Chapter 61 #3
The sound of “Hallelujah” by No Resolve echoes throughout the hall, and I know Haidyn is in the process of torturing someone. He’s been in a sour mood because of me. Even Charlotte won’t be able to pull him out of it. I’ll have to do it.
I know a part of Charlotte likes that about him. No Lady willingly gives herself to a Lord without knowing what he’s capable of. You have to crave that kind of darkness to allow it into your life.
The woman’s bare feet drag across the concrete floor, and she holds a piece of rope in her right hand that pulls a baby doll behind her.
Looking up, her eyes meet mine, and my heart races when she speaks.
“They took my baby.” Her voice is raspy as she steps into me, and I turn my shoulders to avoid her touching me.
“They took my baby,” she repeats, shoving my chest and pushing my back against the cold concrete wall.
I go to shove her in return, but she’s yanked away before I get the chance. “Laura.” Haidyn places himself between us. The smell of blood hits my nose when I see it’s all over his clothes. “What are you doing out of your cell?”
“THEY TOOK MY BABY!” she screams.
“Here it is.” He bends down and picks up the doll and holds it out to her. The rope she grips is wrapped around the doll’s neck several times. It’s naked, an eye missing and covered in dirt. One of the arms is twisted backward.
Her wild eyes go from his to mine, and I wonder if she knows who I am. She looks back at Haidyn, throwing the baby to the floor.
He sighs. “Come on. Let’s put you back where you belong.”
She begins to scream at the top of her lungs. The screeching sound makes my ears hurt. He bends down, wraps his arm around her thighs, and picks her up, throwing her over his shoulder, then carries her down the hallway while she drags the baby behind them.
I follow after him, passing cell after cell until we come to an opening. It has a set of stairs on either side that goes up to the second floor of cells. The basement is huge. Covers the entire length of the building. I’ve been everywhere down here. I could navigate it with my eyes closed.
Haidyn throws her in the cell, making sure to toss the doll in there as well, and slams it shut, locking it.
Turning around, he looks surprised to see me. “Are you lost, Eve?” His voice is cold, and I swallow nervously. “Kash isn’t down here.”
“I was looking for you,” I tell him, and my tongue feels heavy all of a sudden.
His eyes soften, and he looks hopeful, asking, “What do you need?”
“I was wondering if you wanted to have lunch with me tomorrow?” I ask nervously.
“Of course.” He frowns as if there isn’t another option.
I take a step back, nodding awkwardly. “Okay. I’ll see you then.” Before I can make a fool of myself, I rush through the hallway and to the elevator.
Stepping into Kashton’s room, I lean against the door and close my eyes, trying to catch my breath as my shaking hands come up to my face.
“What took you so long?”
I jump at the sound of my husband’s voice. Dropping my hands, I see him standing in the bedroom with a towel wrapped around his hips, water still dripping down his tatted chest. “I’m having lunch with my brother tomorrow,” I say, trying to wrap my head around it.
There’s so much happening so fast. I went from having no one but myself to rely on to having a husband and a brother who has a wife of his own and babies on the way. I’ve got a family.
Kashton strolls over to me and gently kisses my forehead. “That’s great, angel.”
The following afternoon, I’m standing in our bedroom when there’s a knock on the door.
I take a shaky breath and run my hands down my shirt.
I’m so nervous. I’ve been around Haidyn several times, but never just the two of us.
And never as brother and sister. Opening the door, I find Haidyn standing in the hallway.
He places his hands in his jeans pockets and rocks back on the heels of his boots. He’s nervous too. That helps me a little. Neither one of us knows what to say or what to talk about. Our childhood is out of the question, and I’ve married his best friend. What else is there to know?
“Ready?” He clears his throat.
“Yep.” I nod and close the door behind me. Kashton left early this morning. He said he had somewhere to be and that he’d meet me back here after my lunch with Haidyn. I’ve been too nervous to worry about where he went.
We get into the elevator just as the door at the other end of the hall opens, and I get a glimpse of Ashtyn stepping out of her and Saint’s room, giving me a go-to-hell look before the elevator door closes.
I follow him to the garage, and he opens the door for me to get into his black Lamborghini. As we pull out of the gates of Carnage, he says, “What type of music do you like to listen to?”
Is he like me? Does he have to have noise too? I know for most, it’s just habit to get in the car and turn the radio on. “Anything. Doesn’t matter.”
