SLAUGHTER

by Tessier, Shantel

  “You keep saying that. But I have a surprise that may change your mind.”

  He stands in a room with black padded walls. Chains of various lengths hang on the wall behind him. And a spanking bench is to his right. A man comes to stand beside him, and my entire body stiffens at the sight of him. I haven’t seen him in almost eleven years. Just the thought of him makes my heart race. Now the sight of him makes my skin crawl.

  “Son. It’s been a long time.”

  “Don’t call me that.” My voice doesn’t waver like I expected it too.

  Victor chuckles. What the fuck is he doing with Damon? Did he know that we would call? This was Tristan’s idea. He wanted me to find out what it was that Damon wanted. I already knew before I made the call.

  Damon slaps Victor on the back. “You know, Avery, your father showed me the tape of what he did to your little Bunny. I must say, that is why I’m offering you the extra for her.”

  My hands fists, my nails digging into my palms. How many people have seen that tape of Victor raping her?

  “And I must say the fact that you and your brother Tristan set her up at the party was genius. I almost believed that you wanted to treat her like a slave.”

  My eyes go to Tristan, and his are full of rage. When did he find out that we were brothers? Did my father tell him? Bunny said that Victor told her we set her up. Had Damon known all along?

  “And I appreciate you calling your dogs off while I was at your house. I went there intending to give you a reason not to kill me. Looks like her mom was enough.”

  I slowly stand from the desk. “How did you …?”

  “Did you really think I’m that stupid?” He shakes his head. “I’m not like that little bitch Preston who allows men to play him.” He tilts his head to the side. “Speaking of him, do you know where he is? I still owe that fucker revenge for the death of my brother.”

  My lips pull back in a smirk. “Right? He killed him, didn’t he? Guess he was smarter than your bother. Since he was able to take him out.”

  His face tightens, but Victor laughs at my statement as though I was being funny.

  “Bring her,” Damon calls out.

  Tristan comes out from underneath the TV and turns to watch it. Kayn stands from his seat and we all stare as a man shoves a woman into view. Victor grabs her hair and shoves her down to her knees. She looks up at the camera, and my stomach drops when I see it’s Bunny’s mother. There are no tears in her eyes. Just madness. I’m surprised she hasn’t given in. Twelve years is a long time to endure torture. I saw girls turn to nothing within days, even hours under my father’s ruthless soul. She’s strong. Just like my Bunny.

  Damon walks out of sight for a second only to return with a knife. The same kind that I removed Bunny’s brand with. He lifts it and spins it around. “Final chance, Avery. Give me Presleigh or watch her mother die.”

  My eyes go to the woman, and I watch her fight her restraints. I can’t see her hands, so they must be tied behind her back. She’s naked. Her body covered in fresh bruises and what seem to be old scars from the many beatings she has taken over the years. Her bones protrude due to starvation, and her skin is pale. In a way, I feel I may be doing her a favor. Because her torture is about to end. She stops fighting for a brief second and gives her head the slightest shake. She doesn’t want me to trade her daughter’s life for hers. She’s ready to face her fate. Hell, she’s probably wished for it for years now.

  My eyes meet Damon’s. “Do it.”

  He glares at me and bares his teeth. My father yanks her head back, and Damon slices the knife against her neck, one end to the other, cutting her open like a fish. Her body jerks, and she makes a gurgling sound before the blood starts to run and cover the front of her. Victor shoves her forward, and her lifeless body hits the floor with a thud.

  I watch Damon clean the blade off on his dark gray slacks. My father looks at me. “You know, Avery, we could be great friends. There is so much I know that you don’t.” Victor laughs at his words. “Have you ever stopped to think about how you got in this situation to begin with?”

  I don’t respond. Still too numb. I killed her mother. I did it to save her, but that doesn’t make me feel any better.

  “You blamed Darrell for what happened to Presleigh, but you never stopped to ask how he got involved.” My father reaches over taking the knife from Damon and holds it up. He looks over it as if it has some secret message scribbled on it. “You’re smarter than this, Avery.” His eyes meet mine again. “I raised you better than this.” Then the screen goes black.

