CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Sara
Ilaughed as Ty made another obscene comment and twirled me across the floor. Our dancing was completely off from the music, but Ty didn’t seem to care. People jumped out of our way as he flung me out and pulled me back into his massive arms. His hands roamed over my ass, and his teeth nibbled at my ear. I shivered but didn’t stop him. This powerful monster was causing a scene, and that’s exactly what I needed.
Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as Laszlo Blackbyrn walked away from his son.
“Who was that guy Andras just talked to?”
I heard Tibby typing in my ear as she realized what I said.
Ty didn’t even look in their direction, but his lips twitched with annoyance. “His father.”
I arched an eyebrow curiously, even though I agreed with his response. “Oh? Don’t like him?”
Ty frowned and shrugged, his hands circling my waist. “You could say that.”
“Fathers are just the worst, aren’t they?” I said, and Ty grinned, nodding in agreement. The thought of their fathers and my own soured my mood, and I stepped out of Ty’s muscular arms. “I need to go powder my nose. Thanks for the dance, monster man.”
Ty’s arm snapped out, and he grabbed my wrist. He brought it to his mouth, his eyes locking on mine as he kissed and nipped at my palm. My mouth went dry, and I clenched my legs at the heat in his gaze.
“I’ll expect at least one more dance before the night ends, pet.”
I smirked. “We’ll see.”
I pulled my hand away and dove into the crowd before he could follow.
“I don’t know where Laszlo went,” I whispered into the earpiece, but there was no response. “Tibby?”
Silence. I started to panic. My heels clicked against the floor as I pushed through the crowd and approached the hallway. It was too loud, and I couldn’t hear the muted sounds coming from the earpiece. As I stepped into the shadows, ready to call for her again, strong arms grabbed me and slammed me into the wall. I gasped, caught off guard, and turned my gaze to the man painfully gripping my arms above my head.
“Dev. What the hell?”
His face was furious as he looked down at me. “Did you fuck them too?”
I opened my mouth to respond, but he cut me off.
“Don’t fucking lie to me. I know you go to his gym. I know you went to the firehouse.”
“Seems like you know everything then,” I snapped, because fuck him. I struggled against his grip, and his hands tightened enough to bruise my wrists.
“Did. You. Fuck. Them?” His face dropped down level with my own, and I felt his hot breath against my lips. My body responded to the pain with pleasure, and my brain struggled to find some clever response.
“No, Dev. I mean, Levi…something happened, but we didn’t fuck. But even if I did, it’s my body. My choice.”
He snarled, and my eyes widened slightly at the fury I saw in his gaze. Before I could stop him, he leaned in and kissed me—hard—bruising my lips and marking me with his fury. Dev pulled away enough to stare into my eyes, into my soul.
“You’re on your own then, Sara Braun.” He released me and was gone, disappearing around a corner before I even had time to register what was happening. Fuck.
“Tibby?” I whispered, but got no response. The line was silent, as if she muted me. Something was seriously wrong. I was about to head upstairs and find her when her voice finally called back to me.
“Zenith, here,” she spoke so quietly I could barely hear her. “Fuck that was close.”
My heart nearly stuttered in my chest. “What the hell happened?”
“Laszlo. He came into the office. I caught him on the cameras and hid in a closet. He opened a hidden safe and emptied it of a few files and a small wooden box.”
“Shit. That was too close.” I stood in the shadows of the dimly lit hallway as my heart settled.
“No shit. You need to get out of there, Nova. Your father’s not here. I got into the security cameras and went through the feed. He was here, though. Three days ago. Their cameras were shut off, and there’s been no new feed since then.”
I wanted to scream. I missed him by three days. Three fucking days. “Was he alive? My sister?”
Tibby typed away as she responded. “Just him. He wasn’t chained up for long. They took him out of the cell, put him in a car, and drove off. It wasn’t the Princes who grabbed him. Or Laszlo. But Ty and Levi’s fathers were there. They…hurt him.”
My blood boiled, and I rested my head against the wall, willing my nerves to settle. “Any audio?”
Tibby sighed. “No, but we might be able to read lips. I’ve got it all backed up. Time to go, Nova.”
“Alright. See you soon.”
