AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Well…
“Fine. Why not?” He took a step back and jerked his head toward the two large men who’d been standing behind him. “Strip him. Let’s see what made him worth betraying the Holden name.” Marcus’ eyes flicked back to me and he arched a brow in challenge.
Did he want me to fight?
Did he want me to cry?
I knew he wanted me to hurt.
I shook my arms out and took a deep breath. I wasn’t going to just let this happen without trying to do something. Maybe I could hurt one of them enough that they’d lose their temper.
Maybe I could make them kill me.
I just knew the sight of Marcus Holden loosening his tie like he was getting ready for a show was not something I could allow.
“Now, now, boys. You could at least be gentlemen and come one at a time.” I was aware of Nick’s gun still pressing to the back of my head. I knew I wasn’t going to get out of this.
“Come on now, Clayton. Put on a show. You’ve caused so much trouble — at least make it worth my time.” Marcus seemed so amused with all this. I couldn’t take my eyes off the men approaching me, but I let my voice carry through.
“Your son more than made it worth my time. How does it feel, knowing he was ready to leave you, leave all this because of me? Must hurt, Dad.” I drew the word out slowly and silently cursed myself. My attitude and temper weren’t going to get me anywhere.
And as though to prove it, Marcus pulled a knife from his well-tailored jacket and tilted his head. “Let’s take his tongue before we start. He’s probably prettier when he’s quiet… and he’ll still be able to scream.”
The two men moved without warning — my hand shot forward and hit one in the throat. He collapsed to the ground with a satisfying thud, but Nick’s gun dug into the flesh right behind my ear, and the other asshole slammed a fist into my gut before spinning me around to pin my arms behind my back.
And all the while, Marcus just smiled.
When he was sure I was restrained, he stepped close enough to run his blade along my jaw — I felt how sharp the knife was, knew he’d opened the skin in a shallow cut.
“Now, the question is, are you going to open up, or should we make you?”
“Fuck you.” I hissed the words out through clenched teeth, and he laughed.
“When I cut your tongue out, I’ll put it in a pretty box and mail it to my son. Maybe I’ll let him know what I did to your mouth after, too.”
If I’d ever needed any proof he didn’t care about Jayce, it was standing there in front of me with cold eyes. He didn’t care what he felt — what he thought. He was going to use me to teach him a lesson. And I wasn’t going to play the part.
I refused to hurt him any more than I already had.
I was restrained, but that wouldn’t stop me from jerking forward when he put the knife in my face. I didn’t want to feel it plunging deeper, but I didn’t want to be used, either. More than that, I didn’t want Jayce to know what they’d done.
Just as he tipped the edge of the blade against my lips and I wondered if I could move fast enough, the sound of doors banging open behind us brought him up short.
My eyes should have stayed on the knife, but I couldn’t stop my head from whipping around…
And there was Jayce, a gun in his hand, his blue eyes like ice. He looked at Marcus Holden and crossed his arms.
“Don’t tell me you’re having all the fun without me, Dad. I bought him.” Jayce’s eyes flicked coolly to me. “The least you could let me do is kill him.”
Chapter 18
Jayce
How many times had I seen a scene just like this when I walked into the house? And how many times had I kept walking, because I’d learned at a young age there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it, unless I wanted to join in?
That was the only way to get involved, and it usually earned me a smile of approval from Marcus. Sometimes, if I joined in, I could kill the person before anything else happened.
Sometimes, if I wanted to show someone mercy, joining in was the best thing I could do.
