Chapter 29
Alexander
“I’m going to fucking rip you apart!” I roar as I grip the bars of my cell and try to shake the steel to get free. Feeling helpless is something I haven’t felt since the night my sister died. I swore I would never feel that way again but I was wrong, so fucking wrong!
Nexus turns and faces me with a wide grin on his face. “Can’t take the heat can ya, Butcher?” he taunts as he slowly drags the blade down Omen’s chest, causing my brother to scream out in pain and thrash against the chains that bind his hands above his head. Carnage is strung up beside him, looking just as defeated as Omen, and it makes me sick knowing Desire has allowed this to happen to her own flesh and blood. I tear my gaze from the little cunt and face Wrath and Rage who sit in the corner with blank looks on their faces.
“They’re your brothers!” I yell. They both turn to me in sync but the looks on their faces are unreadable. “If you don’t help them, I’ll kill both of you with my bare fucking hands!” I promise. Wrath turns to Rage and nudges him with his shoulder. My anger is the only thing keeping me standing right now. Nexus tried his best to break me with stab wounds and cuts but the little cocky fucker has no idea that pain means nothing to me, it is but a fleeting moment and all you need to do is ride out the wave until it subsides. When Omen releases another scream, I turn back to face him and grit my teeth at the sight of the blade sticking out of his side.
“Oops,” Nexus sarcastically says as he moves away from Omen, who is nothing but dead weight in his chains. Neither of them will sell me out and their loyalty is something that can never be bought and something I can never repay. When they told me why they were here, I nearly lost my fucking mind. Unlike them, I knew what was coming when Desire forced me on that plane. These idiots thought their sister was the one in charge, they had no idea she had handed over control to Nexus who has no familial connection to them, which means he won’t go easy. If anything, he’s gone harder just to fuck with me. Carnage hasn’t uttered a word either since Desire announced that he had a hand in my sister’s death. I know she’s lying, she has to be.
“You want to play, then come play with me, you little cunt,” I taunt. Nexus clicks his tongue and shakes his head as he crosses the room and runs his fingertips over the tops of the weapons lined on a table. He selects a whip with arrow heads attached to the ends. I inhale sharply as he stalks toward Carnage, who hangs limply in his chains. I close my eyes for a second and push the resentment I’m feeling toward him down. As I open my eyes, I see Nexus shift so he’s standing behind Carnage and facing me.
“See, I knew you wouldn’t break through torture and I was wondering how the fuck I would get you to break.” Nexus swings the whip and Carnage lurches forward in his chains, screaming out in pain. His eyes are filled with torment as he looks at me. “The second these fucking idiots showed up, I knew just how to break you.” He whips Carnage two more times, smiling at the cries of pain he releases.
When Nexus’s gaze meets mine, I shutdown all emotions inside me and latch onto the need for revenge. It's the only way I will make it out of this and hopefully save my brothers.
“Did your daddy teach you how to be a good bitch or was that your mommy?” I ask as I move to the back of my cell and rest back against the bars, then cross my arms over my chest, forcing myself not to flinch in pain from the wound under my armpit.
Nexus’s eyes blaze as he rears his arm back and whips Carnage again, but this time I don’t react to his screams of pain, I just keep my gaze focused on Nexus. “You won’t get to me, Butcher,” he grits out.
I shrug. “Maybe, but I sure as fuck got to your sister, didn’t I?” I taunt. His eyes blaze with unfiltered hatred. “Hmmm, seems you do care for her after all, huh?” I press. Nexus marches across the room and slams to a stop in front of my cell. I may have been blindfolded on the way here but I’m not stupid, I know where we’re being held—beneath the courthouse in the city.
“I’ll kill her before I ever let her near you again.” Liquid heat licks at my skin at the mention of him touching my girl. I keep my composure and purse my lips tauntingly.
“You could try, but my brothers will put you down before you could get within five feet of her.”
“Your men are now under the rule of the De Santis family, you have no one. Those three fuckwits won’t be able to save you, but don’t worry, Tate will be here to watch you die.”
