by Vanessa Skye
Berg clenched her fists.
Jay turned back to her, wincing when his eyes connected with hers. “Is that true? What are you doing here? Leave! Right fucking now, Berg!”
Before Berg could explain, Alexander calmly answered for her. “She’s offered herself up so you can go free. Isn’t that lovely?”
Somehow, Jay’s already washed-out, gaunt-looking face whitened even further.
“Why don’t you tell her why that won’t be happening?” Alexander chuckled softly.
Berg took another small step in Jay’s direction.
Are those tears?
“I can’t leave, Berg,” Jay whispered. He looked back at Alexander. “Let her go, please. We’re moving the location of operations and storage anyway. She’s not going to be able to tell anyone anything.”
“What?” Berg argued. “No! You have to go. Your mom’s sick, Jay. You need to go to her!”
Jay gulped, his Adam’s apple bobbing as she watched him fight his emotions. “Mom’s sick?”
“Yes. Go!” Berg urged, pointing to the door.
Glancing first at Alexander then back at Berg, Jay looked resigned as his head dropped. “I . . . can’t.”
“I’ll be happy to fly the best doctors money can buy to your mother’s bedside today. Just say the word. As you know, I reward loyalty.” Alexander’s smile faded and his stare hardened, those oh-so-familiar eyes turning to black stones. “But I also punish disobedience . . . severely.”
Jay looked at Berg and shook his head slowly.
Berg let her tears fall, unashamed, and whispered, “Why? What could possibly make you want to stay here . . . with him?”
Alexander moved to Jay’s side, and Berg saw that he was about the same height as Jay’s six foot two but less built, even in Jay’s gaunt state.
“Because, my dear, my second daughter is giving him what you couldn’t.” He waved. “Ah, here she is now.”
Berg turned and looked . . . into her own face.
There were some subtle differences, of course, with the woman she assumed was her half sister, but the similarities were uncanny. She had the same dark eyes, the same heavy, arched brows, and high cheekbones. Berg was suddenly struck at how beautiful her own face was on someone else. Niah was stunning—slightly shorter than Berg, with shorter hair, and much curvier in the body.
It hit Berg like a slap to her face exactly what the difference was. Her sister’s belly was grotesquely swollen.
She’s—it can’t be.
Berg gaped at the obviously pregnant stomach as Niah moved to Jay’s other side and he put his arm around her shoulders protectively, pulling her close.
Alexander clapped his hands once. “Now you see, my dear, why Jay is reticent to take you up on your kind, selfless offer. He can hardly leave his child. You know him well enough to know that.”
Berg felt her legs tremble, but she managed to remain standing by grabbing the marble countertop, not wanting to give the bastard the satisfaction of seeing her crumble. She pulled her gaze away from her sister and focused on Jay. She knew the answer without asking, but she couldn’t seem to stop the question from tumbling past her lips. “Yours?”
Jay looked at her, stricken. “It was a setup. The whole operation was a setup. I was ordered to get close to Niah,” he said, looking at her. “But she had orders, too. Get close to me . . . and . . .”
“Get pregnant.” Alexander looked almost gleeful as he grinned and rubbed his hands together. “I knew if we gave him the child you couldn’t, he’d be ours. All the information we needed, right at our fingertips. Pissing you off was a bonus. You should have accepted my olive branch when it was offered.”
Berg shook her head and struggled to find her next breath. “But how did you—”
“Know you were trying to get pregnant? Negative pregnancy tests in your trash. I learned everything I could before I approached you. Pity you didn’t do the same. You may look like me, dear, but you clearly got your mother’s brains.”
How could I have been so stupid? So cocky? So completely wrong?
She discreetly looked at her watch. She had twenty minutes, tops, before SWAT came in, guns blazing, and no idea how she was going to get Jay out. Alexander was right. He would never willingly leave his child.
