I rush to her and catch her just before her head hits the floor.
“Fuck,” Nathan says as he jumps to the floor with me. “What happened?”
“I don’t know,” I reply, looking around at the other Phantoms as they come out of their hiding spot. “Clear the area. Call the cleaners to come clean this shit up and give them some extra hush money. Call the renovator, Ezra. The walls will need a new coat of paint.” He nods at me and walks off with his phone in his hands. “We’ll take care of Lana.”
I touch her wrist, and I definitely still feel a pulse. Her breathing is shallow, though.
She must’ve exhausted herself after all that fighting at the Bones Brotherhood club and then with her brother here too.
I lift her in my arms and carry her back up the stairs, with both Nathan and Milo following me. I take her to my room upstairs and lie her down on the triple king-sized bed.
“Are you sure she’s okay?” Milo asks, cringing from the pain in his stomach, but he still follows us inside. “Is there anything I can do?”
“She needs to rest,” I say. “I’ll stay with her.”
Nathan swallows and glances at her body, grinding his teeth. “Fine. I’ll go check on Ro, make sure she’s safe.”
I nod as he leaves the room, but Milo tentatively stays behind.
“You should rest too,” I tell him.
“I’m too agitated to sleep,” he replies.
Always the worried soul.
He really does care a lot about her.
I lie down beside her and clutch her hand as she gently begins to snore.
“Focus on healing,” I tell Milo. “I’ll watch over her while she sleeps.”
He nods. “If you need anything, just call.”
He throws me my phone from my bedside stand, and I catch it just before it hits me in the face. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome,” he says with a wink. “Don’t go ravage her like a somno while we’re not here, okay?”
“Don’t worry, none of you will ever find out,” I reply, winking back.
And he walks out of the room, struggling to fight the pain. But I know he’ll be all right.
He’s not the only one worried about her.
My hand slowly reaches for her face as I caress her cheek. Looking at her beauty while she sleeps calms my nerves and makes me forget about the outside world. It’s as though there’s no one left but us. And even though she’s not responding to my touch, my heart still pounds in my chest at the thought that she can feel me.
I truly have fallen …
But I don’t regret a single moment of the dark descent.
Nathan
When Ro sees me, she runs over and hugs me tight. “I was so scared. There was so much noise.”
“I know, Ro. But you don’t have to worry about that.”
“Has it stopped?”
I lower myself to her level and nod. “And it’s not coming back. I’ll make sure of that.”
She looks at my arm and touches it, her finger retreating with a lick of blood on it, her eyes widening at the sight. “Are you bleeding?”
I hadn’t even realized. “Must’ve been a scrape. Don’t worry about it. I’m not hurt.”
“When can I come out?” she asks.
I pat her on the head. “Soon, Ro, soon. They need to clean up the place first.”
“Clean? Did someone make a mess?”
I laugh. “You could say that, yeah.”
She runs to the play corner Milo installed and pulls out a small broom. “I can sweep!”
“No, no,” I say, holding her back. “This is a mess only grown-ups can clean.”
“Aw …” She pouts. “But I want to help.”
“I know,” I reply, smiling. “Tell you what, I’ll tell them to leave some of the rubble for you to clean up after they finish, okay?”
She grins. “Yes.”
“Good, now go play.” I push her to her play corner. “I’ll bring you some drinks and food in an hour.”
But she’s not listening anymore, so I slowly back out of the room and breathe a sigh of relief. She’s safe, and that’s all that matters.
I walk up the staircase and check out the walls littered with bullets. It’s gonna take a ton of work and money to fix the holes. Fuck. We’re gonna have to beg Kai’s mom again, aren’t we?
Sighing, I walk into my room but stop when I spot Milo standing in the cage.
“What are you doing in here?”
He touches the bars. “I miss this.” He glances at me over his shoulder. “I miss you.”
I close the door behind me and step forward. “You miss me taking my rage out on you?”
He smirks. “How do you know me so well?”
“I can’t,” I say, folding my arms. “And you know why.”
