55. Matthias
Chapter 55
Matthias
“You can’t even stay still when you’re out cold,” a soft voice says, breath fanning over my ear, quickly followed by a sharp pain and a tugging sensation by my temple.
I fight against an oily fog that’s pulling me back to sleep and slit my eyes open. When they adjust to the bright lamp placed inches away from my face, familiar startling blue eyes, surrounded by thick black lashes, blink back at me.
I jerk away, and there’s a quick pinch where her hand touches my hairline. My thoughts are thick, like trudging through tar, as I try to piece everything together.
“Where am I?”
“Look what you did,” she tsks, ignoring me, and swipes something wet over my skin.
I hiss through my teeth, pulling away.
She grips my head, keeping it still. “Don’t be a baby. I’m almost done.”
“Almost done what?” My voice croaks as I put more distance between us, and that’s when I feel the tug of cold steel circling my neck and follow the thick chain-link cord to where I’m locked to the wall. Memories of being dragged into this room, handcuffed and collared, overtake me.
I’m going to fucking kill them all.
“Listen to me.” Cool fingers clutch both sides of my head. “You need to stop moving. You’re practically bleeding out at this point.”
My jaw clenches, and I grip her arm until she winces, trying to pry herself from my grasp. Tears prick her eyes as I shake her hard enough for her teeth to click together.
“You did this. You took my brothers.”
Scarlet shakes in my arms, body trembling as she begs me to understand. “It wasn’t me. I didn’t do this. I swear.”
Each word is more of a plea than the last, and against my better judgment, I find my fingers loosening. Even at sixteen, I’ve learned to detect a lie. A glance away, a twitch, calculation, but her fear-filled, glistening eyes never leave mine.
“Explain. Now ,” I grit through my teeth. I should kill her, smear her brother’s name across the wall with her blood. Show him exactly what happens when you mess with the Everette family.
As if feeling the shift in me, she stutters.
“I don’t…I didn’t… They’re keeping me here…”
Fat teardrops roll over her cheeks, and I fight the urge to catch one.
“What do you mean they keep you here?”
“My brother—” she cries out when my fingers tighten, but she doesn’t stop. “He made me come.”
Trembling, sobbing, terrified. That’s how I’d describe the girl in front of me. It’s easy to see she’s as much of a captive as I am.
Just a little sparrow caught in her cage.
“What happened to my little brothers?” I demand.
“They’re in a different room,” she replies immediately.
Hope is sour in my throat. “You’ve seen them?”
“Yes…just a little. They’re together, confined in a bedroom but not chained.”
Relief washes over me. They’re okay. Or as okay as this fucked-up situation will allow.
“What about my father?” I ask, even though I know the answer.
She looks away. “He’s dead.”
I release her after she confirms what I already suspected, and she collapses forward, hands pressed into the hardwood floor, gasping breaths wheezing out of her. The twist in my chest has me looking away, giving her time to piece herself back together.
It’s the first chance I have to examine my surroundings. Surprisingly, it’s a regular room, not a dungeon like I’d expect these assholes to have. There’s a large oak desk, two club chairs pushed out of my reach, and a bookcase that lines the far wall. The odd angle of one of the shelves catches my attention. It’s as if it’s been pushed forward to open like a door.
“Is that how you got in here?” I ask a now glaring Scarlet. There’s a fire in her gaze that does a decent job of covering the fear that lies below.
Good. She should be afraid. If she’d been smart, she’d have moved out of my reach and gotten the fuck out of here.
She rubs at her arm where finger-sized bruises are already forming. “I grew up coming here in the summer. It was to my advantage to spend a lot of time finding hidden spots in this old castle.”
“There are no castles in Boston.”
She sighs. “Did you really think they’d keep you close to home?”
Fuck. I race through possible scenarios, but nothing good can come from keeping us alive.
Scarlet lifts a needle and thread, reminding me of what she said earlier. Warm liquid slides down my face, and the sensation of blood pooling in the divot above my collarbone makes me want to gag.
