The Kidnapper's Brother: A Dark Criminal Romance

by Alice T. Boone

  My body wouldn’t listen to me anymore, wouldn’t listen to Alex’s pointed instructions. As desperately as I wanted to run, panic forced me forward. Sloppy movements threw me across the room, and my arms locked around Toby’s neck before I had a chance to consider what it all meant. When I finally begged for mercy, pleaded that I’d do anything for Toby to stop, offered myself to his demons, the barter fell on deaf ears. This thing was too far gone now, too late for intervention. Toby shook me off with a single movement and tossed his brother to the ground. Boot prints would forever stain Alex’s ribs, a story to be told in his autopsy, but it wasn’t Alex’s grunt of pain that finally granted us this stay.

  As I crumpled to the ground, I felt Toby’s eyes on me. The real Toby. That boy I’d met on the phone all those nights ago. Disgust twisted his insides, crushed his weakened heart, and for a moment, Toby paused. Anger turned into something darker, defeat mixing with a dark acceptance, and when a final plea left my lips, Toby’s attention turned back towards the bloodied mess on the floor. His fingers dug into Alex’s collar once more, lifting the man up only enough to snarl in his ear.

  “You want the slut? Fix this fuckin’ deal, and you can have her.”

  I wouldn’t move when Toby released his brother back to the ground, a low grunt leaving Alex as his head slammed against old wood. I didn’t shift when Toby released another pained cry, wouldn’t blink when he spit on the bloodied form of the man I craved, and when Toby finally stalked out of the room, I wouldn’t breathe.

  I couldn’t do anything. Not when I was so terrified of making it all worse.

  It didn’t shift until I was certain that the screams of pain were coming from the living room. Though, I wasn’t sure it mattered. When I finally crawled over to him, I was too scared to touch Alex the way I wanted. The only thing that gave me any confidence was the weak rise of his chest, but even that only bought a shaking hand. My fingers hardly grazed his skin as I pushed his bloodied hair out of the way, the mixture of old bruises with new making it nearly impossible to relate the man now to the boy who made my knees so weak.

  “Alex.” His forced name wouldn’t earn a movement, wouldn’t bring the grin I needed to see the most. Taking in a breath, I swallowed the sob that built so easily. “Alex, please just say something.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  I didn’t want the phrase to fill my head, to smother me so entirely, but it didn’t seem to matter what I wanted anymore. The broken apology only fed the fear in my heart, and pain rushed my aching system. Every piece of me felt torn, broken, confused. Every piece of me ached, and yet, the thought of leaving him here only seemed to make me hurt more. With my last ounces of strength, I looped his injured arm around my shoulder and pulled Alex’s deadweight to the side of the room. He didn’t begin to show strength until I had managed to prop him up against the wall, didn’t start to fight until he struggled to raise his head.

  It was only once our eyes met that I was able to force the question out of my lips.

  “Why wouldn’t you just tell me the truth?” My choked voice only brought his eyes back to the ground, only brought another grunt of pain. “You told me you had nothing to do with this.”

  When his grin finally returned, tinted with blood, it didn’t bring the relief I hoped for.

  “I didn’t want you to hate me,” he admitted, another shot of pain forcing his head against the wall. “I just wanted him not to hurt anymore, Lilah. I didn’t do this shit to hurt you.”

  Anger tainted whatever sympathy lived in my stomach, and the sob that built in my chest would never reach him.

  “He’s going to kill me, Alex.”

  “I know,” he managed, another strangled grin gracing his lips. “It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.”

  “What the hell does that matter?” I spit, tightening his jaw. “I trusted you.”

  “I don’t have a choice anymore, Lilah,” Alex snarled, annoyance straightening his spine. His features didn’t soften again until his eyes scanned my face. But then, breaking him never would feel like a victory. “Loving you doesn’t mean I can abandon him.”

