Bitter Truths

by Sam Crescent

  “We were considering just leaving you,” Abel said. “It sounded like a hoax to me.”

  “A hoax? A fucking hoax? I’m your damn brother, and you were just going to leave me.” Oliver couldn’t even believe that he was shocked. They were always used to working alone. It’s what their father had made them grow accustomed to. “Today I was dealing with fucking Randal. For all you know I could have been fucking killed.”

  “You wouldn’t have been,” Jacob said. “A woman? That doesn’t seem to be the Coltons’ style. They’re after our loyal soldiers, trying to bring us down with no protection.”

  “Yeah, well, I don’t have a clue who she is,” Oliver said. He didn’t recognize her, and seeing as he’d just experienced the moment with her, he’d never met her before. “Erm, I just want to say that this hot little piece that has just tried to kill me. She’s mine.”

  Jacob and Abel’s eyes went wide.

  “Yours? What do you mean yours?” Gideon asked.

  “The Denton curse has fucking struck. It was like the world faded, and I could do nothing more than simply stare at her.”

  “She’s your woman?” Gideon asked.

  “Yes, no doubt about it.” He’d heard Jacob, Abel, and his own father talk about that moment when they found their woman, and it was exactly the same.

  Gideon bent over and burst out laughing.

  “What the fuck is this?” Oliver asked.

  The woman in his arms felt so damn right, and focusing on his brothers was starting to piss him off.

  “The woman you want has just gone fucking mental on your ass.” Gideon was finding his predicament hilarious, but Oliver didn’t see the humor.

  Seconds passed, and Jacob and Abel joined in on the humor.

  “I don’t have time for this shit. This woman wanted to kill me. She was fucking strong as well. If you’re not going to help me then move out of my way.” Oliver picked her up in his arms, knowing without a doubt the mystery woman was going to be pissed. She’d be out cold for a good hour, maybe a little longer.

  Heading toward the back entrance, Jacob knocked on the door, surprising Oliver with his help.

  “I thought you were too busy cracking up about how fucking funny this is?” Oliver asked.

  “Yeah, well it’s funny that you’ve fallen for a woman who hates you, but at the end of the day, we need to know who she works for, and why she was sent to hurt you.”

  They entered the casino, taking the private elevator toward his father’s floor. She felt so good in his arms. He didn’t want to let her go. Leaning down, he breathed in her scent and closed his eyes. She was sheer perfection. What he didn’t like was how thin she felt. She was all skin and bones. Clearly, she spent a lot of time working out and fighting rather than a lot of time enjoying life. From the way she’d been attacking him, he knew she’d been properly trained, and he didn’t like it. This woman shouldn’t have to worry about attacking men, especially men like him. He was fucking dangerous, and if it hadn’t been for her belonging to him, he’d have killed her.

  “What’s in her bag?” he asked.

  Abel held her purse. “You never go in a woman’s purse.”

  “She has just tried to kill me. Open her purse.”

  He rolled his eyes, and opened it up, whistling. “Girl was packing.” He pulled out a pistol, followed by a small purse. “She has two IDs here.”

  Oliver waited as he saw Abel frown. “What is it?”

  “One here says Ruby Santos, and another says Jewel Nile. Both of them have her face.”

  “One’s fake then,” Oliver said.

  Abel turned toward Jacob. “Santos. I know that name.”

  “You should. Ten years ago the whole family was taken out, killed.”

  “They were our allies?”

  “Yep. Lionel was a close friend of mine. I went hunting for the killers, and it led back to the Coltons at the time. Of course we didn’t know for certain that they were killed by them,” Jacob said. “Everything was a set up back then.”

  “Why don’t I know about this?” Abel asked.

  “There’s no guarantee. We have many enemies. Let’s go see which one she belongs to.”

  “How do we know she’s not stolen Ruby’s identity?” Oliver asked.

  “Because Ruby was missing, and I know for a fact our parents were hunting for her. No one could find her,” Jacob said.

  “And you just stopped?”

  “We couldn’t keep stretching our resources, and we figured she’d been killed, and moved.”

