Cruel Temptation

by Callahan, Kelli

  A shot rang out, and everyone screamed, and chaos fell in the holiness of the church.

  My specialty.

  “I think it’s best you leave, Ingrid.”

  “Are you kidding? I’m not missing this.” She straightened her back and watched people run out the doors, women tripping in their high heels, and men not helping them get out.

  “I told you, I was here for both. Excuse me,” I said, inching my way in front of her until I walked down the aisle, Quinn staring at me with her wide, light brown eyes.

  Another shot rang out, and this time, the bullet tore into Brian’s shoulder and spattered blood all over her white gown. She screamed and tried to go to him, but Heaven held her back while Grayson held Brian.

  Father stood there, reciting something out of the bible for demons. That wouldn’t work on me.

  I was the devil.

  “You look stunning, Quinn.” I bent down and kissed her cheek. She gasped, unable to form words. Tears ran down her face, and I kissed them away too, drinking her down like a parched man that had been denied of water.

  I turned my attention to Brian, the pathetic excuse of a man. He was crying. A bumbling mess on his knees as the blood dripped from his wound. I bent down and gripped his chin with my fingers, hating him even more than I thought was possible.

  “What are you doing?” Quinn yelled at me.

  I looked over my shoulder, seeing the mascara run black trails down her face and smirked. “Taking what is mine.”

  And it wasn’t Quinn.

  It was vengeance.

  Chapter One

  Quinn

  Jaxon freaking Steel.

  Ruining the damn day like he always did.

  Seeing him hurt too. He was devastatingly, dangerously handsome, even more so after all these years. He had changed. Prison, as odd at it sounded, treated him...well. I shouldn’t notice that on my wedding day, but it was impossible not to. He was bigger, taller, and had tattoos everywhere. He had a darkness that surrounded him, a power that made my knees quiver, and my stomach flip. It reminded me of the time we dated when we were teens, but it was more intense; he wasn’t an unsure boy; he was a man that knew what he wanted.

  That took what he wanted.

  Was that what he was doing? He thought he could swoop in after all these years and object at my wedding, and I'd fall at his feet? He murdered his sister— his pregnant sister. It took Brian years to get over Tracy’s death and the death of his unborn child.

  “How dare you?” I spat, doing my best to wiggle from the stranger’s grasp. “Let me go!” I tried to get to Brian, the man I was pretty sure I loved, but the grasp the man had on me was too tight. “Brian, baby, are you okay? Please, talk to me,” I begged.

  My begging got the attention of Jaxon, his face sculpted from the flames of hell as he stared at me. God, his eyes were pools of inky black, pure sin, and bad intentions, and I could lose myself in them all over again if I wasn’t careful.

  And if I were stupid.

  I refused to be stupid over Jaxon Steel ever again.

  Jaxon tsked and sighed as if exhausted and annoyed by the situation. “She doesn’t know, does she? How much of a scum bag you really are?”

  “She has nothing to do with this,” Brian spat, his forehead shining with sweat as he hung his head.

  Jaxon yanked Brian’s head back by his hair and leaned down, bringing his face close to Brian’s. “She has everything to do with this,” Jaxon sneered. “Does she know about all your lies? Because I do.”

  “Lies? What lies?” I asked. “Please, someone tell me what is going on.”

  “Like she’ll ever believe you,” Brian chuckled, a menacing sound I had never heard from him before. “You killed her sister, remember?”

  Jaxon straightened and glanced to the guy behind Brain who held him down and nodded. The guy lifted his gun in the air and brought it down on Brain’s head.

  “No!” I screamed, doing my best to yank away from the hold on me again, but it was useless. “Why did you do that? What do you want from me?” I screamed, and something moving out of the corner of my eye had me turning my head.

  A lady in pink. Someone I didn’t know.

  “Help me,” I said softly, unable to find my voice.

  She just sat there, watching, as if this was a show and she paid money to see my suffering.

