It Pains Me (Betrayal #5)

16. Theo

16

THEO

I gripped the bar with the stack of weights on each end then curled my arms, working my biceps and making the veins pop with every rep. I stared in the mirror, headphones over my ears, my skin slick with sweat.

I did my set then racked the bar, taking a thirty-second break before I did another set. The second my hands left the bar, I noticed my butler standing there, waving one hand to get my attention.

I pulled the headphones off, and the loud music was replaced by silence.

“Sir, I’m sorry to bother you.”

“This is the one time of day I don’t want to be interrupted.” Blood was pumping and the muscles were going. There was no stopping and starting, other than the allotted breaks between sets.

“Scarlett is downstairs. She said it’s urgent.”

I tossed the headphones on the bench. “Is she okay?”

“She didn’t say. She just said she needs to speak to you as soon as possible. That whatever you’re doing can wait.”

That got my heart going for a different reason. I left my things behind, didn’t bother to pull on a shirt because it would just be soiled by the sweat, and made my way downstairs to the study.

She was pacing back and forth, unable to stay still.

“I’m here.”

She flipped around to look at me, having no reaction to my sweaty chest and the plumpness of my muscles. Her attraction to me had been obvious on our dates, but once that situation had passed, she was immune to my appearance. Now, her eyes were full of panic. “I was working at the restaurant tonight, and Bolton and Astrid were there.”

I hadn’t heard her name in a while. Axel didn’t mention her anymore, and I did my best not to think about her. Hearing that she was still with him despite his infidelity disappointed me on so many levels. “Why are you telling me this?” Now, I wanted to talk about her less. Didn’t want this conversation to move forward. “She’s not a part of my life anymore, Scarlett.”

“I’m telling you this because she looked like he’d shoved her face into a blender.”

All the nuisance I felt for the situation evaporated, and something more sinister replaced it. I felt my eyes narrow in my stiff face. Felt my blood continue to pump, even though I’d put the weights down.

“She asked me not to say anything. Not after your last conversation.”

“She didn’t tell me any of this.”

“She said she tried, but you massacred her. And by the time you were done ripping her apart, she felt so hopeless that she didn’t want to bother you with it.”

A heavy breath left my lungs, and a semitruck of guilt crashed into me. When the manager of the restaurant had called me, I was already aflame with anger and resentment. I went in there fully loaded with my list of grievances. The conversation had never been about her, only me, because I’d hijacked the damn thing.

“It’s been going on a while,” she said, bringing her voice down. “When she tried to leave him, he lost it. She’s basically a prisoner in the house. His men watch her day and night. He quit her job for her, and now she’s just…there. You should see her face, Theo. If her face looks like that, imagine what the rest of her looks like.”

I couldn’t. My eyes dropped down as a tidal wave of shame struck me. “She came to my restaurant because it was the only way to talk to me without him knowing.” It was just a few blocks from the gallery. She must have pretended to have lunch there because she couldn’t call for help and couldn’t come to my residence either. She came to me for help, and I bulldozed her like an old building scheduled to be destroyed. “Fuck.”

Scarlett watched me, her eyes flicking back and forth.

“I assumed she wanted me back. But when I replay the conversation, she never actually said that. She started crying, and I made her feel like shit for it.” I’d watched her go into the bathroom to mediate the damage, and I just left. I was drinking and smoking and fucking to forget her, and she was a goddamn punching bag.

“He’s vile. He came into the bathroom when we were talking. Was about to grab me when I warned him what would happen if he tried. And I was just a stranger in the bathroom, trying to comfort his wife.”

“Did he touch you?” Not that I needed another reason to kill him. My manifest was already full.

“No. But he would have if I didn’t threaten him. Then he grabbed her and dragged her out like a disobedient puppy.”

The guilt was like a boulder on my chest, the weight making it impossible to breathe.

“What are we going to do?”

“There is no we, Scarlett. I’ll handle this.”

“Axel will want to help.”

“He doesn’t know?”

She shook her head. “I came straight here.”

It was the first time I didn’t launch into action the second I received news. The shame and self-loathing stopped me. All of this could have been avoided if I wasn’t a dick and had just listened to her. But all I cared about was relieving my pain and getting closure. She was clearly in duress, but all I thought about was myself. I felt guilt for not avenging Killian, but the guilt over this was far worse.