  Oliver gritted his teeth to stop himself from saying anything. It was driving him insane having his woman in his arms, and yet not having a clue what to actually do.

  The elevator doors opened, and he carried her toward his father’s office. Jacob knocked, and seconds later Maddox called for them to enter. He was sitting behind his desk, glasses on, looking over a piece of paper.

  “What the fuck is this?” Maddox asked.

  “This may or may not be Ruby Santos,” Jacob said.

  Maddox grabbed his phone and dialed someone.

  “Charlotte, baby, I need you here.” He hung up.

  Oliver placed her down on the sofa, pushing a pillow under her head.

  “You want to take care of her, don’t you?” Abel asked.

  “Wow, it’s really a curse, isn’t it?” Gideon said.

  “Shut up,” Oliver said. He wasn’t in the mood to deal with this shit. This woman, his woman, had just tried to attack him, and he didn’t have the first clue as to why. He crouched down and stared at her. She was still passed out, and he took his time to notice some bruises on her face and arms.

  “Who do you think did that?” Gideon asked.

  “I think she did. I believe she’s so hell bent on killing me that she trained.”

  “She’s a woman,” his father said.

  Glancing back to look at his father, Oliver rolled his eyes. “It’s the twenty-first century. Women do more than fuck and walk around pregnant.”

  Maddox waved his hand in the air, shaking his head. “In our world, it’s what they do.”

  “Don’t let Lou hear you saying that,” Jacob said, taking a seat.

  “If this is Ruby Santos, then I want to know what she’s been doing for the past ten years. There’s no way a girl just appeared, or she walked out of that chaos I remember seeing,” Maddox said, rubbing the back of his head.

  “You went to the Santos home?” Gideon asked.

  “Of course I did. They were our allies.” Maddox looked down at the woman, and then stood back. “Where’s her ID?”

  Abel handed it over, and Maddox looked it over. “It doesn’t look like a fake, unlike her other.”

  “No, but we couldn’t find her,” Maddox said. “Charlotte was beside herself.”

  “Why don’t I remember her?” Gideon said. “If they were so close to us, we must have mingled, hung out.”

  “You did. Lionel Santos was Jacob’s friend, but you’ve got to remember that Ruby was a little girl, so you weren’t all interested in getting to know her. They would have been the same age. He was much older than Ruby,” Maddox said.

  “Landon may remember her the best. There’s only a few years’ difference between them.” Maddox moved away, leaning against his desk.

  Oliver couldn’t look away.

  “Oh, Dad,” Jacob said. “Guess what?”

  “What?”

  “Oliver found his woman.”

  Oliver rolled his eyes. Seriously, his brothers couldn’t keep shit to themselves.

  “You have?” Maddox asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Who?”

  “You’re staring right at her.”

  “Ruby?”

  “Yep. I almost got my face caved because of it. She was stalking me like some kind of monster, and when I turned around, I was struck dumb by her. She’s so perfect, and beautiful, and I just wanted to kneel before her.” He forced himself to be quiet. The last thing he n
eeded was for his brothers to be on his case for falling in love with a woman.

  What have you been through?

  Maddox’s office door was flung open, and their mother, Charlotte, appeared. “What couldn’t wait that Bruce had to come and get me, leaving Tamsin at home?”

  Oliver knew she hadn’t left their sister alone. Lou and her son, along with Abel’s woman Mavis, were there.

  “Meet Ruby Santos,” Maddox said.

  “What? No. That’s not possible. We couldn’t find her, and we finally believed she had been taken and killed elsewhere.” Charlotte rushed toward the sofa and looked at the woman.

  Oliver found it hard to move away from Ruby. She was so small. Okay, she also had a few muscles as well from working out, but she was still small. Her tits were big though. It made him wonder what she’d look like with softer curves, and without the need to kill him.

  She’d be a looker. There was no denying that.

  Long raven black hair, and green eyes that were absolutely startling to look at. She had flawless pale skin, obviously mottled with bruises at the moment.