She raises one delicate brow. “Are you going to let me finish, or am I going to watch you bleed out?”
I place my hands behind me in a sign of peace and tilt my head forward to give her a better angle. No matter what else is happening, she’s my best bet right now.
She lifts to kneel, bringing her face inches from mine, and I can just make out the rim of yellow and pale purple that surrounds her right eye.
My teeth scrape across each other. “Who hit you?”
She huffs out a laugh. “Who hasn’t.”
Before I say anything, she digs the needle into my skull, and I have to flex every muscle to keep myself from pulling away.
“Have you done this before?” I grunt out.
“No, but I’ve seen it done,” she says, an apology edging her words.
“Comforting…”
“If you hadn’t torn it when you woke up in the first place, you’d already be done by now.” Her voice is clipped, none of the trembling that had been present before.
I can’t help but smirk. “So this is my fault.”
“Everything is your fault.”
I don’t dare move away in fear of her wielding that needle and respond, “You do realize they knocked me out to get me here.”
My last memory is of a silver steel pipe barreling toward my head. Just the thought of her asshole brother has my teeth grinding together.
“You shouldn’t have let yourself be caught to begin with. I honestly thought you Everettes were smarter than this.”
Cornflower blue fills my vision as she waits for a response.
“Me too.”
A slight flush crawls up her neck, stopping just below her ears before she goes back to torturing me. “I’m doing the best I can. Just stop moving.”
I stiffen under her touch, obeying her request, and use this opportunity to gain information. There’s no more powerful weapon than knowledge and who holds it. “How long have I been here?”
“Three days.” She’s so close, her breath fans over my temple. It reminds me of the moment behind the hedge right before the world got all fucked-up.
I wince when she tugs on the thread, then pierces my skin again.
She smooths her thumb under the cut. “Sorry…I tried using suture tape, but it wouldn’t stop soaking through.”
“It’s fine. Not my first time getting stitches.”
Her knuckles brush back a strand of my hair. “The scar is going to be awful. At least it’ll be hidden in your hairline.”
I chuckle under my breath. “I doubt I’ll live long enough for it to scar.”
She tenses before tying off the string with a knot and cutting the ends. “You’ll get out.”
Her fingers shake as she tucks away her supplies. She looks so small, ankles tucked under her knees, dress smudged with my blood.
I force playfulness into my tone, anything to stop whatever’s playing in her mind, and lay my hand over hers. Her gaze shoots to meet mine.
My lips curve. “Promises, promises. I’m going to hold you to that.”
She pulls her hand away. “Why do I feel like I just made a deal with the devil?”
I cock my head to the side. “I’m not sure I’m the devil in this situation, Little Sparrow.”
Voices come from the hall, and her eyes widen. “Pretend you’re still unconscious, and keep your stitches covered by your hair.”
I smirk, knowing damn well that’s the coward’s way out. “Now, where’s the fun in that.”
“You’re an idiot.” She scrambles up, shutting the bookcase behind her milliseconds before her brother’s face appears in the door.
I crank my chain, covering the sound of her hiding spot clicking shut just as the asshole walks in.
“I’ve been waiting a long time to see this. Matthias Everette on the ground, helpless at my feet,” Christopher says, careful not to come within reach.
A slow smile curls the corner of my mouth, daring him. “Why don’t you come closer, and we’ll test just who’s helpless.”
“No need for that. You’ve lost, and as soon as we get Damon, you are all going to die slow, painful deaths.” He picks at his nails. “Your little brothers are pretty close, aren’t they? I’ll be honest, I’ve never understood the appeal of sibling friendship. I thought of killing them together, but don’t you think it would be more fun to have the one watch as we dice the other one up? Like a two-for-one torture.”
I crash forward, held back by my collar, foaming at the mouth like a rabid dog. “Do not fucking touch them.”
“Who’s going to stop me? You ?” He smirks, and I want to rip it off his face. “You’re all tied up at the moment.” He looks down the hall. “You know what? I bet you’re close enough to hear them scream.”
