by Vance, Ally
Seth shakes his head. “No, pretty girl. I’m going to kill Caryn. She has eight days left to come up with what she owes Arthur, or I’ll be finishing the job I should have completed to begin with. We don’t negotiate ever. But there you were…so fucking gorgeous, full of fire and innocence, and I couldn’t fucking think straight. You were never a part of the plan. I should’ve shoved my knife into Caryn’s heart and left.”
“So what now?” I ask him.
His lip tilts up in one corner before he answers, “You are too much of a temptation. I took you from Caryn without thinking of the consequences, and I never intended to want you. But now I do, Leeann, so I’m going to keep you. First though, I have to make them pay.”
When he makes the threat, the chill in his voice sends goosebumps prickling all over my skin, but his words also set a fire in my heart. Neither of us intended for this to happen. A simple job gone wrong has created ripples, which can’t now be undone.
Seth
Leeann is sleeping, and I have a job to do. No more waiting around...times up, and I’m going to finish this right now. I’ve had enough of being kept in the fucking dark. I want answers, and I want blood. I pull up the message I received from Arthur and send a quick reply. He wanted to know if the job was complete, and in a few hours it will be.
The visit from Lance, followed by the text from Arthur were just what I needed in order to get my head back in the game, refocusing me on my assignment. I’m still not sure exactly how everything ties together, but I’m hoping to get some answers before I finish what I started.
I don’t call her. I don’t give her any warning. I just hop into my car and drive to Club Wicked. Knowing Caryn, the slippery bitch will have tried to get some shit in place to prevent what’s going to happen to her. As much as it niggles in the back of my mind that I’ve left Leeann alone, I know no one knows the location of my house, and even if they did, they’d find it almost impossible to get through the security measures I have in place.
The journey seems to take no time at all, and when I arrive, I don’t waste anytime. I pull on my gloves, and grabbing my gun and knives from the trunk of the car, I strap the holster and sheaths onto my belt. I shut and lock the car and stalk across the almost vacant parking lot toward the door. There’s no one standing watch out back, but it doesn’t mean shit. I know she’ll be here.
I pick the lock and enter the building which is in darkness. My black clothing blends with the shadows, and I make my way through the building to the basement where Caryn and I met before. As I get to the bottom of the stairs, a blow to my head sends me reeling and I stagger.
“Fuck!” I curse and strain my eyes to refocus. I make out a shape moving toward me, and I throw myself forward, taking them to the ground before they have the chance to hit me again. I was caught by surprise because clearly they were expecting me, but that doesn’t mean they have the advantage over me now.
“You’re going to die,” a male voice threatens, sounding winded.
When I see the man lying beneath me, I recognize him as the creep who was fondling Leeann the other day. I draw my gun and hold the barrel against his temple.
“Give me a fucking reason, you worthless asshole,” I snarl at him, and he looks up at me impassively like he knows something I don’t.
“Fuck this,” I say, and rearing back, I slam the butt of the gun against his nose, grinning when I hear it crunch under the force of the metal.
He howls, reaching up to clutch at his face as I flick the safety off and press it to his forehead.
“Drop the gun, Seth,” Caryn says, and I feel the cool touch of something hard being held against the back of my head.
I clench my fist even tighter around the gun grip before I reluctantly place my weapon on the ground, turning my head slightly as I do to confirm she’s pointing a gun at me. When Caryn’s foot comes forward to kick my gun away, I lash out, and grabbing her by the wrist, I try to wrestle the gun from her hand. A shot rings out, and I feel the air distort when a bullet whips past me, narrowly missing my ear before I hear the familiar sound of metal ripping through flesh. I don’t need to look to know that Caryn’s accidental misfire took out her own man.
I bend Caryn’s wrist back at an unnatural angle, and her grip loosens enough for me to finally disarm her. She launches herself at me, but before she can reach me, I sweep kick her legs from under her, and as she lands on the floor with a gasp and groan of pain, I’m on her, pinning her to the floor with my weight. Once I’ve subdued her, I flick the safety back on and toss the gun out of reach. This calls for an up close and personal finish.
