by KL Donn
“He was in the warehouse?” I ask her. She nods. “You’re sure?”
Her brows furrow as she answers me. “He and Gustave got into a fight. I hid and got my hands free. At one point, Thomas lit Gustave’s dead body on fire.” I smirk thinking about what I’d done to the man’s boss. “Thomas found me. I was able to run, but I saw a gas valve and let it loose.”
“But you’re sure McCray was still in the building?” It contradicts what we just found out.
“Yes. I locked the door behind me, hoping Thomas couldn’t get it open in time. Next thing I know, I’m sailing through the air.” Taking another sip of her water, she asks, “What’s going on, Cas?”
I hate lying to her, but I need her better before she receives this blow and I tell her about her father and his men.
“Rest, dolce, the doctor will be here soon.” Kissing her forehead, I’m thankful when she does what I say.
Moving away from her, I ask again, quietly, “Are we sure it wasn’t Thomas?”
“Yup. Went to the morgue myself. Just some homeless man living on the top floor,” Luther insists.
“Where the fuck did he go?” King growls.
“Anyone heard from Atticus lately?” Carver steps forward from his perch near the window.
After going up to Alaska, he’d been delayed in northern British Columbia due to a snow storm. That was more than a week ago.
King picks up his cell to call him. We wait as it rings. “Atticus, it’s King. Fucking call me.” It goes to voicemail.
“Could be lack of service,” Dimitri volunteers.
“He has two days to get in touch before you and Daniel go up there,” King tells the man.
“Doctor’s here.” The butler Lilith insisted we hire barges in. The man has no stealth or caution as far as I’m concerned.
I can’t decide if he has a death wish, or he’s a mole. After what happened with Talia, I’m leaning towards mole.
I narrow my gaze on him. “Send him in, then I want you to come back here.” He nods and walks away.
“What are you thinking, Cas?” King asks.
“How well do we know him?”
“Luther checked him out.” I look to Luther.
“He vetted all my checks. Wouldn’t have let him in the house otherwise.” His words are defensive.
“I don’t doubt you, Luth. But someone knew to tip off Thomas.” I look to Dimitri, who returns my glare with one of his own. “I trust Daniel, which means I tentatively trust Dimitri.” Nodding towards the door, I say, “He’s the only wild card,” as the man in question leads the doctor into the room.
After the doctor left, I took Talia back up to bed with antibiotics for the low-grade infection in her arm and pain meds to help her sleep. With a promise to stay there until I come for her, I leave Dimitri as a guard on her door. A chance to prove himself to me.
Without complaint, he pulled up a chair, cracked open his laptop, and began hacking the FBI database to search for more information about Thomas.
Atticus still hasn’t gotten back to us, and I’m left to believe that the new butler has a high chance of being a mole. Too much information has been leaked for me to think otherwise.
Rolling the sleeves up on my dress shirt, I walk into King’s war room. Luther, King, and Carver are relaxed behind his desk watching the butler squirm in his chair.
“Tell me,” I hiss coming up behind him, “what’s your name again?” He flinches from the touch of my hands gripping his shoulders.
“S-s-steven Reynolds.” His stutter makes Carver grin.
“Alright, Steven, tell me something. I’ve asked King and Luther, but none of us are sure.” I sit down in the chair next to him, wanting to look into his eyes for each answer.
“What?” His voice is hoarse. His gaze won’t meet mine.
“I’d like to know whether you’re gutless or fearless?” His brows furrow as he finally meets my stare. “You walk into any room you like without announcing yourself, which makes me think fearless.” I pause letting my words sink in. “Though, it seems we have a rat in our midst. Someone who’s told a certain enemy of ours of our plans. And since the only people who know anything are in this room and trusted, I have to wonder if someone hasn’t been eavesdropping?” He opens his mouth to say something, but I continue. “You see, I find a traitor, mole, whatever you want to call it, gutless. A spineless weasel that would deserve everything I would do to him in the dungeon.”
