“How so? Who are these men?” She swallowed hard.
“We don’t know. We have Cash and Zane working on finding out. They’ve gotten some leads.” Jett said as he stepped closer to her.
“Yeah, they found some spots where they like to hang out,” Flynn added.
Adelina immediately looked nervous. Her eyes widened. “Really? So that’s good. Then maybe they can help to stop them before they act.”
Jett looked at Flynn, but Flynn’s gaze was so intense on Adelina that she looked down.
“They did track down one main guy. He does some business out of an Irish bar in Queens. What was the name, Jett?” Flynn asked.
Adelina shot her head up, and then quickly looked at Jett.
“O’Connor’s. Ever hear of it, Adelina?” Jett asked.
“No. I don’t know it. So what did you need me for? Just to ensure that I make certain if the health department shows up, that the place is clean of any violations?” She turned as if preparing to leave.
Jett touched her hand to stop her. He wrapped his hand around her wrist and she stared up into his eyes.
“Is there something that you’d like to tell us, Adelina?” Jett asked.
“No. No, why?”
Flynn moved in behind her. She gasped as he grabbed her hips and whispered next to her ear.
“Why were you there last night? Who were you meeting?”
Jett held her gaze. He saw the instant fear in her eyes, and then them well up with tears. He couldn’t control the disappointment and anger he had.
“Why would you help them? Why wouldn’t you come to us? If they threatened you?”
She shook her head side to side. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out.
Flynn pulled her back against his chest and she cried out in pain. He immediately released her. She stepped away from them. “Please. Oh, God, please.” Tears rolled down her cheeks.
“You’re hurt. Murph said that you took painkillers. What the fuck is going on? Please, Adelina, if you’re in some kind of trouble, baby, we can help you.”
“They’ll kill Bryer and Kaitlin. I don’t care about what happens to me, but I have to take care of Bryer and Kaitlin.”
Adelina ran for the door, but as she went to open it, Jett called out her name. The tone of his voice seemed to stop her. He approached slowly, until he was right behind her.
She leaned her forehead against it as he caressed her hair.
“Talk to us. Tell us who threatened you. Come clean and we’ll help you.”
She cried. “They’ll kill them. Now that you know, I’m as good as dead.”
Jett ran his free hand gently up her arm, to her bare shoulder. He released the hand she held the door with and turned her around so he could look down into her eyes. The tears streamed down her cheeks, her mascara was running. “You’re breaking my heart, baby.”
He cupped her face between his hands.
“You know who wants this place. You know who wants to hurt Flynn and me, and our families, don’t you?”
She nodded her head, and then choked out a cry. “I can’t tell you.”
“You will tell us,” Flynn said as he joined the conversation. “You’ve known us for two years. You know what we used to do. Don’t you think we have ways of getting you to talk? You don’t think we’d do it.”
“Flynn.” Jett raised his voice and Adelina went to move, but Flynn grabbed her hand. He pulled her from Jett and against his chest. She gasped, her chin wedged up against his chest.
He stared down into her eyes.
“We trusted you. I care about you.”
“I’m just the club manager.”
Jett gently pressed up against her back. He moved the hair from her shoulder and massaged her tight shoulder muscles.
“You’re more than that.”
“How did they get to you? When did they first make contact?” Flynn asked.
“Please.”
Flynn gently placed his hands on her waist. “You’re going to explain everything. We’re going to come up with a plan, and you’re going to bring them to us.”
She shook her head.
“He’ll kill me.”
“No, he’ll want you to do his dirty work. You were going to do it anyway,” Flynn said, filled with anger.
“He’ll hurt me again. I won’t do it. I’m scared of him. I won’t do it. You can’t make me.” She carried on and then tried to pull away from them.
As Adelina slumped over in what appeared as emotional exhaustion, Jett saw the discoloration on her upper back.
“What is this?” he asked.
She turned up to look at him. “Jett, don’t.”
“What?” Flynn asked.
“Adelina?”
