by LC Lehesaho
He places his gun-free hand to his chest, bowing slightly with a wide smirk on his face. "I'm not really Luke, darling, but close. My name is Levi." He winks at me, and from the corner of my eye, I see Tiger's knuckles turning even more white on top of his thighs. "The real Luke Buchanan has been fish food for the past two weeks. Surprise."
"What the fuck do you want?" Tiger says, his voice low and ominous.
His chest rises and falls as he breathes like an ox, ready to skin Luke—Levi—alive.
"What I want," Levi says, turning his bright blue eyes to me. "Is for you to open your fucking eyes and stop sucking your brother's cock." His expression turns angrier every waking second, and he scowls at me grimly. "I was nice to you, no, I was fucking perfect for you, but still, you run after him. I gave you everything you've been dreaming of, and you wanna be my friend?"
Tiger speaks while I still try to understand the situation. "Is that what this is all about? You're pointing a fucking gun at her 'cause she chose me and not you?"
Levi snaps his gaze to Tiger, moving the gun toward him too. "In a way, yes, but there's also the bigger picture. I'm on the payroll of someone who has a lot of things to say to you and daddy Hayes, but this has become a personal matter to me too. Besides, the only one I wanna shoot right now is you. I could give her everything, but you? Not so much." His eyes come back to me. "I know you enjoyed your time with me. I made you feel normal, didn't I, sweetie?"
"Fuck you, you psycho," I hiss through gritted teeth. I can't believe I was so stupid—how could I have not seen this coming? I trusted him.
I fucking trusted him.
Levi lifts his index finger in the air. "Wait, how did you say it..." He tilts his head back, thinking. "Oh, yeah." He gives me a sinister smirk. "We're all mad here, love."
"The fuck? You've been listening to us? Who are you?"
"Don't worry, darling, you'll get your answers in time. But it was pretty easy to install a bug into your phone while you were sleeping in my sheets. You gave us a perfect advantage by running to me when your brother fucked you over," he huffs, shaking his head. "I can't believe you forgave him after all the shit he did to you."
"You motherfucker, you're a dead man—" Tiger gets cut off when a big SUV pulls up into the driveway, the barrier of armed men dividing and letting it through to the spotlight.
"Ah, the boss came. Now, darling, you'll get your answers," Levi states, moving to the side a little.
I turn to look at Tiger at my side, and he meets my gaze. There's a storm inside him, thundering behind his eyes. The anger and worry are boiling in his veins as they are in mine. We're trapped.
He knows it as well as I do.
There is a helplessness in his eyes from not being able to help me. The rage of wanting to raise hell even though we'd be dead in the process. The fear that I'll end up dead, or worse.
Only when the SUV's back door opens do we break our eye contact and turn to look at it.
An older man dressed in a fancy suit steps out, smoothing his jacket. He blows out a cloud of smoke from a cigar, eyes honing in on us. The charcoal suit on his lean body and the slicked back blond hair makes him look like a Wall Street businessman, but this situation is far from that.
"Not feeling like such a beast anymore, am I right, children?" he says, voice hissing like a snake.
"Who the fuck are you?" Tiger counters through a clenched jaw. His fists tremble like he's ready to kill all of them. Just like I am.
"What an outstanding question, Anthony," he replies with a sinister smile on his face. My eyes shoot wide, and I glance at Tiger, who looks just as shocked as I am. No one knows his identity—only us. Before either of us can say anything, he continues. "I see you've become very close with your new family, especially with this little hussy here. I couldn't be more pleased about it, one more way to make your family rip each other to pieces."
He taps the ashes from his cigar and walks closer.