Alexander smiled an evil smile that didn’t touch his eyes. “And now, thanks to your arrival, you’ve given me the perfect ammunition to use against you, darling,” he sneered. “I’ll be keeping you and Jay, and if you don’t want me to gut him in front of you, you’ll tell me everything I want to know, without argument.”
“Just kill me now and get it over with,” Berg whispered.
“I would, but you see my partner would be upset. Despite the fact that you made him lose his job, he still has his uses, so I have to go along with him . . . for now. He seems quite . . . enamored with you. You’re his property now.”
“No!” Jay spat at Alexander. “You swore you’d keep him away from her!”
Alexander snorted and shook his head. “That ship has sailed, Jay. And as you already understand from personal experience, I can’t control what this stupid bitch does.” He turned back to Berg. “You’ll have to forgive him. Unfortunately, he’s seen the state the hookers leave here in, and he doesn’t know you’ve voluntarily signed up for Oliver’s particular brand of kink before.”
Jay grimaced. “You’ve . . .” He couldn’t even finish the sentence.
“It’s so wonderful having my two whores under my roof for the first time. Together like a happy family.” He laughed coldly. “Take my firstborn to Oliver’s room, will you?”
Goon five moved for the first time since Berg had entered the room.
“Prepare her for him.”
Jay clenched his fists and noticeably braced himself before looking at Niah’s belly then back at Berg, clearly torn.
Alexander laughed again.
Berg shook her head once at Jay, warning him.
The guard clamped his hand around Berg’s neck and steered her from the room, pushing her up the sweeping staircase and down the corridor. He opened the heavy wooden door and shoved her inside a richly furnished bedroom. The setup was almost an exact replica of the basement she had left Oliver in not so long ago. The one exception was the lavish four-poster, canopied bed standing alongside the torture equipment.
The goon pushed her toward the bed, and Berg saw the heavy leather restraints attached to each post. Twisting out of his grasp, she turned and kicked him in the stomach and followed it up with a punch to the jaw, but the guard merely grunted, slapping her away as if she were nothing more irritating than a mosquito.
He picked her up with one arm and walked her over to the bed, holding her down as he shackled her wrists and ankles to the bed surprisingly quickly. “Wait here.”
Like I have a choice.
He shut the door behind him, and Berg heard the tumbler click into place.
She struggled against the restraints, wishing she could reach the knife still stashed in her boot, but the straps were on so tight her fingers and toes were already tingling from lack of blood. She tried to focus and figure a way out, knowing Cheney and SWAT would arrive in about fifteen minutes, at which point they were all dead.
Sweat broke out on her upper lip as she heard the lock being manipulated. Expecting Oliver, Berg couldn’t hide her surprise when her sister waddled in.
“You don’t have much time,” Niah whispered, immediately working on Berg’s wrist shackles. “Father’s watching Jay like a hawk, but he doesn’t consider me a threat.”
With one wrist freed, Berg worked on the other while Niah moved to her ankles.
“Why are you doing this?” Berg asked.
“Jay loves you,” Niah whispered. “Maybe if I help you get out of here, one day he might love me, too.”
“Wait. You love Jay?” Berg said, incredulous. “Then why did you trap him?”
“Father said I had to do this one thing, and he’d finally let me go. I
didn’t think I’d fall in love with Jay, and now neither of us knows how to get out. I’m staying because of Jay, and Jay’s staying because of our child . . . and you.”
Berg frowned. “Me?”
“If he and I leave, Father said he’d kill you. Where would we go anyway? He’ll find us. Plus, Jay’s family is vulnerable, which is something he reminds us of daily.”
“You want to get away from Alexander?” Berg stood and rubbed her wrists.
“So much. But every time I move, he finds me. I’ve tried so many times . . . he won’t let me go.” She looked at Berg with her sad eyes, eyes so like her own.
“Listen, we don’t have time. SWAT will be here any moment.” Berg grabbed her sister’s hands, desperate to save the woman and her unborn child. “You need to find Jay and get the fuck out of here before the bullets start fly—”
The heavy door opened again, and this time Oliver strode inside, closing it behind him. His face was a mess, swollen and smeared with the blood still seeping from his nose and two black eyes in the process of blooming. “A reunion? My deepest fantasy come to life,” he said with a smile, looking between Berg and Niah.