I watch him calculate his next words with extreme care. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Or stupidity.
Shaking my head, I look around the room. The few men I trust more than anything meeting my stare. “Since you’re here, I’m sure you know how the Adair Empire came about. How five rats from the streets came to own and control more than most billion-dollar corporations.” He nods. “So, you know we have a certain reputation…each of us liking to do some not so nice things in a…delicate manner?”
“You mean torture?” I’m surprised he put it together.
“That’s one way of putting it, yes.” There isn’t much this man can say to dissuade my certainty of his guilt now. He won’t look me in the eyes for more than five seconds, he’s constantly fidgeting. And the over-swallowing as well as sweating screams of his guilt. “Luther has a love for the blowtorch and melting flesh. Gets off on it, actually.” Steven pales noticeably. “Carver likes to make people bleed and scream for days. It…arouses him.” His eyes roll in the back of his head. “King has a love of knives. He’s taught his queen. She’s becoming quite proficient.”
I pause for a long moment, allowing my words to sink in. For the depravities of these men to paint a picture in his mind.
“I, however, have a curiosity for the human body. How it works. What makes a person tick.” Standing, he leans further back into his chair as I step forward. “I enjoy finding a person’s weak spot and exploiting it. The human anatomy is a fickle thing. Certain areas give immense pleasure with the right touch and pressure. Others cause excruciating pain with that same attention.”
“What are you saying?” Steven gets the spine to ask.
“What I’m saying is, apart, we can tear a person to shreds.” I walk around to stand with my brothers, my family. Showing our force and solidarity. “Together, we will have a man begging for death in seconds.”
“I still don’t understand.” The knowledge in his eyes tells me something else.
“What he’s saying, you dumb shit, is that Thomas McCray has hurt each of their women. Caused those girls unmeasurable pain to their souls, broken them, and you nearly killed Talia,” Carver growls.
“This is your chance to come clean, confess your sins, and beg for mercy. We’ll give you a swift death for your cooperation.” Luther clears up any transparency I’ve left open.
“If you don’t, we go to the dungeon, and before you’ve taken your last breath but after we get what we need from you, the women will come in. Ariel has a fascination with clamps, by the way. And they’ll get to have some fun.” King shrugs like it’s no big deal.
This asshole doesn’t need to know we’d never let the girls down there. They know about the business, but we make sure it doesn’t touch them any more than necessary. Especially the dirtier side of things.
“This deal expires in the time it takes us to reach that door.” Moving forward, I grab one of his arms while Luther grabs the other and we begin the ten-foot walk. Steven’s body shakes with each step, though the man remains mute as we exit the war room. “Guess you’ve made your choice then.” Luther laughs.
“Not as gutless as I figured, Steve-O,” I say to him. Almost admiring his will to remain loyal. Even if it is to a rat bastard piece of shit.
TALIA
Nightmares filled with monsters follow me into a restless sleep, and I find I’m waking up feeling worse than I did before lying down. The physical pain has been mellowed, but the emotional is so much worse.
Castiel was hiding something from me
when he left, and I need to know what. I should be feeling peace and freedom, instead, what I feel is trapped and suffocation. I need to know what’s happening here, now. What happened back in Livingston Parish. My father, my life. It’s all thrown up in the air.
Thankfully, the chills have subsided, and I’m able to get to my feet, walk the few paces to the bedroom door and open it. I hadn’t realized I had a watchdog, though.
“Hey there, sunshine, what do you need?” Dimitri asks, looking up from the laptop in his hands.
“To see Castiel.” I go to walk past him and stumble. His laptop crashes to the floor as he catches me around the waist.
Holding me steady, he stands up straight and says exactly what I don’t want to hear. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea. You should be resting.”
“Good thing I don’t care what you think,” I snipe at him. I’m not in the mood to be blind-sided.
“Wait a minute. Why do you gotta be so fucking difficult?” he grumbles. Picking up his laptop, he hands it to me and says, “hold this,” before picking me up in his arms again. “If he kills me for touching you, I’ll haunt your skinny ass.”
