Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
GRAYSON
I hate every fucking second of it, but I can’t make her stop because I don’t like it.
She needs to tell us everything.
Her story deserves to be told, and it also deserves vengeance.
My heavy breath exhales slowly after Nadine finishes.
Nadine may have grown up in a tumultuous home, but she was innocent—in all honesty, she is still innocent.
She was sold into a life that was not meant for her.
Nadine was born into the wrong world.
She should have been born up above, not in the underworld.
It’s too dark down here for her brightness.
“That is all I have. It’s my story, more or less, sparing some gruesome details that I’m sure nobody wants to hear.”
Those words send a jolt to my heart because I’m sure they are exactly the things—the gruesome details—we’ve all experienced.
We don’t need to hear the details.
She’s right not to tell us.
I have a feeling that everyone is going to be having several stiff drinks tonight in hopes of being able to erase whatever nightmares will be seeping into our heads so we can sleep.
“Thank you for sharing it all with us,” Theron murmurs.
Vaughn stands.
I flick my gaze to him and watch as anger consumes his face.
He is pissed off, and as my eyes shift from one person to the other in the room, I realize that they are all angry.
Theron is hiding it well, but he is not just angry.
He is livid.
There is a moment of silence as we watch Vaughn march up to Nadine.
He doesn’t say anything.
He stands in front of her, anger radiating off him as he looks down at her.
I tense, slightly worried about what he’s going to say to her.
Then he wraps his arms around her and pulls her against his chest.
I hear his low voice murmur something, but I can’t make out the words.
Seeing him hold her should make me feel jealous as fuck because it’s another man touching her, but it doesn’t.
It’s my brother consoling my woman.
Vaughn takes a step backward.
He turns his head, his eyes find mine, then he smirks.
“We’re taking care of everything, right?”
“Everything,” I confirm.
He nods once, then turns and walks out of the room.
Apparently, that was all he needed to hear.
Nadine watches him go, then, for the first time since she started her story, her eyes meet mine.
She doesn’t say anything.
Instead, she walks over to me, standing beside me, but otherwise doesn’t move.
I wrap my fingers around her wrist, gently grasping her.
My eyes shift up to meet hers, but first, they skirt past the bruising on her throat.
My bruising.
It’s fucking beautiful.
Gliding my fingers up her arm, I gently grip her bicep.
The men around me stand up and move out of the room, leaving us alone.
I can’t look away from her, though.
She looks down at me through her lashes, her gaze focused as I gently tug her down onto my lap.
Wrapping my arms around her, I hold her against my chest.
“Are you okay with what just happened?” I ask.
She doesn’t say anything, but I feel her inhale a deep breath then let it out slowly.
Running my fingers through her hair, I close my eyes as I think about everything she told us today.
I fucking hate Nadine’s parents just as much as I hate Landon Tate.
And I do hate him.
Every part of him.
Landon Tate is going to suffer for what he did to my woman.
I’m not sure how long we stay with her on my lap, me with my arms around her as I stroke her hair.
She needs this, but I think I might actually need it more.
When she pushes back slightly with her hands on my chest, she looks down at me.
Her palms cup my cheeks before the pads of her thumbs slide across my bottom lip.
“You don’t see me any differently, do you?” Her voice is barely above a whisper.
Her words are unfathomable.
“I couldn’t even if I tried, baby.”
She smiles softly, but it doesn’t reach her eyes.
As much as I want to fuck her right now, it’s not the right time or place.
Even if it would seriously make me feel better about this whole situation.
“You are not alone in your past, Nadine. Every single man who was in this room lived through worse than that. We will never hold any judgments or look at you any differently, me included.”
“Will you tell me one day?”
Tangling my fingers in her hair at the nape of her neck, I shift forward, keeping her still as I touch my mouth to hers.
“I will, though I’ll probably have to get drunk and high to do it.”
“Okay,” she breathes against my mouth.
I kiss her, ending the conversation for now.
NADINE
I’m not going to get any other work done today.
Sitting at my desk, I just stare at the computer, completely and totally mentally drained.
