It wasn’t like I got fired because I sucked and was a lazy-ass who didn’t do my job. It was some ‘last one hired is first one fired’ policy on layoffs, and I was at the top of that list.
Graphic design—my passion. Kennedy told me to go for it and the work would come. That I could build myself up in the company and be able to take on my own clients. Maybe if I had a freelance business already built up, I’d have a cushion. But right now, all I had was a whole lot of talent and nothing to eat—literally.
Pulling up to her house, I punched in the code for the gate that swung open with ease, leading me into the fancy area my sister lived in. Parking my car behind a black Cadillac, I admired the beautiful ride before taking the steps up to the front door. It wasn’t a car I had seen before, but then again Malcom always kept my sister in the newest cars so maybe it was a gift. Entering the sprawling house, I rushed into the formal sitting room where Kennedy sat on the loveseat beside Malcom.
I wasn’t thinking, I wasn’t paying attention. In fact, my mind filled with thoughts of sister talk and ice cream. I noticed Malcom, but didn’t really register that he was home from work in the middle of the day. This wasn’t usual so my brain was slow to put things together as my mind reeled with my latest devastation.
My sister was in a royal blue wrap-around dress, her blonde hair pinned back in an elegant twist and makeup on point. Malcom sat beside her in a suit with his dark hair cut short and styled to the side, nothing unusual there.
The room had this tension as I entered, and an imposing man stood from the couch. He was tall, definitely over six feet, and towered over everyone in the room. His dark hair was a buzz cut with just a little longer spiking on top. The charcoal suit he wore was undeniably high end because of the way it hugged his body perfectly. The top two buttons to his white shirt were undone, trying to give a relaxed feel that didn’t come to me.
I glanced quickly noticing some ink peeking out from under the top of the shirt, which typically wasn’t someone that Malcom and my sister would ‘hang out’ with. They were elitists. Not my sister by herself, but with Malcom they definitely stayed with what he would consider their higher class of people. Yeah, he was a pompous ass, but my sister wasn’t. She just happened to be in love with someone who was. My eyes scanned upward to meet this strange man’s gaze.
His eyes captured my attention. They were dark. Not black though. More like a deep blue, they drew you in, lured you like the depths of the dark ocean they seemed to swirl. An ocean where the sharks lived, ready to attack at the blink of an eye. There was no mistaking their look—authority, power, and unforgiving. I blinked, fighting back the intensity I found inside his stare.
He extended his hand to me casually. “Onyx Blake.” The deep baritone of his voice gave me butterflies in the pit of my belly, but something about him wasn’t right. The air didn’t calm; in fact, it grew even more dense like he was commanding the space. I knew better than that though. Malcom never let anyone take charge over him and especially not in his home.
There was another man with hair so dark it was midnight, also wearing a suit. His hair was styled back in a way that said he cared about appearances. He stood up as the man known as Onyx introduced himself in a way that said he had his back. His name was Garrett Monroe, I caught that much but didn’t give the man my full attention. It was unusual, considering Malcom wasn’t the kind of man to intimidate anyone nor was my sister. I didn’t have the inclination to care what they were here for. My life was falling apart, and I needed my sister. It was my sole focus since finding out I lost my job.
Shifting my gaze from Onyx’s, I didn’t shake his hand or reply. Instead, I dismissed him and looked to my sister. “Kennedy, sorry I came over unexpected. Can we talk a minute?” I was too on edge. The whole room—this scenario—felt entirely wrong. I didn’t want to be around these strangers, I just wanted a hug from my sister.
Malcom’s face had fury etched in his features, and his fists were shaking. He had never looked at me with such disdain before, most of the time it was with indifference. Sure, the man normally was standoffish, but what did I care? He made my sister happy and at the end of every day that’s all that mattered to me. He had taken care of us, so I didn’t need to be his best friend or have him shout accolades for me, just respect him as my sister’s man.
But the vibe in the room was telling me that Kennedy was part of this, not a bystander like I thought.
