* * * *
The display on Malachi’s phone said it was 2:30 a.m. For the first time ever, he’d let his employees handle the club. Neither he nor Demon had left the suite since making love. A dim light in the living room cast a minimal glow into the bedroom. It was quiet and peaceful, like a moment outside of time.
That wasn’t usually a phrase Malachi thought of when it came to fucking. Considering the animal intensity of the session they’d shared earlier, it still sounded too soft. Yet the sheer give-and-take between them had transcended physical fulfillment. Malachi could feel it still in the way Demon’s lean body was pressed against his beneath the covers.
Demon rolled to his side and gazed at Malachi in the near darkness. “Lars Aasen will be here in the morning to arrest Seraph.”
Malachi had suspected something of the sort, but knowing Selena’s cousin was somehow involved created as many questions as it answered. “What agency is he with?”
“Interpol.”
“Does Selena know?” Malachi thought of her utter confusion at her cousin’s apparent knowledge of Triptych.
“Not unless he told her once she got home.” Demon reached over and brushed his fingers down Malachi’s cheek. “I never told you how I ended up with Seraph.”
Malachi had guessed most of it, and somehow the rest seemed unimportant right now. “Uncle Han was angry with you for selling him out; he passed you on to Seraph’s father. I get it.”
“No, you don’t.”
Demon’s eyes were liquid pools of darkness in his dusky face. His position on the pillow pushed his hair back and exposed him to Malachi. The anguish in his expression tore at Malachi’s heart. What horror had his partner been through?
“My Uncle Han was a smuggler, but in the eighties he realized the real money was in the sex trade. By the time I began to work for him, he had a large operation in place. I didn’t immediately realize what was happening until my sister disappeared.” Demon closed his eyes for a brief moment. “She was young and beautiful, but defiant. Uncle Han was angry with her because she refused to marry one of his lieutenants. So he sold her off to be rid of her.”
Malachi swallowed, trying to imagine a much younger Demon discovering such a thing. “Did you find her?”
“She’d been beaten to death in a brothel in Bangkok.” Demon exhaled long and slow. “I decided right then I didn’t care what happened to me, I was going to take my Uncle Han’s operation down to prevent anyone else from suffering her fate.”
Malachi reached beneath the covers until he found Demon’s hand. He twined their fingers together and hoped he could handle the burden of what he suspected was coming. “What happened?”
“Uncle Han found out and sold me to Seraph’s father with a shipment of sex slaves.” Demon’s features twisted into the parody of a smile. “It took more than chains to hold me. They drugged me within an inch of my life to keep me compliant.”
“How did you wind up with Seraph?”
Demon squeezed Malachi’s hand. “Back in those days she reminded me a little of my sister. Rebellious at the core and hungry for things her family refused to give her. We were both trapped in that household. She was the one who concocted a plan to secure our freedom.”
“That’s why you feel beholden to her.” Malachi realized Seraph had held Demon’s loyalty in the same way she’d held his. The woman had manipulated Malachi with fatherhood and Demon with honor.
“That ends in the morning,” Demon said quietly. “She’s racked up a list of transgressions karma isn’t going to let pass.”
“And Selena?”
Demon’s dark gaze was impenetrable. “At the moment it’s probably better that she remains separate from us.”
A stab of jealous anger took Malachi by surprise. “What if someone else steps in while we’re cleaning up this bullshit mess? What if we lose her because you let her walk out?”
Malachi knew he sounded like a petulant child, and he didn’t care. He’d trusted Demon, and now Selena was gone. His heart ached at the thought. Of all the preposterous things they didn’t have time for, the one that trumped all others was that he suspected he’d fallen in love with a woman so far out of his social strata it was laughable.
“I felt as if I’d been gut shot when she chose to leave.” The corner of Demon’s mouth quirked up. “But I’ve had some time to think it over since then.”
“And?”
“I cannot say why she left. I can only speculate.”
Malachi scoffed impatiently. “So speculate.”
“She’s young by our standards,” Demon mused. “I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m twenty years older than she is, and I’m already ten years older than you are.”
