I run down the hall to see Haidyn waiting for the elevator. “I want to see her.”
He chuckles. “Don’t believe me?”
Reaching up, I grab his shirt and pull on it. He spins around and steps into me. “Watch it—”
“I want to see her.” I interrupt him. “Now.”
He rubs his chin, then nods. “Okay.”
We enter the elevator and take it down to the basement in silence. Stepping off, I follow him down the long and cold hallway, through the plastic strips that hang in the doorway. We pass a few prison cells that have full concrete doors. The only way to see inside are the little slots that they feed them through. Water and bread are all they get. Well, that’s what they were fed when I was here last time.
He comes to a stop at a cell and punches in some numbers on a keypad. When it unlocks, he pushes the door open, making me flinch due to the loud squeeze that echoes through the basement.
“Go ahead.” Haidyn gestures with his hand. “But I’m not sure she’ll tell you anything.”
I move to stand in front of the open door, refusing to go inside it. I’m not that desperate for information. A brunette lies on a stretcher, like the one I remember being strapped to. She’s also wearing a straitjacket, staring up at the concrete ceiling.
My feet move me forward into the cell, and my pulse races. “Whitney?” I ask roughly.
Her head snaps to the side, cold eyes meeting mine and stopping me in my tracks. I swallow the knot in my throat when I see the 666 branded on the side of her face. It’s bigger than the one I have on my body. It looks fresh—red and irritated.
She sits up, and I take a step back, half expecting her to run at me. “What…what did they do to you?” I ask softly. Is she here because of me? Did I do this to her? She’s the only one I ever contacted after I left. I felt so alone. I was depressed. I just needed someone…
Four Years Ago
I sit on the floor in my hotel room, staring out of the floor-to-ceiling window. A bottle of pills next to me and there’s another bottle to my right but it’s full of vodka. I throw it back and only part of it makes it into my mouth. The rest runs down my naked body.
The door slamming shut makes me flinch. I just fucked a man for money. That’s not the part that makes me feel worthless. It’s the fact he wasn’t Saint. I know Haidyn and Kashton used me, but it never felt wrong. Saint was always right there with me.
This was different. Lonely.
I pick up the burner phone that I have and stare at it. I’ve dialed Saint’s number so many times just to see if anyone answers. It’s the unknown that’s eating me alive. Did I kill him? Did he survive? If so, is he looking for me?
It doesn’t matter. He can never find me. It doesn’t matter if I’m no longer pregnant. I can’t go back and undo what I did. What I was accused of…
I lie down on my back and hold my phone up in front of my face with shaking hands and dial the one number I know I can trust. It’s a gamble, but I just need to know…
“Hello?” the female answers and my heavy eyes fall closed as a tear runs down the side of my face.
“Whit-ney…?”
I never could bring myself to ask her if Saint was alive, and she never offered that information. As far as I knew, she didn’t know. Her senior year, she had been given to a Lord—Tyson Crawford—and when she needed to escape the world, she came to Las Vegas and became a Queen. The Kings made sure that our information stayed discreet. I’m not saying they care about us, but they care about their clients who pay a lot of money for their services.
She jumps to her feet and rushes me. Her movements aren’t fast but they catch me by surprise, and I freeze in place. Before she makes contact with my body, Haidyn steps in front of me and reaches out, gripping her neck. He picks her up off her feet, spins her around and slams her into the concrete wall.
I gasp, my hands coming up to my face.
“We’ve talked about this, Whitney,” he says calmly while she gasps now lying on the floor. “Now…what do you say?” He grabs her dirty and matted hair, yanking her to her knees forcing her to face me.
My wide eyes meet his before they drop to her sunken ones.
“Fucking bitch!” she sneers.
“Whitney, I never meant—”
“Luke should have killed you!” she screams, thrashing in his hold.
Who the fuck is Luke?
“Just like my sister. I should have let him kill you both!” Her shrill voice hurts my ears, and I reach up, placing my hands over the side of my head as my eyes sting with unshed tears.
This is what Carnage does to you. It makes you go crazy.
SAINT
I rush down the hall and enter Whitney’s room, pushing Ashtyn out of my way as Haidyn yanks Whitney off the floor by her hair. He slams her down onto the stretcher, and I help him strap her down while leaving her in the straitjacket.
She’s screaming and thrashing the best she can, but she’s weak.
We get her tightly secured, and I turn to look at Ashtyn. This is why I didn’t want her down here. Nothing good could come of this. What the fuck could she possibly ask that Whitney would tell her the truth? Whitney is not on her side. Never has been and never will be.
Ashtyn steps back into the hall, and her wide eyes meet mine. I say nothing, and she turns and runs back toward the elevator. I head after her only to stop right outside the door when I see her standing in the hallway. Tyson Crawford and his wife stand in front of her.
Whitney screaming behind me fills the cold space as Tyson reaches out and pushes his pregnant wife behind him, blocking Ashtyn’s view of her.
I see Haidyn come up next to me, and Ashtyn takes in a shaky breath. “You should have killed me when you had the chance,” she whispers to Tyson.
He holds her stare and opens his mouth to speak when Lake steps forward. “I can answer any questions you have.”
“No,” Tyson snaps at his wife.
She smiles at Ashtyn, ignoring Tyson. “Everyone deserves to know the truth about their life.” Lake goes to pull away from Tyson, but he yanks her back with his hand in hers. Pausing, she steps in front of him and kisses his lips before pulling her arm free and walking toward the elevator. I allow Ashtyn to follow.
Honestly, Lake knows just enough that might pacify Ashtyn for now. There’s still so much more that she doesn’t need to know. It wouldn’t do her any good, just harm.
