by Nadia Aidan
It took her only a few minutes to shower and dress, and when she was done, she prepared to make her way into the sitting room. She would wait there until Cassius arrived to escort her from the premises. Selena was just turning the knob to the bedroom door when she heard two male voices. They were shouting, their words muffled. She opened the door at the same time as a shot rang out, followed by a distinct thud.
Selena froze in the doorway between the sitting room and bed chambers. Cassius lay prostrate in the centre of the room, his beautiful eyes open in surprise, staring up at nothing. Blood trickled from his mouth and spurted from a gaping hole in his chest.
A flash of silver drew her attention from the fallen man’s still form and she gasped when her gaze collided with cold, jade green eyes. Familiar green eyes.
“Father.” She said the word as if it was a slur, a curse. From his expression, the venom in her voice was not lost on him.
Woodward Gowen had once been a handsome man, with auburn hair and sparkling eyes. Now he was a shadow of a man, his once muscled frame now hunched with age and his lustrous hair shock white and thinning. His strong, firm hands were now covered with spots of age and his face was sallow and sunken in. Selena was not fooled by his weakened appearance, though. The silver gun pointed at her chest would not allow such a thing, just as his cutting eyes reminded her that the man before her may have aged, but he was just as cruel and sinister as he’d always been. More than foolish, she would be stupid to believe her father would not hesitate to pull that trigger and burn a hole through her chest.
In that moment, as inconvenient as it was, Selena remembered she had come to Adonis with something—her gun…which she’d dropped the night before in the tunnel. How she wished she still had it now, tucked within the valley of her breasts.
“Daughter,” Woodward replied, with the same animosity dripping from his voice. “You have been busy, I see.”
She glared at him. “Apparently not busy enough or you would be dead.”
“I guess it is unfortunate for you that I am very much alive and will remain so.” His eyes burned with malice. “The same cannot be said for you, however.”
He marched over to her, the gun still aimed at her chest.
“Into the bedroom,” he ordered, and she turned around, her hands in the air, very much aware that her father had a gun pointed at her back.
Once inside the bedroom, Woodward closed the door. She watched in awe when he reached behind the armoire in the corner. There was a soft click, then a whining creak as the wall separated from itself to reveal a set of steps leading into a passageway.
She had not been aware of an entrance into the tunnel from Adonis’ bedroom. It had not been on the plans she’d studied. She wondered if Adonis knew of the door. She suspected that he did.
Woodward gestured for her to go ahead of him, so Selena found herself walking down the stairs, deeper into the bowels of the estate. She noticed her father did not close the door behind him, but she did not question him. Hopefully he’d forgotten, although she doubted that was the case. For whatever reason, he did not think anyone would follow after him, which filled her with a grave sense of unease.
Selena felt as if she’d walked for hours although it could not have been more than a few minutes. As she led the way, the only words spoken were from Woodward as he barked out directions through the dark corridor. Eventually the tunnel came to an end and she found herself inside a large room. What she saw took her breath away. It was decorated in the same fashion as the rooms in the bordello—white walls, a king-sized bed draped in white dominating the entire space. Even the furnishings were white. In one corner was a small desk, with a tiny computer atop it that was the size of her two hands. In another corner there appeared to be a small bathroom. It reminded her of a water closet from centuries past. Though no tub, there was a small basin and a toilet, tucked behind a divider.
Selena looked at her father with eyes that, no doubt, reflected her dark, menacing thoughts of the man before her. “I always knew you were here. I knew you would return here when I put a price upon your head.”
His smile was cold. “I was not surprised when you arrived. I knew all along you would track me here.”
“You always sought your lover out when you were in trouble. I knew, despite his death, you would return to his home.” Her eyes narrowed. “You have been here watching us, haven’t you?” All along she’d felt another presence, as if foreign eyes shadowed her. She’d suspected it was Woodward, but she’d never been able to determine if it was indeed his presence she’d felt, or simply her wild imagination.
He nodded in answer to her question. “So you have found me, Selena. You and that bastard brother of yours. Too bad it has all been for nothing.
“As soon as your lover returns, he will give me what I want and then I will kill you both. By the time anyone discovers your bodies down here, you won’t even be recognisable.”
She cringed at the image he painted.
“When I am done with you, I will take care of your brother next. He has caused more trouble than you and your sister put together. The greedy bastard almost wiped me out, but I will see that he gets what he deserves.”
“Do not harm him!” she shouted. “He only wants what is rightfully his. You provided him with nothing. Your own son and you did not give him a penny.”
“Jarrod knows why I did not provide for him. He knows why he will never see a cent of my money.” He lifted the gun higher. “But Jarrod’s situation should not concern you. Your only concern should be how long it will take before Adonis returns and I decide to kill you both.”
He gestured with the barrel of his gun for her to sit down on the bed and she did, even as she raked him with her malevolent gaze.
She’d known all along that Woodward was here. That was why she had needed to gain entrance into this house. Dieu’s home was virtually impenetrable, except by his sons…and apparently by his former lover as well.