“Age is irrelevant when I feel the way I do.” Malachi didn’t bother to hide the fervency in his tone.
“Still, from her perspective it must be daunting.” Demon’s expression held none of his usual dominance. It was shockingly humble. “When this is over, when we can come to her as free men, without Seraph dogging our steps, there will be plenty of time to win her over. In all honesty I cannot imagine she’d ever find what she seeks with anyone else.”
Malachi knew what his partner was asking. Demon wanted his trust again. It wasn’t in Malachi’s nature to be patient or complacent. His first instinct was to find Selena, throw her over his shoulder, and carry her back to Triptych. Then he’d make love to her again and again until she admitted she never wanted to leave his side. Hell, he wanted to spill his seed in her body, no matter how long it took him to overcome his reservations.
Another thought occurred to Malachi. “How does Uncle Han fit into all of this?”
“I’m not sure. According to Lucas’s itinerary, Seraph’s entourage will pull into the garage between seven and seven thirty this morning. Seraph has an appointment she claims she cannot miss. I don’t know if that involves one of my uncle’s contacts or not. I can only venture that she went to New York to meet with Han. He doesn’t come to Boston.”
Malachi wondered where all of this was going to leave Demon. “Who handles his business interests here in Boston?”
“My cousin, Kun.”
“Kun? I feel like I’ve heard that name.” Malachi racked his brain trying to recall why the name sounded so familiar.
“In China he would be Yen Kun.” Demon’s tone was devoid of emotion. “Kun made an attempt five years ago to muscle his way into Asylum’s gambling operation. Torres and Davies squashed him flat. Since then he’s remained in New York with my Uncle.”
“And if he’s back?”
“I can only hope. Seraph prevented my involvement before. She didn’t want my uncle or cousin to know I was here.”
The sheer menace in Demon’s words made the hair on the back of Malachi’s neck stand on end. There was an underlying hatred that made him almost sorry for Demon’s cousin.
“Sleep, lover,” Demon whispered. “In a few short hours we’ll have more answers than we should want.”
Lulled by the warmth of Demon’s body and his steady breathing, Malachi sank into a light slumber. He wondered briefly where Selena was, and hoped she was safe—and alone.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Triptych was empty when Seraphina de Medici’s stretch Lincoln pulled into the parking garage at ten minutes to eight. With Malachi’s help, Demon had sent every last staff member home, from cooks and cleaning staff to security. The only ones who remained were Demon, Malachi, and Owen, who had refused to leave, saying he enjoyed the possibility of a good fight.
With Malachi and Owen ranging behind him, Demon waited in the chill damp air of the garage for Lucas to park the car. Both Lucas and Jace had opted to ride in the limo’s front seats, probably to avoid Seraph’s constant bitching.
Still keeping up the pretense of his duties, Demon strode forward and opened Seraph’s door. She had her phone glued to one ear when she stepped out. Reaching back inside the vehicle, she dragged a reluctant Mei-ling behind her.
T
he tiny woman’s countenance was even more hopeless than the last time Demon had seen her. Her pale complexion was sallow with dark smudges beneath her almond-shaped eyes. He couldn’t hold his silence any longer, deciding it was worthwhile to chance an interaction in Mandarin. “Has she abused you?”
Brief surprise flashed in Mei-ling’s eyes before she lowered them demurely to the ground. “No worse than my stepfather in Guangdong.”
Demon had been too long in America if he’d forgotten the probability that a girl like Mei-ling had been repeatedly abused by her own family prior to being sold like chattel. It enraged him, pushing his temper close to the boiling point—a place he could not afford to reach before Lars arrived with the proverbial cavalry.
“English or Italian, you piece of shit,” Seraph snapped. “The civilized world doesn’t speak chink.”
Demon would have responded had she bothered to end her phone call, but she chose to ignore him instead of waiting for his reply. That suited Demon just fine. The less he had to pretend, the better off he was.
Seraph strode toward the elevators, snapping her fingers at Demon as though he were a dog. His lip curled in distaste. Elevators were too much like the containers his uncle had used to ship his human cargo from China to America. Being stuck in one with Seraph was always ten times worse.
