Chapter Thirty-Five
Kieran
Twelve hours after Tomás gave the video file to Dr. Casera, Tristan had sent a car with security guards for us and Tomás had locked himself inside the bedroom. “I’m not going.”
“This is ridiculous, Tomás.” In truth, I didn’t want him to go.
“I don’t care.”
And he didn’t. “What am I supposed to tell Tristan?”
He opened the door a sliver, his profile painted against the sun at his back. “I don’t care.” Then he slammed it again and bolted it. The only way Tomás was going anywhere was either drugged, which I would never do to him, or kicking and hollering over my shoulder—which I would certainly do to him. But Tomás was safe here. And he’d done his part in trying to fix the mess that Alessandro left behind. Tomás had agreed to see a therapist to work through the shit he’d gone through, and I was so fucking proud of him. Facing Tristan wouldn’t help.
“Okay,” I said, placing a hand on the door. “But I have to go.”
The door swung open. I stumbled inside. He helped me by yanking me in. The door slammed behind me and he shoved me against it. The manhandling made my dick instantly hard. Then his mouth was on mine. With no hesitation, he shoved his tongue inside and took possession of me. When my lips felt bruised and swollen, he pulled away. Beautiful in his lustful state. I wanted to ruin him some more. But we really had no time.
Cupping my face, he leaned his forehead against mine, eyes closed. “Promise me you’ll come back.”
I pulled him flush against me, rutting against his thigh so he could feel what he did to me. “I’m coming back … for you.”
Tomás let out a relieved breath.
“I don’t know which part you don’t get when I tell you, you are everything to me,” I said and placed a careful kiss just under his ear. “If I can’t stay at Arcadia, I’m taking you with me.”
He nodded. “I love you,” he said.
“I love you, too.” I kissed him again. “I have to go.”
Looking wrecked, he took a step back. If I looked deeper at the cause to his pain, I’d see a man haunted by his past. I would never, ever be his past. I just didn’t know how to reassure him, so I walked out without another word. Each step I took away from him felt like a nail inside my chest. I met Fox in the living room with River pacing in front of him. They both looked up at me.
“Are you sure about this?” Fox asked.
I wasn’t sure about much, but I was sure Tristan wouldn’t kill me when I told him about the takeover. “I trust him.”
“I hope you’re right. You’re putting our lives in your trust for him,” River said.
I nodded.
“Have you told Tor and the others?”
I didn’t answer. I had led the Ark Boys since its inception. I had recruited every member of this brotherhood. Tor had dropped me off in this place with one piece of advice. Be the leader they needed. This was me leading. “Do you trust me?”
“Trust is something earned,” Henry said from the doorway. After the games, he’d hidden himself in his room. He’d given me the information I needed about Dr. Casera’s past, but he’d shut everything else out. “And you’ve earned it, Kieran. Yes. I trust you.”
Fox got up from the sofa. “Yeah. I do.”
River nodded.
“We’re going to get Wren back in one piece.”
“I trust you,” River croaked out.
I walked out of Arcas and slipped into the awaiting SUV. I had expected Jacob but got another guy who introduced himself as Nathan. A second sedan sat idle behind us.
“Where’s the other kid?” Nathan asked.
“He’s not coming.”
Nathan looked like he wanted to say something, but he didn’t, and we were driving a few seconds later.
Nathan took me to the mansion. Security detail had been heightened. I was even frisked, my weapons removed before being led through the grounds by three security guards to Tristan’s office. Still no Jacob, which made the hairs at the back of my neck stand on end. Where Maddox usually sat with Tristan, Liam sat instead.
“Sit,” Tristan said.
I gave the room a perusal.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Kieran, I’m not going to shoot you. Just sit.”
I sat. “You’ve heightened security.”
“We’re at war.”
“With who?”
“Every goddam motherfucker who thinks we’re weak. He slammed his hand on the hard desk and got to his feet. Liam watched his brother, keeping silent, but there was an air of concern in his expression. As an analyst, Liam would process the information differently. Without emotion. Using only facts. It was a skill Henry and Graham possessed and it made them invaluable with tracking shit down.
“Where’s Maddox?” The question was out before I could realize Tristan’s concern wasn’t entirely about the war.
Tristan raked his fingers through his hair. “He’s gone.”
I gave Tristan time to gather his words.
“After Carl spoke with him in private, he took off. I need to know what the fuck happened.”
“What does Dr. Casera say?”
“He said Tomás Moya gave him a video file to give to Mads. He said he didn’t know what was on the video file only that Tomás thought it would clear things with Alessandro missing. That’s all Dr. Casera said.”
