Chapter 5
Five
Itrudge down the steps of the tower and enter my bedroom across the hallway.
It’s not lost on me that I put Rapsody exactly where I did so that she’d be close to me.
“Fuck!” I shout, wishing I had longer hair so I could run my hands through it.
For an ex-military man who took the time to have a perfect plan, I sure am fucked. Because now that she’s here, I don’t know what to do with Rapsody. I hadn’t really thought that far ahead. All I saw was red when I found out she was marrying another man. I wanted to punish her, and the best way to do that was to stop her from marrying the man she chose over me. She left me high and dry on the day we were to be wed, but she was dressed in her gown, waiting to walk down the aisle to a man who would never satisfy her.
I shake my head. Looking back, all those years ago, I don’t understand what the hell made me ask her to marry me so quickly. I knew it was my last deployment, and that after, I’d be back on US soil. I was leaving the military to return to Midnight Manor and take my place within the family business at Voss Enterprises. I’d bailed on my family and enlisted the minute I turned eighteen in an effort to leave my past behind me, not realizing that once pain has its claws in you, it follows you anywhere and everywhere.
Asking Rapsody to marry me in the first place was a mistake. I’m unable to have a normal relationship. Not only am I fucked in the head from my upbringing, but I don’t deserve to have happiness after the things I’ve done over my lifetime.
Pacing, I rub my palm over my shaved head, trying to clear my head of emotions and think strategically like my training taught me.
The fact I wanted to marry her so quickly has no bearing now. She’s the one who did me wrong. She made a vow and didn’t live up to it. She made me feel like a fool for allowing myself to think for even one moment that a woman like her could love someone like me. I know what and who I am, and she pretended to be someone she isn’t. She deserves to be punished for her bait-and-switch move.
So I’ll punish her by keeping her from her fiancé long enough that he moves on, and she loses the best thing to come into her life. Just like I did.
Sweat fallsoff my skin and onto the wooden floor, my biceps burning from the last of my push-ups, when there’s a knock on the door. I drag myself off the floor and move steadily toward the door.
My body feels as if I’m hungover because I slept like shit last night. Rapsody refused to eat the meal I brought to her, saying she didn’t trust me not to have poisoned it.
I whip open my door, and Sid stands on the other side. He pushes past me, his shoulder brushing mine, without waiting for an invitation to enter my room.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” he says in a deceptively calm voice.
I turn to face him and blow out a breath, hands on my hips. “What are you talking about?” Since I am about done with my workout, I walk to the en suite bathroom.
He follows me. “Who came back with you yesterday?”
I push down my athletic shorts until they fall on the floor and turn on the water in the shower. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
My brother doesn’t even blink at my nakedness. “Security said you came through the gates with someone.”
I look over my shoulder at him. “You keeping tabs on me, little brother?” Reaching in, I find the water is hot and step inside the large walk-in shower. “Am I not allowed guests in my own home?”
Sid’s hands fist at his sides. “I saw the tapes. The woman was Rapsody.”
I shrug, grabbing the bar of soap. “Maybe I have one of those fascinations with fucking women who look like her?”
“We both know you don’t do that. And she was in a fucking wedding dress!” His voice grows louder.
I’m taken aback, because Obsidian doesn’t often lose his cool. It doesn’t go with the calm, cool, collected lawyer thing he portrays, always hiding what’s really lying beneath his suit.
I knew my brothers would find out I’d kidnapped Rapsody and brought her here. We have security everywhere. But I hoped I could keep it from them longer.
“She was supposed to get married yesterday.” I don’t allow any emotion to creep into my voice as I rub the bar of soap over my body, lest he know how much it gets under my skin to think of her marrying another man.
“Supposed to?”
I look through the glass while I wash my cock, and he lifts a brow.
“She didn’t make it to the ceremony.” I shrug, acting unaffected and continuing to wash my body.
