“Get the fuck off me!” I drove backwards, charging for the double doors as they closed behind me.
My arms ached and throbbed from when my hands were cuffed behind me. But they were free now, and I’d fight. Through the glass panel in the door, I’d watched as Ryth was driven out of my view. The image of that had torn free something savage inside me. I spun, lashed out, and drove my fist into a guard’s face. His head snapped back and blood spurted from his nose. I didn’t stop, just charged forward, reaching for the ID card at his waist.
Until they tackled me from behind. They swept my feet out from under me and slammed me down to the floor. Something inside my mouth cracked, and pain followed.
“Get him inside.”
I lifted my gaze to the Priest as he stood over me and grinned. His face was badly bruised, one eye blood-filled and weeping. I’d hurt him bad…I guess this was payback.
“Fuck you,” I spat as they hauled me to my feet. I didn’t help them, letting them grunt with my weight. “Give her back to me, or the next time, I won’t leave you alive.”
The Priest stepped closer, pinning me with that bloody stare. “What makes you think there’ll be a next time?”
Fear moved through me, cold and heavy in my gut. But I didn’t let the bastard see the truth. I just held that focus, making sure he felt every fucking word. “You kill me, and they’ll still come for her. You won’t be able to fight them all…one of them will find you. They’ll find you and they’ll kill you. My bet is it’ll be Tobias. It won’t matter then, not any threat or any promise you can make.”
The Priest just smiled. It was a knowing smile…
A chilling smile.
My own gaze faltered as he turned to the guard at my side. “Get him in the room.”
They wrenched me backwards. But I couldn’t get that gleam from my mind…that smirk which carved all the way to my soul, and my little brother’s face rose swiftly. Tobias…
My steps were slow as they shoved me into the room. No…
I stopped inside the doorway and turned, meeting that bastard’s gaze once more. “No. No…”
“No?”
“I don’t believe you.” I held his stare, searching the bloody eyeball for the truth. T wasn’t dead…he couldn’t be. He couldn’t be.
“Get him on his knees,” the Priest commanded, not once breaking our stare.
The guard shoved me backwards and I stumbled, throwing out my hand. The face of my baby brother burned in the darkness. I refused to give in to grief. Nick was still out there. Still fighting, still trying to save her. He’d need to now—more than ever before.
The guard came for me again, kicking the back of my knees and shoving down my shoulders. I folded, hitting the floor hard.
“You got the drop on me before,” the Priest said as he reached for the guard’s gun and drew it from his waist. “But you won’t get that chance again.”
My pulse was strangely steady, nothing more than an occasional skip as the door opened behind him and The Principal stepped inside. I saw the resemblance now, saw the same empty stare as he stood next to his brother. The same hardness…the same coldness.
They were just like Tobias.
“Mr. Banks,” The Principal murmured. “I’m sure you realize this is the end of our relationship. I’m afraid we cannot allow any more issues…where Ryth is concerned.”
That skipping in my chest kicked at the sound of her name.
“Don’t worry,” the bastard continued. “Killion will take excellent care of her indeed.”
“No,” I whispered as an icy blade of fear plunged all the way to my soul. “No.”
The Principal took a step closer. “I’m afraid the contract’s already been signed…and right about now, Killion is taking possession. You’ve caused a lot of problems for the Order, Mr. Banks…you and your brothers.”
“Fuck you,” I hissed.
He just smiled, looking down at me, and for a second, that smile faltered. There was sadness as he breathed, “You were never meant to fall for her.”
I sucked in a harsh breath as those words hit home.
You were never meant to fall for her.
He gave a slow nod, and the Priest lifted the gun, the muzzle pressed point-blank at my temple…
Until the sharp ringtone of a phone cut through the air. I stared at The Principal as he looked down at the screen and scowled. He lifted a finger to the Priest, swiped the screen, then answered. “Yes?”
I caught the faint sound of a voice on the other end. He straightened and paled. “I see.” He forced the words through clenched teeth. “I won’t be intimidat—” he started, and stopped before snarling, “Fine.”
He lowered his hand and pressed a button. “You’re on speaker.”
“Caleb?”
A stranger’s voice came through. I didn’t know who it was, but I answered anyway. “Yes.”
“Have they hurt you, son?”
The calm, careful voice on the other end was etched with compassion. I tried to pull back from that chasm where I’d been prepared for the end and answered. “No.”
“And my daughter, have they hurt her?”
My pulse kicked…raced. “Jack?” I murmured. “Jack Castlemaine?”
“Yes. Have they…hurt my daughter?”
My pulse raced harder with the words. The Principal tensed his shoulders as I met his stare and answered. “Not that I know of.”
“Good.” That was all he said, but then his tone grew colder. “You’re going to be okay. Both of you will be okay,” he said, comforting me, before all trace of warmth left his voice. “He is not to be harmed, do you hear me, Riven? You harm a fucking hair on my daughter’s head, or any of the Banks boys, and there will be hell to pay. I’ll unleash a war, the kind you’ll never survive. You think you have problems now, I’ll have the FBI, the cops, and the DA on your doorstep by morning. They’ll tear you apart, well before Mr. King can get to you.”
The Principal stiffened at the name.
Mr. King…
“So you can either follow my demands or die screaming alongside your brothers and that piece of shit, Hale.”
“That’s a serious threat, Castlemaine,” The Principal muttered. But I could see he was scared. Really fucking scared. Whatever Jack Castlemaine had on the Order, it was enough to give him power over them…that was all I needed to know.
“Would you like to test me?”
