Dark Prince (Devious Heirs #1)

Chapter Twenty Seven | Axel

Two days before Cordelia killed her grandfather

I ’m going to murder everyone who even bats a fucking eyelash in her direction when I get her back. The entire world will burn by my hand and I will laugh as they scream. I will scorch the Earth until she’s back in my arms, then together we will dance on the ashes of those who remain. My fist stings as the shock radiates up my arm into my shoulder and chest from hitting the man duct taped to the wall, naked. Yes, I wanted the tape to be part of the torture. He’s not said a fucking word since I took him from his car. I watched the CCTV and he’s the one of the men who clocked me from behind and took my girl. He’s the one who hit me, and not the one who took her. The second I find that man, he’ll die a rough death at my hand.

My chest heaves as I breathe, trying to reign myself in so I don’t kill him too soon. “Take his fingernails.” I state through gritted teeth. I watch as Kenan rolls up on his little stool and grabs the pliers from the table we have next to the wall. Kenan, positions himself and yanks the first nail from his finger, forcing the man to scream out. Ethan, one of my fathers, tracked this mother fucker down and got me all the information I needed to bring him here.

Hunter’s High Alumni graduated the same year as JT. We all went to school back in our parent’s hometown, because they wanted us to be humbled after being so fucking ‘spoiled’ as Mom likes to say. But if he graduated when JT did, he’s several years older than me and I’m not sure how he got tied up in this shit, but if he doesn’t start talking soon, I may accidentally kill him.

I swore to protect her, and here I am failing less than two months of having her. I’ve failed. Cracking my neck to the side I feel my anger boiling through me. Less than two fucking months, for all I know she’s fucking dead. She could be laying on the ground, beaten and broken, calling out for anyone.

“Axel!” I hear my name, pulling me out of my head as I look over at my brother who is currently spinning in his wheeled chair with the pliers in the air and a bloody fingernail held between the teeth of the metal pliers.

“Kenan.” I snarl his name.

“You started looking a little extra murderery, you can’t kill him yet.” Kenan offers me a smile. A fucking smile, this isn’t the fucking time to be smiling, why is he smiling? I want to punch his dopey face.

“Murderery is not a word.” I snap, pointing at the man taped to the wall, “Take a finger.” I nod to my brother. I wonder if he has someone we could take from him, maybe that’ll make him talk. If I brought someone he loved here and started pulling out their teeth in front of him. Taking a piece off of them for every thirty seconds he remains silent. He obviously gives zero fucks about his own life. I pull my phone from my pocket and send Ethan a quick text asking if this guy has any family we could use. The response is quick, telling me he has no one. Fuck. I roll my neck trying to subdue the beast I feel beating inside of me, itching to burst through my skin.

If he doesn’t have someone, then maybe he’d like to keep his dick attached, no man wants that cut off. Then again, I’m not letting him walk out of here alive, and he probably knows this, which means threatening to take that is fucking pointless.

I’m fucking worthless.

Such a fucking failure.

Might as well pull my gun out of my waistband and put a bullet through my own fucking head.

“Axel!” Kenan snaps at me again.

“Fuck you.” I reply, grinding my teeth.

“I need you to keep a level head. I can’t be trying to concentrate on taking a finger if you’re back there all up in your head. I need your head clear, we’ve gotta find your girl. You know the dad squad and the girls are looking for her, too.”

I stride across the room, closing the distance between us and clock my brother right in his jaw. “Shut the fuck up.” I watch as his body falls to the ground, the stupid chair he was on wheels across the room like it’s got a jetpack strapped to it.

Ripping my knife out of my pocket, grasping the handle I feel that monster beneath the surface explode from within and my body is moving before my head can catch up. In the time it takes me to blink, I’ve pierced my knife right through his chest, sliding it perfectly between ribs to rip into his heart.

The amount of strength I have while riding this fury bomb is terrifyingly seductive as I use it to slice through his body, carving out his heart, lungs, muscle and anything else in the way as the knife glides like butter out through the left side of his body.

“Dammit Axel!” Kenan shouts, a loud metal clanking around me as I let out a relaxing breath, feeling that tiny bit of relief until it all slams back into me.

Fuck.

Did I just get my girl killed, if she’s not dead already?

––––––––

? Two hours before Cordelia killed her grandfather

“C AN YOU DRIVE ANY FUCKING faster?” I shout, staring at the little red dot on my screen. She had been completely off grid for far too fucking long, and suddenly her tracker came back online. Between all the information everyone gathered, we found evidence of her being taken to Chigaco. Where all of this Romano bullshit started, long before I was born, and I’ll be the one to fucking finish this. I will put a stop to the chaos Paul Romano has created because he couldn’t kneel to my mother.