  “Help me!” I finally screamed at her, finally finding my voice, but she just sat there, letting Jaxon conduct his business. “What are you doing? Are you with him? What do you people want?” I looked around, seeing faces I didn’t know, but no doubt faces of men that are just as dangerous as Jaxon. “I hate you Jaxon. I hate you! I wish you would have stayed away.” Tears dripped down my face as I stared at the only man that ever held my heart. The love with Jaxon was wild and unpredictable.

  And when he did what he did, it crushed me. I had never been so afraid in my entire life. So when he went off to prison, I broke up with him. I wanted nothing to do with a man like that, and Brian and I found comfort in each other, and I loved him as much as I could, but Jaxon was the man that owned the majority of my heart.

  My heart might be a wayward sonofabitch, but my mind knew Jaxon was no good for me. It helped me let go and move on. I was so close to finding happiness again, and of course, Jaxon had to come out of the woodworks. When did he even get out of prison?

  “You’ll know in time that I am not your enemy, Quinn. I could never be your enemy. You can paint whatever picture you want of me, but I can guarantee you, you are using the wrong colors.” He stepped forward and grazed his knuckles down my cheek. A jolt passed between us where he touched me, and I hated him even more for making me yearn for him while I stood in a bloody wedding dress while my groom laid unconscious.

  Crosses hung upside down when Jaxon was near. There was no hope for me. I’d be condemned to him because Jaxon Steel if there was one thing I knew about him, his way, was hell’s way. He made horns look good as they held up his black halo.

  Black because there was no good in him.

  Lucifer was an angel, after all.

  “Are you going to kill me too?” I hissed, gathering the spit in my mouth, and then launched it at him, right in his face. “Fuck you, Jaxon. Be a man and get on with it.” The man behind me laughed, and the guy by Brian’s body scoffed as he lifted him up into the air and carried him out of the shirt, leaving a trail of blood in his wake. “Where are you taking him?”

  Jaxon smiled and ran his fingers through the spit slowly dripping off his cheek. “We aren’t killing him if that is what you’re asking,” he said, but I heard the inevitable ‘yet’ lingering at the end of the sentence. He glanced at his fingers, wet from my saliva, and sucked them into his mouth. He hummed in delight and gripped my chin, his fingers sliding against my jaw from how slick they were. “Still so tasty, Quinn. Still as sweet as I remembered you to be.”

  “I’m more bitter than you think.” I struggled to get out of his friend’s grasp, his henchman, whatever the hell he was. I wanted to wrap my hands around Jaxon's throat, slap him, kiss him, punch him, hate him, and never see him again.

  Except, I knew he would always make his way into my dreams.

  He always did.

  The bastard.

  “I don’t doubt that,” he said, leaning forward until his hold on my chin tightened to a sharp pain. His breath puffed against my lips, and the warm air flowed over my tongue and down my throat, possessing me for a split second with his own bitterness. “I bet you’re as sweet as a cherry.”

  “When it comes to you?” I tugged my chin free of his fingers and lowered my voice, “Think of me as a poisonous berry.”

  He opened his mouth to say something else, but the old lady spoke, “Cops are coming. I hear the sirens. We need to leave,” she said, hobbling down the aisle by shuffling her feet.

  “We? Ingrid, don’t you have grandchildren or something to go to?” Jaxon asked, wiping his cheek off with a handkerchief. “I don’t e
ven know you, and you have no idea what you’re asking to walk into.”

  “I don’t have anybody. I’m only here because I saw the wedding signs outside and it had been ages since I saw one. You boys need a grandma. I’m old. I just ask I get taken care of too.”

  “I never had a grandma,” the man behind me said.

  “Oh, you people are fucking crazy!” I screamed. “Are we really hashing out if she is going to bake cookies while you ruin my damn life!” I lifted my legs off the ground to try and gain momentum to kick someone, but my attempts were useless.

  “Business is business. It doesn’t matter what it is about,” Jaxon said, then shoving the handkerchief into my mouth to silence me. “That’s better.” He rubbed his temples as if he had a headache. I wanted to scream! The man was so infuriating.

  I tried to speak and spit out the cloth in my mouth, but the more I tried, the further down my throat the material went.

  “I like you Ingrid. The men have never had someone like you, so I'll allow it. You’ll be vetted first. I trust no one, no matter how old and cute they are.”