The careful words carried all the weight of the world. There was a twitch in the corner of his eye before he spoke once more. “Your terms?”
“Let them go.”
The Principal’s lips curled with fury. “You know that’s never going to happen.”
“Then let Caleb go to her. My daughter is not to be sold or trained in any way. Do I make myself clear?”
There was that twitch again, one that told me Castlemaine had hit a nerve. I clawed for hope, desperate for anything as long as it kept Ryth safe.
“You will allow Caleb to stay with her. They are both not to be harmed. Believe me, if they are so much as threatened, I will call the hundreds of contacts I’ve gathered and I’ll send them enough information to bury Hale and expose every vile piece of shit that ever bought or sold a woman through the Order. I’ll expose you utterly.”
The Principal’s grip tightened around the phone.
“I’ll be calling this number at this exact time every day. I expect to speak to them, both of them. The moment the call isn’t answered, I’ll hit send. The moment I even suspect the voice on your end isn’t my daughter or Caleb, I’ll hit send. I will hit send the moment you come for me. And then we’ll see just how much heat your employer can withstand.” Castlemaine was quiet for a second before he spoke again. “Give my daughter a hug for me, Caleb. Tell her I never left her…tell her no matter what, that she is the most important thing in my life. I love her more than I ever told her. Stay safe, son…and protect her.”
Then in a heartbeat…the call went quiet…and the screen on the phone went dark.
Jack Castlemaine…
He was alive.
More than that, he could save us…he could save her.
“Riven,” the Priest murmured.
The man Jack had called Riven jerked his gaze toward his brother. “You fucking heard him. Do you really want to test him?”
“We don’t know exactly what information he has.” His brother stared at me with bloodlust in his eyes.
“Precisely,” Riven answered, then glanced at the guard. “Take him to her. Make sure they’re locked in, and for Christ’s sake, don’t let anything happen to them.”
The guard gave a nod, and the bastard limped a little as he came for me. I stared at the Priest as they hauled me to my feet once more. My legs shook and my mind screamed. I had been prepared for the end…prepared to meet my maker and finally atone for what I’d done.
Now I had hope…
The guard dragged me toward the door. I stopped and turned. “My brothers.”
The Principal clenched his jaw. He turned his head and met my gaze. “You will be taken to her. Consider that a win.”
The guard shoved me forward, out the door, and back into the hallway I never thought I’d see again. There was no fighting this time. Instead, I lengthened my stride, almost running to the doors. “Ryth!” I screamed her name. “RYTH!”
The seconds were like hours as I pushed through the doors. I scanned the hallway, frantically searching for a sign, and heard a whimper…one that came from inside a door up ahead. I lunged forward, my will moving faster than my body.
Through the glass panel on the door, I saw Killion as he hovered over her. She was backed against the wall…naked. “The fuck!” I screamed and slammed through the door.
I was across the room before I knew it, swinging my fist at his closest guard before I went for him. The glint of a gun shone in the corner of my eye before the guard behind me roared, “NO!” He flew into the room, sucking in huge breaths as he lifted his hand. “He’s not to be harmed…by order of The Principal.”
I grabbed Killion and yanked him away from her. He was still clothed, still hadn’t…I swung again and connected with the bastard’s jaw. He stumbled back, stunned. I couldn’t stop myself. Rage and desperation collided, and under it was a kind of grief that knew me all too well.
I dove forward and lashed out again. My fist connected with Killion’s nose. Blood sprayed, causing him to unleash a howl of agony and clutch his face. I wanted to kill him…I needed to kill him.
“No,” The Principal’s guard stepped out from behind me and got between us. “No, you’ve done enough.”
My knuckles throbbed, the ache so fucking familiar.
“You’re here.” The guard glanced at Ryth. “And so is she. That’s all the allowance you get, understand?”
“Caleb,” Ryth called my name. I sucked in a breath and looked at her, then turned back to Killion. “You will never touch her again. Do you understand me?”
Killion just clutched his nose as blood dribbled between his fingers. His threatening stare was pinned on me before he fixed on the Order’s guard. “He’s supposed to be dead!”
The guard shook his head. “By order of The Principal.”
“Fuck The Principal!” Killion bellowed as he lifted his finger and stabbed the air toward Ryth. “I paid good money for that cunt!”
I took a step and moved in front of Ryth. Only then did I see the clothing she held against her. Red…red…I took a step and snatched the negligee from her hands, then turned and threw it in his face. “Then I guess you’re shit out of luck, aren’t you?”
I’d never really felt violent before, not the true emotion that changed a person, that turned someone proud of the law into a murderer.
Until this moment.
I was going to kill Killion. I knew that in my soul.
Maybe not right now, but it was going to happen.
As soon as I got us out of this place…and mourned the death of my brother.
You were never meant to fall for her.
The Principal’s words stayed with me as I yanked the buttons on my shirt and tore it from my body, shielding her as best I could. “Look at me, Ryth,” I pleaded. Her shoulders were curled forward and she held onto her stomach as though she was in pain.
But I knew it was shock…I also knew this was just the beginning, and the worst was yet to come. I took another step and wrapped my arms around her. “Hold on to me, princess,” I whispered, and pulled her tight against me. “Hold on…”
Tobias.
My brother’s face drifted in the darkness of my mind. I didn’t know how I was going to tell her.
I didn’t know if I even could.
She wrapped her arms around me, her body shaking so hard her teeth chattered.
Whatever it takes. Nick’s words surfaced. I felt them now, clearer than ever before. “I will, brother,” I whispered into her hair. “I will.”
