In the Beginning

by Marks, Teir

  Sutton did as he recommended, and after a moment, she tried to relay the message again. “Maleiha told me to come get you for breakfast.” She stated quietly. She furrowed her eyebrows at the fact that she had been able to get through it so easily.

  “See, that wasn't so hard. I'll be down in a minute.”

  She nodded to him as she fidgeted in place. The next room was Synn's, and he definitely scared her. The same way Grae did, but no ease came along with it.

  She watched as Grae cocked his head at her. “I'm assuming that Beauty has you rounding up everyone. Synn isn't in his room if that's what you're worried about.”

  She let out an inaudible sound of relief before turning and making her way to the other closed door. Knocking, she waited a minute for Nyela to answer the door. When she did, she was zipping up her shorts.

  “Hey. I was just about to come find you.” Nyela told her.

  “For what?” Sutton questioned.

  “Just to see how you were holding up. We didn't get to talk much yesterday after everything happened.”

  “I'm fine. Maleiha said that breakfast is ready.”

  Nyela nodded at her, and the two women fell into step together down the stairs.

  “How's your shoulder?”

  “It's okay. It hurts a bit, but I can take more medication after I eat.”

  “Sutton.” Nyela stated, stopping her as they got to the landing of the second floor. “I wouldn't have shot you if I had another way.”

  “I know.” She responded.

  She wasn't mad at her sister. She had done what was necessary to save the three of them. It wasn't like the wound had been fatal. It was simply a graze. Nothing that wouldn't heal on its own over time, and that a few pain pills couldn't help.

  They continued on their way, and once on the first floor, she asked if Nyela would get Synn while she went and got Luna. Sutton wanted no parts of having the tell the oldest Amato sibling that breakfast was ready.

  Making her way down the hall to the room that Luna had been given, she knocked, and when she was called in, opened the door to see Luna sitting on the bed.

  “How's your shoulder feel?” She inquired of Sutton, and the younger woman could only wonder about the question. Her wound was trivial compared to Luna's.

  “It's fine. How's your ankle?”

  “It hurts like a bitch. I'm just waiting on noon to roll around so I can take some more medication for it.”

  “Well, breakfast is ready if you want to come eat,” Sutton told her, walking over to help her stand and hand her the crutches that Emery had given to her before all of the siblings and Nyela had gone to the basement last night.

  The two of them headed down the hall to the kitchen. Sutton noticed that they were the last ones to enter.

  Kylen hadn't been in the bedroom when she'd come down, and she hadn't bothered looking for him. She figured he already knew that Maleiha had cooked since when he originally left the room that morning, he had told her it was to go to the kitchen.

  As she walked past the chair he was sitting in, he pulled her into his lap and kissed her neck. Sutton's face immediately began to heat up, though no one would be able to see her blushing.

  She squirmed in his lap, trying to get up and take the seat beside him, but he simply wrapped his arm tighter around her waist.

  It wasn't but a few seconds when Maleiha, who was sitting on the other side of the empty chair, reached over and thumped him on the neck.

  “Let her up. I'm sure she's perfectly capable of sitting in a chair on her own.” The older woman told him, and Sutton watched as Kylen turned to glare at her.

  “Don't make me stab you.” He told her, and Sutton's eyes widened, but Maleiha only rolled her eyes and went back to placing food on her plate.

  “Try it, and I'll shoot you,” Grae responded, as he placed some eggs on Maleiha's plate, then his own before passing the dish to Emery.

  “Sounds like fun.” Kylen retorted as he released her.

  Sutton slid off his lap and into the chair beside him. She began to fidget a bit. Though it wasn't a huge group of people, she still didn't do well in them, and she didn't know everyone personally yet either.

  She felt a hand come to rest on her knee, and she looked over to Maleiha, who was blessing her food at the same time Kylen placed his hand on her thigh. Relaxing, Sutton took the bowl of oatmeal Larkin was passing across the table to her and began to fix her plate. Feeling more at ease than she thought she could this quickly around people she had just met.

  Maleiha placed food on a plate, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge. She took a deep breath before walking out of the kitchen and to the basement door. She paused outside of it for a moment and tried to calm her nerves. Grae had assured her that the man was secured tightly and would have no chance of getting loose.

  Opening the door, she stepped over the threshold onto the first stair and pulled the door almost closed behind her. It was enough that it would look like it was closed from the outside. The only way out was with a fingerprint scan, and she was not loaded into the system.

  She turned on the light and slowly made her way down the stairs. Her steps halted once he came into view. If it wasn't for her nursing major, she might have dropped everything she was holding. His head was down. He was cut all over with dried blood on him, and for some reason, his penis was out. His fingers missing. With all the blood she was seeing, Maleiha was shocked that he was even still alive.

  Swallowing, she made her way over to one of the tables and placed the plate and water bottle down. She pulled some gloves from the box and put them on.

  When she turned back around, he was looking directly at her. She jumped a bit. She had thought that maybe he was sleeping or passed out. He didn't say anything, just stared at her.