“You think that’s a good idea?” Tyson asks me, shoving his hands into his jean pockets once the girls are in the elevator and headed upstairs where it’s safe.
I shrug. “Can’t be worse than Whitney.”
He walks toward us, and we turn to all three enter Whitney’s cell. “Has she given you anything?”
“No,” Haidyn answers. “We’ve had her in the jacket for three days and nothing. I don’t think she’ll give up any information.”
“Ty-son,” she chokes out, yanking on the restraints and looking over at him. “Please…”
He gives her his back to face us. “And Luke?”
I shake my head. “He said he turned in Ashtyn and Adam’s mother, but that was all we got out of him.” I’m not sure I trust a damn thing he says anyway.
“What about her cell phone?” He goes on.
When she was brought in, she had two phones. One was destroyed and we kept the second trying to find any information we could on Ashtyn. “Nothing,” I say once more. There weren’t even any text messages between her and Ashtyn. Just a contact with a number.
The thought of a phone makes me think of Jenks. I haven’t heard anything from him about the cell I gave him to go through. I need to call him.
Two hours later, I’m sitting in my office after Tyson and Lake left when my door opens, and another visitor enters the room.
“Hey, man. Gavin called us to come in?” Sin states, entering with his pregnant wife on his arm.
I stand from my desk. “Yeah, he texted me,” I say, nodding to him. “He should be here any minute.” Devin is our doctor here at Carnage. But when we took in Sin’s mother-in-law, I struck a deal with him. She’s pregnant, and they’re going to take the baby once she delivers. I promised he could bring in Gavin—a doctor of the Lords. It was a simple gesture that made him feel comfortable and gets me what I want in the long run.
The door opens once again, and I expect it to be Gavin, but it’s not. It’s my wife. “Ashtyn, can you give us a second?” I say, clearing my throat. I’ve ignored her, hoping she’d crawl to me asking for forgiveness. For what? I don’t know. I just need her to need me, but I know the truth. She doesn’t. Not anymore. She now knows what freedom feels like, and she’s just a prisoner here.
Sin’s wife drops his hand and turns to face mine, and my pulse races, knowing what’s to come. “Ashtyn?” Elli breathes. “Oh my God, it’s been so long.”
Ashtyn smiles brightly at the bleach blonde, excited to see a familiar face. “Yes it has. How have you been?” She holds her arms out wide and hugs the pregnant woman. “You look fabulous. Congratulations…” They strike up a conversation, and I look at Sin.
He’s standing there staring back and forth between them, scratching his head. “You know my wife…?” he asks, sounding just as confused as he looks. When Ashtyn doesn’t answer, he looks at Elli. “You know her?”
She gives him a warm smile. “Yes.” Laughing, she points at my desk. “I saw a picture of you and the Spade brothers on Saint’s desk a while back and thought it was you.”
Sin looks at me, and I just stare at him. “How…?” He looks back at the women. “How do you two know each other?” The girls are about four years apart, so they wouldn’t have attended Barrington at the same time.
“Laura, Elli’s mother, was my mom’s therapist,” Ashtyn answers, sounding less enthusiastic about admitting that fact. Then she turns her attention back to his wife.
He turns to face me fully, and I watch his face grow tight. “Excuse us, ladies.” I walk past them and out into the hall, knowing I need a second alone with him.
The moment the door shuts behind us, he faces me. “What the fuck, Saint?” Sin barks.
“It’s not what you think…”
“So you didn’t set me up in hopes that my wife would exchange her mother for me?” he snaps.
I sigh, not exactly. “I didn’t know Ashtyn’s father was going to bring her in, offering Laura in hopes to get you back,” I growl. Sin made an arrangement with us. He turned himself over to us in order to set Elli’s father free from Carnage. Did I know who Elli was? Yeah. Did I want her mother here under our roof? Absolutely! I hated that woman. She had hurt Ashtyn before, and she wanted to get rid of her. I still think she was the one who helped Ashtyn escape from Carnage. I was going to torture that information out of her, but the bitch showed up pregnant, and until she has that baby, I won’t touch her.
He gives a rough laugh, not believing me. “Fuck you, Saint.” Sin goes to open the office door, and I grab his upper arm, stopping him.
“You were willing to do anything for your wife. I will do the same for mine,” I inform him.
He yanks the door open and enters the office. “Elli, Gavin will be here any minute. Let’s go.”
“Yeah.” She nods to him and then hugs Ashtyn again. “I’ll call you. We’ll hang out.” Elli tells my wife, and her face falls as if I will never let her have any friends. Once Laura gives birth, Sin will never bring Elli back here.
I don’t blame him, but I don’t regret what I did. Sin willingly gave himself up for his wife, and I respect that.
He takes Elli’s hand and ushers her out of the office, leaving me with Ashtyn. We haven’t spoken since our fight a week ago. I’ve avoided her and her me.
We stand in silence, and she licks her lips. “Elli told me they are here to see her mother?” Her eyes meet mine. “Why is Laura here at Carnage?”
“Because this is where she deserves to be,” I answer.
“So…she’s a prisoner?”
I say nothing.
“May I see her?”
“No,” I growl. “Stay the fuck away from her.” We’ve got her secluded right now anyway. She’s needed around-the-clock care to make sure the bitch makes it to full term with the baby. Sin would slit my throat if anything happened to the child he and Elli will raise as their own.
“Saint—”
“Stay the fuck away, Ashtyn!” I shout, getting irritated.
Letting out a huff, she spins around to leave when I speak. “I’m leaving tomorrow and will be gone for two days.”
Her hand pauses on the doorknob.
“Haidyn will be here with you,” I tell her, wanting her to know she’ll have a babysitter so she doesn’t get any crazy ideas.
Her body stiffens, and then she yanks it open and storms out.