"I've been watching Leo for years, and when I heard that he killed Hernandez and no one found you, I knew that he'd taken you with him. You know." He lifts the cigar in front of him, observing the orange glow on its tip. "Hernandez had been one of my business partners for years. I got some precious information about Leo from him. But you, Anthony." His eyes focus on Tiger. "I lost quite a lot of money because of you, boy. That gorgeous sister of yours would've been a great slave for the Germans. They love their whores with a little bit of exotic blood. What would you say if I take this new sister of yours instead and sell her? Even though she's been a little slut and shared her pussy with everyone looking her way, she still has the body they'd pay good money for."
Tiger's shoulders sag; every ounce of fight leaves him at his words. I have the feeling that we're gonna die here anyway, so I reach my hand out to him, threading my fingers with his. I can feel his hand shaking, not aggressively, but from the pain of his memories. Anything I ever imagined about what happened to him, I know now that I had to have underestimated how bad it was. Tiger stares right in front of him, eyes looking glassy like he is in a totally different place than here.
"Don't you remember me, Anthony?" the man asks, cocking his head. "Well, you were occupied at the time... but I remember you and your sister very well when Hernandez showed us the new merchandise after he’d had enough of you. You two were the most wanted in the auction. The twins."
44
I can feel Cobra's hand in mine, and I know the man is still speaking, but... I can't hear him.
The paralyzing cold slithers into my bones.
I feel like I'm sinking back there.
I squeeze her against me, my hands trembling.
The thin mattress beneath us doesn't keep the cold away. The concrete is always cold, especially when the winter is coming. I know it from the small window at the top of the warehouse's double doors. Days are getting darker.
This is the second winter already.
I've kept count.
Amelia's thin body shakes against me, but I know it's not because of the cold. She stays warm when I keep her sheltered against me like this. Using my body as her blanket.
It's the nightmare where we live, chasing her into her dreams. She told me. She lives those things that they did to her all over again while she sleeps.
I do too.
The constant pain. Over and over again.
They didn't clean her after they were done today, and I can smell the blood on her. It was too dark to see anything when they brought her back, but I know where she's hurt. They never let her heal enough before hurting her again. Just like they never let me heal either.
The tin roof screeches, and the dogs start to bark in the cage next to ours. Amelia startles, and I squeeze her tighter, cradling her.
She sinks back into sleep again, and I press my face to her messy hair.
I try to remember the days when mom was with us. When she made us breakfast and read stories to us. I want to take my mind somewhere other than here.
But I can't.
I can't remember what it felt like to sleep in a bed. I can't remember what it felt like to be outside. Amelia said that she can. She’s always been brighter than me.
The dogs keep barking, the sound echoing from the walls, and it keeps my mind right here, not letting me even dream of better days.
"What the fuck do you want from us?" Cobra's voice pulls me back to the present, and I feel her squeezing my fingers tighter. "If you want to kill us, then why don't you fucking do it already and cut the bullshit."
"You're not even slightly intrigued about why you are here?" the man asks Cobra, and yeah, I fucking remember his face. I remember everyone's face from those three years. I remember every fucking detail.
But the reason he's still alive is that I don't fucking know who he is.
Never got his name.
"Does it matter? You're clearly not going to let us walk out of here, so what's the fucking point?" she snaps back.
She's so fucking brave.
But hell no.
The rage reverberates through my body as I look at the man. My vision starts to blur from the anger that swirls inside me. "Leave her the fuck out of this," I say to him, gritting my teeth. "Cobra has nothing to do with you losing your fucking money."
He rubs his jaw. "Well, in fact... this is not about that, Anthony. See." He turns his yellowish amber eyes back to Cobra. "This started way before that. It is actually Leo's head that I want. You two lovebirds are just pawns in my game. Like the rest of the magnificent Beasts of Prey."
"You're the cocksucker that has been fucking up our clubs and sneaking around in the shadows, huh?" Cobra throws out, and I feel her rage in the air like goddamn thunder. "Too fucking scared to be a man and stand up to us face-to-face? What a fucking pussy you are."
My girl.
The man's eyes light up with rage. "Maybe whore's like you should be killed like your grandmother was. I could let all my men fuck your every hole and cut your throat while they’re at it, what do you think? Still feeling bold, little bitch?"