  She had to admit that she was scared. However, she knew the exact way to get over it. Immediately, she went into nurse mode.

  Making her way over to him, she was cautious, moving slow. Not only for her benefit but for his as well. She needed him to know that she wasn't there to hurt him.

  Maleiha grabbed his member gently, but he still groaned out, and she tucked it away. She then made her way over to the sink in the corner. She ran the water and decided to clean him up a bit. This was her part of Grae's plan, but it wasn't anything she wouldn't do for someone who was hurt. The circumstances were just different.

  She filled two little buckets with hot water and grabbed a towel, dropping it into one of the buckets. She decided to skip the soap. It would more than likely just sting any wounds he had, and her objective was supposed to be getting him to trust her.

  Going back over to him, she sat both buckets down. Wringing the towel out, she brought it up to his face, trying to wash some of the blood off of it. However, he leaned his head back. She stared at him for a moment before reaching further and starting to wash his face regardless.

  She was gentle, but she knew that she was hurting him. There were cuts all over his face. Once she got it cleaned off, she studied him for a moment. Something about him was vaguely familiar.

  Once she was done with his face, she looked down at his fingers that were sitting in his lap. She knew that it had been over twelve hours since they had tortured him, and she was basing her timing off of that. Without them being on ice, there was no way they had survived and could be sewn back on. Though she also knew that the man had no chance of making it out of there alive.

  That was the part that almost troubled her. Except, when it entered her mind, she simply thought about the fact that this was one of the men that had tried to abduct and possibly kill three women she now had a connection to. Even if only by her connection to Grae's siblings through him.

  Picking the fingers up, she put them on the table. She grabbed one of the chairs and moved it in front of him before going back and grabbing the plate of food and the bottle of water. The former of the two being cold, but she figured that any food was better than none.

  She placed t
he bottle on the floor by the legs of the chair before forking some eggs and holding them out to him. He simply stared at her, and she sighed. Maleiha looked from him to the fork and then back to him again. Grae had told her that she didn't have to talk to him, and she had no intentions to. Not if she could absolutely help it.

  They had a stare off for a moment, and Maleiha figured that her stubborn insistence wouldn't change his mind. So, she tried a different approach. She figured that he didn't trust her and she didn't blame him. He probably also thought that the food was poison.

  Bringing the fork to her mouth, she ate some of the eggs before doing the same with the other food on the plate. She also took a sip from the water bottle.

  When her display was complete, she forked more eggs and held the fork back up to him. It took him a moment, and she was sure that they were going to have another long stare down. After about a minute, though, he opened his mouth, and she fed him.

  They did this in silence for about twenty minutes until the food, and all of the water was gone. When it was, she didn't say a word to him, but as he inclined his head, she remembered why he looked familiar to her. She made sure not to change her expression as the revelation came to her. She simply took the plate and the bottle and headed towards the steps.

  Making her way up them, she made a show of peeking out of the door before turning the light off and heading out.

  She headed back into the kitchen and found Grae sitting at the bar. She dropped the bottle in the trash and placed the plate in the sink.

  “How'd it go?” He questioned.

  “Do you have your phone on you?”

  “Yeah,” Grae responded, immediately standing and rounding the counter to stand in front of her. “What happened?”

  She held her hand out, and he placed his phone in it. Maleiha dialed the number she needed and placed the phone to her ear.

  “I've seen the man in the basement before.” She told him as she heard the person on the other end pick up. “Devin, hey. It's Maleiha. I need you to send me something.”

  “What do you need?”

  “The night I was attacked at the club. Can you send me the surveillance video from the front door? Between eleven-thirty and twelve-thirty.”

  “I don't know, Maleiha. What do you need it for?”

  She nibbled her lower lip. She didn't think she needed to tell him what was happening. So, she decided on something that would have the desired effect of getting her what she wanted.

  “Grae wants it.” She told him, looking up at her boyfriend.

  “Fine,” Devin stated after a moment. “I'll get it now and send it to him.” With that the two hung up.

  “Beauty, tell me what's going on.”

  “The man in the basement. He was at the club the night Adam attacked me. With another man.”

  Grae's blue eyes stared down at her. “Let's go tell the others.”

  Maleiha handed him his phone back, and he placed it in his back pocket before taking her hand and going to find everyone else.

  5

  Korrae was gathered in what looked like a conference room with everyone else. There was a large television mounted on the wall at one end of the table. Since it was on and appeared that Miles, who they had been introduced to once they entered, was doing something with his laptop, she assumed he was about to show them all something.

  “The man in the basement. I've seen him before.” Maleiha spoke, and Korrae turned her attention to her as everyone else did the same.

  “Where did you see him?” Larkin asked.

  “He was at the club one night with another man,” Maleiha informed them.

  “Miles has been working on a list of known associates since Grae sent him the man in the basement's picture half an hour ago.” Ashton comment.

  “I have, and I've found a few,” Miles spoke.