My anger spikes; adrenaline combined with a desire for blood and payback spurs me into action. I draw one of my knives and hold it to her throat, enjoying the way her eyes widen with shock at how the tables have so swiftly turned. She’s underestimated me for the last time.
"What are you hiding?" I growl, digging the knife a little deeper into the neck of the worthless cunt who won't be leaving this room alive.
Her lips lift in a knowing smile, and she taunts me, "You can kill me, but then you’ll never know."
"Fuck off. If I let you live, I'm signing my own death warrant. You’ll kill me as soon as my back is turned, assuming Arthur doesn’t beat you to it for failing in my mission.”
“Your death warrant should have been signed before you were even born, Seth Galahad,” Caryn sneers, and when I hesitate, victory gleams in her eyes.
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” I ask, and I immediately want to kick my own ass for showing any kind of weakness. But the questions are burning through my mind as I race to figure out what the stupid bitch is talking about.
“Cara was so pretty even when she was at school…all the boys fawned over her. Our parents included. My own mother preferred her over me, and I was her fucking blood!”
“Wait a fucking second. Our parents?! She’s your sister?” I interrupt, cutting across her self-pitying rant.
This filthy piece of work who’s my fucking mark is related to me?
“Step-sister,” she spits, her face scrunching up with distaste.
“She was the special one: the favorite, and I hated her for it. She was always the daughter who got all the attention. Well…up until the stupid cunt got herself knocked up. Eighteen and pregnant with a bastard child. It was the best fucking day of my life to see her tumble off her pedestal. She asked me for help after our parents kicked her out. They said she’d disgraced herself. She didn’t even know it was me who told them about the baby in the first place. I advised her to fucking abort you. But no, she was so besotted with the idea of being a mom that she fucked up her whole life.” Her voice is filled with venom as she looks up at me with hatred.
I cut her off, pressing the knife back to her throat. My voice is low and deadly. “Don’t you fucking dare talk about her that way.”
“Mommy a sore spot for the little delinquent?” Caryn mocks, and unable to rein in my temper, I stab the blade into her shoulder.
To her credit, she only lets out a low grunt of pain, but when I twist the knife before wrenching it out, a scream falls from her lips. Blood coats the silver and glimmers red in the low light.
“She disappeared shortly after everyone found out. I thought she was gone forever. It was pure fucking chance that sixteen years later I saw her with you. Cara was still alive and well, and so was her unwanted brat,” she continues although gasping with pain.
“I’ve discovered since that he offered to provide her with the means to make a new life elsewhere. However, it was on condition she would keep her mouth shut and never tell you or anyone else who your father was…or should I say is. Even after she’d left he must have kept tabs on you both. I can only imagine what kind of threat he made when he ordered her to disappear and leave everyone behind,” she laughs, hollowly.
My composure is wavering as white-hot fury slowly turns my vision red. But although I’m tempted to punch as many holes as possible into Caryn, my d
esire to know more about where I came from stills my hand.
“When my business failed, I couldn’t pay back the loan I took from him. I knew eventually he’d send one of his men to investigate. It was the ultimate cruel fucking irony he sent you, but it also gave me another chance at revenge. He knew who you were of course; he’s known all along,” she crows, and as realization starts to dawn on me, my heart freezes in my chest at her words.
“Keep. Fucking. Talking,” I growl, inflecting as much menace into the words as I can.
I cut a shallow slice into her collarbone, and when she winces, I repeat the action, moving closer to the top of her arm and nicking her skin with the tip of my blade. The little gasps of pain are like music to my ears, but they’re not all I want to hear right now.
“Answers, Caryn,” I order.