"I'll kill you." A low growl rises from my throat, and before I register that I'm moving—I'm up on my feet and I’ve jumped down from the porch in the blink of an eye.
"One move and I slit her throat!" A yell from my back stops me in my tracks. Slowly, I look over my shoulder.
Luke, or Levi, is holding a blade to Cobra's throat.
My heart sinks, and my throat tightens with fear on her behalf.
"Back on your knees, Anthony," the man says from my other side. "I haven't finished."
Gritting my teeth, I do as he says, but I keep my eyes on the blade. If he fucking draws even one drop of blood out of her...
"So…" He walks around me to Cobra's side and leans closer to brush a strand from her face. "I have to say that I'm not surprised by your temper. Runs in the family, I guess."
"Who. The. Fuck. Are. You?" she asks, glaring at him. Her eyes flame with anger and her hands are balled into fists at her sides.
"I'm Silas, you pretty little whore. If your daddy hasn't told you about me, I'm sure you’ve heard of my brother," he drawls, stroking her hair, and I see Cobra’s eyes widen at the name. "Victor Crusador. Ringing bells?"
Holy mother of fuck.
That name also tells me a lot.
45
My body feels frozen when his words sink into my gray matter.
Silas was supposed to be dead.
They were all supposed to be dead.
"No... you're dead." I shake my head, denying it. The blade cuts into my skin a little, but I don't care.
Dad killed them all.
Silas had been running for months after Dad killed Victor—his own father—twenty years ago and took time before he'd tracked down Silas after he'd fled. Dad had burned the house where he'd been hiding, and there was a body. There had been a fucking body with Silas's dental records.
"Do I look dead to you, pretty bitch? Your daddy dearest didn't even know what he started—trying to take our city by avenging his mother's death? He killed my brother with an element of surprise, but trust me, beautiful. I'm going to destroy you all and take back what's mine." Silas' face twists into a nasty grin as he waves his hand in the air, and two armed men approach Tiger at his command. The other one is holding something in his gun-free hand, but I can't see what it is.
Tiger sees them but doesn't make a move. Because I have a fucking knife against my throat.
The pressure is building up inside me, and I'm ready to explode when I see what the other man holds—a syringe.
"Don't you fucking dare touch him," a menacing snarl rises from my chest as I watch the man bring it to Tiger's neck. He stays perfectly still, body rigid, and dark eyes glued to mine. There's the familiar rage in them, but also... fear.
He knows that we don't stand a chance.
There's too many of them, at least fifteen men and two of us. They're armed, we're not.
We're going to die here.
And I know Tiger is not scared for himself, but for me. Just like I'm only terrified for him.
I would die to keep him alive.
"Oh, don't worry, little girl." Silas moves further away from me like he’s predicting that I'll go haywire really soon. My muscles twitch under my skin, and I have to keep my lips parted because I’m breathing so fucking hard.
I will kill them all.
"Your brother will stay alive to tell the tale. He will crawl home to tell your daddy that I'll destroy everything he has built. I'll wreck his family, his business, his whole life. And I'm starting with you, pretty whore. You're coming with us, and in one way or another, you'll tell us everything about your family and help me destroy them. This was just the first move. The game begins now."
At that, the man behind Tiger plunges the syringe in his neck.
The ties on my wrists and ankles don't ease up even a little, no matter how much I jerk them. The ropes keep me in my place on the chair, and I feel the blood flowing down my palms.
But I don't feel the pain.
I'm fucking furious.
I scream against the bandana tied over my mouth, but still, no one comes. The fuckers locked me in an empty room after a ride in a trunk and just left me here. I counted minutes while they drove, and we only made a half an hour journey. Remembering the speed limits in the area, I think we're still very near Preston.
I bite the fucking bandana and close my eyes, trying to breathe through my nose. The image of Tiger going down like a tree after they drugged him flashes in my mind instantly.
