He holds up his hand to tell me to shut up while he opens his briefcase. “I know all about your Gabriella. Officer Howard and I have been in communication. I have all the pictures, testimony, and everything.”
“You know Officer Howard?”
“Ah, yeah, he and I go way back. I owe him some money actually.” Zeke waves his fingers at me, the ones that hold the cigarette. “I fucking don’t like owing people money.” He runs fingers through his hair and inhales the smoke, blowing the fog from his nostrils. “This is a problem, Sebastian. A big problem. You have a record. How do we know this guy, Kenny—”
“Kendrick,” I correct him.
“Yeah, that’s what I said. Kenny. Hell, where was I going with that thought? Eh, must not have been that important.”
It doesn’t seem like it, but Zeke is one of the best lawyers in the world. His record is spotless. He only had winning cases. He has never lost one.
Some of it has to do with getting his hands dirty, but that is life— getting your hands filthy until you see the outcome needed.
“Your bail is already posted. We can go home.”
“Go home? I don’t want to go home, Zeke. I want to find Gabriella.”
“And how do you expect to do that? You can’t do that here. Officer Howard has information for us that could help. Ya got to stop taking on so much by yourself. We can find her together. Between me and Officer Howard and your fucking computer skills, we are going to rescue her in no time. Okay? We are going to get out of here. I’m going to get all charges dropped. They don’t have enough on you, especially with all this information on Kendrick. I’ll say I got it, not Officer Howard. He’ll owe me one for protecting his dirty cop hands.”
“He isn’t dirty.”
“Sebastian…” Zeke chuckles as he stuffs the papers in the briefcase. “Everyone has a little filth on them. If they don’t, they are lyin’ to ya.” He locks the gold snaps in place and stands. “Okay, let’s go. We don’t want to wait. Kenny might be doing something to your girl if we don’t get a move on, right? Whew, those pictures were rough. Poor thing. If I were you, I’d let her have some revenge, you know? Once you get your brother in the right position.”
“Are you threatening someone?” The cop who let me out of my cell places his hand on Zeke’s chest.
Zeke glances down, then looks at me, then down again, and he laughs, smoke puffing out of his mouth. “Can you believe this guy? I can’t believe this guy, Sebastian.” Zeke inhales on his cigarette and blows the smoke in the cop’s face, then he flicks the butt on the ground, smashing it with his Italian leather shoes. “If you don’t get your fucking hands off me, the threat is going to be directed toward you and this small town, back wood, county jail, and I will fucking crush you. Don’t. Fuck. With. Me.” Zeke plows through the cop and a few other officers sit behind their desks, afraid of my lawyer’s remark.
Everyone knows Zeke. Everyone also knows the lengths he’ll go when it comes to his word.
When we get outside, we climb into his Porsche and make our way back to the Cliff House.
All I can think about is Gabriella.
“I saw the footage of you being dumped at that department, ya know. It was Kenny who did it. It must have been one of his goons. I got the name in my briefcase and some information you’re going to find goddamn riveting. I think I know what they want to do with Gabriella. Before we smash that out, I need a drink to tell you. I’m going to sound loony.”
“You realize all your jabbering makes you sound that way, right?”
“Hey, my mouth is what got you out of that place. Ah, shit, that didn’t sound right either. Sounded like I sucked a bunch of dicks. I didn’t,” he clarifies. “I haven’t done that since college. I don’t know how women do it. I ain’t complaining. I love me a woman who can suck a cock, ya know?”
“Jesus Christ. I didn’t need to know that, Zeke.” I rub my eyes and lean my head against the window and think about the last time I was with Gabriella. I had gotten us lost. So damn lost. I threw my phone out of anger and that is the last thing I remember.
“Oh, you getting all soft on me? Okay, won’t talk about that anymore. Why do you guys live in this town? It’s small. Where do you go to get laid? Ya know what, don’t answer that.”
I rub my temples as a headache starts to form. Zeke is a great guy, good attorney, but Jesus, he is one of those people who has to talk to fill the silence. It drives me nuts. I only want to focus on getting Gabriella. That is the most important thing to me right now.
