Bitter Truths: A Twisted Arranged Marriage Romance (Crimson Falls Duet Book 2)

by Dani René

  7

  Darius

  I need space.

  I need to think.

  She’s seen me. The me I’ve hidden from everyone. Just her eyes locking on mine dug into my soul. As much as I try to hide the pain, Scarlett has seen right down to the depths of me. And if I’m honest, it fucking scares me.

  When I walk into the living room, I spot a few guys with club whores on their laps, and Howler sitting at the bar watching the show. This is the life I was made to live in, not the one Scarlett thinks I should be in. She’s reading too much into my actions. I don’t want to hurt her, because if I do, Lycan won’t help me. And for once in my life, I’ll admit I need his help.

  I settle beside Howler, who’s sipping a bourbon. The amber liquid almost filling his glass. “What’s happening?” he asks but doesn’t look at me. He knows I’m fighting a war within myself. This is one man who’s known me for a long time. He can see past my bullshit, just like the woman upstairs.

  “Hey, darlin’,” one of the club whores, Kitty, sidles alongside me, her body pressed against mine. Heat courses through my veins, but when I take in her dark brown hair, I have to note it’s not red. She’s not Scarlett.

  This is ridiculous.

  Sliding my arm around her waist, I pull her closer between my thighs as I look over at Howler, who has his brow raised in question. The man is as intuitive as I am, and he knows me far too well to believe I’m into the woman I’m currently holding.

  “You want some of this?” I question her, grabbing her hand and placing it on my crotch. Even though I’m not hard for her, a soft giggle falls from her lips. Most of the women who hang around the club are like this—too easy. I tug her wrist, practically dragging her out to the garages where all the bikes are parked. From here, I can glance up and see the bedroom window where the beautiful redhead is locked.

  Leaning against the wall, I focus on the window while I push Kitty to her knees. She knows what to do, and as soon as my cock is in her hand, a hiss leaves my mouth. My eyes don’t stray. I don’t even look down at the woman with her lips now wrapped around my hardening shaft.

  When I recognize the face watching from the window, I can’t help but throb in Kitty’s mouth. Her moans vibrate through me, but it’s those silver eyes staring down at me that have me nearing my release.

  The heat of the mouth what’s swallowing my cock, and the wide-eyed glare from the woman who hates me, has my spine tingling. A satisfied smirk curls my lips because she can see what’s going on down here. She can see the dark brown head bobbing back and forth in my crotch. My fingers tangle in the silky locks, and I wish with all I am that it was the scarlet waves of the woman upstairs.

  Her name is perfection.

  So is her smile.

  And her body, that’s purely sinful.

  And I want her, I want her so bad it hurts.

  At the window, Scarlett moves her hands over her chest, to her neck, and her finger slips between her plump pink lips, my cock jolts and my balls draw up as my release hits me like a fucking tidal wave knocking the breath from me.

  I watch her slowly suck her finger before I empty jet after jet of hot seed down Kitty’s throat. The moment I slip from the warm mouth that’s swallowed every drop of cum, Scarlett disappears from the window, breaking the connection, leaving me empty and torn.

  “Want me to spend the night?” Kitty asks, bringing my attention back to her instead of the fucking window. Her wide brown eyes shimmer with the promise of more where that came from, but I’m not into it and when she notices my expression, her smile falls. “You’re a bastard,” she bites out in anger before I have time to respond.

  “I’m sure you can find someone to keep you company,” I tell her before zipping my jeans and leaving her standing in the dim lighting of the garage. A decision is made. I’m going to have to get away from Scarlett. She’s not good for me, and once her father’s money clears in the offshore account, I’ll give her back to Lycan.

  Inside the house, I grab a beer and swallow it down until there’s nothing left in the bottle. I can feel Howler’s stare on me, and when I lock my gaze on his, there are questions dancing in his eyes.

  “What?” I ask, sitting beside him on one of the bar stools.