He looks down at the wounds on his body. “It’s nothing. Just a wound.”
“You almost died,” I respond. “I’m not going to touch you and be the reason you actually die.”
“Aw …” he jokes, but he knows as well as I do that I’m serious.
“You know I can’t control myself,” I say.
He swallows and bites his lip. “I know.”
I walk toward the bed and lie down. “Then why are you here?”
“I just wanted to remember what it was like … uncomplicated … messy,” he murmurs. “But now that those Bonesmen have been taken care of, I feel like there’s nothing left for you to latch onto.”
I frown. “You’re scared I’ll lose my sting.”
“They were what made you angry,” he says, exiting the cage. “Obsessed.”
I get up and walk up to him, stopping him from walking any farther, and I push him right back into the cage and onto a chair in the middle. “Sit.”
He obeys me like a puppy dog with smoldering eyes.
“I took out my rage on you over what they did to my family, but now that they’re gone, it doesn’t mean I don’t still feel rage.” I grab a rope hanging from the wall and wrap it around his body, leaving out one hand. “And it definitely doesn’t mean I don’t feel the need to hurt people.”
I press my lips to his, taking a kiss, whether he wants me to or not. But he doesn’t seem to mind.
“You really are yearning for a punishment, aren’t you?” I murmur.
My dick throbs as his words come out in a half mewl. “Oh fuck, yes.”
A wicked smile spreads as I tie him up to the chair. Not too tight to touch his wounds, but tight enough to keep him in place. “I can’t hurt you when you’re this fragile.”
“Fragile?” He scoffs.
My tongue darts out to lick my top lip. “But I can still give you pain.”
I stand back and admire my work with a tilted head. “Does it hurt?”
He shakes his head as I step back even farther.
My dick pulsates with need. “It will.”
I fish my key from my pocket and lock the door.
“You want my cage? My punishment? Fine, you can have it,” I say, leaning between the metal bars. “But I won’t lay a single finger on you until your wounds are fully healed.”
“What?” He gasps.
“You came out of the clinic against my orders, so this is your punishment. You can stay on that chair until I feel like you’re ready,” I say, a grin forming on my lips. “And until then … all you can do is watch.”
And I take off my shirt that still clings to my chest from the shower I took with Lana and let him feast his eyes as I unzip and take out my already half-hard dick, stroking it with glee.
He licks his lips, inching closer, fingers prying through the bars as he whimpers. “Oh God, don’t do this to me.”
“You’re a naughty boy, Milo. And if I can’t punish you physically, then it’ll have to be mental torment,” I say as I begin stroking my cock. “Now enjoy the view.”
Lana
The next day
I’m running through the complex, throwing my knife and ending another life.
BANG!
More gunshots emanate from the hallway up ahead, but I push on and shoot too, hitting them right in the head.
The more bodies drop, the more I’m lost in adrenaline until nothing is left but me and the blood caking my skin. Each kill brings me closer to that high, closer to insanity.
But when I look at my hands, the bodies begin to disappear in the dark of the night, and at the end of the hallway, a bed appears.
In it are two people, one crying, softly pleading for help, while the other bounces on top.
And the horror that settles in my stomach is too much to take.
BANG!
Blood stains the sheets.
The intense scream that follows rings in my ear.
Dark eyes boring a hole into my skull, dragging my soul out with it until nothing is left but a hollow mess of me.
Eyes I recognize.
Hands that feel familiar.
“It’s gonna be okay,” the voice says.
But all I hear is the ringing of the gunshot like a memory being seared into my brain.
Screaming, I awaken to someone lying beside me. I grasp the nearest knife I can find on the bedside table and roll on top of the person, pushing the knife under their neck. Hands raised, completely at my mercy. But it isn’t until my eyes find his that I realize what I’m doing.
“Lana, it’s me,” Kai says.
It takes me a while to calm the panic raging through my heart.
“Where am I?” I mutter.
The last thing I remember, I was in the hallway in my towel.
