My stomach flip-flopped at the thought.
Maximoff threaded his wrists through the loop and winced when Blue pulled it tight, the shrill noise of the tie grating against me.
“I’ll kill you for this,” Maximoff threatened, but he only thought he was the biggest predator in this vehicle. Blue undid Maximoff’s tie and shoved it in his mouth, dragging him out of the back seat and toward the boot of the Toyota.
I leaned between the seats, and lifted the hand of the unconscious driver. He was big, physically intimidating. Bigger than Blue, that was for sure. But that was just like Maximoff. He wanted to have a big, scary bodyguard as a sign of prestige. Dick.
I threaded one through, and lifted the other.
The bodyguard’s eyes snapped open and his hand wrapped around my wrist with bone crushing firmness.
I got a huge wave of his emotions as he ricocheted back into consciousness. Anger, pain, and the recognition.
That recognition was reflected in his muddy brown eyes. Then regret. Loathing, but surprisingly not for me. For Maximoff. The bodyguard hated his boss? I mean, it wasn’t a leap, because Maximoff Richards was the worst humanity had to offer. But still...
“Do you know me?” I asked, rather redundantly.
He nodded.
“Do you know why I’m doing this?” Another nod. “Your loyalty is admirable, but that asshole doesn’t deserve it. I promise I won’t kill him,” I couldn’t make such a promise for Blue though. “You don’t need to die for his ego though. We’ll pretend you were out of it,” I pleaded. I could read this man’s soul. He was all sorts of crazy, but his heart was good. He was loyal to a fault though. I didn’t want him to be hurt.
“Are you a religious man?” I asked, and he stared at me, then dipped his chin. “Well, the Devil is coming for Maximoff Richards, and you don’t want to be there when it happens. The Devil does not ask questions, and he does not do leniency.”
He stared at me unblinkingly, but didn’t say a word. Then he lifted his other hand and threaded it through the cable tie. My fingers brushed his wrist.
The Devil will take me eventually, but it won’t be for that jerk off.
I smiled down at him and laughed. “Good choice. He doesn’t deserve it. I happen to know the Devil, I’ll put in a good word for you.”
Eyes wide, the bodyguard lifted his fingers to his mouth and shook his head.
I raised my eyebrows. “Oh, you’re mute?” Whoops. “I just thought you were the strong, silent type. Well, Marco, it’s never too late to become a nun, or have a career change, or not work for douchebags.”
I tapped him on the forehead. Do you need a bodyguard? He grinned at me. What a damn flirt.
I laughed out loud that time, drawing Blue back from the Toyota. “I’m at my quota for stubborn, alpha types, thanks Marco. But I wish you luck.”
But Marco’s eyes had drifted to Blue, and now they were back to being hard and slightly murderous.
“You shouldn’t flirt with your captives, Princess. It’s bad business etiquette. Also, letting them see your face? A big no-no.”
I patted the top of Marco’s head and tightened the cable tie. But not too tight. He’d work his way out eventually.
“Me and Marco have an understanding. We’re cool.”
Blue’s perfect dark brows lowered down over his eyes. “Is that true, Marco? Do you have an agreement?” he murmured in a low voice.
They had some kind of hitman/murderer glare-off, but eventually Marco nodded.
“See?” I said as I grabbed the keys from the ignition. “I’m gonna take these; can’t make it too easy. Be good, okay?”
Marco grinned again, and gave me a wink. Cheeky bastard.
I gave the keys to Blue, who threw them as far as he could over the fence. Then I slid into the passenger seat, and tried not to think of Bonnie and Clyde. Ride or die, right?
Chapter Twenty-Two
Apparently, you can never really know a man until you’ve walked a mile in his shoes. As I stood in the abandoned meat packing plant owned by the Mulligan family here in New York, watching Maximoff Richards swing from a meat hook, I thought I might know Blue Halloran a little better now.
But I didn’t know myself anymore.
Faced with a silent, red faced Maximoff, I found myself only having one question, but my conviction that he needed to die was wavering.
“Why?”
