I’ve been staying at my parents’ house for five days, so my mother knows something is up. I never choose to stay here. She hasn’t mentioned anything about the stranger being here the other night and spotting my car.
I’ve also noticed that my father hasn’t been home since I’ve been here either, which makes me think he’s been at Carnage. I haven’t had any contact with Saint either, and I’m not sure how I feel about that just yet. He’s tried, but I’ve ignored him. I’m not sure what to do or how to proceed at this point. Too many moving parts that I just can’t trust.
One minute, I worry if he’s okay. Then the next, I remember him branding a woman tied to a chair in a straitjacket.
“Honey, I made us an appointment tomorrow,” my mother says, entering my room.
I’m on my third pint of Ben & Jerry’s mint chocolate cookie and my second bottle of wine. I close my eyes, and I see the woman begging them not to kill her. I see Saint just watching, not an ounce of emotion in his cold eyes. And I hear Haidyn telling me to stay quiet or they’ll replace the woman with me. “I’m not going,” I tell her. The last thing I’m going to do is tell her fucking therapist what I saw. One, they won’t believe me, and two, they won’t fucking care.
She huffs, her hands on her narrow hips. “You’re going, and that’s final.” She turns and exits my room, slamming my door shut.
I look at my cell and see that it’s almost dead. I haven’t charged it the last couple of days.
Rolling out of bed, I decide I need a shower to try to get out of this funk that I’ve fallen into. Maybe I’ll feel better if I clean myself up.
An hour later, I stand in my bathroom, drying my hair, when I hear a sound. I shut the blow dryer off and lay it on my counter. “Mom?” I call out. After a few seconds of silence, I exit my bathroom and enter my adjoining bedroom. Walking over to my closed door, I twist the knob. “Mom—?”
It’s shoved open, hitting me so hard that it knocks me on my ass. “What the…?”
“Hi, sweetheart,” a man says, entering my room.
I know him. Miles Hopper. He’s a sophomore this year at Barrington University. I’ve seen him at the house of Lords. He’s a couple of years younger than Saint. “Get the fuck out of my room.” They’re not friends, so I’m not sure why the hell he’d be here. Unless my brother sent him. But I don’t remember Adam being close with him.
He reaches around into his back pocket and removes a zip tie. The smile he gives me makes my stomach sink. “Come on, baby. You love it when Saint ties you up and plays with you.”
I scream, trying to get to my feet, but he’s faster. Grabbing my hair, he yanks me over to the side of my bed and pins me to it. I try to push myself up, but it’s useless. He grabs both of my arms, his fingers digging into my skin as he yanks them behind my back and secures my wrists together tightly with the zip tie. Then he wraps his arm around my upper arms and drags me out of my room, down the stairs and to the living room. Letting me go, he shoves me forward. I trip, falling to my knees.
A set of black boots steps in front of me, and the tip of a knife on my chin forces me to look up at him. “Where is your brother?” Tyson Crawford demands.
I knew this would happen. It’s better that you don’t know. Adam said that to me when he told me he was leaving. “I’ll never tell you,” I say through gritted teeth.
He sighs, crouching down in front of me. His elbows rest on his thighs. “You understand I have to hurt you if you choose to protect him, right?” He runs the blade over my heaving chest.
“Do what you have to do,” I spit out, refusing to give in. I won’t die for a Lord, but my brother? I have to give him time to find answers. I don’t know what’s going on, but he was physically shaken up. I’d never seen my brother like that before.
Standing, he shakes his head. “What a waste.”
“You’re the waste.” I pull my lips back with a growl. “Doing whatever the Lords tell you to do. You’re nothing but a fucking puppet.” The Lords think they have power, but they don’t. It’s a joke. They do as they’re told when they are told to do it. I never understood how much they control them until I became Saint’s chosen. He’s always being called to Carnage. Or ordered to do something that he can’t tell me. And what he did to that woman…
Tyson throws his head back, laughing. “What’s that make your brother?”
“He had the balls to stand up for himself,” I snap, not really knowing what else to say. But the longer I keep him talking, the more time I have that he won’t kill me. “To get away from them.”
He smiles. “Why didn’t he take you and your mother with him?”
“He’ll come back for us when the time is right.” I lift my chin. I believed Adam when he said he’d be back. I’m just not sure when that’ll be.
