I head upstairs to search for Mom, but it’s quiet up here too. They must have gone out without their cars. It’s Saturday evening, so they’re probably at dinner and planning on drinking themselves into oblivion, like usual. It’s clear Sinner only called us back out of spite, so I message Ashley, telling her we’ll meet her at the party later. One of the Lowell Academy jocks is throwing an open party, and it promises to be crazy. I could definitely use a little crazy right now.
I don’t bother unpacking, depositing my bag on the floor in my closet, hoping we get to go to the barn sooner rather than later. Lately, being around this house makes my skin crawl. The barn instantly felt like home, and I’d much rather live there. I plug my earphones in, blasting Paramore, as I flop on my bed, trying to make sense of the mess in my head.
Theo calls me down when the pizza arrives, and we share a few beers as we eat. Conversation is muted, but the tension from the car is gone, thanks to my recent convo with Saint. We’re clearing away the plates when Saint’s cell pings. Pulling it out, he scowls, rubbing the back of his neck.
“What is it?” Galen asks, immediately on guard.
“It’s Sinner. He’s summoned us to the basement.”
“The basement?” All the tiny hairs lift on my arms.
He’s been here this whole time?
“What the fuck is he doing in our space?” The only time Sinner goes down there is to bark orders or grab the guys to do his bidding. Is nowhere safe from ruination? “That asshole puts me in an instant bad mood,” I hiss, slamming dinnerware into the dishwasher. “I’m likely to punch him in his smug face the second I see him,” I warn. I’ve lots of pent-up emotion that needs an outlet.
“Get in line,” Saint drawls. “If he even looks funny at you, I’m liable to lay him out flat.”
“Remember the end game,” Theo cautions us all. “Everyone, calm the fuck down.”
We make our way to the basement, opening the door and walking downstairs in single file. We’re halfway down the stairs, before the room has come into view, when a whooshing sound tickles my eardrums, quickly followed by pain-filled screams. Acid churns in my gut, and I slam into Saint’s back as he halts midstep. “Go back upstairs,” he commands in a low voice, his eyes pleading with me to do what he says for once in my life.
He really should know better.
“He wanted us to see this; otherwise, he wouldn’t have summoned all of us. Keep going.” I push at his shoulders, ignoring the dread building inside me.
“Lo.” Galen places his hand on my shoulder from behind.
“I know,” I choke out as another anguished scream tears from Mom’s mouth. “Go!” I shove at Saint. “We need to help her.”
My legs almost go out from under me when we hit the basement floor and the disgusting scene is revealed. Panic races up my throat as I stare in horror at Mom.
Our couches have been pushed to the wall to make way for a new four-poster bed. But it’s not an ordinary bed. Chains hang from the corners of the bed, holding up some kind of sex sling Mom is currently strapped to. It’s made of sturdy black leather with stirrups and cut-out sections for easy access. She’s completely naked, and Sinner fucks her pussy as she’s suspended while his creepy buddy with the bald head and face ink pounds into her ass. Every time I’ve met that pervert, I feel sick to the pit of my stomach, so this has me enraged. Yanking Mom’s head back, he grins at me, licking his lips as his gaze roams my body.
Another two guys kneel on the bed, one on each side, stroking their hard-ons as they grab at Mom, fondling her body and tugging at her tits. Pain punches me in the gut, and I grab the back of Saint’s shirt to steady myself.
These images are enough to give me nightmares for years, but it’s the angry, oozing lash marks across her chest, stomach, and legs that will ensure I never forget this sight.
Sinner glances over his shoulder, grinning like the sick lunatic he is, pumping his hips and thrusting into my mother as he raises the whip, bringing it down over her bleeding torso.
He is showing how truly sick and twisted he is. The curtain has fallen, and the window is wide-open. He’s hiding nothing—not the true extent of his insanity, his inability to love, or his desire to hurt Mom, hurt me, hurt Saint. He really is a living, breathing monster. A creature of the night come to life from the pages of a horror story.
