by Dani René
Lycan returns with a white wine and a tumbler with a double shot of whiskey for my dad. “Still enjoy the vodka, Horatio? I don’t have any, but I’m sure scotch will do.” My husband grins when he hands my father the glass, and there’s something in the look Dad gives him that’s filled with warning.
“Thank you, Mr. Shaw,” my mother says.
“Call me Lycan, please,” he tells her before joining me again, his hand finding its place at the base of my spine. “I’m not my father, he was Mr. Shaw,” he says with a hint of pain in the words he speaks.
And that’s when I see it. The guilt written on my father’s face. He does know. Seconds pass before he schools his features, and he’s once more the man in the ice mask. The dining room door opens, and I’m met with Darius’s grin.
“Sorry I’m late,” he says as he enters, dressed in a black suit, white button up, and a tie which is the color of blood. I’ve only ever seen him all dressed up like this at my wedding that didn’t happen, but now, I can’t help but smile at seeing him all cleaned up.
My father turns to see who’s entered, and his rage explodes. “You fucking bastard!” Dad pushes away from the table where he’d been standing, his face bright red from anger as he pins Darius with a glare so fierce, but the man in the line of fire is not at all perturbed.
“Mr. Bardot,” he greets, a smirk gracing his handsome face. My brother-in-law. The man who took me last night, with my husband, and made me feel things I hadn’t felt before. He saunters into the room with all the grace of a predator ready to devour its prey. “Good to see you.”
“You stole my fucking money,” Dad grits, spewing his anger. His teeth clench, his jaw ticks, and I’m shocked he hasn’t broken it. “And you stole my daughter!” He throws his hatred toward Lycan.
Darius shakes his head slowly as he regards the older man. “It’s funny you should say so,” he says. “Because there’s something I wanted to talk to you about. I heard you’ve become a regular at Heaven, where there are girls your daughter’s age.”
The accusation hangs in the air, and my mother sucks in a shocked breath. “What are you talking about?” she asks, stepping in front of Darius, but the interest in her eyes says more about her than it does about the concern she’s trying to portray. She wants Darius. My stomach roils. She’s standing next to her husband, and the desire is clear on her face.
I can’t judge though. I was with both men last night. But that was different. Was it? My mind is awash with guilt and shame as I consider what I did. Lycan’s warm breath is on my ear. “Don’t you dare question yourself,” he whispers, as if he were reading my thoughts. There are times I wonder if he can. Perhaps he has a superpower, not only to make me feel powerful and strong, but also to delve into my thoughts and pull out those negative ones, only to replace them with positive.
“I… I mean…” When I turn to him, he’s shaking his head at me.
“Don’t.” The warning is clear. “We’ll talk about this later.” His promise is one I believe, because if I’ve learned anything about my husband, it’s that he’s not someone who leaves things unfinished.
“Don’t you fucking threaten me.” Dad’s voice cuts through my thoughts. I turn my attention to him, finding him pointing a finger at Darius, his face inches away from the younger man. “I will—”
“You won’t do shit to me,” Darius interrupts with an easy smile. The calmness he exudes is what I usually see with Lycan, and I wonder if he’s keeping his cool because I’m here. Surely he hates my dad, and knowing Darius, that would lead to my father being tortured, and possibly killed. Not that he doesn’t deserve it.
“And why not?” Dad’s challenge has Darius chuckling.
“Because you know that all those filthy little secrets you’ve been hiding will be spilled, and your daughter over there will learn about what a lying, cheating bastard you are. Or are you not bothered with her since you sold her off to a Shaw? You know, your mother was a sucker for the Shaw name.”
Dad rears his fist, but Darius is faster, catching the attack without flinching.
“Don’t you speak about my mother.”
“Or shall we talk about your murderous father?” There’s another challenge that drips from the question.
Dad’s resolve falters, and it only confirms that he knows. He knew about Lycan and Darius’s father. “That wasn’t—”
“You know your father is a murderer, don’t you, Horatio?” The corner of Darius’s mouth tilts in satisfaction, knowing he has Dad on the ledge.
