I turn to the envelope on my desk and open it up. A USB drive falls out of it. I stare at it for a few long seconds before I slowly put it into my computer. I stand from my desk, go over to the door, and lock it, not wanting any uninvited guests.
Leaning up against my desk, I lift the remote and press play and watch a familiar dark room come on my TV. The same room I found Bunny in after she was taken from me.
And her brother stands in the middle of it. He smiles up at the camera. “Hello, Avery. I’m making you this video because I know you would want to see what she really thinks of you.” He runs his fingers over his chin. “I hid out back while you and your men just whisked her away like you saved her. But we both know that’s not the case.” He chuckles. “You may think you won. But you haven’t. Not even close. She’ll always be a broken little bitch! Just like all the others. Let me prove it to you.”
The screen goes black for a moment, and then it shows the camera focused on a concrete wall. There’s a chain bolted to the wall and a steel collar lies open on the dirty floor.
The back of a man comes into view, and he’s carrying an unconscious Bunny. He lays her on the floor and removes her shirt; it was the only thing she had on. Then he picks up the steel collar and secures it around her neck, locking it in place in the back.
“I’ll be back when this has worn off,” he tells her as if she can hear him. Then he turns around and looks up at the camera. It’s Preston.
The door shuts, and the camera changes to night vision. I watch her pull herself into the fetal position and begin to shake.
The bastard recorded the entire fucking thing! What Damon said to me when I spoke to him last makes sense now.
“You know, Avery, your father showed me the tape of what he did to your little Bunny. I must say, that is why I’m offering you the extra for her.”
I thought he meant the tape of when he raped her. But this is what he was talking about.
I fast forward until I see movement. She laid there for four hours. Shaking, she was so cold.
I press play once I see her open her eyes. She sits up and notices she’s naked.
“Avery?” She calls out my name, and my throat tightens.
She looks to her left, and her breathing picks up. Then to her right. You can see the fear creeping into her eyes when she realizes she’s in a concrete box.
“Avery?” she shouts, standing, and begins walking over to the door but is yanked back by her collar.
Her hands go to it, and when she feels the lock, she spins around to see the chain connecting her to the wall.
“AVERY!” She shouts my name frantically, and my chest tightens to the point it’s painful. That she could think I would do this to her. But why not? Isn’t this what I threatened her with when I dragged her down to my cellar? And then again after Conway’s party?
Wrapping her hands around the chain, she begins to yank on it
She starts shouting my name. Then the tears start to fall. “Avery, this isn’t funny,” she screams. “Let me go!”
I sit in my office for hours watching all the footage. Fast-forwarding through the part where they left her alone and unconscious. Seeing everything Victor and Vaughn did to her. Even the brand. I shouldn’t have watched it, but I did. It was like the last video. I couldn’t look away. It physically pained me, but I deserve that. I should feel her pain. I watched up until the point I came running into the room with Tristan and cut her loose. Then after we walked out with her, Preston came back on screen.
“See, Avery?” He gives me that fucking smirk again. “She will always see you as one of us. And nothing you can do will change that.”
I shut off the video and place the remote on the desk, then walk out of my study, heading down to my cellar. I haven’t been back down there since I watched Bunny torture them earlier today. Yanking open the door, I go storming into it to find Preston still in his restraints. My brother is gone. That means he’s already dead. Kayn must have removed him before he went to bed and got rid of the body. But he left Preston because he is still breathing. He knew I’d want him down here until the bastard is stone-cold dead.
“Preston, I got your tape,” I inform him, walking over to the black safe that stands over six feet tall and four feet wide. It holds all my torturing devices.
He whimpers. There’s not much more he can do than that. Bunny had him screaming for hours. He lost his voice long ago.
