Hunter (Revenge & Legacy Book 1)

by M. C. Cerny

  “It’s not good, but he’s alive. That’s what matters.” Her voice turned cold. The man grunted holding her head under his chin rocking her back and forth.

  “When did the team get back?” Claudia asked the man who was obviously an officer with her husband, maybe even his best friend. I drew sad conclusions making up a life story for them to fulfill.

  “It’s classified, but I’m here for you baby. Aaron is strong. He’s always been a fighter.”

  “I know, James and that’s what frightens me the most.” The man named James took Claudia to a chair he dragged over.

  “I need to make this right between us.” Claudia rubbed her fingers over the various cuts and scrapes on his hand. I wondered if she was committing the deeply tanned texture of his skin to memory.

  “I was so afraid I might lose you both.” Claudia spoke and a glance in the room showed James moving to a more intimate position with her.

  “I’m here Claudia. Even when Aaron won’t be.” I don’t understand the importance of his words, but I do understand what it means when he takes her in his arms. He kisses her full on the lips, tongues exchanging and hands grasping.

  A flare of anger flowed over me. Her husband, a man she claimed to love not five minutes earlier was prone in a hospital bed and she’s making out with Mr. GI James. I’m no longer envious, I’m righteously pissed. This woman has everything, everything I don’t. She’s betraying her husband while he lay immobile, maybe dying. I clenched my hand tightly and the old break of my finger throbbed having never properly healed while reminding me starkly of my losses.

  Eventually, they stop their tongue fucking making me nauseous.

  “That shouldn’t have happened.” She hissed but doesn’t seem at all sorry.

  “I’m sorry Claudia. I can’t help how I feel.” James doesn’t seem half as sorry either.

  I don’t get to hear more of their lurid confession because the monitors started beeping erratically. The wounded soldier moaned in pain loud enough to hear his sadness. I was certain he knew of their betrayal smack right in his face.

  “Oh my god what’s happening? Aaron! Aaron!” James pulled her back as the doctor and two nurses rushed in to stabilize his vitals brushing me aside unnoticed in the hallway.

  “Get her out of here.” The doctor shouted and James removed a frantic Claudia from the room. They don’t even notice me standing there gaping at them.

  “No Aaron, no damn it!” The faint sound of a flat lining heart monitor beeped from outside the doorway. Claudia collapsed inconsolable to the floor.

  I just watched a man die in the noblest way possible without a comforting hand holding him. I wanted to smack the shit out of his wife because I’m not sorry for her loss. I’m sorry for the man inside who lived a lie. It’s then I see Adam stalking down the hall looking for me pissed as hell. Disobedience has a price. Feeling world weary I walk toward my daily prescription of death.

  I’m bumped from the side by a man I hadn’t seen in weeks.

  Agent Leslie Jackson dressed in a doctor’s lab coat, no name tag and an empty clipboard. Fucking amateur was going to get me killed. He doesn’t say a word, but turns seeing Adam stalk closer. He shook his head and walked on by likely missing his change to speak with me. I’m speechless myself and in shock. Surrounded by antiseptic smells burning my nose. I’m gob smacked into a frozen state of being. How dare he show up here.

  Adam reached me by then, and he doesn’t say a word. He viciously dragged me down the hall by the crux of my elbow toward an empty office. This was going to hurt.

  “A-Adam.” I stuttered.

  “Did you forget your seat, wife?” I’m hauled unceremoniously. I don’t know why he’s so pissed, but it doesn’t matter. The sun could be shining and my husband’s mercurial moods would ignore it.

  “No. I–” The slap on my ass hurt.

  “Fiona?” I said between trembles turning my head looking for the agent who was now long gone.

  “Is fine. Medicated for now.” He hissed pushing me over the desk in the confined space.

  My hand reached out into air slamming down on the desktop jarring me. My hips bumped the metal as I looked over my shoulder.

  “Please, Adam.”

  Green eyes haunted me.

  “Please what, wife?” I didn’t know what I was asking for. Adam Huntley didn’t give reprieves.