Maximoff rolled his eyes and spat at the ground at my feet. Blue pulled back his fist and hit him in the solar plexus, the heavy thud of flesh on flesh making me feel ill. What was I thinking being here? I was caught up in Blue and sex pheromones and survivor guilt. This wasn't me.
“She asked a question,” Blue said calmly. There was a fissure in his personality. Blue the Lover and Blue the Killer.
Maximoff sneered. “Did you know the stocks in my company dropped twenty points within minutes of her giving her speech at the conference. All it took was one world leader tweeting a positive 250 characters in support of her idea, and the stocks began to plummet. I’d heard rumors, of course, I have my insiders. I’d prepared. I know what her type is like, do-gooders that never let it rest. When I heard that she was taking her father's place, I knew I had a chance to destabilize my competition once and for all. Fucking tender hearts. This is business. The fact the bitch would be made into someone’s sex slave was just the icing on the cake. I wanted for them to just kill you, but they insisted on it as part of the payment. Valuable merchandise. The Estonians are also businessmen. It’s a pity they fucked it up.” He gave me a cold smile.
Blue shook his head in cool exasperation. “It’s like you just want me to shoot you.”
Maximoff sneered in disgust. “She won’t let you kill me. Like I said, fucking tender hearts.”
Rage bubbled up in me because he was right. I wouldn’t let Blue kill him, because I was a better person than the Maximoff Richards’ of the world. Except...
“Did you arrange to have my sister killed?” I asked quietly. His life really did hinge on his answer to this question. There was nothing tender about me when it came to Rella’s death.
Finally, an emotion past over his face; regret. But not regret for her death. Regret that he hadn’t had a hand in it.
I looked at Blue. “Shoot him.”
Blue grinned, such a joyous expression suddenly de-aging him. “Gladly.” He lifted his gun and pointed it at Maximoff Richard’s head. I turned, throwing up a wall between me and the fear he was emitting. He deserved it. I repeated it to myself again. He deserves it. He deserves it. How many lives has he ruined? The world would be better without him. I strode toward the door that led to the rear car park.
Suddenly, with a flash of blue-black wings and a stormy face, Memphis was there. “Not going to stay and see the results of your order, Hope?” He looked...disappointed. “If you order a man’s death, you should stay until the end. Taking a life shouldn’t be like ordering takeout. It has a toll, on all involved.”
I swallowed hard and my eyes welled with tears. I looked over my shoulder at Blue. His gun was relaxed in his hand, his face almost an artist’s replica of ease. But his emotions felt dirty around the edges. How hadn’t I noticed that? Although there was grim satisfaction, and cool efficiency mixed in, Blue didn’t want to be a murderer again.
I noticed Gusion off to the side. His face was grim. “This is not who you are, Sweetheart. Not deep down. This will forever tarnish your soul.”
I sucked in a shuddering breath. “You saw what he did, look into his future, can you see anything but destruction and ruination there? Because his soul is black. He deserves consequences.”
Gusion gave me a scary smile then. “Oh, there’ll be consequences.”
Maximoff began to laugh. “Maybe the Estonians did more damage than I thought. The bitch is losing it. Who the hell are you talking to, whore?”
I realized the guys were still invisible to the naked eye.
Blue pistol-whipped him in the temple, bu
t he was smirking as he did it. Blue knew who was with us in this plant.
Memphis reappeared in front of Maximoff. He spread his wings wide, and I lost my breath at the sheer beauty of them again.
I could tell the exact moment Memphis appeared to Maximoff, because the color leached from his face and piss trailed down his leg. He struggled on the hook, like a worm that just realized it was about to be swallowed by a barracuda.
I couldn't hear what was being said, but the terror on Maximoff’s face gave me a few clues. Then, Memphis leaned in and pressed a hard kiss to the pale, thin lips of the man who had destroyed my life. The kiss was a promise. A promise of death and pain and torture.
He walked away, heading back to where I was standing, wrapping an arm around my shoulders.
Gusion moved to take Memphis’ place in front of the captive, showing himself. Maximoff was gaping like a fish, his mouth opening and closing soundlessly.