And I am currently out on bail, for another fucking crime I didn’t commit. I really hate my brother, and I can’t wait to see him dead.
“Back in New York, it’s as easy as me hiring a guy, and boom, my problem is solved, ya know? Fish gotta eat too. Why don’t you just hire someone.”
“We are the hired someone’s, Zeke. You know this.”
“Eh, not really. You aren’t hired hitmen. I tell ya, that’s what you fucking need. You need a guy who isn’t afraid to go back to prison. I can make a few calls. Kendrick wouldn’t be an issue anymore. Feed him to the sharks or some shit. Whatever you people have out here.”
I want to laugh at the way he says sharks, but I keep my mouth shut. The one thing I know is to not fuck with Zeke. He is a dangerous man. The mouth might go nonstop, but that is only because his mind is going a million miles an hour. He is always thinking, always plotting, always planning a kill.
I don’t have to tell him where to go as we drive. He has been to the Cliff House before. It has been a few years. Probably since Jaxon got out. It isn’t too often that we need his help anymore, but it is a good thing Jaxon keeps Zeke on the payroll. I’d be fucked right now.
His Porsche turns onto the road that leads to the house, and as we get closer, I see everyone outside waiting for me, including Julia, the new housekeeper.
“Hey, who is the blonde babe? Damn,” Zeke whistles.
“That is Jaxon’s pregnant wife.”
“I can be down with that if he is,” Zeke jokes.
I think he is…
It’s another thing I'm not going to press.
“Sebastian! Thank God, are you okay?” Quinn runs up to me when I get out of the car and hug me tight.
“My head is killing me. Owen, I need two pain relievers. Kendrick hit me over the head.”
“No problem, man. I’m glad to see you’re okay.” Owen pulls me into a hug and slaps my back. Heaven does the same, and Grayson shakes my hand.
It’s good to see everyone.
“I found a location on Kendrick,” Grayson says. “We have a lot to talk about inside.”
“Ya, we do. I got some information on him and his little group of wackos. Kind like you guys, but you guys aren’t all that coo-coo,” Zeke swirls his finger next to his head and bends down to grab his briefcase out of the car. “Stop staring at my ass, Quinn. Actually don’t. If you want, you can touch it. I do lots of squats. Fucking bounce a quarter off these buns. Go ahead. I dare ya.” He shuts the door to his Porsche once he has his briefcase and winks at her before going inside.
Quinn looks perplexed, and Jaxon, instead of getting mad, just laughs and guides her toward the house. I hoped he explained Zeke’s ways to her.
Once we are inside, we all go to the living room, and Zeke grabs a beer out of the fridge before joining us. Owen gives me some painkillers and I toss them in my mouth and chew them instead of swallowing them so they can get into my bloodstream quicker. They taste awful. I steal Zeke’s beer and wash the medication down.
I hand it back to him but, Zeke stares at the bottle like it will give him leprosy. “I don’t fucking want it now. It has your germs all over it.” Zeke goes to the kitchen and grabs another. I stare at all the guys, and all of them are rubbing their heads.
Quinn looks amused. She would be. For now.
“Okay,” Zeke says, plopping down on the floor. He opens his briefcase again and chugs his beers. There are a few naked pictures of a w
oman suddenly, and I turn my head away, but Heaven looks over Zeke’s shoulder to get a better look. “Ya like that? Yeah, that’s Ms. South America. She had…”
“Zeke. To the point. I don’t want to waste another minute or I’ll go after Gabriella myself. Every second she is with him, is a second I can’t get back. Fucking show me the proof you have before I throw you over the damn cliff myself.” I am seething at this point. There is a time and place for joking, and this is not it. Gabriella’s life is in danger, and the least he can do is acted like he cares. Instead, he is flashing a piece of ass around, a woman he probably doesn’t care shit about.
I love Gabriella, and that comes first over some chick he’s banging on the side.
