Page 16 of Eternally Bound

Groaning inwardly, I wondered how much she heard. It would be hard to discount this whole shenanigan and what Callen had done. Not that I thought he deserved to be given any slack, but he’d deal withmyrage; we didn’t need to involve the entire McLaren clan into this shitty ordeal.

“I heard every word,” she commented, answering my unasked question. “Ainslee, I think it is time you admit that man is not for you.”

Yeah, no shit.My taste in men was disastrous. My first love was part of the London mafia and my son’s father was a gambler. I’d hate to wonder what my next pick would be.

It was time I admit to myself - men were just not for me. I should avoid dating - and men - for the rest of my life. The only man in my life would be my son. I would ensure my boy grew up into a good man, and then I’d spend my old age reading smut. Just like Mum. It sounded like a pretty good plan to me.

“You are right,” I conceded to my mother. “I hoped to find what you and Dad had, but it is clear it is not in my cards.”

Even worse, now I had to deal with the repercussions of Callen’s actions. Clearly he got wrapped up with some bad men. And I had an upcoming performance in London. In the same city where Callen got wrapped up with some damn criminals.

What if they decided to come here?I thought with dread. Shit, what should I do? Would those men come after us, or would they mainly focus on Callen? At this moment, I was so furious with Callen that I couldn’t worry about him. Bram and Mum were my priority.

I could reach out to Lachlan and ask if Mum, Bram, and I could stay at the castle for a bit, but it would require explaining what happened, and I wasn’t ready for that humiliation. Besides, he and Eve were working things out and needed time alone.

“Ainslee-” The sorrowful look on my mother’s face just broke my heart. “You’ll get what your father and I had. Don’t give up hope. I know-”

“I have Bram,” I cut her off before she could get teary eyed. “No regrets but no more dating for me either.” The look she gave me told me she didn’t believe me.

The hope she spoke of might have dissolved into nothing long ago. Maybe it was that day in London when I sought out Daniel. None of that mattered right now. Keeping Mum and Bram safe and out of Callen’s mess was what mattered. We’d get through this, together.

Chapter Five

Daniel

My life has been a list of cruel and twisted things I have done. There was no excuse good enough to justify all those things. I was eleven when I first killed. My father’s enemies came to our door when my mother and I were home alone. She was so damn high; I don’t think she realized what was happening till it was too late.

I couldn’t save her. There were four of them and one of me. I fought tooth and nail, kicking, punching, but barely making a dent in them. Till one of them backhanded me so hard, I blacked out. I woke up to them taking turns raping my mother. I crawled to the table where I knew my father kept his gun. Then I shot them. One by one.

My mother bled out in my arms, as I held her close to me. Her saving grace ended up being that she was so high, none of what happened registered in her brain. Her body suffered, but her mind was in her own world. Until she slipped into the afterlife. Or wherever humans went when they died.

I could have blamed my family, my uncle, my cousin, cursed destiny, but in the end, I had to admit that I have done plenty of bad things even without their pressure. I never wanted to experience that pain of seeing a loved one die in my arms again. It was there and then that I decided to become stronger. Physically and mentally. Joining the military gave me discipline and heightened my killer instincts. Yet, I had to admit there were a few times I used my skills, learned under my uncle, in war. There was a very thin line between right and wrong.

The desert sun burned the nape of my neck; the sweat trickled down my back. We had been torturing the prisoner over the last two hours for information. It went nowhere. They captured our friend and the more time passed, the less likely we were to find him alive.

I was pissed off from sweating my balls off in this dessert and being right back at the same spot. Torture and kill to find the answers. Talk about the fucking irony of life. At least now I was doing it for a noble cause - to save a friend’s life. He was ambushed during his R&R time. Jumped on his way back from vacation.

Maxim, I and a handful of others took it upon ourselves to start a rescue mission. If we get caught, more than likely, we’d get court martialed. But leaving him at their mercy wasn’t an option.

Maxim landed another punch to the man tied to the pole. His face was marred by black and blue bruises and blood stains. Spit flew out of his mouth followed by a few curses in his local language. I hadn’t learned Farsi with the exception of the curses. Cursing, I mastered perfectly.

I could sense Maxim’s frustration. He hated this shit. We just wanted our friend back and to be on our merry way. We were tired, thirsty, and hungry. It was so hot; it was almost impossible to breathe despite the dry desert heat. Our sole mission and focus were to retrieve our friend and get the hell out of here.

“Let me give it a go,” I gritted out. I had a lot more experience with torture than these men. I certainly wasn’t proud of it, but if it would save our friend, I was all for it.

I pulled out a knife and flipped it through the air, catching it effortlessly blade out. Maxim stepped aside, and I took the front row.

“Let’s see if you understand English,” I rasped. “I’ll bet a million dollars that you do.” I stepped even closer to him, the metallic smell of blood, sweat, and sand creeping into my lungs. “I will be fair and let you know how I’ll do this. So you know what to expect.” I pressed the tip of the blade against his collar bone. “I will slice your skin from your neck to your stomach. But you won’t die.” I pressed hard into his bone, cutting through the skin and pushed the blade two inches south. A piercing scream filled the air, but I only paused for a second. “Then I’ll cut all the way down your chest and your gut. I don’t want to kill you, but trust me,” my voice was cold and the old me that served my uncle’s twisted way resurfaced, “-you will beg me to kill you.”

I sliced down slowly, so he could feel all the pain, each sting and every burn as the knife moved down his skin, cutting through his flesh and veins.

“Stop,” he begged in a scream. “They took him into the mountains. Please stop.”

I straightened up, cleaning out my knife against his pants. “You will show us.”

“I can’t,” he rasped. “If I take you there, they’ll kill me.”

“If you don’t take us there, we’ll kill you.” I met Maxim’s eyes, and with a quick nod, we knew how we’d play this. “Take us there, and we’ll kill them all. There won’t be anyone left to kill you. And we will let you live. Which is more than you’ll get from your associates.”

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