Page 65 of Psycho

“Hmm.” Another voice hummed from the other side of the room, and I dared to crack my eyelids open enough to catch the spark of a lighter as the second man lit a cigarette. I forced myself to sit up taller as the other man sucked on the cigarette, illuminating the outline of a chiseled jawline and dark eyebrows, but nothing else thanks to the poor lighting. “A lot of trouble you’ve caused.”

His accent was British, and a chill ran down my spine when I figured out who he was.

The Duke.

Damon’s money man.

The man that Maddox and Dane had been hunting for months along with his snively counterpart.

“Wasn’t exactly my choice to be troublesome.” I stated, hoping that maybe the man would show some of the decency he apparently showed the women from the Velvet Cage when he visited. I shifted on the floor, wrapping my good arm further around myself and my belly as they both stood over me.

“You’re pregnant?” The Duke asked, taking another long drag off his cigarette, billowing smoke out around him.

I tried but failed to keep my eyes from flicking over to the monster standing to his right before answering. “Another thing that wasn’t exactly my choice.”

My eyes finally adjusted to the two different amounts of light in the room, and I could make out some more of his features as he stood there smoking.

The first thing that I noticed, aside from his marble cut jawline, was how tall he was. Like God himself would have had to look up at the man because of how tall he was. The next was theexpensive cut of his suit, even if the smell of the cigarette told me they weren’t some cheap American brand that my grandmother used to smoke at family dinners.

The longer I dared to stare at him, the more I felt he was staring at me through the darkness while Damon paced and kicked the toe of his shoe into the concrete like he was bored.

“Are you hurt?” The Duke asked after a while and I subconsciously rubbed my hand down my jeans again, over the stains of Peyton’s blood, making me shiver in regret.

“My sister’s.” I whispered, forcing my eyes back up to him, still hoping and praying he was merciful. “My shoulder is dislocated.”

The man looked over in Damon’s direction and then back at me. “Did you call a doctor?”

Damon scoffed and flicked his wrist at me dismissively, “She’s fine.”

The Duke flicked his cigarette directly at Damon’s face and leaned off the wall, “She needs her arm in working order if she’s going to use her particular skills to fix your enormous mistakes.”

Brushing the ashes off his cheap suit jacket, Damon looked over at me and I shrunk back into the concrete again, shivering.

“Get her into a proper room.” The Duke said, walking toward the door, “And if there isn’t a doctor here to treat her arm before I light my next cigarette, I’ll break your arm to match hers.” With that, he walked out of the room and disappeared around the corner, leaving Damon and I alone in the room and I would have preferred to be left alone in darkness and pain than face the man who could help me, but would probably hurt me instead for the fun of it.

“Don’t go anywhere.” He mocked, walking out and slamming the solid steel door shut behind him and locking it.

And once again. I was left with darkness and pain.

But a small smidge of hope dared to bloom in the same shadows from my short interaction with the Duke. Maybe I’d be able to talk myself out of the whole thing if he could be persuaded.

After all, Maddox and Dane were far better to have as allies instead of enemies at the end of the day.

Chapter 29 – Maddox

My fingers flew over the keyboard, hitting dead end after dead end as my phone rang next to me. I was in my old apartment at the loft because I couldn’t stomach walking back into the perfect space I shared with Liv without her.

The shrill sound of my phone continuing grated on my nerves, and I glanced at it and saw Dane’s name.

Taking a deep breath, I answered it as calmly as possible, given the hell he was currently living at the moment. “Any news?”

His own answering sigh made him sound years older than he was, “Peyton’s out of surgery, but still asleep. They had to recreate her entire leg bone out of metal, but she might walk on it again someday.”

“She’s tough, she’ll own that son of a bitch in no time.”

“Yeah, maybe.” I faintly heard the beeping of monitors behind him and imagined him pacing around a small hospital room where his injured wife lay unconscious in a bed like a cagedanimal. He wouldn’t leave that building without her, I knew that. If the roles were reversed, I’d be the same way.

Liv.

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