The room full of assholes stands, lifting their glasses in a salute to me. Invoking all my acting prowess, I smile and act gracious when all I want is to firebomb every single one of them, after first gouging out their eyeballs with their forks.
“Yes,” Sinner says, digging his nails in deeper, drawing blood. “Harlow has done well, but that doesn’t excuse her other sins.”
Everyone sits down, and I can almost taste the anticipation in the air.
Here we go.
The men at the table surrounding us lounge in their seats, puffing on blunts and cigarettes, knocking back beer and whiskey, sharing knowing grins as they eye me like I’m dessert.
Sinner sits down, yanking me on his lap, instantly banding his arm around my chest to keep me in place.
Chairs fall to the floor as my guys stand, ready to wade into battle.
Cold metal presses into my temple, and I hold still.
“Sit your asses back down,” Sinner barks. “Or I’ll pull the trigger.” A clicking sound bounces off the walls in the now deathly silent ballroom as he readies his weapon. Five of Sinner’s men surround Saint and the guys, patting them down and quickly disarming them before shoving them back into their chairs.
Saint’s jaw is as hard as glass as we make eye contact while the senior members of The Sainthood restrain my husbands and Bry, tying their hands behind the backs of their chairs. Rope is secured around their ankles, ensuring they can’t move.
I hope Diesel and the team are in place and that he’s listening to every word so he can move in at the right moment.
Sinner stands, keeping his arm around my chest and the gun pressed to my head while he moves us forward. When we reach the guys’ table, he hands me off to that bald prick. Baldy’s arm replaces Sinner’s across my chest, and he grabs my boob, cupping it as he presses a gun into my temple.
“Get your fucking hands off my wife!” Saint snarls, his chair jumping, making a loud screeching sound, as he attempts to stand while strapped down.
Sinner slams his hand down on the back of his son’s chair, yanks his head back, and jabs his gun into Saint’s neck.
All the air escapes my lungs as I silently plead with Saint to play the game. Sinner is completely unpredictable—and a cold, ruthless killer—so it wouldn’t take much provocation for him to pull that trigger.
“You’re in no position to make demands.” Sinner shakes his head, and a look of pure evil washes over his face. “You think you can tell me what I can and can’t do, boy!” he yells. “You let that fucking slut hold a knife to my throat! You helped her steal my fiancée from me!” He slams the butt of his gun into Saint’s temple. Saint’s head jerks with the motion, but he makes no sound.
“Leave him the fuck alone!” I shout, ignoring how my skin crawls as Baldy prods his hard dick against my ass and his fingers fondle my breast through my dress. “Your issue is with me. Leave Saint and the guys out of it.”
“Leave Harlow out of this,” Galen cuts in, gritting his teeth. “She did what you wanted. You asked her to assassinate the commissioner, and she did it.”
“And now she’s bound to me. If you don’t cooperate, I’ll hand her ass on a silver platter to the cops. Explain how Taylor Tamlin is a plant to hide the real assassin. I doubt your precious princess would ever make it to trial. Cops despise cop killers,” Sinner says, switching his attention to his nephew. He points his gun at Galen’s chest. “It’s cute you all think you saved her, but I don’t give a fuck if she’s married. She is mine to do with as I please.”
“It’s our most sacred tradition,” Saint hisses, pointing at Scraggly Beard. “You said so.”
The asshole smirks. “I say a lot of things I don’t mean. No one in this room gives a fuck about the old traditions. We’re making our own rules.”
“In case you’re too dumb to understand, that means your wife is ours to fuck,” Baldy says, slipping his hand underneath the top of my dress and into the cup of my bra, kneading my bare flesh.
Saint roars, and Galen curses. Caz growls. Theo pins remorseful eyes on me.
I hate this ugly fucker, but I won’t give him the satisfaction of knowing how much I loathe his hands on me, because pricks like him get off on that shit.
My guys need to keep it together.
I stare stoically ahead, remembering the end game. Sinner has only fessed up to ordering the hit on the commissioner. He hasn’t admitted to Daphne Leydon’s murder yet, so this needs to continue.