Tyson steps over to my mom, lying on her stomach with her hands tied behind her back. She screams into the duct tape over her mouth when he grips her bleach-blond hair and jerks her up. He stabs her in the chest and yanks it out.
“MOM!” I scream, jumping up and rushing over to her body that lies on the floor.
But he steps in front of me, wrapping a hand around my neck, lifting my feet up off the floor. Our faces almost touching, he says, “Still want me to do whatever I have to do?” He arches a brow.
I’m sobbing, my body shaking in his hand as I look at my mother lying dead on our floor. Tyson loosens the grip on my neck, and I choke out, “I … don’t know anything.” Why would he think that I do? I’m no one. Just a woman in a man’s world. A fucking chosen that a Lord gets to use.
Miles enters the room, and he holds up my cell phone. “Let’s see if we can get him to come to us.”
Tyson tightens his hand on my throat once more, and I thrash in his hold as he chokes me. I try to fight, but there’s no use. My body is shutting down, betraying me. My eyes start to roll into my head, and he lets go, taking a step back. I fall to my knees, coughing and spit flying from my mouth, sobbing once again.
He moves to stand behind me and grips my hair, yanking my head back as Miles stands in front of me and holds up my phone. “Smile for the camera,” he tells me as I try to breathe through the sobs.
After capturing a picture, he types out a message while Tyson tugs me to my feet and drags me over to the couch, forcing me to sit. He sits down across from me on the coffee table and grips my chin. “You better hope he’s as loyal to you as you are to him.”
My cell rings, and my heart leaps in my chest. It’s going to die soon. “Blocked number,” Miles announces.
“That’s not a good start,” Tyson states, and my shoulders shake as I begin to rock back and forth.
Miles hits answer and places it on speakerphone. I hold my breath. “What the fuck?” Adam’s voice demands.
“Help me!” I cry, jumping to my feet.
Tyson leaps forward, shoving me onto my back on the couch, straddling my chest, and places a hand over my mouth. I scream into it as he pins my tied arms underneath me.
“Who the fuck is this?” Adam shouts. “What the fuck do you want?”
“You,” Tyson answers, but his eyes are on mine as tears run down the sides of my face. I arch my neck and back the best I can, trying to fight him off.
My brother goes silent as my muffled cries get louder.
“The Lords sent us to collect you,” Miles says. “Either you’re here in an hour or your sister is dead like your mother.” He hangs up the phone and turns it off, tossing it into the vase filled with red roses on the end table by the couch. I close my eyes, sobbing, knowing that they just destroyed any chance I had of surviving this. Now I can’t even try to call Saint to save me. I’m going to die here.
Tyson gets up off me and goes back to sitting on the coffee table. I slowly get up and try to stretch my tied arms behind my back.
“Don’t worry,” Miles begins, walking behind the couch. The sound of him cocking a gun makes me tremble. “If he doesn’t come to your rescue, we’ll show you mercy and make it quick.” He grips my hair, pulling my head back, and pushes the end of the barrel into my temple.
I’m gasping for breath. “Please … I didn’t do anything.” I swallow. I feel like the woman I watched at Carnage beg for her life in front of a group of men who did nothing to save her. But I have a feeling they won’t keep me alive like she probably is. I’ll be dead in a puddle of my own blood like my mother very soon.
Tyson gets up, and I try to do the same and run, but Miles has me by my hair, holding me in place. Tyson opens up a bag that they must have brought and then walks back toward me. He falls down onto the couch, straddling my legs, and I scream at the top of my lungs.
“Please…” I sob, trying to throw him off me, but Miles still has my hair, my arms are tied behind my back, and Tyson has my legs pinned down. I have no chance.
Tyson shoves a cloth into my mouth, silencing my cries for help and then rips off a piece of duct tape with his teeth and shoves it over my lips. My watery eyes meet his blue ones, trying to plead with him to let me go.
Saint can protect you. My brother lied. Saint can’t do anything to help me right now. But when he finds out I’ve been killed, he’ll do something alright. He’ll make sure these two pay for my death. At least that much I know.
Tyson gets up off me, and I try to calm my heavy breathing. I have to think this through. Try to figure out how the fuck to survive this.
Miles lets go of my hair, and I watch him out of the corner of my eye pull his cell out of his pocket. Tyson’s back faces us as he stands at the fireplace. It’s the only shot I have.
