Twisted in Chaos (Destructive Devastation #2)

Chapter 9

A sense of satisfaction soars through me when I pick the lock to my bedroom door, successfully disengaging the deadbolt that keeps me locked inside. Pins and needles rise inside my body as I wait, prickling my skin with excitement. For what I’m about to do. For leaving this wretched fucking mansion as a free man. Then, a new mission will start.

I’ve been stuck here for hours now after that horrendous dinner where my father informed me I was to marry Chloe Satin. I nearly gag at the thought. No way in Hell is that happening on my watch. I’ll claw my eyes out before I ever walk down the aisle with that snake who only wants me for the money or family loyalty. Fuck the allies of the Viotto’s. Gabriel has gone too far this time.

During my time of solitude, I’ve been meticulously plotting. My leave. My father’s demise. Searching for where my mother truly went all these years. You name it. I’ve been plotting against it. My number one priority now is taking out my frustrations on a certain traitorous guard who rests just outside my bedroom door.

He won’t live to tell the tale of his demise. They’ll only remember him for his unrecognizable face and bloodless body.

I’m going to fucking gut him.

The loud game Aiden insists on playing on his phone vibrates through the wood of my door. Loud and obnoxious—which is fitting for him. Giving me the perfect opportunity to break his fucking neck and exact my revenge while he’s too absorbed to notice.

First, Aiden will die at my hands with the weapons Arrow so generously left lying around. His blood will smear the walls of our shower until he gives me all the information I need, like where Arrow is exactly and what my father has planned for the next few weeks. There has to be more to it than shoving me in this room between mealtimes and hoping I don’t escape.

Slowly, I move the bedroom door open a crack and peek out. A grin stretches my lips as the darkness I’ve held tightly to comes out from its hiding space inside me and roars with excitement.

This is what I needed to round out the end of my day. Excitement. Murder. Finally, I’ll be moving forward and taking a step further toward my family, who is lost in the wind.

Thankfully, the door doesn’t squeak or give me away when I open it further. Aiden sits on the opposite wall, nose in his phone. His fingers tap tirelessly on the screen, advancing him in the game. It’s a shame his back isn’t to me. I could easily pull him into the room, shut the door, and lock it again.

It’s like putting our enemies in the pen with the lions and watching them scrambling to escape the massive cats eager to eat them. Except this time, I’m the fucking cat eager to kill the rat.

Opening the door further, I let it hit the wall. Aiden jumps, nearly dropping his phone with surprise.

“Is this what you do on the job?” I smirk when his face completely folds, twisting to a snarl as he yanks his phone off the ground.

His body expands, seeming bigger than usual when he marches up to me. “How the fuck,” he grunts, pushing me back into my room with one shove. A shove, I let him get in. There is nothing more thrilling than riling him up.

“I should ask the same,” I say, righting myself a few feet from the door jamb. “Is that what my father pays you to do on the job? Such a waste of space. Maybe I should discuss your shortcomings with him. He would not take too kindly to–” I grunt when Aiden’s fist connects with my face repeatedly.

I stagger back several steps. My heart fucking explodes in my chest. Adrenaline pours through my veins, making every hair on my body stand on end like electricity zapping through my system.

This is it. This is my fucking moment. The bloodbath I’ve been craving to sate my demon has begun.

I heave a breath, staring at Aiden. He glares back with a gloss forming over his eyes. Frantic breaths pour through his nostrils, flaring them. My blood drips from his knuckles.

“You won’t say shit,” he growls. “You will stay in this goddamn room and shut the fuck up.”

I smirk, wiping the blood from my lip and nose. Oh, how deliciously it burns when my skin tears in two from the force of his blows.

“Won’t I?” I question, putting my bloodied hands into my pockets. See? I’m no threat to him right now. “I’d gladly tell him what you’ve been up to when you were supposed to be watching over me. Your captive.”