“Malcom, it’s obvious you’re in a business meeting. I can wait in the guest room until it’s over. Sorry, Kennedy is just usually available. I didn’t realize she was in the meeting too,” I rambled out to my brother-in-law while Onyx Blake stood in front of me watching intently. Finally, he put his hand down, but he continued to study me as if he were trying to read me.
I almost laughed thinking to myself, Hot mess found to your left, Mr. Blake, run as fast as you can away from a woman like me.
His gaze had my body heating up like the sun rising on the desert, going up and down me and igniting every inch of my body, like heating up the sand to scorching levels. I felt the flush crawl up my skin, no doubt reddening my cheeks and neck. With my pale body, there was no way to hide it, never could, my mother always saying it was one of my tells. My eyes locked on his and I became stuck in place, air swooshing from my lungs.
The way he took charge of a room was dangerous and all-consuming. Almost like the room was closing in, putting all of its energy on this man and forcing us to do the same. The concoction, I found to be threatening and unstable.
I took a step back as Kennedy stood in my peripheral vision. She grabbed my arm forcefully and led me out, calling behind us as I stumbled backward trying to keep up. My eyes stuck on the stranger’s even as my mind screamed for me to break the hold between us.
It was intoxicating. It was heady.
“Sorry for the interruption, continue on without me,” Kennedy said as Onyx moved in line behind us blocking our departure.
“No, stop!” he demanded in a deep baritone that held authority and rumbled through my belly once again. “I’ll take her. You want to negotiate on a deal that is non-negotiable. I want her for my assurances.”
Kennedy froze in place, causing my momentum to throw me off balance, making me stumble over my feet briefly. Her grip tightened on me so much that pain shot up my arm to my shoulder. I looked into my sister’s eyes and saw the tears already forming threatening to escape. What in the hell was going on here?
“She knows none of this, Blake,” Malcom stuttered, his demeanor changing to concern in a flash as he moved to us. I wasn’t sure if he was planning to attack this man, but if he did, Malcom would lose, big time. The Hulk himself would have a hard time tackling this man.
“I don’t give a shit. How do I know you two won’t flake out and fuck shit up?” Onyx’s tone never wavered. “At this point in time, you two owe me in order to keep any deal going. You broke the terms of our original agreement. It had consequences. I haven’t dished those out though, have I? In fact, considering the state of things between us, I think I’ve been a relatively understanding man. You knew what you were signing.”
My sister didn’t turn around to face the men as I watched her crumbling in front of me. Her entire body was visibly shaking. She was tormented inside, and I didn’t understand. My strong as hell sister, who had always been my rock, shattered to pieces on the floor, smashing into dust. I started to ask what was going on, but Kennedy squeezed my arm again and gave me a small shake of her head, silencing me. Confusion consumed me as my problems were forgotten. My mind raced with what my sister could have gotten herself into.
She was honest and carefree, not having a single, horrible, or mean bone in her body. My sister would give someone the shirt off her back. There’s no way she would get involved with a man like Onyx Blake unless it was something huge. Something that she couldn’t find another way, but what that was, I had no idea. She’d never told me a need or want for anything before.
Malcom moved to stand beside Onyx, a small droplet of sweat falling down his worry-lined temple. “We haven’t messed up yet. Look, my wife and I have lost enough, we just wanted a little more reassurance. That’s all we asked Cole for.”
Onyx Blake gave a smirk. A cocky, powerful, he really didn’t give a single fuck about anything my brother-in-law had to say, smirk. “Yes, but your agreement is with me and not Mr. Cole. He is no longer your contact, everything goes through me. And I’m not asking for her—I’m demanding it.”
The way he said the word demanding sent shivers through my body, but confusion had set in hard and fast, making it all difficult to process. Demanding? Me?
“She’s not part of the deal, Blake,” Malcom tried to explain.
The man looked at my brother-in-law and laughed. His words were confident, arrogant. “She is now. My world, my rules. You knew it going in, and she leaves with me.”
“Wait!” I cried out, pulling my arm out of my sister’s grasp. “What do you mean leaves with me? I’m not going anywhere with you.”