  I wouldn’t let the warmth fill my chest, wouldn’t let the words float to my head— not when Alex was so focused on ending it all in front of me. Despite my cry of protest, Alex forced himself onto his feet. Careless hands wiped the blood from his eye, from his lips, before digging into his own pocket and pulling out his set of keys. The damn things always seemed to ride the line between damnation and salvation, but as Alex pushed them into my hand, the line blurred even further.

  “Alex, come on.”

  Straightening, the man numbed out the pain that shot through his system. He brushed back his stained hair, adjusted his tattered clothing, and gave me one last look from my place in the dirt. “Toby smashed the light out down there,” he choked out, eyes blinking away his blurring vision. “It’s ten steps to the bottom. That rusted one will open the door in the basement.”

  “Alex.”

  I couldn’t feel his palm on my cheek, couldn’t quite sense the warmth of his lips on the crown of my head. With a single movement, Alex tore away the last strand of hope I had left. The man straightened again and shifted his attention to the door. I was certain I called for him again, begged for him again, but this time, Alex’s steely backbone wouldn’t be bent. Not for me. Not when he’d already decided to throw this all away.

  “When the time’s right, don’t hesitate,” he ordered, shooting me a careful look as he shoved his hands in his pockets. “I won’t be able to get you a second chance.”

  “Please don’t go back down there.” The room seemed to grow even colder as he limped towards the door, his body betraying the indestructible image he so desperately craved. “Alex, I’m begging you.”

  The phrase brought another grin, another sad reflection on the people we’d transformed into. Pausing at the door, Alex licked at his lips before offering me one last strike to the heart.

  “Don’t hate me,” he finally noted, the low tones hardly recognizable as the confident man I’d come to know. “At the end of this, I did my best for you, alright? Just try not to hate me.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Once I’d collapsed at the kitchen table, I was certain this place would mark my grave. The once-spotless surface was splattered with blood now, the area broken and glued back together after one too many battles. The cool wood offered some sense of peace, at least. While the numbness had dulled most of my senses, just the thought of something cool against my wounds relaxed me.

  If I survived the night, the only thing that waited for me was pain.

  “Fuck!”

  For the first time in an hour, my head tilted. My bloodied nose scraped along the surface of the wood as I laid my head on its side, finally able to capture the image of my panicked brother. Toby was pacing the room again. Even with half his supply up his nose, he hadn’t quite been able to soothe the gnawing in the back of his head, and the only thing that signalled the flow of time around us was his sudden outbursts. Closing my eyes, I let my forehead drift back to the wood. He was speaking to me again, but with this blood rushing through my ears, I never had much chance of hearing anything.

  “This what you wanted?” Toby’s garbled voice sliced at my skin, pained cries refusing to let me find the sleep I craved. “Is this what you fucking wanted? Do you see what you’ve done?”

  The only thing that pushed me forward was the memory of the woman I left alone in this den of wolves. Images of Lilah flooded my head whenever the darkness started to fill my lungs, my body refusing rest until I’d seen my job through until the end. I wasn’t going to make it through this. I’d already made my choice, already carved my path. I was already dead, but Lilah had a chance of living. Lilah had a chance at growing old, at finding someone who could love her the way she deserved, at crafting a life worthy of a goddess.

  Blood filled my mouth as I licked at my lips. Slowly, painfully, my hand slapped against the back of my neck,
a lazy massage the only way I could get the blood to start flowing through my body again. When I finally found the strength to pull up, I tried to keep the doubt out of my chest. This wasn’t exactly how I planned it, wasn’t how I thought this would all work out. When I’d pictured the end, I never thought there’d be this much suffering. I always imagined I’d die under Toby’s command, not under his god damn hand, but still, I wasn’t sure there was any room for regret.

  I’d chosen this life, hadn’t I?

  I couldn’t make this right, but I could at least control the ending.

  And god, did I want it to end.