I retreat to that numb place within myself. One I’ve relied upon for years. A place I haven’t gone to in months. Brick by brick, the wall goes up around my heart, and I tune out my emotions, focusing on the mission—destroying Sinner and bringing The Sainthood to its knees.
“No one gets away with betraying me,” Sinner adds, punching Caz in the face. “And you have all betrayed me.” He yanks Theo by the hair, pulling his head back, stretching his neck at an awkward angle. “You think I don’t know what you’ve been doing behind my back?” He spits on Theo’s face, and my fingers inch toward the hem of my dress, ready to go for my knife. “You are traitors, and traitors need to pay for their sins.”
Sinner walks back to Saint, crouching in front of him. “Your mother tried to betray me, and I gutted her until I was swimming in her intestines.”
“You did her a favor. Death is preferable to sharing a life with a sick fuck like you.” Saint’s tone is clinical although his eyes seethe with rage.
Sinner punches him in the stomach before ramming his fist into his face. Blood spurts from Saint’s nose, and my fingers inch closer to my knife. I can’t stand by and watch him hurt my husbands, but I can’t end this too soon either. Not before we get what we came for.
The only way he’ll fess up is if I can get him to talk.
“You say we’re traitors. What are our crimes?” I jut my chin up, piercing Sinner with a haughty look. “Because it can’t be my mother. She chose to leave you, and you can’t blame a daughter for helping her mother to escape a monster. And I fucking killed a man because you asked me to. The commissioner is dead because you ordered it. What more do you want?”
He stands, patting his son on the head in a patronizing fashion. My fingers still at my side as he stalks toward me, but it’s too late—he’s noticed.
Clasping my chin in one hand, he tugs my dress up to my waist in the other. “Remove her weapons,” he commands, and two men step forward, unstrapping the knife and the dagger secured to my thighs. Their fingers brush against my skin, like vipers taking a little taste before sinking their teeth into my flesh, but I don’t flinch, reinforcing my walls and blanking out their touch.
Sinner lets go of my dress, and the silky material glides down my thighs, covering my exposed skin. Slowly, his hand eases up my thigh, under my skirt, and he cups my pussy through my lace panties, licking his lips as he eyeballs me. “You think I don’t know you’re working with the FBI?” He pushes my panties aside, spearing my cunt with two fingers, and I wriggle in Baldy’s arms, unable to stop myself from fighting against his vile touch.
Saint roars at his father, and I stop fighting, focusing on my husband, comforting him with my eyes, pleading with him to keep it together. I stare at Saint, letting myself drown in his blue eyes, using his face to ground me, helping me to blot everything else out, to distract me from his father’s disgusting assault.
When I’m satisfied Saint is more in control, I switch my attention to the game, deciding to play along, because keeping Sinner talking is essential to getting out of this nightmare. “What gave me away?”
“Do you know how long I’ve been looking for those files?” Sinner asks, sliding his fingers in and out of me.
Bile churns in my gut, but I hold myself still, not letting myself react in any way. I run with the opportunity presented to me. “I don’t have the Daphne Leydon files. If the FBI has them, they didn’t get them from me.”
“I’m not talking about that.”
“You’re not?” I fei
gn confusion, ignoring his fingers inside me. “I thought you wanted to find out who’d stolen the evidence from you. Or are you no longer worried about being caught for Daphne’s murder now the commissioner is dead?”
“I’m talking about the Homeland Security files,” he snaps, withdrawing his fingers and evading my question. My body wants to slump in relief, but I freeze my muscles in place. “Do you know how long I’ve been trying to find those fucking files?” Shoving his fingers into his mouth, Sinner moans while licking them clean. “Salty as fuck.”
I want to sucker punch that disgusting grin right off his hideous face.
“Why am I not surprised.” He casts a glance at my husbands over his shoulder. “Think I might have pussy for dessert tonight.”
“Why do the Homeland files matter to you?” I ask before my guys lose it. “What do they have on you?”
