Page 79 of Fixation of the Mind

“Yes, Rin. Yes. This is what I’ve been," he shook his head, "what we’ve been waiting for.” His eyes closed, letting go of the gun with his palms up as if he were surrendering to me.

Ravi pulled the gun to his head next, licking his lip as his eyes flamed with a wild excitement. “We’ve always wanted this from you. This passion, this need, this overwhelming possession.”

Roux pulled the gun to his head, my eyes growing wide at his full smiling face, like a kid on his birthday. “If taking our lives is what you want, then they're yours. We’ll pay any price you deem acceptable. We’re just too happy that you feel so strongly for us, you finally understand how we’ve felt for you all this time.”

Backing up a step, I lowered the gun inch by inch. A shiny bright thought broke through the dark abyss in my mind. I don't want to hurt them, not like this. Three sets of eyes were shining in my direction, filled with an insatiable lust and hunger. Their gazes glowed with a crazy sort of haze that spoke of years of obsession coming to the forefront, and I liked it. No, I loved it, craved this all-consuming attention.

The gun slipped from my fingers, dropping to my knees, I stared at them as I realized what I'd been about to do. Shame and horror took over as I lifted my shaky hands, covering my face to hide my shame. I sobbed over and over. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Punish me. Break me. Do whatever, but please, please don’t leave me. Please. I can’t go back to being alone in this world.”

Three sets of hands were on me in an instant. Their soft voices telling me it's okay. They would never leave me. They trusted me with their lives. Over and over, they told me what I needed to hear until my mind was clear of the darkness, reminding me that they would follow me into the depths of hell and beyond.

When I finally felt a little more like myself again, I looked at Neil’s prone form then back to the guys. “I’m so sorry I took that from you. I know you wanted him to suffer so much more.”

Rion looked down, giving me the truth. “Yes, we did want him to suffer much worse, but the benefit of seeing you in all your glory was well worth it. Our woman took down our greatest enemy for us. That sounds like a perfect ending to me.”

Ravi hung onto my arm, cuddling into me as he breathed, “Fuck him. We have Rin.”

Roux kept running his fingers through my hair, the calm, steady strokes keeping me level. “Let's get out of here.”

Rion and Ravi nodded at his words, helping me up since I refused to be carried. Rion’s phone rang, and he put it on speaker as his eyes connected with mine. “Did you see all that? Is that, partnered with the evidence I collected connecting him to my parents’ murders, enough?”

Maria laughed. It was a low, cruel sound, one that spoke of supressed retribution. “Yes. It's enough to have him stripped from the Ambros family. If Layrin hadn't killed him, we would’ve.”

My brows furrowed. How did she know? Rion pointed at one of the buttons on his jacket, and I stepped closer to see it wasn’t a button, but a tiny camera.

“Yes, Layrin. I and several others of the council have watched the live feed Ambros sent us. It has been very informative.” Her stern voice made it sound like she wasn’t happy.

Cin’s voice broke through the speaker. “Girl! You didn’t tell me you were fucking triplets! Also, I wouldn’t be your bestie if I didn't tell you that this relationship of yours is toxic as fuck… but I’m here for it, girl! Get it! Get all that dick!”

Not a second later, I heard Maria. “Cinzia! Give that phone back!” She blew out a breath before putting back on her head council voice. “In light of the situation, we will be calling an immediate council meeting. We expect you four to be there in thirty minutes.” She clicked off the line, and I looked at the boys, realizing that in order for them to get all of that on their uncle, they’d had to show the council that there was more than one R. Ambros.

Oh fuck.

My eyes shifted around, my mind furiously thinking of ways to get out of this, when Rion put his hand on my shoulder. “We have a plan. It's okay.” Looking up at him and his smiling face, I nodded, trusting them explicitly. I grabbed his hand and squeezing to let him know he had my support. Rion pulled out the mini camera from his shirt, tapping the screen on his phone before slipping it into his pants.

Making our way to the door, all of us lost in thought, we heard a soft moan coming from behind us. We slowly turned around to stare at Neil’s prone form. His finger twitched and we all burst into action, jetting over to his body as fast as we could. The guys grabbed him, turned him over, and we all saw his chest rise and fall. The side of his head covered in blood, Rion bending down to examine him. Apparently, while I had hit his head, the wound was only a small nick on the side.

Rion looked up at me, his eyes changing from green to blue to brown within seconds. Happiness danced along his face as he said, “I think we can keep him alive.”

Ravi smiled down at Neil, clapping with glee. “And we have the perfect basement to stash him in!”

Not taking a second to gloat, Roux grabbed the rope on the floor and tied him up. Grinning down at him, “We can drop him off at the house before heading to Foedus.”

Their happiness was infectious, laughter bubbled out of me as the boys hurried to put him in the trunk, then Ravi and Roux helped me get into the car since my stomach and head still hurt. They vowed the whole way to the meeting that they would make him pay for everything he did to me.

It was nice to hear, but my mind was focused on the problem ahead with Foedus. It was too early to celebrate when the day wasn’t over yet.

Chapter 26

When she left this morning, I panicked. The instant I opened my eyes, I knew something was wrong. I stumbled out of her bed and ran all around the house, throwing doors open and knocking things over even though I knew in my soul she wasn't in the house.

Once I woke up my brothers, the panic only got worse. Now that she was out of the woods with the test, with Foedus, did she want to leave? Did she decide to leave us and be with the Ricci's? Did she go to Maria asking for her inheritance?

If she’d done that, she wouldn’t need us anymore. Rion had looked it up and found that the Rose family not only had a few houses around the country, but some mansion not too far away. What if she ran to one of those thinking she could finally escape us?

So, when we finally got ahold of her, and she laughed, saying she just wanted to do something nice, something special, just for us, my brain short circuited. It didn't compute. She wanted to take care of us? I didn’t remember anyone ever taking care of us besides her, and it had been so long since we’d let her have the opportunity. The last time she did that was when she came into the woods and beat up those boys on our behalf.

And this woman wondered why we were so obsessed with her, why we could never let her go.

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