Fool's Paradise (Cartwright Brothers Book 5)

by Lilliana Anderson

  He’s the brains of the operation, I reminded myself as I stripped out of the uncomfortable business attire and opened my cupboard, full of clothes that weren’t even mine. He can do anything.

  His entire family had the utmost confidence in him, spoke about him in reverent tones. If anyone could get through Grey’s security, it would be him. My Toby.

  As I stood in front of the mirror, my fingers touching the bruises forming on my arm while my eyes noted the bruising on my thigh, I couldn’t help feel an abundance of loss. Toby’s passion had caused a similar kind of bruising. Where he’d held me so tight in the throes of our lovemaking I was marked afterward. There was a beauty in that, evidence of his desire, hunger and need like love tattoos on my flesh. But this—I ran my hand over the marks on my thigh—was an abuse of power. Marks that echoed forced compliance. They marred the happy memories of my time alone with Toby, mocked it with their violence and reminded me that in this place, I was a prisoner, that I didn’t have choices.

  None of this matters. Be ready. Tonight.

  Pulling on a pair of black harem pants and a blue t-shirt, I walked over to the window, wrapping my arms around my torso as I surveyed the extensive grounds, marvelling at how something that looked so beautiful in the fading daylight could be the façade to a dungeon of terror, the physical mouth of hell. I hate my father.

  I hated myself even more for taking him at his word and believing he’d keep it. It was one thing he’d repeated ad nauseam during his ‘Quick and Dirty Guide to Running a Smuggling Ring’ speeches—he never backed out of a bargain. I’d swallowed his bullshit and thought he’d taken my offer. Turned out, he didn’t balk at the thought of me taking my life, he balked at me taking away his bargaining chip: the bride in his marriage bargain. The man was a narcissistic psychopath.

  Looking up to the sky, I watched darkening clouds move across an apricot-coloured backdrop while I prayed silently for a sign that showed me I was about to be saved from this place. Lucy had been released to Toby as the meeting ended, a scene that brought relieved tears to my eyes while they cried tears of joy and embraced each other. After that moment, even while I was being dragged up to my room, all I could focus on were Toby’s words and the fact he mouthed the word, ‘soon’ at me as they departed.

  Soon.

  We would be together soon.

  How soon?

  Give me a sign….

  Those failsafes Grey had mentioned tormented me in every moment that passed while I waited. What was going to happen if I left? He’d said I couldn’t kill him. I couldn’t kill myself. I couldn’t do anything but what I was told, or he’d blow up my world. What kind of father did that? What kind of human did that?

  He’d dragged me back here, blackmailed me into behaving and was now forcing me to marry. I loved Toby. But, being a part of this world wasn’t what either of us wanted. We had to get out of this somehow. I was conflicted over a desire to flee or to stay put.

  Although, after today’s blindside in the meeting, I couldn’t trust that staying would keep us safe either. I honestly didn’t know what move was the right one, what Toby, or even the Cartwrights, could do to protect us all from Grey’s wrath. Stay or go. Either way, we were sitting on a powder keg, waiting for it to explode. How were we supposed to win this?

  Stepping back from the window, I paused, spotting something small and dark moving across the sky. Is that? I moved closer again, watching the tiny speck glide past the clouds. If I wasn’t looking directly at it, I’d think it was a bird, or maybe even a distant plane. But it wasn’t either of those things.

  It was a drone.

  “Toby,” I gasped, knowing this was the first sign. He’s coming.

  Suddenly, there was no question in my mind. I wanted to get out of here, to escape this soulless place and take my chances living in the metaphorical Fire Swamp. We knew to beware, surely we could figure out a way to survive without whatever evil Grey had planned getting to us…God. I’m going crazy. I touched my fingers to my forehead, letting out a sigh because if I was honest with myself, I was petrified right now. Scared that Toby wouldn’t make it. Afraid that if he did, Grey would find him and kill him before he got to me. Terror-stricken that Grey would get to me first, punish me for the way I behaved in the meeting, leaving only a broken version of me for Toby to find.

