by Jade West
I’d been busy in the background, preparing security. I was ready to fight right back, standing up for our place in the world, over here, on UK soil.
We could do this. I could do this.
Elaine looked scared as I turned in the back seat to face her. She was biting her lip, terrified.
“They are going to come after us, aren’t they?” she asked.
“Yes,” I replied. “They are, but they aren’t going to win, sweetheart. I can promise you that. This is our world now. Ours.”
She nodded, even if there was still that bubble of fear in her below the surface. Fuck, how I wanted her. I wanted to be her blanket of protection and her lord of hope, with every single step we could take.
The cab driver barely said a word as we pulled up back at Quentin Manor. Elaine winced as I helped her out of the back seat, tenderness taking hold of her. Fuck, I’d hit her nice and hard.
I paid the driver and he sped away, leaving us to ascend the manor steps as the sky showed the first taste of dawn all around us. Hell, it was a late one.
Yet again, Elaine acknowledged my thoughts, matching just right with hers.
“Wow, it’s late. I’m so tired.”
I smirked as I opened the main door for her.
“Yes, baby. It’s very late and you must be very tired.”
She was grinning an innocent grin as we began to climb the stairs up to our wing.
“You going to snuggle me tight in bed, then?” she asked.
“Get your sweet ass up there and find out,” I pushed, and she did. She sashayed that sweet ass up there with a spring in her step despite her body undoubtedly aching from my blows.
We showered together, slowly. I soaped her nice and gently, but she was still flinching as she smiled. Her skin was a masterpiece, already darkening, brewing with bruises. She was delicious, but now wasn’t the time to feast on her.
We did snuggle up in bed together and she fell asleep in a few short minutes of me stroking her hair. It took me a lot longer to close my eyes, staring at the light of the morning glowing through the drapes.
My mind was full of the plans I’d made. The purchases I’d made. The declarations I was ready to make.
My father could lash out from overseas if he was stupid enough to think I was unprepared for that. Elaine’s family would be brewing on their own ideas to the same tune, but they could get fucked too. We had too much of a network of power over here already, and that was growing every minute.
The Quentins didn’t organize breakfast for us, undoubtedly well aware that we would have had an exceptionally late night. I rolled over after a fitful slumber and Elaine was still sleeping peacefully, oblivious to the world.
I watched her, replaying the vision of her in shackles over and over. We’d certainly be repeating that experience, but first I had more pressing engagements.
Devon was outside playing tennis on the manor court. I saw him through the window as I dressed myself quietly, leaving my princess sleeping as I headed out. He smiled when I came into view, waving his later wave to his assistant playing along with him. He dropped his racket against the fence as he joined me, still catching his breath.
“So how was Club Explicit?” he asked, and I smiled back.
“Just as I’d hoped. Excellent.”
He nodded. “Good. I’m glad London is living up to your expectations.”
Yes, it was. It was surpassing even the wildest hopes I’d been holding on to as Elaine and I had boarded that plane with fake IDs.
It was Devon who raised the subject I’d been planning to question. He leaned in closer, even though there was nobody even vaguely close enough to hear us.
“The timescale is on schedule,” he told me. “They will be here before nightfall. The outbuilding at the bottom of the far paddock.”
“Thank you,” I said and that villain in me was alive and burning through me.
“Dinner this evening?” he asked, and I nodded.
“It would be a pleasure.”
“A pleasure for us, too. Roast beef with all the trimmings.”
“Sounds delicious,” I acknowledged, and we made our way back to the house.
Francesca was waiting for him in the sitting room, clearly wanting his attention, so I made my exit, heading back upstairs to the wing that was beginning to feel like our own. Still, that would be coming to an end soon enough. We would soon have a manor all of our own.
Elaine was up and getting dressed as I walked in, still flinching as she pulled her jeans up over her bruised thighs.
“Ouch,” she said, with a smirk. “I’ll be feeling this for days.”
I loved that. My eyes must have said it all because her cheeks reddened, her smirk turning to an innocent smile, eating up my happiness. The thrum of the night before was still magic between us.
“Are we eating with the Quentins this evening?” she asked, and I nodded.
“Roast beef with all the trimmings, apparently.”
“Sounds nice.”
Conversation was brimming heavy with that need for each other, but today it wasn’t about sex, or pain, or consuming flesh. This was about the closeness. The need for connection.
We lay there together for a long afternoon, watching crappy TV and munching on snacks delivered from the kitchen as we carried on the random question chatter, only this time it was interspersed with snippets of memories and funny stories that had us both laughing.
We were still laughing as dinnertime reached us and we headed on down to the dining room, taking our places opposite Devon and Francesca at the table.
Throughout the meal the women were talking nonstop about the West End and the red carpet and the musical, but there was a secret nod between Devon and me across the table as soon as his cell buzzed with a ping. He excused us for some business conversation after dessert, leaving the ladies chatting about the next series of musicals due for the West End.
I knew exactly where we were going. I walked alongside Devon Quentin without a word, following his march through the manor grounds to the paddock at the bottom of the pasture.
