“Go.”
Ilya rattles the door off of its hinges on our way inside when we were supposed to be discreet.
The look of absolute shock on the motherfuckers’ faces when we slip into their apartment is worth it, though.
The dark-haired one, Larry, flinches from his slumber, blinks slowly, and then looks down at his barely covered junk.
His friend with curly hair, Donovan, wakes up next from his sleeping position on the floor.
There’s no sign of Steven.
Ilya nods at me and flings open the other doors in search of him.
“What the fuck?” Donovan says in a craggy voice. It’s early morning, and while this operation was supposed to happen late last night, I kind of couldn’t leave when Cecily fell asleep in my arms.
And I may have spent hours watching her sleep like the creep she labeled me as.
It wasn’t until Ilya texted me, reminding me that these fuckers have classes this morning and asking if we should reschedule for tonight, that I finally left her side.
The fact that I actually struggled to peel her warmth off me and leave is bothersome and downright annoying.
Ilya hauls Steven up with a grip on his collar. The bastard is sporting a purple bruise from when he was acquainted with my fist last night, and he looks like a grotesque version of himself.
My guard shoves him between his friends and makes the three of them kneel in front of the sofa while they fruitlessly struggle and release some juvenile what the fucks.
“My father is powerful,” says Donovan, licking his lips and sweating profusely.
“What a coincidence.” I tilt my head to the side. “So is mine, but you don’t see me using his name or influence.”
Larry stares at Ilya, who’s nothing short of a wall behind him, then blurts, “Can we talk about this?”
“That’s what I had in mind.” I make a show of removing my jacket and laying it on a nearby chair before going back to stand in front of them. “You had a mission last night that entailed approaching Ava and Cecily, separating them, and cornering Cecily. I want to know all about that mission—the why, how, and who.”
Steven snarls, “Fuck you.”
I drive my fist into the good side of his face until blood explodes all over his features, splattering them with red, and then casually step back. “That wasn’t an answer. We’ll try again. Who put you up to it?”
“Listen, man.” Donovan trembles at the sight of his friend. “We really meant no harm.”
I punch him, harder than I did his friend, and he wails like a kicked puppy, grabbing his face and cursing.
My attention slides to Larry. “Will you tell me what I need to know, or should you meet your fate first?”
Steven tries to stand up, but Ilya shoves him back down and kicks Donovan, who comes to his aid.
Larry watches his useless friends and then studies my fist. “Fuck this.”
“No,” Steven shouts and wiggles under my guard’s clutches. “Don’t tell this motherfucker—”
His words end on an oomph when Ilya kicks him in the gut.
“It’s not worth it,” Larry says, then stares at me. “We were told by some guy at the club that if we did something for him, we’d get free drugs.”
My finger slides back and forth on my thigh. A guy at the club?
Jonah is in fucking London. What would he be doing at the club? Unless he dropped by for a visit?
But that’s not right either, considering I tagged him and I know precisely where that motherfucker is at all times.
Note to self: check with my guy on Jonah’s whereabouts last night.
I retrieve my phone, scroll to the pictures of the scum and show it to the three of them. “Is this him?”
“No,” Larry and Donovan say in unison.
I don’t even need to wait for Steven’s answer. No flash of recognition shone in their eyes when they saw the picture.
Unless they’re highly trained killers or psychopaths who are excellent at disguising their emotions, it’s impossible to hide that.
“What did he tell you to do?” I ask with a calm I don’t feel.
Larry swallows twice, then licks his lips three times before he speaks. “He pointed at two girls at the bar and told us to separate them. He didn’t care what we did to the blonde, but we had to make the silver-haired one uncomfortable. He told us to start respectively, though, or she would bolt, and if she bolted, we couldn’t have the good stuff. After we gained her trust us, we could grope her or do whatever we pleased.”
Blood boils in my veins, and destructive energy bubbles inside me with the need to purge.
“Whatever you pleased,” I repeat with a voice hanging on edge.
“We weren’t planning to do anything,” Donovan blurts. “I swear.”
My gaze strays to Steven. “How about you, motherfucker? Did you have any ideas after you got the ‘whatever you please’ green light?”
“No,” he says in a complete bullshitting tone.
“I think you’re lying. I think you planned to get under her skin and have free access to her. He told you that sentence, didn’t he? You’re too beautiful to be hidden away. Probably said you should use that to fuck with her head and make her pliant. But here’s the thing.” I grab him by the collar, hauling him to his feet. “That girl you touched belongs to me, and do you know what I do to people who look at, let alone hurt, what’s mine? I make them wish for death.”
Steven’s eyes shine with unbounded fear for the first time since we broke into their apartment.
He knows he fucked up and messed with the wrong person. The one person’s path he should never have crossed.
If they’d only made the mistake of approaching her in the club, a punch and a blacklisting from the club would be enough. Not really, but I would’ve forced myself to stop at that.
But these three fuckers had the nerve to hurt her emotionally and bring back memories she’s been trying so hard to get over.
“Here’s how it will go. I’ll punish you for daring to come near Cecily and having the audacity to touch her, and I will make sure it hurts. I’ll also leave a scar so you’ll remember me. Then you’ll remove yourselves from her life. If I spot you within a ten-mile radius of her, I will fucking kill you and dump you so deep in the sea, no one will find your corpse.”
Then I singlehandedly beat the fuck out of the three of them, but Steven is different. Steven also gets to be waterboarded to within an inch of his life while he bleeds all over the apartment and shits himself.
