Chapter 14
Berloga
Ash growled at his brother. “Your plan puts too many people in danger.”
Hunter held up a silencing hand and they stopped arguing. “Someone’s outside the door,” he spoke in thick Russian, eyes set to kill.
Stone stood from the table and yanked open the door, revealing Marigold’s petite form on the other side. “Looking for something?”
She showed no contrition at being caught eavesdropping. On the contrary, she lifted her chin and sauntered into the bear den as if she owned the place.
Hunter scowled. “This is a private meeting.”
“About me and my family. I think I’ll stay.” She dropped into the empty chair Stone had vacated at the foot of the table, meeting Hunter’s challenging glare as he sat opposite her at the head.
Ash sat back and rubbed his jaw. This was an interesting twist he hadn’t seen coming.
Hunter flipped the leather portfolio shut. “I don’t know what you think you’re doing—”
“I’m getting caught up,” she cut him off.
Stone met Ash’s stare and arched a brow. Folding his arms over his broad chest, he leaned into the wall, close enough to overlook any notes spread across the table—should they come back out. When Hunter glanced at him, he shrugged.
“Do you think you can protect your brother by being here?”
“I have no interest in helping Jordan after what he’s put me through.”
“Why should we believe you?”
Hunter might not be convinced, but after everything she told Ash, he didn’t need further convincing. Jordan Calder was a piece of shit, and that facility he committed her to was its own crime ring. The other’s didn’t realize it yet, but once Jordan was handled, they still had work to do.
He would never understand men who preyed on women and took without consent.
The world was an endless playground full of willing victims who got off on power dynamics.
The waiting lists for their parties were miles long, and they certainly weren’t the only pleasure club around.
But they were the most exclusive and private.
Point being, permission came in many forms, so in his mind, stealing it was never okay.
“Will you be so eager to watch when I’m beating your brother to a pulp?” Hunter growled.
Marigold didn’t flinch as she held his stare. “I don’t need to see that, but I also don’t plan to stop you. How you handle him is out of my hands, but that’s not why I’m here.”
“And why are you here?”
“Well,” she uncrossed her arms and rested them casually at her side, a position that said without words she was open for negotiation. “I’ve done some thinking. I want kill the old Marigold Calder and become someone new. And you’re going to help me.”
Hunter scoffed. “Why should we help you?”
“Because I’ve agreed to give you everything you asked for, and now you owe me.”
His laugh was cold. “We don’t owe you shit.”
“You will. I’ve agreed to your terms. I’m here. I’m yours—for now.”
Oh, she was getting sassy. This was not going to go over well with Hunter.
“I’ll continue to play the agreeable little prisoner, but in exchange, I want you to help me recreate myself. Marigold Calder is dead.”
“You aren’t playing the prisoner. You are the prisoner.”
“Really? Twenty minutes ago, I could have walked right out the door and left. Your security sucks.”
Hunter looked at Stone and gave a subtle nod.
Stone approached the table, showing Marigold his phone.
“We’re always watching, Goldilocks. I can lock any door with the press of a button.
One code, and the entire property’s on lockdown.
You wouldn’t have gotten far.” He pocketed his phone and returned to leaning casually against the wall.
“Regardless, I didn’t run. You don’t have to keep me locked up. I’ve decided I’m willing to stay. For a price.”
Intrigued, Ash leaned forward to rest his elbows on the polished surface of the table.
“You do realize, if you do this, you’ll never exist in polite society again.
No job, no credit, no connections. Every door that ever opened because of the Calder name will slam shut.
” He kept his voice gentle but implacable.
“You’ll be completely cut off from the only life you’ve ever known. ”
“That’s fine. They exiled me from that life months ago. I don’t fit there anymore. I want to live on my own terms now.”
Stone smirked, evidently impressed. “Where has our little zayka gone?”
Marigold met his gaze. “I killed her.”
He glanced at Hunter. “I’m fine with her staying.”
Hunter looked at Ash. “You?”
He shrugged, never one to show his hand. “What difference does it make? We’re going to do what we want either way.”
Hunter narrowed his eyes. “Fine.” He moved to the bar with predatory grace and refilled his glass.
When he returned to the table, he didn’t sit.
Instead, he stood dominantly over Marigold, fists planted on the surface as he caught her up to speed.
“I’ve been monitoring your brother’s communications. He plans to return to Kassel.”
