I fucking want you, Vivienne! The words resounded as I placed the tray on the floor outside her room and rose. Fucking idiot. I stared at her bedroom door. Stupid, goddamn idiot. You’ve ruined—
Beep.
I grabbed my phone and looked at the message.
H: Where the fuck are you?
“Shit.”
I glanced at her door. The last thing I wanted to do was leave her right now. God knows I’d opened a door to hell and all the demons were about to come pouring out with the scent of her blood in their noses. But when the Devil himself demanded my presence, I had no choice but to obey…
For now…
But not forever.
I glanced at the food and winced. It was rushed…messy. I hadn’t had time to prepare it properly, my damn fingers still shaking as I’d pulled it all together for her and put the rest of the ingredients away. Smoked salmon, warmed potato au Gratin with a side of steamed asparagus and cracked pepper butter. There was something missing. I scowled, thinking…
Beep.
That nerve in the corner of my eye twitched. My lips curled as I lifted my phone.
H: If you don’t answer me…
“Fuck you,” I snarled and typed out a message.
On my way. Don’t do a damn thing until I get there.
Send.
I glanced back to the tray, then forced myself to leave, heading for the stairs and the garage once more. The engine of the Audi roared back to life. The garage door lifted and I drove out. I glanced back in the rear-view mirror at the empty space which Carven’s black Explorer usually occupied. The sons were out, tracking down a lead we had on King. I needed that lead to pan out, to give me something.
I needed it like my life depended on it.
Because it did.
I focused on the road, pushing everything else out of my mind. I needed to be careful, to be cold. I needed to be fucking ruthless walking in here. I sank down into that darkness…shutting everything down, until—
The dark chocolate mousse…
“Shit!” I roared, and punched the steering wheel.
I’d forgotten her fucking mousse. The one I’d made this morning especially for her, with the flecks of white chocolate through it—the one I knew she’d love. The fucking mousse…the goddamn mousse. My pulse spiked and that twitch came back with a vengeance, making the headlights of the oncoming cars flare and glint. “Goddamn idiot. What else are you going to fuck up here?”
First the damn outburst…I fucking want you! The words rang like a damn bell inside my head. I might as well have fucking fallen at her damn feet. I might as well have told her everything. But that would only drive her away, wouldn’t it? That would only ruin everything.
“Goddamn Banks…goddamn Castlemaine!”
I needed to get Jack to talk, needed to push him harder. I’d thought having Ryth’s life in my grasp might make him give me all the information I wanted about King. But it seemed I was wrong. I pushed the Audi harder, turning onto the on-ramp before heading northwest.
Maybe when Carven found Creed Banks, I might be able to use him to make Jack talk. Banks was a corrupt motherfucker, but not nearly as bad as I needed. He was more a weak fuck than anything. But weak men were easy to use. And I’d use him. I’d use them all to get what I wanted.
Even her?
Vivienne’s face filled my mind. Those brown eyes had shimmered with unshed tears, tears she’d refused to let fall until she was in the damn car. She was stubborn and strong. Not a person who’d easily bend…or break. One look at her past and you knew that. But I didn’t need to bend her, did I?
Only over the damn table with my hand between her thighs…
Jesus.
Whatever we had between us was getting out of hand. She was a mark. That’s all. Nothing more than a tool for me to use. Christ, I wanted to use her. I shifted gears, taking the hard bend in the road and accelerating now that the road had opened up.
My pulse thudded louder in my ears, drawing me back to the fact the woman was under my skin. I was the one who was supposed to be in control here, the one who had her in my control. Only, I was coming undone around her, revealing things that gave her the upper hand.
I needed to change that.
Need to undo what I’d done.
But all I could think about was her.
Her pain.
Her goddamn body.
“Shit,” I muttered as I turned onto the long, winding road and, as the towering fence of The Order came into view, I realized I was far too fucking vulnerable to survive this damn night.
I slowed the car, pulled up outside the guard hut, and pulled out my ID. But the guard barely looked at it. Instead, he nodded. “Parking is to the left, Mr. St. James.”
I tore my gaze to the building in the distance. “To the left?”
“Due to the explosion, sir.”
I gave a slow nod, hiding my surprise, and eased the car through the gate as it opened. Lights blazed bright on the front of the concrete building. This place wasn’t just a jail for the women they brought here, it was Haelstrom Hale’s own sick, fucking playground. Anything he wanted he had here. Sex trafficking. Murder. Blackmail…and most of all, breeding.