“No, Jett. Please just drop it. Please.” She pulled from them. Jett looked at Flynn.
“We care about you.”
“No. No you don’t. You don’t care about me or the fact that I’m going to get killed. They are going to kill my sister and my nephew.”
“You have a sister and a nephew?” Flynn asked, taking a step toward her.
She grew angry. “You’d know that if you really cared.”
“Damn, baby, you’re right. We should know more about you, but we haven’t asked,” Jett whispered.
“Because you don’t care. I get it. I admitted that part to myself weeks ago.”
“We do care. It’s not like that. We’ve been pushing you away on purpose,” Flynn told her.
“On purpose? But why? What do I matter? You can have any woman you want and anything you want. What would I matter?”
Flynn took her hand and brought it up against his chest. “You’re wrong. We’ve been assholes.”
She shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
Flynn looked at Jett.
“Fuck it.”
He pulled Adelina closer, pressed his hand over her shoulder, under the back of her head and pulled her to him. He covered her lips with his and kissed her.
Jett watched as Flynn devoured her moans and explored her mouth with his tongue. She gripped his waist, but when he pressed her against the door, she gasped in pain and pulled from his mouth. She hugged him as she lay her cheek against his chest.
“Why did you kiss me like that?”
“Because I’ve wanted to for far too long.”
She looked up at Flynn. “You never said a thing. You never made a move or even tried.”
“We wanted to. But we didn’t feel as if we were good enough for you.” Jett reached up and pressed a strand of hair away from her cheek.
She stared at him as he cupped her cheek. The tears rolled down her face.
“I wish you had. Now it’s too late.”
* * * *
Adelina couldn’t believe what they were telling her. Part of her wanted to believe that they were lying to try to get information from her, but then came the instant guilt and recognition that she trusted them too much to believe them capable of such a thing.
But what could she do now? Their proclamation of caring for her came at the worst time. She was supposed just deny her feelings, her care for them and do what that madman, Raymond, wanted her to do. She would be finished. They would hate her, her sister and Bryer would be safe, and she would go with Raymond, and be his…whatever it was he expected. She closed her eyes and squeezed them tight. The pain in her back seemed to intensify with the thought of going willingly with Raymond. He’d own her like some sort of object. Could Jett and Flynn somehow save them all? Could she trust them and tell them everything or would she be digging her own grave even deeper?
“You’re hurt,” Jett whispered, as he ran his finger gently down her shoulder and back to the zipper of her dress. She could feel the ache beneath the tight material, yet somehow Jett’s gentle touch eased it.
“Tell us what happened.”
She was silent a moment as she contemplated her words. She didn’t want to see their disappointment in her for allowing Raym
ond to do what he did. Despite the fact that deep down she knew she had no choice and that he intimidated her, she still felt guilty and like a failure in these perfect men’s eyes.
Flashbacks of being bent over the desk in that dirty back room at O’Connor’s went through her mind. The way Raymond’s large hands caressed her skin, and then hurt her, with each strike he broke down her fight, her independence, and her belief that right won over wrong. No, in life it seemed that power, dominance, and evil would prevail.
She gulped at his tone. The instant feelings of defeat, unworthiness, and self-deprivation filled her soul. Somewhere in the back of her mind she yelled out “No, don’t give up, don’t give in, fight.” But this was real. Raymond killed people, and he would kill Kaitlin and Bryer, and more than likely kill her when he was done with Jett and Flynn.
“Baby, please. You need to talk to us. What happened? What did he do to you?” Flynn asked. She looked at both of them, as she crossed her arms, hugging herself.
“You said that you have ways of making people confess and do things you want…so does he.”
* * * *
They were going around in circles and getting nowhere. Flynn was losing his cool. He was filled with a mix of emotions. Did Adelina really care for them, too, and was she just caught in the middle of a crazy situation? She had been at their beck and call for two years. She always went above and beyond her job as their manager, and all they really wanted was for her to share their bed. Had they somehow placed her inadvertently in danger? Now he was thinking like an agent, instead of thinking with his cock, and wondering if she would screw him and Jett over, like other women had tried. Like Tess?
