Cardinal House (The Blackwell Brothers Book 4)

31. Luna

Staring up at the house, you wouldn’t know what horrors live inside.

That the man who lives here is smart and neat and tidy but is really a demon in disguise. A fancy suit with soft eyes and cruel smiles. A man I still sought comfort in, even after he was the one defiling me.

Goosebumps tear their way across my flesh, the sky is dark, the trees and bushes rustle around me in the cool wind as I stand on the red brick pathway. My black dress lifting high, my pale blue cardigan with the white buttons doing nothing to keep off the chill of the night. It might just be me though, that’s feeling the cold, and it has nothing to do with the weather.

I’m not trying to hide myself from him, continuing up the path, striding steps that take me up the three front stairs to the door. Fingers curling around the brass knob, I push it open, the scent of cigars flooding out into the fresh air, tainting the night with its vile odour.

Sickness swirls inside my stomach, bile rushing up my throat and coating the back of my tongue, but I step through the opening like I’m entering a part of my life I didn’t believe was real until right at this very moment.

The foyer is full of guards, every instinct inside of me is screaming at me not to look at them, which is why I lift my chin, staring each and every one of them in the face. Not one of them shies away, letting me see them and their blank stares. Men who have had their big hands on my nude body, holding me down and muffling my screams with their palms as they helped my uncle abuse me.

Pain shoots up my spine. A phantom bolt of agony driving up through my coccyx and ripping its way into my chest. I know it’s not real, I know there’s no blood dripping down my thighs, even though my brain makes me believe that there is. The feeling of crimson running down the backs of my legs, leaving little bloody footsteps in my wake.

It makes the loose elastic around my hips, small cotton knickers covering my private parts, feel as tight as a noose as I start up the stairs. No one tries to stop me, as though they knew I was coming. Sentry along the walls, stationed on every fourth step. Lining the long hallway on the upper floor that leads to our rooms.

Our.

Nothing in this house was ever mine.

Not even me.

I’m numb by the time I reach the furthest door. The wooden barriers opening for me as I approach. Everything exactly as it was the last time I was here.

The drive home is silent, but I’m rushing with anxiety. Adrenaline pings through me like splinted shards of glass, nicking at my veins as they ricochet through me.

The guard who came to collect me isn’t new, I can only tell that by a feeling, the way he moves like the rest of them, four steps ahead or behind me at all times, no eye contact, no touching. Opening and closing doors for me, ushering me silently into the car, in fact, the words he spoke to me in the hospital entrance are the only ones he ever has. I don’t look at him, my eyes lowered to my hands in my lap.

I think of Wolf Blackwell, only moments ago, telling me he could keep me safe.

Me telling him I know but leaving without him anyway.

He’s a stranger.

One that treats me with kindness and respect, secret smiles and soft touches. His scent of lilies and teakwood, makes him smell exactly like he is, strong but delicate. Soft.

With me.

I should have let him take me away, keep me safe.

I think of his mouth brushing mine, his whispered words pressing to my mouth, and I wish that I had kissed him. I wish that I had let my fingers dance across his tanned skin, let his rough hands meet my flesh.

It’s too late for wishes now.

Mine would never be granted anyway.

The car door opens once we stop, my footsteps taking me automatically up the path. It doesn’t occur to me to run, this is such routine now, that I just do as I should. If I were watching someone else do this, I know I’d be screaming at them to turn around and try to escape.

Instead, I’m walking through the upper floor of the house, and entering our rooms made to look like a romantic space, but instead hold sadistic intent and are used to inflict pain and torment.

“Luna,” Uncle Nolan greets with that slash of a sick smile across his mouth, “I’ve been waiting for you, sweet girl.”

That’s how he greets me now. From his relaxed slouch in his leather chair, positioned in front of the fire, flames roaring behind the grate. His green eyes come to mine, hard and terrifying, and I feel as though I am six years old all over again.

“What did you do to my mother?” I demand it, my voice as loud as I can get to project from my wobbly lip.

My body trembles, teeth clenching, but he doesn’t even look surprised by the question. Doesn’t look like he’s seen a ghost. As though he knew all along that I wasn’t dead.

Nolan doesn’t bother standing. Instead, he just smirks, running that gaze up the length of me.

“You’re stronger than I thought, sweet girl,” his lips curl into an award winning smile. “Much stronger than poor, ungrateful, Lucia.” He chuckles, flicking a hand towards his guards, dismissing them from the room. “She was so perfect, looked just like you, you could have been twins.” He sighs whimsically, like he would have loved to have the two of us together. “She spooked too easy. I came on too strong. I’ll admit, I wanted to wine and dine her. I sent her lavish gifts, sent you plenty of toys, too, trying to win her over. But she rejected it all, every advance, every offer, every door I tried, she slammed in my face. Told me I was scaring her, lied about having a husband in an attempt to frighten me off. But I wanted you,” he tells me, flicking his green eyes onto mine. “I wasn’t going to take no for an answer.”

“So you killed her?” It’s a whisper, the question, and I hate that it sounds so small, so weak, but I’m trembling with rage.