The outbuilding was there, standing tall.
“I’ll leave you here,” he said, and slapped a hand between my shoulders. “Everything you asked for has been delivered. Nobody is close enough to hear a thing.”
I tipped my head. “Much appreciated.”
“I’ll make sure the women enjoy their girly evening, I’m sure they will be very distracted,” he assured me.
I had no doubt about that.
Devon left me standing there in the twilight. I flexed my knuckles before I stepped up to the main barn entrance, swinging the big wooden door wide open to step inside.
There were two figures hanging from a whole set of shackles of their own, only this time there were no spotlights like in Club Explicit, just some orange glowing lanterns to allow me to see. There was no crowd cheering for the hurt, just two sick fucks begging that I didn’t kill them. Begging that there had been a misunderstanding and they had never crossed the Morellis.
It gave me a huge rush of pleasure to tell Baron Rawlings and Lord Eddington that it wasn’t the Morellis I was taking retribution for. It gave me an ever huger rush of pleasure to tell them exactly who I was claiming retribution for and why.
Elaine Constantine, because I loved her. Because I adored her. Because she was the woman of my dreams and heart and whole fucking soul.
I showed them how much I loved her with every slash of the blade. I paid them back for every time they’d taken sick pleasure from the woman I loved by taking sick pleasure of my own from hurting them.
They’d been begging for their lives when I’d first stepped in to join them. They were begging for their deaths when I finally pulled my cell out of my pocket and told them to confess their sins on camera.
They confessed their sins. They gave me the details of the fellowship onscreen and how they’d been a part of it and just what the fuck they’d done. There was a truth in their eyes
and voices that could never be disputed. Their memories matching and perfect. Memories of themselves, and Reverend Lynch, and the other fools still on my list to be wiped out for ever.
Plus memories of the sicko at the center of Elaine’s fate—Lionel Constantine and how he’d delivered her for her abuse when she was nothing more than a gentle little girl looking for acceptance and love.
It was well into the night when I finally stepped back out from the barn, my shirt red and slick, leaving two corpses behind me, still in chains. My hands were tainted scarlet, blood crusted under my fingernails.
There was only Devon in the sitting room when I arrived back into the manor. He gave me a nod and pressed a button on his cell phone, no doubt to alert the cleanup team.
I said two simple words that were straight from my cold black heart.
“Thank you.”
“You need a cleanup team of your own,” he laughed, gesturing at my outfit.
“I’m sure Elaine will help me out on that front,” I laughed back. “And on that note.”
“I’ll see you in the morning,” he said. “Six a.m. start?”
“I’ll be ready,” I told him, and I would be. I’d be preened and polished and ready to begin a whole new week of deals and planning and negotiations. Both business and pleasure. Pleasure of the greatest kind on earth.
Elaine was watching another round of crappy TV when I walked through the bedroom door. Her eyes shot straight over to me, and her mouth dropped open as she scrabbled to her feet, dashing on over to run her hands up and down my bloodied chest, checking me over.
“Not mine,” I reassured her and took hold of her hands to kiss her knuckles.
“Then whose?” she asked. “What the hell happened?!”
I told her. Slowly.
I watched her soak in the details, breaths hitching with an obvious combination of relief and gratitude that I’d destroyed the evil cunts for her. She cried pretty, moving tears that almost choked me up to match.
We took a shower when I finished recounting the events and she soaped me down, scrubbing me with delicate fingers, watching the blood swirl away down the drain.
Then it was her turn to say the two simple words, straight from her heart. Only her heart wasn’t cold and black. Hers was warm and loving. Beautiful like the rest of her as her eyes pooled with a fresh round of tears.
“Thank you.”
“I don’t deserve a thank you,” I told her. “The pleasure was mine.”
I meant it. I’d do whatever it took to make my princess happy in life. I’d love and protect and serve. I’d hurt, and barter, and bribe. I’d raise her on a pedestal for the whole world to see, and savor every heartbeat of her in my arms.
And I’d show her that.
I’d show her that in no uncertain terms very soon, in a whole different way than killing two of the pieces of shit who emotionally killed her.
I’d show her right at the top of the London Eye, right where she belonged.
29
Elaine
I had no idea where we were going in the limo but life was buzzing around us as we headed into London from Quentin Manor. They weren’t with us, Devon and Francesca. This wasn’t one of the premieres we’d been talking about, and this wasn’t a late-night visit to Club Explicit that Lucian and I had been planning. This was something else. Something that had Lucian in a new tailored tuxedo and me in the little black dress I’d picked out so happily with Francesca.
There were security vehicles surrounding the limo as we drove into the city, keeping our safety their priority. So far there had been no sign of attack from either my family or Lucian’s, and it was seeming to be less likely—security growing stronger and associates promising even greater protection.
Maybe, just maybe, we’d be safe in our new future. I was daring to believe it.
I shot forward in my seat when the pods of the London Eye appeared in view, and my heart leapt as I pressed my face to the window, because I knew it right there and then. I knew just where we were headed.
