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“Just saw you on the news. Thought I’d call and check in.” My Spade brothers and I don’t have manyfriends, but Tyson is about as close as they come.
He chuckles. “That’s like the fifth time they’ve played that clip. I knew I could count on them to get my point across.”
I almost laugh at his choice of words. I knew there was a reason he allowed his wife to be seen. “How’s the build going?” I ask about Blackout.
“Faster than I expected. Opened last week.” Before I can say anything, he asks, “Find what you were looking for?”
My eyes drop to my computer screen that still has Ashtyn pulled up in the bathroom. She’s got the water running in the tub. “I did. Thanks for that by the way.” If he hadn’t handed over Whitney, I’d still be looking for her.
He snorts. “Whatever I can do to help.”
“Tyson—?”
I hear his wife in the background entering the room. “I’ll let you go. Just wanted to call and see how things were going,” I add, not wanting to keep him.
“Come by the club. Bring the guys. Drinks are on me.”
I nod to myself, watching Ashtyn step into the bathtub. “Yeah. We’ll take you up on that.”
We hang up, and I see Kashton staring at me. “What was that about?” he asks.
“Tyson.” I stand, pocketing my cell. “He invited us out to Blackout.”
He types away on his computer. “I’m always up for a night out.”
That night Tyson messaged me a picture of Ashtyn on her stomach with her hands tied behind her back and tears running down her face saved her life. At the time, I was grateful for that. But a month later, I was lying on the floor bleeding because she shot me. Like her brother, she chose herself.
I should have seen it coming, but I was blinded. The Lords assumed she might have been dead, and in a sense, she was. Still is. She had to live a life as someone else after she escaped Carnage. But not here. Not this time. She’ll be Ashtyn—my little whore who will beg me. And I’ll be the man I should have been all along—a ruthless Lord with a pet to play with.
Standing from my seat, I exit the office and take the elevator up to the birdcage where all of our rooms are. We have houses on the property, but we stay here most of the time. It’s just easier that way. Carnage never sleeps, so neither do we.
Getting off the elevator, I pass my room, along with Kashton’s and Haidyn’s. All the walls are soundproof so he could be stabbing someone to death in there and I wouldn’t hear a fucking thing. Not like I’d stop him if he was. When he’s in a mood, you step back and let him do whatever the fuck he wants.
I walk up to her door and turn the knob, entering because I own the fucking place. Coming to a stop, I look over the room. An odd feeling falls over me knowing that she’s on the other side of the closed bathroom door, naked in the bathtub with my brand on her body and tracking device in her skin. She’ll never be able to leave me again.
I’ve dreamed of this day ever since I woke up and was told she shot me and ran, leaving me for dead. I hate that I still have feelings for her. Don’t get me wrong, I hate the bitch, but I also love her in thatI’m going to rip your heart out and hang it on my wall so no one else can have itkind of way.
Walking across the bedroom, I enter the bathroom to find her sitting in the tub just like she was on my computer screen. She’s got her legs pulled up to her chest, and her forehead rests on her bent knees. Her wet hair sticks to her hunched-over back and shoulders.
She’s crying, and the sound makes me smile. Leaning my ass against the countertop, I cross my tatted arms over my chest and wait for her to realize I’ve entered the room. If she wants to survive here, she needs to start paying attention to her surroundings at all times.
Our fathers no longer run this place. We do. And we’ll make sure that she endures every sick and twisted thing that any other prisoner would.
THIRTY-NINE
ASHTYN
I’m shaking, my entire body throbs and aches.
Just like everything else. The drugs—the ones I took—plus the ones they gave me no longer linger in my system. I just feel ashamed now. Pathetic. I thought for years that I killed him, and I grieved the loss of him.
I’ve feared a lot over the years. But leaving here made me realize how much I fear myself. I willingly shot the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. I would have done anything for him until I was put in a position where it was him or me, and like a coward, I chose myself.
But he pulled me back to his hell, and now I’m his prisoner. His chance at revenge. His whore. Is it bad that I’m glad he’s still alive? He’ll most likely make me regret what I did. I should have run farther, for longer. But I only had enough help to get out of Carnage. After that, I was on my own, and starting a new life was harder than I thought it’d be.
I sniff, trying to calm myself and stop the tears.Crying won’t save you, Ash.That’s what my mother used to tell me whenever life wouldn’t go her way. She’d straighten her shoulders, lift her chin, and face the fucking day like she was unstoppable. Obviously, she wasn’t. Watching her get stabbed to death proved that she wasn’t.
Lifting my forehead from my knees, I jump to my feet when I see a set of green eyes watching me. “Sa-int?” My voice cracks just saying his name as I stare at him. They used to be so bright, but now they’re a darker shade of green.