  “Hope it was worth it.” Garbled words pulled my attention to the side, but I could only stand the heat of Toby’s glare for a moment. Desperate to find relief, I pinched at the bridge of my nose, the pain bringing a release I craved, an agony I deserved. “Hope getting some fuckin’ pussy was worth ruining everything we’ve worked for.”

  “You know I didn’t plan on it ending this way, Toby.”

  He’d been egging me on for the better part of an hour now, constantly trying to lure out the beast in my chest. He wanted to taste my anger. He wanted a target for his own, but I was done giving Toby what he craved. When my gentle words filled his head, Toby shifted again, another jump between the boy I used to know and the man he had become. Still, I wouldn’t summon the strength to look at him— not when every piece of me was focused on breathing with a bruised rib.

  I didn’t plan on it ending like this.

  Fifteen years of this shit and we were right back where we started: alone in the dark.

  This wasn’t exactly how it was supposed to go.

  I was just trying to help.

  When the door swung open, I didn’t feel the panic I used to. For the first time in years, my heart remained steady, a strong beat when it finally felt the purpose it cried out for. My chest knew this was the right choice, but that didn’t much stop the aching, the throbbing in the back of my head. When Jax entered the room, all I could feel was his slick satisfaction. Seeing me bloodied, beaten, broken was probably the source of his favourite fantasies, but shame didn’t fill my lungs. As much as I hated giving Jax what he wanted, all I could really focus on was gratitude.

  If Toby’s eyes were on Jax, at least they weren’t on me.

  Things blurred again as I rose to my feet. A hunger whispered that I needed ice, that I needed cold, that I needed something else to numb this ache, but my legs were too drained to keep me upright. I groped out for the counter when my vision washed with black, and my movement didn’t resume until reality coloured in. The only reassurance the house offered anymore was the cold nose pressing into my hand, the muzzle that pressed against my thigh. Despite his pain, the dog at my side wouldn’t whimper anymore, his nervous movement only slowing when my hand landed on his head. With the last remnants of strength, I snatched a bag of peas from the freezer and limped my way back to my post at the table. It was only once I’d settled, once the mutt placed his head so peacefully in my lap, that I caught the notes of concern in my brother’s voice.

  “We’re gonna fix this shit, Jax.” False bravado tried to smother the doubt in his stomach, that fear he’d patented from such a young age, but coke fiends never had been any good at lying. Not to me, at least. “I’m not gonna let you down again.”

  When the table rattled beneath me, my head banging against the wood, a quiet curse left my lips. Anger jerked my head up, and when I was met with Jax’s casual grin, I let it melt from my face. His muddied boots were propped up on my table, and a new worry took over that the damn thing would collapse again. I relaxed back in my chair. At my feet, the mutt curled into a tight ball, and with my eyes towards the ceiling, I rested the peas on my surely-broken nose.

  “You look like shit.”

  Despite myself, I couldn’t help but chuckle. “What’s new about that?”

  The hiss that left Jax was supposed to set me on edge. All it really did was make me feel like I’d done something right, that at the very least, I hadn’t quite lost my touch. I’d lost a brother, a lover, a life, but I hadn’t lot the ability to tear into Jax’s skin.

  “That’s the shit that stops you from gettin’ ahead here.”

  My grin just pushed him further, and as I straightened up, I gave him the best bloody smile I could manage. “Bet if I asked nicely, you’d give me head just fine.”

  The song nearly had Toby lunging across the table at me, and while the dog at my feet stilted, I couldn’t be bothered. Jax’s hand on Toby’s chest was the only thing to stop the advance, and when I was certain my head wouldn’t ache with a second concussion, I placed the ice back on my nose.

  “Pricks like you are runnin’ your mouth even after they’ve had their ass handed to them,” Jax snarled out, as though I was supposed to take that as anything other than a compliment. “Learn to shut your mouth and you might actually get somewhere.”