I took off down the hall just as the lights went out. Shouts and screams from the ballroom echoed down the hall as Tibby whispered directions to the side of the house where we were set to meet. I hurried down a set of servant stairs and nearly ran her over as we arrived at the exit door at the same moment. I slipped off my heels and stepped into the boots Tibby handed me as she grabbed the hem of my dress and tied it up with a scrunchy. This would have to do for now.
“The power will come back on in three minutes,” she murmured.
I didn’t respond, we just ran. Tibby kept pace with me as we darted out into the night and toward the fence line. She pulled out a remote and within moments another car exploded on the far side of the estate. Shouts and screams carried on the wind as we sprinted for the fence. There was a small gate used by the staff that led out to the dumpsters, and Tibby tapped a few keys into her phone as we got close. The gate unlocked, and we slipped through, unnoticed. We didn’t stop, not wasting a moment as the electric fencing zapped to life and the gate locked. We raced through the woods into a small clearing where Tibby had an unmarked SUV waiting. I jumped into the front passenger’s seat as she darted around to the other side.
“Well, that was fun,” Tibby grinned, her chest heaving as she tossed her backpack into the back seat.
I laughed breathlessly, bracing my hands against the dashboard as we raced over the uneven gravel and out to the road. “Mission accomplished—sort of. At least we know they have him somewhere. But if they were hurting him, it was likely for information about me or my sister.”
Tibby nodded. “Yes. I’m in the system now. And even if they find my hack, their entire system will self-destruct before they can trace it back to me.”
“Tibby you’re a fucking genius.” I gave her shoulder a squeeze as she sped down the highway.
She grinned. “I know. MI6 ain’t got shit on me.”
I laughed and whole-heartedly agreed. I pulled out her small laptop from her backpack to look through files linked to The Obscuritas. There had to be information somewhere that I could use to find my sister. Every time Tibby hacked her way into their computers, we found just enough information to keep going, but not enough to find my family. It was infuriating. I opened a folder and clicked on an unnamed file. A list of names appeared with rankings beside them. I noted Bullseye and some of the others I killed at that mansion a few weeks ago, followed by a name I did not expect.
“Tibby.” I frowned, and she turned at the uncertainty in my voice. “Your father’s name is on this list.”
“What? Why?” Her voice was shaky, and her hands tightened on the steering wheel.
My frown deepened. “I don’t know. We need to look into it more. Do you think he’s one of them? Part of the cult? As far as I know, there’s no connection, right?”
Her lips thinned out, and she shook her head. “No. I would know if that piece of shit was involved. It’s got to be a mistake.”
I looked at her, noting her nervousness, but didn’t say anything. Her response confused me.
“That would be one hell of a coincidence if he wasn’t, and I don’t believe in those. We’ll figure this out. Now that you’ve got us into their systems, we’ll find out exactly what’s going on with that piece of shit.”
She shrugged. “I’m not worried about him. I’ll look into it but I’m sure it’s a mistake.”
Her words sounded like a lie, but I knew how awful her stepfather was, and she hated talking about him. After deciding it was safer to stay separated for the night, we rode in silence for the remainder of the trip. Tibby dropped me off a couple blocks from my apartment, promising to meet me tomorrow.
I walked the rest of the way, tired and wired all at once. We were one step closer to finding my family, and it felt like a significant turning point. My skin buzzed with adrenaline, and I sent a wish out into the universe that something would finally work in my favor. Finding Tibby’s stepdad in the mix was a surprise, but if I had to fly to England and kill him myself for what he did to her, I would. And if he was involved in the destruction of my own family, his death would be incredibly, agonizingly slow.
I could hear Tibby’s voice blaring out of the earpiece that was on the floor. I had finally fallen asleep, and that bitch decided to ring me up? I squinted into the darkness searching for my phone. Why was she calling me at 3 a.m.? I snatched up the earpiece and shoved it in.
“What the fuck are you calling me for?” I grumbled, snuggling my cold pillow.
“Fucking fuck, Sara, get out of your apartment right now. Ty is in the bar with Dev, and they’re coming for you,” Tibby shouted hysterically into the microphone, and I bolted out of bed.
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!” I mumbled. I ran across my bedroom into the hallway, but the creak of boots on the stairs leading up to the apartments made me freeze.
Tibby’s long nails clicked against her keyboard as she picked up the cameras we’d installed in the stairwell. “You won’t make it to the fire escape in the kitchen.”