“Just make sure your sister tells me she loves me again before you kill me, kay? I would hate for her to miss the chance to tell me how much she loves me and loves coming on my cock.”
Nexus’s eyes burn with outrage as he glares at me. “Get the branding iron and brand those cunts,” he snaps at the twins. When neither of them move, I raise my brows and bite back a smile.
“I don’t think they take orders from you,” I tease.
Nexus growls, then turns to the twins. I use that moment of distraction and rush forward, reach through the bars and wrap my arms around him. He tries to fight, but even in the weakened state I’m in, I can still overpower this pathetic excuse for a human. When the side of his head is crushed against the bars and his ear peaks through the gap, I bite it. He roars in pain and fights harder to get free and even calls for the twins to help, but they don’t move. I taste his blood coating my mouth and relish in the metallic taste of him. I start to feel his skin giving way and moan at the feeling. The sounds coming from him are fucking euphoric and feed the beast inside me. He rears to life inside me and I allow him to take full control.
I yank backward and release the little cunt who drops to the floor, then scurries backward on his hands. The sight of his tears staining his cheeks and the blood from his ear cascading down the side of his face has a growl vibrating in my chest. I grip the bars and love the sight of fear I see in his eyes. I spit the torn piece of his ear at him and smile. He drops his gaze to the cartilage, then reaches up and winces when he feels the spot where his ear should be.
“You keep walking around here and acting like you’re in control, when you and I both know the only reason you feel that way is because I’m in a cage. You better hope she kills me because if she doesn’t, I’ll come for you. When you close your fucking eyes, I’ll be the star of your nightmares. I’ll be in the shadows watching you, taunting you and when you think I’ll finally strike, I won’t, because I’m going to take my time with you. I’m going to cherish every fucking second of destroying the piece of shit you are, not only for my sister but for my girl as well.” His eyes widen at the mention of Tate. “Yeah, you heard that right. She’s mine and if you touch a single fucking hair on her head, it won’t just be The Butcher coming for you, it will be the entirety of the Denver Kings, you cunt.”
“Guards!” Nexus calls out as he pushes to his feet, cupping his ear and staggering across the room where the door is opened for him. The little bitch limps out of here like a pussy. When the door closes behind him, I turn to Omen and Carnage to find them both looking at me and grinning.
“There he is,” Omen grinds out.
“Welcome back, Butcher. I thought your girl stole your balls.” I look at Carnage. When he sees the question in my eyes, he hangs his head and exhales. “I had nothing to do with Ellie dying, but I was there that night.” Tension flows through me. I inhale and exhale on instinct but my lungs feel like they can’t get enough oxygen. “I had no idea she was there, Alex. Desire sent me there to do a drop.”
“You were at the same party my sister died at with your drugs in her system,” I grit out.
“He’s telling the truth,” Rage says. I slowly turn to face the twins and shoot each of them a look of warning to shut their fucking mouths.
Wrath pushes off the wall and stalks into the middle of the room. Both Omen and Carnage glare at their brother but say nothing. “Desire met Nexus through Roberto. The little cock tease had taken over his father’s business and Desire needed him on her side.”
“Why?” I push.
Rage moves and joins his twin in the center. “Because she made a deal with the Volkov Bratva to obtain real estate for them to expand their operations in the US if they supplied her with drugs and cut off all other families they were supplying.”
My brows raise. “They’re working together.”
Both the twins nod. “Carnage supplying Nexus that night wasn’t the first time Desire hooked him up. She was already working an angle with that piss flap. He had no idea who you were or who Ellie was and he didn’t care. She promised he would never be caught and that was all he needed to hear. His father came after you on his own accord because he found out what Nexus had done, and didn’t trust Desire to keep her word, so he framed you when he found out who you really were from Nexus.” Rage’s words are like an ice bath, shocking life back into me and renewing my hunger for that bitch’s blood to coat my hands.
“Why the fuck are you two only mentioning this shit now?” Omen snarls.
The twins shrug. “You never asked,” Rage says in a casual tone that grates on my fucking nerves.
“I’m gonna break both your fucking necks,” I force out through clenched teeth.
“As long as you don’t bite my ear off. I’m good with a quick end,” Wrath replies with sarcasm thick in his tone.