The doors to the ballroom ease open, and Sinner’s irritating grin expands. “Always so eager for answers.” He yanks me from Baldy, but there’s no relief in being traded from one perverted psycho to another. “And I’ll give them to you, but first we have a little surprise. A couple of additional guests.” Keeping his gun at the back of my head, and his arm tight around my waist, he walks me back to his table in time to see his “guests” being hauled into the room.
“Mom!” I scream, bucking in Sinner’s arms as my mother is led into the room by two of Sinner’s men.
Oh my God.
How the fuck did this happen? Diesel said she was in Europe, secure in one of his safe houses, so how the hell did Sinner find her?
An unsettling thought lodges in my brain.
Did he do this? Has Diesel been working for Sinner this entire time?
CHAPTER 45
PAIN STABS ME through the heart and my lungs, working its way through every vital organ until I can barely breathe. If Diesel has betrayed us, then that means there is no rescue in sight.
No!
I don’t believe it.
Diesel hates Sinner, and he’s proven his loyalty to me time and time again. He last checked in with Mom a couple of days ago, and she was fine.
Someone must have betrayed him.
That’s the only explanation that makes sense.
My heart rate steadies, and my panic dials down, because I know, deep down inside, that Diesel hasn’t lied. That he’s on our side.
A strangled sob rips through the air, pulling me out of my head. Tears pour down Mom’s face as she’s flung into a chair, sobbing.
Dressed in a low-cut red and black ballgown that trails the ground with her hair and makeup professionally done, she looks beautiful on the surface—until you see the anguish in her eyes, the tears coating her face, and the fresh bruises mushrooming under the skin of her arms and around her neck.
One of Sinner’s goons secures her to the chair, and we stare at one another, silently conveying so much.
“Get your hands off me.” My head whips up in time to see Alisha slap one of the men manhandling her into the room. Unlike Mom, she’s not party ready. They have stripped her to her underwear, and her small boobs and skeletal frame are on display, making her seem even more vulnerable. Matted hair frames her makeup-free face, but there’s no disguising her sunken cheekbones and gaunt eyes. My gaze darts to Galen’s, and my heart breaks at the devastated look on his face.
Sinner sits down beside Mom, hauling me onto his lap. Lifting her head, Mom pierces me with a look loaded with regret and guilt.
“Shut your face, whore.” The man holding Alisha’s skinny frame grabs her by the hair, pushing her toward the table. She screams, arms and legs flailing as the man throws her forward, slamming her head down on the table with force.
Galen shouts and curses, screaming at the asshole to leave his mom alone. His body contorts when he tries to move his chair, pain spreading across his face. One of Sinner’s men punches him in the face, and it’s killing me to stand idly by while this happens. Rage flows through my veins, and I’m seconds away from saying fuck the mission.
Alisha is dumped unceremoniously in the chair on the other side of Sinner, and she’s not looking so hot. Her eyes are rolling back in her head as she curls into a ball, bending her knees against her chest. Blood trickles from her nostrils, dripping down over her chin, and a nasty lump is already swelling on her forehead.
I purposely ignore looking at the guys, focusing on doing what needs to be done.
“Now that everyone’s here,” Sinner says. “We can move things along.” When he shifts underneath me, his disgusting erection digs into my ass, and I almost lose it. Acid licks a path up my throat, but I keep it together, forcing a full-body shudder to retreat.
“As I was saying, I know you and your mother are working with the FBI in an attempt to take me down.” Sinner clucks his tongue. “Such stupid, stupid girls.” Reaching out, he grabs the armrest of Mom’s chair, pulling her in close. “You were my everything, princess,” he says to Mom, gripping her chin.
His gun is still pressed to my head, but the arm around my waist is gone now, and I could make a move, but my gut tells me to hold firm.
“Why’d you have to ruin everything by leaving me for that prick Trey? Everything would be different if you’d just stayed.”
Dry tear tracks streak Mom’s cheeks, and her eyes are clear and targeted. Her chin juts up as she eyeballs her ex-fiancé. “You’re a thug, Neo. A criminal. A serial murderer. A rapist.”
He slaps her cheek, and her head whips back.