  “You’ll find I'm more capable than you think,” the crazy old bitch said.

  I was in the twilight zone. None of this was real because a man who killed his own sister, hijacked my wedding, kidnapped my boyfriend, was holding me hostage, and now took an old lady under his wing. Why? He suddenly felt like a martyr?

  Lifting my heel, I slammed it down on a shoe, and the guy behind me released me as he doubled over in pain. I tried running for it, but the old hag tripped me with her cane, and Jaxon caught me by my neck.

  Just my neck.

  He held on tight and whipped me around, tightening his other hand around my throat. The gag was hanging out of my mouth, and he bit down on the cloth and pulled it out of my mouth. I coughed when it was cleared and tried to breathe in, but his hands around my neck tightened. He dropped the cloth from his mouth, and it drifted to the floor.

  “Let me say one thing, you will not disrespect me, and you will not disrespect my men. You don’t even know half the truth, and you have no idea what kind of man you almost married. You should be thanking me.” He squeezed again, and this time, I couldn’t breathe.

  And I liked it.

  I was ashamed to admit that if he were to shove his hand between my legs, he’d find me wet. What was wrong with me? These were the same hands that killed his sister. My hands were jerked behind my back and zip-tied together. Then, instead of a gag, a piece of tap covered my mouth from behind. My eyes widened, and I started to panic. He won. He won. Oh, god. He was going to kill me.

  “I won’t ever hurt you.” His eyes almost shined with the truth. Almost.

  Because all Jaxon Steel had ever done was hurt me. That was what he was best at.

  “Let’s go.” He kept his hand around my neck, guiding me to the back entrance, his grip still painfully tight. I lost a shoe in the process of fumbling and tripping over myself, but Jaxon kept me steady, as much as he could, considering he practically dragged me.

  We passed a few crosses, and I watched to see if they burst into flames as Jaxon walked by, but color me shocked.

  They remained intact.

  Jaxon kicked the back door open, and my eyes squinted to adjust to the sunlight. It was bright, scorching hot, and the green pastures and rolling hills of Northern California greeted me. Half of the land had grapevines strung along for miles blocked off by an old wooden fence that seemed as ancient as this church. Even in the air, while it was dry, a sweet fragrance lingered from the grapes. It almost made me thirsty. It was hard to believe such a beautiful view existed when something so bad was happening right now.

  There were two cars waiting in front of us. With a different man at each opening the back doors. I hadn’t seen those guys before. They were new. Everyone split up and climbed into the respective vehicle. Sirens wailed in the air as law enforcement grew closer. I knew there was no hope.

  I was in the hands of a monster.

  Jaxon dipped my head, so I didn’t hit it against the car and pushed me in, then climbed in after me. Of course, it was just him and I. My bad luck seemed to be getting worse with every second that ticked by.

  “I’m sorry to have to do this,” he said, opening a lid of some sort and gathering a rag in his hand. “You have no idea what or who I am anymore. The old me, whatever you thought you knew, forget it. And whatever you are thinking, don’t. I’ll tell you the truth in time and believe it or not; you’ll thank me.”

  I rolled my eyes and struggled against the zip ties. I knew I should have watched that damn YouTube video on how to escape out of them, but I thought, ‘what are the chances of me getting kidnapped and zip tied?’

  Higher than I calculated, apparently.

  “Now, we have a long drive, and when we get to where we are going, we have a lot of catching up to do.” He poured something on the rag and brought it to my face. “I’m sorry.”

  I struggled against the binds around my wrist and shook my head. The fumes of whatever was in that rag made my eyes water. The noises escaping me were whimpers and pleas. I’d be good. I didn’t want to be unconscious. I didn’t know what would happen.

  “I want my ten years back, Quinn. So, I'm going to take it from you and Brian. Ten years of your life for the ten years taken from mine. Get comfortable. You’re going to be a long way from home.” The cloth covered my nose, and I held my breath, but the attempt was counterproductive because I had to breathe.

  And when I did, my body grew lax, and my brain felt fuzzy. His hand held onto the back of my head and laid me down on the seat. He hovered over me, crooning something as he tucked a piece of hair behind my ear.