There’s no way he can deny it now, and finally, Dad surrenders and lowers his head. “I thought so. When she told me, I didn’t know what to do. I was already in too deep. My name was linked to things I didn’t want anyone to find out about.”
“What are you saying?” my mother questions, stepping up beside my father who looks like a defeated man. As if he walked into a war that he thought he could win but got annihilated in the process. “Horatio?”
When Dad turns to Mom, I can see the guilt written all over his face. “I didn’t make the best decisions. There are things that I hid from you to keep you safe. I couldn’t let you get caught up in the grave that I’ve dug for myself.”
“I don’t understand.” Mom shakes her head, and for a moment, I feel sorry for her. I want so much to go to him, to tell them I don’t know if I can ever forgive him, but then he glances at me.
“I signed your hand in marriage to Lycan because I knew he’d keep you safe.”
“From you?” I ask, arching a brow, folding my arms across my chest, as if to keep any lies away. But the barrier won’t hide my heart from the pain. “Or from Gran’s lies? What is that you were trying to save me from?” This time, I take a step closer, my stomach coiling as unease settles in my gut. I’ve learned so much about my family, I’m not sure anything else can hurt as much as learning my grandfather was a monster, and my grandmother hid it from us.
“I’m an addict. I do things.” He shakes his head, and for a long moment, I hold my breath. “When I first walked into Heaven, Lycan gave me a place to live out fantasies I couldn’t tell your mother about.”
Everything around me stills. The air gets thick with something I can’t quite put my finger on. Not guilt, but understanding. I’ve hidden my desires for such a long time. I feel his words right down to my soul.
“But I got out of hand,” Dad admits slowly, softly, as if he’s afraid I’ll kill him with my bare hands. And for a moment, I feel like I can, like I will. “I got to a point where I was drenched in sadistic tendencies that I took it too far.”
My mouth falls open. Mom’s face is a picture of disbelief, and Lycan’s hands grip my shoulders, holding me up. His warmth behind me, offering me shelter from what my father is saying.
“I-I don’t… I don’t understand,” I tell him, but deep down, I do. It’s in between the lines, in between the words he’s just uttered. I know what he’s trying to say, but I don’t want to believe it. If he utters those words, it will make it true, and I don’t want to believe my father is capable of murder.
“Horatio,” Mom’s voice cuts through the beating of my heart. It’s deafening. A lump in my throat makes it difficult to swallow. My father did something. He did the unthinkable. Just like his father.
Is this something that runs in the family?
Violence.
Chaos.
Destruction.
“I’m sorry, Marinda. I didn’t mean to, it just happened. An accident. I lost control,” Dad admits, shaking his head.
“The girl,” mom says. “The one with the long blonde hair,” she continues, looking at my father as if she doesn’t truly know who he is. Does she? Do I?
He nods slowly, but he doesn’t look her in the eye. “Lycan banned me from Heaven, he told me he would make sure it went away, that the family will be looked after, if I signed over our daughter’s hand to him because I lost a bet with Miles,” Dad says, mentioning a man he works with.
“
I don’t understand,” I whisper, and he looks at me as the guilt slowly eats away at him.
“If Lycan didn’t marry you by your twenty-first birthday, Miles was going to take you as his. But Lycan stepped in just before he banned Miles and I from the club. He told me if I were to ever do anything like that, go to any club that offered scenes, or playrooms, if I even stepped out of line, he would kill me himself and he would kill Miles. Lycan wanted to keep Scarlett safe from me, from my friends. And I agreed.”
Spinning on my heel, I meet the green eyes of the man I’ve loved since the moment he took me. He saved me from my father, and he saved me from the bastard who wanted to marry me because of a lost bet, and he also saved me from myself.
Lycan showed me what love is. He allowed me to delve into my desires, to live out my fantasies in a safe place. And he offered me my own heaven. Beside him.
“You really did save me,” I whisper once more, disbelief lacing every word.