Step by step she’d followed the plan she’d laid out to the letter. Go to Adonis under the pretence of revenge, prey upon his sense of guilt, then create a threat so that out of his deep-seeded guilt he would feel obligated to protect her. Adonis would never have taken her to his father’s home unless this was the only place he believed she would be safe. And she’d made sure that it was.
Once inside, she’d taken advantage of her time alone to explore the tunnels, that was, until Ares had learned the truth. Obviously, that had not been a part of her plan. Just as she had never expected her feelings for Adonis to resurface, and that her feelings for him would lead her to regret using him, manipulating him, lying to him.
She would now have to add another regret to that list. She had hoped to find Woodward and kill him before he could find her and do the same. But he had found her, and with her misstep she’d put Adonis in danger.
As she heard heavy footsteps along the corridor, growing louder as they drew closer, she realised it had been complete stupidity on her part to believe she could involve Adonis without him being swept up in her entire plot.
Selena stared between the silver gun and the darkness leading into the tunnel, watching…waiting. Her heart pumped violently, her breath caught in her chest when she saw him. Pure golden beauty.
Adonis.
He was not a god, he was a man. A mortal man who could die just as easily as she.
And she would never forgive herself if something happened to him, if he lost his life because of her foolish plan and her desperate need for revenge.
Chapter Fifteen
After the explosion, Adonis had not returned to his car or waited for the authorities. In the commotion, he’d slipped around the corner and hailed a cab to his father’s estate. The drive there had been short, passing without notice. It had taken him longer to make his way from the foyer, up the stairs and into his chambers.
As soon as he’d entered the house, he’d sensed something was amiss. Whether intuition or foreboding, he was cautious as he
crept upstairs to his private chambers. He’d smelt the copper scent of blood from the other end of the hallway, so Adonis was not entirely surprised to find Cassius’ body in the centre of his sitting room.
The fear clogging his throat was pushed aside by a stronger emotion. Adonis stooped down beside his friend and closed his eyes. He had loved Cassius as a brother, just as he’d loved the other men he’d taken into his employ as his guards. But Cassius was special. Many years ago, when Dieu had confined Adonis to solitude for some unmemorable transgression, it had been Cassius who, along with his brothers, had smuggled food to him when Adonis would have starved. When Dieu had found out, he’d beaten all of them, including Cassius. Adonis had never forgiven himself for that, just as he’d never forgotten what Cassius had done for him.
He felt the sting of tears. And this was how he’d repaid his friend, by causing his death.
Adonis left Cassius to enter his bedroom, and he was struck by two things as soon as he stood within the room—the entrance leading into the tunnels beneath the estate was open and Selena was gone.
He’d never imagined her to be capable of murder, but Cassius’ body and the open door suggested otherwise. What had happened? Had Cassius discovered something he wasn’t supposed to? Had she refused to leave when Cassius arrived to take her away?
Adonis did not know and he did not care. He flung open the door to his closet, pushed aside his clothes and opened the safe nestled in the back of the wall. Pulling the small handgun from its resting place, he slipped it into the waistband of his trousers.
He’d told Selena he would kill her himself if he discovered she was part of a more sinister plan than the one she’d innocently conveyed to him. It was apparent that Selena was far more dangerous and deadly than he’d first believed, just as it was apparent she was not the girl he’d once known.
As he entered the tunnel, plunging himself into darkness, he mourned Cassius as he mourned the girl he’d loved, and what he would have to do.
The tunnels were a vast network beneath the estate that created a maze to those who entered. Adonis knew every winding pathway as intimately as he knew every line across his palm. He did not know where Selena was, but he could have closed his eyes and still found her.
He was not as good a tracker as Apollo, but he knew Selena’s scent, the smell of her perfumed skin. Adonis followed the winding trail of jasmine and vanilla until the darkness faded from the tunnel and he approached light.
As he drew closer to the room where her scent came to an end, he concluded that he was a fool for not figuring this out sooner, for not realising she would eventually come here.
Palming the gun in his hand, he crept closer, his steps quiet, not knowing what to expect. He should have known she would find her way there, to the place where their fathers had rendezvoused, to the place where he’d given his body and sacrificed his soul to protect his love for her.
That was the irony. She would die—and, with her, his love for her—in the very room in which he’d bartered his body and soul to spare her life because he’d loved her more than he’d loved himself. He still did. Which was why he knew that when he was done, he would be forced to turn the gun upon himself. What was left of his soul would not survive this final act.
With his weapon trained in front of him, Adonis stepped from the shadows into the open room, expecting to greet Selena and the barrel of her loaded gun. What he found was Selena sitting atop a bed, her eyes wide with terror, and shaking her head as if warning him away. He turned in the direction to where her attention kept straying, and then he did greet the barrel of a loaded gun, but, instead of Selena’s, his eyes met those of the only man—besides Dieu —who’d haunted his nightmares ever since that night in this very room, sixteen years ago.
“Greetings, Adonis.” Woodward jerked the gun in the air, gesturing for Adonis to hand over his weapon and take a seat beside Selena. He hesitated.
“Turn over your gun now, or I will shoot her before you can take your next breath.” Adonis did not hesitate this time. He gave Woodward his gun then sat down next to Selena.
