Chapter 25 – Olivia
OLIVIA
My heart ripped from my chest, shattered to pieces. Crushed to dust and scattered across Devil’s Creek. Tears spilled from my eyes and would not stop falling, drenching my T-shirt.
For the past few days, I held onto hope that my brother and Tate would return. I prayed the three of them would devise a plan to get home safely after someone also kidnapped Marcello Salvatore. But when I saw Marcello and Drake hop down from the helicopter without my brother, I knew.
He was dead.
Tate was gone.
No matter how many times I repeated the words in my head, none of it felt real. I told myself Tate would come walking toward me, all smiles and swagger.
But he never showed.
We finally reunited after years of being separated, forced into different foster homes, and then splitting up again while he was in the Marine Corps.
Something always kept us apart. Whether it was the system, his deployments, or my living on campus at Kingston University. Our timing never seemed to line up.
Screams of sheer pain ripped through my chest, tearing me apart. My chest and lungs ached from each sharp bellow, my brother’s name a whisper on my lips.
Drake bent down beside me, barely able to maintain his balance, keeping a hand on my shoulder. “Liv, please. I need you to get up. We have to go home and talk about this?”
“Home?” I snapped, snot dripping from my nose. “What home? That cold, sterile mansion that only ever had life in it when Tate lived there?”
He lowered his head and sighed. “I know how you feel.”
“No, you don’t.”
I shoved his hand off my shoulder, and he stumbled backward and onto his ass. Seeing him fall onto his bad shoulder snapped me out of my anger. Made me forget all the grief. For a moment, I only saw the man I loved wounded, his face bruised and battered, his body covered in wounds.
I crawled over to him and helped him sit up. “Drake, I’m—”
“I know,” he bit out. “It’s okay. I get it.”
Hooking my arm around him, I pulled him to my chest and started sobbing on his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
His entire body trembled as he held me. “I know.”
“Tell me this isn’t real.”
“I can’t,” he whispered, choking on his words. “Liv, I tried so fucking hard to save him. They wanted me. I begged them to stop. I offered to give them Lovelace.”
I lifted my head off his shoulder and ran a hand through his dark hair, pushing it off his forehead. “Then why did they kill him?”
“I don’t know. None of this makes sense, Liv.
Why capture and torture the three of us, leave us in a cave that could have killed us from the gases alone, and then let Marcello and me live?
They got nothing from us. Not even a passcode.
And I offered it. Many times. I would have given anything for Tate. ”
I believed every word he said. Drake loved Tate like a brother. From the day he brought us home, he treated us as if we were his family.
The rotary blades made a loud whooshing sound as they lifted off from the helipad. Until then, I had paid little attention to our audience. Surrounded by a dozen of Drake’s friends and their families, we were the stars of this fucked-up scenario.
A hint of sadness and remorse was on each of their faces. They all knew Tate. All the men were members of The Devil’s Knights and had embraced my brother as their own.
“I’m exhausted,” Drake mumbled, eyes half-closed, swollen from being punched.
It looked more like someone had beaten him with a bat or bricks. The rough cuts on his tanned skin were deep and would likely get infected if I didn’t keep a close eye on them. My new priority was taking care of Drake.
He needed me.
“Come on,” I said, blinking back tears as I offered him my hand. “Let’s go home.”
Home.
That word sounded weird the second it left my mouth. The Battle Fortress hadn’t been my home since high school. To keep my distance from Drake, I spent four years on campus at Kingston University.
With whatever strength he had left, Drake rose from the ground on shaky legs. It was a miracle he could walk in his condition.
As we walked toward the house, Sonny Cormac slung an arm around Drake. Aiden Wellington took up his right side, giving me a reprieve from dragging his heavy body. I nodded my thanks, and then more tears slid down my cheeks, blurring my vision.
“We got you,” Sonny told Drake. “Just hang on.”
“I’m fine,” Drake slurred.
“No, you’re not,” Aiden said, gripping him tighter. “But you will be. Eventually.”
“Tate’s dead,” he said as if he needed to hear the words aloud. “Tate was my brother. My family.”
“Yeah, we know,” Sonny said, steering him toward the veranda.