  Silence fills my brother’s study. My heart pounds, and my breathing is erratic. He’s fucking with me. He has to be. He doesn’t know as much as he thinks he does. If so, then that means I have another rat. But who could it be? Should I just kill them all?

  “Son of a fucking bitch!” Tristan yells, interrupting the deafening silence. He then picks up a glass jar that sits on a shelf and chunks it at the TV, shattering it into millions of pieces. “Fuck!” he roars and spins around. “What the fuck was that?” he asks me as if I know. “He killed her …”

  “She’s been dead for a long time,” Kayn says roughly.

  “You didn’t do anything.” He glares at me.

  I open my mouth, but nothing comes out.

  “You just stood there!”

  With my mouth still open, I have nothing to say to that. I can’t argue the fact that her mother’s death is on my hands.

  “What did you want him to do?” Kayn asks Tristan.

  “Fucking something,” he snaps. “Offer money …”

  “He wouldn’t have taken it.” I’m finally able to whisper.

  “You don’t know that!” he screams.

  “I know that he wanted Bunny!” I find my voice. “And I’m not going to give her up for anything. It was your fucking idea to call him!” I add.

  “For you to make a deal. We have a job to get done.”

  “There was no deal to be made!”

  He rushes over to me and bumps his chest into mine. “Don’t, Tristan. You won’t win this fight,” I warn. I could kill a million men right now.

  “Guys!” Kayn steps between us and shoves us apart. The back of my legs hits the desk. Tristan falls into a chair and bows his head, running his hand through his hair in frustration. “You’re looking at this wrong. There is someone out there we need to take care of.”

  “Damon,” my brother snaps.

  Kayn ignores him and looks at me. “Who knew that you had Presleigh?”

  “My men and Tristan.” I point at him. “Maybe you’re the one who is fucking me over. You wanted me to kill her, after all.”

  He jumps up and storms over to me like he’s gonna hit me but Kayn grabs him and shoves him back again. “Fuck you, Avery!”

  “Someone else had to have known,” Kayn insists.

  I shake my head. “No. I had you and the guys pick her up …” My words trail off.

  “What?” Kayn demands.

  I stare at the floor, remembering that night that I had him take her and bring her to Vancouver. It hits me like a fucking fist to the face. I never gave it a second thought until now. Now I’m able to understand my mistake.

  “What is it?” Tristan demands.

  I look at him, and he’s breathing heavy. His eyes narrowed, hands fisted down by his sides. And I understand his anger. Once again, I’m at fault. Everything that has led up to this point is on my shoulders, and I hate to have to admit that. “I know who got Darrell to turn on me.”

  PRESLEIGH

  I open my heavy eyes and roll over in the darkness. I reach out my hand, finding I’m alone in bed. I sit up and rub my sleepy eyes. I’m not as drunk as I was when I passed out, but I’m definitely not sober just yet.

  Getting out of the bed, I use the restroom and then head out of the bedroom in search of Avery. How long have I been out? And why hasn’t he come to bed yet? He has to be tired. I don’t think the guy ever sleeps.

/>   I don’t know where I’m going or where anything is in this unfamiliar place, so I walk around aimlessly, turning on lights here and there but only finding more empty rooms. So much wasted space. Making my way up the stairs, I hear voices coming from behind a closed door. I walk over to it and knock twice. The voices come to a stop, but I don’t dare open it. Instead, I wait for someone to say come in. But no one does. After a few long seconds, the door opens, and I come face to face with a pissed-off Tristan. Without saying a word, he exits the room and storms past me.

  I step in to find Kayn leaning up against a wall and Avery leaning against a desk. I clear my throat when they just stand there staring at me. Both have that look of hatred in their eyes. I swallow nervously.

  “Give us a minute.” Avery finally speaks to Kayn but doesn’t take his eyes from me.

  He too exits without a word. Kayn closes the door and then silence again. I cross my arms over my chest. I’m still dressed in the clothes I put on back in Vancouver, but all of a sudden, I feel like I’m naked. Exposed. Avery has a way of making me feel that way.

