Chapter 20 – Elias
W ord of Finn O’Connor’s death, and the fall of the Lords, traveled fast. It’s all the news has been reporting on this week. I let my FBI contact take the win for busting the mafia operation, knowing that I’ll need a favor from the agency in the future.
I haven’t been home much since the shootout, spending the past four days cleaning up the Lords territory and taking down his corrupt business ventures.
I suspected Finn was the one working with Chase.
He’d been known to exploit sex workers, and being involved in human and sex trafficking, but he always managed to weasel his way out of getting busted for it.
I’d hoped one of his soldiers would have provided the evidence needed, but Finn either kept all of them in the dark—even the higher up soldiers—or Finn isn’t involved at all, and someone is using his name to move up in the sex trafficking circuit .
I’d been at the Lords Mansion all day with my men, raiding Finn’s office, when my tech guy called me.
He remotely accessed Finn’s computer and was scouring the files when he found something interesting: security video showing two men dousing Noah’s apartment with gasoline before setting it on fire, causing an explosion.
Lance said it was taken from his feed. He’s a paranoid bastard who installs hidden cameras around the entrances and hallways of all his safe houses.
I suppose it makes sense since he kills people for a living.
He likely has as many enemies as I do.
Speaking of enemies, why the fuck would O’Connor have video of Noah and Lance’s building being set on fire?
If he was responsible, he wouldn’t keep incriminating evidence on his computer.
It feels like a setup. Especially after Lance and I also found a manilla folder with pictures of him and Noah entering Cillian’s apartment building the night he was killed.
Someone was following them and snapped photos of the two.
We believe whoever took the photos didn’t know Lance and Noah’s true identities until the night of the Christmas party.
Then they saw an opportunity and sent them to Finn.
As if they wanted him to retaliate against the Empire and the QBM, especially after their engagement connected our organizations.
I just left Lenetti’s place in the Lower East Side after Lance and I went over these discoveries with Noah.
I was happy to hear she woke up from her coma.
I called Sage to let her know, but she didn’t answer.
Noah said she’d already talked to her and the two women scheduled a bestie day later this week.
Sage was hesitant to visit Noah’s bedside while she was in a coma. I think she’s terrified of Lenetti. Especially after everything Noah has told her about him. He’s too unpredictable. Too hotheaded. She needs me to protect her.
And I will.
She’s the first person to give me hope that I could live a somewhat normal life.
I’ve always wondered what that would be like.
Would Sage let me marry her? Would she let me put a baby inside her?
She’s let me fuck her raw a few times now.
I suppose now’s not the right time to have a baby.
I want to do parenthood the right way. I’d give my child all the love I never received from my father.
I’d take them to the park, to get ice cream, to a baseball game, the zoo.
The zoo.
Another thing I’ve never experienced. When my second-grade class had a field trip to the Bronx Zoo, I was home with a bruised eye and busted lip.
I missed too many days at school by my father’s hands, and when they threatened to call Child Protective Services on my parents, Percy dug up dirt on the principal and threatened to expose him.
The school backed off, but I was pulled out of classes the next year .
Lance and I were homeschooled by Mom until we reached high school, and Percy realized I could be recruiting my peers for the QBM.
Normalcy.
It’s not something I’ll get anytime soon, but Sage is the closest thing I have to experiencing it.
The sun has set when I arrive at the penthouse. All the lights are turned off, and it’s eerily quiet inside.
My heart kicks into gear, thinking the worst.
“Sage!”
My feet move faster than my brain can think as I run through the kitchen. The living room is dark and silent, so I head to the bedrooms, opening doors and checking for Sage while calling her name.
My phone is in my hand, ready to call Jax to have soldiers deployed to search for her but when I return to the living room, the lamp on the table next to my armchair turns on.
“Hello, Elias.”
Sage stares back at me, arms crossed and eyes narrowed.
“What the fuck?! You scared the shit out of me. I thought someone had taken you. I thought Chase…”
“Sit down. We need to talk.”
Oh.
Fuck.
This isn’t good.
My stomach sours and my mouth dries as I slowly sink to the couch adjacent to her .
Fear isn’t something I’m accustomed to but the way Sage glares daggers at me, I am literally concerned for my life.
“Did you break into my phone?”
Shit.
“Don’t lie. I know the answer.”
I swallow hard. “I… I did.”
“You deleted the Madam app?”