I open it, grabbing the red and yellow can. I remove the straw and shake it up before screwing the straw to the top, securing it. Then go to stand in front of him. He lifts his heavy head to look me in the eyes. He smells of death, so he’s not far from it. Blood runs from the skin Bunny removed after branding him. She did a hack job, that’s for sure. Some places on his forearms are down to the bone. He probably doesn’t even feel them anymore due to her severing nerves. “You’re about to die.” I sigh. “Maybe ten minutes at the most.”
He drops his head unable to hold it up any longer. “I wish I could have drawn it out longer. But this was Bunny’s show.” I would have done things differently, but it wasn’t my decision. Not my revenge to take.
“But …” I take a step closer to him and grip his chin, pushing his head up. “I have a gorgeous woman in my bed waiting on me, and I don’t want to wait another minute for your pathetic ass to die.” I growl. “I wanna watch you take your last fucking breath, Preston. So, open up.” I begin to pry his mouth open with my hand, and he tries to pull away, but he’s too weak. I dig my fingers into his cheeks and push his head into the concrete wall to help keep him in place. Then I shake the can in my right hand before lifting it to his lips. I place the long straw to the back of his throat, and he starts to gag. I push the button. Foam begins to fill his mouth and throat. His head tries to fight me, and he pulls on his restraints to no avail. I fill his mouth completely. Then I shove the straw into his nose and fill his nostrils.
I take a step back. He thrashes, and his eyes widen as the foam starts to expand, cutting off his air. And I watch the life drain out of him like the piece of shit he is. I tap the side of his face a couple of times, and say, “Go to hell, Preston. And tell your father I said hello.”
I smile satisfied and go back over to the safe. I place the foam sealant that is supposed to fix cracked ceilings and walls away and then walk over to the door. I turn off the light and shut the door. As I walk to my room, I pass Kayn.
“I’ll take care of him, sir,” he says, knowing where I just came from.
“It can wait until later,” I tell him and enter my room. I undress, then crawl into bed next to Bunny. My hand immediately goes underneath the covers, and I find her naked. She begins to stir when I slide my hand between her thighs to cup her pussy. “I need you,” I tell her.
She gives me a soft smile, eyes still closed, and says, “I’ve been waiting.”
EPILOGUE
AVERY
“TAKE THE NEXT RIGHT,” MY brother informs me as I drive down the New York highway. Bunny and I have been visiting him for the last two weeks. She spends all of her time with Chloe and Alex, and none of them argue with me when I make Kayn escort them.
“She’s calling you again.” He holds up my phone in his hand, and I glance over at it to see Bunny light up my screen. I hit answer. “Hey, Bunny,” I call out into my speakers as the Bluetooth picks it up.
“Where are you?” she asks in her sweet voice.
I dodge her question. “Are you back at Tristan’s?”
“No.” She sighs. “We are at some Halloween store looking for costumes.” She gets quiet for a second. “Can we come back for Halloween? Chloe and Alex have made plans to go out. And I really wanna go.”
“Of course,” I answer although I hate New York.
“Thanks, babe.” Her voice has changed to excitement. “I’ll see you back at Tristan’s. Love you.”
Click.
She hangs up before I can even respond.
My brother begins to laugh. “Shut up
,” I order before he has the chance to say anything. He knows that I would do anything that woman wants. Thankfully, he keeps his mouth shut.
I see my exit coming up and jump off the highway. Going ten over the speed limit, I take the curves faster than I should.
“It’s up ahead.”
It comes into view, and I slow down. The house sits on ten acres back off the road. I see a black Corvette parked in the driveway, and I smile. The bastard is here.
I pull into the driveway like I’m expected and get out, my gun tucked in the back of my slacks. Tristan and I make our way around to the back of the house and use the key that Kayn gave me. That guy can get anything anywhere. I unlock the door and step in. There’s soft piano music playing, and I smile because that could be an advantage.
My brother falls behind me, allowing me to take the lead, knowing I can handle it. He just came along because he didn’t wanna go shopping with the girls.
