by Ella Miles
“Then I keep her forever.”
7
Langston
Our kids are being held at three different clubs.
Jesus.
I remember the last “club”—the fucked up yacht masquerade weekend. I don’t want to go through that again to get our kids back, let alone three more times. But I’ll do anything to get them back, including playing some twisted game meant to torture us.
I feel for Phoenix, maybe because she pretended to be my wife. Maybe because I watched her with Rose and Atlas, and she was a good mother to them. You can’t fake that. She cared about them, even if she only did it to hurt Liesel and me.
Maybe it was the story she told, the pain she felt, that has me feeling weak. But whatever the reason, I carry Phoenix upstairs to one of the bedrooms. She fell asleep in my arms, exhausted from telling me her story and from the injuries Enzo inflicted before we got here.
I lay her down on a white comforter with pink flowers on it. I grab a throw blanket draped over a chair in the corner and cover her before I close the door quietly behind me and head back downstairs.
All eyes are on me when I enter the small kitchen.
“Bring Phoenix some food and keep her comfortable,” I say.
Enzo’s eyebrows shoot up. “Why?”
“She’s not a monster. She’s just in pain,” Liesel answers, giving me the smallest of smiles, letting me know she approves of my actions.
“Did you find out where Rose is?” Kai asks.
“The Brown family owns three clubs. The one on the yacht that we all went to and two others. The children are split between the clubs. We have to win the game at each club in order to get the kid being held there back.”
“Well, they owe us one kid already then, since you won before,” Enzo says with a growl.
“I need to call Siren,” I say.
“I’ll call Beckett,” Liesel says.
I nod.
Neither of us thinks that any of them would hurt the children, not after Phoenix’s story. It doesn’t mean we are willing to stop searching and trying to get the kids back as quickly as possible.
I dial Siren’s number.
“Hello,” Siren answers out of breath.
“Phoenix told me where the kids are and how to get them back.”
“Thank god,” Siren exhales sharply. We’ve always been close; she’s as torn up as I am about the kids being taken.
“The Browns own three clubs. One is here in Germany. The second is the yacht we were all on.”
“Maxwell boarded the yacht this afternoon. We’ve been chasing him this whole time.”
“Then, the third must be where Corbin is holding Declan. We are going to the club here to get Rose back tonight, and then we can come to the yacht.”
“Why these games?”
“Liesel’s father caused the deaths of Phoenix’s fiancé and unborn babies. This is payback to make us suffer as much as possible. I don’t think they will hurt them, though, thank god. But we need to get them back as quickly as possible, obviously.”
There’s a pause.
“We’ll win the yacht game while you get into the club there,” she says.
“Siren, you played the game last time. You know what it involves. There is no chance you’ll win.”
“I owe you. And those kids—” her voice cracks, and I can hear the pain in it.
“Siren?”
“Zeke and I will get Atlas back while you and Liesel get Rose. Has Beckett found Declan yet?”
“No, but Liesel is talking to Beckett now and letting him know to search for a club. That should help them narrow down their search.”
“Good.”
“Siren, are you sure? Liesel and I can come after we finish here.”
“I’m sure. My heart isn’t whole until yours is. I don’t care who I have to fuck or my husband fucks or kills—we are going to get Atlas back tonight.”
“Thank you,” I exhale, able to breathe a little easier now that there’s hope that two of our kids are going to be safe tonight.
I end the call at the same time Liesel does. Her face is so drained, her eyes heavy, her body frail. She needs sleep, rest, food, but all of that will have to wait until we get the kids back.
“Siren and Zeke are going to enter the yacht club by winning the sex game. They are going to get Atlas back tonight while we get Rose.”
Liesel nods her head, tears watering her eyes with a tiny glint of relief.
I pull her into my chest, wishing I could do more to comfort her.
“Beckett said he would find the club. He said if he finds it, he’ll enter it too. He’ll do whatever it takes to get Declan back.”
With Liesel in my arms, it’s almost like I can breathe again. Almost.
“We are going to get them back,” I say. I’m not sure why I ever doubted my friends. They are all going beyond what I would ever ask them to do to save my children. I automatically forgive them for anything they’ve done.
“We are going to get them back so they can be with their father,” Liesel mumbles into my chest.
I grab her cheeks and force her to look up at me. “We are going to get them back so they can be with their father and mother.”
A tear rolls down Liesel’s cheek. There is so much pain in that single tear, so much heartbreak.
Heartbreak I won’t let her go through alone.
Liesel doesn’t think she’s deserving of being a mother. She doesn’t think she belongs in our kids’ lives. She’s wrong, and this time I’m not giving her a choice. When we get our children back, she’s going to meet them. Then she’ll realize just how much they need her in their lives.
8
Liesel
Beckett found the third club, so we’re all going to try to rescue them at the same time. We have some really good friends willing to go this far to get our kids back.
I paint my lips with red lipstick as I finish getting ready in the bathroom. My dress is silver and sparkly as it clings to my curves and down to the floor, revealing plenty of cleavage as well. We don’t know exactly what we are facing, but we have an idea after the yacht game we played.
It will be difficult and test our limits. Luckily we have none when it comes to getting the kids back.
