by D. L. Raver
“Prior to that, he intended to auction Irelyn for a night of nonconsensual sex if I hadn’t stopped him first,” Zolt growled.
“No. Marcus promised me he wouldn’t,” my father said, his voice dying out as the last of his defiance left him. He ran his hand through his graying hair, and then pulled on it.
My mom visibly shook, and it hurt me to see the always-strong and put-together woman reduced to a mere shadow of herself because of her husband.
“Thanks to Chris, we know all about Black Swan and how the property transactions were used to launder monies from the sex club and sex trafficking.”
“I don’t understand what Chris had to do with any of this,” father said.
“He left me a video, sending us in the right direction. When we followed his lead, we found the evidence he had gathered. We have it all, Daddy. A list of the club’s clients, including the activities they participated in. Everything. We also know that Bennett tried to cover up the laundering when the Aspen/Black Swan settlement threatened to uncover the issue.”
“Again, you know all this. It’s why you gave me the Aspen/Black Swan settlement to assess,” Zolt said. “You wanted me to expose it since you didn’t have the guts to do it yourself. Didn’t have the guts to save your own daughter from the monster you let control your life. Admit it.”
Zolt shoved my father back and was about to do worse before T-bone stopped him.
“Don’t, Zolt. That’s not what we came here for,” T said in a commanding voice.
“Jake!” My mom wailed his name, and the heartbreak in her intonation cracked my own broken heart in two. “How could you do this? Chris. My God. My daughter. My son. My babies. Why, Jake? Why?”
“I didn’t have a choice; I was in too deep. The bitch was going to ruin me and everything I’d built. I went to Marcus as a last result, but all I did was exchange one noose for an even tighter one. I tried to fix it for you, Irelyn. I brought Zolt here, hoping Marcus would treat you better if he saw competition. But you weren’t supposed to marry Zolt. You’re supposed to marry Marcus. You have to marry Marcus. You don’t understand what he’ll do to me.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Zolt barked. He broke free of T’s hand on his shoulder and stalked toward my father. “You’re a fucking waste of a man, Wilkes. Do you really think I’ll let that happen? I’ll fight to the death to save her. I’ll do what your sorry, selfish ass refused to. Marcus will never touch Irelyn again.”
Zolt raised his fist, readying to punch my father in his face, but I yelled, stopping him in mid-swing.
“Stop, Zolt! He’s not worth it.”
Zolt returned to me and whatever he saw in my face calmed him; he visibly relaxed and pulled me to him.
Tears ran down my face as I watched the scene play out in front of me. After all that had happened, my father still wanted to give me to Marcus. He didn’t give a flying fuck about anyone but himself. Not even his best friend’s daughter, his daughter, or his wife—who visibly fell to pieces in front of him—swayed him from his purpose.
Jacob Wilkes stood there silently, and I watched as his handsome face twisted with what I guessed might be remorse. With a loud exhale, his countenance hardened into dogged determination. He had made his choice, and the resigned expression in his sable-browns said it all; he had chosen himself and not his family. His wife and children were expendable with Chris paying the ultimate price.
Any hope we had that he’d help us take Marcus down vanished. Jacob Wilkes had neither the desire nor the backbone to help anyone but himself. We were on our own.
I was on my own.
My dad dropped his shoulders, turned and walked out of the room without a word.
Mom ran after him, screaming his name. I don’t know why it shocked me that she followed him instead of tending to me. Given everything, I should have seen this coming.
Zolt hugged me tighter, kissing my head and stroking my back. I could hear T-bone and Grant behind us muttering, wondering what to do next.
That’s when it happened. That’s when an already fucked-up situation turned a billion times worse.
“No, Jacob! Please!” Stark terror sounded in my mom’s voice as she pleaded with her husband to make a different decision.
Before T-bone and Grant could reach the room they’d gone into, two loud, booming shots ripped through the night and tore my world apart.
“Oh, my God! Jesus!” T-bone’s shocked voice carried down the hall.
“No!” I screamed and tried to go in the direction I’d heard the shots come from, but Zolt held me in place.
“Don’t, Irelyn. You don’t need to see that. Stay here, with me.”
