Chapter 29 Carter
TWENTY-NINE
CARTER
For one of the first times in my life, I’m scared of what happens next.
This was a huge blow, a hit we never saw fucking coming, and even though the shock value has worn off, it doesn’t lower the stakes in any way.
The Masseria family is striking against their own, but for what remains to be known.
Jasper isn’t taking the news well at all, switching from throwing shit across the room in silence, or rambling on about plans, reasons why, and raising more questions about our coup.
Tyson is seemingly numb, letting Jasper work this out in his own way, but his curated silence has yet to be determined as helpful, or harmful.
As for me, I’m going through the motions, still recovering from the doozy of a cocktail that Ellie whipped up.
I’d never back down to a challenge, but Jasper made me promise to avoid spiked drinks, and for once, I wholeheartedly agree with him. I feel like I died, everything in my body begging for days long sleep, but we can’t rest until we have answers, and I know a place we can start.
“I’m talking to Ellie,” I speak up, the deathly silent room beginning to make my head spin.
I need an objective, something to focus on, and she’s the perfect victim for the pent up aggression begging to be released from my bones.
“I’m coming with you.” Jasper snaps his head in my direction, his beautiful face riddled with stress, and I nod, not keeping him from something that could bring relief.
“We’re not hurting her. Not yet,” I say firmly, expecting push back, but his will to fight me is nonexistent, a stark contrast from our usual banter.
“You take the lead, Principessina. She trusts you.”
With that, Tyson offers a small wave, not bothering to join us, or argue as to why I’m not fit to stand on my own two feet yet.
This revelation has stunned my boys, their usual characteristics regarding my behavior so far off, I’m afraid I’ve stumbled into the twilight zone.
I could get away with murder right now, and it just so happens that there are two warm bodies down here, the life slowly leaving their souls — whether they feel it or not.
Jasper is right on my tail as I cross the threshold back into the room, finally taking the plunge and looking at her body suspended from the ceiling.
She looks terrified, and although I feel sorry for her, I’m not responsible for the choices that led her down here.
“Ellie. We need to talk.” I fold my arms across my chest, not bothering to frighten her with tools, weapons or taunting.
It’s simple, she tells me what I need to know, or she will die in this basement, and I won’t feel an ounce of remorse.
“Carter, oh thank god! I swear, I didn’t want to do that. He made me.” She wiggles in the chains, her wrists red and raw from the struggle.
“Who?” I reply, a bored tone in my voice as I try my hardest to pretend that this isn’t personal.
Except, it’s about as personal as I’ll allow myself to be, with Ellie being the only friend I’ve ever had, and my boyfriend’s family responsible for an attempt on my life.
Still, I put on my best poker face, the task of retrieving information the only thing front and center in my mind.
“Him, over there. He said they had my mother being followed, and my job was to lure you out while his men kept watch. The one that was talking to you guys,” Ellie pauses, directing her words toward Jasper before continuing, “was a part of the whole thing, but that’s all I know.”
“Son of a bitch.” Jasper punches a wall, the sound of his fist hitting the stainless steel echoing around the room, a huge dent in the metal as he continues pacing like a caged animal.
“Ignore him. Where were you supposed to take me?” I redirect Ellie back to me, a terrified look on her face as Jasper’s outburst scared her.
“A warehouse. I don’t know what they were going to do, but I was given a two hour window, and oh my god. What time is it? They killed my mom!” She sobs, and I pinch the bridge of my nose, letting out a deep sigh as this just keeps getting more fucking messy.
My sidekick is on a rampage, kicking things and muttering to himself, but I need to get through to him because I can’t do this on my own.
Pulling Jasper to the side, I force him out of his head, wrapping my arms around his neck and pressing a firm kiss to his lips, tangling my tongue with his.
It takes a few beats, but he comes back to life, stealing the breath from my lungs with a firm grasp on my neck.
“Principessina,” he whispers, breaking our kiss, and finally the icy silver in his eyes overtakes the dilated black circles that presided before, confirming that he’s clear-minded.
