AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No.…” She read the words again, half-formed sobs on every breath now. “Shane? Sebastian? Don’t do this to me.… No. Don’t do this to me.…”
It was overwhelming. Stealing her breath and her senses as well as her strength as she sank to the marble floor, sobs tearing from her as she fought the reality of it.
“I’ll wake up,” she sobbed, clutching the letter to her chest. “I’ll wake up. Oh God, please let me wake up.”
She was dying inside. Alyssa could feel it, Like a slow wave of destruction. She was dying inside and there was nothing she could do to stop it. It raced through her heart, ripping it apart piece by piece before striking at her very soul.
“Don’t do this to me,” she sobbed, leaning her head against the tile wall as the force of the destruction left nothing but ragged, gaping wounds through her senses. “Don’t do this to us.” Her hand pressed to her stomach, to the child the test had revealed existed inside her. “Please. Please. Don’t do this to us.…”
The summer was over, the note had stated.
The summer wasn’t the only thing dying.
*
Lucien’s men were waiting for them. As the explosion of agony reverberated inside them the bottles of liquor, only half-empty, were tossed aside as Shane and Sebastian raced from the sitting room they’d retreated to.
Lucien and Murphy stood silently as the dozen men blocked the door, catching their brothers when they would have run to the woman Fernando informed them would reach out to them.
Soul bound, their grandfather called it.
When the other half of their souls called out to them, they would have no choice but to run to her, to ease her pain, to destroy all three of them when the terms of the blackmail weren’t heeded.
Rage erupted from the two younger men. Such black, violent fury that to hold them back Lucien’s men were finally forced to knock them out. Twelve men, and the fury that met them would have overwhelmed them if the younger men had remained conscious.
“They would kill us to get to her.” The manager of the estate turned to Lucien to excuse the choice he’d made and ordered his men to carry through. “You knew there would be no other way to stop them.”
Lucien merely nodded and watched as his brother and cousin were lifted gently by several of the men and taken back to the room. Shane was placed on the couch in the sitting room, Sebastian placed in the bed.
Behind him, Lucien could hear his mother sobbing, her heart breaking at the choice they were forced to make to protect not just the girl but Shane and Sebastian as well.
“They will never forgive us!” his mother cried as his father held her from going to her son. “Never, Alberto. He will never forgive what we have done to him. Never.”
Their mother knew her sons well, Lucien thought heavily. He had no doubt if Shane and Sebastian completely lost that woman then there would be no forgiveness for any of them.
“I managed to purchase a ticket on her flight,” Murphy informed him, his voice edged with grief. “Shane will return home as well, I’m certain. They will not be able to remain in each other’s company and stay away from her as well.”
Lucien nodded silently before rubbing at the back of his neck.
Fernando had warned them; he just hadn’t believed the old man. Yet his grandfather had known that the moment Alyssa Hampstead realized her lovers weren’t returning her pain would call them back to her.
“Landra has Jed working to trace the overseas account number,” Murphy continued. “Hopefully, we will resolve this soon.”
Lucien knew better. His contacts from the CIA had been working on the cameras for over twenty-four hours. They’d managed to get into the remote configurations but still hadn’t managed to trace where the digital content was going. Whoever was behind the blackmail knew their electronics. No doubt, the safeguards on the overseas account would be just as difficult to trace once the funds began moving.
The problem was, the funds hadn’t yet begun moving. Until they had, they didn’t have a hope in hell.
“I’ll send Shane home on the De Loren plane,” he promised. “Have you heard from your contact in D.C.?”
“Everything in the Hampstead residence is quiet.” Murphy shrugged. “To my knowledge, they know nothing of the pictures. If they did, every agency the federal government possesses would be called in.”
Lucien sighed heavily. At least the blackmailer had kept his word and not sent the pictures to Alyssa’s parents. Perhaps she would escape this with only the pain of losing the men she loved. They did for their brothers, Shane reminded himself. He only prayed it didn’t break all of them finally and emotionally before it ended.
If they were lucky, if there was any mercy for Shane and Sebastian, then this threat would soon be over.
Hampstead Residence
Alexandria, Virginia