I don’t know if Beckett, Siren, or Zeke will succeed, but I’m beyond grateful that they are willing to try.
There’s a light knock on the bathroom door. My stomach rumbles as I stand and open the door.
“You look beautiful,” Kai says, standing in the bathroom door.
I smile at her, but it’s fake.
“Do you need anything else? Food?”
I shake my head. I can’t eat right now, but I don’t want to draw attention to it. Langston will drive me crazy worrying about me.
“I wish there was more Enzo and I could do. Are you sure you don’t want us to go with you?”
“You’re doing enough staying here and watching Phoenix. Really, you have no idea how much your help means to me.”
Kai hugs me. “We are going to get them back. And when we do, we aren’t ever going to let them go again.”
“I know.”
Pain radiates through my body, but I don’t let Kai know.
She steps back and holds out a silver mask. I take it from her, a familiar pang shooting through me from the last time I wore a mask like this.
We hear footsteps, and Kai steps back to allow Langston through.
“I’ll just be downstairs if you need me,” Kai says before leaving.
Then it’s just Langston and me.
“Wow,” he says as his eyes roam up and down my body. He takes in every curve, every inch of exposed skin, every contour of my face.
For a moment, all I feel is the heat of his eyes gracing my skin. I forget about how scared I am and how my stomach roars with pain and anxiety. For a moment, I feel wanted, desired, lured.
Langston must feel the change, too. Wordlessly, he takes two steps toward me, grabs
my neck, and crushes his lips over mine. The kiss is needy and desperate. His tongue pushes into my mouth without asking for permission, without giving me time to think that I shouldn’t be feeling any sort of pleasure when my kids’ lives are at risk.
The kiss continues despite the tiny whispers of reason floating in my head, telling me I shouldn’t enjoy this. All I deserve to feel is pain.
Langston’s tongue disagrees with the thoughts in my head. He pushes them out with each stroke of his tongue until the thoughts flutter away. Finally, when the thoughts have vanished, does he stop the kiss.
“That’s why you will make a great mother,” he says.
“What?”
“Because you won’t even let yourself enjoy a kiss. Your entire thoughts are on the kids. You love them without having met them. That’s why you are going to make a great mom.”
I take a deep breath. Now isn’t the time to argue with him.
My eyes take him in for the first time. He’s wearing a tux that I know he rented, yet somehow fits him like a glove. I can see his hardened muscles beneath the black fabric of his jacket and pants. His erection pushes against the zipper. My eyes shoot back up to his face, so he doesn’t get the wrong idea and think I want to fuck him. But that’s a mistake, too. His hair is tousled, and his face is clean-shaven, making me drool over the sharpness of his jaw. I know I can’t go near his eyes. His eyes are a danger zone I’ll get lost in.
He pushes his hands into my hair, not caring that he’s messing up the curls I spent hours perfecting. He kisses me again—slower, gentler, reminding me that I’m his.
“Whatever it takes,” he says, pulling my lips into his mouth once more.
“Whatever it takes,” I say, agreeing to his promise.
Then, he locks his fingers with mine and leads me out of the house to the waiting car. We climb in the back, and one of Kai’s employees climbs into the front. Langston holds my hand the entire thirty-minute drive to the club, but that doesn’t ease the butterflies in my stomach.
The car eases to a stop.
“Look at me,” Langston says.
I turn and look at him. He holds up my mask and fastens it around my face. “You’re the fiercest, most beautiful, badass woman in there. Nothing will stop you.”
“And you’re the strongest, most handsome, cruel man in there. Nothing will stop you.”
His eyes darken. “I hate you.” There is a bite in his words that is meant to stir a reaction.
“I hate you, too.” Every time I say the words, or he does, I no longer know the true meaning. I no longer know what the words mean when either of us speaks them, just that they mean a lot.
The car door opens. I step out, taking Langston’s hand as he guides me down a sidewalk and inside the club.
We enter the building with blacked-out windows and no sign. There is nothing to indicate what takes place inside.
“Hello, welcome to X. Can I have your name and invite, please?” a gentleman in a tux asks with an iPad in his hands.
“Mr. Langston Pearce and Mrs. Liesel Pearce. Phoenix Brown is who invited us,” I say.
Langston practically growls when I spit out his name as my last, making my insides tingle with what it does to him when I claim him as my husband.
“Welcome, Mr. and Mrs. Pearce. The games start in thirty minutes. I’ll show you to the bar where you can have a drink while you wait.”
He leads us down the hallway and stops at an open door. “Enjoy yourselves.”
We walk hand in hand into the room. It’s a spacious room, filled with guests in their most formal attire, all sipping various drinks as a woman sings at a piano in the center of the room. The bar is on the far side. All eyes turn to us as we enter. I suspect everyone does this with each new guest, trying to judge the new competition.
I roll my shoulders back, standing taller. Langston stares them all down. We make it clear we are here to win—anything less will not happen.
Together we walk over to a small circular booth in the corner of the room with a good view.
A waitress immediately comes over. “What can I get you to drink?”
“Two of your finest scotches,” Langston answers.