“Zolt?” I couldn’t find the words to ask a question, but the lack of urgency in the townhouse said it all.
My father had made an irrevocable decision and chosen the coward’s way out, and he had taken my mother with him, leaving me alone to clean up his mess.
I stood alone, watching as they lowered first my father’s casket, and then my mom’s into their final resting place. I felt detached from myself; it just didn’t seem real. It didn’t matter that I had been there and heard the shots fired that ended my parents’ lives.
Try as I might, I couldn’t reconcile what Jacob had done. Taking his sorry life was one thing, but taking my mom with him was beyond cowardly and selfish. How had my family gotten this off-track? How was I supposed to carry on, knowing Jacob Wilkes didn’t love his family enough to save them? He’d destroyed us all and left me holding the shattered remnants.
I couldn’t help but feel guilty about what had happened. We all felt guilt. I know T-bone and Grant cursed themselves for not getting in the room sooner.
I crouched down and picked a handful of the dirt that would fill in my mom’s grave. Then, I walked to where Chris was buried and opened my hand, letting the dirt fall through my fingers to his grave.
“Chris,” I said, my voice breaking. “I’m sorry I haven’t come before now. I miss you, and I don’t know what to do now. How do I survive this? Losing you hurt more than I thought possible, but this is so much worse. Why did he do this, Chris? To you? To Mom? To me? I don’t think I’ll ever forgive him.”
I angrily dashed my tears away, not wanting Zolt to see me cry; he had seen too many of my tears since we’d been together. Thankfully, he had given me some space. I glanced over my shoulder to see him standing several feet away talking to T-bone, Cory, and Brody.
I held my left hand up and spun my wedding ring around my finger, and my father’s words came back to me, telling me I had to marry Marcus. It didn’t matter to him that Zolt and I were together and married; he only cared about saving his sorry ass at the expense of his family. He may have deserved his bloody ending, but neither Chris nor my mom did.
With a shaking hand, I placed my finger on Chris’s headstone and traced his name.
“Thank you for Zolt,” I said and swallowed past the lump in my throat. “And thank you for trying to do the right thing. I promise we’ll make Marcus pay.”
A menacing laugh cackled behind me, and I jumped to my feet, turning around.
Marcus stood behind me with a smug expression of triumph on his face.
“How sweet. You finally found the courage to visit your own brother’s grave. Oh, and look, now he has company.”
His sugary-sweet, mocking voice might as well have been a dagger to my heart, and I had to bite back the barely-restrained scream that bubbled its way to the surface.
“Why are you here, Marcus? Haven’t you done enough?” I should be surprised that Marcus had found his way around T-bone’s security, but I wasn’t. He was unstoppable to the point I had to wonder if he had evil, magical powers.
I glanced around, searching for Zolt and the rest of our group, praying they would turn and see Marcus.
“Oh, Irelyn, I won’t stop until I have you with me where you belong. Why is it so hard for you to understand? I’m not weak like your father; I will protect what is mine. W
hen someone wrongs me, takes what doesn’t belong to them, I make them pay. You wronged me, Irelyn, and you must pay. Zolt took what didn’t belong to him, and he must pay.”
His lips thinned into his trademark scowl, and he wagged a finger at me.
“You’re smarter than this, Irelyn. How disappointing to see you make such bad decisions. It’s all quite easy: Give him up and come back to me, and we’ll live the life we were always meant to live.” Marcus slid his hands in the pockets of his three-piece, charcoal suit and stared expectantly as if I’d snap-to and obey.
But that wasn’t going to happen. I’d played that card before, surrendered myself to him, to no avail. My parents were dead and we were no closer to finding Kenna. This time, I wouldn’t let him bully me. I let down the walls that kept my blackest of emotions away and found my strength.
“You’re fucking demented.” I straightened the black Gucci suit that had been my mom’s and squared my shoulders.
Taking two steps forward, I thrust my left hand in his face, showing him my ring.
Marcus’s scowl deepened as the implication of the diamond on my left finger set in. He grabbed my hand and tried to pry the ring from my finger.
“Take your fucking hands off my wife. Now!”