Mom’s head lolls back as another gut-wrenching scream splits the air. Her voice is hoarse, her vocal cords as battered as her body. Anger whips through me, replacing the blood flowing through my veins, coating my eyes in a layer of sheer rage. I react on instinct, whipping my Strider out and lunging at Sinner before anyone can stop me. I jump up onto the bed in my boots, grabbing his head and yanking it back.
“Call your animals off,” I growl, pressing the blade of my knife to his throat. “Or I’ll gut you like the disgusting pig you are.”
“You feel good pressed up against me,” he says, pushing his ass back into me, as if I don’t have a deadly weapon lined up against his skin. “Come join the party. You can replace my useless whore.” His lips pull into a sneer as he looks over Mom’s bruised and bloodied body before pulling his cock out of her.
The asshole sodomizing Mom thrusts his hips forward, eyeing me like I’m his next meal. “Get your filthy dick out of my mother or I’ll cut it off and stuff it down your throat until you choke.”
He smirks, thrusting harder into Mom, as if I’m no threat, and I’m so sick of assholes ignoring me and underestimating me.
In a lightning-fast move, I reach around, yank the dagger from my back pocket, and throw it at him, watching it embed in his shoulder with grim satisfaction. I could easily have stabbed him in the heart, and I was so fucking close to throwing caution to the wind, but there are too many lives at stake, and I need to be smart about this.
As much as I’d love to slaughter all of them, and hack them to pieces until they don’t resemble anything close to human, all that will achieve is a life sentence behind bars, and sure death for my guys, so I rein my anger in, reminding myself their time will come. These bastards are going down.
The asshole staggers back, off the bed, stumbling over something, roaring as his fingers wrap around the dagger, and he pulls, hissing between his teeth as he yanks it from his body. Blood spurts from the wound as the dagger clangs to the ground.
Galen darts forward, retrieving it, grinning when he spots the angel emblem on the handle. Galen gave me a set of daggers as a peace offering a couple weeks ago, and I knew they would come in handy, so I’ve taken to carrying a few on me at all times.
The creep moves aside, nostrils flaring as he glares at me, and I spot the dead body at his feet for the first time. I’ve never seen the man before, but he looks young enough, no older than thirty if I had to guess. He’s wearing The Sainthood leather cut, and his fingers are curled around a gun, for all the use it was to him. His glazed eyes stare vacantly into space, and dried blood surrounds the bullet hole between his eyebrows.
I think this must be the guy Saint hired to keep an eye on Mom. If Sinner figured out why he was here, that spells trouble for Saint, so I pray that secret died with him.
The other two perverts climb off the bed, standing back and waiting for Sinner’s instruction as the dick with the face ink presses his hand to his shoulder, attempting to stem the flow of blood. The look he pins me with promises a world of retribution, but I’m not worried about him.
“Caz,” I call out, keeping my knife pressed to Sinner’s neck. “Get my mom down.”
I expect her to protest, even if she is barely coherent, but she doesn’t object. Her tired green eyes lift to mine, and all I see is relief and a world of pain in her gaze.
“I really wouldn’t do that,” Sinner coolly states as Caz climbs on the bed. “You know the punishment for disobeying your president.”
“This isn’t official Sainthood business,” Saint snaps from behind.
“It doesn’t matter,” Sinner replies, sounding far too calm f
or a man with a knife pressed to his jugular. I exert more pressure on the blade, feeling the moment it nicks his skin. He doesn’t as much as flinch, and that irritates the fuck out of me.
“Leave the woman,” the bald asshole hisses as Caz moves to untie Mom. “You heard your president.”
“You know what I’m capable of,” I tell Sinner, pressing my blade in farther. “And I don’t need much encouragement to kill you. Continue pissing me off and see how that ends for you.”
A dark chuckle rumbles from his chest. “I can’t believe I had you pegged all wrong. You are truly magnificent, sweetheart. See how hard you make my dick.”
“I’d rather not. I’ve no desire to be reacquainted with the pizza I just ate.”
He chuckles again, and I hate that I’m entertaining him. I forcibly remind myself of all the reasons why I can’t kill him, because I’m so close to doing it.
“Get Giana down,” Saint says in a barely restrained voice, blatantly ignoring his father’s instructions.