Steven will remain on my radar long after he’s healthy, so I’ll beat the fuck out of him all over again. He’ll live in fear, looking over his shoulder, under his bed, and in the closet, searching for the devil from his scariest nightmares.
It takes longer than I’d initially planned for us to leave their place. Partly because I enjoyed bloodying them the fuck up a bit too much.
Unlike what rumors imply, I don’t get off on violence, and I don’t go out of my way to pursue it.
Violence is just one of many purging methods that can be replaced by more peaceful ones, such as a bike ride.
Or a ruthless fuck with Cecily.
But I sure as hell got off on it when I punished those lowlifes and left them bleeding on their apartment floor.
However, it feels like too little compared to what they dared to do to Cecily—or worse, what they planned.
Something still sits wrong with me, though. The fact that Jonah wasn’t the one who put them up to it.
But that doesn’t make sense. Jonah is the only one who knows about his courting ways with Cecily.
Unless the slimy fuck put on a disguise. The three losers were probably drunk or high, and the club was dark, so they could’ve mistaken some details.
As Ilya pulls the car out and drives down the road, I fetch my phone and ask for security footage from the club last night.
The reply is almost immediate.
I scroll to the time the three fuckers went into the club, jumping around like monkeys on crack. Soon after, they slip into a corner near the bathroom. The only hint of their companion is a glimpse of his black shirt.
That must be the guy who promised them drugs. I watch more and more of the footage, but there’s no sign of him near them, not even at the bar, where he would be watching his handiwork from.
It’s impossible to locate him in a busy club when all I have is that he was wearing a black shirt.
Could it be Jonah? I’m about to call my guy back in London, but I get distracted by a text.
Cecily: Morning. Thanks for these *sparkling heart emoji*
I spend a full minute of intense staring at the sparkling heart but still can’t find an explanation for it. One thing’s for sure, I like it, and it caught me completely by fucking surprise since it’s the first time she’s sent one.
Then I notice that she attached a picture of a box of waffles I had delivered to her apartment earlier.
Cecily: How did you know I love waffles?
It’s in her stupid journal. I think they’re her comfort food whenever she wants to feel better. I thought she might need a pick-me-up after last night.
While she didn’t have any sleep paralysis, she shivered while she slept in my arms and tears clung to her lids. That’s part of the reason why I couldn’t bring myself to leave until she fell into quality sleep.
Jeremy: I know everything about you.
I’m about to tuck away my phone, expecting her to be too busy preparing for school, but her reply comes immediately.
Cecily: Is that how you managed to find me at the club? You had Ilya watch me, didn’t you? Wait a minute. Was Ilya doing the job for you all those weeks when you disappeared?
This little fox is too smart for her own good.
Jeremy: He was there in case you needed protection.
Cecily: More like, he was a pseudo-stalker. Seriously, the one I need protection from the most is you.
Jeremy: Too bad no one can protect you from me.
Cecily: Don’t be so sure. I can stand up for myself.
I’m beginning to see that, considering everything she’s demanded and how she put her foot down last night, and I’m not sure if I like that side of her.
Fuck it. I do. Just not when she’s using it to get away from me.
Jeremy: You can stand up to me all you like, but there are nonnegotiable things, such as your safety.
Cecily: Oh, please. You have a tyrant’s mentality and think everything is nonnegotiable. But don’t even think I’ll sit there and take it. That’s simply not going to happen. Anyway, thanks for the waffles. Ava and I will enjoy them.
Jeremy: I sent them to you, not Ava.
Cecily: Sharing is caring.
Jeremy: I don’t share. Everything about you is mine.
Besides, I don’t like the way Ava was all over her when they danced at the club. Or how Cecily takes care of her with nauseating affection. Something she doesn’t even do with me.
I’m so tempted to eliminate Ava completely, but that might make me lose Cecily for good.
So I shove that thought to the back of my mind.
For now.
Cecily: Are you seriously jealous of my best friend? Who’s also a girl?
Jeremy: You give her too much of your attention.
Cecily: Okay, Mr. Caveman. Have a nice day, and please try not to hurt anyone *sparkling heart emoji*
I keep staring at that emoji longer than I did the first one.
“Is something wrong?” Ilya asks from his position behind the steering wheel.
“What does a sparkling heart emoji mean?”
Ilya stares at me for a beat, looking stunned for the first time ever, before he focuses back on the road. “Uh, don’t all the heart emojis mean love and affection?”
“But it has sparkles around it. They should mean something else.”
“I’m not sure.”
I’m not sure why I’m focusing on this either. I’m used to Annika sending a newspaper of emojis stickers and GIFs in her texts. And they’re often filled with all sorts of hearts, primarily purple and white ones.
But Cecily rarely talks in emojis. She’s too straightforward for that.
Still, I want to know exactly what she meant by sending it.
“Boss.”
“Hmm?” I answer Ilya absentmindedly, still staring at her text.
“What are your plans regarding Miss Volkov and the guy she’s seeing?”
I turn off my phone’s screen at the reminder of my sister and her unwanted crush.
I’ve let it slide all this time to give her more freedom, but it has recently come to my attention that Creighton King, the guy Annika has chosen to like, is plotting something with Landon.
And while I didn’t give a fuck at the beginning that they’re cousins, mainly because Creighton stays out of anything related to the Elites, Nikolai found out that’s not the case lately.
It’ll be a cold day in hell before I allow that rotten family, especially Landon, to get close to my sister.
So I have to stop it before it’s too late.
Even if I have to hurt her in the process.