I stepped silently back into my bedroom and shut the door, locking it, like that would make a difference. Underestimating how clever these Princes were would be a mistake. I sprinted to the closet and tore into my weapons, strapping a knife to my thigh. I grabbed a coil of rope and shoved my window open as far as it would go. The drop wasn’t terribly far, but I didn’t have time to heal a broken ankle. I tied the rope to the window and yelped as the front door crashed in.
“Fucking hell, Radnor,” Dev yelled from inside my apartment. “Sara? Are you here?”
Did he honestly think I was just going to walk out there?
Booted footsteps stomped down the hall, and I stepped onto the windowsill. The cold wind bit into my bare thighs, but I didn’t exactly have time to get dressed. Hopefully there wasn’t anybody wandering the alleyway behind the apartment, or they’d get a nice view of my ass as I repelled down the side of the building.
“Come out, come out, pet. You’ve been very, very bad.” Ty’s words echoed down the hallway, the dark timber of his voice making the butterflies in my stomach do backflips.
The rope burned my hands as I slipped and slid down the side of the building. I landed with a thud and winced as the dirt and gravel bit into my ass. I heard the crash of my bedroom door and jumped up, sprinting down the alley.
“Give me a direction, Tibby,” I panted, my lungs filling with the freezing wind as I ran. My feet ached already, and I ignored the bite of broken glass as I pushed my body to move faster. “I can’t go to the club, they know about it.”
“I’ve got a getaway car parked at Belmont Cemetery half a mile away.” Tibby’s voice was calm as she monitored my route. “Shit. Typhon Radnor is a scary mother fucker.”
“What’s happening?” The words wheezed out of me as I ran straight down Grove Street to the cemetery.
Other than my labored breathing, the night was quiet. The world slept as I ran for my fucking life.
“One sec, I’m pulling up cameras in the area,” Tibby rasped out. “Dev is in his truck. He’s not on Grove yet. I can’t see Ty. I’m assuming he’s in the truck with Dev.”
I ran across the street, cutting off a swerving SUV. The driver honked and yelled. I flipped him the bird as I jumped over a fence and into the cemetery. It was deathly quiet. Ha. Pun intended.
“I can’t see you,” Tibby whispered, like someone might hear her through the tiny earpiece.
“In the cemetery,” I whispered back as the wind howled. “Where’s the car?”
“The back edge of the parking lot by some fancy apartments. You should be able to see the buildings above the trees.”
I turned north and caught sight of the buildings. “I see it.”
“Dev is on Grove now. He’s moving slowly, looking for you. There aren’t many street cameras around there, but it doesn’t look like Ty is with him. He may be chasing you on foot. Hurry up, bitch.”
“Fuck off, I am,” I hissed into the night. “I can’t feel my fucking feet, and my hands are burning. If I see Ty, I’m going to beat the shit out of him for this.”
“You could just shoot him instead. One down. Three to go.”
“How did this even happen?” I cursed, stumbling over a flat tombstone.
Tibby huffed angrily. “I have no fucking clue. I’ve been monitoring their phones, no calls or texts referencing you either. I don’t know what set them off. Something must’ve happened at the ball.”
I darted down a dark pathway leading to the parking lot. I could see a boring black sedan in the corner, waiting for me. I’d head to our apartment and lie low. My plans to rescue my father and sister would need to be adjusted, although I didn’t know if the guys connected those dots yet. I was about to wonder aloud when a shadow dropped behind me, and I turned, screaming as a massive thing dove down on me. Tibby shouted in my ear as the shadow creature grabbed me around the waist and lifted me clean off my feet. Rough lips brushed against my ear as the ground disappeared.
“Caught you, little vixen,” Ty growled before covering my nose and mouth with a damp cloth.
I caught a whiff of chloroform. Then the world fell into darkness.
My sense of smell came back first. I waited for the scent of a damp basement to fill my nose, but everything smelled…normal. A little musky, like old cologne? I kept my body still, feeling out with my other senses before alerting anyone I was awake. My knife was gone. My arms were tied to something behind my head, but my legs were free. Was I on a bed? I heard whispers, voices, maybe in another room. Footsteps moved closer, and I kept my eyes shut, feigning sleep.
“You said she was awake.”