  He shakes his head. “You know, if I didn’t know better, I would’ve said the girl upstairs has your head fucked.” He lifts his drink to his lips as he regards me. But he says nothing more. I don’t respond. I don’t need to. He knows he’s right, and if I said anything to dissuade him, he’ll know I’m lying.

  I don’t lie to my brothers.

  Turning to the prospect who’s serving our drinks, I order another one before saying, “I think we need to find this Lorenzo fucker. I don’t like the fact that he’s dealing girls in our territory.”

  “Maybe it’s time to go to Lycan, his team have—”

  “Are you sure you want to go down that road?” I ask, meeting his gaze. “Because if they agree to help us, there’ll be a lot more shit we need to answer for.”

  “Lycan’s men are good. I can track shit, hack into machines, but they have men on the ground. We don’t have those kinds of resources, Darius.” Fuck, he’s right. “I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t think it was a good idea.”

  I chuckle. “You say a lot of shit that isn’t a good idea,” I taunt.

  “Fuck you,” my best friend throws back and we both laugh.

  Sipping my drink, I turn my attention to the men, to my men. They’re good. They would do anything for me, for the club, but Howler is right, we need to get help. More men. “Any word on how he’s doing?” I ask. I don’t have to say his name because Howler knows who I’m talking about.

  “Looks good, he’ll recover. You didn’t hit anything major.”

  I nod, thankful. I wanted to hurt my brother. But when I pulled the trigger, there was a part of me that knew I couldn’t kill him. Not yet anyway.

  He now knows Grace wants him dead. I let that little secret slip when I stood at the altar. She didn’t look all too happy with me, and I’m waiting for her backlash because knowing how that bitch works, she’ll be coming after me.

  “I want us to get to Grace before she walks in here with my name on a bullet.” I glance at Howler, and he nods. We both know it’s going to be a job to take her down. Mainly because it’s Scarlett’s grandmother, and it will hurt her, but she has to understand we have no choice. The woman is an evil bitch. But also, she has connections—police, politicians, even the fucking CIA is in her pocket, so we need to be very careful how we do this.

  Hence the reason I’ll wait for Lycan before acting out. He always used to tell me I was too reactive. I needed to plan. This time, I’m finally listening to his advice.

  “She’ll pay,” Howler promises as the girls start dancing to the music that’s blaring through the speakers. The guys are enjoying it, shouting and whistling, and I wonder briefly what’s happened to me.

  A couple of months ago, I would’ve loved this. Parties, drinking, the women, but right now, the consequences of what I’ve done weigh heavily on me. Guilt sluices through me at the thought of kidnapping Scarlett, shooting Lycan, and the thought of not being able to talk to him again hits me right in the chest.

  This is Scarlett’s doing.

  She needled at me, asking me fucking questions, and now all I can think about is apologizing and making things right. It’s not who I am. It never has been. Not with my mother, not with my father, but right now, all I want to do is make her pay for unlocking that box I’d kept hidden away for so long.

  Pushing to my feet, I say, “I’m heading up. See you in the morning.” I don’t wait for Howler’s response because I can only imagine it being a warning against what I’m about to do. And even if he had gotten it out, I may have just ignored him, anyway.

  Outside the bedroom door, I grip the handle in a white-knuckle hold. I shouldn’t do this. But I was never one for rules. I push it open and step inside to find Scarlett sitting on the bed
, her arms wrapped around her legs, her chin resting on her knees.

  In this position, she looks small, so fucking tiny and fragile. I want to wrap her in my arms and never make her cry. Confusion swirls in my gut. Want and need, overpowering the desire to destroy her.

  “Did you enjoy the show?” I taunt, shutting the door behind me, my eyes keeping her pretty ones hostage as she looks me over. She trails me from head to toe, then meets my questioning stare once more.

  “Did you do that on purpose?” she challenges, a small smile hinting at her lips, and I’m tempted to go over to her and steal it, to feel her softness against my hardness. But I don’t. I refrain from even stepping closer to the bed where she’s perched, because the moment I do, I’ll lose all semblance of control that I’m grasping onto.

