by Faye Pierce
“You would.” Caspian is pacing now. Clearly he hates everything that I’m saying. I know he’s going to want proof that Midnight is unharmed and that everything else I’ve said is true before he promises anything. At least I’ve done my duty in keeping my word to my wife by coming here, by being near Caspian and not killing him. Perhaps tonight can be her first lesson in thanking me with her mouth for doing the things she asked.
“Regardless of how this plays out, Midnight will be well cared for and cherished.”
This makes Caspian stop pacing. He turns and looks at me carefully. “I always had an inkling that you liked her.” He points a finger at me, and for half a moment it feels like how things used to be. That was always the hardest part of being so close to him, the times that I forgot, even for a moment, that we were enemies. “Antonio told me everything after the guns warehouse...it was smart to lure me in with fake guns like that.”
“I knew he would.”
“And yet, you let him live.”
The implication of that truth passes between us. He can accuse me of going soft. He can say any number of things to me right now, and they might even be true. As much of a power move as marrying Midnight is, the way we were last night, waking up with her in my arms, there’s no way that I can go back to the life I used to live. “I thought—”
My thought is cut off, interrupted by both of our phones ringing at the same time, urgent, three messages back-to-back. We both move for them at the same time.
A bastard imposter and a stolen princess should know better than to steal a throne.
You were warned that this union made you look weak, and now you will pay for it with Midnight’s life.
Come to the coordinates alone and unarmed by dusk to sign your claims to the DePonte name away if you ever want to see your new bride alive.
What I read infuriates me, and Caspian looks at me. The bubble of neutrality we stand in pops, and the world returns. “You fool.”
I can’t deny it, not now.
“I bet that’s a bitter pill in your mouth right now, Leo.” Caspian seethes. His fist closes so firmly around the phone in his hand that the screen makes a sick crunch before he drops the broken thing to the ground. He got the same message I did. “You left her where she could be taken? Double crossing the double crosser…how fucking poetic.”
My hand shakes. A cocktail of rage, fear, and something primal in me awakens. “Stuff it.” We don’t have time to argue. I know his first impulse will be to take it out on me, but now we have a common enemy and a common goal. Everything else between us will just have to wait. I will not risk Midnight for this, not for anything. I told her yesterday everything has changed, and I meant it.
Who? Is the important question. Who did this to me? Who could claim that they had more of a right to the ‘throne’ than I do?
Angelo. He informed me of rumors that might spark mutiny, but he also assured me that it was taken care of. Apparently not. Now, he has the audacity to take my wife?
Angelo said that marrying Midnight was a bad idea. He tried to stop me.
“How stupid do you have to be? How ignorant? How blind to not see that you have snakes in your ranks!”
My laugh is cruel, “Coming from you? That’s rich...or was I not your right-hand man for so many years Knight?”
“These are coordinates to the old DePonte mansion...the one that I…” Cas trials off.
“Killed my father in? Yes, I’ve noticed.”
Our phones chime again, but Cas’s is broken so he looks at mine.
Come alone, or Midnight dies.
“Oh, fuck that,” Caspian spits, looking to me as if daring me to try to stop him from coming with me, but it hadn’t even crossed my mind. “Don’t you dare try to keep me away from this.”
“My thoughts exactly. Now we just need a plan.”
Caspian debates, but it’s obvious how resolved I am on the subject, so he nods.
“Good thing I know that manor inside and out then, isn’t it?” Cas comments, and I agree silently. One way or another, we’re going to save her.
Chapter Thirteen
Midnight
Why does being punched hurt so bad?
I am stubborn. I’ll admit that sometimes I can say things to provoke people. I’ve been guilty of not accepting ‘no’ as an answer so many times in my life that really, I ought to be punished for it. However, nobody has ever actually hit me. Nobody has been angry with me enough to want to take their first and injure me.
I haven’t done anything to these men in front of me. In fact, they were complicit in my kidnapping. If I hadn’t had history with Leo, if I didn’t know him in the way that I do...maybe they would have been complicit in my torture as well. I don’t know what sort of mental problems that they must have in order to hit somebody like me. I would play any card I possess if I thought it would help me at all. I could claim that I’m a woman or smaller than them. I could shout that I’m already crippled, that they are hitting somebody who cannot possibly defend herself, but they knew that when they tied me to the chair.
My mouth is too swollen to consider speaking anyway. I lost feeling in my hands some time ago. They tied my arms too tightly, I could feel it threatening my circulation as they zip tied my arms behind me to each side of the chair I’m seated on. I don’t have any way to get out of it. I think I have a black eye. The left side of my jaw is swollen, and I think I clenched my teeth which means I might have a chipped tooth. My ribs are bruised for sure, possibly worse. I’m just glad I had finished getting dressed moments before they came into the room.
I still don’t know what happened, not exactly.