“When?” Stone, as always, kept to the facts.
“It’s unclear. But I expect to know more tomorrow.”
Hunter’s smile was sharp with anticipation the moment Marigold’s mask slipped. The fear that flashed in her eyes at the mention of Jordan coming to the lodge confirmed Ash’s suspicions. Her brother scared her—perhaps more than anything else, including them.
“You have nothing to worry about,” Ash said, hoping to relieve some of her fear. “He won’t get near you.”
She looked up at him with those big, vulnerable eyes, and relief rushed through him. He liked how she wore her courage, but he also loved when she went soft and deferred to him as one of her protectors.
“We’ll keep you safe,” he promised.
“Thank you.”
Stone’s brow shot up. Her change in attitude didn’t go unnoticed by any of them.
“The transcripts I hacked from his cell confirms that he thinks you’re here. He’s bringing a lawyer, a private security consultant, and enough legal documentation to have you declared mentally incompetent and returned to Whitmore permanently.”
The words hit Marigold like physical blows and she flinched. “So this isn’t a rescue mission, but a recapture one. I’m not surprised.”
“The only person getting captured is Jordan. You’re just the bait.”
“He’s playing it off as the concerned brother, claiming you were kidnapped,” Stone said quietly.
“My innocence makes less clean-up for the family.”
“True. But according to his texts, he plans on exploiting your ‘condition’.”
“He wants to expose me as mentally insane, which ensures no one will ever believe me if I continue to talk.”
“Exactly. He plans to find you, then claim this was another ‘psychotic episode,’ claiming you need immediate psychiatric intervention. He looks like a hero and you look like the deranged charity case.”
“How altruistic of him to concern himself with my care.”
“We all have a role to play,” Ash said. “We make him feel welcome. Let him think he’s in control.”
“Until he isn’t,” Stone added with cold satisfaction.
Owning the most exclusive pleasure club in the world taught them several things. The lodge was more than a house of hedonism. It was a psychological dungeon built to manipulate and twist people so far from their comfort zones that they lost touch with reality.
Without a graceful landing, guests could leave with more trauma than they carried in.
Thankfully, they were experts at mitigating aftercare and seeing that everything under their roof was safe, sane, and consensual.
But not for their enemies. Jordan Calder was getting a special brand of care when he arrived.
“Your brother likes to break things,” Hunter said. “Beautiful, innocent things. He gets off on the power, the control, the moment when something pure becomes corrupted.”
“So we’re going to show him what it feels like to be the one without power,” Stone finished, his smile revealing a vicious taste for vengeance. “Without control. Without any way to escape what’s coming.”
She shifted in her seat, and Ash watched as she processed this information, waiting for any sign of objection. She had to understand their intentions. They planned to break her brother the same way he’d broken their sister.
“When?” she whispered.
Hunter checked his phone. “Soon enough, but we’ll be prepared.”
Stone checked his phone. “Full moon, perfect weather, excellent visibility for what we have planned.” His grin was feral. “Plenty of time to prepare a proper welcome.”
“We should warn you,” Ash said. “When he gets here, and our cards are revealed, what comes next won’t be pleasant. What we do to men like your brother... It’s not pretty. It’s not gentle.”
“And once we start,” Hunter’s voice carried a clear threat, “we don’t stop until they’re completely broken. You might hear things you can’t unhear.”
When she only nodded with understanding, the three of them exchanged looks of approval. A new respect was born in the den that day, one that made him realize Marigold was much stronger than they initially thought.
She also had a dark side to her that pleased Ash. All three of them had a fucked up past. Marigold made four. Maybe she was more fitting for them than they realized. He wanted to see just how depraved and dark she could go when this shit with her brother was over. As a matter of fact…
“Are we done?”
“You have somewhere else you need to be?” Hunter snapped.
“Yes.” Ash stood and grabbed Marigolds hand. “Come with me.”
Stone’s gaze followed him as he pulled Marigold out of the room, but he didn’t waste time explaining himself.
She tripped out of the room as he dragged her past the threshold. “Where are we go—” Her words cut off as he slammed his mouth over hers and walked her into the wall.
“You were quite impressive in there.” He unbuckled his belt and lowered his zipper. “You’re fucking sexy when you’re brave.” Snatching her hand, he folded it around his cock, gripping her fingers and showing her how fast he wanted her to pump. “It’s fucking hot watching you take on Hunter.”