He is okay.
He is okay.
That fact is the only reason I can keep myself together. They carried him back to our Explorer, and I was forced to keep my mouth shut and not fight, or they'd have shot him. It was the hardest thing I've ever done.
Just watch, unable to help him.
I wanted to raise hell.
Kill them all.
Burn the motherfuckers down.
But I needed to wait because there was no way to keep him safe.
"How's it going, darling?" Levi burst into the room, a sick fucking smile on his face.
My fists shake from the wrath inside me, and I glare at him, gritting my teeth against the fabric.
Levi rubs his hands as he walks in front of me. He's wearing a white T-shirt and light denim jeans, precisely the same style that he was wearing while fucking with my head.
"Well, let's take this off, so we can chat." He leans closer, hands going to the back of my head to open the bandana, and the second I feel it loosen, I hit my forehead to his nose with all the power I can muster.
"MOTHERFUCKER!" He falls backward, holding his nose. Blood spills between his fingers to his face, dripping onto his white shirt.
"You piece of shit!" I spit, jerking my hands again. "You think you can get away with this? I'll kill you slowly, you fucking bastard!"
Levi leans forward, resting his hands on his knees, letting the blood spill to the floor, and peeks at me under his brows. "Feisty little one. You'll come around, darling."
"What the fuck you want from me? I'm not going to tell you shit."
He wipes his nose with the back of his hand and straightens. It infuriates me that he doesn't even look mad.
"My job is to take care of you. I don't want anything." He pauses, tilting his head. "Or I do, but it has nothing to do with what Silas wants." Snapping his fingers, he comes closer again. "But that's not the thing I came to talk to you about."
I scowl at him as he crouches down in front of me, placing his hands on my thighs.
"Take your hands off me."
He doesn't.
Instead, he starts to massage them, kneading my sore muscles.
"I know you're angry, 'cause I lied to you about who I am but listen to me." His baby blue eyes drill into mine with a serious expression on his face. "They want information, and you'll make it way easier on yourself if you just comply. Silas has this guy who makes everyone talk so, please, just answer the q
uestions, darling."
"Get your fucking hands off me, you sick fuck," I snarl at him. "You can stop your mind games 'cause you fucking blew your cover already, asshole. I swear on my life that I'm not telling you people shit."
Levi sighs, the sick smile creeping back on his face, making cold shivers run down my spine.
"Don't tell me I didn't warn you."
He gets up, towering over me, and pulls something out of his back pocket. When I realize what it is, I curse out loud.
"Yeah, I have a feeling that you're not going to be very easy to handle when I take those ropes off." He takes the sheath off the syringe, that creepy smile still on his face. "And I have to take you to our room, so this is kind of a must."
I stare at him, eyes wide, unable to say anything. Our room?
Levi walks behind me, and I know why.
"No, no, no, don't—"
My begging cuts off as he grabs hold of my chin and sticks the needle in my neck. It only takes seconds, and then he releases me before I can say anything.
"That should do it, 'cause you're so little," he tells me, now rubbing the spot he injected me. "It only stings a little while, darling. Do you feel better?"
My head starts to feel unnaturally light, and I fight to keep my lids open. No, I'm not going to—
No.
NO.
"That's right, feeling sleepy already?" His hand rubs my neck, the other one taking hold of my forehead, pulling my head back to lean against his stomach.
My head is so spinny. Dizzy. I see his blue eyes looking down at me, but... He spins. I close my eyes, trying to squeeze myself back to my senses.
But again... I feel so sleepy.
"You'll need to rest before tomorrow. They'll ask you questions then. I got you the same heavy blanket that you have at your home, so you can sleep well."
My mind spins but gets stuck on the blanket. My home? I blink, focusing on his eyes, my head leaning against him because it's just too... heavy.
Luke... no... Levi watches me with a crooked smile on his face.
His hand is sliding from my chest to my shoulder and back. Stroking me.