I look down, but the towel is gone. I’m completely naked, sitting on top of him.
“It was wet, so I had to take it off to make you warm again,” he says. “I haven’t touched you. I was just watching over you.”
I shiver in place from the cold draft passing by my nipples.
The last thing I know is that I was arguing with my brother, and he’d just left when I … collapsed onto the floor.
“You’re in my room now. You’re safe,” he says. His hand reaches for my face, and he caresses my cheek so gently I almost break under his touch. “I’m not here to hurt you.”
“I …” I mutter, slowly retracting the knife.
“You were dreaming again … weren’t you?”
I nod and roll off him, pulling my knees up to my chin as I sit in the bed. “The nightmares are intensifying.”
“Nightmares … about your mother?” he asks.
I swallow away my pride and nod.
He sits up too, intently listening to me even though I just held a knife to his throat.
“They’ve never been this bad before,” I say, sniffing. “Usually the killing keeps them at bay.”
“So revenge on predators wasn’t your only reason,” he says.
I shake my head. “I need it to stay sane.” When I look at him, he doesn’t seem the least bit afraid. “I’m sorry. I almost killed you there. I wasn’t trying to.”
“I’m fine,” he says, touching his neck to make sure there’s no blood, then he shows me his hand. “See?”
I smile. “Good.”
“Good?” His brow rises. “Lana fucking Rivera not trying to kill me? That’s a first.”
I snort and bump into him. “Stop, you know why I am the way I am.” I think about my nightmare, trying to decipher what I saw. Something just doesn’t sit right with me. The memories I have of that time are so blurry that I don’t know what part is real and what part isn’t. My brain prevents me from accessing them and has stored them away for my own safety, but they still creep out in my sleep.
When I shiver again, he places a hand on my back. “What do you usually do when you have those dreams?”
I gulp and tuck my hair behind my ear. “The thing you guys have been holding over my head…”
“Murder,” he fills in.
I nod. “It’s an outlet. The killing keeps me sane.”
“And since your victims deserve their fate, you don’t feel guilty,” he says.
I sigh out loud. “I wonder if it’ll ever be enough.” My fist balls. “But killing is the only thing that douses the fire burning in my heart.”
“Be right back.” He hops off the bed and exits the room, leaving me confused.
What is he planning?
I wait until he eventually returns with something that looks like leather.
“What is that?” I ask.
“An outfit. Stole it from Nathan’s room.”
I narrow my eyes as he approaches and tosses it my way. “Put it on.”
“You think I’ll fit into this?”
“It fits Milo snugly, so I’m confident,” he says.
Suddenly, he grabs my hand, and he pulls me out of the bed. “C’mon.”
“What are we doing?” I ask as I put on the outfit, which fits surprisingly well.
But he doesn’t answer as he continues rummaging in his closet.
So I go and check myself out in the mirror. It’s like a wetsuit with pants, but much softer and more flexible, with a zipper that goes to the top. Slick.
“What’s this been used for?” I ask. “I hope it isn’t what I think it is.”
“It is,” he replies.
“Ew.”
He snorts. “It’s been washed.” He’s still going through his closet until he finally finds what he’s looking for. “Perfect.”
He comes up behind me. “Close your eyes.” When he gets too close to my neck with whatever he has in his hands, I grip his wrist. He leans in to whisper, “Trust me.”
I throw him another glare through the mirror, but I still do what he says, and I release his wrist.
Something brushes past my cheeks, pressing against my forehead, as two ribbons are tied behind my head. And I can feel his breath near my ear, drawing me closer to him as he whispers, “Open your eyes.”
My eyes flutter open to a mask covering my face, a black cat mask similar to mine, but with lace and little kitty ears, gems studded all over the eyes, along with a cute crystal button for a nose, complete with whiskers and all.
My lips part, but I don’t know what to say.
His glinting green eye and pearly whites find mine in the mirror. “You said only killing makes you feel better … So let’s kill.”
A bright grin forms on my lips, rivaling his. “What a sweet, sinful proposal. I’m in.”