I don’t know if my stomach can handle a drop of alcohol, but I don’t argue. I don’t want to appear weak, and I don’t want Langston to think something stupid like I’m pregnant or something.
“So what do you think this game is going to involve?” I ask.
“Fucking, pain, torture—the usual.”
I nod.
“We are going to get her back. And if we lose, we’ll try again and again until we win, or we’ll find another way. I’m pretty proficient with a gun, you know.”
His comment is meant to make me smile, but I find I can’t.
The waitress returns with our drinks, and without thinking, I take a long sip, regretting it immediately as it burns all the way down to my anxious gut.
Langston stares at me curiously but doesn’t say anything.
I set my drink down carefully and hold it in my hands while I peruse the faces in the room, trying to determine our biggest competition.
“No one is competition. No one is fighting to get their child back. We’ll win,” Langston says.
His words are meant to be encouraging, to douse some of my anxiety, but nothing but seeing Rose, Atlas, and Declan safely in Langston’s arms will put out my fear.
We sit quietly until the man with the iPad re-enters the room. “The game is about to begin if you will all follow me.”
People toss back the rest of their drinks before standing to follow him out. When I stand, I find my legs trembling. Langston notices, takes my arm, and leads me out. With his hand touching me, I’m calm enough to walk.
We are led into a smaller room containing four round tables, each with five seats. It’s then that I realize there are twenty of us here, and I’m the only woman.
Chills race up and down my spine. Something isn’t right. There is something that Phoenix didn’t tell us, but I’m clueless. It feels like we’ve just walked into a trap.
Langston notices and stands a little in front of me, letting anyone in the room know they will have to go through him before they get to me. He’d take a bullet for me, not that I’d let him.
The host walks to the front of the room and begins explaining the rules.
“Welcome, gentlemen and Mrs. Pearce. Thank you all for coming. You all know what is at stake. Now for the rules of the game. They are quite simple. You will all be randomly seated at a table, and cards will be distributed to you, each containing a different…dares, shall we call them? Every dare has a point value, based on the card. Each round you will bet which dare, or combination of dares, you are willing to do. The highest bets stay in the game. The lowest bet must do their wagered dare, or dares, to stay in the game.
“Each round, you will have an opportunity to trade in your cards to be dealt new ones. You can trade in all or none of your cards, and you’ll be dealt any additional cards to ensure you always have five cards in your hand. Once a winner has been declared at each table, the final round, or rounds, will decide our winner from the group of table winners. There will be a dealer at each table if you have any questions.”
There are some murmurs, snide remarks, and grins from the men in the crowd. All of them stare at me like I’m a piece of meat to devour.
“I won’t let anyone hurt you,” Langston whispers.
“The only way to ensure that is if I quit right now.”
“You should; I’ve got this.”
“No, I’ll play. We both stay, we double our chances.”
“But—”
“I’m staying.”
Names are called out as men are assigned different tables.
Then my name is announced; I’m at table two. I just have to figure out how to walk over there without Langston to lean on.
My legs shake as I attempt to strut with everyone’s eyes on me, looking at me like I don’t belong.
I regret the stilettos with every step. One wrong step, and I’m going to fall and lose the game before it even starts.
Somehow I make it to my chair. I feel Langston from across the room. Unlike the last game we played, he’s going to be more protective of me. He’s going to have limits of what he can watch me endure. I just hope we get to Rose before that happens.
More names are called, and the rest of the men take their seats. Langston ends up at the table nearest to mine. It’s nice to feel like he’s a partner in the game this time, but I don’t know how much good it’s going to do.
Four men are eventually sitting at the table with me. All of their eyes are locked on me. I’m the outcast, and they are happy to destroy me. I really wish I knew why I was the only woman here.
I study my opponents as the dealers begin making their way to the tables. To my immediate left is a middle-aged man that must be a cowboy in a former life. He’s decked out in boots, a cowboy hat, and handlebar mustache.
Next is a dark-haired man with slicked-back hair, a too-tight suit, and brown eyes. He’s around my age and is wearing a wedding ring.
The third man is wearing a tux, but it does little to cover his rough exterior. Tattoos peek out around his wrists and neck. He has a nasty scar under his right eye that didn’t heal properly.
My fourth table-mate is an older gentleman. What’s left of his hair is graying around the bald spot on his head. He wears an expensive, ill-fitting tux that screams wealth.
“Good evening, gentleman and ma’am. I’ll be your dealer for tonight. If anyone has any questions about how the game is played, then please let me know. Otherwise, let’s begin,” he says, shuffling what looks like an ordinary deck of cards. He looks around at the five of us, waiting to see if anyone speaks up. When no one does, he begins to deal us each five cards.
A couple of the men pick up the cards as they are dealt one by one and begin studying them. Me and the older man to my right wait until all the cards are dealt before picking up our hand.
“Point values are one for an ace all the way up to thirteen for a king. You can bet up to the full value in your hand or as little as one card. Remember, if you’re the lowest bet, you have to do whatever you bet, so don’t bet something you aren’t willing to do. The deck is a standard 52 card deck, just with dares written on them. Take a moment to study your cards and decide your bet.”