I nearly flinched at Andras’s harsh voice.
A dark chuckle told me Ty was in the room too. “She is. I can hear her little heart beating faster, can’t you? Her blood gives off such a lovely scent when it’s coursing with adrenaline. Open your eyes, pet.”
“Fuck. You.” I spit out the words, keeping my eyes closed in defiance.
Rough hands gripped my chin hard, yanking my head up painfully, and my eyes snapped open, locking with the cold glare of a pissed off prick. Andras let his gaze roam down my body, but I refused to squirm under his assessment.
“Sorry I didn’t dress up. I was in a bit of a hurry,” I half-sneered, my lips still squished between his fingers.
“Let her go, Andras,” Dev ordered from his position near the doorway.
I slid my eyes in his direction. He stood in the doorframe of what was definitely a bedroom. His arms were crossed, showing off his biceps in the fitted black T-shirt. His hair was disheveled, and his eyes searched mine with obvious distrust. Well, guess I burned that bridge to hell.
I turned my gaze back to Andras, who still squeezed my chin tightly, the only sign of rage slipping from behind a mask of cool indifference. He let go, and I licked my parched lips. The adrenaline was keeping the pain thumping in my hands and feet dulled for now. I dropped back down, scooting my body up the bed to give my strained arms some relief. I finally noticed Levi sitting in a chair on the opposite side of the bed from Andras. His forearms rested on his thighs as he watched me curiously. His eyes were filled with mirth, and I was pretty sure he was enjoying this.
“Like what you see, pretty boy?” I purred, and he grinned.
“Hell yes. Do you?” He cocked his head to the side, and I snorted a laugh.
“Maybe under different circumstances.”
Levi stood from his chair and leaned over me, his lips close to mine as his eyes swept down my body, noting my peaked nipples through the thin T-shirt I’d been sleeping in.
“How can I make you more comfortable, mi diosa?” he whispered low, and images of his mouth on me flashed through my mind. Get it together, Sara.
I smiled. Then I headbutted him, my forehead connecting with his nose. I don’t think it broke, but blood pissed out of it, and I grinned.
“That’s so much better. Thanks, babe.” Levi’s words were muffled as he held his head back to avoid bleeding all over the floor.
Ty laughed loudly, and Dev sighed.
“That wasn’t very nice, sweetheart,” Andras mused, his lips lifting at the corners slightly as he fought to hide his smile.
I arched an eyebrow at him, refusing to back down from his cold stare. “And kidnapping me was what, a grand gesture of your affections?”
Ty chuckled again and tugged on my ankle, making my T-shirt ride up my thighs. “It is for me, pet. I enjoyed chasing you through that cemetery.”
I tugged my ankle out of his grasp. “Let’s lose the ropes then, monster man, and try for round two? I don’t think you’d win again. You had to knock me out just to get me here.”
He smirked like an asshole. “I just didn’t want you screaming those pretty lungs hoarse, pet. Did you guys know our little captive can sing? Her voice is like a siren’s song, luring sailors to their deaths.”
“Have you been to the club?” Dev cut in, walking up to the bed.
Ty chuckled. “Did you think she was all yours, Parrish? Looks like she wasn’t quite satisfied with you.”
Dev punched Ty in the side so quickly, no one saw it coming. “Fuck you!”
Ty rounded on him with a snarl, but Andras cut them off. “Stop it. Now. I’m going to chain you both up in the basement if you don’t chill. The. Fuck. Out.”
Dev and Ty glared at each other. I thought I might just have an ally there, if I played this right. Dev was clearly upset with me, but not fully on board with this kidnapping plan. Andras was unbreakable, and I couldn’t fully read him like the others. I got the feeling Ty would let me go, only to chase me down again. He was loyal to Andras, though. Levi was interested, but now that I’d tried to break his face, he’d probably keep his distance. This was not looking good.
Andras turned back to me, his arms crossed and his muscles stretching out his ironed, button-down shirt. His dark skin refracted the flickering candlelight around the room. No other lights were on for me to see anything beyond the hallway, and it was still dark beyond the bedroom windows. Even at this ridiculous hour, he looked ready for a business meeting. He stood over me, his dark eyes captivating my own.
“You’re going to answer my questions, or things will get a lot worse for you, sweetheart.”
