Truth

by Penelope Sky

  Because of her fire.

  When I woke up, I rolled out of bed and washed my face and brushed my teeth before getting dressed and walking out the door. I wanted to tell Catalina what had happened, but now wasn’t the right time. When we got home and were in the privacy of the apartment, I would tell her what happened.

  At the office, the doctor cut into her cast and got her foot free.

  When she tried to move it, she winced in pain.

  “It’s going to hurt for a while,” the doctor said. “But that’s normal. Start physical therapy immediately, and after a few weeks, try to walk more on your own.”

  I took her home afterward, carrying her so she wouldn’t have to deal with the crutches. When I got her into the apartment, she tried to walk on it, wincing as she attempted to get used to moving it normally again.

  “The doctor told you to try after a few weeks. Not right away.”

  “But I’ve got to get back to work.” She clenched her teeth as she forced herself to move. “If I take too long, people might forget about me, and I’ll be the understudy…”

  “No one is going to forget about you, baby.” Not possible.

  “And I need to pay bills—”

  “I pay your bills.”

  She gripped the kitchen island for balance, lifting her foot to take a break. “I don’t want your money, Heath. I don’t need you to take care of me—”

  “You agreed to marry me.” I came to her side and stared her down. “So, yes, I’m going to be taking care of you. My money is your money. So, don’t worry about money ever again.” I gave her an authoritative expression, warning her not to question me.

  She was quiet.

  I moved to the fridge. “What do you want for lunch?”

  “Anything…I don’t care.” She tried to walk again.

  I shut the door and turned back to her. “If you rush it, you’re just going to hurt yourself more. Listen to the doctor, alright? Now, sit your ass down.”

  Both of her eyebrows rose in offense. “What did you just say to me?”

  “You heard what I said.” I pulled out the chair at the dining table for her.

  She walked to the chair, gave me a defiant look, then fell into it. But her look was savage, like I’d pay for the bossiness later.

  I stepped into the kitchen and made lunch, indifferent to her wrath. I made sandwiches and salads before I carried the plates to the table. I fell into the chair close to her and started to eat right away.

  She didn’t touch her food as she stared at me, like she demanded an apology before she would touch anything. “You know—”

  “Damien came to the Underground last night.” I knew I was being short with her, an abrupt change in mood from our previous joy. She needed to understand why. She needed to know what happened with her brother.

  Her mouth stayed open for a few seconds in shock before she closed it again. Then her expression completely changed, turning soft, confused. “What happened…? What did he say?”

  “He didn’t say much. He delivered money then walked out.”

  “Oh god…” She leaned forward and planted her face in her palms.

  “That’s why I’m not in the best mood today.”

  She held her position as she breathed to herself, sighing loudly, before she pulled her hands down again. “I guess I should have expected repercussions from screaming at him.”

  “Getting money seems like an odd repercussion.”

  “Yeah, I don’t get it either.” She propped her chin on her hand and stared across the room.

  I stared at my food, starving but with no real appetite.

  “Should I talk to him?” she whispered.

  “I don’t know,” I said honestly. I had no idea what it meant. I’d assumed the money was lined with explosives, but it was clean. Unless he’d invented a device that couldn’t be detected, it seemed completely legitimate.

  “Damien promised me he wouldn’t hurt you…and he wouldn’t go back on his promise.”

  I hoped he wouldn’t. I didn’t want to fight someone with my hands tied behind my back. My phone vibrated in my pocket, so I pulled it out in case it was important. That was when I saw his name on the screen. “He just texted me.”

  Her head snapped in my direction. “Oh my god, what did he say?”

  I read it out loud. “‘I want to talk to you.’”

  She sighed. “That’s it?”

  Another message popped up. I read it. “‘At my office. Now. Come alone.’”

  Catalina didn’t touch her food because it didn’t seem important anymore. “I guess that’s okay. He’s not going to shoot you at a bank…”

  “I have no idea what he’s capable of.”

  “Well…bring your gun.”

  I set the phone down and turned to her. “What’s the point, baby? Unless you give me permission…”

  She looked into my eyes and struggled with the decision. Then she shook her head. “No.”

  I didn’t take offense to it.

  “He won’t hurt you. He won’t go back on his word.”

  I hoped she knew her brother better than I did, because right now, I couldn’t read him. That was my specialty, but I was going into this completely blind, with no insight whatsoever. I grabbed the phone and texted back. Be there in 10.

  Another message popped up. I’m unarmed.

  I turned to Catalina. “He just said he’s unarmed.”

  She sighed in relief. “He wouldn’t say that unless he meant it… He just wants to talk.”

  “About what?” I asked.

  “I…I have no idea.” She shrugged. “I seriously don’t.”

  The lobby was empty, as if he cleared his schedule for this. Hades must have been at home because there was no sign of his presence. There was no secretary at the front desk. I helped myself to the hallway lined with windows.

  All the doors were shut—except one.