“For you,” he breathes, like it means something more than him wanting to kidnap and abuse a child. “Everything I have ever done has been for you.” Nolan pushes up from the chair and I hold myself still, even though it takes every ounce of strength in me, I don’t move. “So, how do you think it felt when I saw you with him.” He spits on the floor at my feet, his upper lip lifting from his teeth, snarling at me. “I watch every fucking camera in that hospital when you’re there. You think I was going to let you be stolen from me?!”

Nolan’s face transforms into a twisted mask of rage. My heart is hammering in my chest, my fingers limp at my sides, my knees feel wobbly, and my lungs are heavy with a scream, but I don’t make a sound as he slinks up to stand in front of me.

His acrid breath on my face as he towers above me, the taste of cigars on my tongue. His fingers find my face, cupping my cheek, before he draws back his arm and slaps me with the flat of his hand so hard it sends me to the ground.

“You ungrateful little whore!” he screams in my face, spittle painting my chin, my throat, his tall, lean body dropping into an easy crouch. “I couldn’t have you thinking you could flirt with men outside of this house. I had to teach you a lesson!”

“What did you do to my mother?” I spit blood onto the wood, feeling it coat my teeth, pushing up to my elbows to stare at him.

He scoffs, rolling his eyes, like this is so insignificant, “I had my men run her off the bridge, grab you from the back seat and bring you here.”

“Why?” I feel like there’s not even a real answer here, there’s something wrong with this man’s wiring.

“Because she wouldn’t give you to me,” he says softly, staring into my eyes with lust.

That simple.

“You’re evil,” I breath out, my bloody lip trembling. “You’re disgusting,” I hiss louder, “and vile,” the word quivers off of my tongue as I push up to sitting, getting close to his face, “and a rapist!” I scream, making my tonsils ache, my throat crack.

Nolan’s eyes widen, the shock at my outburst dropping him back onto his arse. He hits the hardwood with a thud, his hands splaying out behind him to catch himself, but he doesn’t get a chance to right himself before I’m throwing myself into him. Barrelling him over, my knee colliding with his crotch, sending his spine crashing into the floor. Scratching and clawing and hitting his head, his face, everywhere I can reach, I pummel.

His hands try to come for my wrists, my knees digging into his ribs as I straddle his belly. He bars his arms across his face, cupping his hands over his skull to protect his head. I lash out with my hand, fingers curled like a claw, and swipe down his face, carving my nails into his cheek, raking a bloody trail down his face.

I’m screaming and panting and hitting him with all of my strength, and he’s not trying to throw me off, just trying to protect himself, until I hear him.

“Lunaaa!” Wolf roars from below.

My head snaps over my shoulder towards the closed doors, and then the back of my skull is colliding with the floor, stars shooting across my vision, black blurring at the edges. Nolan rolls, flipping us so I’m trapped beneath him, his knees bracketing me in, pinning me to the floor by straddling my waist.

“You little bitch!” he screams in my face as I continue to hit him, punch at his chest, his neck, rake my nails down every bit of exposed skin I can reach.

Blood drips from his cheek, splashing across my lips and I buck my hips, trying to get him up, to shift him enough I could try to roll too, but he’s so much heavier than I am, so much bigger. But his men aren’t in here now, it’s just us.

Me versus him.

One monster against another.

Adrenaline lights through me like a surge of electricity, strengthening me.

“You think he’s going to get through my men, you desperate little slut?” he snarls with a laugh, and it stills me, the question, like a wash of calm rolling over me and reassuring me.

I blink once, his hands cuffing my wrists over my head, pinning them to the floor, I look him straight in the eye, our lips almost touching, and without hesitation, I tell him what I know, “Yes.”

Then I scream into his face, throwing my head forward with all of my might so it collides with his nose. He flinches, releasing my hands to cup his face, and then I buck up, sending us into a roll towards the fire.

Gritting my teeth, I punch him, curling my still taped fingers, my broken knuckles screaming, I hit him again and again. Attacking his bloody face, trying to cave his nose into his skull until it’s nothing more than a flat bloody splat on his face.

“I hate you!” I scream at him, my vocal cords screeching, my teeth gnashing. “I hate you! You ruined me!”

Time seems to slow as my arms ache, fists going numb as I hit him again and again and again. Tears are streaking down my flush cheeks, and then the door is bursting open at my back.

“Luna!” Wolf roars, this deafening, bellowing thunder of his deep voice that I feel all the way down to my core.

I feel myself slump with relief, all of me shaking, quivering, trembling.

That’s my mistake.

Nolan lurches up from the floor grabbing me by the throat and rising effortlessly to his feet. Pulling my back flush with his chest, the clamp of his hand squeezing my jaw so hard my teeth cut the insides of my cheeks.

Wolf is standing in the open double doors, dripping with blood. His honey-whiskey eyes half hidden by the wet strands of his raven hair. He looks huge, broad and tall and wet with crimson, like the mass murderer from a slasher film. His fiery eyes scan over me, checking me for injuries, and I feel it, the moment his gaze locks on my split lip, a ripple of rage rolling through him and making his shoulders tense even further.

“I might not have killed her properly the first time, but I can tell you one thing,” Nolan snarls as cold metal meets my temple, “I won’t miss a second.”