I grin up at him, happy I got my way. The walk down the marble steps, then down another set of stairs that I haven’t seen before leading to a foreboding door, rattles my body more than I expect it would.
“You sure you’re ready for this?” Dimitri asks. I nod, and he carefully opens the door. The sounds of moaning immediately hit my ears. Red covers my vision as we walk forward.
“Put me down,” I whisper. Slowly letting me free, Dimitri remains at my side as I watch in unholy fascination, Castiel murmuring into a man’s ear. I can’t hear what’s being said, but the guy’s eyes widen with fright.
“Cas,” Carver growls from his position beside the man. Luther, King, and Daniel are all in the room, too. Aggressive looks on all of their handsome faces lock onto me as everyone stares.
“What’s she doing here?” Cas growls to Dimitri before turning around. His shirt is opened down to this waist, blood splattered everywhere. There isn’t an inch of his flesh free from this man’s, this betrayer’s, bodily fluid.
“I either helped her down here, or she came by herself,” Dimitri answers him as Castiel stalks me back into the door we just entered.
There’s death in his eyes. A hardness in every line of his body. Arousal for more than me pressing into my stomach.
“Dolce,” he hisses like a snake about to strike.
Placing my hands on his shirt, attempting to avoid the blood, I ask him, “Who is he?” I briefly remember seeing him around.
“Dead,” Cas snarls.
The menace radiating from his body turns me on far more than is sane. I should be scared, running for my life. Trying to get away. I can’t. I want him closer. I want to join him.
Leaning into his bulky frame, I kiss him softly, showing without words that I accept this darker side of him. I accept the killer that lurks in his soul and comes out to play to protect those he loves.
His blood-soaked hands roughly grip my waist as he takes over the kiss. His lips bruising in their intensity. Devouring every inch of me, he doesn’t let me up for air until he’s ready.
Every inch of me is dying for a taste of this beast. To feel him in my soul. “I want to feed you my pain, Castiel.” It sounds ridiculous, I’m sure, but I know he’ll understand.
Biting my lip, he groans, pulling back. “I’ll take every fucking scream.”
My arms wrap around his neck, holding him to me. Our love may not be pretty and rife with rainbows and pots of gold. It’s hard, it’s ugly, and today, I’m going to show him just how strong I truly am.
Breaking free of his embrace, I walk towards the man against the wall. The one they have clearly been torturing, and I grab a large towel off the table next to Carver, sticking the ends behind their captive’s shoulders, so I don’t have to stare at the gore bestowed upon him for his crimes.
Looking for a seat, Luther hands me a stool, and as I sit, I watch this person. His eyes flit across the room like that of a hummingbird, unable to remain in one spot.
I feel Castiel’s shadow behind me before his hands begin to play with my hair. The man in front of me looks at him like he’s a completely different person.
“What’s your name?” I ask when he does meet my eyes.
Spitting blood from his mouth, he answers, “Steven.”
“Watch it,” Cas growls at his attitude.
“What did he do?” I ask the men around me.
“Fucking mole,” Luther says, and everything clicks into place.
“It’s your fault then,” I say, my sympathy for the man gone out the window.
“It’s theirs,” he replies back, shooting dirty looks all around the room. Luther backhands him for his comment.
“They didn’t inform a known killer, a child peddler, that they were leaving to finish a fight he wasn’t man enough to start on his own.” Just thinking about it makes me shiver. “Steven, my name is Talia Andersson. Thomas, the man you presumably work for, had plans to sell me to a sadistic man. Thomas took me, was going to rape me even, and film it for these men to watch before he shipped me off. He’s ruined the lives of many people in his years on this earth.” I watch as he swallows. Allowing all of my hurt and frustration to seep into my voice, I continue on. “Because of Thomas and his brother, thousands of families have been destroyed. Thousands of children have been ruined.”