I jump up to my feet and make a run for it. Fucking bastards didn’t tie my ankles.
“Fuck!” Miles hisses, and my heart races as I head toward the hallway. “Goddammit,” he growls throwing me face down onto the floor next to my dead mother. “Fucking bitch.” He straddles my back, fists my hair, and yanks my head up off the marble floor.
My eyes find Tyson as I suck in a breath through my nose.
“I was going to make it quick,” Miles announces. I feel something cold against my neck, then a sting follows as he cuts me with the pocketknife. I close my eyes tightly as the warm blood runs down my skin. “Now I’m going to take my time. Split this little body of yours open one slice at a time. You’ll be begging for us to kill you soon.”
“Look at me,” Tyson commands.
I open my watery eyes, and he’s crouching down in front of me with his phone out, and I know he’s taking a picture. Probably to prove to whoever ordered the hit on my brother that I’m about to die because Adam is a coward. I’ve never hated him more than I do right now.
“Just a little something for us to jack off to later.” Miles laughs, and he reaches around with his free hand and pinches my nose.
I buck wildly as panic sets in that I can no longer breathe, and his laughter fills my ears.
SAINT
I’m shaking. My hands have a death grip on my cell while I look at the picture. It’s a close-up of a brunette.
Ashtyn.
She’s positioned on her stomach in the middle of the family room I know all too well. A man straddles her back, but his face isn’t included in the picture. I can tell by her shoulders that her arms are tied behind her back. There’s a knife at her neck. He’s already cut her because blood trails down her perfectly tan skin and onto the marble floor.
Her baby-blue eyes are bloodshot from crying. Tears run down her pretty face, snot leaks from her nose, and duct tape covers her plump lips.
My chest vibrates, my blood boils like a forgotten pot of water on the stove. It’s overflowing and sizzling onto the burner.
I scan the text.
You want her?
She’s already mine. Ashtyn belongs to me. She’s my girl.
Fuck yes, I want her!
My fingers fly over the letters, replying as quickly as I can. I had received the picture of her minutes before I even opened it up. If she’s already dead…
You’ve got ten minutes.
My phone alerts me of his response, stopping that thought.
“We’ll make it.” Kashton slaps my shoulder as he sits behind me in the SUV.
I can’t stop looking at her. I haven’t spoken to her since I dropped her off at her house five days ago. We’ve been locked at Carnage taking care of shit for our fathers while they’re out of town. I just happened to turn my phone on right before I got the text. I haven’t even had the chance to check the cameras in her room today.
“Why the fuck does Tyson have her?” Haidyn demands, taking the curves fast in the middle of the night.
“The Lords,” Kashton answers when I don’t. I can’t seem to form a single fucking word. The world is black, my vision impaired other than the picture of her on my phone. My mind clouded and my body so energized, I could jump start a car.
I’m vibrating with rage. An animal waiting to be set off its leash to attack. Destroy.
The car comes to a screeching halt outside of the mansion. I’m out of the passenger door before Haidyn can even put the car in park. Running up the stairs, I shove both doors open to the house so hard they hit the interior wall with a bang.
I rush into the family room where I know she is. Tyson sits on the couch, his arms fanned across the back looking as comfortable as can be. He’s lucky I don’t blow his fucking head off. I would ask him why the fuck he’s even here at Ashtyn’s parents’ house, but I already know. Kashton was right. The Lords are the only logical answer my head can come up with right now.
Another Lord by the name of Miles Hopper jumps up from the couch. “What the fuck are you doing here?” he demands. When we don’t answer, he spins around to look at Tyson. “What did you do, Tyson?”
Tyson also ignores him.
I catch sight of Ashtyn lying face down on the floor, hands zip-tied behind her back and duct tape over her mouth. I’ve had her in this position plenty of times. But she’s always been naked.
To see her in such a vulnerable position that another man put her in makes me fucking feral. Explosive. The blood rushes in my ears when she lifts her head off the floor, and her watery eyes meet mine. Her body fights the restraints as she rolls side to side and begins to mumble unintelligible words behind the tape.
Hang on, sweetheart.