She finally relents, and the words tumble from her mouth. “When he learned about Cara’s pregnancy, he was disappointed that his golden boy wasn’t as shiny as he’d believed him to be...” She stops, letting out a cry of pain when I press the knife more deeply into her skin when she mentions my mom again.
“Don’t say her fucking name. Tell me who he is,” I shout.
With her next words, the last pieces of this fucked up puzzle finally start to fall into place. “You’re just like your dad. Ever the player and always in some form of trouble or other. Your father doesn’t even know you exist, and both of you have been right under each other’s noses all this time without even knowing it…Seth Knight.”
Seth
Lance Knight is my fucking dad! I don't know how to feel or what to even think about that. I guess it’s some kind of cruel cosmic joke for him to have been the man I've looked up to more than any other these past few years. There's always been this unspoken bond between us, running much deeper than mentor and student.
Everyone in this Cavalieri family I belong to keeps secrets, and there are so many layers it’s impossible to be certain of the real truth. I'm not sure if Lance knows who I am to him, or whether like me, he simply suspects we’re more than brothers in arms. What I don’t get is why Arthur hasn’t told us that we are father and son before now? Especially after so much time has passed, and why was I suddenly good enough to be accepted into the Cavalieri only after my mom was killed?
“So who killed my mom? Arthur?” I demand, my fucking mind is spinning.
It’s getting harder to focus and to keep her talking when all I really want to do is to deal the final blow that will end her life. Adrenaline spikes, and it takes everything in me not to stab her straight in the eye, right there and then. But there’s more to it than this, I just know there is.
“He didn’t kill her,” she scoffs.
“You were the one who killed her,” I surmise, barely able to hold at bay my furious need to cut her throat when she smiles scathingly.
“Of course not! Who do you take me for? I didn’t kill her myself. I have plenty of men more than willing to earn a little cash or to pay off a debt.”
“Think you can kill me, Seth? I’m family after all,” she taunts, condescension dripping from every word.
My lip curls in disgust, “You’re not my family. You stole my family from me with your poison and lies. The Cavalieri are the only family I want and need now.”
“What about your precious Leeann?” she asks, her tone one of false innocence.
I feel the blood drain from my face, and I glare down at her.
“Tell me. How does she and Arron figure in all of this?” I question, the only piece in this puzzle I haven’t been able to figure out yet.
“Arron got into debt with me. He killed your mom as a favor and to cover his debts. But he’s weak and a coward. He carried on gambling, and his debts spiraled out of control. He finally bet his own sister when I threatened to have him killed if he didn’t pay up. You know as well as I do that blood is just as good as actual currency in this world.”
“Keep fucking talking,” I threaten, digging the knife into her skin.
Blood trickles down the blade, and she swallows carefully, her throat moving against the sharp edge.
She continues, “After Arron found out you took his sister and refused to accept her as payment, the fucker went rogue. I knew you weren’t going to just go away while the debt was still outstanding, so I decided I needed to tie off loose ends. I sent Isaac to take care of the problem, but somehow Arron managed to kill one of my best men."
“Arron killed him?” I ask in surprise.
It’s hard to believe that a coward who would trade his own sister could also commit murder.
“Yes. When Arron called me on Isaac’s phone to gloat, I knew I had a decision to make. Arron seemed more resourceful than I anticipated. I told him if he finished the job he started four years ago, I would square the debt he owed me. I knew it was only a matter of time before you’d go to the apartment, looking for him. I ordered Arron to keep an eye on the place and gave him your burn phone number, so he could contact you when you turned up.”
“What job did he have to complete?” The question feels rhetorical because now I have a funny feeling in my gut that I know what she’s going to say next.
Caryn hesitates, and I grab for the other knife strapped to my belt. Drawing it, I swiftly plunge it into the joint where her left arm meets her shoulder. The subsequent screech as it parts flesh and disrupts the joint makes my heart pound even harder.
In between moans of pain, she gasps raggedly,“Arron failed to complete his first job, nearly four years ago. He may have succeeded in killing your mother, but he was also supposed to kill you. I was the one who sent him to do it.”