  My lips trembled tripping over words. “Please don’t do this here.” I heard the short clip of footsteps outside sure it was Agent Jackson doubling back. He’d hear me and I didn’t want that. It was one thing to submit to Adam, but another entirely to have someone like Agent Jackson witness it. I bit my lip hard.

  He leaned his body over mine, covering me. “What did you say?” His steely tone shattered the brittle wall around my heart as he pulled my skirt up to spank me. Fuck me. Defile me. I felt the wetness pool inside my panties. I was trained for this and my breasts ached for his hard hands.

  “N-nothing.” I let his blows rain down until he exhausted himself and the back of my legs throbbed hotly. I wouldn’t be sitting down for days after this. The fire on my ass was a distraction from the elephant that had taken up permanent residence on my chest. The world was heavy to carry and my grief exponentially so.

  A knock on the door stopped him and he hauled me upright straightening my clothing placing me under his arm.

  “Mr. Huntley?” The doctor said delivering the news in dry clinical terms.

  “My wife is terribly distraught.” Adam explained tucking back a wayward curl of mine with a gentleness that made me think he truly was clinically insane. The doctor barely registered me before delivering the news ignoring the torn clothing and my body forced to hug his desk with indifference.

  Eddie was dead, but my tears were already gone.

  21

  Adam

  I knew that Elizabeth was in the bathroom and would be awhile since our return from dinner. I followed the runner to the end of the hallway where her old bedroom had been and where Fiona now stayed with us. The room had once been a nursery and the irony wasn’t lost on me when I first brought Elizabeth home and put her there. It was a fitting place for a child and since Fiona was pregnant. I thought it would suite her, give her something to focus on after her loss.

  I knocked on the door and leaned against the wall waiting. Shuffling behind the door and the soft click of the lock disengaging had me step back.

  “Adam.” Fiona said, her voice rough from tears and her face blotchy. Red heads weren’t my thing but I could see why Eddie found her beautiful.

  “May I come in?”

  Fiona stepped back opening the door and I brushed past her. I’d only ever been formal toward her giving her no reason to suspect my true asshole nature. I knew where my bread was buttered and I was sure if she suspected my treatment of Elizabeth, she’d raise holy Irish hell or whatever it was that banshees did. I didn’t need her figuring out she had relatives in the Irish mob when I already had ninety-nine problems barreling down on me.

  “Elizabeth?” She said and I shook my head.

  “She’s fine. In the bath I suspect.” I strode over to the mantel and picked up a photograph of my wife, Eddie, and Fiona from the wedding. Probably one of the few occasions my bride smiled. I put the heavy frame down and over my shoulder and said, “I actually wanted to talk to you.”

  “About?” Fiona came closer and rubbed her swollen belly.

  “Sit, dear sister-in-law.” I guided her toward a high-backed chair covered in dusty rose velvet and gold gilded wood. The prior occupant before my wife was ostentatious as fuck in their decorating. Besides, Fiona would need a seat after what I told her.

  “I want to make sure you and the babies are taken care of.”

  “Oh, Adam, we’ll be fine. I’ll go back to work after their born, the hospital has a lovely daycare near the floor I work.”

  “Eddie would want me to and I feel that I should. You took care of Elizabeth before she came into my life.”
I sweetened my tone. Eddie did a bang-up job of keeping her in the dark and for that I was grateful.

  “Oh no, no please don’t.” I watched her lips tremble and went in for the kill.

  “Fiona, we both know you would have gone further in school if you could and I have the means to help you.” I patted her knee.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Let me propose something to you. I’m in need of a personal physician. I can send you to medical school easy enough. You have the grades and experience nursing. I can pay for a private nanny and I own the building in Hoboken. You would be set for life and all I’ll ask is that you’ll treat me when the time comes.”

  “You’re sick aren’t you.”

  I nodded. Fiona was perceptive as fuck. More so than my wife.

  “Does Elizabeth know?”

  “No.”

  “You’ll tell her though?”