I remove the pocketknife from my back pocket and flip it open as I storm over to her. Leaning down, I cut the zip tie around her wrists and grab her arm, yanking her to her feet more forcefully than I mean to. I rip the tape off her lips and remove the cloth inside her mouth, and she sobs, immediately throwing her body into mine and wrapping her arms around my neck, standing up on her tiptoes.
I wrap my arms around her protectively, feeling her tremble against me.
“You can’t take her,” Miles growls, then turns to face Tyson once more. “We have a job to do.”
I knew it was for the Lords. They’re only sophomores this year. They are both here because this is their initiation. The question is why?
“And we did it.” Tyson nods to her mother who lies dead on the floor next to where I found Ashtyn. The blood that has pooled around her tells me that she was stabbed or shot.
“She’s supposed to be dead,” Miles snaps. “Everyone in this house must be taken care of. If her brother isn’t here in thirty minutes, I’m going to fucking gut the bitch.”
Adam? Why am I not surprised this has to do with him?
I pry Ashtyn’s arms from around my neck as she protests and push her to the side as Miles turns back to face me. I bury my knife into his neck and then yank it out. Ashtyn covers her ears as Miles makes gurgling noises before dropping to his knees.
Fucking bastard. Over my dead body will I let him touch what’s mine, let alone kill her. He got off easy. Only because I want to get her out of here as soon as possible.
Kashton pulls her into his arms to comfort her as I wipe the bloody knife on my jeans.
Tyson stands from the couch. “You understand what this means?” he asks me, his eyes going to a sobbing Ashtyn. Haidyn takes her from Kashton. Gripping her thighs, he picks her up, and she wraps her legs around his waist, burying her face into his neck. Her sobs fill the room. Tyson’s eyes come back to mine, waiting for a response.
I nod, closing the knife and shoving my now bloody hands into my pockets. “I owe you.” Looking over at her, I’ve never seen her this terrified, and the thought of losing her is maddening. What if Tyson hadn’t sent me that picture? What if Miles had killed her before I arrived? I tell myself not to think about that right now. He did send me a picture, and I did make it in time.
I saved her.
Walking over to Haidyn, I rub her back, and she pulls her face from him to look at me. She removes her arms from around his neck and reaches for me like a child needing to be comforted. I take her from him and hold her shaking body to mine as we turn and walk out of her mother’s house, knowing she will never come back here.
Tyson saved her from the Lords. The very men I vowed my life to. Life as she knows it will never be the same. She will depend on me for everything. Not like I was ever going to let her go anyway.
I crawl into the back seat of the SUV while Kashton closes the door behind me and then gets in the passenger seat, and Haidyn starts the Cadillac.
She’s straddling my waist, arms wrapped around me, and continues to sob. “You’re okay, sweetheart.” I rub her back. Poor thing is trembling. I can only imagine what she went through. Did she watch them kill her mother? I mean, if you ask me, she was a piece of shit. Whether she deserved to die or not, I hate that it might have happened in front of Ashtyn. “I’ve got you now,” I tell her. “You’re safe.”
“Where to?” Haidyn asks, his eyes meeting mine in the rear-view mirror.
“Carnage,” I answer for more reasons than one. If the Lords want her dead, I have to hide her. To the world, she no longer exists, and thankfully, I have the right place to keep her. Plus, her father will be there. He’ll tell me exactly where Adam is, and we’ll figure this out.
“No-ooo.” She pulls away from my neck and shakes her head quickly.
“Ash, sweetheart…” I reach up and push the hair from her tear-streaked face. “We have to.”
“Please?” She gasps. “Not there.” She blinks, and fresh tears run down her gorgeous face.
“It’s going to be okay. I promise.” I pull her into me once again and nod to Haidyn, who is still staring at me in the mirror.
Thirty minutes later, we arrive at Carnage. I carry her inside. She hasn’t said a word, but she’s quit crying. I’m pretty sure she’s gone into shock.
I place her on her feet, and she sways. I remove her shirt, bra, shorts, and underwear. I run a hot bath for her and look at her neck. It’s not deep, and it’s quit bleeding. “I’ll call Devin to look at it,” I inform her. I don’t think it’ll need stitches, but I’m not a fucking doctor.
Taking her hand, I help her into the tub, and she sinks into it. Crossing her arms over her chest, she stares straight ahead.
“Saint?” Kashton pokes his head in and nods to me.