She laughs weakly. "When Arron came back and told me you weren't there, I tried to track you down. By the time I found you, you were with Arthur, and I knew I wouldn't be able to get to you."
I wrench the knife out, enjoying the sounds she makes when it rips through her skin. I watch the blood running down her arm to pool beneath her, and it’s a fucking beautiful sight.
“He dug his fucking knife into her, ripped out her fucking guts and left her to die on the floor in the fucking kitchen,” I hiss, drawing the knife down Caryn’s body until it hovers over her stomach. I was sixteen. I came home to my dead mother lying on the floor of our home, and I never even got to apologize for walking out on her after our fight.
“Maybe I should see how you like it?” I threaten, digging the blade lightly into her stomach.
Caryn’s fearful choke brings a smile to my lips, and she laughs bitterly, “I should have known you’d be just like Cara and get in my way. I wish I’d killed you both myself all those years ago before Cara disappeared with the assistance of Arthur.” Caryn is rambling, and as she continues, I sink the blade in a bit deeper, not hard enough to do any damage but enough to cause her discomfort. “I should have known you wouldn’t wait the two full weeks before coming back here. You’re young, reckless, impatient, practically still a child. Shortly before you arrived Arron phoned to tell me he’s about to finally pay off his debt. He’s probably at your house already, finishing off his sister as we speak. You should have been there too, but it’s so fucking like you to not be where you’re supposed to be. Once again, Seth, you’ve failed to protect the one person you care about the most. You’re too late, she’ll be dead before you leave the building.”
Fear courses through me, I need to get out of here and get back to Leeann. I’ve heard enough.
“Time’s up,” I say, and I plunge the knife in.
Her flesh parts open easily beneath the force of the sharp blade. I’m not Arron, so I don’t leave her to die slowly from the wound to her guts. I rip the knife out and slash it across her throat before stabbing it into her chest. Then I stand and quickly head over to the stairs, leaving her to choke to death on her own blood. All I can think about is Leeann, and I fucking hope I can get there in time to save her.
Leeann
I wake up alone. I’m curled up on the couch where I must have fallen asleep af
ter I went to find Seth during the night. Sitting up, I look around the room and take in my now familiar surroundings. I’m not exactly sure when I started to feel comfortable here or with Seth. It’s bizarre and makes no sense. Logic has abandoned this whole fucked up situation, and I’m reeling from it all.
I let out a heavy sigh and head to the bathroom. Maybe a shower will help clear my head, and then I’ll be able to think straight. Standing under the hot water, I close my eyes and reflect on the events of the past fortnight. Seth is under my skin and crawling his way toward my heart, and it’s fucking ridiculous that he’s managed to do it in such a short span of time.
“That cocky asshole,” I mutter, shaking my head, but there’s no mistaking the barely there smile on my face when I catch sight of myself in the mirror.
Seth is out, and I’m all alone for the first time in days, but I can’t shake the eerie feeling something’s not quite right. An unfamiliar sound reaches my ears and I frown, trying to work out what it could be. Then it hits me…it’s the alarm system.
Someone is trying to get in the house. Good luck to them; I caused more damage to myself than the door when I tried to break out of here. My attempt never tripped the alarm though, which is worrying. Fear floods my veins with ice. Seth isn’t here, and someone is trying to get in. But are they here for him, or for me?
I already know there’s nothing down in the basement I can use to defend myself except for my own two hands. I nervously make my way up the stairs in search of a weapon even though I’m aware that the odds of me successfully incapacitating anyone are depressingly low, especially if there’s more than one of them.
Carefully pulling the door open, I silently thank Seth for not locking the damn thing since he’s started staying downstairs with me. A loud bang sounds from the front of the house, and I can see the front door is damaged. Whoever’s there is trying to shoot their way in, but they haven’t managed to break through, yet.