  “Is it her?” Maddox asked.

  “Yeah, this is her. It’s like looking at a ghost. Her mother’s ghost, Vivian. She was always a beauty.”

  Maddox sighed. “Now we’ve got a problem.”

  “Why?” Charlotte asked. “She finally came home, and we promised the Santos family that we’d always take care, and love their children if anything was to happen to them.”

  “She attacked me in the alley, and I’d say she’d gladly spit on a Denton, and crush him into the dirt. She’s also mine.”

  Charlotte’s gaze on him went to one of amazement, and then understanding. “Wow.”

  “Yeah, she’s been brainwashed. Believes we killed her family,” Maddox said. “Right now, she’s a problem.”

  “I’ll take care of her. With everyone’s help, we can turn this around.”

  “What are you going to do? Lock her in your basement?” Gideon asked.

  “No, I’m going to lock her in my bedroom. A few chains should keep her stable.” Oliver picked her up. “Any better ideas?”

  No one responded.

  “Then we’re all out of options.”

  “She should come home with me,” Charlotte said.

  “With all due respect, honey, you’re no match for her,” Maddox said. “You nor any of the others have any training to deal with a rogue woman. She’s deadly.”

  “How do you know?” Oliver asked. “You weren’t there.”

  “Son, she took you by surprise. Believe me, I know how good you are to know that catching you by surprise takes a hell of a lot of force to do. This woman, she’s deadly. Not necessarily strong, but she’s after revenge. That’s not a good combination in a woman.” Maddox looked at Charlotte, who was blushing.

  “Know a lot about that, do you, Dad?” Jacob asked, smirking.

  “I do actually. Your mother on one of her many bad days, decided her foot and my balls should become acquainted. I’ve come to see her foot as deadly.”

  “I was a lot younger then. Stupid.”

  “You were right to do what you did, and don’t ever forget it. We’ve come a long way since then.” Maddox wrapped his arms around her. “We’re going to need to work on proof to prove to her that we had nothing to do with her family’s death.”

  “That mixed with the Colton problem, it’s going to be tough.”

  Oliver sighed. “I’ll focus on her. You may have to give Landon some work when he gets home.”

  “He’s eighteen, just graduated school, and according to Rick, he wants to stay in England,” Charlotte said.

  “He’s still a Denton. He must pay his way just like we all had to,” Gideon said.

  “College could be in his future,” Charlotte said. “I’d like at least one of you to go to college.”

  “Then let Tamsin do it,” Jacob said. “She’s a girl. It’s not like she’s going to be part of us, part of this world. It’s too dangerous.”

  “Be careful there. Tamsin is a deadly force. She’s young, but she’ll still kick your ass,” Abel said. “She wants to join the family business.”

  Charlotte sighed. “You boys encourage her too much, and we all know none of you are going to be able to focus while you worry about your sister. I worry about you boys all the time.”

  “So sorry you didn’t have a princess,” Jacob said. “Wait, we can force Landon to wear a dress, and ta-da, your princess.”

  “Stop being cruel. I’ve already spoken to your father about Landon, and you’ll support your brother if he wants to go away to college.”

  Oliver rolled his eyes. Of course they’d support their brother, and of course they’d tease the fucking hell out of him. The next couple of days were going to be pretty interesting.

  ****

  Ouch!

  Everything hurt.

  Ruby opened her eyes, and then closed them as it was too bright. What the hell? What happened?”

  She rubbed at her eyes, and the sound of clinking metal filled the air, echoing through the room. Opening her eyes, she held up her hand to find a metal cuff secured around her wrist. What the fuck!

  All of the memories for the past twenty-four hours rushed through her mind.

  “It looks pretty, doesn’t it?” Oliver asked.

  She turned toward the sound to find the guy she attacked sat with one leg crossed over the other. “What the hell is this?” she asked.

  “This is what happens when you attack a Denton, and fail.” He got to his feet and lowered the light. “Does that feel better?”

  “Fuck you!”

  He turned the light to bright, and she groaned.