Leo left...I remember making love this morning, I remember the way he stalled getting out of bed, and I remember showering together. I teased him as he got dressed and selected my clothing for me, the way he laid out the cute green dress over the bed. He told me I would be locked in the room until he got home. I never once considered that I might be locked in for my own safety, not just as a captive. Now I know.
I pulled the zipper to my dress up under my ribs, and Angelo had come in. I couldn’t remember his name at the time because I was so shocked he came in so forcefully, but I knew he was the man from the wedding ceremony, the one Leo said was his family.
I saw the boulder of a man on the ground by the door, and I knew that Goliath wouldn’t have been taken down so easily. The best I can assume is that they waited like cowards for Leo to leave the house. They don’t know how long he will be gone, or what exactly he has gone to do…so of course they had to act quickly.
The look on Angelo’s face frightened me enough that I didn’t want to go with him when he asked. I backed into the dresser, and he lunged for me. He chased me around the room a good two times as I threw things at him. The insults he threw at me were the most depraved, disgusting things. I had fallen over Goliath’s body on the way out of the room. I could hear Lily screaming down the hallway. As least I assumed it was Lily, she was the only other woman I remember hearing. Angelo attacked me before I could even get my legs back underneath me. My back was irritated, and fire spiked down my legs. Angelo grabbed me by my hair, and the things he threatened to do with me, the hate that left his mouth as he described all he would do to me so he could hurt Leo, made me sick.
I came to about the time they hurled me into this chair, aware at the last possible minute as they strapped me down. I didn’t know the name or the face of the man who hit me, but I could hear Angelo circling the room around me, giving the instructions on how to hit me, where to hit me, and laughing when I started to cry.
They’ve been gone some time now, and everything hurts. Absolute agony burns in every part of my body that I can still feel. I guess it’s good that I can’t feel my hands anymore.
Caspian and Leo have worked things out. They are coming for me. They didn’t shoot one another on sight. They are coming for me. They will save me.
It plays like a mantra in my head. Over and over the words
cycle because I need to focus on something so that the pain doesn’t get overwhelming. I have to rely on my hope that both of my men are fine. They worked things out, and they are going to put aside their differences. They are going to come for me...and I want them to make each and every one of these men pay. There is no alternative. That has to be why they didn’t do worse to me yet. Whatever they want, the end goal, it won’t be accomplished if I’m dead. They must need one or both of them for something. I am not foolish enough to assume that it’s me they want. If nothing else, I’m leverage for them to use, which means I have to live at least a little bit longer.
I’m thirsty.
It’s a silly thing to focus on, but if I put all my effort into my dry mouth then the rattle in my chest doesn’t hurt so bad. If Leo’s goal was successful, if he kept his promise to me, then he spoke to Caspian, and he found a way to make my stubborn brother hear him. That’s the possibility that I’m focusing on now. Any moment they are going to come crashing in through the ceiling somewhere and rescue me. I have faith in them.
The door slams open, and I squint. The light in the hallway is brighter than the one in the room I’ve been sitting in. Two men flank Angelo and move to cut the zip ties holding my arms and legs. The influx of blood supply back to my abused limbs is painful, and I cry out and try to pull my arms into my chest. The men stop me. They grab me by the arms, now pinpricking with the painful static of waking back up, and they move me toward the door.
“It’s time.”
I want to ask what for, but I cough instead.
Angelo makes a face, lifting his hand to wipe the blood I coughed from his face, rolling his eyes. “I tried to tell him not to marry you; I warned him. I thought that as long as he thought he was pulling all of the strings, he would be easy to manipulate, and it wouldn’t have to come to this. I’m not a monster, you know; I don’t like to harm my family. It’s just business.”
I refuse to look at him, and he grabs me by my chin and forces my face forward.
“Crossing territory lines by marrying you? That’s too far. A bastard simply doesn’t have the pull for such a thing. He can believe himself a good leader all he wants, but this will be mine. I have more claim to the DePonte family legacy than he does, and I’m far from the only person who thinks so.”
“And Goliath?” I grind through my teeth. The silent man can’t have done anything to deserve that fate, and Lily was harmless.
“He got in my way.” Angelo says, as if that settles the matter. He releases my face. “Bring her; he’s here. I want her in the office as leverage while he signs his life and kingdom away to me.”
I’m too tired to fight as I’m carried into the other room, my feet dangling limp underneath me, and at least this chair that I’m dropped onto is soft. The men stand behind me, one beefy hand each on my shoulders to keep me in place.
“Angelo!” Leo’s rage washes over me, but it’s instantly soothing. He’s “escorted” into the room by a man who looks like he was assigned the task of restraining Leo and bringing him in under some form of control. He fails miserably. He trails after Leo, attempting to grab at Leo’s jacket, and Leo mainly ignores that the other man exists at all. “Whatever temporary lapse of mental sanity you’re suffering from—” Leo cuts short as he sees me.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen somebody transform from an external rage to quiet, murderous intent so quickly. Every part of Leo’s face shifts. It’s like he transforms into another person, and it’s insanely attractive. I almost feel sorry for Angelo.