“I’m pretty sure I can handle it,” I drawled, smirking at him even as my heart raced.
Andras’s smile was a thing of nightmares. There was nothing soft or inviting in his face. Only hard angles and an icy darkness that made me shiver with desire. I wanted to dive into his nightmares and see if they matched my own. His eyes dropped to my chest, and I could feel all four of the monsters in the room taking in my hard nipples brushing against my T-shirt. I shuffled, trying to scoot my legs back, which only pushed my T-shirt up further, revealing the black, lacy, bikini-style panties I wore. Desire reared its stupid head, making me shiver under the weight of their hungry stares.
Dev moved suddenly, tossing a blanket over my legs to cover me up, and I gave him a damsel in distress smile. Yes, Dev was going to be my way out of this, once I gained back his trust.
“You’re no fun,” Levi laughed, the blood still wet on his face from my headbutt.
“Sara Braun,” Andras snapped his fingers in my face, and I glared up at him. “Devon might still have a soft spot for you, but I can assure you, I do not. I can make this very painful for you. One way or another.”
I sneered back at him, even as I breathed an internal sigh of relief. He didn’t know who I really was. He didn’t know what I was after. This was good news.
I shrugged, twisting my arms and pouting. “Fine. I’ll answer your questions.”
Ty growled. “Too easy. Let me take her downstairs for a bit. I’ll make sure our little siren sings the truth.”
“Not yet,” Andras commanded. “What are you doing in Boston?”
“Going to school, getting my master’s at Harvard.”
Andras arched an eyebrow. “And how does a girl with no family, living above a shitty bar, afford Harvard?”
I was 100% sure Andras already looked up my records to see the scholarship Tibby had procured for me, so I continued to tell the cover story we created.
“I got a full scholarship. Then I got a job at Noircoeur to pay for rent and everything else I needed.”
Andras arched an eyebrow. “Why?”
I frowned. “Why what?”
His dark eyes narrowed as he clenched his jaw in irritation. “Why Harvard? Why law school?”
I sighed audibly, letting my face fall. “My parents and my sister were killed in a car accident. Drunk driver. He got away with it because he had a better lawyer. I decided the only way to honor them was to become an even better lawyer.”
The room was silent, absorbing my story.
“She’s not lying,” Dev defended, and I hid my smile at how easily he believed my lies. “She told me about her family one night at the bar.”
“Mmhhmm,” Andras hummed, staring down at me.
But my story was air tight, Tibby had made sure of that. Andras stepped closer and leaned down, close to my face. His hand snapped out, gripping my jaw.
“Do not fucking move.” His voice was deadly and threatening.
“Andras—”
He cut me off with a hiss. “Not one word.”
His other hand reached toward my eyes, and the others started to protest. I remained still as his fingers deftly plucked the dark-colored contacts from my eyes. Andras stood back, glaring at me.
“Your eyes,” Dev whispered, shaking his head. “That night I came by, I thought they looked different. And the guys confirmed it. But why?”
Andras went to the bathroom and trashed the contacts, washing his hands. “Yes, Sara. Tell them why.”
I clamped my mouth shut and refused to look at any of them. I wasn’t about to give away all my secrets, not when they didn’t really know who I was yet. The way Andras said my name, though, made me uneasy.
“Typhon, put her in the hallway bathroom. Nail the window shut.”
Andras leaned over and untied my wrists from the bedframe. Ty came forward with a pair of handcuffs and locked my wrists together.
Dev moved forward, but Andras stopped him with a look as Ty scooped me up, keeping my body wrapped in the blanket. He nuzzled into my neck, and I tried to pull away, but his grip was too strong.
“You smell like sin, pet,” Ty whispered into my ear, and I nearly moaned as he flicked his tongue against the pulse in my neck. “Try to run again, and we’ll get to play a new game.”
I huffed, ignoring the way my pulse ticked up as he pulled my body close to his and smiling sweetly instead. “When I get out of these cuffs, I’ll use them to slice your big, fat throat, monster man.”
Ty chuckled, and I clamped my thighs together, mentally cursing out my horny as fuck body for enjoying the sound.
“Such pretty little threats you make, pet.”
He kicked open the bathroom door and dropped me roughly into the tub. It was an average-sized bathroom with a small window over the toilet. Ty pulled out a hammer and several nails, smashing them into the edges, securing it so I couldn’t escape. I was flattered, I suppose, that they thought my curvy ass would fit through such a tiny window. He turned back to me with a wink, then left me to sulk.