Aiden steps back toward the door, and for a second, I think I’ve misread everything. He isn’t supposed to flee from this fight. He’s supposed to lock himself inside with me and pummel my face in. He’s out for blood. Needing someone to take his aggression out on when he can’t with my father. Gabriel has too much control over him. Most likely dangling something over his head to get him to comply—the title, of course. Or maybe something more. A sibling in custody? A parent in peril? Whatever it is, Aiden jumps when Gabriel says to.

“You think he’d let someone like you, who can’t keep his son in line, be his second-in-command?” I snort, wincing at the pain from my face.

But the pain helps me to remember I’m alive. Breathing. Fucking walking around. And I’m about to remove Aiden from the equation. All he has to do is…

Aiden slams my bedroom door shut, locking it from the inside with a smirk. Perfect. He thinks he’s got me as he rolls up his sleeves, exposing the tattoos on his forearms.

“Shut the fuck up, Jericho. Your father said I could punish you any way I saw fit. He knew you’d try to escape. He has measures in place.” Measures, he says. Interesting. I wonder what precautions my father has taken to ensure I stay put.

Guards at every exit? Most likely. Gun? Oh, yes. He isn’t above shooting me in the legs and then breaking them to keep me here and compliant.

“Oh? So, beating my ass is your solution?” I taunt him, standing in my relaxed pose. He could hit me again, and I’d laugh in his face.

He has no idea what sort of monster he’s up against. Underestimate me, dickbag. Let’s see how much you like fire and brimstone, because that’s where I’m sending your ass tonight.

“Every day until you fucking stop pushing my buttons.”

“My father will see how dedicated you are if you do that. Desperate times call for desperate measures, right?” I lift a brow when he advances on me again.

It’s a good thing this room is far away from my father’s old bedroom. In fact, it’s an entire floor away from the main bedroom.

No one will hear Aiden’s screams.

Aiden punches me again four times in a row. Admittedly, the last one to my temple rocks me a little. I sway on my feet, keeping my hands in my pockets.

“Fight back!” he grunts, heaving more breaths as sweat glistens on his forehead.

He’s getting quite the workout, isn’t he?

“You’d enjoy that, wouldn’t you?” I question, removing my hands from my pockets and securing one of Arrow’s extra needles in my hand. Bless his crazy soul for leaving his knockout drugs in convenient places around this room. He’s like a squirrel keeping his stash hidden in small areas. “You want me to fight back, Aiden? You want me to hit you in the jaw until your teeth are bleeding?”

Aiden squares his shoulders, standing confidently and ready to strike. His arm moves. Fist flies. Until it is not. I smirk when I catch it, squeezing with all my might to stop his movements. He grunts, fighting against me.

“I thought you wanted to hit me,” I taunt again, holding his fist in the air. “It’s too bad,” I tsk, jamming the needle into his arm and quickly administering the sedative inside.

“What the fuck?” he slurs. “What did you…” Aiden falls to his knees, unable to keep himself upright any longer. His hand falls away from me as he tries to catch himself but ends with his back on the floor. Those beady eyes filled with hate stare up at me. “You drugged me,” he slurs again as drool dribbles from the edge of his lips. “You cheating bastard.”

All is fair in love and war—I think to myself as I hover above him. And this is war, after all. He’ll pay for his sins, and I’ll dole out the punishment for his crimes.

It’s a win-win. For me, at least.

“Not really my move. You can thank Arrow for the inspiration. Only this time, I won’t knock you out for hours. I need you compliant.” I grin, capping the used needle, and toss it in the trash. Aiden won’t be going anywhere on his own for some time. “You see, I did some research on his favorite drug. Given in full doses, it’s meant to knock the victim out for two to five hours, depending on their size. But this dose?” I say, pointing to him. “It’ll disable you for about thirty minutes max, which gives me enough time to ensure I have you where I want you. You can’t move your muscles, but you’ll still feel everything I do to you.”

“I’ll tell him everything, you shit bag. It may give you a thirty-minute head start, but he’ll know everything. Even when you leave,” he slurs again, sucking in breaths frantically.