“No, you don’t.” Drake shook his head. “Tate was my half-brother.”
His words startled me, nearly knocking me off balance. This could not be right. Drake had told me five years ago that none of us shared blood. The DNA results confirmed it. And if Drake was Tate’s brother, then…
Oh God.
Please, no.
“You’re delirious, man.” Sonny laughed. “Just go home and get some sleep.”
Inside the house, we ran into Alex Salvatore and her four husbands. They stood in the butler’s kitchen, Alex rubbing her pregnant belly with Damian and Luca doting over her. Marcello sipped from a bottle of Pellegrino and leaned into Bastian’s side.
Alex was one lucky girl.
Four of the hottest men I’d ever seen huddled around her like a unit. When she moved even an inch, they went with her, like the planets gravitating around the sun. A slight sense of jealousy stirred in my gut, seeing all four men so devoted to her.
I wanted a man who would devote all his time and attention to me. Show me I was worth loving. Drake never committed to anything, always keeping me at a distance.
“We have a car waiting for you out front,” Luca said, stepping toward us, dressed in a black suit, even at this hour. “This shouldn’t have happened. But there’s a lesson here.”
“Yeah?” Drake shot back. “What’s that?”
“Strike first.”
“I’m not like you,” he said, anger dripping from his tone. “I won’t risk killing innocent people.”
I didn’t know what the hell they were talking about, but everyone in the room seemed to understand. This part of Drake’s life was a mystery to me. Of course, I knew about The Devil’s Knights, a secret society that dealt with the criminal underworld.
“Next time, you’ll do the right thing,” Luca said, arms crossed over his chest.
“There won’t be a next time,” Drake growled, now getting into his face. “So, fuck you.”
He shook off Sonny and Aiden and stumbled out of the kitchen. I followed behind and caught him before he staggered into the wall in the hallway. Too proud to ask for help, he tried to hold himself up, but it was clear he wouldn’t get very far without leaning on me.
“For what it’s worth,” I said as we walked down a never-ending hallway toward the front door. “I’m glad you’re back.”
He turned his head, eyes puffy and bruised. “You don’t hate me?”
“How can I?”
“Because this is my fault. They kidnapped us because of my technology.”
On some level, I blamed Drake. He pulled us into his world and made us believe that we could have it all. But now I understood the price of such wealth. To have everything, you had to give something up. Some of his friends, like Luca, had given up their humanity. And Drake gave pieces of himself.
As we approached the front doors, two armed men opened them for us. Our driver waited by the curb, standing beside the open door of a black stretch limousine. I hopped inside and made room for Drake, sliding across the leather bench.
I put my hand on his knee, our mouths so close we could have kissed. “Why did you say those things to Sonny and Aiden?”
“About Tate?”
I nodded.
“Because it’s true. Tate made me promise a few things before he died. He wanted you to know that he loved you. He also asked me to take care of you, which is a given. I’d do that no matter what.”
Curled up beside him, I basked in the feel of his skin against mine, warm and soft and so damn real. When he first went missing, I feared I’d never see him again. I worried we would never get a second chance.
“You said the DNA results weren’t a match.”
“For you,” he admitted, “but not for Tate.”
“I don’t…” My words trailed off, and then the realization hit me all at once. “Tate isn’t my biological brother?”
Drake shook his head. “He didn’t want you to know. But since this secret has been keeping us apart for years, he wanted me to tell you. He thought it was time you knew everything about him. About me. About yourself.”
On the short drive to the Battle Fortress, my heart hammered in my chest. A well of anger, fear, and sadness swirled inside me. I felt everything all at once. But mostly, I felt betrayed by the one person I loved most.
“Why would he do this?”
“Tate didn’t want you to feel left out. He thought knowing the truth would hurt you.”
“Being left in the dark hurts much worse.”
He pressed his lips together.
“So, who is my father? Do you know?”
The door to the limo flew open, and the driver said, “Welcome home, Mr. Battle.”
“Thank you.”
Drake exited the car without answering my question. He gripped the hood and then bent down to offer his hand to me. Such a gentleman. He always put me first, but it was my turn to take care of him.