he wasn’t sure. What sort of good guys told a woman she had to kill and keep killing to earn her freedom? And what kind of man was he that he wanted his brother’s head? That he’d screamed for it, in retribution for James.
What kind of man did that make him?
And yet, when Vincent opened his mouth, he couldn’t get the words out. There was more, and yet he couldn’t even say a tiny bit of it. He was a ball of conflict and pain, and he wasn’t sure where to go with any of it.
Quinn kept telling him that he should let Axel go and that Axel wasn’t his brother. Not in his heart. Vincent knew that. He’d let go of that part a long time ago.
No, Axel was just a cruel man who kept hurting him and the people he cared about.
“I…” Again the words failed him.
“Yeah?” She frowned, her eyes still on the road.
“I’m sorry for my behavior,” he finally whispered.
“You’re hurting. It’s obvious to everyone, and we’ll make it through it,” she promised. “This is the hardest thing you and I will ever deal with. The guys know it. We’re not going to just abandon each other now.”
He nodded. Well, at least she understood that part. He knew she understood that part, but no matter how many times someone said it to him, he had a hard time thinking he could make it through and not hate himself for it in the end.
He wanted his brother dead and he was sitting next to the woman who had to do it. He had two conflicting feelings about that. One, he was furious with the WMC. He hated them with every fiber of his being for what they had said to her in their Chamber. They had given her this awful task to take on her soul. This was only going to add to every scar she’d already gotten.
But another part of him was glad it was her. He and the team could help her and if anyone else knew failure wasn’t an option, it was her.
They stopped in front of the gym and he slid out first, knowing he still couldn’t find the words. He went inside instead, looking for the clean, innocent company of the kids inside. They didn’t know the things haunting his every step, making him feel like his world was upside down.
Quinn had been right about that too. They were healing, Sawyer’s ‘strays.’ He could think he was their uncle too, in a way. He was Sawyer’s friend, and Sawyer was in charge. And that meant he could get away with anything to make them smile, since he was the adult that didn’t need to follow her rules.
He wasn’t going to tell the guys how much he was enjoying playing with toddlers, though. If that got out, he would never hear the end of it.
Kaar landed on his shoulder right before he walked inside, wanting to experience the kids as well this time. He’d let Vincent learn about them the day before, and now he wanted to be cool and special like the big animals.
Vincent chuckled. Yeah, he wanted to be big and cool like Sawyer and Quinn too. Like his raven, he was too stand-offish for most of the kids. But a few wanted to talk to him and let him read a story.
It gave him just a moment of peace. He was almost a little mad at himself for realizing who Missy was when he was playing with them the day before. He hadn’t wanted to deal with any of it, but he knew it would be on his mind for days if he didn’t confront it.
“Vincent!” one of the young girls said loudly, running for him. “Who is that?” she pointed to Kaar, who fluffed up, trying to seem impressive.
“Well, yesterday I said I also have an animal bond, remember? Kaar is my raven. He’s nervous and doesn’t like crowds or people too much. He likes to be alone, but he wanted to come meet you and everyone else today.” He lifted an arm for Kaar to jump on and he lowered down onto one knee so the girl could gently touch Kaar’s head. “Now, he’s a bit more fragile than those three.” He nodded for the two wolves and jaguar, all rolling around as kids laughed and watched them wrestle. “But I know he loves snacks.” He looked over his shoulder and saw Quinn, focusing to send a message.
“Quinn, do you have anything for Kaar to eat from the kids? And maybe bring a small fold out table or something he can stand on?”
The girl cooed things to his raven, making the bird feel showered in affection that never usually happened. In only a couple of minutes, Quinn and Zander were there, setting up a place where kids could sit in the gym with Kaar so no one had to carry the big bird around and he didn’t need to waddle around on the floor.
“How’s that, boy?” he asked, giving Kaar a seed to nibble on. He only received pleasure from the bond in return. Perfect. If Kaar was coming out of his dense and distant shell, that was good. He stood up and backed away as the kids ran for the bird, being very gentle when they got close.
“I’ll watch them all,” Quinn told him. “They’ve been very good with the animals.”
“Is it always like this?” He didn’t think Quinn knew, but he was confused by why all the kids and students were there again on a second day.
“They come for days over the holidays when their parents are at work, if their parents can’t afford daycare. We keep them busy and other…activities are normally slow during this season.” Sawyer walked up, wrapping an arm around Quinn’s waist. “No Fight Nights. Plus, they learned we were going to be here at the gym for a couple of days, which meant they all had to be here. They weren’t going to miss it.”
“Of course not,” Vincent said, chuckling. Already, back at this gym, he felt lighter. He could absolutely see why Sawyer had found her secret refuge here with them and Charlie. Why she had lived the life she had. It all made sense to see smiling faces and hear innocent questions. And no judgement. None of these children were judging him, or the team. Not like the people in the WMC did, or the IMPO.
Not like he judged himself or people judged Sawyer.
“I like it here,” he finally admitted. “Thank you for making us do this trip.”
“Of course,” she murmured, leani
ng over to kiss his cheek. He wanted to melt from the touch. How long had it been since he and Sawyer were together? Before this entire thing set off, certainly. Back in Georgia. Too long. He wanted her. He wanted to be with her again before everything went back to hell.
They spent the rest of the day with her students. Teaching them, playing with them. They ate bad pizza while Charlie and Sawyer had salads, trying to be healthy. But, for a moment, Vincent just let this take him away from the rest of it. He laughed with Elijah as one teenager tried to pick a play fight with the big cowboy, not realizing Elijah could just pick the kid up and render him helpless.
“I’ve had calves weigh more than you, kiddo!” Elijah teased, the rowdy youth thrown over his shoulder.
Vincent lost it, laughing harder than he had in weeks. Quinn was next to him, snickering. “I’m glad to see everyone having a good time,” the feral Magi said to him, smiling.
“Me too,” he agreed. “It won’t last.”
“No, but we needed this. A reminder that the rest of the world is alive and there’s more people that need us. James wouldn’t want us wallowing.”
Quinn’s wise words hit him in the chest. Zander and Jasper wandered over as he considered them. No, James wouldn’t want them wallowing. He’d want them at their best. He’d want them to get the job done, be safe, and get home. He’d want them to keep smiling and having these moments.
“So we head back to our new place tonight, right?” Zander asked, looking exhausted.
“Zander is officially tired of children,” Jasper informed them, smiling. “They’ve been beating him up for two days now.”
“I mean, you could have tried to help me out!” Zander groaned, throwing his head back in exasperation. Jasper only laughed without sympathy.
Vincent was glad to see that the weight of their case wasn’t breaking those around him. No, it was only him. They were all taking Sawyer’s advice. This was just another case to them, and it wasn’t moving. He wondered if, to them, this was just like before they met Sawyer. Back to the slow hunt.
A Night of Redemption (The Redemption Saga Book 5) Page 11