“I’ll be right back,” I tell her, stepping out into the adjoining bedroom where he and Haidyn wait. “What?” I ask tightly. I’m not in the mood for any more surprises tonight. I want to get her cleaned up and in my bed, where I can hold her for the rest of the night.
“Altus isn’t here,” Haidyn announces.
“Meaning?” I snap.
“Meaning…her brother and her father are both missing…” Kashton trails off.
I run a hand through my hair. “Maybe he’s…”
“His wife is dead. His son is MIA, and his daughter is supposed to be dead. All ordered by the Lords. You think the fact that he wasn’t home or not here is a coincidence?” Haidyn snorts at his own question. Our fathers have been gone for three days, but they came back this morning. I just saw her dad two hours ago in his office. Where the fuck has he gone in the meantime?
“I…”
“Saint.”
The soft sound of my name cuts me off, and I spin around. Ashtyn stands before me, arms crossed over her chest. She’s naked and parts of her wet hair stick to her heaving chest. Tears fill her pretty eyes, and she sniffs. “He said he’d come back for us.”
I step closer to her. “Who? Adam?”
She nods, her eyes dropping to her bare feet.
“When did you talk to him?” Kash asks her.
“Five days ago. After Saint took me home, Adam came by my house.”
I had asked him to check on her, but I never got a response from him, so I figured he hadn’t seen her.
“Did he tell you where he was going?” Haidyn asks.
She shakes her head.
“Did he say why he was running?” Kashton speaks.
Licking her trembling lips, she speaks softly. “Something about being framed.” I look at Kash before I turn to Haidyn. He shrugs, also not sure how much of that is true.
“What did Tyson and Miles say?” Kash goes on.
I can always call and ask Tyson, but I want to see if what he tells me matches what she says. I trust her more than any Lord.
Her eyes drop to the floor. “Tyson texted him a picture of me…Adam called my cell. I begged him…” A sob erupts from her throat. I wrap my arms around her, holding her shaking and wet body.
I look up at Haidyn, and he sighs heavily while Kashton watches her closely. When his eyes meet mine, he nods, telling me he’s thinking the same thing I am. “If he’s got his cell, he can be tracked.”
“He called from a blocked number,” she mumbles into my neck.
The guys both stand there staring at me, and I bend down, picking her up in my arms, and carry her back to the bathroom. I set her down into the warm water that fills the tub and push the hair from her face. “I’ll be right back,” I tell her, stepping back into my bedroom and shutting the bathroom door.
“What do you think?” Kashton asks.
“I think Adam is on the run to save his own ass.” Haidyn snorts. “And if we can’t track him, we’ll never find him.”
“He could be anywhere by now. Ashtyn said she saw him five days ago,” Kash adds. “Adam can cover a lot of ground in five days’ time.”
My bedroom door is shoved open. “What the fuck is going on?” my father demands, entering the room.
I place myself in front of the bathroom door, knowing Ashtyn is in the bath naked. He watched me fuck her in front of the Lords. That was required in order to solidify that she belonged to me. Now things have changed.
“Saint?” he snaps. “I just got a phone call. Ashtyn and Adam are missing, their mother is dead, and Altus isn’t answering his cell.”
None of us says anything.
He crosses his arms over his chest. “Saint…where the fuck…?”
The door behind me opens, and my father trails off. I don’t have to turn around to know that Ashtyn just walked out of my bathroom. The way Haidyn bows his head and Kashton’s sigh tells me all I need to know. Spinning around, I see her again with a towel wrapped around her, wet hair stuck to her reddened skin from the hot water.
My father’s eyes go from her to me, and then he looks at Haidyn and Kashton as if he wants one of us to explain how she got here and why she’s practically naked in my bedroom.
“I—”
“Father, give us a minute.” I interrupt whatever she was about to say.
His eyes slowly look her up and down before he meets mine. “My office. Ten minutes,” he orders before turning and rushing out, slamming my door shut.
I turn to face her. “Ashtyn—”
“Are they all dead?” she asks, her watery eyes meeting mine. “My father too?”
Placing my hands on her upper arms, I lie, “No. He’s fine.” The poor thing has already lost her mother and possibly her brother. I don’t need her thinking she has no one left. Not when she has me. “I’m going to go talk to my dad. I’ll be right back.”