Leo’s hand goes to his shoulder holster, a movement he’s done countless times before. Irritation flares as he finds the holder empty. “Sh—” Leo swears under his breath, cursing himself for leaving the weapon behind during preparation for my brother.
Cas.
Where is he? Did Leo tell him that I’ve been taken hostage, again? Did Caspian know that Leo is here to save me; did he offer his help? Are they working together? Yes, of course they are. They would never let anything happen to me.
“The fuck did you do?” Leo seethes. He’s speaking to Angelo but unable to look anywhere but my face. I want to run to him, but Angelo’s men tighten their grips on my shoulders to keep me from trying it.
“Just like that, you’re no more threatening than a neutered puppy?” Angelo gloats. “I can’t imagine how frustrating this must be for you. All of your hard work, and for nothing. These men were never loyal to you; they always wanted me right here.” Angelo’s arms sweep out wide, gesturing to the office. “If I knew you’d be this pathetic, I might have taken my rightful place on the true DePonte throne long ago.” He leans back into the chair that must have once belonged to Leo’s father, the last leader of the DePonte clan. Angelo makes a show of staring Leo down.
“You’ll never belong there, Angelo. Your blood is not strong enough to claim the title.”
Angelo’s temper flares instantly. “Just one right move, and you’re toppled by a pretty face? You think that a bastard is worthy of the seat? I should have never allowed you to pretend to run this game in the first place, but I wasn’t going to put my head against Knight. You were a puppet, and a great one too. But the game ends now.”
“You think that you’re a big, tough guy simply because you hit a woman? You think that’s some spoils of war for yourself?”
“I think it worked, is what I think.” Angelo’s temper flares as he sits upright, elbows coming to rest on the desk as Leo stands stock still. They stare one another down, and then Angelo slides the paperwork over to the other side of the massive desk. “Just need your signature there at the bottom, and this will all be over.”
“I sign that, and you kill us both. There’s not much incentive, is there?”
“If you don’t sign, I will start cutting off her fingers one at a time while you watch.” Angelo says it like it’s nothing, as if he’s not threatening to maim me. I swallow hard, tears falling freely.
“So then, what’s the point?”
“I need you to sign over the titles and deeds; this will effectively surrender all of the properties to me and negate your father’s will. You will have nothing, and I will seize control of the empire. You sign these without any more lip, and I will let little Midnight here live. I’ll even do you a favor, since we’re blood and all, and I will have you taken out back and shot. I’ll have you buried in the family plot, and nobody outside of this room will know what happened here. It’s the best offer a bastard can get, and it will be valid for the next thirty seconds, and not one second longer.”
Leo considers, and crosses the room, picks up the pen. How badly does he want to put that pen through Angelo’s eye? It’s practically written all over his face as Leo’s knuckles whiten under the force he’s putting on that poor pen.
“I knew you were weak. You didn’t even try to fight?” Angelo and his men laugh, openly taunting Leo as he signs one paper after the other, and my heart breaks in my chest. “How many years of your life were wasted to get you here? Hm? You know for a moment I thought that you might had it in you.” Angelo drives the point further. “Your weakness for a warm hole just cost you everything you worked for. I knocked your entire alleged legacy over in one move!”
A shot fires from somewhere that I cannot see, and then the man holding my left shoulder stops laughing.
His body falls forward, and I shriek, yanking my leg away from the path he falls. I swear the floor shudders under the bulk of him. My heart starts pounding, the old, closed gunshot wound in my spine flares to life. It didn’t hit me. I’m fine. I don’t have to go back to the hospital. But my mind shifts into an instant panic mode. I want to shrink into the wall. I don’t want to get shot again. Once was more than enough. My wild, panicked eyes look for Leo, but the man from my other side rushes toward him. He’s twice the size of Leo, but he is sloppy. The fist that he throws toward my husband is slow, and Leo’s been a street fighter trained boxer since his childhood.
Angelo snarls, pulling a gun from
a holster under the desk where his legs were. He turns on me when the domed glass ceiling from a story and a half above us shatters, and Caspian rappels down. Had he been up there the whole time? I can hear the sound of fist hitting flesh from Leo and the guard, and the door to the office bursts open. More of Angelo’s men come pouring in, at least six of them, heavily armed.
Angelo advances on me, and I feel the muzzle of his gun against my temple just long enough to turn my blood into ice—and then Caspian kicks a foot out to hit the wall, altering his course and falling directly on top of Angelo. He doesn’t stay down long, and he comes up swinging.
There’s too many of them. How are we going to get out of this?
I’ve never actually seen my brother engage in hand-to-hand combat before, and it’s terrifying. Angelo isn’t a tall man, and Caspian lands two solid hits to both his kidney and face, then detaches the rope he rappelled down from his waist, wraps the cord around the man’s neck, twice, and tightens it. He doesn’t blink, there’s no consideration as he extinguishes the light from Angelo’s eyes.