  “Perhaps.” Just the one word has her laughing out loud. “Were you wet, wishing it was your mouth bringing me pleasure?” Shrugging off the leather cut, I throw it onto the foot end of the bed. I make my way to the window, keeping my distance from her.

  “I was wondering where my husband is. If he’s okay. I thought about how much pleasure he brought me with his lips, tongue, and fingers. And then, I imagined him here, tasting me while I sucked his cock like she took yours in her mouth.”

  Even though she’s attempting to anger me, to send my jealousy soaring, it doesn’t work because the fire and desire dancing in her pretty eyes make it clear her words are almost a lie. I say almost because even though she may miss Lycan; she wants me. There’s no doubt in my mind about it.

  “I’m sure if you had us both you wouldn’t survive the pleasure that we could bestow on you, little one.” It’s the truth. She’s far too innocent to even imagine what Lycan and I could do to her. That is, if my brother would share.

  And for a moment, I ponder the thought.

  “He’ll never share me with you,” she informs me, tipping her chin in defiance, and I can’t help but grin. She didn’t say she doesn’t want it, only that Lycan wouldn’t allow it. But I know my brother better than she does.

  “Get some rest,” I order, trying to keep my voice calm as I settle into the armchair that overlooks the front garden. I’m not moving until she’s asleep, and if she fights me on that, too bad because I’m watching over her tonight, and I’m going to enjoy it.

  After a long while, Scarlett settles under the covers. But her eyes are on me, watching and waiting. I lean back, relaxing as I rest my feet on the window seat. It’s going to be a long night, and my little one better be in it for the long haul.

  My phone vibrates in my pocket moments later, and I glance at Scarlett before pulling it from my pocket. She’s finally asleep. At least it looks like it from where I’m sitting. A message on the screen has me grinning.

  Time to get this game started.

  8

  Lycan

  When my eyes snap open, I find Kahn standing at the door talking to a couple of men dressed in black. I don’t recognize them, which has me wondering if he’s hired new guys. I try to shift, and my chest aches. Agonizing pain shoots through me the moment I scoot higher on the single bed.

  Looking around the room, I notice it’s one of the VIP suites at Crimson Falls General. I didn’t think I would wake up from the shots Darius fired. The asshole hit me twice and took off after Scarlett.

  Shit.

  My wife.

  “Kahn,” I call out, causing him to spin on his heel. He tells the guys something more before they nod and leave. When he enters the room, shutting the door behind him, he looks at me with worry in his eyes. “Where is she?” Even as I ask, the answer is clear—Darius has her. If she was with Kahn, he would’ve probably brought her to the hospital, because she would’ve fought him tooth and nail to be here.

  “They had a car waiting.” He settles in the chair beside the bed. “I have my team scouring the vicinity because they couldn’t have gotten far. We found the tracker we installed on his phone on the side of the highway about five miles down the road from the manor.”

  “Fuck,” I curse, moving once more, only to have my breath stolen from me. “I need to get out of here.”

  “No, you need to stay right there. You almost fucking died,” Kahn tells me earnestly. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen him so concerned. Usually, he’s stoic, calm even, but right now, the dark eyes of my right-hand man seem to burn with fear.

  “How long have I been in here?”

  “Four days,” he informs me with no emotion, but the flickering of concern in his eyes makes me think there’s more to it.

  “If it didn’t hurt so much, I would’ve told you to fuck off,” I tell him, offering a smile, hoping he’ll see that I’m okay. I haven’t died, and I don’t plan to anytime soon. I need to get to my wife. Finding her is my only focus right now.

  “There’s a house on the outskirts of Arizona where we think they’ve gone. I just spoken to a couple of guys now, but what concerns me is that there’s a funnel of women coming in from Mexico,” Kahn informs me. “Lorenzo’s name came up in a meeting I had with Alexei. He mentioned you told him he could come with us when we head to the convent. I’ve also asked Victor Cordero for his help.”