“I can, but then we risk getting pulled over and missing the window to get her. Who’s to say that light stays on?”

“Then fucking get pulled over, but driving seventy-five is not okay Cara!” I shout at my sister, who offered to drive me up here.

“I could turn around and go back home. I didn’t have to bring you up here.” She spits out with her sisterly venom

“No, sorry. I just-”

“I know, baby brother. I get it, but don’t fucking snap at me. I’m not Kenan, or one of those fucking tools he’s always got around. I’m your sister, and I love you, but I will stab you if you yell at me again.” Cara weaves around a few cars going far too slow and picks her speed up to eighty-five. “We came with you because we love your dumb face. Now say thank you and fuck off.” She nods.

“Thank you.” I say turning my attention back to the red dot. It’s taking too long to get where I need to be.

***

W E’RE PROBABLY FIVE minutes away from the dot now, and my nerves feel like they’re on fucking fire. I’m itchy, jumpy, and I feel raw as fuck. I haven’t slept since she was taken, well if you don’t count the forced nap from getting knocked out. The drive from Kansas City to Chicago has been so fucking boring and I probably should have slept on the drive, but I couldn’t. How can I sleep when I’m the reason she’s even being targeted now. I agreed to let her be the pawn in this fucking game. And since it’s not a game I’ve designed I cannot guarantee the outcome. Which I don’t like. My skin feels like it’s crawling as I bounce my leg impatiently. As my leg bounces, I tap my fingers on my knee, watching that fucking light on my screen, afraid that it’s going to disappear now that it’s basically within my grasp. I can’t be late, I’ve spent the last two days thinking of every possible scenario that I was going to find at the end of this hunt and I’m still not sure what I’ll find.

I’ve punched my knuckles raw, trying to get answers from anyone I could. I even challenged my father, which wasn’t the smartest idea. I may be a fucking psycho, but Damien put me on my ass so fast that I had to blink away the daze from my head. I’ve spent years fighting and training to take anyone I could, but when your father’s the one who trained you, I guess he would know all my moves. Kenan and Maci are both asleep in the backseat as I continue to stare at my screen.

Time feels like it’s going by too fucking slowly. I want to murder the fucking seatbelt, why because I’ve obviously lost my fucking mind. When Cara comes to a stop next to a large warehouse, I jump out of the car, ripping the seatbelt off as my feet hit the ground. I run like I’ve never before in my life towards that fucking dot on my phone. My mind is racing with the possibilities that I’m about to find. Her body in a bloody heap, beaten beyond recognition.

I hear her scream as I run closer to the building but stop when I see a shadow in the window on the second floor right above me. It’s her, I’d know that fucking body anywhere. “Cordelia!” I shout up to her, unsure if she can hear me. A second shadow appears and I watch as she punches him and the knife that appears slices through his throat, spraying red blood on the window. Holy hell, she’s fucking amazing. I reach down and adjust my growing hard dick in my pants as I watch her open the window and toss the body out.

“What took you so long?” She asks, climbing up on the window sill.

“Don’t you fucking jump!” I shout up at her, rushing closer but I have to stop as the body falls to the ground and she leaps with a laugh. First and foremost, I’m glad she’s not dead. But as soon as my heart starts beating again, I may kill her. She lands perfectly, superhero style and pops up, shaking her hands out as blood splatters the ground. When she steps into the light, I see her face, painted red and I grab her throat, pulling her to me and kiss her.

She shoves at my chest, knocking me backwards and I’m fucking confused. “I’m not sure why you think you deserve to kiss me. I’ve been gone for over two days, and you think you can just kiss me?” She tsks, “Axel baby, it’s gonna take some major pleading and begging for you to ever touch me again.” She shoulders past me and when I turn around I see Cara standing there with Maci and Kenan. “Any of you have some sort of fire. I poured a shitload of different chemicals around the building and they’re all dead. I need to burn it to the ground.” She holds a hand out and I was as Cara smiles wildly, reaching into her pocket to pull out a lighter. “Thanks.”

Cordelia marches back towards me and then past me, again. I watch her with disbelief, not sure where she’s gotten this sort of fire from. Then again, the only reason she appeared on my radar was because she’s a natural born killer, instincts and all. Now she’s all mine. This is who my little deer is, through and through, and goddamn, it’s fucking hot.

When she finds something to light on fire, I watch as she throws it onto the body she dropped and the flames engulf him quickly, burning hot enough to force me to take a couple steps back. Cordelia walks away like the super villain she is with the building exploding behind her, such a fucking bad ass!

As the building burns, we stand there, leaning against the car, watching as every crime she committed there goes up in flames. Kenan has already dispatched a team to ensure nothing from this fire makes it out of here. So now, we go home.