Chapter 24
KADE
“Wake up, fucker,” I growled as I kicked the chair that Jude was currently tied to.
Soren stood behind me, per my request, and I could tell as soon as Jude cracked open his bruised eyes and by the smirk on his face that he noticed her. As if she would be able to get him out of this situation and had come crawling back to him.
“Miss me, baby?” He croaked.
“I’ll miss you when Hell freezes over,” Soren snorted, causing a smile to grace my own face.
“Enjoy my leftovers, Kade,” Jude spat. “I know exactly what’s been going on between you two.”
Red flashed before my vision at the same time my fist connected with his jaw, hoping I knocked every single one of his teeth out in one hit.
“Watch your fucking mouth when you talk about my girl,” I snarled, grabbing the back of his head and yanking on his hair so he had no choice but to look up at me.
“I know you’ve never known manners, or how to treat a woman before, but the last thing you want to do right now is to be a prick to her in front of me. It’ll just make this all last longer.”
“Make what last longer?” He rasped, his neck bent so far back by my hand it was hard for him to speak.
“This,” Soren said from behind me, and before I could even comprehend what she was doing, a bat came across Jude’s knees, cracking his bones in the process.
I hadn’t realized she’d seen my table of fun against the wall when she came in, filled with all kinds of things to make Jude’s time here less than enjoyable.
“You fucking bitch!” He howled, tears involuntarily running down his face.
“I’m not fucking kidding, Jude. I’ll cut your damn tongue out,” I said, meaning every last word.
Being the son of a Mafia boss, I was no stranger to causing misery to those that wronged us. It didn’t mean I liked it, but knowing the hell that this piece of scum had put Soren through made it easier than I’d care to admit.
I pulled out my switchblade for dramatic effect, and I could see the fear seep into his eyes.
“Please Soren,” he begged. “I’m your husband. Think of everything I’ve done for you.”
Soren walked with a predator’s gait, slow and confident, and with a promise of violence, though Jude didn’t seem to notice.
I stepped back and watched as she bent down and came eye level with him, grabbing his cheeks and squeezing his face, leaning in like she was about to kiss him.
My heart thundered in my chest, knowing there was no way she could be so easily swayed.
And I watched with absolute fucking glee as she spit in his face and punched him.
“I am thinking of everything you’ve done for me. I’m only returning the favor,” she cooed without a hint of love inside those words.
I remember the woman Soren first was when I met her. She was so full of fear and had a bottomless pit of darkness in her eyes. As if she wasn’t living her life, she was just doing her best to survive it.
Now when she turned to look at me, I could see a fire in her eyes, and a confidence and power I knew she’d buried deep down due to fear.
But she would never have to fear anything again. Even if I wasn’t around, I knew after everything she’d been through, she’d never be put in that situation again.
“Let’s make this quick, shall we?” Soren asked me. “I’m dying for you to take me home and bend me over that piano of yours.”
I knew she was saying it to get a rise out of Jude, but damn it if my dick didn’t swell at her words.
And I also knew without a shadow of a doubt that nothing about this would be quick.
Not in the way we worked Jude’s body to the brink of death, and not how I worked Soren’s body later on when I fucked her.
“I fully intend to, princess,” I replied, spinning my switchblade between my fingers, and stabbing Jude in the side, causing a scream to rip from his throat.
“Save your strength, Jude. We’re just getting started.”
I pulled the blade out of his side after twisting it in just a hair, so I made sure he felt every groove of my blade. Anything I did to him would be little in comparison to Soren, but what I could promise him was an immense amount of pain before life finally left his eyes.
My fist met his face over and over again until I heard the crunch of his nose breaking beneath my knuckles and the squelch of blood as it ran down his face.
“I hope that hurts you pathetic motherfucker,” I hissed in his face, before stepping back and gesturing to him to let Soren know it was her turn.
She gracefully took the baseball bat still in her hands and slammed it into Jude’s crotch, and I swear his voice went up eight octaves as he screamed.
Blood splashed on Soren’s face as she hit him repeatedly, bludgeoning him with the bat, as all of the pent up anger she had kept so far down finally began to surface.
“Baby, give him a minute to breathe,” I said, grabbing the bat to stop Soren’s movements. She looked at me confused, and Jude looked at me like I had granted him mercy. “We have all night, and there are still so many fun things we can do to him.”
A wicked grin slowly graced Soren’s face, and paired with the droplets of blood splattered on her face she looked manic, and I had never known her to be more beautiful.
It was like watching a princess finally realize she was a queen, and taking back her reign once and for all.
The scalding water pouring from the shower head worked wonders on my tired muscles, and I leaned against the shower wall, caging Soren in between my arms and watched the flow of crimson tainted water wash down the drain.
I could tell by the end of our torture session that she was running on fumes. She’d never to my knowledge participated in something like that before, and it took a lot out of someone, both physically and mentally.
“Stand in the water, let me wash this off you,” I coaxed her gently, leaning her head back for her hair to get wet.
I knew what it looked like when someone was tired in their bones, and that was what the woman before me was.
I had every intention of taking care of her tonight so she had nothing else left to worry about.
I squeezed some shampoo into my palm and began working it into her hair, taking my time and massaging her scalp, all while her eyes were closed and she didn’t make a sound.
I lathered the washcloth with soap and kneeled down, washing her from head to toe.
“I’m going to give everything to your family,” she said quietly, and I paused my movements on her legs, taking in her words before carrying on.
“What do you mean?” I asked, wondering where this train of thought even started.
“Meaning all the land, the money, the whatever, I’m giving it to Finn, and your family. I don’t want to be a part of that life anymore. I don’t want any ties to it. I just want my inheritance and that’s it. Everything else can be yours. Jude is gone. Lilah is gone. I’m free now,” she explained.
It felt like someone had punched me in the gut, because I was tied to this life. Did that mean that she didn’t want to be with me anymore? Was I part of the ties she wanted to cut?
“I’ll arrange a meeting,” I bit out, trying to keep my tone even while I rinsed off her body and grabbed her a towel. “Let me wash off and I’ll be right out. There’s a t-shirt on the bed for you.”
She didn’t seem to notice my tone and if she did she said nothing. I wrapped the towel around her as she stepped out and tried to wrap my mind around what she said.
Would I be able to come to terms with her not wanting anything to do with me? I had to ask her about it. The worst thing that could happen was she wanted me gone. Maybe I was reading too much into it.
Or maybe you’re not.
I had always made it clear to her that I wanted her to be out of this life, whether it was with me or not. I guess I just never assumed after all we’d been through she’d want to be without me.
I scrubbed my skin raw before stepping out of the shower and wrapping a towel around my waist, quickly walking out of the bathroom door and into our bedroom.
“Sor—” I started but stopped as soon as I saw her laying on the bed, in nothing but my t-shirt, fast asleep.
Would I be able to cut the ties to my family and this life as easily as I wanted to? Or would the Mafia have a hold over me forever? Did I even dare give her hope that we could have some kind of normal future?
Maybe she knew there was no way I’d ever be able to be free with her, and this was her way of letting me know.
Jude was dead and she was free now, but there was a chance I never would be.