“What did he do to you? Was it Raymond or someone else?” Flynn asked abruptly. The thought that her boyfriend did this, or was part of something bigger and had used her to get to him and Jett started to get his temper flaring.
She turned away.
They stood side by side behind her.
“Adelina, tell us. We want to understand what happened. We don’t want to believe that you would be part of a plan to destroy us and The Phantom. We expect more from you,” Jett said firmly.
She glanced over her shoulder, the tears still in her eyes, but now anger, too. “Expect more from me? I’ve given you both a hundred percent of me every day when I step into this place.”
“And so easily you could turn against us because of some poser? Some wealthy guy who swept you off your feet and promised you what, Adelina? Money, security? What?” Flynn challenged her.
“I wasn’t promised anything.”
“Bullshit! You think we were born yesterday? You think we’re fucking stupid? We know that you’re involved with this. You’ve admitted to it and then try to say that this guy threatened to kill a sister and nephew we never even knew you had. Is that supposed to make us weak? Is that supposed to get us to forgive you?” Flynn yelled at her.
“You’re worse than Tess. What you’ve done hurts worse, too.” Jett told her.
She gasped. “I’m not. I have no choice. He will kill me.”
“Bullshit. So he threatened your family? We could have protected them. We could have protected you. But no, you decide that this guy’s threats are more powerful, more capable. Give me a break, Adelina. What would make you comply to this guy’s demands? You broke Tess’s nose because she was going to use me. You’re not weak, you don’t back down. What could this guy have done to you? What, Goddamn it?” Flynn yelled at her.
She was shaking. They could see her, despite the fact that her back was toward them. She reached back and began to unzip the back of her dress. As her fingers caused the material to part she stared at them over her shoulder. She was shaking like a leaf.
“This, you self-centered son of a bitch! This is why I’m going to help him. Because I have no choice. Because I’m scared to death, and there are no other choices!” she screamed, her last words choked back with tears as the bruises and marks over her back came into view. Red, bruised streaks of welts crisscrossed along her bare back to the top of her panties.
Flynn never felt so much anger in his entire life. Adelina kept one hand holding up the front of her dress, while using the other hand to hold the desk in front of her for support. The marks on her back looked painful, and the realization that someone beat her and threatened her by force attacked every one of his senses.
He couldn’t move, but Jett did. Jett was there to pull her into his arms and hold her as she cried, her body shaking. The desperate sounds of her sobs tore at his heart.
He tore his eyes away from her damaged, abused skin and felt his own heart ache. He never felt so helpless, so weak and just downright angry in his life. He failed her. They failed her.
“Fuck!” he yelled out and then slammed his fist down onto the table beside him. He ran his fingers through his hair, paced the room like some caged animal, all while Jett consoled her. His brother’s words, his ability to care for their woman in a time like this was commendable. She was their woman. They had been so fucking stupid. Instead of protecting her, caring for the one woman they knew would make them happy, they pushed her away repeatedly.
There was so much to ask and discuss, but the one thing that remained at the forefront of his brain was revenge. He’d kill the bastard responsible for this. He’d kill him with his bare hands.
* * * *
Jett felt his own body shaking as he held Adelina against his chest. She was sobbing and as he closed his eyes, absorbed the feel of her in his arms, and inhaled her perfume, he saw the damage to her body. They should have been there for her, protecting her.
“I’m so sorry that I wasn’t there to protect you. We’ve been stupid, Adelina. So fucking stupid.”
She pulled back, and he stared down into her watery eyes. He cupped her cheeks between his hands as she still held the front of her dress tightly. Her knuckles were white from her grip. Her cleavage deep, as her large breasts nearly fell from the satin cups of the dress.