The degrading things he did here were endless…and with two Supreme Court Justices and three fucking Senators in his pocket, no one would dare look his way. Except King…and me…
High visibility yellow tape shone neon in the dark. “Jesus,” I muttered, as I nosed the car against a bank of trees instead of where I normally parked and killed the engine before climbing out. My gaze was riveted on the damage. Half of the damn wall was missing, and blown out sections of it littered the ground. No doubt that was how Jack Castlemaine had escaped. To do that kind of damage would require a squad of men.
The sheer fact they were able to get inside and past the guards that patrolled every inch of this building intrigued the hell out of me. His team was good, but mine was better.
No matter what King wanted to throw at the Hale Order to get his buddy free, I’d still beaten him. I was the one who had Jack…and his daughters.
I fought a smirk and reached into my pocket as I headed for the side door. How many fucking times had I been in this place? Too goddamn many. At first it had been because I’d wanted to, then as things changed…it was because I couldn’t escape, and as I tried to undo the damage I’d done, it became out of desperation. I pressed my card against the scanner and yanked open the door. “And here we are.”
Stark white walls and brilliant, blinding lights. I blinked, looking away for a second until my eyes adjusted to the glare. But I didn’t need to look where I was going. I knew this place like the back of my hand—because I built it, right?
Almost.
I’d almost built it.
I exhaled hard, nodding as a guard passed.
“Mr. St. James,” he murmured.
I turned, lifted my hand, and pressed the card to the scanner. The moment I stepped through the doors, I could hear the roar.
“You don’t get to think, DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR? Your job is to DO!” The savage bellow bounced against the walls. “You fucking do and you do it my way. You should’ve killed your fucking conscience when you had the chance, Riven, now get the fuck out!”
Fuck, this was going to be a goddamn minefield.
I slowed at the entrance to the large office at the end of the hall. But I didn’t have to wait long. The door jerked open and Riven strode out, his lips curled, his teeth bared. He cast a savage glare my way as he left the door open and strode past without saying a word.
Movement came from inside. I inhaled deep and buried every goddamn emotion I ever had way down deep. You don’t flinch in the face of a Great White with its jaws open wide. No, you stand your ground…and lie like a bastard.
I moved quietly, made my way inside and closed the door softly behind me. Haelstrom jerked a savage glare my way. Soulless eyes narrowed in on me before he ran his fingers through his hair. He said nothing. Just let the seething silence speak for him.
I made my way to the dark row of bookshelves that ran along the wall and leaned back against them.
“Where the fuck were you?” he snarled.
“Busy,” I muttered.
“Too busy to answer my goddamn texts?”
“Yes.”
There was a twitch at the corner of his mouth. He was riled…as riled as I’d ever seen him. You don’t poke a man like Haelstrom when he was at the edge…unless you were me. “Please don’t confuse me with your steward. I’m not Riven. My time is my own.”
He stilled. “Even when I need you?”
I kept my voice low. “Even then.” He inhaled hard, his chest rising. “But I’m here now.”
“Yes,” he answered carefully, then rounded his desk and went to the small bar at the corner of his office, pouring himself a drink before swallowing the contents in one gulp. He didn’t turn around, just spoke to the wall. “Do you know anything about this?”
Careful.
I didn’t miss a beat. “How can you ask me that? I’m your oldest ally.”
He turned around, his eyes fixed on mine. He was ruthless. A viper raised to strike. “It’s King. I know it is.” He poured again, not once offering. He never did. A man like Haelstom Hale didn’t care about you or your wants. In fact, you didn’t even exist outside his bounds. You occupied space in his world to serve his own selfish needs and nothing more.
The moment you stopped being useful to him…
Well, that’s when you stopped existing.
His fists clenched and a vein bulged in the corner of his eye. “I hate being blind when it comes to him.”
“I know.”
“Do you?” He stepped closer. “I feel like my eyes have been gouged out and I’m stumbling around fucking bleeding out all over the place. They even blew up the goddamn control room, did you know that?”
My brow rose. “No, I didn’t.”
He swung a hand through the air. “All my fucking cameras, all my goddamn hard drives. They took it all out.”
“How many were there?”
He wrenched that hostile stare my way. “I have no idea. No fucking idea. Everything was fine, then the bombs detonated. Six of my men were dead…and Castlemaine was gone.”