I knew today would be difficult, just coming into the office.
But adding the fact that I had to tell six men in a conference room about parts of my life that I had never told anyone before just plain exhausted me.
I inhale a deep breath and hold it for a moment, letting it out slowly, just in time to hear my burner phone ringing.
It’s my brother.
He’s the only one who has this number.
Reaching into my purse, I take out my phone and frown at the sight of an unknown number.
Normally, I wouldn’t answer any call that wasn’t from my brother, considering he’s the only person with this number, but something tells me to answer this call.
Maybe it’s the fact that I feel safe.
Everything is out in the open, and I’m in the most secure building, probably in the country.
My thumb presses the button to answer the call before I lift the phone to my ear, and I answer.
“Hello?”
Silence.
I start to say hello again when I hear someone clear their throat on the other end of the phone.
A man.
A man clears his throat.
My heart starts to race.
It slams against my chest as sweat instantly breaks out over my skin.
There is something wrong with this call, and the other person hasn’t said a single word.
I shouldn’t have answered.
“Hello, Nadine.”
I know that voice.
That is the voice of my nightmares.
“What do you want?” I ask.
Which is stupid as hell, because I know exactly what he wants.
He wants his thumb drive and me.
He wants to make me pay for stealing from him and walking away.
Nobody walks away from Landon Tate unless they’ve been dismissed.
And he would never dismiss me, at least not to live freely.
He would kill me, that’s about all.
“What a stupid question,” he hisses.
It was a stupid question.
But the words just came out, and now I’m regretting them.
No, I’m regretting answering this phone call.
That’s what I’m regretting.
But I don’t say a single word.
There is nothing to say to him any longer.
I said everything I needed to without speaking a single word when I stole his thumb drive for my insurance and walked away without a single glance backward.
“I want my files,” he barks.
That tone, the way it pierces my ear, also causes my spine to straighten.
I know what comes after that shouting tone.
And it could be a day, a year, or a lifetime, and I would never forget it.
Wincing, I close my eyes and try to breathe without making it known to him that he’s affecting me.
But he’s affecting me to the point where my body is beyond trembling.
I’m straight up shaking.
The fact that Landon Tate still scares the absolute shit out of me, even when I know he cannot touch me in this building, is a testament to what he forced me to endure.
Biting the inside of my cheek, I ignore the metallic taste of blood that fills my mouth.
“Nadine,” he purrs, instantly changing his tone and vibe.
This is also who he is.
One second, he’s losing his shit, the next he seems to have himself completely under control.
He’s scary, and you never know which version you get from one second to the next.
Whiplash isn’t even the right word.
I don’t think there is one for how quickly this man changes entire personalities.
He’s psychotic and terrifying.
That’s what he is.
“Landon,” I exhale, attempting to sound soft and breathy rather than shaky and terrified.
To be honest, I’m not sure which is better.
He truly does love it when I am—or anyone else is—terrified of him.
It gives him the power he craves.
Composing myself, I continue speaking, though I’m not sure what he wants me to say.
“I’m not giving you anything. You need to leave Nights now before someone gets hurt.”
It takes every ounce of my courage to speak to him this way.
But I have a feeling I’m just poking the bear.
I’m not sure that I care, though.
I’m so tired of living in fear, of looking over my shoulder every second of every day.
Living in that safe house, these men knowing the truth, it’s been liberating.
Sucking in a breath, I hold it as I wait for him to respond, knowing that he’s going to be angry.
That his words will be filled with threats and that his tone will send a chill down my spine.
“It seems we’re at an impasse,” he begins.
“My life is and will always be more important than a piece of property’s breath. So, just be forewarned that I always get what I want, when I want it. And sleep tight.”
The call ends, and I stare at my phone.
Instead of finding Grayson, I decide to call my brother, because it doesn’t sit right with me that Landon had this number when Brody is the only one who has ever had it before.
The phone rings.
And rings.
And then goes to voicemail, and something ugly slithers down my spine.
Brody needs help.
He needs me.