Page 82 of Vicious Intentions

We jogged to the other side of the road just as the fire reached the gas tank. Flames rushed towards the heavens.

I shook my head, then climbed inside. “You okay, Marty?”

“Just a scratch, sir.”

“Get it checked out back at the resort.” I rubbed my eyes before dialing Brock.

“Boss,” he answered.

“We had an incident. Make certain you get a couple other men on Ms. Sadler, and have others walk the resort inside and out.”

“Uh, boss. We have an issue.”

“What do you mean an issue?”

“It’s Ms. Sadler.”

I sucked in my breath. “What about her?”

“Well, she’s gone. I’ve looked everywhere. She’s nowhere to be found.”

CHAPTER 22

Cristiano

Betrayal was something I was used to. I’d grown up around it, first from childhood friends, then seeing traitors punished by my brutal father. Everyone had a price, a reason or a dollar amount that would allow them to shift from the right side of the law to the other. Or to betray a confidence or even the location of a friend or colleague.

Or lover.

Money and power were excellent motivators, but often the greatest influence on whether someone selected a different moral code was centered around the need for revenge.

Both Hunter and I had seen it in Cain. We’d watched him hone his evil ways until he was certain of what he’d wanted, which was blood for blood given the murder of his brother. He’d suffered and still was suffering, never able to get over the horror. Unfortunately, he’d allowed it to consume his life, shaping his decisions, warping them until he’d become a stalker.

Then everything had changed the moment he’d seen Sage years before. She’d performed magic, her goodness conquering a portion of the demons inside of him. There was no difference in the way he looked at Rose. For a man like Cain, it was as close to love as he could possibly get. She was the kind of woman who could be our salvation.

Or she was our curse.

Whether or not they were the same person was the question that would eat at the three of us until the truth was discovered.

However, if she was, the ugliness around the truth would eat us alive.

A single question nagged at the back of my mind and would until I looked her in the eyes again. Could a sweet, beautiful girl turn into a calculating monster, determined to destroy the three men who’d dared tempt her dark desires? I forced myself to think about the night from years ago. All three of us had pushed so hard to drive it from our minds, believing that we could let it go. We also were certain the incident would never come back to bite us.

Sage had witnessed us handling Theodore, all three of us enraged that he’d dared attack her, attempt to rape her. We’d done so violently, our rage knowing no bounds. We’d been intent on killing him. That was in our nature. Even Hunter hadn’t shied away from hungering to take his life.

Maybe the act had been the final nail in the coffin, our lives spent in private prisons after watching her broken body on the pavement, her mouth trying to form words from a broken jaw before slipping away into unconsciousness. Then we’d gone off the deep end.

Our actions had been what nightmares were made of.

What we hadn’t been certain given the tragedy was whether she’d seen Cain pulling out his knife. Even if she had, she’d fled prior to Theo managing to jerk out a gun, shooting Cain before Hunter wrestled it away.

I’d been the one to pick up the fallen knife, finishing what Cain had started. I would rot in Hell for all eternity because of that and dozens of other atrocities I’d committed, but even then, I would have given my life to protect Sage’s.

Just like I would now. Fuck. How had things gotten so far out of hand?

I’d played over the horrific event in my mind so many times I could recite it, but as with all things, in time, certain aspects of what happened had begun to fade. There’s been so many people, the driver trying to flee the scene. Cain had almost beaten the guy to death.

Then the police.

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