Theo helps Caz free Mom from the chains, and they lift her off the sling, carrying her over to the couch. Galen grabs the blue blanket from the chair, covering Mom with it.
“I don’t know what you hoped this would achieve,” Saint says, coming around so he’s facing his father. “Or why you persist in pushing my buttons.”
Theo comes up behind me, placing his hand on my arm and urging me to step back with his eyes. “Your mom needs you,” he whispers, and that’s about the only thing he could say to me at this moment.
Reluctantly, I remove my knife and jump down off the bed.
Sinner climbs off the bed, smirking as he walks toward me.
Saint pulls me into his body, wrapping his arm around my waist, keeping me close while Theo stands on my other side, facing up to Sinner like he dares him to hurt me.
Sinner stops directly in front of me, completely naked, his hideous dick bobbing against his stomach. “I can’t decide if you’re incredibly smart or incredibly stupid,” he says, clicking his fingers at one of his minions. The other three men, all members of the board alongside Sinner, are in the process of getting dressed. The shorter of the three steps forward, handing Sinner a lit cigarette.
Sinner lifts the cigarette to his mouth, drawing a long drag before blowing clouds of billowy smoke in my face. His blue eyes shimmer with mirth, and I can’t figure out what angle he’s playing here. “You’ve got balls, Harlow Westbrook,” he says, leaning in closer. Saint jerks me back, and I’m grateful, because if that pervert’s dick even glances off me, I’ll slice it clean off his body.
“Be careful you don’t push too far,” he threatens, “because I haven’t even started with you yet.”
CHAPTER 12
I TEXT ASHLEY to let her know we won’t make the party after all, double-checking she’s still okay to attend the appointment with me in the morning. Caz carries Mom up to my room, gently laying her down on the bed. Galen hands me the first aid kit while Theo places a glass of water and pain pills on my bedside table and Saint retrieves her nightdress from the master suite. Galen leaves a towel and a bowl of tepid water beside me, squeezing my shoulder and kissing the top of my head.
“We’re across the hall if you need us,” Saint says, and I nod, swallowing thickly.
The guys move to Saint’s bedroom while I attend to my mother’s numerous wounds. I can barely breathe over the massive lump clogging my throat as I clean her up. Mom is conscious, but only just. She stares at the wall as I gently wash her wounds. Tears cling to my lashes, and I’m fighting to keep my stomach contents in as I apply antiseptic ointment to the raised wounds that pepper her upper body. I wish I could bathe her, but she’s in too much pain.
Silent tears stream down her face as I bandage her up as best I can. I’m helping her into her nightdress when I spot the blood leaking from her back passage. I lose the fight with my composure, and a sob bursts from my mouth as I gently hold her to me.
I don’t care what has gone down between us these past few weeks. Right now, all I care about is getting her away from that bastard. Her arms are limp as she clings to me, quietly sobbing into my chest. I want to yell at her, shake her until she sees sense, and demand to know what the fuck she thinks she’s doing, insist that she tell me everything, but I can’t accost her when she’s so damaged, when her sanity is already in shreds.
I clean the blood from her ass, crying the entire time. Murderous rage mixes with helplessness as I change the sheets, stuffing the bloody ones in the trash. Mom dutifully takes the pain pills, and after tucking her in, I huddle under a blanket in the chair as I watch her fall asleep with a sharp ache in my heart.
“How is she?” Galen asks, quietly slipping into the room an hour later.
I shake my head, because I can’t form words right now. Gently, he pulls me to my feet, enveloping me in a soft hug. “She’ll be okay. She’s tough like her daughter.”
I close my eyes, inhaling his scent, praying for strength I’m not sure I have anymore. It’s all becoming too much. First Dad. Then Sariah. Now this.
“I’m going to watch over her,” Galen says, easing back a little.
“You don’t have to do that. You’re injured.”
“So are you.” He sweeps hair off my brow. “We’re going to take it in turns.” He places his lips on my mouth, kissing me like I’m a porcelain doll. “Theo is waiting for you in his bedroom. Go get some rest.”
I kiss Mom on the forehead, making Galen promise they’ll call me if she wakes or anything happens during the night. Saint and Caz are downstairs, he explains, keeping watch in case Sinner returns.