  “I hope you know what you’re doing,” I whispered to the drone, because clearly, I had no clue. Stepping back, I blew a kiss at the sky, wishing them luck while quaking with fear.

  What do I do if Grey gets to me before Toby?

  Bouncing my knee as I sat on the edge of my bed, I wrung my hands, my mind whirling.

  I had to kill him.

  There were no two ways about it. Chopping the head off the snake would give us time to regroup, figure out what his failsafes were and combat them. It was the only way we’d have a fighting chance. It was the only way I’d get out of this without losing my mind. It had to happen.

  Lying back on my bed, I tried to think of a way to get out of my room and take the bastard by surprise. Looking up at the high ceilings didn’t give me any ideas at all. They were all painted with replicas of nineteenth century art depicting orgies between gods and humans. It was… unsettling that Grey chose this room for me, all those men and women with their open mouths and rolling eyes. I didn’t know if he was taunting me after the last time they’d brought me to this property, or if he just didn’t give a fuck that those images might mess with my head. I didn’t know my father well, but I had a strong feeling it was a little bit of both.

  Actually, those open mouths and wide eyes did give me an idea. In my MMA training, I’d learned plenty of choke holds, ways to cut the oxygen supply from my opponent to force them to tap out. I’d never used them outside the cage before, but with no weapons available, all I had was my strength. And if there was one thing I definitely knew about my father, it was that he couldn’t let anything go. His need to make me pay for embarrassing him at the meeting would be eating him alive. There was no way he could pass my door without coming inside to ‘teach me a lesson’.

  I shuddered and sat up, my hands clenching. I’ll be ready for you, you evil son of a bitch.

  If this went down anything like the way my ‘punishments’ did the last time I was here, Grey would come into the room alone with a guard stationed outside. He’d beat into me, call me names, do whatever else he pleased, then walk straight back out. The guard wouldn’t interfere. But at what point would he?

  Pacing about the room, I ran my hands through my hair, blowing out a nervous breath as I shook the jitteriness out of my hands. I couldn’t lie; I was freaking the fuck out. Part of the reason I learned MMA was as a confidence booster after the torture I endured here. I’d fought my best then, but I’d had shitty skills, making my efforts futile. Training had helped me feel badarse again. But when I fought at the gym, I fought against women in my weight class, I never went against men who were bigger and meaner than me. This would be my first hand-to-hand combat in a real world setting. No referees. No trainers. Just me and the other half of my genetic code in the battle to the death. Oh, my god. The idea caused a flash of tightness to take hold in my chest as I fought for enough air. I can do this. I can do this.

  In the field, I’d had a few close calls and tussles with my marks, but I’d never had to full-blown fight. I was way out of my comfort zone and wished there was something in this fucking room to use as a weapon. I didn’t even have a lamp.

  Where the hell is he? Looking at the dark window, I blew all the air out of my lungs, trying to calm that skittish feeling that vibrated about in the centre of my chest. The sun had set long ago, meaning I’d had at least two hours to get myself all worked up. At this time of year with daylight savings in effect, it’d be about eleven at night by now. I’d skipped dinner, my empty stomach adding to my sickening nerves. I just needed this—whatever was going to happen—to be over. I couldn’t handle this limbo state, caught between the need to be rescued an
d the need to fight. Something had to happen.

  The bolt slid against the other side of the door before the lock tumbled and the handle turned. I turned towards it and stopped breathing. Here we go.

  As the dark brown door swung on its arc inside the room, light spilled in from the hall, silhouetting Grey before he stepped inside and waited for his man to close him in.

  “I feel as though our lessons aren’t quite sinking in,” he said, taking a step closer as he unbuckled his belt and started pulling it free from his belt loops.

  No.

  Not wanting to give him the chance to wield a weapon, I sprang to action, sprinting towards him. He froze for a moment, mouth open to speak but no words coming out. My movement too fast for him to react before I launched myself off the ground, both feet landing against his chest with an echoing thud.

  “Oof.”

  He fell back, coughing as the air left his lungs and his eyes went wide, shock and surprise settling in only a moment before he switched to anger.