  A few seconds later, Korrae watched as four pictures popped up on the television. She had been leaning back in her seat but sat up at the sight in front of her. She was sure that she had seen one of those men before, and it didn't take her but a moment to realize where it had been.

  “I ran into that man on campus on move out day,” Larkin stated from beside her.

  “Which one?” Emery questioned.

  “Far-right.”

  “The man on the far left came into my boutique. He said he was buying things for his wife.” Korrae told them.

  “That's the man that's in the basement,” Maleiha informed her.

  “The man next to him was the one that came to the house,” Luna spoke.

  “He's also the one he was with at the club.” Maleiha tacked on.

  “So, it looks like you've all been in contact with one of these men in some form. Except for this one.” Ashton stated, pointing to the man second from the right.”

  “Who is he, Miles?” Grae questioned.

  At that point, Korrae tuned out. Her mind took her back to the day that man had come into her boutique and spent hundreds of dollars. She tried to think back to if he had felt threatening while she had been helping him, but couldn't think of a single moment during their interaction where he was.

  It could have been because she had not been alone. Brandon had been in the shop with her that day. That could have possibly kept something from happening to her.

  That thought lingered in her mind. Something could have happened to her. She had been so unsuspecting and hadn't had her guard up or anything. Why would she have thought she'd need a reason too?

  The sixth sense for danger that everyone else seemed to have was extremely lacking on her end. She hadn't even sensed that her boyfriend was into some dangerous things. Granted, she did get that aura of mystery from him, but he didn't scream danger.

  His siblings, on the other hand, were an entirely different story. Each one of them screamed, “Danger, stay the hell away.” Though it seemed that Grae hid it well. Because of that fact, she was sure Ashton hid it even better.

  Her eyes drifted to him, and she found that he was already looking at her. He raised a brow, and she shook her head slightly. They still hadn't talked, and she honestly wasn't sure if she wanted too. Talking to him about all of it would make it real. It would solidify it, and she wasn't sure if she was ready for that yet.

  Korrae didn't know if she could take having to think about all of the things that he had done. The danger he had put himself in or the threat he would put himself in. The risk he had put her in.

  A majority of her sidestepping the conversation was because of that last reason. She felt that if she thought about the fact that her life could be in danger due to her connection with him, dating him, she knew that she would resent him a bit. She didn't want to do that.

  Ashton was the only man that she had been willing to try to let her walls down for. The only one that had been patient enough with her to give her the opportunity to work to let it down.

  So, for that, she didn't want to talk about it. At least, not at this moment.

  Kylen pulled onto Sutton's street with Rico in the car behind them. They were coming to get some of her equipment so that she and Miles could find out all they could on the man in their basement and his associates.

  Though Miles had found out some information, Sutton had been confident that she could find more. So, he had volunteered to bring her home to pick up some things and decided to have Rico tag along with them. Just in case shit went down.

  Kylen knew that he would be more than capable of handling anything that may happen. However, he wanted an extra person there for his Doll's protection.

  He watched from his peripheral as Sutton pushed something on her phone to open the garage doors. He pulled into one side while Rico pulled into the other. Kylen was about to get out when she stopped him with a hand on his arm.

  Watching as she fiddled with her phone again, a ramp opened in front of Rico's car. Kylen rolled down his window and gestured for Rico to drive down. Once he did, Sutton turned in her seat to face him.

  “I
don't think you have enough room to back up and then pull in. Not without opening the garage door, and if anyone is watching, it's going to look suspicious.”

  “You're right about that, Doll.”

  “We're going to have to walk down it.”

  Kylen raised a brow at her. “Then, I could have gotten out a moment ago when I was about too.”

  Sutton shook her head. “No, the ramp won't open if there is movement on the garage floor.”

  Getting out of the car, Kylen went around to open her door. It wasn't a standard action for him, but he had no problem doing it for her. He took her hand in his and led her down the ramp.

  When they made it down there, Rico was standing beside the car looking around, and Kylen couldn't say he blamed him. He felt like they had walked into the operating center for some darknet corporation. The technology held in this one room was impressive. There was also exercise equipment and a few motorcycles. Which he was assuming were Nyela's.

  “Tell us what you need, Doll.”

  For the next couple of hours, Kylen and Rico loaded all of the equipment that Sutton pointed out to them that she needed. He had to admit it was far more than he thought it would be, but he was glad that they had gotten Rico to come with his SUV. There was no way all of that would have fit into his vehicle.

  Once it was all loaded, Kylen questioned whether or not she wanted to get anything else.

  “No. I'm sure Nye will want some of her things, but she'll come to get them when she has time.”

  He nodded as he gestured to Rico. When the older man was back in his vehicle, he backed up the ramp. Kylen and Sutton followed him up. They got back into his car, and Sutton closed the ramp. When it was completely shut, the garage door came up, and Kylen pulled out first after checking his rear-view.

  They were heading straight back to his house. There were still things they needed to discover. He knew that the faster they got Sutton's equipment hooked up and running, the faster she and Miles could dig deeper and find more information on the three men they had identification on.