My fingers inch up my stomach.
Mom smiles at him, her cheek bearing the imprint of his hand. “Falling in love with Trey Westbrook was as easy as breathing, proving what we shared was nothing.” She points between her and Sinner. “You mean nothing to me.”
Sinner slaps her again, yanking her head back, and I warn Mom to tone it down with my eyes. If she continues pushing him, he’ll kill her.
I’ve already lost one parent. I am not losing another on my watch.
“Your love was a death sentence!” Sinner roars. “He’d still be alive if you hadn’t left me. That’s on your conscience.”
“No,” I speak up, needing to deflect him from Mom. “It’s on yours. You murdered my father so you could clear a path to my mom, because you knew there was no way she’d ever look at you as long as Trey Westbrook was alive.”
“You think you know everything, little girl, but you know nothing.” He jabs the gun into my crotch. “I didn’t kill your father.”
“Liar,” I hiss. “You’ve already admitted it.”
He flashes me that stupid-ass grin. “Because I wanted you to believe it.”
“Now you’re saying you didn’t kill Trey? You expect us to believe it?” Mom asks, lifting a brow.
“I was getting ready to kill him, and my plan was way more fun than a staged car accident, but Homeland beat me to it.”
Genuine shock splays across my face. “Why the fuck would Homeland want to kill my dad?” I ask although my brain has already started connecting the dots. Sinner grips my chin tighter, grinning as he waits for me to work it out. “They were looking for the files.”
“Ding, ding, ding.” Sinner swipes a beer, knocking it back, while Mom and I trade concerned looks.
“What was on those files?” Theo asks, speaking louder so his voice carries from his table.
“You mean your little FBI contact didn’t tell you?” Sinner gloats. I’m glad he doesn’t seem to know about Diesel, or the fact the commissioner isn’t dead, but he could be bluffing to draw me into telling him the truth. Mom’s face is immobile as she goes along with it too.
I shake my head. “No. Care to enlighten me?”
“You know, Harlow, this would’ve turned out differently if you’d just trusted me.” He caresses my face, keeping his gun pressed against my pussy, ensuring I can’t make any move.
I snort. “You’re fucking joking, right? You’re the least trustworthy person I know.”
“Then you’ve been hanging around
the wrong people.” He rubs his thumb along my lower lip.
Mom flinches, but I warn her with my eyes. Now that we’ve got him talking, we don’t want him to stop.
“I’m one of the most loyal people you could meet—as long as you don’t betray me.” His eyes are like poisonous laser beams as he stabs his gaze in Saint and Galen’s direction. His hostility toward Theo and Caz isn’t as severe, because they’re not blood, but there’s no doubt whatever punishment he has in mind is for all of us.
“Maybe if you’d told me about the files, I would’ve admitted I had them,” I bluster.
“Then I would’ve had to tell you everything, and you’d done nothing to earn my trust.”
“I killed the commissioner for you.”
“You did, but I know there was some ulterior motive. And we’ll get to the bottom of that before the night is done.”
Alisha moans on our other side, blinking as she falls in and out of consciousness.
Sinner grabs one of her bare breasts, squeezing hard. “Worthless junkie whore.”
I want to snatch his hand back, but he’s got a gun pressed to the most precious part of my body, and I’m taking no chances. “Tell me what was on those Homeland files, and I’ll tell you about the commissioner,” I lie.
“We were hired by Homeland Security to retrieve those files. A disgruntled employee had stolen them. Apparently, he was planning on releasing them to the public and he had to be stopped.” Sinner has the undivided attention of every person in the room, and it’s obvious that even the board members weren’t fully aware of the situation.
Of course, Sinner is lapping up the attention, grinning as he continues explaining. “The files contained details of a terrorist plot against the US. The terrorists were stopped when they were on US soil, and Homeland ensured nothing was leaked to the public because they didn’t want anyone to discover that a US-owned private company was the one to supply them with weapons and artillery.”
“Why the fuck would Homeland hire you to stop one of their own?” Saint spits out.
The Sainthood : A Dark High School Romance (The Complete Series) Page 89