He doesn’t respond, merely nods. His hands don’t leave me. They remain glued to my curves. It’s as if he can’t let me go, even if he wanted to. “Why didn’t you tell me all of this before?”
This time, he does respond, “Because I needed your father to tell you the truth.”
And that’s when I realize, unlike my grandmother, I made the right choice.
29
Lycan
Horatio Bardot has always been a no-good bastard. But seeing him whimper about his transgressions makes me angry. The pretty gray eyes that are currently locked on me calm me somewhat, because if she wasn’t here, I’d probably do something I’d later regret. And that’s not who I am. I regret nothing in my life. Taking Scarlett wasn’t part of my plan, I didn’t set out to steal or buy her from her father.
The contract was a choice, the right one it seems. I needed her safe, away from Miles, who is old enough to be her father, and the lying, cheating asshole who is actually her blood. Both men are sadistic in their tendencies, and even though I’ve given her pain, it’s always come with pleasure.
“I tried to make sure you saw your twenty-first birthday, and I made sure Miles couldn’t come for you later on. He’s not a good man, not even by a long shot,” I tell her, knowing she’s already come to terms with being my wife, but this has solidified her feelings. I knew there was a small inkling of doubt in her mind. I could see it in her eyes.
“Thank you,” she tells me, a soft, calm whisper. When she turns around again to face her father, she steps closer to him, and instinct tells me to keep hold of her, but I don’t. I allow her to take a stand for what she needs. My girl is strong. She can handle herself; she’s proven that time and again.
When she reaches him, she stops, right in front of the man who bargained her life away. The bitter truth is, she’s better off, and I’m proud to have her bear the Shaw name. Scarlett shocks me when she grips his shoulders, lifting onto her tip toes, and gifts her father a kiss on either cheek.
There’s symbolism in the action.
Also known as the Kiss of Judas if I recall correctly. My mind flits through information I’ve garnered over the years, and even though I’m not religious, I can’t deny my wife has finally realized she’s free of her deceitful father.
“Goodbye, Dad,” she says, her tone serious. Her voice doesn’t break, it doesn’t even crack as she steps back, releasing him from her hold, and that’s when she nods at Darius. She knew my brother would take the lead because I wouldn’t.
I’ve already saved her.
He’s her soldier, while I’m her king.
My queen sidles up beside me, her body slinking under my arm and she relaxes instantly. We watch as Darius grabs Horatio, pushing him to his knees. Marinda’s face is a picture of heartbreak as she steps closer to her husband and slaps him harshly across the face. Her anger is palpable, an entity that hangs heavily between them. The room is stifling, and I’m tempted to open the door just to allow fresh air inside.
“You’re a bastard, Horatio,” Marinda tells him. “All these years, I’ve stood by you, kept the secret about your lying father, because I thought you were better. And you could’ve been, but you made the wrong choice.”
Those words ring in my mind. Scarlett said the same thing to her grandmother. It seems the Bardot blood line is cursed. It’s not the love between Scarlett and me that brought about the curse, it’s the choices of a mother and son.
Darius slides his blade from the back of his suit pants, and I have to stifle a chuckle. My brother always keeps a weapon on him, no matter where he is. I guess this time is no different.
“Shall I tell you about a little something I believe in called an eye for an eye?” he questions, gripping Horatio by the hairline, tugging his head back, and slipping the sleek steel against the column of his neck.
“I deserve it,” the older man whispers, but it’s loud enough for us all to hear. “I don’t deny it any longer. Please, do it because I can’t live with myself. Now that my daughter knows what I’ve done, I can’t live with her hating me.”
“Do you think you deserve the mercy of death?” Darius tips his head to the side, his eyes blazing with pure malice, and Scarlett shivers as she watches her hunter ready to kill for her. “Your daughter is now my family. She’s a Shaw,” he tells Horatio. “If you truly think you can slip from his life easily, then you’re sorely fucking mistaken, because what you’re actually going to do is pay. For the rest of your fucking life,” Darius promises. I’m not sure what he has in store for the man on his knees, but I can only assume it’s not something good.