  “It’s not really up to me.” I smiled sadly. The events I’d put in motion would soon be spinning out of control. I needed Fiona in my corner.

  “You’re good to us, Adam. Eddie would be so appreciative.”

  More like he’d kill me if I didn’t have his sister to hold over him already.

  “We’re family. These babies will always have an uncle.”

  “I do want to go back, and you’re so good to us.”

  “Then it’s settled.”

  I would have my physician, and maybe a friend.

  “You were the perfect companion.” I referred to the dinner we just attended. The Italian food was excellent. I loved a good meatball with my spaghetti. It was a shame the company ended up being mediocre, but my associates were now aware of where I stood on their deal. At least their brain matter wasn’t a huge loss. Since it wasn’t my house, Nelson was off the hook cleaning up.

  Elizabeth surveyed the walls lined with books and oil paintings I collected over the past decade. Her fingers traced the spines of texts many times her age with loving fingers. If I touched her right this second, I was bound to crush her hand in my grip.

  We had been back from Dubai a few weeks when Eddie had been killed and my brother badly injured when I got the call from the Sheik. The missile system had been hijacked and there were limited options as to how that could have occurred. I clenched my fists and steadied myself. A visibly damaged wife drew the wrong kind of attention and that was all that kept her safe tonight.

  “Thank you, Adam.” Subdued. Suspicious. Her tone said she merely tolerated me, but it wasn’t overt enough for even I to find fault with. I knew her well enough that she couldn’t hide anything from me.

  It was rare I permitted my wife to accompany me on business trips. Dubai had been a boon, a foolish one on my part considering her numerous trips to the library. As if I didn’t know every little thing that happened under my roof. Women couldn’t be trusted. My wife couldn’t be trusted. I drank the amber liquid from the crystal tumbler letting the alcohol soothe me. There was no ice to clink the glass. I wished I had something to chew, maybe crush under my teeth releasing some pressure in my jaw. I needed something other than this niggling suspicion my wife might be playing me.

  “Come wife.” Holding out my hand, I beckoned her to follow me, my sacrificial lamb. I knew she had something up her sleeve, but even I couldn’t have predicted this. A viper in my own home, and after all I’d done for her these past years.

  “Kneel.” I told her facing her away from the fire. Her silk negligée was transparent in the firelight. Her chest heaved, breasts barely cupping the gossamer fabric into soft points. She didn’t ask why there was a fire going on such a warm night and I didn’t feel I owed her any explanations. She’d learn soon enough that burning me burned her as well.

  My property.

  My problem.

  Managing these dramas was taxing.

  “Adam–”

  I interrupted her with a hush, a solitary finger to my lips. I’d jam in up nicely in other places later watching her mewl, but for now I needed silence to work this out.

  “No pet. I’m asking the questions.”

  “A-alright.” She half turned and then faced forward again when I ignored her. Spanking her into submission would take more effort than I was willing to expend given what I planned next. I’d remove her tongue for speaking out loud, but I was partial to how it dances along the ridge of my cock tentative at first, and then with pithy vigor when she swallowed me down. My mouthy little cunt needed said tongue to maintain appearances, but I wouldn’t forget this transgression any time soon. For now, I’d make her feel the burn elsewhere reminding her every time she touched it, let her fingers graze the raised spot who she belonged too and who she devoted her allegiance to.

  I played with the poker in the fire letting the iron heat up. Thinking about Sadira and her bruised and bloodied body I weighed the options in front of me. I hadn’t expected the Sheik to call me and advise me that my own shipment had been diverted after payment. How does that even happen unless someone in my inner circle divulged the knowledge? There were even fewer I trusted who would know the specifics. The bank account, the schematics, the planning to trap my father and bring him to his knees was in jeopardy.