“Go tell Tyson to get eyes on her mother,” I say, caressing his face in my hands, waiting until he nods before letting him go.
“You believe her?” He cocks his head to the side, his skepticism admirable, but I trust my intuition.
“For now, yes. We’re going to confirm if she’s alive or dead, then she’ll take us to the warehouse. If it doesn’t check out…” I let my sentence hang in the air, the implication of what I was going to say crystal clear, and Jasper obeys, quickly scurrying out of the room.
It’s been a hell of a fucking night, but it’s nowhere near over.
We still have layers to peel back, details to acquire, so I take a deep breath and shake off the parts of me that want to quit, never allowing the hunt to get too far out of my reach.
“You could’ve told me, Ellie. We would’ve helped you, and your mom. You didn’t have to do this,” I say, finding the remote that controls the suspension device, slowly lowering her body to the ground.
I’m not releasing her yet, but easing some of the tension, hoping that an act of good faith will continue to open her up so I can keep digging my heels in, extracting every syllable she has to offer.
“I was scared! I’m not from this world, where people threaten each other or chain them up in dungeons! I’m a normal person.”
Her words should hurt, hit me like a blow to the gut, but they don’t. I know what I am, what I’ve been since I was a teenager, and I’m fucking proud of the person that lives inside of my skin.
If this is shocking to her, wait until she sees what else I’m capable of, especially if I find out she’s lying to me.
“Carter. We need you.” Jasper pokes his head through the door, his eyes landing on Ellie, but I have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach, not ready for what comes next.
Without another word, I follow him out, bracing for the worst as I rejoin Tyson in the next room.
“What is it?” I ask, not interested in beating around the bush.
“Ellie did receive pictures of her mother, and they came from a phone that’s been at the Masseria house before. It’s official, she’s telling the truth, and our fathers are behind this,” Tyson explains, and I sigh, hating what a shit show this turned out to be.
“And her mother? Where is she now?”
“At her apartment. I can send someone to pick her up, there are still men loyal to us,” he offers, and I agree, hoping that we aren’t too late.
“Do it. What about the other guy?” I ask, looking up at Jasper, letting this be his call.
A certain sadness presides over his face, the betrayal of his father still cutting deep, but the demon that loves to play is forcing its way out, bringing a smile to my face.
“Wanna play with me, Principessina?” He stalks across the room, lifting me until my legs wrap around his waist, a grin breaking out across his face as we descend into the madness we both crave, together.
“Always, Jasper.” I press my lips to his, our teeth and tongues clashing as the mere thought of violence turns us on to the max, and I find myself whimpering, my hips bucking as the wetness pools in my panties.
“Come on, my little Angel of Death. Let’s have some fun.”
“Tyson, will you get Ellie down?” I hold my hand out for his, never excluding one of my boys when I’m at the height of my pleasure.
“Your wish is my command, baby girl,” he says, pressing a kiss to my cheek as he goes, Jasper and I following right behind him.
We stand back, watching as Tyson unchains Ellie, the fear radiating off her bones, but she thanks him graciously as he hands her the clothes Jasper stripped off her body.
“We’re having someone pick up your mom, and after you take us to that warehouse, you guys should probably get out of town for a little while,” I say, knowing that she may hate us right now, but hoping she chooses to listen.
“Okay. Can I uh, take a shower, or something?” She asks, tears welling in her eyes as she attempts to cover her skin, the embarrassment flushing her cheeks bright red.
“Come on, Blondie. There’s a small shower over here.” Tyson leads her out of the room, and Jasper finally places my feet on the floor as we both turn our attention to the still chained up man dangling from the ceiling.
He’s still knocked out from the blow to the back of his head, and my insides are buzzing with excitement, my hands itching to get violent after being idle for way too long.
“Wake up, asshole.” Jasper slaps the guy around, and slowly he comes back to life, a smug smirk on his face that riles me up instantly.
“Is something amusing to you? You do realize that you’re going to die down here, right?
How long that takes, and how much it hurts, is completely up to you.
