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Just looking at her now makes my dick hard. I can’t wait until I have her back in my god damn bed. I’m never going to let her go this time. Nope, this time I’m going to tie her to me for life. I’ll have her barefoot and fucking pregnant within months of locking her within my personal playroom.
“What are you reading?” Grumbling as he stretched out his neck, Stryker reached over and grabbed the journal. “The fuck, man? He’s been planning this for how long?”
“Since he was healed.” I couldn’t help the hatred that had started to seep into my veins. As far as I was concerned, my cousin could rot in hell. That goddamn journal had caused nothing but pain and destruction; it was some sort of Pandora’s box. Opening up old wounds, and creating fucking new ones in its wake.
“You have read this page, yeah?” Stryker growled. When Stryker was angry, he became calculated. His usually calm demeanor gave the unsuspecting victim a false sense of triumph, right before he became a ripper, making the person on the receiving end wish they could wake up from the nightmarish hell that only Stryker could rain down on them. “You saw your father’s name, right?”
“Yeah, I’m still processing all that,” I said quietly. The betrayal that had been unfolding ever since I’d found that damn journal was all-consuming. My stomach was doing somersaults as I tried to deal with the reality of all of it. “It’s not the first time he has come up in here either, man.”
“So, what are you still processing then?” he asked. I didn’t know whether it was confusion, but he was questioning my reasoning. “There is no way in hell that your father wasn’t aware of what had been going on. Fucking hell, Logan, he played a hand in the design of that fucking bunker.”
“I know that. I’m not fucking stupid. It’s all there in black and fucking white, Stry.” It made me sick reading the extent my father had gone to in helping Kyle. I was beginning to think I didn’t really know who my father was. “I can’t go back there, Stry, not after what I’ve discovered that they’ve done. I don’t have a family anymore. This went a lot deeper than I’d realized. I have nowhere to go.”
“Logan, I know you’re hurting, man. What your family has put you and Phee through, it makes me sick inside. I’m sorry it’s played out this way, we were all taken for fools. And I don’t mean to make you feel as though we’re not here for you, but she is going to need all of us.” He placed a hand on my shoulder, and I appreciated the fact that he was trying to offer some comfort.
“Thanks, Stryk.” Stryker was right, and his anger matched my own. It wasn’t just about me; I was well aware that the one we needed to find answers for was lying in the bed we were surrounding. We’d both been unsuspecting pieces in a game we didn’t even know we were playing. For a while, my family had been winning, too, but now the tables had turned.
“Look at her, beaten, bloodied, and bruised, because of members from your fucking family.” I could feel his pain. I knew he didn’t mean to throw their actions in my face. Hell, I wanted their blood just as badly as he did, but my need for answers was stronger. “I’m sorry man, I don’t mean to take it out on you. This shit is all messed up.”
“I know, Stryker. It’s why I’ve been reading through this fucking thing,” I shot back, holding the diary up and waving it in his face. That thing could hold answers that we would never get from the psycho asshole holed up in a cage at the Lennox Family warehouse. “I have to find out why she was the target.”
“You can come live with Phee and I.” Looking up, we found Damon leaning against the door frame. From his comment, I’d say he had heard most of our conversation. I was surprised that we hadn’t woken Jonah with all the talking. Sighing as he entered the room, Damon looked at Phee, nodding her way. “Any change?”
“No, nothing yet,” Stryker answered as he lightly stroked Phee’s hand. She brought out the softer side in him; she brought it out in everyone in the room. “They have her pretty sedated. They won’t tell us too much, as we’re not next of kin, but they don’t expect a change too soon. Not with all the injuries she has.”
The mere mention of what she had gone through had me clenching my fists by my side. Just another fucking reminder of how much I had failed her. Standing, I started to pace the small room. “Goddamn it.”
Damon walked over, kissing her forehead, before taking the seat I had just vacated. “We moved your cousin to the cages at the warehouse. Before leaving the hellhole, he had her in, we checked out the other rooms. We cleared out the surveillance room too, but did you know there was a two-way mirror in that room he used? The fucker had people watching as he violated her.”
“Fuck. It just gets better. Any way of determining who visited that shithole?” I was starting to feel sick all over again. Who the hell was I related to?
“Yeah, I wouldn’t put it past the douche to have kept records. There was more than just the mirror thing, too.” Disgust rolled off Damon. That guy was tough as nails, but to see him rattled like that, that was something else. “The area we found Phee in was just the tip of the iceberg; the further in we went, the more rooms we found. The room Phee was kept in? That was like the Taj Mahal compared to the rest.”
“Like some kind of holding cells?” Morbid curiosity had me trying to find out more. After all, my sperm donor had played a part in designing that little prison. I needed to know exactly how fucked up the Ducane Family tree truly was.
“Kinda, but from what I can gather, their intent would have been to house their victims.” Looking back up at Phee now, I saw the question we are all wanting an answer to flash in his eyes. “How much do you know about your family’s business?”
“Not much. By the sound of things, I’d always thought Dad was some sort of investment broker, you know, with all the traveling he did. But I’m starting to think I need to find out more. ” I hated the fact that I sounded like a fucking spoiled little rich kid who until then had never questioned where his family made their money, but now— now I was starting to believe that it came from nothing good.
“That’s a fucking understatement,” Stryker ground out. Getting up, he leaned down, kissing Phee’s cheek, before heading to the door. “Still want to believe that your parents are nothing but pawns?”
“Cool it, Stry. It’s not his fault, and you know it,” Damon reprimanded him, before turning to me.
“Sorry, man,” he grumbled, before slapping Jonah on the shoulder.
“When was the last time you took a break? Had something proper to eat?” Turning back to me, Damon took a long, hard look. I knew he wasn't that concerned with my wellbeing, we were still learning to trust each other, but at least he was trying. “When was the last time you showered, Logan?”
“That shit doesn’t matter while she is laying there,” I said, gesturing to Phee. As I looked at her, it was like another blow to my already decimated heart. “All that matters is finding answers, so we have something good to tell her when she wakes up.”
Chapter Seven - Phoenix
My whole body ached, my head heavy like it was weighed down by a sack of lead. Trapped under the weight until something made me feel like I was floating. Around me, I could hear voices, but they were too distorted, and often faded in and out, making it hard to discern what they were saying.
“Hello?” I called out. Walking forward, I followed the light music that played, guiding me to a glittering light. Stepping over the threshold of a room wound round in a golden framework, it was like I had been suddenly transported into another realm.
The walls were a stark white, with a gold leaf moulding that glittered when the light hit it. In the middle of the room was a white leather chaise and a small floating coffee table. Every corner of the room was adorned in white Calla Lilies and baby pink Peonies; the smell was so sweet it reminded me of my mother. A small tear fell down my face as I stepped further into the room.
A feeling of peace fell over me as I ventured in, putting me at ease. It was the first time in a long time that I hadn’t felt that lingering need to look over my shoulder. It was almost as though the weight of the world had been lifted from my shoulders. That perhaps this strange, yet calming, place was some sort of safe haven.