A voice comes from down the hall, and I follow it. Pulling my gun out of my pocket, I also grab the silencer out of the other and screw it on. My brother pulls his out to be ready just in case. Cocking mine slowly, I raise it. As I step into a kitchen, the man comes into view. He stands in front of the burner, his back facing me, flipping pancakes. He picks them up with the spatula and plops them down on a plate. He turns around but gasps when he finds me and my brother standing in front of him. “Who the hell are you?” he demands.
I place the gun under his chin and speak. “The real question is, what did you do to deserve this?” Then I pull the trigger. He drops the plate, and it shatters before he falls to his knees, then face down.
I kneel, place the gun in his hand, and then we turn around and leave, not even bothering to turn off the stove. If the house catches on fire, then it was meant to be. I remove my gloves, and we walk outside and jump in my car. There will be signs that it wasn’t a suicide. Like the fact he dropped a plate of pancakes and no suicide letter to explain his decision. Or someone might have seen my car. But the police will never place me here because I have no connection to the man. And the gun is untraceable. I can make that possible in my line of work.
The love of my life was once a patient of his. She went to him for help, and all he did was make her feel like it was all her fault. After doing some research on the man, I found he had assault charges while in college. He had money to have it hidden well but not good enough. The man preyed on women who were already victims—too afraid they had no voice—so I did society a favor. If he had taken care of Bunny, I would have spared his life, but no one seemed to have done that. That’s why I got a list, and I’m going name by name until they are all dead.
“I can’t believe you’re gonna become a boring husband.” My brother finally breaks the silence. “Who am I gonna kill people with now?”
“I’m not quitting. I’m just taking a vacation to spend alone time with my wife.” A vacation that is long overdue.
“Have you told her yet …?” His voice trails off.
I shift gears. “The other night.”
“And how did she take it?” he questions.
I take in a deep sigh. “As good as I figured she would.”
He grunts, knowing it didn’t go all that well. I’ve tried to avoid telling her what I do for a living. When I first took her and she asked, I’d just completely ignore her. Or tell her it’s none of her business. But things have changed. Now we’re trying to make up for the eleven years that we lost. The other night while eating dinner, she wanted to know how worried she should be every time I left the house. And I couldn’t hide it from her anymore. Didn’t want to. So, I told her, and it was worse than what she had suspected.
I’m a man who kills for a living. It doesn’t matter how I do it, as long as the job gets done. I take out men who use women and little boys and girls. I always thought she hated the part of me that wouldn’t stand up for the women who had no hope, so after I thought she left me, I buried myself in that world but in a different way. My brother and I wanted to make a difference, and to my surprise, the government paid us millions to end worthless lives like Vaughn’s and Victor’s. Our father and Damon are still out there, but I have no doubt that Tristan and I will find them once I return from my honeymoon. The only difference is that I will be coming home to a wife. Who I will treat like the queen she is.
“Are you nervous about tomorrow?” he asks, handing my phone over. I put it in the cup holder.
“No.” I’ve waited all my life to marry Bunny, so I couldn’t be more ready.
He turns and looks out the window, changing the subject. “Do you think he’ll stay away?”
I know he’s asking about our dad. “He won’t for long.” He’s not the kind of guy who sits on his hands. He’ll come for us. He’ll forget about Bunny. She’s no longer important to him. I know how he works. According to him, Tristan and I killed the one thing he couldn’t live without—Vaughn. His protégé. He would never believe that Bunny did it, and I’d like to keep it that way. The less he knows about her, the better.
“It sure would be easier than us trying to find him,” he states, and I’d have to agree.
Thirty minutes later, we pull into Tristan’s driveway, and I see my Escalade SUV with bulletproof glass already here.
We walk inside, and I go straight to our room that we are staying in. But I find it empty. “Bunny?” I call out.
“One second,” she answers from the other side of the closet door.
I begin to undo the buttons on my shirt and sit on the end of the bed. A moment later, I hear the closet door open. Looking up, my breath gets caught in my throat when I see her exit.