  I stopped outside of it, not nervous, just full of dread. I was prepared for the unexpected, always. But this wasn’t a normal afternoon for me. Emotions were in the way of my logic. My future wife was on the line, and this was the roadblock in the way.

  After a final breath, I turned the corner and stepped inside.

  Instead of Damien sitting behind his desk, he sat in the middle of his couch, which faced another sofa. His office was big, with two leather armchairs facing his desk as well as a seating area. There was a decanter of scotch in the center, along with two glasses that were already filled with the liquor. He didn’t turn to look at me, his eyes on the other couch.

  I moved to the couch across from him and took a seat, directly facing him.

  He leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, his palms together, his fingers spread apart.

  I stared at him for a few seconds, and when nothing was said, I grabbed the glass and took a drink. Maybe it was poison. Whatever.

  That made him snap out of his reverie. He dropped his hands and regarded me in silence, his expression no longer livid like it had been when he’d stepped into the Underground. He was relaxed, indifferent. He reached for the glass in front of him and took a drink too, like he needed the liquor in his blood to focus.

  I didn’t speak because I didn’t know where to begin.

  He looked me in the eye, his fingers interlocking so his hands were an enormous pile of white knuckles. “I want you to tell me what happened. I want every detail, even if you think I can’t handle it, and I want every person responsible for it.”

  My eyes remained focused on his, but my mind was completely blank, unsure what he spoke of. “You’re going to need to be more specific—”

  “I know she was trafficked.” His voice broke slightly, like saying those words to me caused him so much pain.

  I didn’t know how he’d figured it out, especially when it had happened months ago. I’d dissolved that organization and turned it into a brothel. Unless he was visiting as a paying customer, I had no idea how he knew.

  He st
ared at me expectantly. “Talk.”

  I didn’t want to take this trip down memory lane, because whatever pain he thought he felt, mine was worse. Because I loved her in a way he didn’t. I’d loved her when I saw her on the floor of that cage, naked and beaten. Why else would I change my entire belief system in a single second? “She was at a bar, had an altercation with a guy in the bathroom. She fought back, kicked his ass, and called the cops. Turned out, he was the guy in charge of the entire sector. Petrov and the other guys were there, so they followed her home and broke in to her apartment that night.”

  Damien followed my story, his expression controlled.

  “I’m not sure how long she was there…maybe a few days. She and I weren’t talking at the time. I wanted to be with her, but she turned me down. That was weeks before this happened. I went down to the basement to collect money, like I always did, and that was when she whispered my name.” I closed eyes for a second because the memory was just as disturbing now as when it actually happened. “Her face was so beaten, I didn’t even recognize her…”

  Damien closed his eyes, releasing a painful sigh that made his nostrils flare.

  He told me to tell him everything, so I did. “She was naked.”

  He didn’t open his eyes.

  “I told them to open the cage. Then I got her out of there. I killed Popov because he was the one who’d beaten her. I let the others go because they hadn’t touched her from what I could gather.”

  He was quiet for a long time, holding his body still as he processed the horrible tale. When he opened his eyes again, they were wet, like the emotion was too powerful to overcome. He couldn’t keep it together, not even in front of me, a man he despised. He didn’t look directly at me, his gaze focused slightly to the left of me. “Was she raped?” His voice was shaky as he asked the question.

  “She never explicitly told me. But, no, I don’t think she was.”

  “Why would she not tell you?” he whispered.

  “Because I told her it didn’t matter to me…” Regardless of what happened to her, it didn’t change the way I felt about her, didn’t change her desirability. I didn’t see some asshole when I looked at her. I saw a woman as untouched by trauma as before.

  He sighed quietly, his hands moving to his eyes so he could wipe away the moisture that built there. “I want them all killed.”

  I didn’t question the order. “Alright.”

  “Even if they didn’t touch her, even if they didn’t—”

  “I’ll take care of it, Damien.”

  He went quiet again, moving his gaze to the decanter of scotch between us.

  Killing those guys would make things complicated with my men, but if that was what he wanted, I wouldn’t deny him. Would replace them with someone else who wanted a job.

  He grabbed his glass and finished it, leaving only a single drop behind.

  “Why did you bring the money last night?” Now it was my turn to ask questions.

  “Because I knew your men were doubting your leadership.” His hands were together at his lips, his eyes on the table, his words clear even with his knuckles in the way. “When I found out what you did for my sister, I owed you.”

  If he owed me, I wanted something else, not bags of money. “If you want to pay me back, give me what I really want.” I waited for him to look at me, but he never raised his gaze. “And you know what I want, Damien.”

  He lowered his hands then looked at me head on. “Vox came to my office a few days ago. He was the one who told me everything about Catalina.”

  My eyes narrowed.

  “He’s been following you. He pieced together that Catalina is the woman from the basement…and that you changed all your rules for personal reasons. Then he wanted to know why I wasn’t paying you, to use that against you too. So, I lied and said I was still paying you…I just didn’t have the money last time.”

  Now I understood how he’d known all of this.

  And I knew I had to kill Vox.