“I’ll have Lucas and Jace get her bags,” Malachi murmured as Demon passed by. “We don’t want to leave any potential evidence unaccounted for.”
“I’ll need you upstairs in her presence chamber.” Demon palmed his phone and pressed it into Malachi’s hand. “Call Lars and tell him to strike now before she has a chance to slither away. Owen can make sure the front doors are wide open.” Demon inhaled deeply and prepared to shut himself inside a tiny capsule with Satan’s mistress.
When the doors slid shut, his muscles began to twitch. Seraph ended her call and gave him a condescending smile. She looked every inch the successful businesswoman in her straight skirt, silk blouse, and blazer. The black stiletto boots hugging her legs were the only thing that remained of her usual dominatrix gear.
“Poor, poor Demon.” Her voice oozed sarcasm. “All shut up in a tiny space. I believe your room at my father’s mansion in Rome was very similar to this, was it not?”
“I suspect you would know, since you occupied similar quarters.” He didn’t bother to hide his derision.
She sneered. “At least I wasn’t my brother Giovanni’s fuck buddy.”
“No, I believe you belonged to your father.” Demon refused to let her back him down this time. “Wasn’t that the reason you and I banded together? To get rid of your father and brother so we could be free?”
Her face paled beneath her pretty olive complexion. She chewed her lower lip. “You owe me. You’ll always owe me.”
“I might have, once, before you followed in your family’s illustrious footsteps and became exactly what you once professed to hate.” Demon gazed at Mei-ling. “You promised me fifteen years ago you would never reopen those channels.”
The elevator doors let out a loud ding, the sound a startling addition to the tense silence. In the brief slice of time before the doors slid open, Demon let his mask slip. He showed Seraph just a peek of the rampant animosity he held toward her. She looked at him with dawning horror. As soon as possible, Seraph hurried to exit the tiny space. He could hear her rapid breaths and sense her rising fear.
Demon spoke to Mei-Ling in Mandarin, ushering her out of the elevator and in the opposite direction of Seraph’s quarters. The mistress was so on edge she didn’t even notice her slave had gone missing.
He watched Mei-Ling scamper toward a door that led to the club proper, and hopefully to Owen, Jace, and Lucas’s safekeeping. As he made to follow Seraph, Malachi appeared at the top of the steps. Demon felt a layer of unease peel away at the sight of his lover. Malachi exuded strength in his sleek gait, looking more and more intimidating with each step of his rolling walk.
“Ten minutes,” Malachi murmured.
Demon didn’t bother to hide his own agitation. “Stay by my side.”
“Nowhere else I’d rather be.” Malachi took up a place at Demon’s left shoulder as they entered Seraph’s chamber.
The door to her boudoir was wide open, but she was at her desk. She rifled through papers with some speed. Obviously looking for something, she began to curse in low Italian when she couldn’t find it.
Her gaze drifted up briefly and locked suddenly on Malachi. “That disk! Where’s the disk I gave you? I need it. It has detailed transaction records. Do you have any idea how bad it would be for all of us if that thing fell into the wrong hands?”
“That’s not my problem. I told you I didn’t want anything to do with your business ventures.” Malachi looked and sounded bored. “So I got rid of it.”
“Got rid of it? How?” Her voice grew high-pitched and shaky.
A noise outside the room caught her attention. It sounded as if a herd of wild beasts was thundering down the hallway.
“What the hell is that? And where is everyone anyway? Where’s Jessica?”
“I sent them all home,” Demon said softly.
Malachi snapped his fingers in a clichéd impression of an aha moment. “I remember what I did with the disk, Seraph.”
“What?”
“Interpol,” Malachi drawled. “They were really interested in it.”
Lars appeared in the doorway looking as if he were out for a casual stroll. Half a dozen of his men filled the hallway. “Hello, Seraph. We have lots to talk about. I’m sure you’ll be quite comfortable in my office downtown while we have a chat.”
“Fine. Whatever.” Seraph was obviously trying to look unruffled. To anyone but Demon and Malachi she might have been convincing. “My lawyer will have a field day with this.”