“Right. You’re right. I’m sorry. I apologize. You know me. I get sidetracked. No harm.” Zeke carries on and on before he takes out the file that has Gabriella’s name on it. “Okay, this is what we know. Kendrick is an abuser.” Zeke lays out all of the pictures Officer Howard took the other day, and Quinn gasps, burying her face in Jaxon’s shoulder. “Yeah, it ain’t real easy to look at, is it, sunshine? I know. Poor girl.” Zeke continues to lay out photos until the pictures change from Gabriella to men I don’t recognize. Then he lays my brother’s pictures out, the one mugshot he from when he was sixteen.
Zeke stands and guzzles his beer. “Okay, this is what I’ve come to know. Your brother, he isn’t as indiscrete as you think. He just runs with a different crowd of people. People that no one takes seriously. These three men?” He points to the guys I don’t recognize. “The blond? He’s dead. Butcher knife to the chest. Officer Howard informed me they found the body on the side of the road, in pieces. Anyway, I hear your girl killed that guy. Good for her. I love a tough broad. Anyway, these other two? They have been in and out of mental health facilities since they were teenagers. Their parents said they practiced dark magic, witchcraft. These fuckers think they are wizards. This isn’t Harry fucking Potter, you know? This is the real world. Anyway…” Zeke waves his comment away since it doesn’t matter.
“Kendrick, here. I dug some dirt up on your brother. Whew, he is not a good guy. He owes money to the wrong people. He stopped kidnapping and killing women around the time he met Gabriella, hold the phone, not because he loved her, but because he truly believes she is … what’s the word?” He pats his head. “Some chosen one that will give him and his people inhuman strength and power. It’s some witchy thing. The blood of a virgin and something to do with heritage.”
“But she isn’t a virgin anymore,” I say, thinking back to the first night we had sex.
Zeke points at me then punches the air a few times. “Atta boy.”
“Zeke,” Jaxon and Grayson groan.
“Sorry. Okay, according to this ritual I found online—”
“Online?” I say, exasperated.
“You try searching for rituals that need blood of a virgin who are Mediterranean and see how hard it is, okay? This shit is crazy. Only insane people do this.
“For ritual it is said it takes seven years for the chosen one to be broken and truly enslaved to their master. Once they are, the…” Zeke clears his throat. “I can’t believe I’m about to say this.” He takes a deep breath. “The coven watches as the master takes his slave in front of everyone, making her bleed her virginity onto a bed. Once that happens, the coven takes their turn, and then they will slit her throat, bathing themselves in the purity of her blood they claim as their own, hoping it will give them unlimited power.”
No one says a word because we don’t believe it. It is too crazy. I knew my brother was insane, but I thought it was just about control, not some end goal.
“You’re serious?”
Zeke drinks his beer and turns to look at me. “I mean, it’s the best lead I have. A crazy, unheard of lead. This was lucky. When I asked for the tape from the department and ran facial recognition on the guy who dumped you, I started connecting the dots. If this isn’t it, then, Sebastian, I’m sorry; I don’t know why they want her.”
“Say this crazy shit is true,” Grayson says as he plays with the fur of his beard. “When does it happen?”
“It has to happen on a harvest moon. Harvest because, you know, they are ’harvesting’ her.”
“That’s so disturbing. I think… I think I’m going to be sick.” Quinn bolts up from the couch and runs down the hall to the bathroom.
“Was it something I said?” Zeke asks with his arms spread out.
“You’re sure about this? Even for my brother, this sounds insane. I don’t remember him believing in shit like this.”
“It isn’t real, Sebastian. Your brother is disturbed. He found people who think like him, and somehow he convinced them that this is essential. Your brother needs psychiatric help,” Zeke says.
“A bullet through the brain ought to do it,” I growl.
“Ah, the best type of medicine. Murder. I love it,” Zeke says. “So, Grayson, you said you have a location? Let’s go. Let’s ruin their party.”
“Wait. Hold on. If he found us hiking, then he has to know she isn’t a virgin anymore. His plan is ruined,” I realize. “He doesn’t need her anymore.”
Zeke tsks. “I’m disappointed. I thought you knew better than that.” He reaches over and pats my cheek. “He isn’t going to risk looking like a fool. No one will know she isn’t a virgin except him, and he has to be the one to take her the first time. He’ll risk killing her if it means keeping his authority with his crazy group of people.”