  Getting somewhere always seemed to be a point of conversation with assholes like Jax. That was how they lured in cannon fodder like my brother, these illusions of grandeur always so bright to a boy who lived in the dark. Jax was always willing to help you get somewhere. The only problem was, you didn’t realize what that meant until it was far too late. This life couldn’t be lived for long— not without a price to pay. You constantly needed new souls, new blood, and when you couldn’t drink the lifeforce of your enemies, when you hesitated to kill, your ride was over. The only place Jax took anyone was an early grave.

  I’d learned that the hard way.

  I tried my best to relax back into my seat. This thing was going to be over soon, the voice whispered. I only had to hold out another few minutes. With midnight quickly approaching, I was certain Lilah had already unlocked the door in the basement, had already scurried over the bodies of girls less brave, had made the barefoot run through the bramble. All I had to do was buy her a few more minutes, steal her just enough time to reach the unmarked car that followed Jax’s every move, and once midnight passed, it was hard to see a reason to open my mouth at all.

  I didn’t want to live this life anymore.

  And finally, I’d get what I always wanted.

  “Alex and I already have a deal, Jax,” Toby assured him, settling down at the head of the table as though he had a right to sit by my side. “Don’t worry about him.”

  “Doesn’t matter if I trust you or not, kid.”

  Without shifting, I could feel Jax’s gaze burning into me. The man was an idiot, but when his system was clear, his instincts never really steered him wrong. The prick had survived more assassination attempts than Hitler, and I was certain that when his gaze landed on me, his hackles raised. I brought the chill of death now.

  “Alex, tell him,” Toby rushed, his fake smile clear in his voice. When he was met with only my silence, another shiver ran through the room. “Tell him.”

  “It’s over Toby,” I murmured, refusing to straighten as I let the ice fall into my lap. “I can’t do this with you anymore.”

  “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

  Quiet brought peace, but that had never lived long in rotted walls. Pain ricocheted through my system as Toby tangled his fingers in my matted hair, as his force slammed my face down against the hardwood. Not that it mattered. Pain was a welcomed reminder that I was still here, that there was just enough blood and bones left in this body to do what I needed to do.

  My vision darkened as more blood poured from my nose, coating the table. My brother’s hand tightened around my collar, and as the mutt’s growl filled my head, Toby’s grinding teeth landed beside my ear. “Don’t you ever ignore me,” he snarled. “You think I won’t go up there and fuck her until she screams for—”

  “Lilah’s gone.”

  The statement had a way of stopping everything, of loosening an iron grip. When Toby’s mouth turned to sand, I shook out of his grip and rested back in my seat. I had thought this moment of victory would be a high I could ride into the next life
, would be a moment to be proud of when Toby lunged at me a final time, a barrel pressed into my temple. Instead, all it did was leave me empty.

  When Lilah had gone, she’d taken her warmth with her.

  Carefully, I wiped some of the blood from my upper lip. “It’s over, Toby.”

  “What the fuck’s he talking about, Toby?”

  The fear in Jax’s voice didn’t shift his attention— not when every demon living in his chest had demanded an answer. Toby’s voice didn’t drop the way I expected it to, his being didn’t shift to the creature I’d become used to. Instead, the man who looked at me now resembled the boy I’d spent so long taking care of. Those big blue eyes reminded me of the hurt that started this all, of the abandonment Toby would never be able to understand.

  “What do you mean she’s gone?”

  “I let her go.”

  I had thought I’d been through enough raids to recognize the signs, to know what was happening before it was too late. The stories the old boys tried to feed me were bullshit, claims that they could smell bacon an hour before the cops even slammed in their front door. There was no way I could have predicted the way the door splintered apart with their impact, the shouting of orders from the men that poured inside this tomb. It would have taken a psychic to be able to predict the snarls that came from Jax’s throat, the rage, the sound of his gun snapping out of its holster.

  Gangsters could claim this clairvoyance all they wanted; it wasn’t true.

  No one could have predicted the blood bath that came next.