We watch as the knife slides across his neck, not deep enough to kill, just enough as a warning. The wince on Horatio’s face is clear. He doesn’t cry out though, his face contorts, his mouth falls open as the trickle of crimson slides slowly down his neck. And then Darius tugs the knife away, releasing his hold on Horatio.
He pulls out his phone and taps on the screen. We wait. Silence once again hangs in the air, threatening and foreboding. And then the dining room doors slide open and a few of the Kovenant saunter in.
“Take him to Atreo. I’m certain the mafia will know how to deal with trash,” Darius orders, and this time, I do chuckle.
Alexei’s brother is Darius’s other half, both ready to kill and torture at a moment’s notice.
He looks to Marinda. “You going to follow him?”
She glances over her shoulder at Scarlett.
I’m not sure what my wife wants to do. Her mother was mostly innocent in all this, but she still kept secrets. Even though she wasn’t responsible for her husband’s actions, I don’t trust her. She needs to leave my home, my wife, and my family. But I’ll allow her daughter to grace her with that news.
“Will you sit with me, to talk?” she asks, turning to face her daughter. Hope dances in her eyes, her expression is one filled with the need to come closer, but she doesn’t. I’m not sure if she’s fearful of me or Scarlett, but she doesn’t shift an inch. But she waits, and I’m almost sure she’s holding her breath, waiting on the answer.
Scarlett glances at me for a moment, and I offer a nod of support. It’s her choice, not mine. But whatever she decides, I’ll stand by her side. I can’t deny her the chance to learn about her mother, I mean truly get to know the woman, but it has to be her who makes the decision.
“We can talk,” Scarlett says when she turns her attention back to her mother. “But I can’t say I’ll ever forgive you.” Her voice is strong, confident, filled with conviction, and my chest swells with pride.
“I can live with that.” Marinda nods, and a hint of a smile graces her lips.
“I want to know what happens to him,” Scarlett says suddenly, and I realize she’s looking at Darius. “I need to know exactly what is done to him, and if he’s alive afterward.”
“Of course,” he says with a smile. “You’ll be the first to know.”
I take this moment to step forward, making my way to Marinda, and I stop inches from her. “Let me make somet
hing very clear to you,” I start, before fisting my hands to calm down, and continue, “This opportunity you have with my wife, is what she graces you with. If you decide to fuck it up, I won’t think twice to get my brother involved and let me tell you, he does enjoy torture. If you so much as make Scarlett cry, I will come for you. The time you spend in our home, Scarlett and I are allowing you, is a privilege, because you don’t deserve it.”
I take a deep breath, my body is taut with anger, with the rage I felt when I learned about what Grace and Randolf did to my father. It wasn’t Marinda’s fault, but she was an accomplice.
I lock my glare on hers so she can see the rage swirling in my eyes. “So, don’t for one second take this for granted. Am I understood?”
“Yes, of course. I just want a moment to talk with her, just to try and explain. I was wrong. My husband made bad choices, and I followed him. There’s no excuse, and I kept those secrets of theirs as well, I’m as guilty as they are, but I’ve always loved my daughter even if I couldn’t show it like I should’ve.”
“The moment Scarlett tells you to leave, you’ll be escorted from this property,” I inform her before stepping back. She nods, and I turn to my wife, taking her hand in mine. “I’ll give you some privacy.”
“Thank you,” she mouths with a small, grateful smile, and I press a kiss to her lips before Darius and I leave. I don’t close the door, because I still don’t trust Marinda. And if Scarlett needs me, I’ll be in there within seconds.
“Time for a drink, brother,” Darius says as he follows me into the connected living room so we’re not too far from Scarlett.
“Time for you to apologize for fucking shooting me,” I bite back, and he chuckles.
30
Scarlett
My mother.
I watch her as she settles on the chair on the patio. Anger doesn’t cover what I feel for her. I’m not sure I can explain it. All my life I wanted someone to show me that I’m worth more than what I can offer them. The only person who’s given me that is him—the wolf in a tailored suit—Lycan Shaw.