“Oh.” Leaning my head to one side, I roll up the sleeves of my white shirt. “You think I’m leaving you here so you can snitch more?” I chuckle at that, grabbing both of his arms and dragging him. “Can’t leave a mess for when my wife gets home. She would be upset to see the blood on the furniture. I can’t upset her or Shepp. Now, Arrow? He’d be more than thrilled to see what I did to you. I should film this for him.”

Aiden attempts to struggle. And I do say attempts. He’s unable to move as the drug takes hold, and the only thing he can do is whine his protests. Of course, his voice still works. I need it to. I only want to incapacitate him for a brief time until I can get all the answers I need.

“What are you doing?” he garbles when I pull his shoes off and neatly put them together under the sink.

“You won’t need clothing for the fun we’re about to have.”

If Aiden could stiffen his muscles, I think he would. Instead, he gives me another glare filled with so much hate I should be on fire. Too bad he can’t do anything about it. He’s vulnerable and at my fucking mercy.

I remove most of his clothing besides his boxers. He can keep those on to protect his virtue and my eyes. I’d rather not glimpse the sniveling worm in his pants. Once I’m satisfied he can’t make any moves, I drag him into our shower and haphazardly toss him inside. He lands with an oomph on his back, wheezing.

“You see these?” I ask, jostling a few rings in the large shower of our bathroom. “There’s eight of them. Four in the ceiling and four attached here, here, here, and here,” I say, pointing to the corners. “Arrow installed them. I always wondered why, but now I think I have my answers.”

Honestly, I should have snooped in our room ages ago. But it wasn’t my domain. My office is my life where the things I hold precious reside—like my violin and business notes.

Arrow, on the other hand, stashed away so many goodies inside this bedroom—his domain. Like these ropes, for instance. Sure, he used them on me when he drugged me, tied me to the chair, and fucked my wife in front of me as punishment. I knew they were somewhere special. Imagine my surprise when I opened his bedside table and found a plethora of Arrow’s toys for the taking. Ropes, dildos—which were everywhere—needles filled with his favorite drugs. Hell, he stashed more around in hidey holes. I think he has hoarding issues.

“Let the fun begin.” I grin, getting to work and tying each of his limbs with the pieces of rope and hanging him from rings on the ceiling until his feet dangle above the drain and his wrists turn red. “I bet you can’t even feel that yet, can you?” I ask, heaving a breath.

Who knew deadweight could be so taxing on the body? I’ve buried the dead before—a plethora of them in our back garden. But never by myself, with little help.

“No,” he gurgles out, chin hanging near his chest, unable to raise it to look at me.

“Then we’ll wait. In the meantime, would you like to talk about my father’s plans, maybe?” I tap a foot, stepping back from his dangling form.

“Gabriel!” Aiden shouts with panic rising in his voice when he does it repeatedly.

I sigh. “I see. Still up for snitching, are we?” I shake my head, remove the ball gag from my pocket, and hold it up. Aiden can’t see it, of course. He’s too weak to move his neck, but I examine it. Remembering the feeling of it in my mouth that night Arrow tied me to the chair.

Who knew getting so kinky could be such a turn-on? It seems every day I’m discovering fun things about myself I never would have before. Voyeurism, for one. To say I enjoyed watching them fuck Journey while I was indisposed is an understatement. Add in the heightened effects of being tied down.

God damn.

It was filthy. Filthy fucking good.

When I get my hands on my wife, I’m going to fuck her into oblivion.

I stop my musings and lift Aiden’s chin, letting his head fall back completely. The only part of his face he can move is his eyes. They widen comically large, like two saucers sitting on his face—poor guy. I don’t think he’s ever seen a gag before.

“Jericho,” he slurs. “Don’t. I’ll tell you what I know…” he trails off, gagging when I shove the red ball between his teeth, leaving him unable to move his jaw.

“Hold still now, Aiden. This won’t take very long,” I quip, chuckling as I fasten the straps together and tighten them too tight. “Comfortable?”