Berg made a move toward him.
“Don’t even think about it.” He pointed a handgun at her. “Get back on the bed.”
Berg raised her hands and backed toward the bed. “Get out of here, Niah, and remember what I said.”
“Wait,” Oliver said, looking at Niah. “To say I’m disappointed to find you in here would be an understatement. It goes without saying what David would do to Jay if he knew about this.”
Niah paled.
“I won’t tell him, but once you have that child out of you, you and I are going to get better acquainted, right here in the room, and you will do whatever I want. Perhaps there will also be some sisterly affection?”
Berg saw Oliver’s erection growing in his pants and swallowed repeatedly to stop the vomit from rising.
Niah, now white, visibly shuddered before nodding and leaving the room as quickly as she could.
Oliver walked toward Berg, the gun still pointed at her.
Berg sat on the edge of the bed, folding one of her legs casually in front of her.
“I can’t tell you how pleased I am that you are finally here, Alicia,” Oliver said. “I’ve been waiting for this day for so many long months.”
“I’m happy, too,” Berg whispered, looking up at him through her lashes.
Oliver beamed, his voice going up an octave as his delusional excitement gave him away. “You are?”
“Of course,” Berg said, smiling in return. “I don’t know about you, but our session this afternoon left me strangely . . . unsatisfied.”
“Oh, darling, me, too,” he said with a sigh. “Of course, you ruined my career with your tantrum, and you’ll have to be punished for that. I had to lose a CPD tail just to get here. Alexander won’t be pleased the dealers I’ve been sending his way are no longer as accessible, and the blackmail of several key players are no longer a possibility . . .”
Berg nodded. “Of course. You’ve been letting off the dealers with suspended sentences and then recruiting them to work for Alexander, killing them if they say no. Brilliant.”
He took a little bow. “Thank you. It was my idea.” He grinned proudly, his chest puffing out. “But you will have to be punished, I’m afraid. I’ll try not to leave too many permanent marks on that beautiful, pale skin of yours.”
Berg dropped her gaze and softened her voice, making herself look meek. “I understand. You were right about my feelings all along.”
Oliver let the gun drop, stroking her face with his other hand. “Beautiful,” he murmured.
“Do you remember what I said would happen if you ever came near me again?” Berg put her hand over his gently.
Oliver shrugged. “That’s all behind us now.” He pulled her closer for a kiss.
Berg smiled. “You should have listened.” She pulled the knife from her boot and caught Oliver in the throat. Blood arced at least six feet from his severed right carotid artery and hit the fancy wallpaper as she kicked him away in an effort to dodge the spray.
He twitched as he bled out on the deep pile carpet then lay still. It only took seconds, but his eyes never left hers as the evil life in them finally flickered out.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Berg opened the door a crack and checked for movement. Seeing none, she slipped out the door, closing it behind her softly. Hopefully everyone assumed Oliver was working her over and no one would come looking for him in the next ten minutes.
She placed the knife back in her boot and wiped as much blood off her hands as she could so her grip wouldn’t be slippery. She held Oliver’s gun in front of her and advanced slowly down the corridor, clearing the rooms as she went.
She nudged open a door, and her heart constricted painfully as she saw male and female clothes carelessly strewn on the floor and an unmade king-sized bed. Judging by the mess she knew only too well, she was certain she’d found Jay and Niah’s room.
Her hands shook as she saw the twisted sheets and the indentations on the two soft pillows. Stifling a sob, she started backing out of the room when a strong hand covered her mouth, another hand making a grab for the gun. She bit down and tasted blood. She was shoved inside the room at the same time she heard Jay’s voice.
“Fuck!” he whispered furiously, nursing his hand. “It’s just me.” He closed the door. He looked her over, his eyes widening as he saw her bloody hands, and rushed toward her. “Where are you hurt?”
