Chapter 26
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Freedom Mansion, Captain’s Hall
E den
Smoke billows around the small figure of an angel, when the basement door is wrenched open. He’s coughing and choking, holding his arm over his mouth.
It’s Heine.
I recognize him from the last game at the rink.
He looks like a fallen angel, descending into hell for the first time.
And I’m the devil who is going to tear off his wings.
I launch myself forward, grabbing Heine firmly by the wing and driving him back into the room behind him with a shove.
Heine lets out a high-pitched yell of alarm.
Taken by surprise, he doesn’t fight back.
He stumbles and would have fallen, but I grab him by the neck. He chokes and scrabbles at my hand. I ignore the sensation of his nails scratching at my skin.
I can’t feel anything.
Blood dribbles down my wrist.
My pulse is roaring in my ears. My whole world is focused on the man who I’m hunting.
The man who has hurt my family.
I barely register the room that I’m driving Heine across apart from that it truly looks like hell: chains, whips, and red light.
Is this D’Angelo’s playroom?
I slam Heine against a wooden structure that looks like a cross, and he hollers.
I tower over him, pinning him in place.
He kicks out at my ankles, bruising them, but it doesn’t make me let him go.
Pain means nothing to me.
He can’t hurt me because others have hurt me worse my entire life.
I know how to handle pain.
It puts me at an advantage over men like Heine who only play at suffering.
Heine’s eyes are already wet with tears.
“Who are you? You look like the pet but you’re different.” Heine is staring at me in shock. “Are you the psycho twin?”
My gaze hardens. “I’m the killer one.”
Heine stiffens. Fear widens his eyes. Then he begins to sob.
Satisfying.
Every time that I was beaten, ignored, or slammed into lockers, a part of me wanted to see that same look in the eyes of the people around me.
I’m not Shay.
Shay only desires to live his best life, working hard and making the most of every opportunity because he knows how close we came to dying.
He couldn’t hurt anyone, even people who hurt him repeatedly.
He needed me for that.
Yet he’s usually the one who pulls me back from taking revenge…usually.
Except, he’s not here now.
I didn’t admit that was the real reason I didn’t want Shay or Robyn here.
I tighten my hand around Heine’s throat, and he gurgles. He scrabbles more desperately at my wrist.
“Eden,” D’Angelo’s firm voice comes from behind me.
It cuts through the red mist in my mind as sharply as Shay’s voice would.
I let out a shaky breath.
“Eden,” D’Angelo tries again more softly.
His voice sounds rough like he’s in pain.
He is in pain.
Heine has been whipping him.
At the thought, I flex my fingers around the bastard’s throat.
“Stop,” Heine rasps.
I don’t.
“Red,” D’Angelo calls.
Instantly, I drop Heine and take a startled step backward.
Heine drops in a heap to the ground. He’s ugly crying, clutching at his sore neck. One of his wings is broken and hangs at a sad angle.
He looks small.
Even like this, however, he’s not helpless. He’s scrutinizing me through his tears with a calculating look.
“Don’t move,” I command, “or I’ll tie you up.”
“I won’t move,” Heine rasps. “I’ll be good.”
It’s a lie.
An act.
I cock my head, studying Heine.
Everything about him is fake.
When I take a step closer, I can’t decide whether I like it or not that he flinches.
I turn around, scanning the room. Then I suck in a harsh breath.
D’Angelo is awkwardly pushing himself to the edge of a large, black bed with a metal headboard and contraption underneath it that looks like a cage. He’s moving with the same carefulness that I recognize.
He’s in agony and trying to hide it.
He’s pale.
Probably, shock.
I stride to him, tipping up his head.
D’Angelo’s eyes are surprisingly clear. “With me now, Eden?”
Perhaps, I’m the one in shock.
My brow furrows.
How is D’Angelo also able to pull me back from my darkness? Has he truly become another brother to me?
I nod. “He was hurting you.”
“He was.” D’Angelo pulls his chin gently out of my grip. He studies my wrist with concern. “He’s hurt you as well. Your sleeve is stained with blood.”
I shrug.
Is he worried that the suit he gave me is damaged?
“I’ll have it dry cleaned,” I reassure him. “If they can’t get the blood out, then you can take the cost of a new shirt out of my next pay check.”
Why is D’Angelo looking at me like that?
“I won’t. I’ll buy you ten new suits . Twenty. You’re more precious than anything I could ever buy.”
I don’t understand what he means.
D’Angelo’s gaze lights on the short whip that’s lying next to him. His breathing picks up, and he winces.
My shoulders stiffen. “He’s never going to touch you again.”
I snatch up the whip and hurl it across the playroom. It slams against the far wall.