A few minutes later, Dev knocked on the door, like it fucking mattered, and came in to sit on the edge of the tub, tucking a pillow gently behind my head.
“Can I look at your feet? I saw they looked a little bloodied.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Guess that’s what happens when psychos break into your apartment at 3 a.m. and you’re running for your life.”
His light-green eyes softened as he frowned. “Why did you run? I would never hurt you.”
“Then why did you break in like a burglar?” I retorted because fuck his pretty eyes and gentle touches when he was clearly helping them.
I pretended to wince in pain as he wiped a warm cloth against the pad of my foot, cleaning it. My hands were already healing from the rope burns, and I kept them tucked inside the blanket.
Dev grimaced, cleaning the cloth before switching to my other foot. “That wasn’t my idea. Ty is a little eccentric.”
“Do you answer to them, then?” I asked, curious to hear the lies he would tell.
He frowned, gazing back at me and searching my face. “We have a long history. It’s not all good. But it’s not something I can’t run away from any longer.”
“Why not?” I pressed further.
“Our fathers are old friends and they’re…strict. They’re powerful men, not just in Boston, but everywhere. It’s not exactly easy to hide from them.”
Dev finished cleaning my feet, and I tucked them gingerly under the blanket.
“Maybe you’re not trying hard enough.”
He frowned at me, and I made my eyes round as I looked up at him. I had to give him something real, something to believe in.
“Dev, you were my first…my first real orgasm. I’ve never felt the way you made me feel that night.”
Dev smiled, and the light finally reached his ocean eyes. “I thought that last time was different.”
I nodded, because it was, and smiled back at him, pleading. “You could just whisk me out of here right now, and we’d be gone. Shadows in the night. And we could have nights like that one, over and over.”
He turned to face me fully, leaning against the tub. His muscles tightened, and I stared up at him. His heated gaze locked with mine, and I swallowed audibly.
“Would you run away with me, beautiful?”
I couldn’t bring myself to say yes, the lie catching in my throat, but he didn’t give me a chance to respond.
He frowned. “Was it just as good with Levi then? Did he make you come, Sara?”
I turned away from him. Because a tiny part of me was ashamed. Ashamed that I could give my body so freely to them both. The feelings growing inside me were foreign and uncomfortable. If I was being honest, I wanted all four Princes.
Dev stood, staring down at me with hurt and indecision clouding his pretty eyes. “That’s what I thought. You’re in deep shit now, Sara.”
I watched him leave, the door clicking as he locked it from the outside. I leaned back on the pillow and sighed loudly.
“Nova?” Tibby’s quiet voice whispered into the earpiece.
By some crazy fucking luck, they hadn’t noticed the earpiece. It was flesh colored and tiny, but still. I coughed once.
“Fucking holy shit, Nova, I thought you were dead when your screams cut off earlier. What should I do? Should I call the police?”
I clicked my tongue twice for no. I couldn’t risk talking yet. Couldn’t risk anything until I knew where I was.
“You’re still in Boston,” Tibby answered my unspoken thoughts. “They brought you to a house Andras owns. Should I try to break in?”
I clicked my tongue twice. Dev and Ty would recognize Tibby from the club. If they saw her, they’d probably kill her.
“Fine. What if I tipped off a detective? Anonymously, of course. Not about you, but say there’s crazy drugs at the house or something? Nova, I have to do something. I’m going crazy.”
I clicked my tongue once. If the cops caused a distraction, maybe I could escape. I guess it was worth a shot.
“Are you hurt?” Tibby whispered.
I sighed and clicked my tongue twice. I was a survivor. This could be a good thing. My identity was still a secret, and I could use that to my advantage. Why they decided to kidnap me now, I didn’t know, but I’d find out soon enough.
“I’m here, Nova,” Tibby said quietly. “I’ll be here. Always.”
I clicked my tongue once in agreement. She was the only friend I had in the world. As the adrenaline finally fizzled out, my muscles ached. My eyes began to droop, heavy with exhaustion. I tried to fight it, afraid to close my eyes, but it was no use. I drifted into the darkness to the sound of Tibby’s music playing softly in the background.