Zolt grabbed Marcus by the back of his suit and pulled him away from me.
“Wife? You married him?” Marcus grunted as Zolt drove him back, pinning him against a large, graveyard monument. Just like he had done at the restaurant, Zolt placed his forearm on Marcus’s windpipe, restricting his breath.
“Zolt!” I yelled, too afraid that this time he would actually kill Marcus.
A bluish tint crept over the bastard’s face. I didn’t want Marcus’s death on Zolt’s conscious. When he didn’t listen, I yelled his name again. “Zolt! He’s not worth it.”
T-bone and a couple of his men, along with Brody and Cory, came to my side, watching as Zolt kept the pressure on Marcus’s throat.
“Z-man, back off. This isn’t helping,” T-bone said, moving in Zolt’s direction.
If Zolt heard him, it didn’t show in his reaction. He kept a firm pressure on Marcus’s neck and his eyes watered.
I moved to go to Zolt, but Brody grabbed my arm to stop me.
“Let T deal with this, Irelyn,” Brody said, stopping me.
“No. I need to do this. Zolt will respond to me.”
Brody nodded and let go of my arm. I went to my husband and placed my hand on his shoulder. “Stop, Zolt. Killing Marcus will only make things worse.”
“He had his hands on you. You’re mine,” he ground out through gritted teeth while Marcus struggled to breathe under the pressure of his forearm on his windpipe. “Nobody lays a hand on my wife.”
“I am yours. The rings on our fingers prove that. Now, let Marcus go, please,” I beseeched.
Zolt let out a primal growl from deep in his chest, and then his body relaxed a tad. He stepped back, dropping his forearm.
Marcus sputtered and held his throat as he tried to catch his breath. But before Marcus could totally regain his composure, Zolt turned and slammed Marcus’s head against the concrete monument.
Marcus collapsed and sunk to the ground.
With a possessive arm around my shoulder, Zolt and I, along with our group, turned and started to walk away.
“You’re a fool, Irelyn, if you think he’ll be faithful to you. And you’re even more of a fool if you think I’m done. I won’t let this go, Zolten Hamil. Not ever. I own this town. You haven’t won. You’ll never win,” Marcus said in a raspy voice, holding the back of his head. Even though, he’d been physically bested, his bravado and smug confidence never wavered.
I fucking hated him.
Zolt stopped and held up my hand in his, our wedding rings glistening in the sunshine. “Wrong, dickwad. I’ve already won.”
Once Zolt and I were in the limo, away from what had happened, I shook uncontrollably. No matter how tightly Zolt held on to me, I couldn’t stop; I couldn’t take any more of the shit that kept coming my way. Each time I reached for a little happiness, it seemed more grieve came my way. I could feel myself withdrawing—turning inward, the way I had after Chris’s death.
Zolt must have sensed my withdrawal because he pulled me onto his lap. “Irelyn, baby, stay with me.”
“I’m trying. I don’t know how much more I can take. If he takes you from me, Zolt, that will be the end of me. I won’t survive it, and I’m afraid he’s going to do just that.” My teeth chattered as I tried to take the comfort he offered.
“No, Irelyn,” Zolt said gruffly. He lifted my chin with his thumb and forefinger. In his eyes, I found nothing but love and concern from the man I’d married. “Marcus won’t win.”
“Hasn’t he already? He’s almost destroyed me, and we’re no closer to getting Kenna back. He’ll destroy her, too.”
“We will get her back. We won’t stop until we do. But Irelyn, you have to stay strong. Don’t leave me. We can’t let Marcus do that to us.”
“I’m trying.” I snuggled against Zolt’s chest. “I don’t want to go to Barbie’s house to the wake. I know we should, but I can’t. I just want to take an Ambien to go to sleep.”
“Okay. I’ll call them. I’m sure Rachel and Barbie will understand.”
Zolt kissed my head. I closed my eyes and let myself drift off in the comfort and safety of my husband’s arms.
When I woke, Zolt lay sleeping next to me in the dark room, save a sliver of moonlight that shone through the crack in the curtains.
I rolled over and tried to get comfortable enough to sleep. After several minutes, I gave up and slipped from the bed, careful not to wake Zolt.