  Fuck, Balto was right…and I hated it when he was right.

  Damien grabbed the decanter and refilled his glass, his eyes suddenly aged by ten years, like the knowledge about Catalina had changed his entire foundation. “You need to kill him, Heath. He’ll never stop coming for you.”

  “I will.” I didn’t need to be told what to do, but I swallowed my pride because of the situation. “Thank you for telling me about his visit.”

  “I did it because he knows who my sister is to you. He might use her against you. So, either kill him, or I’ll do it.”

  “I said I’ll handle it.” Like I would ever let some piece of shit near my woman.

  Now, it was quiet—for a long time.

  I didn’t know if I should leave. Or if I should push him to fold.

  He interrupted the silence as he cleared his throat. “Thank you…for what you did for her.”

  “I’d do anything for her, Damien.”

  He bowed his head and gave a slight nod.

  “If you really want to show your gratitude, you’ll put our past behind us.”

  He wouldn’t look at me.

  “We both know you wouldn’t have been able to save her. By the time you figured out she was gone—”

  “Shut up.” He raised his head and looked at me, livid and disgusted by the reminder. “I know, Heath. I fucking know.”

  “Then you owe me.”

  “I paid you back—”

  “I don’t want that,” I snapped. “I want her.”

  He looked away again, like he was still opposed to the idea.

  “Even if I was willing, my father may not be so open-minded.”

  “Catalina seems to think so.”

  “Because he’s a harmless old man. But when it comes to his children, he’s a grizzly bear. If he knew everything you’ve done to both of us…it might be different. Catalina only knows him as a loving father. I know him as a man.”

  I wasn’t going to let that man say no. If he didn’t like me, I would force him to. “Then you can convince him.”

  He shook his head. “If I am supposed to convince him with facts, I doubt it.”

  “Damien.”

  He sighed before he looked at me again. “I need to talk to my sister. I just wanted to know everything before I spoke to her.”

  “Honestly, the last thing she wants to do is talk about—”

  “I don’t need your permission, Heath.”

  I bit my tongue.

  He rose to his feet, like the conversation was finished. “Just give me a couple minutes.”

  “You’re going now?”

  “Yes. And I’d appreciate the privacy.”

  I couldn’t even give her a warning, and that felt like a betrayal. “Alright.”

  He moved to his desk and grabbed his things before he walked to the door.

  I got to my feet. “Damien?”

  He turned back to me, his expression hard.

  “I know I did a lot of fucked-up things to you. But I’m not that man anymore.” I stared him down with sincerity in my eyes, needing him to understand my soul had been cleansed once Catalina came into my life. She took my hand and pulled me onto the right path, made me into a man I’d never thought I could be. I didn’t even remember who I used to be anymore.

  He held my stare for a few seconds then walked out.

  Fourteen

  Catalina

  I never ate my lunch because I was too nervous about Heath’s conversation with my brother.

  He didn’t text me.

  An hour passed—nothing.

  I still sat at the kitchen table, our untouched food in front of us. My foot had been released from the cast so I should be excited this day had come, but now a black cloud blocked all my sunshine, all my triumphs.

  Footsteps approached the door.

  I turned at the sound, relieved he was home.

  The door opened, and he stepped inside.

  But it wasn’t Heath.

  It was my
brother.

  My mind immediately jumped to a terrible conclusion. “What did you do to him?” I started to rise out of my chair.

  He held up his hand and placed it on my shoulder, keeping me down. “Nothing. I just wanted to talk to you in private.”

  When I sank back into the chair, I released the breath I’d been holding. “So, he’s okay?”

  “He’s fine.” He walked back to the entryway to shut the door. Then he returned to me, sitting in the chair Heath had vacated when he’d left. He pushed away the uneaten food and rested his arms on the table.

  The anticipation was killing me. “What happened?”

  He still didn’t say anything, like he didn’t know what to say at all.

  “Just tell me, Damien.”

  He finally turned his gaze on me. “I know what happened to you…and I know he’s the one who rescued you.” His tone of voice was different, unique, unprecedented. He sounded so sad, so depressed, like he would never be happy again.

  There was only one thing he could be referring to.

  “The man I plotted with last time came to me and told me everything. He’s been keeping tabs on Heath, trying to find a way to take him down. When he told me what had happened to you…it was hard to hear.”

  “I never wanted you to know.”

  “I assumed. Otherwise, you would have told me so I might actually like him.”

  “You should like him, Damien. Even if that never happened—”

  He sighed loudly.

  “If he hadn’t walked into that basement…I never would have been the same. I was only in there for a few days, and it broke me. He didn’t just save me physically—he saved my spirit. I didn’t want to be with him just because of what he did for me. I wanted to be with him…because I wanted to. He just gave me a reason for it to be okay.”

  He stared at my sink, his expression unreadable.

  “I meant what I said the other day. That I’m going to be with him regardless of how you feel about it. But it would make this so much easier if you did feel differently about him.”

  “You’re asking a lot of me, Cat.” He turned back to me.