He cut his gaze to me, sharp and concise. “Yeah, you are.”
Hands on my hips, I searched my sister’s eyes, looking for something, anything to tell me what was going on here. She gave me nothing but sadness. The despair in her eyes had me more on edge wanting to do anything to help her, but terrified of what that might be.
I turned to her. “Kennedy, what’s going on here?” Tears streamed steadily down her face, taking with it the black mascara she had painstakingly put on each lash.
“Tor, I …”
“Enough!” Onyx ordered, making me jump an inch off the floor. I turned around to glare at him. “She knows nothing you say? So leave it at that.” His eyes searched mine, looking for a sign that I knew something, anything, which wouldn’t be a hard task.
“And what makes you think that I’ll come with you?” I snapped back at him, wondering who in the hell this guy thought he was.
He leaned in close, the smell of some kind of cologne, or hell maybe it was just him, hitting my nostrils. It smelled good, it was woodsy with a hint of vanilla, and far too good. The man’s body language screamed menace and power, but I held my ground. “Because you want your sister happy, and I hold the key.”
My stomach fell to my feet, and the small sandwich I had earlier started to roll around threatening to come up. “What does that mean?” When Onyx didn’t respond, I stole a glance at Malcom then Kennedy, each one sad and scared like their world was falling apart around them, and they had no way to put it back together.
“They can’t tell you anything about it, but if you want your sister to be happy, you’ll come with me. If you don’t, I’ll take you anyway.” He was frank, leaving no doubt about what was going through his mind.
He’d do it, I felt it deep in my very soul. This man did not seem like the type that would make empty threats, and judging from my family in the room, they knew it too.
“Kennedy?” I asked again, hoping she’d tell me something, give me some kind of clue about what the hell was going on here.
She glanced to Onyx then back to me as she shook her head. “What will you do with her?” she questioned with a tremble in her voice.
This wasn’t happening. This shitty day could not be twisting around to make it the shittiest of my hell-filled life. My sister couldn’t actually want me to really go with this guy.
His sinister laugh filled the air. “Whatever the fuck I want.”
My back straightened as all kinds of twisted scenarios ran through my head. I blamed it on my horror movie addiction trying to let myself hold onto hope that this couldn’t be real. Each thought became scarier than the next. There was nothing good that could come of this.
Malcom came around and wrapped Kennedy in his arms tight. There was some sort of silent conversation going on between them that I wanted in on, dammit.
Kennedy’s expression read pure devastation. “The deal’s off.” The words came out barely above a whisper.
Onyx chuckled in a menacing way, and goosebumps ran through my body as my heart sank. “Again with the negotiation. You’re already in. No backing out unless I cut you off. And you already know too much, so either way you’re a liability.”
Kennedy’s face washed out in fear. “But you can’t take my sister. I’ll give it all up just to keep her here.”
My sister threw it all out there for the mad man. She was giving up whatever this guy had just to keep me away from him. That told me two things. One being this was scary as hell, because if what the man said was true and he held the key to whatever in the hell they wanted, I would have to go with him. And two, they feared him which didn’t mean good things for my future. Whatever was going on here was huge.
“No. Deal goes as planned, and I get collateral.” He stood tall, the bluntness in his tone and the demeanor about him told me there was no escaping my new fate. Either way, I was going with him. Either my sister would get what she wanted or she wouldn’t, and I’d be in the care of a scary, crazy man. But there was still a sliver of hope that this fucked up situation wouldn’t happen.
“Please don’t hurt her,” Kennedy pleaded with Onyx like I wasn’t even in the room two feet in front of her. There was this detachment in her voice and a void in her face that sealed it. They knew they couldn’t fight for me. They knew nothing would change his mind, and they were terrified for me. The hope began to recede.
“Like I said, I do whatever the fuck I want. This isn’t a debate. For some reason, you have it in your head you control this. Let this be your reminder—you don’t.”