Just when I thought this situation couldn’t get any worse, Zeke drops this bomb on me. My brother thinks he is a magician, a fucking wizard, wiccan? I don’t know what they call it. What I do know is it is dangerous, wrong, and it includes hurting people. Not just anyone, but Gabriella.
“The harvest moon is tomorrow, guys,” Heaven says, waving his phone in the air. “Whatever plan we have, we better think of it quick, or she’s about to be sacrificed.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
GABRIELLA
I can’t move.
My back is killing me.
Kendrick had thrown me in the dark room, whipped me, and let me stay there all night. I didn’t give him the pleasure of hearing me scream. He didn’t deserve any more of my cries or pleas for him to stop because he’ll never stop. Not until I am dead.
The heavy metal door opens to the dark room, pouring in a massive amount of sunlight. I wince, looking away from the doorway.
“You learned your lesson, my sweet?”
I don’t speak to him. I continue to breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth to try to make the pain go away.
“Tonight is the night. After so many years of waiting, I think you’re ready. I think you’ve learned your lesson. You’ll see. You were destined for this, pet. I knew it the moment I laid eyes on you. Today, you will be pampered like the gift you are, and tonight, you are going to be the reason why our lives are going to change.” He walks forward and picks me up, swinging me over his shoulder so his hands don’t touch my wounds.
I haven't asked what he has in store for me. I always thought it was just ownership, but there is something bigger at play here.
“You have no idea the gift you’re going to bring us, do you? I’m going to miss you, but I can’t keep you for my own selfish desires. No matter how much I’ve grown to love you, my sweet.”
We walk up the stairs from the basement and enter the main floor where the kitchen is. He continues to walk toward the staircase that leads up to the master bedroom, and that is when I lift my head and see all the food prepared and a few men watching me with hungry eyes. They are in black robes with golden ties wrapped around their waists.
None of this makes sense to me.
It hurts too much to keep my head up, so I lay my cheek down against his shoulder as Kendrick carries me upstairs. When he kicks open the door, I smell the fragrance of lavender bubble bath and the heat coming from the bathroom. The bathtub is being filled up, and when he places
me in the water, I cry out as the gashes on my back sting.
“Oh, shhh, it’s okay. You’re okay. This is going to feel good, my sweet. I’m sorry for hurting you last night, but you had to be punished for your indiscretions. Tell me,” he says, gripping the back of my hair and darting his eyes between mine. “Are you still a virgin? Did you spread your legs for my lowlife brother?”
I have a feeling if I say yes, he’ll kill me now and get me out of the way. So I nod. “Yes, Kendrick, I’m still a virgin.” I wince when I find myself falling back into my old routine. I have to survive as long as I can. If there is any chance of me getting out of here, I have to lie. I’ll lie my way through Hell if it means getting a chance to get to Heaven.
He sighs, shoulders sagging in relief. “That’s good, pet.” He grabs a bowl of pink rose petals and tosses them in the bath, then he pours me a glass of champagne and pushes a chunk of cheese into my mouth. “I was so worried you’d disobey me, but you knew, didn’t you?” He gently caresses my cheek. “You knew you were meant for something more.”
I keep my lips sealed as he feeds me. I am starting to piece things together. His odd use of words, the men in robes, and why I’m getting special treatment. I also am starting to realize why he never had sex with me. He had to ensure I stayed a virgin for something more important.
Is he part of a cult?
That is never good. I’ve heard horror stories about this kind of thing, and I want no part of it.
“You’re so beautiful.” He sighs. “I should have picked an uglier woman all those years ago instead of ridding the world of someone so exquisite.” He inches his way closer to me and hovers his lips over mine. “Your lips are an evil all on their own, making me want to deviate from the plan.” He presses his lips against mine, but I don’t meet his enthusiasm in return as he kisses my lips and plunges his tongue in my mouth. “And your breasts…” He slides his hand down my chest, but he doesn’t feel me.
Cruel Seduction: A Dark Romance (Underground Kings Book 2) Page 20