He fiddles with the controls for a moment, and then “Hate Me” by Blue October starts to play through the speakers. He keeps it low enough that we could have a conversation if we had something to talk about, but instead, we choose silence.
Carnage sits out in the middle of nowhere by itself, so it takes a good thirty minutes to get anywhere when you’re not speeding. The particular restaurant we go to takes us forty-five minutes.
He opens the door for me to enter, and I thank him before he tells the hostess his name.
We’re taken to our table and sit across from one another.
It makes me wonder if he chose this place or if Charlotte did.
Either way, I like the fact that they took the time to get reservations at a nice, quiet restaurant.
We each order a water, and I rub my sweaty hands on my jean-clad thighs.
I don’t know why I wanted to do this. I should have begged Charlotte to join us.
At least then we’d have a buffer. It’s not that I didn’t want her to join us.
I think she would have insisted we go alone.
She wants Haidyn and me to have this time together.
Picking up the menu, I cover my face and try to calm my racing heart.
“I guess congratulations are in order,” he finally says.
Setting down the menu, I see he’s staring at my wedding ring. “Yeah. Thank you.”
“You wanted to elope?” He frowns as if that’s hard for him to believe.
“I didn’t think anyone would want to be there,” I say truthfully. He stares at me intently, and it makes me shift in my seat. “Not like I’d expected you to give me away or anything.” I give a nervous laugh.
“I would have,” he answers, and my stomach knots. He pulls his cell from his pocket, and after unlocking it, he shows it to me.
It’s a group text. I arch a brow at the name. “My bitches?” I ask with a smirk.
“Sin named the group.” He rolls his eyes.
I laugh softly and look over the picture that Sin sent to him and Saint. It’s of Sin, me, and Kashton. The one he took with our champagne flutes on Hooke’s yacht. I sit back and sigh. “We didn’t know he was coming. We used his jet, and he just showed up right before takeoff.”
I don’t want Haidyn to think that I purposely left him out. It wasn’t like that at all.
He locks his cell and puts it away. “Why…” He pauses. “Why didn’t you come to me?” His eyes drop to the table before glancing back at mine. “Why didn’t you want to know me?”
I hate that I am the way I am. That I prefer to be by myself. I’ve become my father. I’ve made others feel less than because of my actions. “It wasn’t you. I’ve always been a no one, and I think it was hard for me to admit that you were my brother.”
He frowns.
I weave my fingers together on the table as I speak.
“I was at the cathedral the night Bill was telling you about the breeders and what Charlotte’s future looked like.
” I sigh. “Bill was already with Isabella when he saved me, and I stayed clear of her. For good reason. So when I found out you were with Charlotte, I had to remain staying away from you.”
“I haven’t been with Charlotte for very long.” He calls my bluff, sitting back in the seat and crossing his tatted arms over his chest. “You’ve been my sister your entire life.”
Looking away, I answer, “I couldn’t go back to Carnage.” Dropping my eyes, I add, “I fought too hard for too long to get away from there.”
“You went back for Kashton,” he reminds me.
Fuck. I want to crawl under the table and hide. “Rejection was also a factor.”
“Rejection?”
I knew he was nothing like our father, but that didn’t mean he’d accept who I am. “What if I tried to speak to you and you wanted nothing to do with me? Or what if you didn’t believe me? I’d feel like a fool. I’ve done just fine on my own, and I didn’t need anyone else.”
“Look”—he runs a hand over his hair—“I want to get to know you, but I’m not going to force a brother-sister relationship. Just know that I’m here if you need me.”
I nod and pick up the menu once again, but I can’t concentrate on anything that’s written on it. We’re out for lunch. Just the two of us. There’s a reason… “Why did you pick her?” I ask, slamming the menu down harder than I mean to.
His eyes meet mine while he slowly lowers his to the table. “Pick who for what?”
“The other woman. That night at Carnage. Why did you choose her to be the one…” I lower my voice to whisper. “To die? Why not me?”
He sighs, looking away from me. “I picked her because of Garrett.” His eyes come back to mine. “He never even gave the other woman a single look. He was focused on nothing but you. And I knew…he wanted me to pick you. So I picked the other one.”
I’m silent for a long second, letting his words sink in. And then I burst out laughing. He quickly looks around the quiet restaurant before giving me his attention once more. “You’re telling me, I’m alive today out of spite?”
He chuckles and picks up his water. “Yeah.”
I laugh harder, and he joins me.
