Chapter Six #3
“I’m deliberating shooting you because I can’t get a read on you.
I know you’re telling me the truth about what you want.
I saw for my own eyes how much you enjoyed playing Ruby Tears.
You’re not faking your needs, Ward. Nor are you gagging on the actual act.
But you are keeping things from me. Things you think you’ve hidden because you think you’re clever and can win at this game.
A game that I’ve been playing since you were fucking born. ”
The savagery of his last sentence stunned even him.
He flashed me a regal smile, then ran a hand through his greying hair. “Forgive me. My temper sometimes gets the better of me.”
I stilled.
Why would his temper be up?
What the fuck happened between our enjoyable dawn dinner and now?
Licking his lips, he continued in a calmer, colder tone.
“I know you’ve seen the cameras everywhere.
I don’t try to hide their existence. I also don’t hide that everything that goes on in my home is recorded—not for bribery or control over my guests but to protect my precious gems.” Waving at the line-up of jewels on the grass, his voice lowered with patriarchal concern.
“Before I put cameras everywhere, a few of my guests were...overzealous with their affections. My jewels suffered needlessly, and I lost a few thanks to reckless unrestraint. Now, everyone knows they’re on camera, and if I see anyone maiming, butchering, or killing a jewel, they answer to me.
Sometimes in the form of a fine and sometimes in the form of permanent removal from my home. ”
Permanent?
Did that mean death?
“There’s only one place I allow my guests privacy, and that’s on the shitter. The tiniest blackspot in my omniscience.” He smiled graciously. “After all, no one needs to see that.”
“How generous of you,” I snapped, my own temper finally waking up. “Get to the goddamn point.”
“My point, mon ami, is this...” Pressing a single finger on the play button, the TV screen exploded with another video of Ily and me.
Almost as if he’d plucked the scene from my previous thoughts, I stared at my half-naked body wedged over hers in my bed.
Her legs wide enough for me to press in that perfect spot, her white negligée bunched around her waist, and eyes wide as I kept her wrists pinned above her head.
Raising the volume on the TV, Victor shot me a scowl.
And there, barely audible thanks to our careful whispering, was my voice, hoarse with need and fraying with self-control. “We both...have to use you again. Possibly in...room...play up for...cameras. I won’t treat you kindly...when...show. So...if you...then use me. Right here.... No regrets...”
My mind rushed with things to say.
But Victor merely held up his hand and skipped to another video. “Hold that thought, Henri. I’m sure you’ll have plenty to tell me after the next two. How about you watch first and then see if you can dig your way out of this fucking hole you’ve dug yourself into, hmm?”
With a finger stab on the button, he started the next one.
Ily argued with me by the door as I’d prepared to slink into the night to try to turn the scrambler off. She’d offered to come. Made reasonable points about why she should. And I’d hesitated because the thought of putting her in even more danger than I already had crippled me.
I scoffed at my past self.
I might hate this inquisition, but I hated last night’s version of me even more.
Watching that version on TV, seeing how wound up I was, how twitchy—almost like a crack addict around a fresh line of cocaine—was hard to stomach.
I was beyond fucking grateful I was no longer that weak or helpless.
Crackling sound rasped from the flatscreen, fanning out amongst the guests, jewels, and morning birdsong, patchy and bad quality, only snagging a few of our whispers.
My mouth moved; broken words spilled out. “I won’t need...won’t be seen.”
Ily asked something inaudible.
My lips curled back. “Yes...guards...lazy....Anyone thinks...I was roaming...the dark...ride will be here...be over.”
The sound quality filled with static as Ily argued, and I hissed back.
Finally, the most condemning part came in Ily’s soft, sweet voice. “I’d rather you...hurt me....This is bigger.... It’s...them—all those...slaves—and...I can’t...down. You can’t let them down.”
That last line was spoken far too clearly, far too passionately.
The jewels all shifted behind me, not daring to speak, but their fidgety body language blasted their confusion.
Crossing my arms, I merely arched an eyebrow and waited.
One more video.
What could possibly be any worse?
Victor pressed pause and narrowed his eyes.
“I’ll let you in on a little secret, Ward.
” He stressed my name again, his temper clinging sharply to every letter.
“I was going to kill you last night. That paperwork I was doing so late? That was this. I was up late because of you.” He pointed the remote toward me.
“It took all my fucking willpower not to shoot you in that corridor. But...I decided to see how deep you’d entrench yourself, and...
somewhere along the way, you made me doubt.
