I feel sick. My head’s swimming.
“He took you out with him on your sixteenth birthday to lose your virginity,” I confirm.
My gaze flicks from my brother to Megan, and I see a lone tear tumble down her cheek. She knows exactly what I had to do that day but also that it didn’t turn me into a monster. My brother, however…my father won with him.
“Not sixteen. Fourteen,” my brother clarifies, appearing to be resolute about what he was forced to do. “Shortly after you left for Arthur’s army.”
“Mordred.” I take a step forward, my heart breaking for my brother. He was so young and being forced to do what he did must have twisted his mind. He holds Megan closer to him. The turmoil going on in her head, at the moment, must be substantial. “Brother, let Megan go, and we can talk about this. I went through the same thing as you. It doesn’t mean you have to treat women the way you have been shown. Our father was wrong, and he’s paid for his sins. He was an evil man, and yesterday, he died screaming and in agony.”
“You killed him.” Mordred’s eyes go wide at hearing this news.
I nod.
“It was the only way to rid the world of a man like him. He sold women against their will for money. He’d been doing it for years. I’m only sorry I wasn’t able to stop him sooner before he forced us both to rape at gunpoint.”
Mordred looks at Megan and then back to me.
He whispers close to her ear, but I can still hear his words.
“You know I am different to my brother, slave. You know it better than anyone. Have you ever seen any compassion in me at all?” He shakes her to elicit an answer from her.
“No, sir.”
“Do you know why?”
I take another step closer to them. Out of the corner of my eye, I spot movement over at the far end of the field. It’s Bors with a gun at the ready. Back-up is here. My brother moves the hand he is holding Megan with down from her waist to the cleft between her thighs. She whimpers, and I vow to burn that hand when I get the chance.
“When I was fourteen, I didn’t rape the girl with a gun to my head. I lowered my pants and willingly fucked her just the way I’ve done you, slave. My father was a god, and I would have done anything to please him. That’s where Gawain is wrong, I’m not like him. I’m the devil.”
I can see Megan is losing her composure. She knows exactly what he’s capable of. She shuts her eyes briefly before opening them again and catching my stare. Then everything happens in a split second: she raises her arm in the heavy cast and hits my brother over the head with it, causing him to stumble backward, disorientated. Megan is free, and she runs as fast as she can toward my truck. I prowl over to my brother just as his senses come back to him, and aiming our guns at each other, we end up in a standoff.
“You’re not the devil. You’re an abused child who now needs help,” I spit at him. He brings his free hand up and smashes it into my face. I don’t flinch as several of my assassin brothers appear and train their guns on Mordred.
“Put the gun down, Brother.”
“No. Give me Megan. She’s mine.”
“Not happening.”
“I’ll never stop trying to take her.”
“Yes, you will,” my response comes as quickly as his words. I take a deep breath, and with a swift movement, one of the first moves that Arthur taught me, I disarm my brother and walk away from him.
“Gawain, watch out!” Megan screams, and I turn around to find my brother reaching for a second gun in his pocket. Before he can use it, I fire mine into his knee, and he goes down. His second weapon flies across the tarmac of the runway, and Bors retrieves it.
“It doesn’t have to be this way.” I stalk back to my brother with my gun pointed at his head. “You can get help.”
“Fuck you. Give me my property.”
My finger hovers over the trigger. A phone rings…I realize it’s mine, and pulling it out of my pocket, I can see it’s Arthur calling.
“What?” I answer it on speaker with anger wrapped around my furious tone. I don’t really want to speak to him, at the moment. My brother needs to die, and I have to be the one to do it.
“He has information,” Arthur tells me. “There’s another girl missing.”
“He want’s Megan.” I’m not about to let my brother walk away from this runway alive. Not while he still wants the one thing he can never have.
“He won’t get her. You know how to see to that. Send a message instead.” Arthur’s reply leaves me little choice. It’s an order, and one I must obey.
“Please,” I entreat.
“Killing him won’t make her any safer. Until all those involved in trafficking are brought to justice, Megan and many other young women will remain in danger. Mordred is still your little brother. He was young and vulnerable and corrupted by the true evil: your father. There will be other men like your father out there, preying on the weak and innocent. Now, we need to use Mordred and the information he possesses to save others. You’ve saved Megan, and need to move on and focus on the next job. That is an assassin’s life. That is your life. Leave Mordred to me.”
The line goes silent. Megan appears at my side, and I run a hand down her face. She whimpers but leans forward and kisses me.