D’Angelo takes a deep breath like he’s calming down with an effort.
I itch to turn him around and inspect his back. But I know that right now, he’d hate that.
I would.
How is he going to play in the game tomorrow? Win?
But then, I’ve played through injury before. Shay has been playing on a sprained ankle.
Colton doesn’t believe that these men are dedicated.
He has no fucking idea.
Heine cringes. “Keep your crazy bodyguard away from me.”
“Actually, he’s my PA.” I love how proud D’Angelo sounds. “He’s highly efficient.”
I glow. “I’ll always find you. Keep you safe.”
D’Angelo looks taken aback, before his lips curl into a smile. “Thank you. Please tell me that you found Robyn and Shay first.”
“Heine didn’t take them. They were still at Rebel House. He just left them there.”
“You asshole.” D’Angelo begins to shake, glaring at Heine. “You never had them.”
Heine shrugs. “Why would I want them?”
“You fucking lied.”
Heine wipes his tears away, giving a nasty laugh. “What was I meant to do, when you won’t admit our love to yourself? I needed you to behave.”
D’Angelo’s cheek twitches.
He holds his hands out to me, and I notice for the first time through my fog of rage that he’s been tied up with rope.
My stomach drops.
There are notes on our contracts, which we negotiated, which make it clear that bondage is a hard limit for D’Angelo. It’s triggering for him.
Why did D’Angelo stop me killing Heine?
Furious, I focus on untying the rope, which has rubbed D’Angelo’s skin, leaving it red and bruised.
If I learn to tie up my Robyn by myself, then I will only use soft materials and the type of knots, which leave her unmarked.
Shay wears marks like a badge of pride. But it makes me sick to see these on D’Angelo.
When I fling the rope to the floor, D’Angelo hugs his wrists to his chest, massaging them with a grimace.
“I’ll call Mike,” I say.
D’Angelo touches my shoulder. “Give me a minute.” With difficulty, he turns to face Heine. “We have some things to sort out first. Don’t we, Charles?”
Heine pushes himself shakily to his feet. “I’m in love with you, jerk. Isn’t that enough? I can offer you the world. I can make your dreams come true. Anything you wish for. Anything. It’s yours.”
“But I’m not in love you with.” D’Angelo’s gaze is steely. “I never was. How could I love someone who beats me, when he doesn’t get what he wants? Obsessional love is a poison. Get some therapy. But most importantly, never come near my lovers or me again otherwise—”
“What?” Heine stalks closer, attempting to straighten his broken wing. “If you do anything to me or make this incident public, then I’ll expose your secrets. After all, we’re in your playroom, Mr. D’Angelo. This was just a night of kinky fun. Remember what I saw you doing in the woods both with the coach’s daughter and your young star player. I’m your boss still. Don’t let’s be boring about this. I don’t want to have to burn everything down.”
I leap off the bed toward Heine, and he stumbles back a step. “I’ll burn you.”
“How about no one’s a pyromaniac?” D’Angelo suggests. “We can come to a deal.”
I twirl around in shock. “A deal? After what he did? Why don’t I just…?”
“If kill is the next word in your sentence, then my plan is better.”
Unlikely.
I cross my arms, glowering at Heine.
Heine licks his lips, nervously. “Talk.”
“I don’t take orders,” D’Angelo replies.
Heine ducks his head. “You don’t take orders. You don’t give them. You don’t love.”
“I love,” D’Angelo says, quietly. “I love so much that I was prepared to let you do anything to me. I’d have died if it kept the people I love safe.”
I knew that D’Angelo was the right man for my twin. Shay has made himself vulnerable with D’Angelo, giving him his soul.
But D’Angelo is prepared to protect him like I am.
I never thought that I’d find anyone else who’d care for my twin in that way. It makes something inside me unwind and relax for the first time in my life.
I can risk loving Robyn and living my own life because I know that Shay truly has someone else in his corner now.
Heine’s face flushes with rage, even as his lip trembles. “Stop it. Stop talking about those nobodies. Trash. I’m right here . Why won’t you fucking see me?”
“I see you.” D’Angelo presses on a raised whip mark, which curls from his back onto his neck and hisses in pain. “I wish that I’d seen you earlier, Charles. This time, however, you’ve crossed the line in a way that there’s no coming back from. I’m covered in bruises. There are witness accounts of the drugging and kidnapping.”
Heine waves his hand. “I can claim it was consensual.”
“You can’t,” I reply. “We have the remains of the wine. It’ll be tested. What do you think will be found?”
Heine becomes ashen. “Sure, then I’ll take you down with me.”
D’Angelo grips onto the side of the bed and with extreme effort pulls himself to his feet.
It’s obvious that he needs to regain the control.
