Chapter Twenty
XADEN
The bastard follows her inside my apartment!
I slam the door hard, making sure they know I’m fucking livid at the sight of the cunt being in my house. The fact he has the nerve to even come here—-
“Boss?” I look to the left to see Andrade standing at the end of the hallway, eyeing Carnage who doesn’t look in his direction. The bastard is outnumbered and yet still doesn’t show an ounce of fear!
“Leave the cunt. Have the men patrol the street, he wouldn’t have come here without backup,” I grit out through clenched teeth, then make my way into the living room.
Caspian stands there, looking at me with a dark look in his eyes.
He’s furious Carnage didn’t heed his warning and stay the fuck away from Tink.
Toren doesn’t wait to be offered a seat, she drops down on the sofa, crosses one leg over the other, then looks over at me.
That motherfucker with a death wish claims the spot beside her.
I’m itching to go another round with the cocksucker.
He needs to be reminded about who the fuck calls the shots around here.
I do!
I claim a seat on the other sofa opposite her, rest my arms on the tops of my thighs and stare into her blue eyes.
I want her squirming, feeling out of place and unsure.
Cas sits beside me, showing a united front.
When her gaze flicks to him briefly, I see a strange look enter her eyes. It gives me pause for a moment.
“Still breathing,” she snarls. I keep my confusion from splaying across my face.
“Still have your lips attached to your face,” Cas snaps back at her.
She lifts her hands from my hoodie pocket and waves her fingers at him. “And my nails too.”
Their bickering is infuriating. “Shut up, both of you,” I growl. They snap their mouths closed but continue to glare at each other. I don’t know what the fuck is happening between them and right now I don’t care. All I want is the intel she has.
“Talk, Tink,” I demand.
Her blue eyes swirl with outrage but she doesn’t fight me. She pulls a USB from the pocket of my hoodie she’s wearing and holds it up.
“This is all the intel—” she cuts her gaze back to Cas as she finishes, “—Kellan gathered on Fiona.” My friend makes a sound of warning, I look between the both of them and something isn’t adding up.
The knowing look in her eyes has me on edge and the fact Cas is just sitting there taking what she’s dishing out is not usual for him.
What do you know, Tink?
“Looks like the snitch was useful after all.” His dig only serves to enrage her.
“Fuck you, Caspian!” she shouts. “He died trying to help us all while you stood by and did nothing. He was your friend—”
“And you’re still fucking the guy that murdered him!
” Cas roars. Toren’s eyes widen in shock.
Carnage shifts, subtly but I note it. He’s too late.
Toren jumps to her feet and is ready to leap over the coffee table to attack Cas.
I’m on my feet in the next second and catch her midair as she tries to launch herself at him.
She’s kicking and screaming but I don’t release her.
“Get your fucking hands off her now!” Carnage barks.
“Fuck you, De Santis. Sit your ass down,” I snap. I ignore Toren’s threats to maim me as I carry her crazy ass down the hallway toward my bedroom. I can hear Cas and Carnage arguing and fighting behind us, but don’t stop even when Andrade and Thomas burst through the front door.
“If you hurt him, Caspian, I’ll rip your fucking balls off, you son of a bitch!” A smirk tugs at the corner of my mouth. “Xaden, if those assholes hurt my friend—”
I cut her off. “You’ll what, Tink?” I taunt as I stalk into my destroyed room. Without an ounce of care, I toss her ass onto my bed that she fucking ruined. I follow her down and pin her in place with my body.
Home.
That’s what it feels like being nestled between her legs and on top of her.
Her eyes are wide and her mouth is open.
Her breathing is ragged and I know it has nothing to do with the argument she had with Cas.
I feel the heat of her pussy searing me through the material of our clothes, begging me to bury myself inside her and give us both the release we need.
I force myself to remain focused.
I can’t be distracted.
“I’m tired. I need a solid eight hours of sleep but I’m not going to get that until you open that pretty little mouth of yours and start telling me what I want to know, starting with Fiona.”