“I love you,” her words blow me away. “Arthur is right. I’m safe.” She looks down at the man on the floor at her feet. “He’s the one cowering before me, now.”
Bors comes over to us. He’s retrieved the axe I keep in my truck. I’m not fussy about my weapons. I carry anything I can use to cause as much destruction as possible. He hands it to me.
“Send a message, Brother.”
His use of the word ‘brother’ is telling. The Cavalieri may not be family by blood, but they are my brothers in every other way I need. The men hold Mordred down, and Bors holds my brother’s arm out. Megan places her hand on mine, and we raise the axe together before bringing it down in one swift action and severing my brother’s hand. He screams and then passes out, his pain threshold clearly not matching that of Megan’s. We do the same to his other hand. Bors collects the extremities and offers them to me, but I shake my head.
“Burn them,” I tell him, and he nods at me.
I drop the axe and wrap my arm around Megan.
“Let’s go home.”
Epilogue
Megan
“I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride,” the vicar informs Gawain and I — it doesn’t take long for my new husband to have his tongue down my throat, much to the delight of his Cavalieri brothers.
“Get a room!” one of the men shouts, and Gawain pulls away from me with a wicked grin on his face.
“Don’t worry, I intend to. Start the food without us.” He looks at his watch.” Actually, move lunch to dinner. We could be some time.”
“You wish!” Kay, the Cavalieri brother he’s always seemed the closest to, teases Gawain from where he and Evelyn sit. Evelyn holds their newly born daughter, Paula, safely in her arms. The baby is named in honor of Kay’s adoptive father and couldn't be any cuter with a mixture of Kay’s handsome features and Evelyn’s beauty. Kay dotes on the little girl, and it’s enough to make anyone broody. Especially Gawain. We’ve discussed it a few times, and I doubt we’ll leave it long to start a family. Right the wrongs of the past.
“A real man doesn't need to brag of his exploits,” I reply to Kay before Gawain can get a playful insult out. Everyone stops and looks at me.” “What?” I ask, placing my hand on my hip and giving them a pout. “I won't have anyone question my man’s abilities!”
The entire audience erupts in laughter.
“Come, you,” Gawain whispers in my ear. “You’ve just made me so hard the guys are right…I’m only going to last five minutes.”
“Well that's going to be a disappointment!”
“You know I always deliver.”
Gawain leads me back down the makeshift aisle, created within the grounds of Arthur’s mansion. It see
med fitting to hold the wedding here because this place and the people in it have become family to me. I raise my arm holding the bouquet and throw it behind me. Without looking back to see where it lands, I just listen for the taunts directed at the lucky recipient.
We are half way back to the house when Arthur appears in front of us.
“Please, not now,” Gawain almost begs. The stern look on Arthur’s face suggests he has a job for my new husband.
“No, you can have tonight, but I have arranged a honeymoon for you in Hawaii. It’ll be a working one.”
“Yes, boss.” Gawain pretends to be deflated, but I know the assassin side will always be strong in him. It’s who he is.
“I’ll give you more details tomorrow, but it’s an extraction. A girl,” Arthur informs him as I stand next to Gawain, holding his hand.” I’m sure Megan will be a great asset if she’s with you.”
I know instantly from his words the girl is a victim of abuse.
“After the honeymoon, maybe you could visit Sweden for a few weeks.”
“Sweden?” It’s my turn to question him.
Arthur pulls his phone out and plays a video. It’s of a girl who looks similar to me. She walks up to a house and knocks on the front door. It opens and an older couple scream with delight at seeing her. All three embrace and sob.
“You found her?” I dare to hope that the second girl Mordred purchased has been discovered. “Is she ok?”
“I’m afraid she is not without scars, but they will heal. Just as yours have. She has a lot of strength just like you.” Arthur places his phone back in his pocket.
“Mordred told you where she was?”
Arthur nods.
“And several other girls.”
“Is he dead?” Gawain asks and squeezes my hand.
“Megan is free. That’s all you need to know.”
“Uncle?” Without the actual confirmation from Arthur’s lips of his brother's death, I know Gawain will struggle to believe I’m free.
“Gawain, I’m a cold-hearted bastard. Mordred is no longer a threat to Megan. She has family. She needs to see them. They’ve grieved for far too long.”
“I’m not staying in Sweden—my place is here now. I’ll see my parents and then return to Louisiana and the Cavalieri. I’m not the same girl I was two years ago. As you said earlier, I’ll be an asset on some of the jobs, and I intend to fulfill that role.”
Arthur holds his hand out to me.
“Welcome aboard, Mrs. Vincent.”