  “Will you come to bed?” I ask softly.

  “Not tired,” he replies flatly.

  “Avery, I …”

  “Go to bed, Bunny,” he orders, pushing off the desk and walking behind it to sit down.

  Instead of getting mad at his bossiness, I walk around the desk and come to a stop between it and him. I jump up to sit on it and reach out to touch his cheek. He pushes it off.

  “Not in the mood.”

  I don’t give up. “You make it all stop.”

  He looks up at me, his blue eyes clouded and brows pulled together.

  “The memories, the nightmares. When I’m with you, you make it all fade to black. Sometimes it feels like it never happened. Like we were never apart,” I say honestly.

  “It did happen. And we were.”

  I sigh at his words. “I don’t know what’s wrong, but I can fix it.” Leaning forward, I start to unbutton his shirt.

  He grips my wrists, and I hiss in a breath just like I did in the limo when Alex did earlier. “I’m not in the fucking mood, Presleigh!” he snaps.

  “Avery, I …”

  He grabs my arm and yanks me off the desk and drags me over to the door. Opening it up, he yanks me down the stairs, and I have flashbacks of when he did the very same thing and took me to his dungeon at his home in Vancouver.

  “Kayn?” he barks out once we hit the first floor.

  He appears from down the hall with Tristan right beside him. “Sir?” he asks coming up to us.

  He shoves me forward into Kayn. “Change of plans. Take her back to Vancouver!”

  “What?” I gasp, turning around to face him. “No …”

  “Bringing you here was a mistake,” he says, looking down at me with disgust.

  “What?” My heart begins to race. What the hell happened while I was taking a nap?

  “What is going on out here?” I hear Alex ask from behind us.

  I ignore her. “Avery, please …”

  “Take her back! Now!” he yells at Kayn.

  I catch Tristan crossing his arms over his chest. He glares at me satisfied with Avery’s decision. What the hell? “I’m not going anywhere,” I argue.

  “You’ll go wherever I send you!” he shouts.

  I reach up and slap him across the face. And just like before, he slaps me back. Hard. It knocks me off my feet and onto my ass.

  “Presleigh!” Alex shrieks and falls to her knees beside me. “Jesus. Are you okay?” she asks in a rush, cupping my cheek.

  But I ignore her and the stinging of my face. Instead, I stare up at the man who has put me through hell and also saved me from it. I’m confused and heartbroken. “What did I do?” My voice breaks at the question because I’m not sure I want the answer.

  Instead of answering, he does something worse. He turns his back on me and walks away. I jump to my feet. “What did I do?” I shout this time. He doesn’t stop leaving the room. I go to run after him, but Alex grabs my arm, yanking me to a stop. “Remember what happened last time you sent me away?” My body shakes at my words. The memory of waking up cold and alone thinking he was punishing me. Only to find out it was my biggest fear come to life. All because of him.

  He comes to a stop and spins around to face me.

  “You owe me an explanation,” I shout, yanking my arm free from Alex. “You owe me everything!” My voice bounces off the walls with anger. Betrayal. At this point, I can’t tell the difference between them anymore.

  He places his hands behind his back and squares his shoulders. “I owe you nothing, Presleigh.” My stomach drops at the use of my name and flatness of his voice. Then he looks at Kayn. “Take her back.” He turns once again, and this time, he doesn’t stop or yell. He just walks away as if I never meant a fucking thing to him.

  This time, I willingly fall to the floor, my knees unable to hold me up any longer.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  AVERY

  I LOOK DOWN AT MY phone when it vibrates.

  Kayn: Same.

  He’s responding to the message I sent him earlier asking how Bunny is doing. I don’t respond. No need to. She’s not eating. Not talking to anyone. She’s also not sleeping much. At least Alex is with her. When Kayn told me that she wanted to follow, I didn’t deny her.

  The truth is, I didn’t want her to go, but I had no choice. I knew who the culprit was, and I knew what I needed to do. She needed to be as far away from me as possible because I’m willing to die to make sure she is safe. There’s always the chance I’ll die, and Kayn promised he’d protect her with his life if that is the case.