“I have nothing to do with that,” he says quietly, but I can see my words are getting to him.
“Maybe not.” I stand. Castiel’s arms wrap around me from behind. Cradling me. Protecting me. “But because of you, he nearly ruined ours.”
Steven smirks like my life is a joke. Turning my back on him, I no longer care about preserving this man’s life.
“What weren’t you telling me earlier?” I search Cas’ eyes for answers.
“Not here,” he says, guiding me back towards Dimitri. “Head back upstairs. I’ll be there soon.”
CASTIEL
Watching Talia come down here, being so brave and standing up to the man who gave her vulnerability away, flooded pride into the region of my heart. The way she talked to Steven with respect and sympathy, spoke of her soft nature. Her forgiving heart.
I realize that she was trying to get the man to own up to his faults. To end his suffering at my hands. The dumb fuck decided to insult my girl instead. With coldness in her heart and anger on her mind, she listened when I told her to go back to bed.
Now, it’s just him and us.
My blade and his chest.
His screams, our devilish grins.
“You ready, Steve-O?” I ask as I pull the towel off his chest, exposing my handy work. The flaps of his flesh hanging loosely from where I peeled it back. “I have better things to do than be down here. You’ve shown your tolerance, your loyalty. Tell me where Thomas is going now.”
He looks…tired. More than just tired of the torture but tired of this life.
I don’t blame him. This life isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s for the ruthless, the sadistic, and demented. There isn’t much room for softness unless it’s protected.
“Fine.” He coughs.
Sitting back, I wait for him to start talking.
“After Timothy, Thomas knew he wasn’t going to be able to beat you. It became a game to him. To destroy you and everything you love.”
“How exactly do you know him?” King asks suspiciously.
Clearing his throat, he answers, “I’m a distant cousin.”
“How’d he find you?” I wonder.
“His mother was my step-mother’s cousin.” His head bows.
“So you know of Catalina?” Daniel asks.
“She’s a good girl. Knows nothing of this life.” There’s a plea in his gaze.
“That’s where Thomas is going, isn’t it? To Alaska?” I lean forward. He nods. “Daniel, call Atticus until he answers.” Worry
for our brother amplifies. “What’s he want with her?”
“She’s the last link to his family.”
“Wait,” Carver interrupts. “You’re not even related to this fool by blood?” Steven shakes his head. “Why does he deserve your loyalty then?”
“Catalina,” is all he says.
“Blackmail?” Luther asks.
“Yes. I helped, and he’d leave her alone. Her mother died when she was young; she’s been lost ever since. A real loner. I promised my mother I’d look after her.” Shame is present in his confession.
“Some fucking job you did,” King growls, his patience wearing thin.
“So, he’s done with us?” I ask. I can’t go back upstairs and tell Talia he’s coming back for her.
“Yes. He’s moved on to destroying Catalina now. Because she was the only good to come from their mother.”
“Do they have the same father? We couldn’t find anything on that,” Luther asks him.
“No. Their mother fled Scotland after a beating. Hid in Alaska. Fell in love. Seven months later, Catalina came into the world too soon. She nearly died, but she’s strong.” His complexion is turning grey, and I know he’s done.
“Carver,” I say, and he looks to me. Anticipation in his eyes. “Drug him. Morphine. Bury him in the fields.”
“Thank you,” Steven murmurs, closing his eyes.
“I’m giving you a mercy that I don’t believe you deserve, but my woman does, or did. Contrary to popular belief, we don’t get off on torture for torture’s sake.” Carver clears his throat with a smirk. “Maybe he does. Once we get what we want, it’s a clean kill.” He nods. “I’m showing you mercy because when Atticus tells Catalina of your death, I don’t want him to have to lie and say it was peaceful when it was painful.”
Done with him, I walk away.
I have a fucking woman waiting for my pain.
After being sent back to our room, I can admit I pouted a bit. I had wanted Castiel to come with me. I needed him to erase the damage done by those monsters. I needed him to fight the shadows.