  I didn’t expect the betrayal in my own house. Frankly, the disappointment in my gut grew like the cancer invading my body. Dormant but aggressively waiting for its opportunity. Knowing that a little birdie had spoken outside her gilded cage made me irate. After all, it’s not every day a wife steals billions to arm refugees and thwart her own country’s wasted political feel-good humanitarian efforts. God damn minx was an unknowing accomplice to the real terrorists and she wouldn’t survive a day being incarcerated for it. The General would love hearing about this, however, I wasn’t giving her up. Waterboarding her in Guantanamo would do zero for my dick.

  My misguided humanitarian.

  A regular bleeding heart.

  My unknowing Madam to militia group bent on bring the country to its knees. She was right up there with Angelina and Mother Theresa except I was here to rip off the wings and bring her back to reality. Squash her dreams. Kill the flutter of freedom. Brand the loyalty back into her, starting with the hot metal poker I held in my hand.

  I heard it hurt like a bitch, but I didn’t know personally. I guess Elizabeth could tell me in great detail if she didn’t pass out minutes from now. I imagined the agony rippling through her body would be the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. The exquisite torture as her face changed and puckered with pain while her eyes silently cursed me to the Devil, my good friend.

  I could live without the arms deal, the money was nothing comparatively, but I couldn’t live with her diverting the technology I’d funded behind it. The bitter taste of disloyalty didn’t mix with my drink. I put the poker down for a minute.

  Silver glinted in the firelight. Her brother’s necklace hung around her neck, a visible reminder that she continued to defy me. She kept a tiny part of herself locked away inside her head from me, untouchable.

  I hated it.

  She was mine.

  She agreed to this.

  My lips smacked together and I narrowed my gazed on her bowed head gripping the hair hard to yank her neck back. “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about schematics for a cache weapons, would you?”

  I waved my free hand in the air dismissively. I still might kill her if she truly betrayed me. Knowing what she shared with Sadira was a moot point now. I would let her blood soak the carpet staining it beyond repair and wait until morning for Nelson to get rid of her body so that the stank of her lies permeated my house. A reminder to never trust.

  Her head bopped up and glassy eyes met mine.

  “N-no. Adam, what are you talking about?”

  Her hands rested on her knees, subservient, but I wasn’t pleased. Not at all. She was lying. I could sense it, but I had no idea of what or how and I hated the idea that she might have bested me.

  No one bests the master.

  I would not tolerate it.

/>   “That’s right.” I rushed grabbing her around the neck. I squeezed the skin under my grip pinching it, pulling her up to face me.

  I growled. “Because my wife, my sweet wife, would never betray me.” She shook under my touch, hands flailing to break my grip. Any more pressure and she might piss herself like a toy dog. Her fear fueled me, igniting the madness within.

  “N-never Adam.”

  I leaned in close to her ear feeling her whole body shake from the dark hair on her head to the tips of her delicate toes. Her controlled distaste of me was pungent and I loved every erratic heart beat associated with it.

  “Because you love me, wife.”

  She paused licking her dry lips and closed her eyes letting her lashes fan down with crystalline tears.

  “You. Love. Me.” I reiterated in case she forgot.

  “I do. Of course, I do.”

  “You said vows.” I growled.

  “Yes. I love you, Adam.”

  I hummed to myself before kicking her legs out stepping on the center of her back. “Of course, you do.”

  I was done with lies.

  She screamed. They always did, but this was different because I reveled in her pain, her struggle to maintain was a useless foray. I would have my way, I always did.

  “Whatever it is I’ve done, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” She wept her apology.

  “Did you tell Sadira why I came to Dubai?”

  “What? No.” Her eyes darted nervously with guilt.

  “Did she fuck you?” I spat. I hated that someone, anyone touched my Elizabeth without my permission. Not that I’d have granted it anyway.

  “A-Adam, it isn’t what you think.” Her chest heaved as I circled her sprawled sniveling body.

  I kneeled next to her grabbing her by the back of the neck and shoving her face to the floor so her cheek grazed the carpet and her hands splayed out to prevent me from bashing her face into it. She might as well have been a naughty puppy. I’d rub her nose in it and smack her ass when this was over. “Did you think I wasn’t serious about someone else touching what was mine?”