Steel digs into my throat, the dull edge cutting into my skin, and blackness crowds my vision as I press forward, desperate to get close to him.
Christopher laughs. “I am so happy I got to see you like this. The great Matthias Everette. Nothing more than a mindless bitch.”
“Boss, we’ve got a problem.” A guard enters the room, a crisp gray uniform shirt tucked into black pants. He looks more like a rent-a-cop than a threat. He doesn’t make eye contact with me. Even tied up, I can feel his fear, practically smell it wafting off him like the animal they’ve made me.
“I’m fucking busy.” He gestures for the guard to leave, but the man doesn’t budge.
“It’s your sister, boss. She’s trashing her room.”
Christopher looks up and to the right, his fists clenching and unclenching at his sides. He turns and looks at me. “That cunt’s going to regret distracting me.”
My heart thuds in my chest. The only thing replaying in my mind is I can’t let him get to her. Not when he’s like this. Not when he’s clearly still raging to hurt someone.
The sacrifice is easy. I’ll gladly take the pain if it means she doesn’t have to feel it.
“Pussy.” I let disdain and challenge drip from my voice. “You always were a little bitch.”
“What the fuck did you just say to me?” His eyes are wide on me, the whites visible on all sides. He looks rabid.
Good, that’s how I need him. I can’t let him control his emotions. I want them all directed on me.
“I called you a pathetic little bitch.” I spit, and it lands on his cheek.
The thread holding Christopher together visibly snaps, his face twisting in rage. His fist comes flying, crashing into my cheeks. Pain radiates through my skull, making my ears ring.
I smile, letting the blood show on my teeth. “That all you got?”
The next punch lands right above my eye socket, the force rocking me back, followed by a kick to the stomach that has me hunching over, unable to breathe.
I force myself to stay upright on my knees. I need to stretch this out as long as possible if I’m going to succeed in taking the heat off Scarlet.
He lands hit after hit until his blows finally slow, the strength leaching out of him. I’m lucky he’s so fucking weak, clearly not trained to do lasting damage. No…why would he be? His victims are always weaker than him.
My forearms slam onto the ground, catching me before I face-plant headfirst. Blood pools beneath my face, running from my nose and mouth. It takes several breaths to find the strength to look up.
“You are going to regret this.” Christopher wipes blood off his knuckles. They’re split open from connecting with my bones. I have to hide my smirk at the fact that more than one of them is sunken in, a sure sign that he broke them.
His face is ruddy red, chest rising and falling as he tries to regulate himself. He looks worn-out when he tells the guard, “Deal with my sister. I have somewhere to be.”
I nearly snort, knowing he’ll be going directly to a doctor to protect his precious hands. Like I said, pussy.
Those blue eyes, so similar to Scarlet’s, stare back at me. “I’ll be back, asshole. I’m going to drag this out nice and slow.”
“Looking forward to it.”
I don’t even dodge his kick, knowing his pride wouldn’t let me get away with that level of snark.
The thing he doesn’t understand is I’m already fucking crazy. There’s nothing he can do to me here that I wouldn’t willingly take on for my family.
“They’ll never follow you,” I bark after him, enjoying the way he stiffens mid-stride. “You have to be smart to be a Lord of the Order of Saints, and you’re a fucking idiot.”
His booted foot lands firmly into my gut, causing me to gag on air. “Big words from someone who’s chained to my wall.”
I struggle to breathe, and my eyes fill with water, but I don’t miss the glint of metal on the guard’s hip.
Please tell me he’s stupid enough to bring my key into the room.
Christopher steps closer and spits on me but has to jump back to avoid my kick.
“Better be careful, Chrissy.” I give him my wildest smile, letting my demon shine through. I may be the one chained, but he has no idea what he’s gotten himself into.
He seems to sense the shift in the air because there’s a slight stutter to his voice as he hisses, “Fuck you,” and lets the door slam behind him.
The sharp clack of the lock snapping in place fills the space.
Sighing, I collapse back, eyes drifting to the bookshelf. I can only hope that was enough to keep her safe.