“Fuck yes I did.”
She closes her eyes, uncrosses her arms, and fists her hands in her lap.
“You had no right—”
“I know.”
“Then why?”
“Because that app is dangerous. Men could find out your true identity. They could become obsessed with you—”
“Obsessed like you?”
I scoff. “It’s not the same.”
“Why? Because you’ve had your cock inside me?”
“Sage,” I sigh and run my palm over my face. “I had my tech guy do some digging, and the creator of the app is using it to harbor predators.”
“What?” She shakes her head. “No… I… I don’t believe you.”
“You know I’d never lie to you. I have the proof. I’ll show you. And the men… your clients… ”
She gets out of the chair and stands before me.
“What about them?”
I reach for her, but she slaps my hand. Shit. I’m fucking this all up. Sweat gathers on my forehead because I’m scared as hell that this is going to be her breaking point. She’s going to hate me for what I’ve done.
“Three of the ten who regularly hired you had incriminating material on their computers. So I...”
I look up at her, and she takes a step back.
Fuck!
I silently plead with her not to run, but I can’t hold back this information from her.
“What did you do?”
Swallowing, I say, “I had them killed.”
“Noah?”
“No.”
Lance is the one who helped me, at least with the one man who was local. I sent him his information, but I didn’t tell him I needed the man dead because of Sage. I knew he’d tell Noah, and Noah would tell Sage. I was hoping she wouldn’t find out.
I should have known better. She’s too fucking smart.
As for the other two men who lived too far for my brother to kill, Lance arranged for their deaths through an encrypted, untraceable site he uses on the dark web to accept hit jobs .
Sage stares at me for the longest time. At least a minute before she nods and turns her back to me, walking to the center of the living room.
“Sage—”
“You invaded my privacy.”
“I know.”
“You could have talked to me about this, and I would have deactivated my account and removed the app from my phone.”
I stand and walk to her. She tilts her head up, nose high in defiance.
This woman has never, and will never, be intimidated by me. I think that’s one reason why I can’t stay away from her.
She doesn’t treat me like a monster.
I just told her I had three men killed, and she’s still here. Albeit she looks like she wants to kick my ass, but she’s here.
“I’m sorry.”
When I try to take hold of her, desperate to bring her into my arms, she once again steps away from me.
“No.”
“No?”
“Sorry is not good enough. I want more.”
“More?”
“I want you on your knees. ”
The words are like a bolt of lightning going straight to my cock. It jumps, just as shocked as I am.
“You want me to give you control?” I ask, realizing what she’s implying.
“Yes.”
“And what will you do if I don’t give it to you?”
My heart pounds in my chest. The last time I didn’t have control, I was being abused by my father. When he died, I was set free, and I vowed never to let anyone tell me what to do in both my professional and personal lives.
It’s why I tend to have relationships with submissive women. Is that why those relationships always felt empty? They never challenged me like Sage does?
“What would you do, Sage?” I repeat.
She plants her hands on her hips. “Are you going to risk finding out?”
She’s bluffing, but I can see how badly she needs this.
I think I need it more.
Slowly, I sink to my knees.
“I’m sorry I betrayed your trust and privacy by breaking into your password protected phone.”
“Take your shirt off and keep talking. Eyes stay on the ground,” she says and walks away.
“You were right,” I say, removing my shirt and throwing it to the side.
“I should have told you how I felt. I’m not good with communication, especially when it comes to my feelings.
I hold things in because of fear. Because it’s what I had to do as a teenager.
I know that’s not an excuse, but it’s the truth, and I vow to make it better. I’ll be better for you.”
Sage’s feet come into view. She’s wearing a pair of lovely red pumps; her toenails painted to match.
“Give me a safe word.”
“I don’t—”
“You do. Give me one, Elias.”
I huff but oblige. “Barry.”
“Barry?”
“Yeah, like Barry Manilow.”
I can’t see her reaction, but I just know she rolled her eyes.
“Fine. Barry it is,” she says, and above my head she thwacks something against her hand.
I manage a peek.
Does she have a… riding crop?
My cock twitches, eager and ready for punishment.
“Anything else you’d like to say?”
I nod and inhale a deep breath. I’m in a vulnerable state and it’s intense. It’s also slightly cathartic. “The real reason I deleted the app was jealousy. You’re mine, and I’m the only man you should be controlling.”