Without another word, Arthur strolls off to where the rest of the Cavalieri sit along with the partners of those men who have them.
“Do you think Arthur will ever find someone?” I ask Gawain.
He shakes his head. “He’s married to his business. Nothing else. Now where were we, Mrs. Vincent?”
Gawain leads me through the corridors of the stunningly set out mansion up to a room on the third level. He opens the door and steps aside, allowing me to walk into the room. I’m greeted by a bed laid out with rose petals. There’s a bottle of champagne sitting in a bucket by the bed, chocolates on the night stand, and flowers and candles are dotted around the room although the latter are not lit yet.
“I know you like romantic gestures, so I thought I’d go all out.” Gawain looks nervous, for the first time ever. Even when he asked me to marry him, he didn’t seem this fearful of what I might say, but then he knew it was a foregone conclusion I would say yes to be his bride.
“Come here, Mr. Vincent.” I beckon him with my finger. When he gets to me, I lower myself to my knees in front of him. The casual white linen dress I chose to marry in doesn’t restrict my movement. Gawain is dressed in his usual uniform of jeans and t-shirt. We aren’t pretentious. We save the dressing up for when we are alone in his house. Our wedding was relaxed and perfect. Arthur was the only one who wore a suit.
“Megan.” Gawain places his hand on my chin and brings my eyes up to meet his. I place my hand over his cock, which is still hard in his trousers. One of the things I hated most during my time with Mordred was when he forced me into giving him oral sex. It’s not something I’ve managed to do with Gawain, yet. We tried once, but I couldn’t do it, and he spent the next half hour performing it on me. He wanted to show me he adored me for speaking up about something so difficult. But in this moment, on my knees before him, I know I want to try again.
“Please may I?” I ask. This isn’t me as a slave…this is Megan, the free woman asking her husband if she can give pleasure to him because she wants to.
“Of course, and should you want to stop at any point, you just say, and I will.”
“I know.”
Undoing the buttons of his jeans, I lower the stiff fabric down his legs to reveal his marbled thighs, toned to perfection by all the working out he does. Since my arm healed, I’ve joined him in the gym, and I’m embracing the new womanly curves appearing on my body. I lower his underwear next and reveal his solid cock with a bounce. I’ve never thought a male appendage as something pretty, but Gawain’s is. His piercing is back in, and I lean in and flick it with the tip of my tongue.
“Fuck. Seriously, baby, I’m not going to last long. But I’ll make it up to you later, I promise. I’ll worship that gorgeous pussy of yours all night.”
“For a life time?” I taunt and flick my tongue around the salty head of his cock.
“Hell, yes.”
Lowering my mouth over his length, I bring him deeper until he hits the back of my throat, and I swallow down the fear of what I’m doing. Gawain pulls himself out, sensing my hesitance, but I repeat my movement. This time, I feel a power starting to surge through me. Looking up, I see the pleasure written all over Gawain’s face. This act is not dominance to him. Its pure carnal delight, and I’m in control of it. I place one hand at the base of his erection and use it to control how much of him I take in. With the other, I massage his balls, which are already drawing up tightly, ready to release his orgasm into me.
“I love you so much,” Gawain groans as I use my tongue to flick his piercing while moving my mouth up and down his length in the opposite direction to my hand. “Fuck, baby, I’m going to come.”
He gives me a second to pull away, but I don’t want to. This is my wedding gift to him. He gently places his hand on the back of my head and slides me back down his length. We still, and then I feel his dick pulsate, and his essence covers the back of my throat. I swallow as much down as I can, savoring the flavor that only my husband can give me. Gawain withdraws from my mouth and sinks to his knees before me.
“I think you’ve beaten me, baby. I’m done. You’ve found my weakness…you.”
I laugh contentedly and nestle down on the floor next to him before saying, “And it’s a weakness I plan on exploiting not just for the next few hours but for the rest of our lives.”
THE END
The Cavalieri Della Morte Series
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A Sneak Peek at Valor
Dustan
Smokers huddled around each other the required fifty feet away from the doors to the bar, puffing away on their cigarettes and electronic nicotine dispensers. I hated the smell of smoke, it reminded me of dirtier times of my life. Times best left smashed at the bottom of an ashtray.
I walked past them, turning my head to breathe fresh air, and headed up the two steps into the bar. A local joint. Music blasted from the digital jukebox in the back corner, pool tables crowded with what were probably the usuals, but I wasn’t interested in any of that. What I had my eye on hadn’t arrived yet.
But he would.
Redemption: Cavalieri Della Morte Page 10