Chapter Forty-One
Devious
I wake up to my head pounding like I got shit-faced last night, and my vision is blurry, and my head feels as if I was beaten with a sledgehammer. When I look up, I realize I’m chained to a wall, but I’m not in the same basement as I was when Cashel injected me with a drug. Glancing around, I spot surgical tools on the white shelves against the wall, and it looks like I’m in a torture room.
Roselyn is tied to a wall and she’s naked like before. She’s passed out on the concrete floor. My heart beats rapidly against my rib cage, and I feel completely hopeless for not being able to help her. I’m the reason why we’re in this predicament. If I hadn’t pursued my vengeance against Cashel, she wouldn’t be caught in the crossfire of all of this. I grit my teeth, yanking on the chain that’s holding me back.
Someone slow claps from across the room, and my heart pounds in my chest. Cashel stands up from his chair, stomps up to me, and punches me in the face. I groan in agony as pain shoots up my jaw, then he kicks me in the stomach, as I swallow the pure agony, trying to hold it in. I cough, spitting blood onto the concrete floor. I taste the copper in my mouth and smell iron in the air.
“Let Roselyn go. She has nothing to do with what’s between us. I’ll give you Maya.”
He chuckles. “I don’t care about Maya. Lex told me you were plotting to kidnap my sister, so I set everything up for her to be captured by Villainous, so I get my hands on your wife and use her as bait to get you alone, so I can kill you.” He runs his fingers through his hair, and he spits on my face. I wipe it away. “I’m getting you back for destroying my family.”
“You fucked my wife. What the fuck did you think was going to happen? You destroyed my life, so I went after you. It wasn’t even about her; it was about you betraying me. You were supposed to be my brother.”
“I was only using her to take over your territories. I’ve never been pussy-whipped like you have. I never cared about Shelby. She was just a tool to get back at you. You betrayed me first.”
This isn’t the first time he’s said this to me. Why would I betray him? I loved him like a brother.
I raise my eyebrows. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
He folds his arms across his chest. “Don’t play coy with me. You killed my parents.”
“Cashel, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve never touched your parents, and your father was a piece of shit. I asked you if you wanted me to kill him and you told me no. I cared for your mother. I loved Maeve like she was my own mother. Why would I kill them?”
He grabs me by the neck, squeezing tight, cutting off my airways, and I claw at his hand. “Do you think I’m fucking stupid, Cayden?” Finally, the bastard lets me go. He stares at me in confusion. “Lex showed me a video of you killing them. That’s why I came after you. That’s why I fucked Shelby.”
I cough. “You fucked Shelby because you thought I killed your parents? Are you fucking kidding me, Cash?”
He removes his phone from his pocket, taps on the screen, and a video pops up. On the screen, the man is wearing a mask I used to wear when I was a sniper in my twenties. I watch as both of his parents beg for their lives, pleading with whoever it is. He shoots Cashel’s parents in the head. The fucker set me up. He removes his mask, lays it on the bed, then removes his shirt and pants. My clothing, I realize. There is a tattoo of the old crest on his back with the initials L.B. I recognize the tattoo anywhere. The mafia men used to get branded in the past. We don’t do brands anymore.
“Lex killed your parents, that’s his tattoo. Not mine. He played you. He plotted this all along.”
“You have that exact same tattoo,” he states.
“I did until I got it removed, and mine had my initials on there.”
He tears my shirt off and looks at my back. Even though I had mine removed, you can still see the faint outline of the tattoo.
“What the fuck?” he says, before he disappears from the basement, and comes back with Lex with a gun to his head. “Take off your shirt.”
“What is this all about?” Lex snaps.
Cashel cocks his gun. “Take off your fucking shirt or I’ll blow your brains out.”
Lex does what he says, removing his shirt. Cashel examines his back, then he goes to a sink, puts soap and water onto a rag, then wipes his back. The crest tattoo appears; he covered it up with makeup.
“Tell me what happened on the night you killed my parents.”
Lex eyes widen with horror. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Cashel nudges the gun to his forehead. “This is your last time lying to me. I’ll paint this dungeon with your blood if you don’t answer truthfully. Why did you kill my parents?”
He swallows thickly. “To set Devious up. I was supposed to be the don of the famiglia , but Draco gave the title to Devious. He told me he didn’t think I was fit to run the business. Devious had Aiden kill their dad, so his father didn’t have enough time to announce it to the underbosses.” He pauses, hanging his head down. “I killed your parents, and I set Devious up because I knew you would go after him and his brother, and once you killed them both, I would become don.”
“So you used everyone as a pawn, like your daughter told me,” Cashel deciphers. “After Roselyn warned me about you, I did some digging. Tell him why you gave your daughter to him.”
He doesn’t respond, so Cashel punches him in the eye with the butt of the gun. “Speak.”
“I had Roselyn marry you for the debt, but to also spy on you, and eventually betray you.” He shakes his head. “The bitch had no loyalty because she told me she wouldn’t do it. You turned my daughter against me.” He exhales, defeated. “I was supposed to be the don, not his fucking airhead son.”
Cashel grabs Lex by the neck, then he chains him in the far corner of the room. Roselyn wakes up and she looks around, rubbing her eyes, confused. Guilt tears me apart that my wife is before me and I can’t help her. I can’t protect her like I’m supposed to.
She screams at the top of her lungs. “Devious, help me.” She sobs.
“Since your father killed my parents, I’m going to fuck you, then I’m killing Lex and Devious. You, sweetheart, are going to be my wife.”
“Cashel, stay away from my wife,” I warn.
He ignores me. “Then I’m going to kill Villainous, and take over your territories. Your family betrayed mine, so I’m going to get you back.”
“Cashel, stay away from my wife,” I say again.
He pulls down his pants, whipping out his dick, trying to shove it into her mouth, but she moves her head to the side. He aims his gun at me, and tears trickle down her cheeks.
“Suck, or I’ll blow his brains out.”
She wraps her mouth around his dick, and she sucks, and I watch as my enemy forces my wife to suck his dick. Several moments later, he comes all over her face.
He lays her down, slides between her legs, and shoves his dick inside of her as she stares at the ceiling, silently crying, and I feel helpless as I can’t do anything about it. Rage fills me like a bucket of water, and I scream at the top of my lungs for him to stop, begging this bastard to let her go. The motherfucker grins at me as he keeps raping her. I yank on the chains as hard as I can, but it’s no use. I watch as he tells her that he’s going to make her his good little whore once they are married, that she’s going to watch me and Lex die. Lex doesn’t say anything, looking at everything but his daughter.
Cashel pulls out of Roselyn, zips his pants up, then he cocks his gun, aims it at Lex’s forehead, and pulls the trigger. Lex’s body falls to the concrete floor, surrounded by a pool of his own blood. Cashel nudges the gun to the side of my temple, burning my flesh with the heated chamber. My heart beats in my fucking chest, and pure terror overrides my senses. I look down at the floor, knowing I failed to keep my wife safe.
“Wait!” she screams. “Let me say goodbye to my husband. Please, Cashel. I’ll do anything you want, but please let me say goodbye to Cayden,” Roselyn begs on her hands and knees.
Cashel rubs his chin as if he’s debating, then he waves his hand. “You’ve got three minutes. Once your time is up, I’m going to blow Devious’s brain out.”