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Chapter one
Remy
Sex isn’t the only thing worth living for. There’s also honor. Some people would even say love, though I’m not one of them. Don’t get me wrong; I love my sister. But if I ever grow tired of waking up every day spinning wheels, she wouldn’t be enough to make me stay. Maybe that sounds awful—she means everything to me, but some days my everything seems so small in the grand scheme of the greater world.
Rhea told me she loves Claire like family, and she proved that point pretty well when she thought I had done something to harm her best friend. I should have known then that she was serious, that her best friend was firmly off limits. But I was already in too deep with Claire to walk away, and when I got her to safety, it was like something in me decided that my job was to protect her.
I’m trying. In the only way I know how, I’m trying. And not only has it not helped, but I’m also pretty sure it’s only made things worse. Judging by the way Claire hightailed it out of the guest house, I’d say she’s ashamed. The question is, of what? Of me? Of killing someone who didn’t deserve to breathe the same air as us, as her?
I shouldn’t let it bother me. She just needs time to adjust; everything has happened so fast that she’s in a freefall. I’m sure that time will help her start to process things, but I don’t know if she’ll ever be able to accept the darkness that forged me. I hadn’t exactly planned on letting her in, but Jovich opened that door when he betrayed me. I could have denied it all, told her that Jovich had done it because he wanted the money, and pretended I wasn’t involved in the world that tried to consume her. But Claire is smart, and if I denied it, it wouldn’t exactly give me an opportunity to protect her or Rhea. There’s no way she’d be able to reconcile what comes next if she thought I was truly innocent—which, to be fair, she hasn’t ever seemed to think.
From the beginning, something about Claire has entranced me. She was a bright spot in my darkness, and I found myself drawn to her light. But now I’m worried that light may have burned out… or worse, maybe I snuffed it myself.
I stand and dress, looking past the blood that’s dried on my flesh, russet against my skin. And it’s all over my skin… she painted me with the blood of her tormentor. Something about it feels fucking addictive… like she baptized me in it and I’ve been born again with the purpose of existing for her. I can already feel my cock tightening again at the memory and the evidence of long strokes she left on me.
I’ve never relished the killing part, but watching her take back her power was so fucking sexy I’m not sure I can ever kill someone without getting hard again. I groan, restless with thoughts of her, and pick up my phone.
I’ve already replaced Jovich’s speed dial, so when I press the number, it rings once before Dimitri answers.
“Remy?”
“Giante’s gone.” I say, cutting right to the chase. “The place is ready to be cleaned up.”
“I’m on it.” Dimitri answers without a second of hesitation. “And the other one?”
The other one.
The one still tied up in my basement.
Davos’ son.
My fucking half-brother.
It’s more than I want to consider, but I can’t deny it. Davos was friends with my father for a long time. I have seen and dealt with a lot of nasty shit, but to think that my mother would have had any willful involvement with such a monster is nearly impossible to stomach. Even worse is the possibility that she hadn’t been a willing participant in whatever hellish union resulted in Wes’ life.
I’ve suspected since the day of her death that it hadn’t been the cancer that killed her. We’d barely even wrapped our heads around the fact that she was sick before she died, and neither Rhea nor I were allowed to see her body. She was cremated the same day she passed. I blinked, and in the next instant, they were saying my father was picking up her ashes. I never raised my suspicions with my sister because I didn’t want her any more involved in our fucked-up family than she already is by virtue of her birth, so I let her believe the lie she’d been fed. I was already trapped in the life they had chosen for me, and if the illusion of compliance keeps Rhea safe, it’s a small price to pay.
I played the part of a dutiful son, a soldier in this war, for months before I saw the opportunity to take something from them. It was small, a test to see if anyone noticed. They didn’t, so I took more. I forged transactions here and there and even intercepted a few of their auctions, having their ‘cargo’ shipped to secure locations under aliases of other buyers. Dimitri had dutifully helped me set free three different women in the past two years, something that we stopped as soon as Jovich started poking around. Three is not even a ripple in the shark-infested water. We’d have kept going if we could.
I suppose killing my own wife was a step too far. That’s what put them on my radar… my father.
With both Jovich and my father gone, I could have gone back to infiltrating the company and freeing more women from the sudden bonds of slavery. But Jovich messed everything up by involving Claire, and now Davos is a very real threat. There’s no world where he doesn’t come for her, or at least send his minions after her. And there’s no world in which I let him get away with hurting her again.
Fortunately, I have a bargaining chip in my basement.
“Boudreaux?” Dimitri says, and I realize I still haven’t answered him.
“Nothing yet.” I say, scrubbing a hand over my face. “I’ll let you know when I figure it out.”
Dimitri hangs up and I take my time dressing, sure to give enough time between Claire’s departure and mine. I don’t care if Rhea catches us together. She surely suspected that something was going on between Claire and I after I’d put her best friend up in my bed to heal and all but refused to leave her alone. But I can’t have my sister poking her head around in the guesthouse, so I’ll attempt discretion.
The house is quiet as I trudge up the stairs, and when I pass the girls’ rooms, not a sound comes from either of them. A strip of light illuminates the space under Claire’s door, where Rhea’s is dark. I can’t help but wonder what she is doing. Staring at the ceiling awash in regret? Crying softly into her pillow? Scrolling silently through her phone looking for a distraction?
No, I forgot she doesn’t have her phone. I’ll have a new one ordered for her. And this time, I’ll make sure the GPS is on her phone… just in case.
She’s been in my bed the last day, and though I’d slept in the chair to give her space, I’ll miss her presence, watching her chest rise and fall, knowing that she’s safe. I have the camera, but it’s only good as long as I can stay awake to watch her from it. Before I could hear her every breath.
After I shut my door, I wait behind it a moment in case she comes to join me. But Claire was pretty deliberate when she left me, so I should know better than to expect anything.