“Why the hell are you both telling us this shit now? Neither of you two gave a shit about anyone aside from yourselves and staying on that bitch’s good side,” Carnage grinds out with pain lacing each of his words.
“Did you ever think to ask why we have never risen against her?” Rage growls. “Did any of you self-satisfying pricks ever think there may be a reason why we follow her blindly and never question anything she says?”
“Nah, of course they wouldn’t because me and you have always been the outcasts of this fucked up family,” Wrath adds.
I roll my eyes. “Why the fuck do you follow her?”
“Because she has something that means everything to us and if we step out of line, she’ll take it from us. Which is why we won’t help any of you. We can’t.” Rage’s tone surprises me because I can hear a hint of remorse.
“Bullshit.”
Both the twins turn to Omen and glare. “None of you cared enough to see deeper into us than what we allowed the world to see. That’s your problem not ours. We have no issues with any of you, but we also won’t cross that line, even though we hope you are victors of this war.” My brows raise as it sinks in. Wrath’s ominous words make sense to me but not the others.
“She has someone you love and if you try to help us, she’ll kill them to punish you.” Both of them nod and I realize at this moment, they aren’t that different to us. They have been sucked into the black hole that is Desire De Santis, who doesn’t give a fuck about anyone aside from herself. We don’t get a chance to say more, the door swings open to reveal a pissed off Desire flanked by six of her men. Cowering behind them, holding a rag to his face, is the cunt who is now missing an ear. Wrath and Rage both step back and reclaim their position from earlier, I shoot them both a scolding look. I get their reasoning but that piece of pussy better be worth it because I’ll kill them both for allowing their brothers to go through this shit.
Desire struts into the room like she is God’s gift to men. I move to the back of my cell and cross my arms over my chest. She ignores the threats spewing from Omen and Carnage as she comes to stand in front of my cell. The cunning look in her eyes is nothing new to me, she always has an ace up her sleeve and won’t play her trump card until the very last minute.
“You look upset, Lex,” she purrs in what I’m sure she thinks is a seductive tone, but all it sounds like to me is nails on a chalkboard. I remain silent and keep my face blank, not giving away to the fact her mere presence has my skin crawling. “Did my brothers tell on me?” she says with a pout as she looks to Wrath and Rage. Neither of them meet her stare. She sighs dramatically then waves her six guards forward. I see Devon in the mix and can tell he doesn’t want to take part in what’s happening but he doesn’t have a choice. The guard in the front reaches into his pocket and produces a key. I don’t move an inch when he opens the cell door and steps inside. I eye each of them with a cold look and smirk when they begin to shuffle their weight from leg to leg.
“Is she paying you enough to withstand what will happen to you and your families when I get out of here?” My tone is calm and even but the threat is clear.
“Ignore him, cuff him and bring him to me.” They all ignore Desire’s order as I step forward and hold my wrists out to them. I shoot Devon a discreet look of warning. He subtly nods and starts to look around the room, trying to find a way out of here no doubt.
They place the cuffs on my wrists. The fucker to my right makes sure they are tight enough to cut into my flesh. I just shoot him a look that promises retribution—he instantly steps back. Devon grips the chain of my cuffs and drags me out of my cell. My body is battered and bruised but I refuse to allow any of these cunts to see me as weak, so I hold my head high and meet Desire’s gaze as I’m brought to a stop in front of her. She runs her gaze over me. I shudder in disgust when she licks her lips and moans suggestively.
“God, don’t you miss how messy we were together?”
I snort. “You and I were never together, you deluded bitch,” I snarl. Her blue eyes swirl with anger, I know just how to get under her skin so I keep pushing. “You were nothing to me. You were a means to an end. You were never the girl I wanted or even cared about. You are nothing to me, you wretched cunt. I’ll make sure you and that elf eared cunt over there die slowly. I’ll take my time ripping you each apart, then send you both to hell, deaf, dumb and blind,” I vow. I expect her to throw a fit and scream but she doesn’t do that. Instead, she lurches forward and buries her blade in my stomach that I didn’t even see her holding.