Chapter 24 Duncan
DUNCAN
As soon as the Montgomery house comes into view, a bitter taste floods my mouth.
My hands clutch the wheel. Knuckles bright white.
Up until yesterday, I was willing to let go of my revenge. Barclay, unbeknownst to the bastard, settled the score by saving Elowyn’s life.
I didn’t forgive him. Didn’t forget that if he hadn’t forced me to leave in the first place, I would’ve been there for her.
But wasting time on hate seemed pointless when I was happy.
When I could wake up to the most beautiful gray eyes and a smile that warmed me to my core.
When I could bury my face between the sweetest thighs. When I could fuck my woman out of love, not out of revenge.
Barclay had no place in our bedroom. Our world. Our lives.
That is, until he had to fuck it up.
In a way, it’s my fault.
Throughout high school, I practically enabled him. Every time I’d gotten my best friend out of trouble, he wasn’t grateful. He felt righteous. Owed.
For far too long, the world has been his to ruin.
No more.
At the gates, I let the SUV idle and dial one of the live-in nurses.
Neil answers on the second ring. “Hello?”
“It’s me.”
“The Restorer?”
That’s the only name I gave them. My guarantee they wouldn’t expose me.
Someone else talked. I’ll get the name out of Barclay once I’m done with him, just to know who to stay away from.
“Open the gates,” I order.
“You’re here?” He sounds worried. “As in the Montgomery house?”
“Yes.” I’m about to repeat my order, but then the gates creak as they begin to part. “Thanks. Leave the front door unlocked and join the other nurse in your quarters. Don’t leave until you hear from me.”
The line goes silent for a beat while my SUV bumps over the weathered driveway.
“I don’t mean to overstep,” the idiot starts. “I just—you sound, um, like you mean him harm. I can’t be an accomplice to a crime, in case that’s what this is. I won’t let you kill my patient.”
Motherfucker.
“First of all, you don’t answer to him. You answer to me. The man who signs your fucking checks.” There’s no mistaking the threat in my voice. How I could and would fire him in a heartbeat. “Second, I won’t kill him. Stop arguing and do as I fucking say. Are we clear?”
“Yes, sir.”
Not gracing him with a goodbye, I end the call.
Overgrown grounds flank the driveway as I approach the house I once called home. Even before the Montgomerys became my legal guardians, I practically lived here.
Now, there’s nothing left but decay. Flickering lampposts. Wild grass.
At the end of the driveway, the house waits, brick and stone crumbling in plain sight.
I cut the engine, step out, and walk past the front door.
What I find inside is worse than I expected.
Sickly yellow stains taint the once-white walls.
Cracks split the marble flooring. A pot has been placed beneath a leak that’s eaten through the roof and the floor above, half full from last night’s rain.
It looks like renovation—or even basic upkeep—had been out of their budget long before Barclay’s last and most epic fuck-up.
If I had to guess, Elowyn had been setting money aside for when shit hit the fan.
It worked. The legal fees were paid. The civil settlement covered.
While the house itself continued to rot.
I shake my head, reminding myself it’s not my problem, nor is it Elowyn’s. I told the nurses as much too, in so many words. Their job is to keep Barclay pain-free. The house isn’t part of the deal.
My heart twists uncomfortably as I ascend the steps toward Barclay’s room. I can’t help thinking back to what Neil included in his first report about Barclay’s condition.
“He’s doing exceptionally well for someone being cared for by a family member.”
I never doubted Elowyn had bent over backward for her brother. Still, it doesn’t soothe the sting. She was forced to tend to her abuser.
The suit jacket I put on at home feels too hot. Too tight.
I’m going to murder Barclay.
“He had my hair in his fist and a knife pinned to my throat. He was going to hurt me.”
The shitface Barclay put an end to.
Fine. Fine.
He stays alive. As long as he doesn’t come near her again, that is.
“Neil!” Barclay roars, sending a renewed surge of anger up my spine.