My sister turned to me, tears and pain bleeding from her eyes. “I’m sorry.” The defeat in her expression twisted my heart in two. I felt like my life was shattering in a way that I wouldn’t ever be able to piece it back together again.
“What kind of trouble have you gotten into, Kennedy?” When she remained nothing but a sobbing mess, I turned to Malcom who held my sister tight. “Well?”
“It’ll only be for a month, six weeks at the most. I think,” Kennedy whispered to me without looking me in the eyes.
“Why a month?” I barely spoke the words, but I had to ask the question.
“I can’t.” Her voice was so soft and pained. All I wanted to do was wipe the pain away for her. “I’m so sorry. You weren’t …”
“Times up,” Onyx ordered, cutting me off. “We’ll be in touch.” Onyx grabbed my arm and began pulling me out of the room. I yanked back, needing more time, wanting to know what was going on.
“Wait!” I yelled, trying to get out of his grasp. He ignored me. Instead, he lifted me up, hoisting me over his shoulder. My fists beat down his hard back over and over. “Put me down!”
Kennedy ran up to us. “I’m so sorry.” Those were her parting words as she crumbled to the floor on her knees, sobbing, my heart breaking for my sister.
That’s when Onyx Blake hit me on the ass, hard. Everything inside of me stilled. As he walked us through the door, the fear set in beyond anything I had ever felt before.
The hatred. The anger. The fear.
All of it swirled around inside me. Who was this man to take me from my family? What kind of power did he really have? What did he have that my sister needed?
And in the moment, all I could think was—survival.
3
Onyx
She tensed as we stepped outside. Her gaze immediately went to her little Chevy Sonic car. I felt her head turn against my back as she continued to hit me. That little thing was a death trap. Not that I cared because no way this feeling in the pit of my stomach was anything other than the thrill of the challenge.
Setting her down, I held her close to me, letting her body slide all the way down mine. I wanted her to feel every hard edge so she knew I could crush her if she pushed me. Pressing her back to the passenger side back door of my Cadillac CTS-V, I leaned in so my breath would come down hot on her neck.
“Garrett will be driving us. When I put you
in this car, don’t think about running, Collateral.” Her breath hitched, and I knew I had her full attention.
“Collateral?” she whispered.
“Since you didn’t want to share your name, you’re now Collateral. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“My name is—” I cut her off when I covered my hand around her mouth. Her eyes grew wide in fear.
“You had your chance. You dismissed me. No one dismisses me. To me, you are Collateral, nothing more, nothing less—learn that shit fast. This is your only warning: I’m a powerhouse. I’m in charge. You do as I say, when I say it. You don’t, there will be consequences that you will not like.”
Releasing her mouth, I rested my hand on the car. Caging her in on either side of her neck, I leaned back enough so I could look her in the eyes. Something clicked in them, but she blinked it away hiding it quickly.
“I won’t sleep with you,” she whispered, and I fought back a sinister laugh.
Such assumptions, while the idea had crossed my mind, it was even better to know it crossed hers as well. The challenge made me hard. It had been far too long since anyone dared to tell me what they would or wouldn’t do. I said, they did, that’s how it was. On that thought, I laughed in her face.
“I own my world. The very same world your sister and her man begged, borrowed, and pleaded to remain in long after I should’ve cut them loose. I’m the man in your nightmares. You’re mine to do with as I please, Collateral. Know your place. Know the rules. All goes well, in six weeks, at the most, your sister will have what she wants, and I’ll consider what happens to you next. Until then, you are mine.”
Garrett rounded the car, nodding to me and settling in my driver’s seat. I only brought him because I wanted Malcom and Kennedy Lanier to remember everything discussed was under contract. Garrett Monroe was a distinguished attorney for a firm in Philadelphia. He also happened to be my childhood friend, if one could really be a true friend with someone like me, or like him for that matter. Since the Lanier’s were clients of his firm and their case landed on his desk a year ago, he had the connection to them. This tied the couple to me and my business. Garrett was the link that sent them to me.
PowerHouse_Anti-Hero Game_Power Chain Book One Page 2