“My God was the old testament kind. An eye for an eye.” He pulled back his fist and nailed Maximoff right in the jaw. I heard the sickening crunch of bones shattering. I watched in fascinated horror as Maximoff gagged up several teeth. “A tooth for a tooth.”
He strode away, a smile on his face. “I love it when I can work something biblical into my vengeance, don't you? Makes me feel like I’m doing my job right.”
I just blinked, staring at him until I felt Memphis pulling me away and wrapping his arms around my waist.
Around his bicep, I could see Blue pointing the gun at Maximoff’s dick. Maximoff started to scream through his broken jaw. Sighing, Blue dropped his gun a little lower. “A knee for a knee. No, that doesn’t work. This is why I don’t do cheesy catchphrases,” he complained, as the high pitch whistle of the silencer echoed around the empty plant and Maximoff's kneecap exploded into minced meat. I gagged at his high pitch wails, then he passed out. Blue picked up his shell and poked the bullet from where it had buried itself in the concrete floor.
“Always good manners to pick up after yourself when you are a guest.” He wiped the bullet on the hanging man’s slacks, and walked over to me, where I was surrounded by Fallen Angels. “I just have to set fire to the Toyota. That should get someone's attention before he bleeds to death. But I could use a ride afterwards?”
Memphis growled, and Gusion put a restraining hand on his chest. “Easy,” he whispered.
“She should never have been here. You put her in danger.”
Blue didn’t flinch under the piercing gaze of Mephistopheles. “She needed to take her life back. Violence begets violence. How’s that for biblical?”
Another murderous growl bubbled up from Memphis’ throat, and before he could do something stupid, like strangle Blue Halloran, he sifted us away and into my apartment. Then he pulled me out of the apartment, into the elevator and through the foyer. He didn’t stop until we walked into a tiny cafe across the street from my apartment building.
“Turn so the camera can see your entire face and smile like I said something humorous,” he whispered in my ear. He sounded anything but humorous in that moment. He sounded pissed. But I did as he asked, turning slowly toward the counter as I smiled broadly.
Memphis leaned toward the awestruck looking girl at the counter. “We’ll have two Reubens on Rye. Extra mustard.”
I was fairly certain that neither of those sandwiches was from me. Actually, I had the distinct impression that I was in big ass trouble. The girl made the sandwiches way too quickly. As she handed over the paper wrapped sandwiches, Memphis leaned close again and nipped my ear in what would have looked affectionate but I knew was pure reproach.
“Now smile and say goodbye to your alibi,” he whispered and then kissed me on the cheek. I gave the girl a genuine smile and walked back toward my apartment.
Well, at least it was only Memphis giving me a lecture. It could have been way, way worse.
If my life had been narrated by Morgan Freeman, this would have been the part where he said, ‘But it was indeed way, way worse.’
A very, very pissed off Luc stood in front of the couch, where I was currently seated and doing my best to look recalcitrant. Blue sat beside me, looking fucking petrified. I kept sneaking looks at him, trying to memorize the expression, because I didn’t think I would ever see it again.
Luc rubbed his temples, and his scary ‘you will rue the very day your ancestors decided to fuck in a cave and create your whole line of Neanderthals’ look on his face. It was a distinct look. It was two parts pissed and one part frustrated.
“You are the last living child of my beloved. Your mother has just put your sister in the ground. You are the only one of us with any purity of soul at all, and you decide to throw all caution to the wind and put yourself in some hare-brained scheme with a fucking Mulligan.” He turned to Blue. “Your whole line has been a giant pain in my ass for half a century. I’m tempted to raze your whole twisted family tree to the ground.”
His dark eyes bore into Blue’s soul like a laser.
I felt like a teenager again, being chastised for staying out late on a date with some kid from senior class. My parents had thought I was dead in a ditch somewhere and I was basically forbidden to date ever again. In all honesty, I’d face Lux’s wrath and Dad’s bewildered disappointment a thousand times over rather than getting chewed out by Lucifer for one more minute.
“Do you know what I was doing when you pulled away my two Princes of Hell?”