  Tristan and our boss were right. She was clouding my head. My judgment. I needed her gone. But the roles have reversed. She was no longer my slave, I had to get back to that. Make her leave. I had to make her think she was nothing. And I fucking hated the look in her eyes when she realized that.

  “Ready?” Tristan asks, sitting beside me in the car.

  “As ready as I’ll ever be.” Chloe answers him from the back seat.

  My eyes meet hers in the rearview mirror. “You know you don’t have to do this.”

  Instead of giving me some bullshit line, she places the magazine in her gun and tucks it into the back of her pants. Then she gets out of the car without a word.

  My brother and I sit quietly, watching her cross the street, her black blazer covering up the bulge from her gun. When she disappears into the club, he turns to look at me. “This better work.”

  “It was your idea.”

  He gets out and slams the door shut. We haven’t spoken much in the last week since the shit went down in his study and I sent Bunny away. I’m not sure things will ever be the same again. And I’ve had plenty of alone time with a bottle to come to terms with that.

  Fuck the money. Fuck my job and fuck my life. I will take out one more person if it kills me. And tonight might just be that night.

  I grab my gun out of the glovebox and check the magazine as well before placing it in the pocket of my suit jacket and then getting out of the driver seat. When I enter the club, I head straight to the bar with my head down, avoiding eye contact with anyone.

  Once I leave, I was never here.

  “Scotch,” I call out to the bartender over the blaring of the music. Fuck, I hate these places. Seven Deadly Sins has made a name for itself—not a good one, but one nonetheless.

  He nods his head and turns his back to me. I take the chance to look into the mirrored wall in front of me and scan the club. It’s one a.m., and the club is packed. I see the guy who I know as the owner, Jet, looking down at his phone while he stands on the stairs. When he puts it away, I move my eyes to the dance floor. I spot Chloe immediately. She has her hands in her hair and her eyes closed. She reminds me of the night I watched Bunny here from my booth back in the corner. Fuck, that feels like years ago.

  A man approaches Chloe, and she pushes him away. He’s not t
he one we’re looking for.

  The bartender places my drink in front of me, and I lay a hundred down. “Keep them coming.” I toss it back, before pushing the now empty glass to him. He nods in understanding.

  My eyes go back to the mirror, and I see my brother standing over by the stairs. He has his head down talking to a girl. Probably some bitch thinking she can take him home tonight to play with her. He’ll be playing all right, but it won’t be with her.

  I throw back another shot and then look at Chloe. She’s gone. I spin around to face the dance floor and jump off the stool. Where did she go? My eyes scan the club. The lights flash, and there’s a fog machine that chooses this time to release its contents.

  Where the fuck did she go?

  The partiers start to shout, and a crowd gathers around the smoke. I make my way over to Tristan, shoving the drunks out of my way. He looks up and his eyes meet mine when I reach him. “She’s gone.”

  He immediately starts to look around. I do too. Seconds later, he slaps my chest and nods his head over to the bar I just came from. I spot her bleach blond hair at the end. She is turned toward a man who we both know so well. I smile. And Tristan calls out. “Showtime.”

  _______________

  An hour later and a countless number of drinks, we watch Chloe stumble out of the club with the man on her shoulder. And I have to admit I’m a little worried.

  “I think he drugged her.” Tristan announces what I’m thinking.

  I don’t respond. Instead, I get into the driver seat of my car, and Tristan falls into the passenger seat. His phone dings, and he pulls it out.

  “I’ve got an idea. Just follow it.” He reads the message off his phone and then drops it in his lap. “Fuck!” He hisses. “Why is she not sticking to the plan?” His fist hits the dash as I start the car.

  “Trust her,” I tell him.

  “Easy for you to say. You shipped Presleigh away so she’ll be out of harm’s way. Chloe jumped right in the middle of it.”

  I don’t argue that he allowed her to do it. When he came up with this plan, he had suggested he pay a hooker off the streets to do it, but she wasn’t having it. I sat back and watched them argue back and forth for an hour. To my surprise, he folded.