Chapter 87 Delilah
DELILAH
“Ihaven’t done anything,” I weakly mumble into Kane’s chest as guilt bears down on me.
“You saved us,” he says with conviction as he guides me out of the bedroom. “Don’t diminish yourself. I’m proud of you, I’ll always be proud of you.”
We stop at the end of the hallway in front of the large floor-to-ceiling window, watching Daigon dangle my grandmother over the edge of the cliff as he takes a chocolate bar out of his backpack.
There’s no strain on his face as he looks into the dying sun and bites into it, then holds it out to my upside-down grandmother.
“If you asked me to describe who Ruby ends up with, it wouldn’t be him,” Kane whispers, shaking his head.
“They’re cute together and she’s so happy.”
We walk through the house with Helene’s muffled whimpers in the background. There’s still a current of fear where she’s concerned despite her being restrained. I’m so accustomed to thinking I’ve bested her, only for her guards to demolish it, that I don’t believe this isn’t a dream.
Leaning up on my toes, I kiss his chin as I get an idea. “Wait here.”
He narrows his eyes at me, but he doesn’t listen as he follows me out of the house. Daigon looks over his shoulder at me with his chocolate caught between his teeth.
“Can you help me with something?” I ask.
He nods then releases my grandmother. Her drugs haven’t worn off, so her scream is delayed, followed by the cracking of her body slamming into the sharp rocks. Turning to me, he asks, “What do you want, troublemaker?”
“Your chocolate,” I joke.
He stares at it, muttering to the confectionary, “Ruby said I have to be kind to her.”
“I don’t really. I just need you to move something.”
Kane waits until we walk back into the house to whisper, “I could do it.”
“I know. You need to help him.”
They both follow me as I walk into the living room, instructing them how to move Helene as I swipe her stick on the way to the courtyard.
The beams are too high up to reach. I don’t know how she got me up there to be able to mimic it as I tell them, “She needs to be there with her arms in each of the blocks.”
Her muffled shouts get louder, which we all ignore as Daigon goes through the logistics. “Kane, sit on my shoulders, then you can lift her.”
“I’m not sitting on your fucking shoulders,” he spits back.
“Well, you’re not going to hold me, are you?”
They drop their hold on Helene as they continue arguing. “I could easily lift you.”
“Really? You were struggling with Harkin and I’m bigger than him.”
She tries to crawl away, but I kick her in the face because it’s fun. Then dig the sharp serpent point of her stick into her sternum as I lean over her. “Told you he wasn’t dead.”
“You, troublemaker,” Daigon says, pointing his chocolate bar at me. “Sit on my shoulders since your husband is too fragile.” He stuffs the rest of the chocolate into his mouth as he drops his backpack and dips his head like I’m an acrobat that should be able to jump up.
Kane gently holds my hand as he steps on Helene’s stomach to keep her in place, banding his arm under my knees to lift me. “Climb up, pretty girl.”
It takes a few attempts until I’ve successfully climbed on my brother-in-law’s shoulders like a child.
Daigon raises to his full height, making my stomach drop when I realize how far up I am.
The world looks different from higher up, specifically Helene, who remains crumpled on the floor with blood staining her nape as Kane grabs the leash of her collar to drag her up.
With Daigon’s help, he manages to lift her up by her legs after freeing her arms. She slaps out, nearly making me fall and the other two lose their patience.
They drop her and Kane cocks his leg back, kicking her in the hip as Daigon slams his fist into her jaw while steadying me on his shoulders with his other hand.
“Now, we try again,” he says calmly before pointing at Helene. “My wife will be upset if you hurt her sister, and I will be upset if that happens, so stay still.”
Kane laughs, trading jokes with him as we pull Helene’s dazed body up the wall to secure her arms in the blocks. We step back, watching her uselessly hang as I jump off Daigon’s shoulders, uncaring if I hurt myself in my eagerness for her pain.
“Go inside,” I call over my shoulder as I run over to the hatch.
I wait until they both reluctantly step back into the house to unbolt the storm cellar where the wicked bitch keeps the animals she mistreats. The dogs slowly walk up the steps as Daigon snaps, “They shouldn’t be locked away.”
I run back before they can attack and slam the door behind me.
