Page 24 of Sweet Torment

I close my eyes as footsteps thunder down the hallway toward my room. Guards shout and doors slam.

But for the first time since I returned to Emerald Hills, I feel something close to peace.

8

FREDDIE

We are the worst alphas in the entire fucking universe. There’s no competition.

Three in the morning and it’s raining. The penthouse is relatively quiet except for the steady tap against the windows. Everyone’s scattered, off in their own worlds trying to wrap their heads around what our next move should be. It won’t be easy getting into the building.

I’m sprawled on the couch, staring at the rain streaking down the glass, making the city lights blur and dance.

Bianca doesn’t leave my head for a second.

Not one fucking second.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

Between the rain and Owen’s fists, I’ve got some pretty good white noise going. He’s been pounding away in the gym since we got back. Hasn’t stopped for hours. Just the steady rhythm of flesh against leather, the occasional grunt when he hits too hard. I close my eyes, but all I see is Bianca on the floor. That collar. Her body convulsing.

Owen’s beating himself up for what happened with the collar, and I am too. We should’ve known they would punish her if we fucked up. That’s the most basic play in the control handbook—threaten what someone cares about. And we walked right into it.

“Fucking useless,” the words are a rough sound against my palms as I press them into my eyes.

We’re currently banned from electronics. No phones, no computers, nothing that would let us interfere with whatever the fuck they’re planning next. Some freedom this is. We can’t go anywhere without a guard breathing down our necks like we’re the ones who are goddamn criminals. Tristan’s already plotting, of course.

“I’ll snag a phone or laptop at the office tomorrow.” The promise had come from Tristan earlier, his gaze distant as if he were already mapping the possible ways to break in.

Bianca can’t go into heat in there.

I sit up abruptly, running a hand through my hair. I don’t know how we stayed as calm as we did today. Maybe because we knew blowing it would mean cutting the visit short, but fuck. What the hell is Montgomery planning for her?

I can’t stand this. The waiting. The not knowing. How the fuck do we get her out? We weren’t able to save ourselves, but there’s no way our girl is sitting in there for an entire year. She deserves better than that. Better than us, probably.

She’s the bravest person I’ve ever met.

Every time I close my eyes, I see her face and my chest feels hollow. What she said earlier cuts deeper than any knife could. “You guys had five years to figure it out. Five years to find me and make it right. Five fucking years of fucking women who aren’t me while I learned how to take care of my own shit all by my little self. So the way I see it… none of you have earned the right to tell me what to do.”

We utterly failed her and we still are. Somehow Bianca ended up exactly where we feared she would... caught in their web. Walking away from her while she was on that floor made me physically ill.

So I let the rain take me to a different memory.

Junior year. Spring practice.

Bianca came to most of my practices back then, tucked into the bleachers with one of those romance novels she loved. Third row from the top, far left corner. Always the same spot. Every time I caught a pass, her head snapped up and she cheered. She was so fucking cute. It wasn’t like the rehearsed chants Whitney and the cheerleaders did. Bianca’s excitement was real. Like I’d just won the Super Bowl instead of completing a practice drill.

That day, the storm hit fast. One second we were running plays, the next everyone was scrambling for cover. Players sprinted for the locker room while cheerleaders shrieked about their hair getting ruined.

I found her sitting on the hood of my car in the parking lot, completely soaked. Just waiting for me.

“You’re insane,” I said, already pulling off my letterman jacket to wrap around her shoulders.

“Couldn’t find you.” She shrugged like it explained everything. Like, of course, she’d sit in a downpour rather than leave without me.