“Really?!” I asked Lucian with a squeal. “We’re going to the Eye?!”
God, his smirk.
“Wait and see.”
I couldn’t sit still. I just couldn’t. I was squirming back and forth, my attention zipping from him to the window and back again on constant loop, still flying high with the excitement.
Oh my God, we were going to do it. We were going to ride the London Eye as the sun set, lighting up the river Thames in perfection. It would be PERFECTION!
“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” I gushed at Lucian as the limo pulled up at the entrance, next to the line barriers.
Except there were no line barriers. Not tonight. There was only a red carpet, lined with security guards and attendants.
They helped me from the limo and I stared up at the Eye with a lump in my throat as Lucian took my side. It was really happening. It would be a dream come true.
There wasn’t a single person around. Nobody in the line. Nobody in the pods. Not a single sign of life as Lucian guided me along the carpet, all the way up to a waiting pod.
He stepped aside, giving me a little bow as I walked on in, and there I was, spinning around with that lump still in my throat, trying to comprehend the reality of truly being in this space. My dream.
Being in this space with my dream.
I let out a squeal as the pod started moving and we began the ascent, just the two of us holding each other tight, mineral waters in our hands, staring out at the incredible view.
“Thank you so much,” I said again, and the lump in my throat showed itself with the dip of my voice.
“You are more than welcome, princess,” he told me. “You are my life, this is just one tiny little testament to that.”
We pointed out landmarks with smiles, everything etching itself into my memory for ever. The Shard. Westminster. The Tower of London.
I still couldn’t believe it. Lucian had taken over the whole of the London Eye, all for me.
It was when we reached the very top, and the very height of our spin, that Lucian let me go from his arms. I turned to face him, shocked at his body moving away from mine, but not as shocked as I felt when he dropped down in front of me onto his knees. Only it wasn’t onto his knees.
It was on one knee. ONE.
Lucian Morelli was on one knee in front of me, at the very top of the London Eye.
It was then when the fireworks lit up the Thames in front of us. Bursts of pure sparks flying high into the sunset and glistening diamonds on the water. I was blown away by the crazy emotion of it, because surely not… surely it couldn’t be…
But it was. It was!
“Will you marry me, Elaine Constantine?” Lucian asked me, and presented the ring. A full glittering diamond in a little black box.
I couldn’t speak. I didn’t have a voice. Didn’t have a breath. Didn’t have anything but a nod as the tears fell. The lump in my throat had nothing on the gushes of happy tears that ran down my cheeks as Lucian got back up to his feet and slipped my engagement ring onto my ring finger.
He held me tight and kissed me deep, then turned us both back to face the fireworks still bursting all around us. Only my eyes weren’t on the fireworks, they couldn’t be. They were too transfixed on the diamond on my finger.
I was going to marry Lucian Morelli.
Holy fuck, I was engaged to Lucian Morelli.
He held me tight as the pod descended back to the ground. It was slow and perfect, the atmosphere between us so loved up that my heart could have burst for real.
The attendants were ready and waiting for us when our descent reached its end, helping us back onto solid ground with smiles and congratulations.
The red carpet felt so long and incredible as we made our way back to the street. There were paparazzi gathered, managing to capture just a few pictures of us walking together before the security guards ushered them away.
“They were given minimum access, don’t
worry,” Lucian told me. “Believe me, baby, I’ve got so much security around us they could fight a war.”
“Amazing,” I said, because it was. It was amazing. Us being alive was amazing, after betraying both families and their vendettas back home across the Atlantic.
He had his usual smirk on his face as we approached the waiting limo. “It’ll be even more amazing when you see the Morelli-Constantine Manor by High Wycombe. The security is so well ingrained you won’t even see their presence, but believe me, princess, they will be there. People won’t be able to step within a quarter mile of the place without being wiped out for their intrusion.”
“We have a manor?!”
My pulse couldn’t race any faster. The surprises were piled too high. My heart soaring too fast.
“Yes,” Lucian said. “We have a manor. Just you wait and see.”
“When?!” I asked him. “When will I see it?”
An attendant opened the limo door and I slipped into the back seat ahead of Lucian. They shut us inside with a smile and wave.
“Now,” he told me. “You’ll see it now. We’re heading right on over. Francesca and Devon are already waiting there to celebrate.”
My legs would be Jell-o. My hands were shaking as I checked out my ring finger for the thousandth time already.
The limo pulled away and the security cars drove along with us until we were out of the city, well on our way to the new manor in the darkness.
I couldn’t wait.
Holy hell, I couldn’t wait. We were going home. HOME. Home to a whole new home of our own.
The signs on the road started showing High Wycombe getting closer.
It was only when the distance seemed to be getting further away rather than closer that Lucian leaned forward in the seat and cast a scowl at the driver.
“The sooner the fucking better, please,” he said. “Get your act together.”
But that’s when the interior locks sounded out loud around us and the screen between us and the driver closed up tight.
“What the fuck—” Lucian began, but then he shifted again, staring at the driver through the glass, and I saw him realize something. Saw something slam him like a hammer blow.