She swallows and nods robotically. “I need you to move,” she says quietly.
“Why?” I push and grind my hips against her, making her gasp.
“Xaden—”
“Tink,” I whisper as I dip my head and brush my lips along the shell of her ear. “I’ll move if you promise to let me fuck you after you tell me everything I need to know,” I say huskily. I feel her tense beneath me.
“Stop. We aren’t doing this.” Her words lack heat, she knows it and so do I.
I draw back and look down at her. When I see tears gathering in her eyes, I bite back my growl and push off her. I pace around my damaged room, trying to center myself. When I see her gaze dart toward the open door, I scowl, then kick it shut and flick the lock.
“Talk, now!” I demand as I continue to pace. If I stop I’m worried what I’ll do.
She sits up and crosses her legs under herself then begins thumbing the USB. “Why don’t you just take it and read it for yourself?”
I lean against the wall and stare at her, looking innocent and pure. She’s a light in my darkness. She’s not just fighting for herself or her own freedom, she’s fighting to give the child inside her a better life. I slide down the wall and bend my knees, resting my arms on top of them.
“I want to hear it from you,” I utter.
“Why?” she presses.
I harden my features as I look at her. “You won’t lie to me.” My admission shocks her but she recovers quickly.
“A USB can’t lie, Xaden—”
“Just fucking tell me!” I snap.
She rolls her eyes and her defiance only serves to keep my blood rushing south to my aching cock.
“Fiona helped broker the deal between our fathers. She knew Lorenzo had the manpower and my father didn’t.
What my father did have was the reach Lorenzo didn’t.
She manipulated them into forming a partnership so they could expand into Hollow Hills—”
“What the fuck does that town have to do with any of this?”
“I’m getting there!” she hisses. I shoot her a look of warning that she chooses to ignore like the little brat she is.
“This goes back a few years and it involves the Saints, the Filthy Few, the Denver Kings and most of all, The Butcher himself.” Her revelation has me intrigued.
“Alexander Denver was framed for murders he didn’t commit. ”
I snort. “Everyone knows he is a killer.”
“Yes, except no one has ever been able to prove it. There were never any bodies found.”
“He went to prison for murdering those girls,” I state.
“He never touched those girls. He was framed.” My brows raise in surprise. “Deputy Director Fiona Williams was working her way up the food chain back then. She needed a big case to secure her promotion and what better case than nailing the infamous Butcher.”
“She framed him?”
Toren nods. “She sure did, with the help of Nova’s stepfather.”
“How’d he get out?”
“Vivian Tempest made a friend in the most unlikely person. She vowed to set Alex free if he helped her. Vivian’s team was able to prove Alex didn’t commit those murders.
Fiona had a stain against her name after that, she needed to redeem herself so she set her sights on the Saints.
Problem was, Vivian was now the lordess of the Saints and she wouldn’t be so easily manipulated like the former lord. ”
I’m absorbed by everything she is saying. “Vivian took down the Saints. Fiona tried to pose as a friend and get her to turn on her brother and his friends, but she never did. She gave up the crooked fuckers in the Saints but never gave Fiona what she truly wanted.”
“The Butcher,” I state.
She nods. “She has been trying to find a way to nail Alex. She’s tried going after the Denver Kings and the Filthy Few, but she’s a fool.
Alex handed everything over to Carnage and the others and has no ties to the Kings anymore.
He gave up that life to be with Tate. He’s moved on but Fiona hasn’t. ”
“That bitch did all of this over a fucking grudge because some guy who got out of prison?”
He smiles but it’s dark. “Not just some guy, Alex is a lot more than that to Fiona.”
My brows draw in as I mull over her words for a minute then it hits me. “He butchered someone she cared about.”
“Ding ding ding,” she singsongs. “Our dear Fiona had a brother that was an addict and liked to rape women when he was high. Alex was the one to stop him.”