I might’ve been rude to Neil, but he hasn’t been my caretaker.
You’d think Barclay would show some gratitude, even if his nurses are being paid to be here.
“Neil!”
Of course he doesn’t.
I’m willing to bet he’s been just as rude to Elowyn, if not more.
His little sister.
My. Woman.
“Neil, you lazy motherfucker, where the fuck are you? I need my painkillers!”
“Not Neil.”
I don’t bother closing the door after I barge into Barclay’s room. No one’s going to stop me from doing what I came here for.
“You.” Pale blue eyes narrow at me. Barclay isn’t surprised or scared. He’s ugly and hateful. “Took you long enough to show your face. Then again, you’ve always been beneath us. A coward.”
Reminding him that I wasn’t so beneath him when I helped him out of trouble would be pointless. A waste of breath, just like Barclay.
I cross the room, my hand quick to hook into the collar of his sweatshirt. “Still feeling brave?”
“Of course I do. The question is, what about you?” He laughs in my face. Doesn’t even try to pry my fingers off. “The loser in a mask. The one who’s been in hiding for a decade. Manipulating my na?ve, dumb—”
Crack.
The sound of my fist connecting with his nose is incredibly satisfying. Blood trickles down his mouth, over his chin. Instead of wiping it, Barclay gives me a disgusting red smirk.
“You can talk shit about me all you want.” I shove him onto the bed, holding him down.
Finally, he winces.
Right before he’s right back to opening his big, stupid mouth. “What makes you think I won’t?”
I’m tempted—incredibly so—to twist his collar until he chokes. To watch the life drain out of this bastard.
“Don’t give a fuck. Elowyn, though?” The veins in my hand pulse, electricity swarming through every inch of my body. “Off. Limits. She’s done being your sister. Done being your nurse, your maid, your whatever-the-fuck-else. You won’t call her. Won’t reach out. Nothing.”
“She’s my blood.” He’s wheezing, but I don’t let up, not even a little. “A Montgomery who’s supposed to marry a man of her status. Old money. A way for us to claw back into society. Someone who’ll help me rebuild our business. Being with you doesn’t fit my plans. So…send her back. Immediately.”
His insults roll right off my back. The only approval I need is hers, and I have it. More importantly, I have Elowyn’s heart.
“Never,” I hiss, leaning in, catching his wretched breath, the iron tang of his bleeding nose.
“Elowyn is mine. My home is hers, and she’s not leaving.
With me, she’ll be treated like the queen she is.
Free to be whatever and whoever she wants.
Not forced to give up her life for someone who tears her down every chance he gets. ”
“The way you basically did, by forcing her to quit her job?” Barclay’s voice drops, barely more than a breath.
“Is dating someone who cleans beneath His Highness’s standards?
And before you ask, I didn’t mind her cleaning for a short while.
We needed that money,” he blurts, as if I care that he doesn’t make sense.
Truth is, I don’t care about him at all.
“Just until she came to her senses and married the right man.”
“Listen to me, fucker. If Elowyn chooses to go back to cleaning, I’ll be the first person to support that decision.
” I emphasize every word. Mean every one.
“But she won’t risk her life doing it. Commuting to and from Manhattan alone, in the dark, defenseless.
Did you ever think she could get assaulted out there? ”
He opens his mouth, probably to remind me he saved her life once, all those years ago. Fuck him.
“And your meds, you selfish prick.” My voice hardens. “It didn’t bother you that she could’ve been caught and thrown in prison? As long as you got what you needed, you used her.”
He cocks an infuriating eyebrow. “You left her for ten years. I’d say you’re the one who doesn’t give a damn about her, not me.”
“I love her.” My chest aches with the truth of it. “You, on the other hand, lied, threatened, and manipulated both Elowyn and me, just to keep us apart. You were ruining your own sister’s life. Do you understand that?”