He gurgles something I don’t care about when I step out of the shower, leaving him suspended by the ropes. Normally, when an act like this occurs between lovers, it’s against etiquette to leave your partner in such a position—tied to a chair with a gag. Don’t leave them unattended. It’s unsafe and could cause disastrous consequences. With Aiden, though? I don’t give a rat’s ass if he swallows his tongue, chokes to death, and shits his pants.

Please take him.

But not until after he tells me what I need to know.

“Be a good boy, Aiden, and stay right there. I’ll be back after I check over my injuries. It was rude of you to put your hands on me. While I’m away, I’d love for you to think over what my father has said and what he has in store for me, this city, and where Arrow might be located.” He gurgles more, still unable to move. “Perfect.” I grin, shut the glass door behind me, and walk to the mirror.

Blood seeps from my nose and the cut on my lip. Little bastard. These will leave bruises for days to come. Memories, I guess. A survival scar I can look back on and remember the time I pulled one over on my father and his little monkey, Aiden.

With a sigh, I clean the blood from my face and hands. I wonder what Journey and Shepp are doing? If they’re being harmed or taken care of? Is Shadow torturing them? Fuck. I squeeze my eyes shut, attempting to bat the thoughts away. Desperation claws at my chest once again, aching to get to them. To her. To Arrow. To Shepp.

They all need me right now. To save them from whatever fates loom over their heads like a guillotine. I can only hope I’m taking all the proper steps to get to them.

One stepping stone at a time, Jericho. First, extract information from Aiden. Find Arrow. Go to East Point for Olivia and Carter’s help.

Then, save your family.

I suck in a breath, counting down from ten to ease the worry gnawing at my brain. Once I hit the number one in my brain, I open my eyes and stare at my reflection. He’s battered and bruised up. The life in his eyes is dull and hazy.

But it’s me.

I’m alive.

And Aiden won’t be for long.

The scuffing of Aiden’s tippy toes on the shower floor drags my attention back to my prisoner. Good, the sedative is slowly wearing off. There’s no escape for him. It’s almost comical he thought he would be drugged and left behind. He has vital information for me. I know he does.

“You awake in there, Aiden?” I question, tossing the clear shower door open. I grin when his eyes find mine. His head rests on his arm, extending toward the ceiling, and his fingers wiggle, aching to get free. A redness forms around his wrists, whitening his hands. “Ah, looks like the blood flow has stopped pumping to your fingers. A shame. So, shall we get started?” I question, tapping the gag. “You won’t scream, will you?”

He shakes his head at me.

“Wonderful,” I say, grinning as I undo the gag. I am not stupid enough to think Aiden will be quiet. Not that they will hear him, anyway.

“Gab…” He doesn’t get the scream out fast enough before my fist flies into his teeth, knocking a few loose. Ah, I love the sound of teeth hitting the ground to get the blood flowing.

“I thought we had an agreement,” I say, holding his chin between my fingers, forcing him to look at me. Those rage-filled eyes glare holes through my face. Too bad he’s not going anywhere. “You were to stop calling him. The only reason you need to open your mouth is to tell me what hospital room Arrow is in.”

There is only one hospital in Briar Cove. Unless my father shipped him far away, so I would not be able to get there in time. That is a possibility. But he does not control anyone outside of Briar Cove. My uncles, on the other hand? They police their territories and do not interfere elsewhere. So, calling them for aid is out of the question.

Aiden’s harsh breaths reverberate through the room as he tries to move again. His feet kick out, barely missing my kneecap. I step back, casually watching him struggle more until tears wet his cheeks.

“You’re a son of a bitch,” he chokes out.

“I won’t argue with you there.” My head tilts, taking in the acceptance on his face. “So, what shall it be?” Without further prompting, I pull out a knife I conveniently found on Arrow’s side of the room. Mentally, I send him a thank you for being so prepared. It’s like he knew we’d be torturing someone in our shower one day.