I move to steady him and allow him to lean on me.
D’Angelo is shaking but he straightens his shoulders. “You’ve been scaring me with shadow monsters for weeks. Your fear tactics aren’t going to work any longer. You can create a scandal or take our careers, but we can fucking ruin you. How will your dad react to these stories? How will a pretty, young, entitled brat like you survive in prison?”
The way that Heine recoils like he never expected D’Angelo to call his bluff or threaten him is satisfying.
Heine twists away, hugging his arms around himself. “You have an efficient PA, but I have efficient lawyers.”
“Not efficient enough. Want to take that risk?”
Across the smoke filled room, which is flooded with red light, I stare at the billionaire club owner who has held our lives in his hands.
Now, he looks small and unsure.
Beaten.
Standing with D’Angelo, I never believed that I’d have a boss and…brother…like him.
He’s strong and he makes me feel stronger as well.
Even after a traumatic night like tonight, D’Angelo is working out the strategy to protect all of us, as well as the Bay Rebels.
He’s a true leader.
Heine turns back to face D’Angelo.
His eyes are flat and hard, as if he hasn’t been crying. “I’ll have your killer PA charged for trying to murder me. He’s younger than me and pretty too. How do you think he’ll do in prison?”
D’Angelo tenses, and for the first time, looks panicked.
He opens his mouth and then snaps it shut like he doesn’t know what to say.
I evenly meet Heine’s smug look. “Prison won’t be the worse place I’ve been locked up. It’ll be worth it, as long as you’re punished too. What if we’re cellmates?”
My expression is darkly dangerous.
Heine backs up, hitting the wall.
He shudders. “Keep him away from me.”
D’Angelo casts me an impressed look, before laughing. “No promises. And by the way, I have good lawyers too. We both know that since Eden came here to rescue me, he would never be charged. You’re the criminal.”
Heine’s shoulders slump. He slips down to the floor.
His hair hangs over his face, as he hugs his knees. “What do you want?”
“That’s more like it. Was that so hard?” D’Angelo struggles to walk closer, and I help him to make each painful step. He’s breathing hard, but his eyes gleam with triumph. “I’m taking out a restraining order against you. This will be the last time that we meet, you speak to me, or we have any contact, or I’ll go to the cops.”
Heine looks up, as if D’Angelo has just slapped him. “You don’t mean that. You can’t. Please, Sir…”
“Don’t call me that,” D’Angelo snarls. “I’m going to spread the word to have you banned and blacklisted across the kink community globally. I’ll make sure that you don’t abuse another sir again.”
“Asshole,” Heine howls, mask slipping. “You can’t do that.”
“Watch me.” D’Angelo stares down mercilessly at Heine.
“You said a deal,” Heine says, desperately.
“I don’t go to the cops, and you stay away from my lovers and me,” D’Angelo answers. “You keep our secrets. But also, since you hate living with your dad so much, I have a solution.”
Heine’s eyes flicker with hope. “I knew that you cared about me.”
I watch D’Angelo with respect like waiting for a wolf in an ambush about to tear out their prey’s throat.
“Enough to remind you that your company has significant investments in Germany.” There’s a fiendish gleam in D’Angelo’s eyes. “You hold dual citizenship via your mom, right? Why don’t you have fun playing with your business there? You sell it to your dad that you finally want to become serious about the family business. You say that you’re eager to run the European branch.”
Smart.
Heine’s face crumples.
“You really don’t want to see me again.” He sounds devastated. “You’re sending me out of the country. Exiling me.”
“Dramatic,” I mutter.
“You did that when you attacked and threatened my lovers.” D’Angelo’s expression is devilish under the red lights. He leans his arm against the wall, pinning Heine with his intense gaze. “You want an escape, and I want you gone. Did you think that you could abuse me without consequences? Isn’t this what you wanted, a reaction? Well, now you’ve got one. What’s wrong? Can’t handle it?”
“How long?” Heine whispers.
“How long would the prison sentence be for drugging, kidnapping, and assault?”
Heine bites his lip, unable to hold D’Angelo’s gaze any longer. “I only wanted you to love me.”
D’Angelo’s expression becomes even colder. “You can’t force someone to love you. I’m fucking obsessed with my lovers but I spent years alone because Robyn chose a different man to me. I didn’t force or try to possess her. Love has to be willing. It’s a series of choices. Tomorrow, I’m going to play in the game, despite everything you’ve done, and win because of that love. You’d never understand that type of sacrifice. But you won’t see it because you’re going to be on an airplane flying to Germany. Deal?”
Tears are streaking Heine’s cheeks.
He holds out his hand, however, and shakes D’Angelo’s like it’s a business transaction. “Deal.”