“This is oddly nostalgic, don’t you think?” Woodward crooned. “You and I together in this room and once again you are sacrificing yourself for her.”
The mocking tone in Woodward’s voice chilled him. The older man’s gloating expression ignited the rage Adonis thought he’d buried years ago. Selena stared at him, but he could not meet her eyes or answer the questions he knew brewed within them.
Woodward knew of his shame because he’d been the cause of Adonis’ humiliation. There were secrets contained within this house, this room even, that he’d hoped Selena would never learn, that would destroy whatever feelings she’d once harboured for him. He’d tried to shield her, then he’d tried to protect himself, but the look in Woodward’s eyes revealed to Adonis that her father would take great pleasure in destroying him again, in ruining him before the woman he loved, and there would be nothing he could do to stop him.
He would kill Woodward. He did not yet know how, now that the deranged man had a gun for each of them, but he vowed to rip him to pieces, limb by limb for what would come next.
“Now that you are here, we can finally begin,” Woodward said to Adonis.
“Leave him out of this,” Selena demanded. “This is between you and me.”
The guns jerked in Woodward’s hands. “This is actually not just between you and me, daughter.” Woodward held him with his gaze. “Would you like to tell Selena just how intricately you are entwined with the both of us?”
Adonis’ jaw began to hurt his teeth were clenched so tight. “What do you want, Woodward?” he managed to bite out.
“I want what is rightfully mine. What your father promised me. I want your inheritance.”
Adonis knew it was because Woodward was broke. He’d actually run out of money over a year ago. Between his gambling debts, the money he spent on whores and booze, and one business misadventure after another—it had all finally caught up to him.
“My inheritance in exchange for what?”
“In exchange for nothing.” His eyes were dead. “As soon as you give me the passwords to your accounts, I will kill you both.”
“And if I don’t?”
“I will still kill you both,” Woodward replied. “And with you dead and out of the way, I will simply find them myself, unencumbered by your presence.”
“You won’t get very far on your own. As soon as my brothers catch up to you, they will kill you, and you’ll never see a dime of my money.”
Woodward’s cruel eyes glinted with insanity. “You assume your brothers are even still alive. Have you heard from them lately?”
Adonis was off the bed and halfway across the room before Woodward got off the shot that burrowed into the wall behind Adonis, halting him where he stood.
“Come one step closer and I will kill you!” he shouted.
“Adonis, please,” Selena cried, but he barely heard her above his thundering heartbeat.
“What have you done to my brothers?” “I’ve done nothing.”
Adonis’ eyes narrowed. “Someone shot at me yesterday then planted an explosive in my car—”
Selena gasped, but he did not spare her a glance.
“You know who is stalking me, stalking my brothers. You know who is trying to kill us, don’t you?”
“And, one by one, they will pick you off until all of you are dead. Now sit down before I decide to shoot you for that little stunt you just pulled.”
Once again, Adonis sat down beside Selena.
“Your password, Adonis.”
“Wait,” Selena interjected. “Take mine. You can have the inheritance mother left to me and Serena.”
Woodward turned his attention to her. “Why do you think you’re even here, Selena?” His laugh was maniacal, the laugh of one who’d lost all sense of reason. “It is only because of your inheritance that you are even still alive.” He glanced at Adonis. “And because I knew you
r lover would need an incentive.” Woodward turned both guns on Selena. “Give me your password now, or watch her die beside you.”
Selena protested, but Adonis shook his head. “It is just money.”
He gave Woodward the information he’d come there for, and Adonis noted that Selena’s father was forced to set one gun aside in order to type the information into his computer. Adonis’ attention oscillated between the weapon in Woodward’s hand and the weapon that was not.
“And now you, daughter,” Woodward said when he’d completed the transaction.
Selena was more reluctant, but then Woodward pointed the gun at Adonis, and soon she too was rattling off numbers.
“How touching to know that true love never dies,” he mocked, and closed his computer once the transactions from their accounts were complete.
“I wonder how true your love would be for one another if you both knew the truth.”
Selena looked at him, but Adonis kept his glare trained on Woodward. This is what her father had truly brought them there for. Stealing their inheritances was simply a necessity, a basic means to an end, but what Selena’s father took pure pleasure in was inflicting pain.
Like Dieu, Woodward thrived on cruelty, relished the destruction of innocence and purity. He could not simply steal their inheritances and kill them both. It was not enough for him. He had to kill the love they shared as well. He had to torture their souls before the added insult of taking their lives.
“My daughter looks at you as if she is puzzled.” He tsked. “But you do not seem puzzled at all. How could you be? You already know the truth, don’t you Adonis? And yet, you have kept your true love ignorant. How bereft of you.”
“What is he talking about?” Selena whispered to him.
“Tell her. Tell her the truth.”
“You tell her,” Adonis gritted out. “Since you seem so eager for us all to know the truth, then tell her what you and my father did to me, tell her what the both of you forced me to do.”
Adonis’ entire body trembled with shame, with rage. He’d buried these memories so deep within his subconscious that he’d grown numb to the pain, to the humiliation, but both emotions now engulfed him, overwhelming him until it was as if he was drowning. Every breath clawed through his burning chest.