  “You,” he garbled, forcing the word on an empty breath as I landed on his chest, my knees pinning his shoulders as I pressed my forearm against this throat and pushed down.

  “This is where you die,” I grated out through clenched teeth. I took triumph in the way his eyes bulged as he fought for breath and writhed for control beneath me. “Fucking die.”

  He was strong, bucking like a wild bull, lurching me side to side, up and back, forcing me to switch my hold to the traditional choke, two hands around his thick neck.

  I’m slipping.

  With a growl, he flipped me on my back, my hands flying back to try to catch myself before my head hit against the wooden floor. Fuck.

  “Ungrateful bitch,” he grunted as he slapped my hands away then placed a big palm over my face and shoved my head against the hard floor. Ow. “I gave you a gift. A fucking gift. And you repay me with insolence and violence? Which of your little friends am I going to pick off first?” His spittle landed on my face as he leered in so close I couldn’t focus on him. “Or do I teach you a lesson the old-fashioned way?”

  “No.” With my legs over his shoulders, I was bent up like a pretzel and struggling to turn this to my advantage.

  “It’s hard for a man to look at a grown woman and view her as his daughter when he didn’t raise her from a child. My cock doesn’t know the difference between your cunt and the whores’ downstairs.” Panic flashed behind my eyes as he shifted his weight, pulling his belt free before wrapping it around my wrists and binding them over my head.

  “Stop!”

  “I am king.” He leered at me, perspiration and saliva dripping, like a wolf hungry for its kill. “Learn.” Transferring his weight to his knees, he kept a hold of the belt while using his other hand to unbutton his pants.

  “You’re a sick fuck,” I yelled, spitting in his face a split second before I lifted my hips and wrapped my legs around this neck, twisting my ankles and clamping my thighs together as hard as I could.

  He released the belt as he stumbled some of his weight to his palms, trying to return me to the compromised position I’d been in. I fought with everything I had as his fingers dug into skin, his teeth sinking into my upper thigh.

  Mother fucker!

  Teeth bit through fabric, and I howled with pain while I squeezed tighter, clenching my eyes shut as he slapped, hit, and scratched, his fight weakening as small choking sounds gurgled from his throat.

  Tighter, tighter. Hold on.

  With an almighty grunt, I put all of my strength into closing my thighs, focusing on cutting off his air. Hold, please hold. His movements slowed, tapping instead of hitting, scraping instead of grabbing. Then he fell, limp. Oh god.

  I burst into tears, pushing away as my stomach heaved and I dry wretched on the floor.

  Is he dead?

  Freeing my hands from the belt at my wrists, I shuffled across the floor on my knees, reaching out shaky fingers and pressing them against the pulse point in his neck.

  Thump…thump…

  Shit.

  Releasing a burst of emotion, I covered my face with my hands. Why? After all that effort, he’s still alive.

  Leaning over him, I held my hands at his throat, tears streaming from my eyes as I shook and willed myself to take what was left of his miserable life. But no matter what I did, I couldn’t make myself do it.

  I couldn’t kill him.

  “Fuck!” I cried, hating myself all over again for giving up too soon, for not having the fucking intestinal fortitude to go back in there and finish the job.

  Grey needed to die, and I needed to be the one to make sure that happened. Why couldn’t I take the chance when it was right in front of me?

  “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I cried, dropping back on the floor and pushing myself away from his body, sliding across the floor until I hit against the wall. Overwhelmed, I sobbed into my hands, knowing I was only moments away from getting found by his guard. “Argh!”

  My stomach lurched, and I lifted my head, grabbing for the belt when a scraping sound came from the other side of my door.

  Oh god. I’m dead. I’m dead. I’m dead. I’m dead.

  Forcing myself up on weakened legs, my thighs screamed and shook, adrenaline the only thing keeping me upright.

  With my eyes on the door, I wrapped the ends of the belt around my hands, creating a garrotte that I held taut, ready for another fight. I was pretty sure I was bringing a belt to a gunfight, but I didn’t really have a choice, I had to do something. I couldn’t die now. Toby was coming.

  The door creaked.

  It cracked open.

  I held my breath.