Memphis scowled. “Don’t call me that.”
Luc went on as if he hadn’t spoken. “We were torturing your sister’s murderer. Because punishment is my domain, not yours. Their deaths are mine, not yours, despite how slighted you feel. Do you understand me?”
I nodded. Because there was no arguing with him today. “Are you going to tell Ace?” Because Ace was scarier than Luc. Ace would kick my ass. Then she’d tell my Mom. Ugh.
“Yes.”
I winced. “Luc…”
He held up a hand. “Unless you promise not to try and murder a man in cold blood, forever staining your soul black, ever again.”
I crossed my heart. Geez, I really was reverting to a teenager under the weight of his disapproval. But until you’ve stood toe to toe with Lucifer, you couldn’t judge me. It’s not as easy as it sounds.
I tried one more time. “Luc, I know something more is going on here. Something to do with Uriel and the Angels and I want to know what it is. I want to help.”
Luc turned a fiery gaze to Memphis and Gus. “Who told her?”
Gus put his hands in the air, but he didn’t seem perturbed by the look he was being given. “Not me.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Rella told me.”
Luc heaved a sigh. “Stay out of the affairs of Archangels, little girl. Nothing good can come from you poking your nose where it doesn’t belong.” His eyes shot back to his fellow Fallen. “Anything happens to her, it is you who will have to tell Ace. I have seen her heart break enough for one lifetime.”
With that, he disappeared.
Breath whooshed out of Blue, and he started compulsively straightening everything on the coffee table while muttering “Holy shit, holy shit,” over and over again.
Gusion flopped down on the couch beside me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. “That didn’t exactly sound like a no, am I right?”
Memphis shook his head. “Gusion, no.”
Gus pulled me onto his lap, ignoring Memphis’ admonishment. “I was really disappointed in you today. I understand your need to take control of your life, but abducting a man and beating him in the meatpacking district isn't the way to do it.” I thought about pointing out he was the one doing the beating, but decided to let it go. “However, I do have a reasonably low risk thing you can do to help us bring down Uriel, and by extension, the organization he created.”
He leaned in close. “Do you own any latex?”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Blue scowled into the crowd. Then he scowled back at me, a
t my barely there miniskirt and my lace halter bralette, and then back at the room. Actually, he hadn’t stopped scowling since Gusion had made his suggestion.
We stood in the entry of a BDSM dungeon on the lower east side. I’d almost missed it. We’d walked down a back alley, and stood in a dead end. The only door was a heavy metal door with an ‘Employees Only’ sign beneath the numbers ‘1028’.
The club had heavy music with a low, slow beat playing, but it wasn’t unbearably loud. We hadn't made it very far past the coat check and Blue had gotten another look at my outfit.
“So, who gets the paddle, me or you? Or do I finally get to leash Cujo?” I teased.
I couldn't read his emotions in this undulating pool of feeling. It was like drowning in a sea of white noise. It was actually kind of glorious. Pleasure, pain, lust and hatred all twined together to make the club a heady experience for me.
But I could see the desire clouding his eyes, and I knew this place was affecting Blue just as much as me. His hand slid down the bare line of my spine to rest on my ass. “No one leashes me, Princess. Remember your role. Tonight, you are mine.”
Heat flooded me and my heart rate picked up. Tonight I had to give up complete control to Blue. He was in charge of my every move. The idea had me wet between my thighs already and we hadn’t even entered the main area of the club.
When Gusion had suggested I do reconnaissance at a club that was owned and operated by Tenebrae and often frequented by Uriel himself, I wasn't sure who protested louder, Memphis or Blue.
But I was the only being on the planet Uriel couldn’t ‘see’. I could watch in a way Gus or Memphis had been unable to for all this time. I was perfect for this job. I’d put my foot down in a way that I would never do if it had been Luc. But Memphis seemed to want to keep me happy as much as he wanted to bubble wrap me. The weight of his expectations was starting to tug at my nerves, and this whole thing needed to come to a head already so we could work out whether what I felt for him was gratitude or lust or something more.
Hell's Redemption- The Complete Series Boxset Page 74