He takes a sip and places his drink on the table. “In all seriousness, I’m sorry about everything.”
I shake my head. “None of it’s your fault.”
“I guess we’re even, huh?”
I frown, not understanding what he means.
“Bill told us that you were the one who told him I was in Dollhouse. That you reached out to Evan, and he confirmed I was there…you saved me.”
I drop my gaze to the table, catching sight of him twirling his wedding ring.
“I owe you everything, Eve.” He speaks softly, and I look up at him through my lashes. “Because of you, I get to be with my wife and be a father.”
I sit in my bed and read over the text that Adam just sent me. My heart racing, I bite my bottom lip and call the last person I want to talk to. It’s not even an option. It rings once before his voice fills my ear. “Well, hello, dolly.”
My teeth grind. “I need a favor.”
He chuckles, and it makes me sick to my stomach. “It’ll cost you. How much depends on what it is.”
“Haidyn,” I start. “I think Isabella has him.”
He snorts but doesn’t say anything.
“I think he’s at Dollhouse, but I need verification.” I bite my nail. I can’t go back there. No matter how much I want to save Haidyn. This is my only option. Plus, Isabella will know something is up if I walk into that hell. She wouldn’t let me near him.
Evan sighs. “I’ll see what I can do, but I can’t promise anything. And Eve…you owe me either way. Understand?”
“Yes, sir,” I whisper, feeling a knot in my stomach.
“Someone had to stop her. I knew your brothers could do it,” I tell him honestly. The Spade brothers would have done anything for each other, and I knew they would burn that place down to get him back.
Haidyn nods and sighs. “I know it doesn’t mean much now, but had I known I had a sister, I promise your life would have been different.”
I swallow the knot in my throat at his words. I believe him. Charlotte wasn’t wrong. Haidyn will go to hell for the people he loves. I never realized until now how much I needed to hear that. That someone would have stepped up and protected me. “It means something. And thank you,” I tell him.
He gestures for our server to come take our orders. I haven’t even looked to see what they have. “And I don’t doubt that you can take care of yourself, but if Kashton hurts you, just know, I’ll break his fucking legs.”
I laugh and the server comes over. Once he walks away, I tell my brother, “I’ll keep that in mind.”
Sitting here with Haidyn makes me think of Ashtyn.
I think this could be a part of why I dislike her.
She grew up with four guys who would have done anything for her.
Hell, they did, and she gave it up. I watched her fuck it all away in Vegas while they were being punished here for her actions because she thought her husband was dead.
I’ve been cheering Haidyn and Charlotte on since Bill had Haidyn meet him at the cathedral.
I exit the cathedral just as I watch the bike pull out onto the two-lane road. I make my way down to the Rolls-Royce Wraith, and the driver opens the back passenger door for me. I slide in, and he shuts the door but makes no move to get behind the wheel. He remains standing outside the car.
Pulling my cell out, I speak. “A little harsh, don’t you think?” I say to Bill, who sits next to me. He just had Haidyn meet him at the cathedral in the middle of the night to show him Charlotte’s fate as a breeder if she fails her assignment. I was hiding in the back, eavesdropping.
“That’s what Haidyn needed. He can’t help but be a savior.”
My phone beeps in my lap and I read the text from Fuckface.
You free tonight?
I type back.
Yes.
It beeps again.
The bar. 11 P.M. Info to come…
“He’s going to get you killed,” Bill states, openly gawking at my cell.
“We’re all going to die.” I lock the screen.
“Eve,” he growls. “The Lords are going to find him. He can’t run forever.”
“How is that my problem?”
“They’re going to take out everyone around him. I won’t let you be collateral damage.”
“Tell me about Charlotte,” I urge. “How did you meet her?” I know their story, but I want him to tell me.
He rubs the back of his neck nervously while a smile plays on his lips. “She was my therapist.”
My brows arch. “Therapy? No offense but you don’t seem like the type to sit through therapy sessions.” We were raised to not have feelings. All Lords are machines. You kill, you fuck, you groom your children to do the same. If someone is forcing you to seek therapy, it’s to manipulate you.
Chuckling, he nods to himself. “It’s a long story.”
“I’ve got time,” I say, holding my arms out wide.
He doesn’t hesitate to tell me about how he met Charlotte and tricked her into marrying him with Adam’s help. His smile is infectious as he talks about her like she’s the only woman in the world. And I know that in his eyes, Ashtyn could never compare to his wife.