Page 34 of To Have and to Hold

“No, I damn well won’t.” He shook his head, looking at me like I was an idiot, playing with his knife like it was a toy. “She’s getting what she deserves with that shit between her legs. She’s fucking failing the one damn job she has! She… she's supposed to be solidifying our place, tying us to the heir of this damned organization, but she can't even do that right.” His voice raised, and the anger I felt showed in his eyes, too. There was no winning him over. “She’s a fucking whore, Theo! Everyone in that house has splattered her with their cum. I’ve seen her lying on the floor fucking coated in it!”

He didn’t mean to say those things. I could see it behind his eyes, the way they widened. The way he tried to pull them back with a splutter.

“You’ve seen her like that?” I asked, my words careful. “Explain to me… what you’ve done.”

Charlie’s blanched face morphed into evil, something shuttered over his gaze, his mouth quirked up, and he'd never looked more like our father. He was playing with fire. “I used her like Rafe told me to. And she fucking took it.”

Black. All I saw was black. I didn’t want or need any more information than that. Just the darkness enveloping my soul. I pulled the gun from the pocket in my jacket and pointed it at him, resigned. “Are you going to save her?” I asked, knowing his answer. “Or shall I just kill you? Bump myself up to heir and sort this mess out myself?”

He froze as I stepped into his space, his ass landing on the desk, blocking my view of Violet in her second hour of presenting herself to Rafe’s minions. I spoke low and dirty, pushing the metal of the gun against his disgusting body. Vicious thoughts rumbled through me, and my cock began to harden at the pleasure of what I was about to do. Fuck, I was going to do it. “Maybe then I can sweep her away to safety. Maybe then I can fuck her again.” I shoved the gun harder into his flesh, enjoying the way his skin rose around it, welcoming it in. “You aren’t the first brother, but you’re the only one that’s a repulsive pig.”

Charlie’s eyes widened, fear and surprise warring, and I pulled the trigger. It clicked, the safety on, and he whimpered. He fuckingwhimpered. Dropped the knife, too. I didn’t move my gaze from him as I scooped it up and pocketed it. He was such a pathetic piece of shit. It was astonishing he hadn’t wet himself.

“I never took you for such a fucking wimp,” I told him, gave him a beat to see the obvious intent behind my eyes. Then, in one fell swoop, I switched the safety off and shot him between his eyes. Blood spurted, pouring from the small wound in thick, dark rivulets as I stepped away, feeling nothing. Empty of any pain for the loss of my big brother. For another death at my hands. Only this one I wasn't paid for, wasn't my father's command. This was all me. All vengeance and hatred.

He slumped down, his face forever frozen in that look of betrayal, of shock, as piss and shit and blood leaked from his dying body. I almost felt bad, but then I glanced back up at the now blood-splattered screen, showing our sister still in misery, in humiliation, and satisfaction swallowed that threatening anguish up. One fucker down.

We were alone in this house, so I had time to figure out my next move. An assassination. Something. I needed to think. Connor would be pissed, but he was my best help here. I debated calling Christian for more assistance, but he would be fast asleepby now and hours away. No, Connor was my best chance here. He and whoever the fuck he controlled, they would help me clear it up. I would be there in. They would get Violet out now and use me instead.

“Hello?” Connor said on the fourth ring, pissed I was calling at all. We had to keep things as distant as we could, and I’d used the emergency number, only meant for him to contact me. Otherwise, it was family business only on our main phones.

“I just killed Charlie,” I admitted, no preamble. I heard frantic shuffling, Connor swearing and moving, muttering something to someone.

“Say that again,” he said at last after a moment of me watching the finality of life seep out of Charlie, flooding the carpet red. I stepped back to avoid the growing pool of blood and bodily fluids seeping toward my shoes, grimacing at the state of my floor.

“Charlie’s dead.”

“Shit, Theo,” he sighed. “Give me a few hours. Don’t do a single thing.”

He hung up, leaving me to guess what his next move would be. I trusted him, though. We both had too much power over the other to do anything stupid. One false step and mutual destruction would occur.

I didn’t want to move Charlie, so I did the only thing I could while I waited. I leaned against the wall and stared at my sister on the small screen, willing her to feel some of my strength. This was almost over. It fucking had to be.

Chapter 19

Violet

Mybodywasnumbeverywhere it didn’t count, my knees raw from the carpet beneath them, stretched muscles straining and stinging, but the rest of me had long ago lost feeling. I’d atrophied in this position, stuck forever with my rear in the air and my head on the ground, waiting for instruction. Ignoring the movements of the house going on around me.

Rafe was arranging a party, I think, from the snippets of chatter I overheard as I remained there in the busy hallway as busy people bustled about. There was talk of caterers, decorations, guest lists and gifts, and no one helped me. They walked past me, some not even stuttering in their conversation when they spotted my body, prone, exposed. How many other women had he put in this position? Had all his previous wives endured it? Were we all punished in the same way? Humiliated, a gaudy, hideous decoration for his staff to gawk at or ignore?

All I was had time to think, to ponder everything. It was the only way to not sink into genuine despair. Let my mind drift to the good memories I held close to my chest, to skipping in the sun with Theo when our parents went away and our nannies had more freedom. Or sneaking into the kitchen for ice cream in the middle of the night, shoving spoonfuls into my mouth before chickening out and running back to my bedroom, my little feet pattering on the cold floor. I just existed in the past as best I could.

The sun had set, then returned to the sky again, before someone stopped next to me. I think I must have fallen asleep, drifted into unconsciousness at some point, because it made me jolt when I realized. I didn’t care to move though, or look up. Whoever it was wore dress shoes, one of Rafe’s guards. I just had to hope—

“You can get up,” Gabe said, crouching down on his haunches to help me. His hand on my bare skin made me flinch, but all he did was cover me over with my nightgown. It had been bunched at my chest all this time. The small mercy from him almost caused me to weep. I closed my eyes and imagined it was Theo’s touch on my skin. “Come on,” Gabe said, touching me more, urging my body to stretch out.

I screamed when my leg was forced to extend, my body protesting, my seized muscles battling against every millimeter of movement. “Please,” I begged Gabe, but he didn’t stop moving my body, bending and unbending me until I was a weeping mess. He remained silent, not pausing even when I wailed from the pain of it deep under my skin.

“Can you walk?” he asked, stopping manipulating my limbs at last, when I was shaking and sweating from the muscle exertion.

I sniffed, looked at him with betrayal in my eyes, and tried to stand. When my legs collapsed back under me, he caught meunder my armpits and scooped me into his arms. Pathetic. I was pathetic.

“I’m sorry, Violet,” he muttered, voice so low no one else would be able to hear. “You know I had to. Rafe wants you cleared out of the way. It would have hurt a lot worse to move you without stretching you first.”

“He wants me out of the way?” I asked, letting my head loll onto the man’s chest. It was Theo’s, Theo was holding me. I could almost smell him if I tried hard enough. Spicy, warm cologne. Gabe gave me a soft shake, nudging me back awake.

“Folk coming over,” Gabe replied. “Stay awake.”

---