Traded (Blood Ties Book 5)

“You know what?” she whispered, staring at Daniels slumped over on his side. “Never mind. I wouldn’t want Carven getting some filthy fucking disease from touching it, anyway.”

The way her eyes glazed made rage burn deeper inside me. Did he touch her? Did the filthy fucking worm…rape her? Colt’s shirt barely reached her thighs, but all I could see was Daniels’s hands on her thighs, and I shook with the need to kill as Carven entered the room.

“Get him into the car before he wakes up,” I snarled. “I’m taking this sonofabitch to the warehouse.”

“Don’t worry.” Carven strode forward, then bent and heaved the fat bastard onto his shoulders. “He won’t be conscious for a while.”

There was that look again, the tortured stare as Carven met Vivienne’s gaze then turned away. I locked that memory away, because right now I didn’t have time to unpack the dangerous range of emotions that came with either of them.

I slid my arm around her, leading her out of that room littered with bodies. “Don’t look,” I urged.

But telling Vivienne not to do anything was like pissing into the goddamn wind. Of course she looked, and froze, staring down at the white entrails of the gutted guard Carven had left behind in his murderous rage.

I expected tears.

And screaming.

Lots and lots of screaming.

But there was nothing from this…wildcat. She just shifted her focus from the goddamn bloody mess that ran along the grouted cracks of the tiles and kept on walking. Each step was excruciating. I saw it in the way she stiffened and limped. Still, there was no damn way she wasn’t walking out of there on her own.

Carven walked ahead, carrying Daniels.

Smack!

The piece of shit’s head collided with the edge of the doorway as Carven carried him outside and down the stairs at the front of the house. Headlights glared, blinding me for a second, but I knew the familiar growl of the Mercedes’s engine when I heard it as Colt pulled the car alongside the van, leaving the engine running as he hit the button for the trunk and climbed out.

“I’ll be at the warehouse.” I headed around the rear of the car and opened the back door, finding my suit jacket where I’d tossed it earlier tonight. “Organize the cleaners. I want this house spotless…and empty by sunrise.”

Carven gave a nod and dropped Daniels into the trunk…hard.

Thump!

I glanced at the body, then lifted my gaze. “We still need him alive.”

“He’s breathing, isn’t he?” the son muttered as he stepped back and closed the trunk.

I wrapped my jacket around Vivienne as she headed for the passenger side, helping her slide her arms in. “I‘ll call when we’re almost done.”

I hated leaving them, especially not knowing how this was going to go down. We had a small window of opportunity here, one that was closing fast. Any moment now, Hale would find out this had gone south…then the game would be out in the open for all to see…

Him against me…

And it’d be brutal.

I opened the car door and helped her inside, hating how she winced when she sat, until she jerked her gaze upwards, that one eye widening. “Wait…Guild…”

I flinched, hating that sinking feeling. “He’s alive…well, he was when I left him. I have a doctor working on him now.”

“Good.” She gave a slow nod and tugged the seatbelt across. “Good.”

I closed the car door, and my thoughts returned to Hale. He’d never been an ally, just a fucking snake. I’d stayed around in the hopes he’d lead me to the nest. His nest. Him and all his sick, spineless friends.

Looked like that wouldn’t happen.

Not anymore.

I climbed in and shoved the car into drive, pulled us around, and headed back down the drive. Vivienne watched the reflection in the side mirror. I didn’t need to look to know Colt was still standing there, watching us as we drove away.

“You’re safe with me.” I glanced her way, meeting her stare. “I want you to know that.”

“I know,” she answered. “I’m not scared. But anyone who steps between us should be.”

By us, she meant me, her, and the sons.

I gave a small chuff, then turned the wheel as we replaced pebbles for pavement. The drive was quiet. Too quiet. I glanced over, hating that comforting was never easy for me. I protected. I hunted. I killed. But in the quiet hours of the morning, when there was a need for more than sex, I found myself…lacking.

Touch her, you idiot.

I swallowed hard and divided my focus between her and the road. But in the corner of my eye, I saw her grasp the edges of my jacket and pull them tight around her. All the way tight, almost like it became a second skin.

It took me twenty minutes to get to the warehouse.

I both hated and needed that twenty minutes.

I cursed the sight of those lights in the middle of nowhere. Headlights flared in the distance. I glanced at that car and then the turnoff, with the warehouse waiting in the distance. As that car drove past, I stared at the young woman behind the wheel. She never looked my way, just kept her focus on the road as she drove by.

Red brake lights flared in the rear-view mirror behind us. I forced my attention back, slowly anyway, until the sedan was long gone before I pulled up at the set of gates. A second was all it took before the gates slowly opened and I pulled the Mercedes in.

Thump!

The thud came from the trunk. I stilled, my brows rose as it came again. Thud. “At least he’s still alive,” I muttered. “For now.”

I climbed out, leaving her to follow. The frigid air carved all the way under my vest. She must be freezing. If she was, she never said a word. The thud of boots echoed. I rounded the rear of the Mercedes and stopped at the trunk as Mickie headed toward me.

“Get that piece of shit out,” I growled as I moved closer to Vivienne. “And take him inside.”

Thud!

A muffled scream came from inside the trunk. A pathetic sound that fit the man. But I held her tight as I led her forward, pushed through the double doors, and stepped inside.

“So this is what this place looks like. It’s nice,” she muttered. “What I can see.”

I shook my head, the tight curl of my lips more of a wince. “Always the jokester.”

“Get the fuck off me!” Daniels squealed.