  Seconds later the light was turned back down, and she could blink without it hurting. “There’s no need for horrible bad language.”

  “What does it matter? Why don’t you kill me?”

  “Because you’re a Santos, and the last I checked, Dentons don’t kill you.”

  She frowned. “Is this some kind of joke?”

  “Nope.”

  “You killed my family.”

  “Nope.”

  “You’re lying.”

  “Nope. You know, if we were in a game show, right now, you’d be losing.” He moved back toward the chair, and she couldn’t look away. Instead, she glared at him.

  She tugged on the chains, and couldn’t believe that she had been captured by a damn Denton. Her neck hurt, and she knelt on the bed, trying to tug on the chains.

  “It won’t help.”

  “You expect to keep me here? Why don’t you just kill me now, and be done with it?” she asked. The last thing she wanted to be was anywhere near her enemies. The Dentons had taken everything from her.

  “I won’t kill you.”

  “What? You’re going to lie to me and tell me you don’t kill women now?” She all but growled each word out.

  “Nope. I’ve killed women, and I’ve done it with a smile on my face.”

  She glared at him. “I don’t want anything to do with you.”

  “We never killed Lionel.”

  Ruby froze. “Don’t you dare say his name.”

  “It’s the truth.”

  “No! Enough.”

  “Did you see any of us there that night, Ruby? Lionel was my brother’s friend.”

  “Enough.” She turned toward him. There had to be some way to shut him the hell up. “I’m going to kill you.”

  The door to the room opened, and she watched as one by one, the Denton men entered the room. Landon was the only one missing.

  “What? To kill me it has to be a family event, I’m charmed.”

  “A family event?” Maddox asked. “You think we’re going to kill you?”

  “Why not? You’ve killed my entire family.”

  Maddox grabbed a chair and dragged it over to her. “I take it you’re aware who we all are?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good. We won’t get stuck on the in
troductions.” Maddox sat back, staring at her. This was the last thing she thought he’d do.

  “You planning on boring me to death?”

  “Not at all.” He sighed. “We didn’t kill your family.”

  She snorted. “Try telling me something else.”

  “You’re an annoying girl.”

  Glaring at the man in front of her, she wondered what the hell his game was.

  “Your mission was to kill one of us at a time. Would you come after my wife? My daughter?”

  “Only if they got in my way.”

  “We looked for you,” Maddox said.

  “Yeah, wanted to kill of the last of the Santos.”

  “Wow, this woman is determined to twist words around,” Gideon said.

  “I know the truth,” she said.

  “You know nothing,” Maddox said.

  The door to the room opened, and Charlotte walked inside. “Hello, Ruby.”

  Ruby frowned as she looked at Charlotte. She did remember her, vaguely. Actually, she remembered Charlotte a lot. As Charlotte took a seat beside her, Ruby saw Maddox tense.

  “Charlotte—”

  “When you deal with your men, I don’t interfere. Ruby is not one of your men. I’m going to talk to her.”

  Charlotte smelled like cupcakes and cinnamon. The scent struck a memory, and it shook Ruby to the core.

  “You remember me?” Charlotte asked.

  At that moment Ruby was being swamped by all sorts of different memories, and it was destroying her. Moving away from Charlotte, Ruby curled her legs against her, hugging them to her body. “I don’t want to deal with this,” she said.

  “Sweetie, we didn’t kill your family.”

  “They mentioned you. I heard them.”

  Charlotte cleared her throat, and Ruby looked toward her. In her lap was a file. “We tried to look for you, sweetie. When we found out that your parents had been killed, we tried to find you, not to hurt you, to take care of you. To love you.” She handed over the file. “We’re going to leave you alone for a little while, and I want you to look through, and understand what we tried to do for you.” Charlotte stood and herded all of the men out, including Oliver.

  “Why shouldn’t I just tear this up?”

  “You can. Of course you can, but then you’ll never know the real truth of what happened.”

  Ruby watched as they all left the room, leaving her alone with her thoughts. She was close to tears, and she didn’t understand it. Closing her eyes, she took several deep breaths.