“Her life would’ve been fine if she’d only listened.” His bark of a laugh has my stomach roiling. “Besides, you’re a fucking liar. If you loved Elowyn, you would’ve stayed and fought for her. But you got cold feet about serving life behind bars. You chose yourself, not her.”
“I was a scared kid back then. I lost my parents and my home.” Old wounds threaten to tear open. No. No. Not here, in front of him. “I’ve grown up since. I’m not scared of you, of prison, of any fucking thing. I’d burn the world down for Elowyn. Would trade my life for hers. In a heartbeat.”
“You…” He scowls and shakes his head. “What do you even see in her? She’s such a pathetic, incompetent little—”
My pulse spikes. Fueled by rage, I jab my finger at his shoulder, where his bullet came through. Where the nerves are frayed and raw.
This time, his flinch is a full-body shudder, and he cries out.
Little bitch.
“Stop,” he whines, his face blanching. “Staaaaaap.”
“Talk about her like that again.” My lips curl into a snarl. “Fucking try me.”
“Neiiiiil, helppppp.”
As satisfying as it is, I’d much rather be done with this idiot and go home.
“Just out of curiosity.” I sink my finger deeper into his wound just for the heck of it. The sound of him screaming, the agony on his face, I thrive on that. “How did you find us, anyway?”
“Sir,” Neil shouts from the doorway, gasping for air. “What are you doing?”
I don’t care that he sees my face. My mask served its purpose only while I was hellbent on revenge.
I realize that now, with Elowyn, my little piece of happiness, I’m finally free.
“I told you, I wouldn’t kill him, and I won’t.” Looking over my shoulder, I level him with a homicidal glare. “Go back to your quarters. Unless you want to lose your job and never work as a nurse again.”
Without another word, Neil backpedals and runs down the hall.
I hate that. Threatening people. Being a bully.
For Elowyn, though, I’d do anything. I’d be the biggest monster. The worst man alive.
I turn back to Barclay, lifting my finger but leaving it hovering over his wound as a warning.
“Who sold me out?”
“Don’t remember, I swear.” His eyes flick to his shoulder, then back to my face. I level him with a glower. “Fine, fine. I sent a friend to snoop around.”
“Who?”
“Jayden MacQuoid,” he rasps. “He went to school with us, remember?”
Yes, I do. Blond hair, green eyes. Burly. Came from one of those old-money wholesale food distributor moguls. His cousin went on to become a lawyer in his wife’s family law firm last time I heard. Equally rich bastards.
“How did he find me?”
“Since I figured The Restorer lived nearby—that us being neighbors had been how he found my sister in the first place—I sent Jayden to ask around the grocery stores his family supplies.” Barclay’s fear forces him to spill his confession and fast. I smirk at how humiliating it must be for him.
“It took a little threatening of the local stores and…voilà.”
I guess it’s time to find somewhere else to get my groceries. “Then?”
“When I told him Elowyn might be in danger, he hired a PI since I couldn’t afford one,” Barclay wraps up his fucked-up confession. “Surprise, surprise. There you were.”
“Here I am.” My smirk widens into a grin. I huff a derisive laugh when Barclay shudders. “And here you are. On your proverbial knees, where you belong.”
He opens his mouth to say something.
I’m not having it.
“Shut the fuck up.” I shake him, rattling his skinny, wounded body.
“For saving Elowyn that night”—I wait to see apprehension in his eyes, only then do I continue—“your nurses stay on the payroll, and you’ll get your meds on time.
I’ll have a realtor sell the house soon, and with the money from Elowyn’s…
” Sacrifice, I nearly blurt out, then bite my tongue.
“Your bank account will be cushioned. That should be enough. And even if it isn’t, you stay away from us. ”
“I don’t need your handouts,” he spits out. “Nor do I need her—”
The warning in my eyes silences him in an instant.
“Stay away, Barclay.” Anger ripples through my body. And longing. I fucking miss Elowyn. “I won’t warn you again.”
“Fuck you.”
“Yeah, asshole. Fuck you too.”