  While my vision blurred and the world around me faded, the last thing I saw were the flames of revenge in his black eyes, making me succumb to the shadows his liked to keep.

  Jaxon Steel.

  A nightmare.

  But I knew deep down, somewhere, in the pits of my soul that I've long forgotten, he wasn’t my nightmare. The only thing that scared me about him were the feelings I kept locked away. He was a pandora’s box of horrible things that liked to come out and play at night.

  And I was the idiot that was never scared of the dark.

  Chapter Two

  Jaxon

  She was beautiful.

  All laid out on the seat, her blonde hair fallen from the ties and splayed along the black leather seat like pure gold. It was beautiful, even all fucked up and out of place, the wild look good on her, which seemed fitting for the situation.

  I exhaled and reached over for the decanter full of expensive scotch, and I poured myself three fingers worth. Today was stressful, and I was thankful it was nearly over. I had been so nervous, but the plan went perfectly, and now I had Brian and Quinn.

  My throat burned as I sipped the aged scotch, but it didn’t bring enough fire to burn those damn emotions to a crisp.

  Quinn wasn’t the same woman. She had ice in her veins. She might have the same blonde hair and honey-colored eyes, but that was all that stayed the same. No one would dare spit in my face. I would have killed them without hesitation for disrespecting me like that, but all I wanted to do was bring my lips to hers and fuck her senseless, to show her that she could not defy me like that again.

  She fought it, what she felt for me. Her body betrayed her, and she wanted me, I saw it in her eyes behind the anger and hate.

  There was no mistake that whatever was between us was still there after all these years, just waiting to be unleashed.

  It couldn’t. The old emotions had to stay trapped.

  This wasn’t about pleasure or rekindling an old flame.

  This was a business transaction. This was revenge. This wasn’t about finding a happy ending. I’d lived through hell because of these two people, and the realization of the world I have now was happy endings didn’t exist.

  That was a fool’s wish hoping for gold.

  I downed the rest of the scotch and pour
ed myself one more glass while I stared at an unconscious Quinn. I placed my elbows on my knees and leaned forward, enthralled by the rise, and fall of her chest, her even breaths, her body in the same space as me.

  I could hardly believe it.

  Out of all the heists I had ever done, this one had way more layers than a regular snatch and grab. I couldn’t sell Quinn for money like I could the diamonds from Peru we stole from Hugo Juarez. A man who set fire to entire villages and killed women and children execution style. He was one of our first jobs and extraordinarily successful. We sold the diamonds to a jeweler, donated a few million, and kept a few million.

  Well, I guess I could sell her, but I didn’t want to, and sex trafficking was an industry I fucking despised and refused to get involved with. I knew one day, in my line of work, I’d come across it and have to do something about it, but right now, I hadn’t, and I planned to keep it that way. That was too messy of a business, and right now, my focus was on Quinn and Brian.

  My plan might be a long shot. I wasn’t too sure how much Quinn loved Brian and how devoted she was to him, but I had to make her see the kind of man he was. A liar. A murderer. He was using her. And he didn’t plan on staying with her either.

  See, Quinn wasn’t just a woman or a sexy nurse, but a trust fund baby. Her family had a stake in oil, and she had a long line of zero’s attached to her last name. Something Brian knew. He had a ticket and divorce papers already set up. There was no prenup. Brian was going to take her for everything, just like he took me.

  Just like the conman he was.

  I was doing her a favor; she just had no idea yet.

  “Sir? We are arriving at the hanger,” my driver, Louis said over the intercom an hour later as well pulled into my private airstrip. My crew and I based ourselves in Trinidad, California, only a quick flight from Napa Valley, where we were right now.

  Trinidad was a small town, surrounded by redwood trees, cliffs, and the ocean. It was beautiful and peaceful, which was what me and the guys wanted after the shit we had been through and what we go through with each heist. We live inside a mountain. Our entire mansion is a panic room, so if work ever found us, we would be safe. I had Quinn for the next ten years, so investing in such a home was a good thing. She might be my prisoner, but I wouldn’t have her living in a cell. She would be treated like a queen, at the side of an Underground King.