Sid steps closer to the glass barrier that separates us. “Did she leave the church of her own free will?”
I wonder if our parents knew how well the name Obsidian would suit him. His eyes are as black as coal, but beyond that, a darkness shines through them when he allows it.
“Depends on your definition of free will. Do you mean did she walk out of that church on her own two feet? Then yes.”
His dark eyes widen, and he laces his fingers together on top of his head and stares at me. “Are you fucking crazy? I knew what went down fucked you up, but I thought you had more sense than this.”
“I know what I’m doing.”
I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing.
I set down the bar of soap and step under the spray to rinse off the bubbles. By the time I’m done, Sid is gone.
Whatever. I have bigger issues to deal with than what one of my brothers thinks. I have to figure out what I’m going to do with Rapsody. I can’t keep her here forever, but my pride demands that she pay for so callously toying with my emotions. I allowed myself to be vulnerable with her, and she took a knife to my kidneys the first chance she got. I’ll never make that mistake twice.
Once I’m dressed, I instruct our house manager, Marcel, to bring me two dishes for breakfast since I’ve already missed breakfast in the dining room with my brothers. He doesn’t inquire as to why I need two servings because he’s smart enough not to want to know the answer.
When he drops them off, I instruct him to order women’s clothing to be delivered. I give him an idea of what items I’m looking for, and her sizing, and tell him I want it all here by tonight. Marcel’s brows crinkle, but he doesn’t ask any questions.
I shovel down my breakfast in a couple of minutes. More than a decade in the armed forces means I usually don’t linger over my meals unless I’m seated at a table with other people. When I’m finished, I bring Rapsody’s breakfast to the top of the tower.
After a quick knock, I use the key and unlock the door to the bedroom. Rapsody is lying on her side in bed, her back facing me. She doesn’t speak, doesn’t move. I walk over to her side of the bed. She’s staring aimlessly at the wall and the arched window.
I set the tray on the night table next to her. “Eat your breakfast.”
She mumbles a word, barely blinking as her eyes stare straight ahead. Her eyes are red-rimmed, bloodshot, and puffy with gray bags underneath. I give her a withering glare, but she doesn’t see it because she doesn’t bother to even flick her gaze in my direction.
“We’re not playing the game from yesterday. Eat, Rapsody.” I set my hands on my hips, waiting for something, anything from her. I’ll take her fighting me.
But she gives me nothing.
“Fine. Fucking starve!” I wrench the tray up, causing everything on it to clatter and slosh.
I prowl out of the room, steadying the tray on my hand to lock the door behind me. My mind is too filled with the shit position I put myself in as I head from the north wing to the communal part of the house in the middle that connects all four wings—one for each of us Voss brothers—and make my way to the kitchen. I’m not going back to my bedroom. I want no reminders of Rapsody and her fucking stubbornness.
Mrs. Potter is in the kitchen, along with the chef and sous chef, when I walk in, and I drop the tray, allowing it to crash onto the marble countertop. “See to it that this gets disposed of.”
I circle on my heels and storm out of the room in case they want to ask me any questions as to why I wanted two plates this morning. I satisfy my sexual appetite in other places, so I’m sure they were all surprised I had a guest here. Though Mrs. Potter probably sensed my obvious mood and wouldn’t pry.
I’m heading down the long hallway adjacent to the dining room when my eldest brother, Asher, walks toward me. I guess he and his new wife, Anabelle, have returned from their honeymoon. I would’ve thought he’d still be floating in apparent wedded bliss, but he wears his normal scowl and his hands are fisted at his sides. Some of his curls have fallen over his forehead, which makes him appear unkempt. Not like him at all. That, coupled with the athletic pants and white T-shirt, makes him appear nothing like the man who sits at the helm of our family company, Voss Enterprises.
“Wait! What is going on?” Anabelle says, trailing behind my brother.
If it were my youngest brother Nero’s fiancée, Maude, it would have felt like cat claws scratching down the inside of my brain.