Two of the armed guards strode along the hallway toward us, both soaked to the skin and pissed off. One swiped his forehead, muttering a string of obscenities, until he lifted his gaze and saw me.

“Sir.” He gave a slow nod, then looked panicked as his gaze settled on Vivienne.

“Damage?” I asked.

He said nothing, just stared.

“Hey!” I barked, and he flinched hard and his eyes widened, finding mine. “Do you have an answer for me or not?”

“Y-yes, sir,” he stuttered. “The east wing…it’s ruined. We had to move the…move the items to the west wing.”

I lowered my arm from around her shoulders and took a step forward as the memory of that sedan we’d just passed rose in my head. “Jack Castlemaine.”

“Safe. Wet, but safe.” He glanced at her once more.

“Take me to him.”

He gave a nod. I turned, meeting that dark stare behind the slit of her eye. “You want to do this?”

She nodded, looking so fucking innocent under the bruising and the blood.

“Fuck you, St. James!” Daniels spat. “FUCK YOU!”

I lifted my hand, my curled fingers barely brushing the swollen flesh of her cheek. “I will kill him for what he’s done to you, whether it’s now or later. He will die screaming, I want you to know that.

“FUCKING COCKSUCKER!”

“Sounds like he’s screaming now.” She held my stare.

I gave her a smile. “That’s not screaming, pet. That’s called clarity.”

Mickie shoved the slimy piece of shit forward, causing Daniels to stumble. I turned, following them along the hallway to where the corridor branched off into blocks of storage compartments that housed all my dirty secrets…some now dirtier than others.

Our footsteps resounded through the corridor until Daniels slipped on the slick floor.

“Jesus!” he screamed, wrenching his dazed gaze to my guard. “Are you trying to kill me?”

“Death is too kind for you,” I snarled. “Believe me, what I have planned will make you wish you’d never been born.”

He stiffened at the low growl and risked a panicked look over his shoulder. Those dark beady eyes met mine before he looked behind me.

“Eyes on me, motherfucker,” I growled. “You don’t get to look at her. Never again.”

He looked at her…

Carven’s words surfaced, as did the image of those hanging eyeballs in his grasp.

They don’t get to survive this.

Daniels flinched, then turned back as our steps slapped through the puddles of water left behind. We headed deeper, to the west wing. The smaller wing…that was mostly taken up with not just warm bodies but my own rooms, filled with weapons, money, and equipment I didn’t dare leave at the house.

But everything, I had paled compared to King’s reach.

The ruthless bastard had it all.

He had everything I wanted.

And I had everything of his.

“Here.” Mickie stopped outside the door of W312, the larger space fitted with living quarters.

He opened the door and pushed it wide, leaving me to stare into the murky depths until movement came from the edges.

“What the fuck is this?” Daniels barked, jerking his gaze toward mine.

“Your cell…for the time being,” I answered as Jack Castlemaine stepped into view.

His hair was still wet, his clothes somewhat dry as he buttoned a fresh shirt and stared at Daniels being shoved into the room. “London?”

“It’s temporary,” I answered. “Until we can figure out what the fuck set the sprinkler system off.”

“Jack?” Vivienne whispered and my pulse jumped as she stepped around me.

His eyes widened at the sight of her and, for a second, I saw something flicker in those depths. A desperation. A hunger. One that was smothered as he winced, then slowly shifted his gaze to Daniels. “You did that?”

“Fuck you, Castlemaine.” Daniels barged his way inside the room. “Let’s get this over and fucking done. You want the bitch and I want to live. So, bring me the goddamn contract and I’ll give her to you.”

He spun, wobbling on his feet as he stared at her. “The cunt wasn’t worth what I paid.”

I tried to keep my rage leashed, but the shit just blew out. With a roar, I lunged, knocking Castlemaine aside. Daniels unleashed a cry and stumbled backwards. But it was too late. I grabbed his shirt and lashed out, driving my fist into his face hard enough for his head to snap back with a sickening crack.

Dazed, his eyes widened…but he was still alive.

I sucked in a hard breath. “You will never speak about her again. Do you understand me? Or you won’t speak again.”

Specks of blood flew as he coughed and spluttered. I released his shirt, letting the bastard fall to the floor in a blubbering mess. That’s all he was…a blubbering, filthy, fucking mess. One I was desperate to wipe from the face of this Earth.

“I spoke to Ryth,” Vivienne murmured.

I inhaled hard and turned at the sound, watching as Vivienne stepped closer to Ryth’s father. “She’s okay.”

Jack gave a slow nod, his gaze never shifting from her face. “But are you?” he asked softly.

She shifted her gaze my way. That stare never flinched as she answered. “I am now.”

Beep.

The sound came from behind me. Anger flared.

“Fuck!” I spun on my heel and lunged, grabbing Daniels as he reached into his pocket for his phone.

The thing rang as I snatched it from his hand…and the name on the caller ID chilled me to the bone.

Hale.

“Mickie,” I said carefully. “Make sure Daniels isn’t heard.”

“My fucking pleasure,” the guard muttered and crossed the room, slamming his hand over Daniels’s mouth as I answered the call without speaking.

“How’s London’s little bitch?” Hale chuckled in my ear. “I hope you didn’t completely ruin that cunt. I plan on taking my sweet time with her tomorrow after our little celebration. Christ, I bet she can scream.”

I stiffened.

Unable to move.

Or think.

All I did was consume, swallowing down every word until it was etched into my soul.

The low chuckle on the other end slowly died away, leaving nothing but silence.

The kind that was a beast of its own.

Cold.

So fucking cold.

Then quietly, “London?” Hale murmured.

I lowered my hand and ended the call.