Berg wiggled out of his grasp. “I’m not hurt. It’s not my blood!”
“Whose is it?”
“Oliver’s,” she muttered grimly.
“Dead?”
“Quite.” She braced herself for his inevitable disapproval.
Instead, Jay simply nodded.
Berg couldn’t stop her jaw from dropping. Apart from being thinner and grayer, this Jay was also . . . darker. Gone was his easygoing nature, his belief in people. The soul behind those blue eyes was now damaged. She recognized it instantly, and the words from his note played through her head, leaving her with nothing but questions.
Does he understand my need for justice no matter what? Can he?
“I . . .” Jay ran his gaze over her face and body, and his head tilted as he studied her. “You need to eat something.”
“Likewise.” All she wanted was to pull him to her and make good use of the nearby bed. “We don’t have time,” she muttered, as much to herself as to him. “SWAT will be here at any moment.”
“You’re with the task force?” he asked, sounding surprised. “But—”
Berg shook her head. “I’m not even with the CPD anymore.”
His eyebrows shot up.
“Seriously, any second, doors will be being kicked down!”
“I’ve got to get Niah out of here,” Jay said. “She’s with . . . him. He says they’re hanging out together, but he’s keeping her close so I don’t do anything stupid. He doesn’t know me very well if he thinks I’d leave you to . . . Oliver.” He spat the name and sneered.
Berg nodded. “They don’t know I’ve escaped. Go downstairs, get her, and try to make your way to an ex—”
Jay cocked one eyebrow in a high arch, and Berg caught a glimpse of the man she once knew so well.
“I know the drill, Berg. What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to find Alexander—”
“He won’t serve a single day for what he’s done,” Jay whispered furiously. He stalked into the massive bathroom he shared with her sister, and she heard a cabinet door open. He came out holding a gun. “He gets everyone else to do his dirty work, me included. He’s going to walk away clean, and I’ll be the one who ends up doing time. The things I’ve seen and done . . .” Jay stuffed the gun in his waistband near the center of his back and pulled his shirt over the top.
“I didn’t say anything about taking him into custody,” Ber
g said. “The only way he’s leaving this house is in a body bag.”
He almost smiled, but his lips trembled as tears gathered in his eyes instead. “God, I’ve missed you.” Jay gave her a long look before he opened the bedroom door and slipped out.
Berg waited a few moments before easing out of the bedroom herself. Jay was gone, presumably to get Niah. She had no idea how long before SWAT arrived, but it couldn’t be more than a few minutes at most.
She heard voices on the stairs and ducked into another unoccupied bedroom as Jay spoke loudly to someone, clearly hoping to warn her they were coming. She left the door ajar and eventually heard heavy footsteps coming toward her.
When the steady thuds were nearly at the door she hid behind, she stepped out, gun raised. “Get inside and don’t make a sound.”
Goon two sighed, moving slowly into the room, his hands raised. “You shoot me and everyone will come running.”
“You’ll still be dead.”
He scowled but remained silent.
“On your knees.”
He did as she asked, his hands still raised.
She moved behind him and shifted her grip on the gun, bringing the heavy butt down on the back of his skull with all her strength. She heard a crack, and he slumped to the ground. She fished out a plastic cable tie from her pocket and secured his hands behind his back tightly and then did the same with his feet.
One down, four to go.
She crept down the corridor and looked over the ledge, checking for more goons. There were none, and she quietly slipped to the lower level, her gun pointing out in front of her.
The house was quiet—too quiet.
Where are the guards?
She risked a peek out a window but saw no police, no SWAT vans, nothing. She silently padded through the entry alcove toward the back of the house, clearing each living area as she went.
Nothing.
She heard Alexander yell and Niah yelp.
“Give me the gun, now!”
She rushed into the kitchen in time to see Jay kicking his gun to Alexander, his hands raised. Alexander had one hand around Niah’s throat, a gun at her temple.
“Drop it,” Berg said to Alexander.