She nods as if I asked for permission. “A moment.” I gesture to the bedroom door, and the guys follow me out into the hallway. Closing the door behind me, I turn to face them. “Stay with her. I’ll be right back.” I turn my back to them and head toward the office when Haidyn’s words stop me.
“He’s never going to let her stay here.”
My teeth grind, but he’s right. I’m trying to find an excuse for what to do about her. She’s hidden from the Lords here, but then again, Lords run it. We don’t have any say over Carnage. Not yet. Not until our fathers hand it over to us.
“There is something you can do,” Kashton says, getting my attention.
I look at him, and he smiles. “It was going to happen anyway.” He shrugs carelessly.
It’s my only option at this point. And he’s right, it was going to happen anyway.
Entering my father’s office, I find not only him but Haidyn’s and Kashton’s father as well. They’re having a fucking meeting, and I bet I can guess the topic of the conversation—my girl.
“Have a seat, son.”
“I’ll stand.” I cross my arms over my chest, widening my stance.
“Saint—”
“I’ll handle this, Garrett,” my father tells Haidyn’s dad.
Kashton’s father just stares at me. He’s a man of few words. I think that’s why Kashton is the jokester in our group. He had to always entertain himself.
“If this is about Ashtyn, she’s not going anywhere.”
“Her family is dead,” Garrett snaps, confirming what I already assumed.
“I’m her family,” I state. “If they want to take her, they’ll have to kill me.”
Kashton’s father’s smirk gives me an eerie feeling. “We’ll see about that.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” I snap, stepping forward.
My father speaks. “She can stay, but she must be initiated.” His words make my stomach knot. “Adam is no longer here, and she doesn’t belong to a Lord.” Meaning, she’s not a wife—Lady. My father goes on. “Therefore, we have authority over her.”
I fist my hands, hating how true they are. If we had control of Carnage, it’d be different. “We are willing to give her to you, but in order to do so, you must do what needs to be done,” he says vaguely.
She must become a prisoner…my slave. But in doing so, I have to hurt her. They have no clue what I’ve done to keep her safe. To make her mine. She’ll hate me, and that thought makes my chest tighten. Does it matter what she thinks of me? Not really. She’ll be alive and all mine. That’s all I’ve ever wanted.
“Told you he couldn’t do it.” Haidyn’s father gives a dark chuckle at my silence. “I say we go with my plan. Throw her in a cell in the basement. No one’s going to be looking for her…”
“No!” I shout. “You’re not—”
“Those are your two options, Saint.” My father interrupts me. “You take her, or we do. What’s it going to be?”
“Me,” I growl through gritted teeth. It’s not even a fucking question. Like hell I’ll hand her over to them. I’m too selfish to let her go. I’d rather have her. “When?”
“No time like the present.” Haidyn’s father gives me a cold smile, and I grind my teeth. I’ve always hated him.
I turn to leave when my father speaks. “I’ll have Jessie bring you everything you need to get her ready.”
That tightening returns to my chest. It means I’m not even going to get to choose how I do it. They’ll place an order for what they want me to use and send it to me.
I exit the office and rush back to my room. Haidyn and Kashton stand by my bed. No Ashtyn. “Where is she?” I snap.
“Still in the bathroom,” Kash answers.
I run a hand through my hair. “Change of plans.” They both frown. “Well, I’m still going to do what I had planned, but I just have to do something else before.”
“What now?”
“I have to initiate her into Carnage.”
“Fuck,” Haidyn growls.
“You can’t be serious?” Kash snaps. “Saint, you can’t…”
“I don’t have a fucking choice!” I shout. “You either help me or get the fuck out.” I point at the door. I’ve made up my mind. There’s no going back.
Our fathers wanted me to hand her over to them. They knew I’d never do that, so they gave me an option that would leave her hating me. What they don’t understand is that I can live with that.
Kashton lets out a huff and walks to the door. Yanking it open, Jessie was about to enter with what I’m going to need. Kashton looks it over and then to me. Turning his back, he storms down the hall.
My stomach sinks as Jessie delivers what our fathers ordered. He leaves us without a word. “Do you believe in coincidences?” Haidyn asks, his eyes scanning over everything.
“No,” I answer softly. It’s a warning.
“Me either.” Haidyn turns to look at me, straightening his shoulders. “What do you need me to do?”