“And you believe him.”
“Yes.”
“So what do you want from me?”
“Answers. What was in that fucking video and where is Alessandro?”
I swallowed the wedge in my throat. “And why the fuck do you think I’d know the answer to that?”
“Because Tomás is your lover. Because you are a smart motherfucker I never underestimated.”
“Tristan…” Liam warned.
Tristan lifted his hand to his brother and took a deep breath, calming his shit, but his attention to me never wavered. “I know it was you who disrupted Cillian’s drug lines, forcing him to borrow from Brennan Holdings and sink us. What you don’t know is that I own those investors who put up the money for you. I still own fifty one percent of the shares, the voting shares. I let you take over my company. I want that to sink in before you speak.”
And it did. In a hard way. “You used me to get the company away from Cillian.”
“Don’t ever think I let you—”
That’s as far as he got when I lunged at him. I saw the shock in his eyes, but I was too far gone to fucking care. He used me to get the legitimate business away from Cillian for his own means that had nothing to do with me.
Rage settled somewhere over my heart, protecting me from a deeper pain. I had been fucking wrong about Tristan. I had wanted him to be the father I never had and I’d been so fucking wrong. I managed to land a few punches as I pinned him to the wall. Surprisingly, Liam hadn’t moved to protect his brother. But Tristan was a dirty motherfucker, just like me. He swung too. My ribs. I sucked in a painful breath. He kicked my legs out from under me. I didn’t fall to the floor. Instead, he spun me into a chokehold.
“Calm the fuck down,” he said, oozing a tempered violence. Fuck, he sounded like me with Tomás.
He shoved me forward and I wanted to rush him again. I didn’t care about the pain, the flesh wounds. The scars he’d already left on me were too deep to ever fucking heal. I spat a glob on the floor at Liam’s feet. He glared at me. I ignored him.
“You used me. Ever since I was fucking born, I was nothing but a tool for you!”
“That’s not true.”
“Bullshit! You used me as a way to get away from this life. You used me as a way to justify keeping your fucking little boy safe! You fronted me like a fucking thing and I thought…” Fuck. I sucked it all in. I thought he could be the father I never had. Those words remained behind my tight lips. Instead, I straightened my jacket. “Doesn’t fucking matter. Thank you for reminding me of my place.” I thought he was going to say something else but fuck him. I was wrong to trust him. So, fucking wrong. “You’re so smart, yet you never once considered what a sick motherfucker Alessandro was before you agreed to uniting our families.” Fuck. I said ours .
He clenched his teeth. I chuckled. “Oh, fuck, you did. You knew about his proclivities.”
“Yes. The reason Maddox agreed to marry him so Imogen wouldn’t. We knew his interest in mentoring young girls. We did a deep dive but he never hurt them.”
“He didn’t hurt the girls ,” I said.
Tristan cocked his head. The fucker didn’t know about Tomás. “I guess you don’t know everything.”
“What don’t I know.”
“It’s not for me to say.”
“No, I guess not.” He looked at Liam. “Go get him.”
“Just for the record,” Liam said to me. “I was against this part.”
Liam walked out. My brain buzzed like a predator in a cage while Tristan watched me. “Why didn’t you kill me when you got your fifty one percent?”
“I’m not going to fucking kill you. Why don’t you get that through your thick fucking head?”
I believed him. And that was a problem. “And you’re not going to touch my friends.”
“No, so long as they don’t risk us. Though John is going to have to go.”
I snorted. “If he has you this riled up, you may want to reconsider. He’s good at what he does.”
Tristan let out a defeated sigh. Yeah, he knew it too.
“What’s going to happen with Arcas International?” I asked.
“What do you want to happen with Arcas International?”
“A merger. Whether you believe me or not, I came to tell you what I did because I know you want to go legit. But my boys need Restitution Securities.”
“For their vengeance plans.”
“Justice.”
“Believe it or not, I’m not opposed to the idea,” Tristan said. “Believe it or not, I do this to protect you.”
At that moment the door swung open, and Liam walked inside, Tomás behind him, and Jacob behind Tomás. Tomás’s bottom lip was busted and he had a bruise forming around his eye. Jacob had a bruise on his chin and a busted lip too. Jacob pushed a bound Tomás into a chair before giving me a sneer as he took his place to Tristan’s left. Liam stood standing near the bookcase watching us. Tomás’s brown eyes met mine and instead of fear, I saw anger there.
“Mr. Moya,” Tristan said. “Thank you for joining us.”