The windowed door Helene installed to witness my torment is now my viewing window as she screams, attempting to pull herself down as the dogs sniff under her suspended feet.
No whistle is needed as the leader of the pack curiously sniffs her foot.
Every soul that’s been abused recognizes their tormentor, so they’re cautious at first, but when she tries to kick them, they attack.
Her muffled screams are only rivaled by the vicious barking as they jump up, latching onto her legs, ripping their heads left and right as fast as they can.
Kane pulls me into his chest with his arms crossed over my shoulder as he looks down at my leg. I don’t know how Helene could stomach watching me for hours when I wasn’t gagged. The screams are awful. The blood spraying on the stone walls is worse, turning my stomach despite it being deserved.
“Get some sleep,” he says to Daigon. “We won’t be able to take the boat when it’s dark.”
I turn in his arms, hugging him as we walk up the spiral staircase one last time and go to the room we were kept in.
The marble painted wall is still the same, making me smile at the memory of him painting.
This place feels like ours. Even if we had to pretend to hate each other, this is the place where we found our new selves.
And the ledge above Helene’s screaming is where we built ourselves up again.
“I love you, Kane,” I breathe out with a new lightness as I hold his shoulders.
His eyes flick to the side for a moment then comes back to me. “I fucking love you. I need to fuck you while she’s in pain.”
“I want you to do something for me, but we can’t talk about it.”
“What?”
“Piss out of the window.”
His eyes darken as he grabs my jaw. “She pissed on you?”
Helene never really did anything, but the guards who were in the basement weren’t acting of their own volition.
She’s the one who told them to starve me, to not even allow me any water so I was forced to lick the wet stones to quench my thirst. Then when I was delirious, incapable of moving without my kidneys burning from dehydration, they’d piss into a steel cup, telling me it was water, all while standing there with their mirrored faces so I couldn’t see anything other than how the liquid was yellow once it was in my mouth.
I nod because piss being on my skin can be washed off. He won’t have the image of the guards writing toilet backwards on my forehead so I saw myself how they did in their mirrored masks. Yet he’s still quick to anger as he softly kisses the four points of my face. “Stay here. I’m coming back.”
I sit on the edge of the bed as the sounds of the dogs snarling slowly dies.
They pace around the courtyard with blood staining their jowls, dismissing Helene’s limp body.
They’re like me too. The poor animals have been forced to live in captivity; now they’re fearful of freedom, so they continue pacing, searching for a threat which won’t come.
Soft whispering gets my attention. I have to crane my neck to see Daigon step outside with steaks bigger than my head.
He holds them out to the dogs, his voice louder a fraction as they sniff around him.
“You’re safe now.” He sets the steaks on the ground, ready for when they want to eat them, but he doesn’t touch the dogs.
He simply allows them to continue sniffing him, smearing Helene’s blood on him as they work around his body.
One of the white dogs with big grey splotches on their side lets out a loud bark as it jumps up to rest their front paws on his shoulders.
He smiles at the animal, rubbing their side as the others begin to trust him.
Kane comes back as Daigon leads the dogs into the house.
He has a large, heavy sack in his hand that’s stained with blood at the bottom.
“Move away from the window, koukla mou.” He drops the sack on the ledge, pushing the bulging side so it’s hanging directly above Helene’s head, then struggles to take his knife out while holding it.
Fitting myself in front of him, I ask, “What do you need?”
“Cut through the bag towards you. Keep your hand tilted.”
I do as he says, only to be hit with the foulest stench in existence.
Putrefied shit. I have to bury my face in his chest as it spills down over Helene’s body, and he lets the bag go to slam the window closed.
The scent taints the air. I gag as I pull him out of the room to take him up to the roof where I’d hide with Lennox.
As soon as the clean air hits us, I can breathe as I look up at the crazy fuck, laughing. “You collected their intestines?”
“Anything for you,” he breathes against my lips.
There’s blood on his hand but I don’t push away from him as he cups my cheek, or when he threads his fingers through my hair and kisses me.
I moan into his mouth as I massage down his abs to undo his belt.
Our movements swing from frenzied to awe-filled until we’re both naked.
He’s not fully hard as I lower to my knees, wrapping my fingers around his dick before slowly teasing the head with my tongue.