  And steeled my heart.

  I will survive.

  “Sunshine?”

  I’m alive!

  Now, I sounded like a Gloria Gaynor song.

  “Toby!”

  Releasing a gasp, I dropped the belt.

  Thank god. I’m saved.

  When Toby stepped in, my first response was to sprint towards him, flinging myself into his arms and hugging him so hard that I think I nearly choked him.

  “You came.”

  Toby squished me right back. “Of course I did.”

  “How?” I pulled back enough that I could look into his face, his smiling, happy face and watering ocean-clear eyes. I love him so much. “How did you get past security?”

  “With a lot of help.” He nodded towards to the door where Sloane stood keeping watch. She lifted her hand in a small wave.

  “We need to move,” she said, her large eyes as serious as the tight braid in her red hair.

  Toby nodded then looked to where Grey lay on the floor, barely breathing. “He dead?” he asked, looking into my eyes with deep concern in his.

  I shook my head. “I couldn’t finish the job.” It was a pitiful admission.

  In an instant, he gathered me in his arms and pressed a kiss in my hair. “It’s OK,” he whispered, making me feel a thousand things at once, mostly grateful.

  “I tried. I just… I couldn’t.”

  Taking my face in his hands, he pulled back and looked into my eyes. “Let me do it for you. He needs to go.”

  Pressing my lips together, I nodded, knowing the man had to die but also hating that it was Toby doing it. He’d left his family because he’d had enough of dealing death. Now, here he was killing in my name. I felt like I was robbing him of that last piece of his soul.

  “Wait.” I placed my hand on his arm as he pulled a gun from the back of his pants.

  “He needs to die, sunshine.”

  “I know. But—”

  “Ah! Just the man I was looking for,” Jasmine declared as she burst into the room with Breaker right behind her. She had a pistol held at her side, pointing to the ground as she sauntered over to Grey’s body. “Is he already dead?” She bent over slightly, peering into his face for the briefest of moments before she lifted her gun then shot him between the eyes without waiting for an answer or even checking. Whoa!
She stood up and brushed a loose strand of hair back like she’d just completed a little light house cleaning. “Who killed him first?” She looked at us.

  “He was just unconscious,” I blurted, a little shocked at her flippancy, my mind spinning as I stared at the meat sack that was once a man, my father.

  The monster under my bed was just a man. And now that man was dead. Gone. But my hatred and anger was still right there. An aching ball in my chest, exactly where I left it. This was supposed to make me feel better. Why don’t I feel relief?

  She lifted her gun and shot him again, this time in the heart. “Well, he’s good and dead now. Wanna shoot his balls off? It’s the least he deserves after all he put you through.” She held her weapon out and I shook my head, my eyes lifting to Toby’s.

  “She knows?” He told her?

  His eyes said, “I’m sorry,” while his mouth said, “A little. I filled her in on what we knew while we were planning.”

  “Most of it I guessed,” Jasmine informed me. “Brendan Grey was the worst of them all. He had to have lost his mind if he thought I’d ever allow my family to align with him.” She shook her head as Breaker leaned over and spat on the corpse.

  “He was dying,” I told her. “Blot clot in his brain.”

  “Explains the haste,” she said. “Not the stupidity.”

  “We should go,” Breaker said, touching a comms device that wound down from his ear. “Everyone is gathered.”

  “Well,” Jasmine said, smiling as she looked towards me. “Ready to watch the fall of an empire?”

  “Honestly,” I said, my entire body feeling heavy and numb. “I just want to go home.” Wherever that was.

  Toby took my hand and gave it a squeeze. “Let’s get out of here.”

  “This place won’t be safe in about ten minutes, guys,” Sloane called out, hurrying everybody up.

  Toby lead the way downstairs where several of Grey’s men kneeled, tied up and gagged on the floor of the massive foyer. Around them stood the remaining Cartwright Brothers along with Alesha, all dressed in black and brandishing weapons while looking badarse as fuck.

  “Welcome to the family,” Jasmine said, smiling as we reached the ground floor. “Didn’t think we’d ever leave you to the wolves did you?”