Again. The moment I think I know who you are, you become someone else, and I’m getting really fucking sick of you playing me for a fool. ”
I shrugged, keeping my cool in the face of his blazing fury. “You’re not a fool.”
Ignoring me, he snarled, “You entered my home and went behind my back in every possible way. You denied yourself, all while thinking you’re better than us.
You had the fucking audacity to come into my fucking sanctuary and try to steal what is fucking mine!
” Scratching his freshly shaven cheek, he sucked in a calming breath.
“Sorry, I’m a little frustrated with your lack of respect. Shall we watch the final video?”
I just nodded as the guards crowded me a little tighter.
Victor pressed play.
And I laughed as our little video journey went full circle and returned to the library.
I knew my fate before a single word was spoken.
I had Ily shoved against the bookcases, glowering at her as if I wanted to eat her alive.
Audio crackled.
Static and scuffling.
Ily gasped as my fingers dug into her hips, and my life ended in her perfectly clear, horribly condemning whisper, “—undercover.” Unintelligible whispering. “...mixed signals.” Unrecognisable murmurings. “...meant to come? ...sent...to...jewels? Y-You’re a cop?”
Chairs slammed back against the deck as men all shot to their feet. Some started toward me, fury on monstrous faces.
The guards tightened ranks.
Guns were pulled out of holsters.
The slaves behind me broke out in urgent whispers.
Ily’s horrified gasp clutched at the back of my neck, but I only had eyes for Victor.
I never looked away from him as he rewound and replayed the sound bite.
“—undercover.” Unintelligible whispering. “...mixed signals.” Unrecognisable murmurings. “...meant to come? ...sent...to...jewels? Y-You’re a cop?”
Only once Ily’s shocked but hopeful voice faded into the morning sunlight did he stop the video and lean back.
He didn’t speak.
Didn’t have to.
Two guards marched toward me and pressed two guns against my temples.
I went cold inside.
Mercifully, exquisitely cold.
How fucking tragic that today was the first day of my life that I learned to live. That food finally tasted sweet, and my senses finally knew joy.
So short-lived.
Twenty-nine years of struggle and for what?
Such a goddamn waste.
I wished I’d embraced my darkness a decade ago.
At least I would’ve lived.
I waited for it to end.
For the pop of a trigger and then nothing.
But...time dragged on, screeching, stretching.
My heart picked up the longer they didn’t kill me.
I bristled and wished they’d get it fucking over with.
Least I could rest then.
Rest just like I’d predicted.
Alone. Always alone.
Guests shouted at Victor to give the order.
Ily said something that was lost in the mutterings of other jewels.
My world drew to a pinprick of just Victor.
Waiting...
Waiting...
“Any last words, Henri Ward?” Propping his elbow on the table, he ran his finger over his bottom lip.
“Any words for your superior officer? Want to tell me what police force you work for? How long you’ve been undercover?
If there’s any more of you disgusting little rats trying to gnaw their way into my paradise? ”
The guard on my left shifted, pressing the muzzle of his gun harder into my skull.
Victor sighed heavily as if it genuinely pained him to do this.
“You know, Henri...you’re the first to fool me.
I have a knack, you see. A gift at seeing predators where others only see men.
And you...you are a predator. I see it even now.
Maybe that’s why you were chosen for this assignment.
Maybe your captain saw that in you and decided to throw you into our den...
or perhaps you’re the best fucking actor I’ve ever seen, and I should present you with an award.
Either way, the fact remains...you lied—”
“I didn’t lie.” I growled. “Not to you anyway.” I shrugged. “At least...not about everything.”
“Kill the snitch, Vic. Blow his fucking brains out.” A guest I hadn’t spoken to sidled up to Victor. “I’ll do it. Always wanted to know what it felt like to shoot someone point blank.”
Victor held up his hand, stilling the guards and their shaking arms from the weight of outstretched guns. “Patience, everyone. He’s dead. But...I do have a certain fondness for him, and so...I’ll let you speak, mon ami. One last time.”
One last time.
Those words echoed in my empty mind.
One last time to breathe.
To exist.
What I’d fucking give to have one last sip of Ily’s blood and one last taste of being inside her.
The icy stillness inside me solidified into a glacier. Everything began to sparkle as frost and icicles formed.
What would I give?
Honestly? Truly?
I’d give fucking everything.