Killian was dead, but Astrid was still alive.

Scarlett repeated the question. “What are we going to do?”

“Get Astrid the hell out of there,” I said. “And kill him while I’m at it.”

I headed to the Underground and worked over the plan with my men. It wasn’t a hit against our enemies, it wasn’t a stunt that would fill our pockets with fortune, so I paid them myself since it was a personal matter. I asked them to risk their lives for a woman I hardly knew, and they should be compensated for that.

I wouldn’t put my life on the line for some woman they were fucking once upon a time. If it was one of their wives, it would be a different story. But Astrid wasn’t my wife. She hadn’t even been my woman.

If Bolton were someone else, I could handle this on my own. But he always had his men on the lookout. If he figured out who Scarlett was and who she was married to, his men would make a perimeter around the area. Might even have some in the house.

I needed backup.

I wore a bulletproof vest underneath my long-sleeved shirt. The guys did too. The vest might be pointless because whenever you shot to kill, it was always to the face. If Bolton had the chance, he would aim right between my eyes.

“Boss, you got company.” Octavio nodded behind me.

I turned around and expected to see a distributor or client, but it was Axel.

He acknowledged the guys with a nod as he came toward me. He already wore a vest under his shirt, the bulkiness beneath the fabric making it obvious. “Need a hand?”

“No.” I was touched he was there, but I wouldn’t show it. “Axel, you shouldn’t be here.” We rarely interacted in public. We did our best to keep our relationship private, because if the wrong person knew just how close we were, it would act as the perfect leverage for coercion.

“Scarlett told me what happened. I figured you’d be doing the hit tonight.” He looked at the guys in the room before he looked at me again.

“As you can see, I’ve got plenty of guys.”

“Doesn’t hurt to have one more.”

My eyes shifted back and forth between his before I addressed Octavio. “Give us the room.”

The men immediately filed out.

I stared down my brother. “You’re out of the game, Axel. It was stupid to come here.”

“You know I’ve got your back.”

“You don’t need to prove that to me.”

“I want to help Astrid too.”

“You barely know her.”

“So? She’s important to you. If this were Scarlett?—”

“She’s the love of your life, Axel. It’s not the same thing.”

“Well, maybe she’ll be the love of your life when this is over.”

I didn’t know what would happen after tonight. Even if I killed Bolton and she was free, I wasn’t sure where that would leave us. She’d still chosen him over me, and while the situation was more complicated than that, I couldn’t look past it. “No.”

“I’m coming?—”

“No.”

“I want to tear this guy apart for what he did to Astrid. Sure, I don’t know her. But I’m a husband to a spitfire of a woman and a father to a beautiful little girl. Shit like this bothers me. And the fact that he did it to someone you care about pisses me off even more. You can’t underestimate someone like Bolton. So maybe you don’t need more men, but you need the right man to watch your back.”

“I appreciate that, Axel. But your life is your family. They need you.”

He remained quiet.

“Scarlett needs you.”

“I didn’t come here against her wishes. She gave me her blessing. She knows what you mean to me.”

Now, I was the one to turn quiet.

“I’m with you on this, whether you like it or not.”

I didn’t know how to accept his help, and I didn’t know how to turn him away.

When I didn’t say anything, Axel moved forward. “How are we going to handle Bolton?”

“We go in guns blazing.”

“But does Astrid want him dead? She may not…”

The thought hadn’t crossed my mind, and I couldn’t ask her. “I’m not sure if I care about her preferences.”

“This will all be for nothing if she can’t forgive you for killing him.”

“She should want him dead for what he’s done.”

“I agree. But maybe she doesn’t. Something to think about.”

“I’m not sure if there’s a future for us anyway.”

Axel stared at me. “You wouldn’t be doing this if you didn’t care for her.”

“I never said I don’t care about her.”

“Then don’t hold a grudge.”

“It’s not a grudge?—”

“Then it’s your ego. Don’t burn the bridge, is all I’m saying,” he said. “So, how do you want to handle this?”

“I’m not going to risk my men or you to keep him alive. So spare him if you can…but not to your own detriment.”

Axel nodded. “Got it. Let’s do this shit.”