“Asher! Wait! Why did you rush out of the bedroom?” Anabelle finally reaches him, placing her hand on his forearm.
I stop walking toward Asher and heave out a sigh because his eyes are locked on me. I’m a smart man, so I figure I know why he crawled out of bed and left his new wife.
Sid is a fucking snitch.
Asher stops inches from me, his hand with the bear tattoo clenched into a fist, and he launches it forward, punching me in the stomach. “What the actual fuck, Kol?”
Anabelle yelps, and her hands fly up to her mouth.
I let him get in his shot because we both know I could snap his neck in two seconds if I really wanted to. But I’ve brought trouble to his doorstep, so I’ll allow one punch.
“What were you thinking?” Asher growls.
That’s the question, isn’t it? I wish I knew the answer.
“Ash, what’s going on?” Anabella asks, stepping between us and glancing back and forth.
Asher ignores her, which is a testament to how pissed he is. Anabelle has softened my brother… well, toward her. No one else has been on the receiving end of the new Asher. “You kidnapped Rapsody and brought her here?”
Anabelle’s eyes widen, and her head snaps up to look at me. “You kidnapped someone?”
When I don’t answer, her gaze shoots to Asher.
He holds his hands up in front of himself. “Don’t ask me.” He pins me with his big-brother stare.
He wants answers as to my plans for Rapsody, and I have no idea how to answer. But I need to figure it out. And soon.
“You need to release her. Immediately,” Asher demands, his voice bouncing off the walls.
“Not happening.”
He swallows, but his anger doesn’t lessen like he wants.
“Kol, you can’t keep a woman captive. Surely you know that.” Anabelle’s blue eyes are filled with concern. Whether for me or Rapsody, who knows?
My vision falls to Anabelle’s, and I arch an eyebrow. “Is it that different from what Asher did with you?”
Her face reddens, and her gaze falls to the floor.
Asher puffs out his chest and steps toward me. “Careful the way you talk to my wife, asshole.” Then he squeezes Anabelle’s shoulder. “Why don’t you go back to our bedroom? I’ll be right behind you.”
She nods and glances at me for a beat with unsure eyes. Fuck, I hate the way that makes my guilt rise to the surface. Everything is so much easier when you just don’t give a shit.
Asher waits until she’s a distance away, watching her over his shoulder, like a bear protecting its cub. Once she disappears from view, he whips his head back toward me with the lethal gaze I’m familiar with. “You will apologize to Anabelle the next time you see her.”
I nod begrudgingly. Begrudging not because I didn’t already plan to apologize, but because Asher thinks I’m doing it because of his directive.
“You’ve been looking for years, so I’m not surprised you finally tracked her down, but I assumed it was so you could have it out with her and get answers to why she didn’t show up to your wedding, not so you could kidnap her.”
“I thought the same until I saw her ready to marry another man. Then…”
His lips purse, and his arms cross as if it’s not a good enough excuse for what I did.
“Are you telling me that if Anabelle ditched you, and you found out she was marrying someone else, you wouldn’t take matters into your own hands?” I ask.
He doesn’t bother answering, but the way his mouth tightens, it’s clear that I’ve struck a nerve. His tough alpha exterior slightly lessens. “What is your plan for Rapsody?”
“I don’t know.”
He inches closer. “Well, you better figure it out and fucking soon, because if I had to guess, her picture is going to be all over the fucking news and internet, if it’s not already. You know how the media loves when a young, beautiful blonde girl is missing.”
He’s right, of course. Asher’s one of those rare breeds with the ability to think before he acts. Even if it doesn’t make national news, her disappearance will make the rounds in the Seattle area.
“I’ll take care of it.”
“You better. Otherwise, I will.” He pokes me in the chest with his finger, and I tamp down the urge to grab it and break it.
Then he turns on his heel and heads back to his bedroom and his pretty little wife.
What a nice fucking life for him.