“We can come to an agreement,” he says, gritting his teeth as I run the knife over his cheek, soaking up his tears.

“We could,” I say noncommittally.

I could agree to let him go if he gives me everything I need. I could let him walk back to his little girlfriend in the apartment they share with their poodle across town. I could do a lot of things. Give him a way out from under Gabriel. Money. Death. Anything I wanted. The thing about cockroaches like Aiden is they’ll always come back. If I don’t snuff the life from his eyes and make sure his snitch ass isn’t breathing anymore, then he’ll haunt me for the rest of my life.

And I can’t have that.

So, false hope is the only thing I can offer him now.

“I’ll tell you everything you want to know,” Aiden begs when I push the knife in a little further, splitting his skin easily and creating a beautiful division of his flesh.

One deep cut down. More to go.

“Go on,” I demand, tracing the freckles on his cheeks with the sharp edge of the knife, cutting into his flesh more as I go. Small streaks of blood pour from the wounds, painting him red. “Are you going to speak?”

“Please, Jericho!” he gasps, attempting to move back. His face turns left and right, trying to avoid the knife. But he fails.

“Open your mouth and spill your words before I spill more blood.” An eerie calm takes hold of my insides. The sight of his blood seeping from the wounds, falling down his neck like a beautiful river of red, has excitement streaking through me.

This is what I live for. What I was made for. Blood. Destruction. Devastation. Bringing me closer to getting what I want.

My family. No matter the cost.

“Arrow’s at the Briar Cove Hospital. Second floor. Room twenty-two,” he gasps out, cringing when I pull the knife away. Relief spills onto his slack face as he watches me. “He’s in a medically-induced coma. That’s all I know. Your father didn’t tell me much. Only that.”

Only that? He knew where Journey and Shepp were. Maybe he’s keeping more secrets than I thought.

I raise a brow. “That’s not much of a reward for your loyalties, is it?” I question with a hum, continuing to watch his blood flow and slowly drip onto the shower floor. His life force is leaving him and dripping and dripping as I wait for more.

“No, it isn’t,” he agrees solemnly.

“And that’s all you know, Aiden? Beyond what you’ve told me before?”

“That’s all I know. Shadow has Journey and Shepp. I overheard your dad discussing the deal with Shadow to get your mom back here. Said she’d been locked up for years. Shadow wanted Journey for some reason.” He watches me with hope in his eyes. Long gone is the cocky attitude of a guard ready to advance through the family ranks. Not that he would. My father would have disposed of him as he saw fit whenever Aiden completed his task here.

“Now, why would Shadow—the mysterious villain never showing his face—want my wife and Shepp? And to make such a deal with Gabriel?” I eye Aiden expectantly, hoping he has all the answers I seek.

It is an odd confession, something I have been unable to wrap my head around. And if my father made such a deal. Did he not see the very man who was behind the mask? Why not eradicate him and end the turf war that has been happening and building for three years?

Aiden swallows hard, eyeing me as I lift the blood-stained knife in the air. My gaze wanders over it, filling me with glee as more blood drips from the edges.

“I… I heard Gabriel mention something about Journey owing Shadow, but he did not elaborate.”

“So, in theory, he must know who Shadow is.” I raise a brow. “Any guesses?” I’m more than curious to come face to face with the being that’s lived in the shadows of our town, infiltrating every inch of the city with his drugs and killings.

“No,” Aiden murmurs. “I don’t have a clue. I don’t think your dad does either. I get the impression that it was not a direct meeting. He mentioned a speaker in a room filled with guards in masks.” He swallows hard again, wincing when I put the knife at his throat.

“You’ve been a good sport, Aiden,” I hum.

But now it’s time for him to die.

Before he can open his mouth and scream for help, I cut through his windpipe. Blood pours from the large slash in his throat as he gurgles and tries to speak more words. I got what I needed from him.

Now, may he rest in Hell, where all the other dirty traitors go in the afterlife. But first, I’ll leave my father a note he won’t be able to burn after reading.