  “This thing sounds bigger than all of us,” I remark, moving my legs in order to swing them over the edge of the bed. Pain shoots up my left side, and once again, I struggle to pull in air. Being injured is frustrating me, rather than offering me solace that I’m alive. “I want to be there when you go to the house.”

  “You’re in no condition—”

  “She’s my fucking wife!” My voice booms through the room, bouncing off the walls, but Kahn stands his ground. For the years he’s worked for me, he has never once answered back. He’s never responded to me in any way other than, yes sir, when I asked something of him. For him to act like this, he must’ve been more than just concerned for his boss.

  “I realize that, Lycan,” he tells me, keeping his voice low. “but he won’t kill her because he’s asked for a ransom from Horatio.”

  “What?” This has me snapping my gaze to Kahn’s dark eyes. “How much?”

  “Fifty million,” he tells me. “Which means he needs money, and he won’t hurt her. Not until he has the cash. I have a team working with Horatio so when he does the transfer, we’ll be ready to move on the house.”

  “Is it a compound? Because if it is, you know he won’t be there alone.” There is no doubt in my mind that Kahn has thought of everything, but the fear of losing Scarlett has me on edge. When I first met her, I didn’t think she’d come to mean so much to me. I didn’t expect my feelings for her to take a front seat to my own life.

  But it has.

  And now, I have to live with it.

  “It must be, but I have fifteen men ready,” Kahn assures me. “We will not fuck this up. If I had known Darius had his guys waiting, I would’ve countered them, but I missed that. This is on me.”

  Taking responsibility for something he couldn’t have known is something Kahn has always done. Even when his sister was taken, he convinced himself it was his doing. Even though their folks were the ones who allowed Lorenzo to buy the young woman, Kahn has lived with the guilt of not being there to save her.

  “Don’t do that,” I tell him. “It’s on us all. I told her to run,” I say as the memory of our wedding day returns with a violent vengeance. Knowing I sent her into the fucking woods on her own doesn’t help the rage I’m feeling toward Darius.

  “But I should’ve been there to catch her,” Kahn says. He shakes his head before pulling out his phone to tap on the screen a few times before looking up at me. “She’s at the house,” he informs me. “Confirmation that Darius is on the compound.”

  “I want to be there.” I attempt to push to my feet, and with a sigh, Kahn helps me to stand. The moment I tug the needle from my arm, the machines go crazy behind me. Seconds later, two nurses and a doctor come racing into the room.

  “You’re not cleared to leave yet,” the doctor says, his tone fi
lled with dread that I’d just freed myself from the drip. One of the nurses, a short brunette, nervously glances at the doctor, her trembling hands trying to fasten a bandage against the blood trickling from where the needle had pierced. “I can’t allow you—”

  “You’re not allowing me to do anything,” I inform him without stopping. At the cabinet, I grab my clothes and start dressing with the help of Kahn. Both nurses have quietened the machines, thankfully, because my fucking headache was slamming into my brain. “I’m leaving whether you like it or not. My wife has been kidnapped, and I’m going to find her.”

  When I lock my glare on the good old doctor, I can read the fear across his expression. “I-I’ve never had a patient walk out after two bullet wounds to the chest.”

  “Well, there’s a first time for everything, doc,” I grin, and I’m certain he’s just pissed his pants. Kahn leaves the room for a short moment, returning with a wheelchair which I thankfully drop into.

  “I need to check your vitals before you leave,” Doc says, sounding a lot more confident than he was moments ago. The man doesn’t realize just how much I don’t give a fuck about me, but he’s only doing his job, so I give a quick nod.

  He does his job, making sure my heart rate and blood pressure are okay. He double checks my stitches, ensuring they’re not torn after the way I got up and out of the hospital bed. With a long checklist of medication, and a thorough talking to, I’m allowed out of the building.

  Even if they didn’t want me to leave, I would’ve found a way out, and I’m certain they are aware of that. With Scarlett’s life in danger, I’m not taking any chances.

  In the town car, Kahn settles in the back with me while my driver, Hodges, takes us through the streets, heading back to the manor house.