Lars pulled out his phone and scanned the display, totally unbothered by her threat. “Oh I think it’s safe to say he’s not going to want to touch it, especially since you’re being extradited to Italy on murder charges. That and the human trafficking are pretty well guaranteed to make a noose tough to wriggle out of.”
“Lucas, Jace, thank God!” Seraph’s voice quavered when her security men entered the room. “Please escort this asshole off my property.”
Demon savored the expression on her face when Lucas and Jace positioned themselves behind Malachi without a second thought. Demon had told Seraph time and time again that only so much respect could be garnered by using fear. She’d never listened.
“Murder, Seraph?” Malachi sounded baffled. “Who did you kill?”
“I didn’t kill them! He did!” She pointed wildly at Demon.
Of all the things he had done in his long and sordid past, this was the one set of allegations that held absolutely no water. After living in a semidrugged state for more than eight months, Demon had been in no shape to kill a fly. Not that he would have balked at murdering Giovanni de Medici after the bastard had raped him repeatedly. Demon simply hadn’t possessed the strength.
“Demon?” Malachi arched one eyebrow in silent question.
Exchanging a short look with Lars, Demon decided he owed Malachi this much at least. The expanded version of what he’d explained earlier, though the true emotional turmoil lay in the things he’d confessed to his lover in the darkness, not the bald facts he would state here. “Seraph poisoned her father and her brother with an overdose of the drugs they were using to keep me sedated at the time.” He gazed at her thunderstruck expression, realizing she’d never thought his protection was something she might actually lose. “If I had to guess, she probably threw in some rat poison just to make certain they stayed nice and dead. Not that I was sorry to see them die, though I might have provided a quick end instead of the agony they suffered. Revenge is a double-edged blade.”
“You!” Seraph gasped as tears began to make hot tracks down her cheeks. “You betrayed me! You swore you wouldn’t!”
Demon let her see the depth of his disdain. She re
acted as if he’d physically slapped her. “You became exactly what we escaped, Seraphina. I knew that when I watched what you did to Malachi. Was it any different than what your father did to you? Worse, you involved a child.”
“Speaking of,” Lars said conversationally. “I’ve arranged to have the Boston School for the Arts named as the interim guardian for your daughter, Malachi, until we get this mess straightened out.”
Demon exhaled a sigh of relief. That had been the one point Lars was uncertain he could make stick. None of the rest mattered. If Demon was deported back to China, at least Allie would still have her father and her freedom.
“I’m sending you back to China in a box!” Seraph spat. “Fuck my lawyer. I’m using my phone call to inform INS of your whereabouts!”
“Gentry!” Lars called to his men waiting in the hallway. “Can you and Diekes please escort the lady to the garage, where her chariot awaits?”
Two brawny guys in SWAT outfits emblazoned with Interpol badges strode into the office and gathered Seraph’s voluptuous body between them. For a second, Demon thought she might actually put up a fight. Then she seemed to wilt.
“Don’t let Allie out of your sight for a second, Malachi!” Seraph said suddenly. “Han isn’t going to let this go. I owe him way too much money for that.”
Lars cursed beneath his breath. “Get her out of here, guys.”
The agents removed Seraph, but the specter of her words lingered behind. The muscles in Malachi’s jaw leaped as he ground his teeth together, and it was difficult for Demon to squelch the urge to go to him. They could only hope between the two of them and Lars, they could unravel Seraph’s trail and find enough evidence to boot Han back to China.
Lars waited until Seraph was gone to speak. “I’ll have a few agents keep an eye on Allie’s school, but I know for a fact that Han is in New York. I just don’t see him striking out at such an innocuous target.”
Demon met Malachi’s gaze, knowing they were of the same mind on the topic of Allie. Bringing her to Triptych would be foolish. Han was most likely to strike the club in search of monetary retribution. Allie had been moved with little-to-no paper trail as she always had been, thanks to Demon’s paranoia. So while Lars’s offer of watchdogs was probably a useless one, it was the best solution available to them at the moment.
Boston Avant-Garde 5: Bellicoso Page 20