After visiting the bathroom, I went into the closet, closed the door, and turned on the light. The clock read 1:45 in the morning and I groaned. If I didn’t do something to wear myself out, I’d never get back to sleep.
I found my running shorts and a 30 Seconds to Mars T-shirt and put them on. But as I tied the laces of my shoes, the smug expression on Marcus’s face and his last words as we left the cemetery came back to me, and I started to seethe. I needed to do something because waiting for T-bone, Jackson, and Sloan to save Kenna while I sat around drove me crazy.
At the bedroom door, I stopped and glanced back at the bed. Zolt’s sleeping form tugged at my heart. If he woke and found me gone, he’d go ballistic, not to mention be worried. But I would do this fast, and I’d come home and get back into bed before he had time to miss me.
I walked down the hallway as silent as a mouse, making my way to the front door. Ben and Rufus followed me, their tails wagging in anticipation.
“Boys, you can’t go with me. Go lay down. We’ll play later.”
They both whined, and I cut them off with a sharp “no”. I then pointed in the direction of their beds.
They cocked their heads and whined again as if questioning my decision before heading for their beds. Rufus stopped and looked over his shoulder at me; I swear there was a warning in his doggie-stare.
“I’ll be fine, Ruf. Go on now,” I encouraged, pointing my finger in the direction of the utility room.
With one last, admonishing growl, he walked away.
“Damn dog,” I muttered as I grabbed my keys, turned off the alarm and left the house.
“This will be fine,” I told myself as I embarked on a stupid and beyond-dangerous endeavor.
I drove to my grandpa’s ranch and parked the Mustang on the side road at the back of the property. From my years growing up, I knew how to sneak in and off the ranch. Chris and I used to leave all the time in the summer; we’d hot-foot it to the swimming hole on hot July nights. I crossed my fingers and prayed the opening in the fence still existed.
Grabbing the flashlight from the glove box, I quietly exited the car. Thank God for a black Mustang that the night perfectly camouflaged.
With cat-like stealth, I found my way to the break in the fence and made my way onto the property. Ire rumbled inside me
as I kept my head down and my body as unobtrusive as possible.
With Mom gone, I owned this land, not Marcus. Once we had Kenna, and Marcus had been taken down, I’d figure out what to do with all the acreage. I would make sure to use it for something positive; something to negate what Marcus had taken here.
I forced down the bad taste in my mouth thinking about all that had happened here invoked, shoving them down into a dark corner, vowing to stay strong and not fall apart. All I wanted to do was to see the ranch during the time Marcus might be holding a gathering at the club. Certainly the middle of the night would be that time.
In the back of my mind, I told myself I had lost it, and that the risk far outweighed the rewards. If caught, I’d be in a worse spot than I had been in before. Marcus would do his best to destroy me. Still, I didn’t stop; the chance that I might see Kenna and be able to help her kept me moving forward. Though, in all honesty, even if I saw her, what could I do on my own? So I decided to take a quick look around and leave. Then, I’d report anything I saw to T-bone and let him deal with it.
I crept to the window on the tips of my toes. Inside, I could see shadows of people moving, their bodies obscured by the vertical blinds hanging in the windows.
Dry grass and sticks crunched beneath my feet as I angled my body to get the best vantage point. When I peered in the window, I gasped at what I saw taking place in my bedroom. The activities inside had destroyed any childhood innocence that room had. The cross we had seen before now had a naked woman secured to it. I cupped my hands around my face and squinted against the darkness in an attempt to get a better look. I couldn’t tell if the woman was Kenna or not. Nor could I see the identities of the other men watching as they all donned masquerade masks. But the man holding the whip, I would recognize anywhere.
Marcus Xavier!
“Mother fucker!” Physical memories of Marcus flogging me made me flinch and my back sting.
Something moved behind me and I jumped, tripping over my own feet. I fell to my ass on the ground in an unceremonious heap. Luckily, the crack of the whip sounded at the same time, covering the noise of my own stupidity. The flashlight flew from my hands, landing under a brush, the light illuminating my position. But I couldn’t move.