“It’s not your fault. No one could have known this was going to happen. I sure as shit didn’t know. I was so scared. I was in shock. I’m in deep, Jett. There’s no way out now. No one can save me.” The tears rolled down her cheeks at her own words. “I’m going to die.”
“No. No, you’re not going to die. We’re going to protect you, and do what we should have done from the start. You mean so much to us. Obviously, this guy knows it. You need to be strong for me, baby. Flynn is going to call Cash and Zane, along with Al, and some others. We need as much information as we can get from you so we can stop this guy.”
“Oh, God, Jett, my family. They’re not safe.”
He held her cheeks firmly and tilted her face up toward him. The fear in her eyes was so great it pulled at his heart and wretched his stomach. But Adelina needed him and Flynn. They would need one another to get through this situation.
“Flynn is on it. He’ll get them to safety immediately, and then we’ll begin.”
He stared at her intently. Adelina’s plump red lips, her thick eyelashes and sparkling green eyes, and he knew she was going to be theirs.
“I’m here now, Adelina. Flynn and I are going to take care of everything. You’ll see.” He leaned down and brushed his lips gently against hers. He wanted so much more, but considering the circumstances, he didn’t want to overwhelm her. He sure didn’t want to hurt her.
“He’s right, baby. We’ve got you. You’re safe. And I promise you, this man will never lay a hand on you again,” Flynn whispered against her neck, and then began to lay gentle kisses along her shoulder, then down her back, against the bruises. Adelina closed her eyes, the tears flowed, and she hugged Jett.
The man responsible for hurting their woman was as good as dead.
Chapter 7
Adelina was exhausted. She had gotten to see her sister and Bryer before they were brought to a secure location, thanks to Chiara, Cash, and Zane. All of their clothing and belongings were also transported, thanks to some of the security t
eam Cash and Zane had.
She didn’t want to think too deeply about the fact that Jett and Flynn had all her stuff brought here, to the rooms upstairs above The Phantom. It was because they wanted her close by to keep tabs on her, and to be sure that she wouldn’t go through with Raymond’s orders. That in itself made her feel like shit.
After all, they spent the last two hours going over everything she knew about Sergio, Raymond, and this Margliado fellow. Her sister Kaitlin explained about the need for money to pay the hospital bills, and both Jett and Flynn kept looking at Adelina in anger. They acted as though they believed she should have gone to them. But she was going to handle it until Kaitlin jumped in and made a deal with the devil. That devil and company were now going to kill them both if they ever found them. The fear of not being able to live a normal life again wreaked havoc on Adelina’s soul. She had always tried to do her best, work hard, and remain a good citizen. So why was she suddenly feeling as if she could commit murder and want to kill Raymond, Sergio, and this faceless man, Margliado?
She had washed up and changed out of her dress and into a pair of lounge pants and a tank top. The room she was to remain in until Jett or Flynn told her otherwise was quite impressive. That night, when she had tucked Flynn into bed, and stole a caress against his bare, muscular chest, was a memory she would hold on to forever. Despite the confusion she felt at them both kissing her tonight, she knew they were just acting out their dominance. The two men were lethal, and they could kill her as easily as Raymond and Sergio. She knew that. She wasn’t stupid. Yet, somewhere deep in her gut, she felt like they did truly care and that there was more to their anger at her, and their attentiveness to her. Perhaps it was just the sight of the bruises that made them act chivalrous and caring.
“Adelina?”
She heard her name and turned suddenly. She hadn’t heard the door open, or a knock for that matter. Knowing that they could barge in at any time and see her should have made her feel vulnerable and nervous. Instead she felt aroused.
Flynn carried a case with him. He walked in, wearing blue jeans and a T-shirt, having ditched the suit earlier when the others arrived to interrogate her and Kaitlin. Chastity had entertained Bryer in the other room. The poor kid hadn’t a clue as to what was going on. Even Jett and Flynn fooled around with him. It made her think about what could have been, instead of what was never going to be.
Phantom's Destruction or Destiny [Power Surge: The Billionaire Club 5 ] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 9