Your fate is in your hands, little bitch, so choose wisely.
” I snatch a blade from the counter, tossing it in my hands as I steal a glance at Jasper, his impatience on full display.
“I don’t care who you are, or how long you’ve been in the Family.
All I want is the why. Why did my father orchestrate a plan, all these moving parts, just to take Carter?
” He asks, a certain sincerity in his tone that I wasn’t expecting, but even when we’re on the precipice of taking a life – the very thing that lightens up the darkest parts of him – he’s battling the pieces that were trained in brotherhood, and family.
“She’s fucking hot, maybe he needed a new plaything,” he jokes, but my very worked up boyfriend doesn’t find it funny, his fist cracking into bone within a second.
The idiot spits out blood, his nose most definitely broken, but as it trickles down his face, turning his teeth crimson red, he doesn’t back down, opting to get in as many cheap shots as possible.
“I think he used the words … free use? By any means necessary? Seems like Daddy is selling out your whore to the highest bidder,” he roars, clearly fucking proud of the way he’s approaching his last few minutes of his life, and I’m getting bored of this attitude.
There’s nothing I love more than when they beg for mercy, or sing like little canaries, but this smug asshole pretending he’s not afraid of death is only fueling the sadistic animal that lives inside me, the one that wants to break him so badly, he cries for his fucking mother right before I end his pathetic existence.
“You know what’s so fascinating about the human body?
We have so much blood in our many veins, pumping all the way back to the heart, but some of them are more important than others.
I could slice an artery, you know, make the show of draining the life from your body quick, but you’re not very nice, and I don’t want to reward you.
What do you think, Jasper? Should we cut all the baby veins, starting from his hands, until we reach his toes?
Little pinpricks along the skin that will make death seem like mercy, but will feel like it’ll take an eternity to reach?
” I muse, not expecting an answer, but Jasper’s eyes light up at my words, like I’m hitting all the right spots that ignite the inferno in his soul.
“That seems … tedious, Principessina. We could rip out his intestines, turn them into a pretty necklace,” he offers, and I bite my lower lip in response, his words slowly reverting me to nothing but a breathy, desperate mess.
“Oh, a girl can never have too much jewelry! But first, he’s wearing something that needs to be returned.” I cock my head to the side, smiling from ear to ear as Jasper passes me a thinner blade, one with a curve toward the handle that makes it perfect for what I’m about to do.
Without warning, or another word from the bullish idiot, I pierce the tip of the knife right above the Masseria crest, angling just right as I begin to peel the first few layers of skin from the muscle, the design separating from his body at a deliciously torturous pace.
Not as tough as he pretended to be, his screams, whimpers, and curses echo around the metal walls, the sound bringing an unmatchable joy to this situation, causing me to practically levitate off the ground while I make a mess of what used to be a slab of skin, covered in ink, and attached to a still breathing body.
“You’re so good at this, my little butcher. Fucking hell, you look perfect like this,” Jasper says, complimenting the darkest parts of me, and I feel my cheeks blush at his words.
“You two are … fucking sick,” the meathead spits, his saliva splashing into the pool of blood beneath his feet.
“What a sweet thing to say. I knew we’d start to get along,” I giggle, slicing the last piece of flesh until it sits in the palm of my hand, his cries absolutely beautiful as the realization hits that I’ve literally removed a chunk of his organ, and I’m not even close to finished.
“Hell couldn’t be more beautiful than this,” Jasper breathes, pressing his body against mine, his hardness pushing against my thigh, the look in his eye nothing short of a man utterly possessed.
He nips at my lips, biting my flesh until I can’t stand the teasing any longer, our tongues colliding in perfect harmony, enhancing the euphoric bliss we’re chasing together.
I’ve reached impressive heights with these two men, both of them lifting me higher than I ever knew was possible, but this moment is undoubtedly the climax, the place where nothing else could come close to reaching.
It’s as if I climbed the final level of elevation on the world’s largest mountain, and whatever happens next will only begin the descent of a lifetime, no experience ever capable of topping exactly how I feel at the end of the universe.