He left immediately after the showdown in the basement, and we’re all on edge, waiting to see what he’ll do next. There’s no way he’ll let me get away with pulling a knife on him or stabbing his second in command, but I don’t regret it, and I’d do it again if it meant freeing Mom from being raped.
I knock on Theo’s door before entering, finding him sitting up in bed, in a pair of sweatpants, with his tablet on his lap.
“How’s Giana?” he asks, immediately putting his tablet aside and sitting up straighter, fixing troubled eyes on me.
“She’s…” I burst out crying as I come unhinged. I’ve been so strong all week, not giving in to my turbulent emotion, fighting my grief, but I can’t contain it anymore.
Theo jumps off the bed, bundling me into his arms, holding me as I cry against his naked chest. He runs his hand up and down my back, offering comforting words, encouraging me to let it all out.
“Sorry,” I mumble sometime later when my tears have stopped. I swipe my fingers under my eyes, collecting the moisture there, before swiping at his damp chest.
“Nothing to be sorry for.” He takes my hand, leading me to the bed, carefully placing me down against the headrest, before he joins me.
“The dead guy downstairs. Was he the guy Saint planted to watch Mom?”
Theo nods, confirming my suspicions. “He must’ve tried to intervene, and he paid for it with his life.”
I hope that’s how it went down, because I dread to think what Sinner would do if he knew Saint planted the guy in the house to watch over Mom. The fact Saint is still breathing suggests Sinner doesn’t know, and I’m grateful for that small mercy. I hate that the guy died trying to protect Mom, and it’s selfish to feel relief that the secret dies with him, but I won’t pretend otherwise.
There is so much needless death in the world The Sainthood inhabits. Not that Sinner would see it like that. It’s all part of the job, and he places no value on human life, making him the deadliest of enemies.
I rest my head on Theo’s shoulder as his arm circles me. “Are we stupid to think we can win? That we can beat him at his own game? He’s completely unpredictable, and that makes me nervous as hell.”
“Sinner should never be underestimated,” he agrees, smoothing a hand down my hair. “But neither should we.” He tips my chin up so our eyes meet. “The key difference is we know he’s a f
ormidable enemy, whereas he thinks we’re under his control and that we’re not a threat. His arrogance will be his downfall.”
“I hate feeling helpless. It feels like everything is crashing down around us.”
He kisses my temple. “I understand why you feel like that, but we’re not going to let things fall apart. We’re making solid plans, and it will work.”
“We need to get her away from him,” I say. “I can’t watch this any longer, and if we don’t do something, he’ll kill her.”
“He won’t, Lo.” Theo caresses my cheeks with his thumbs. “He needs her to keep you in line. He won’t kill her.”
“He’ll just beat her to within an inch of her life and let his buddies fuck her until she bleeds.” A heavy weight settles on my chest, and pain ricochets through my skull. I squeeze my eyes shut, fighting the maelstrom blowing through my mind.
“We’ll figure out a way to protect her.” He kneads my shoulders. “You’re so tense, sweetheart. Let me run you a bath, and I have something else I think will help.”
“Okay. Sure.” Because I need something to distract me from taking my Glock and heading out into the night to hunt Sinner down.
Theo runs me a scented bath, helping me step into it before he walks away. I rest my head back against the ledge, closing my eyes, wondering how the fuck I’m supposed to choose one of my guys to marry, knowing it’s got to happen, because there is zero doubt after what went down in the basement.
Even marriage won’t protect me, at least not forever. Outwardly, Sinner can’t lay a finger on me, and in the short-term, he’ll have no choice but to negate his second initiation task; however, he’ll look for any opportunity to corner me and take what he wants anyway.
We can’t stay here after we’re married, but how can I leave Mom alone with that monster?
The door creaks as Theo slips into the bathroom. He’s shed his sweatpants, and he stands before me in his birthday suit, looking thoroughly fuckable and completely gorgeous. His hair is down, hanging around his face, and I long to run my fingers through it, to get lost in him. My libido wakes up, and I sit upright, leaving space at the end of the tub for my man to join me.
The Sainthood : A Dark High School Romance (The Complete Series) Page 65