Page 32 of Kiss of Death
Smoke leaned up against the wall and looked at Ivy expectantly. Her gaze bounced between him and Otto before she let out a shaky breath. She could do this. She could share her and Eve’s story, and maybe it would help her lessen the hurt that she had carried around since she was sold off to Bruno.
“I’m not from here,” Ivy started, remembering the painful argument she had with her mother before she stormed out of the house. Her sister had been right on her heels with her own bags packed. Eve’s sense of adventure made her excited to be out from under her mother’s thumb, and Ivy had been too in love with her ex at the time to see the set up for what it was.
“Three years ago, the guy I was dating owed these scary men money. One of them had been Bruno, and instead of my ex paying his debt, he bargained his life for mine and my baby sister’s, Eve.”
Ivy started crying again. The pain from the first beating and the first time she’d been raped was fresh in her mind. She remembered the way they stripped her bare to examine the goods before they agreed to take her and Eve. She remembered the way they held her down by her wrists and throat while man after sweaty man pushed their way inside of her, long after her body dried up and no longer allowed it. She remembered the way they held her down and made her watch her baby sister go through the same treatment.
That was the first time Ivy thought they succeeded in breaking her. She was filled with rage, but it settled into despair and defeat because she knew if they ever managed to escape, her sister’s life would never be the same again. She’d only been nineteen, when they took her and she didn’t even live to see her thirtieth birthday.
Ivy let her head fall into her hands as a sob tore through her body. The weight of everything she’d been through suddenly was too much to carry on her tired shoulders. She wanted this all to be over already. She silently wished for Otto to kill her, because she knew that was the only way the pain would truly go away.
OTTO RUSHED TOIVY’S SIDEwhen she looked like she was ready to collapse. She fell into his arms as she cried her eyes out. He moved them toward the bed, and he just held her as she felt everything she probably had to hold in for three years come at her at once.
Otto had no idea what physical and emotional horrors she had lived through. He never had that experience himself, but he could sympathize. He heard the horror stories that went on when girls and women were sold. He knew men like Bruno liked to flex their power on women who in this case hadn’t been able to fight back.
He wanted to kill Bruno, watch the life slip out of him slowly and painfully. He wanted him to feel everything he’d put Ivy and her sister and countless other women through.
His gaze shifted over to Smoke. It was now that Otto understood why Sofia kept Smoke close and found his antics amusing. On some level, they were the same. He had the same look in his eyes as Sofia did when she was pissed off. Where hers was all cold and ice, Smoke’s was all fire and venom. He wanted Bruno’s head as badly as Otto did.
Ivy sniffed into his shirt and lifted her head up. She wiped away her tears and apologized. “I have never talked about what happened to me or my sister before. That small bit was enough to put me back in a place I never want to be again.”
Otto kissed the top of her head, hoping it was enough for her to know she wasn’t alone in this. If Otto had it his way, she’d never be alone again.
“What did he promise you?” Smoke asked.
Ivy took a breath before she continued, but the tears never stopped falling. “Me and my sister were the defiant ones. We fought when we had our strength, but they quickly learned that to keep one of us in line, they needed to hurt the other one. I overheard Bruno and some guy talking about trying to get information out of someone a year ago.” She shrugged. “I naively offered my services in exchange for mine and my sister’s freedom.”
“What were the terms?” Otto wondered how much she subjected herself to at the hands of Bruno.
“I had to do a set number of jobs—it was usually to sleep with them to get what I needed. You were supposed to be my last job, and me and Eve were to be free.”
Otto cursed as he held her closer. He knew she was innocent in all of this, and having Smoke there to hear her case would help protect her if Sofia still wanted retribution.
“What now?” Ivy whispered.
“We go back to Sofia,” Smoke answered. “We plead your case and then hunt down that rat bastard and skin him alive.”
Otto stood in front of Ivy as the rest of the Council was seated at the table in Sofia’s office. There was one empty seat reserved for Bebo, but according to Nico, he was moving Nat to a different location. Otto would have to call her after this to check in on her.
The Unhinged Brothers all stood around the table, except for Smoke, who stood beside Ivy. He heard the truth in Ivy’s words and held her hand when she explained it again to the rest of the Council. It was so out of character for Smoke to show kindness, Otto didn’t know what to make of it, but he was glad he had stood beside Ivy.
Sofia continued to stare at him and Ivy, looking more intrigued than pissed off when she first saw Ivy was still alive. Her gaze went to Smoke’s and she smirked. “Here I thought sending you with Otto would guarantee that the job would get done.” Shetsked. “Don’t go getting soft on me, Smoke.”
Smoke shrugged. “I’m trying to win you over, boss lady.”
“I highly doubt I’m the one you’re trying to win over.” Sofia stood up and walked around the table, brushing Gia’s shoulder along the way. She stopped in front of Otto and Ivy. She reached for a strand of Ivy’s hair and twirled it around her finger. “I’m sorry about your sister. I have no siblings, so I don’t know what it is to care for someone like that. Men like Bruno and Boris have no real power in their world.”
She let go of Ivy’s hair but continued to talk to her. “They think abusing women makes them powerful. They think their fear-driven tactics make them untouchable. They don’t understand that fear never keeps an empire standing for long. Eventually it’ll crumble because there’s always something out there stronger than fear.”
Sofia turned around to face the Council. “I’ll pardon Ivy, even though I believe she should have come clean sooner, but I understand love makes people do pretty much anything, and that’s why you kept your mouth shut.”
She turned back around. “I can’t stand what you did and what it cost me, but given what you’ve been through and the pain you’re probably going to carry for the rest of your life, anything I would have done to you might have seen like a welcome change.” Ivy tensed bedside Otto, and Sofia chuckled. “You’re safe, and don’t worry, I am nothing like the men who thought they could own you. My word actually means something.”
Sofia looked down and noticed Ivy was now holding Otto’s hand. “Word of advice, Ivy. If you stand with Otto, you’ll still be a target—everyone in this room is a target until Bruno and Boris are taken care of.”
“I know,” Ivy whispered.
“Do you? I plan on retaliating against both men.”