Six men…
Had to be at least four…four highly trained men. Were they sons? My mind went back to the fresh bullet holes in the fence of the Hale orphanage and raced, trying to fit the pieces together.
“I want that sonofabitch found, London.”
I lifted my gaze to his. “I know.”
“So why the fuck haven’t you found him?” He stepped closer, narrowing in on me. “If there is anyone who could track this bastard down, it’s you. So why the fuck haven’t you found him.”
“You know why.”
Another step…until he stood right in front of me. “Tell me again how this guy is nothing more than a ghost. Tell me how after all these fucking years we haven’t got one image, not one glimpse of what the man looks like, and yet…he can walk his fucking team into my house and destroy it, leaving not a trace of him behind—taking the one fucking man who’s ever made contact with him. Tell me…because I’m starting to doubt your loyalty.”
My stomach clenched.
“My loyalty has not wavered, not once…you forget, I was the one who set all this in motion. I was the one who told you to obtain something King wanted.”
“But you wanted no part of me taking the bastard’s sperm, did you? You wanted no part in us tearing that cryo facility apart to get it, either.”
My pulse kicked in my chest.
Hammering, just like it always did.
“No,” I answered. “I might’ve suggested you lure him out into the open with bait…but I didn’t think that bait would turn out to be—”
“Daughters.” Christ, my pulse was booming. My breaths turned shallow. Haelstrom looked down, his gaze fixed on that rapid motion. “Daughters I could use.”
But he didn’t know…he didn’t know.
Because if he did, I’d be dead.
Haelstrom turned away. “But you didn’t once waver, did you? You didn’t once betray me. You stayed strong.”
My heart was still hammering when he drained his glass and refilled it once more. “It’s the only reason you’re still here. So get me that information, London. Get me King. Get me Castlemaine…Hell, get me the Banks bastard, for all I care. Just get me someone.”
“I will,” I murmured.
Silence filled the room. It seemed the conversation was over and I was dismissed. “The contract…” I started.
“What about it?”
“Don’t you think we can do without the preliminary bullshit?”
He turned, his gaze searching mine. “You want her that much, London?”
I tried to slow my breath, but it was like slowing a locomotive that’d gone off the rails. I licked my lips. “I want what I paid for.”
He gave a soft chuff, then drank and lowered the glass. “And pay you did. Get me what I want and I’ll sign her over to you.”
I clenched my jaw, desperation howling inside. But I could see Haelstrom was done talking about this. Pushing him right now would draw the kind of attention I didn’t want. I wanted Haelstrom far away from Vivienne…and I wanted him away from me. “Fine.”
He gave a nod. I turned, jaw bulging and hate burning inside me, and headed for the door.
“Before you go, there’s a dinner I need you to attend.”
My stomach dropped and my balls clenched. “When?”
“Friday evening. I expect you at my side, ally. Ophelia will be there and she’s specifically requested your attendance.”
That nauseous feeling just grew stronger. I gave a nod, not that he needed it or cared, before I opened the door and left the room. I didn’t slow, timing my steps carefully, even though I wanted to run from the place. Before I could press my card against the scanner, the double doors flew open and Macoy Daniels strode through, looking absolutely bereft.
He flinched and jerked his gaze to mine, his eyes wide with panic. “St. James.”
“Daniels.”
He jerked that panicked stare to the hall behind me, then back. “Have you heard about Killion?”
Idiot. “I have. My deepest condolences. I know how close you were.”
There was a flinch, then a nod. “Do you know any—”
“I do not.” There was a flicker of annoyance. Pain and fear were a dangerous mix in weaker men. It made them lash out. I didn’t give him an opportunity. “If you’ll excuse me.”
He didn’t move, just stood there while I stepped around him and strode through the door. It was only when I was in my car that I allowed the terror and the fear to escape. My hands shook until I clenched them around the wheel, forcing myself to not unravel as I slowed at the gates of the compound, then turned out onto the road.
But two seconds later, that terror turned into something I could use.
Something I knew well…
Determination.
Get me King. Get me Castlemaine. Hell, get me Banks, for all I care.
I glanced at the man in the rear-view mirror, to the stony determination in his eyes…then fixed my stare on the road ahead…and drove to the storage facility. It was time to get a little more aggressive with the questioning. It was time to find King before Haelstrom did—once and for all.