She comes to a stop in front of me, holds out her arms and spins around. When she comes to a stop, they fall to her sides. “Do you not like it?”
I stand and push her dark hair back from her shoulders. “I love it.” My eyes sweep over the deep purple satin dress that clings to her from her chest down to the floor. It has a black sash high on her waist and ties in a big bow in the back that falls down the length of her dress and to the end of the small train. “I’m not supposed to see your dress.”
Back when we were kids, I used to imagine the day I would see her in a white wedding dress while I stood at the altar. But that’s not who either one of us is anymore. Tomorrow, she will become my wife and me her husband. It’s not going to happen at a church in front of God. Instead, my brother is going to marry us in front of a few of our friends. And that is better than any fantasy I’ve ever had because this is real life. Finally, after all these years, she’s gonna be mine in every way.
She wraps her arms around my neck and smiles up at me. “I’m not superstitious, Avery. Don’t tell me you are.”
I open my mouth to tell her no when my eyes catch sight of the black lace collar around her neck. The same one I gave her the night for Conway’s party. I reach up and run my fingers over it, looping one through the hook. Gently, I bring her toward me by it. And I arch a brow in question.
“I can be your bride and your dirty little whore,” she whispers, running her tongue along her nude painted lips.
My cock hardens behind my zipper at her words. “Yes you can, Bunny.” We laugh and smile with one another all the time, but one thing hasn’t changed. She still likes to be my slave in the bedroom. She still begs me to let her come, and there’s times I still refuse her. She likes the way I take charge of her and use her however I want. And I love that about her.
“Turn around,” I order, and she does without thought.
My hands go to the sash, and I untie it before unzipping the dress. I pull it down her body, and she steps out of it. I grab the dress and walk it into the closet. Hanging it up, I open up one of my bags that I brought and pull out what I want. Then walk back into the bedroom.
She stands in front of the king-size bed looking like a dream that I never thought would come true. Her long dark hair is over one shoulder, breathing ragged and nipples hard. I bet she’s wet. She always is
for me. All she wears is her collar and black ten-carat princess cut engagement ring. She doesn’t wear flashy things. She never did. But I wanted something that men could see from a mile away. Bunny would have been happy with just a band, but I wanted to make a fucking statement. She’s mine! And I chose black because I wanted it to be dark—like our love. Our story may have once been hearts and flowers, but now it’s storm clouds and hurricanes. And I’m okay with that.
Her round tits are asking to be kissed. Her shaved pussy begging to be fucked.
Her eyes drop to my hands, and her teeth sink into her bottom lip when she sees the black leather straps that hang from them. “Lie on the bed, Bunny. Face down.”
She tries to hide her smile but fails. She crawls onto the middle of the large bed, and being the good girl she is, she places her hands behind her back for me. I take the thick straps and wrap them around her small wrists, making sure they’re nice and tight. Once I’m satisfied with that, I slap her ass. “Up on your knees.”
She moans into the duvet and wiggles her ass up into the air. I sit between her legs and use my knees to shove them farther apart. She begins to pant. I run my hand over her pussy, and she pulls on her restraints. “You’re not going anywhere,” I say with a smile. “You’re mine.” I slap her ass again, and she hisses in a breath.
“Please …”
I grab her hair and yank her head back, cutting off her words. I lower my face down to hers, whispering in her ear, “You can fucking beg me all you want, Bunny, but it won’t get you off any sooner.” Then I let go of her head, and it falls to the bed.
Tomorrow night I will marry this woman, and when we get to our hotel, I will pick her up and carry her through the door and then make love to her until she passes out in my arms.
But tonight … I’m gonna use her. Just like we both crave.
EPILOGUE TWO
AVERY
I STAND IN MY CELLAR, MY sleeves rolled up to my elbows. My first two buttons undone and my hands fisted.
SLAUGHTER Page 37
