Chapter 11
Eleven
N erine
Maybe this wasn’t such a great idea.
Those thoughts ran through my head on a continuous loop as I approached the training room used by all Angelos soldiers for their drills. In the past, I never questioned coming down here. I’d work out and then go about my day. After the coup, things changed. I used the gym in the house and rarely left the house, except during my runs.
Typing in the access code, I pulled open the doors and abruptly stopped.
Holy fuck. Yep, this was most definitely a bad idea.
Theo and Xander stretched at different corners of the room. They rolled their arms and flexed and shifted side to side as if they prepared to engage in some no-holds-barred combat session instead of a self-defense class for me.
Neither wore a shirt, making it obvious how the past few years had honed them from fit boys into toned, lethal men.
As a teen, I’d wanted them with a fierceness of first love and newly discovered passion. Then, everything was new, exciting, and an exploration of desires.
Their passion for each other had aroused me in a way I couldn’t describe, and then when they turned it on me, the intensity, the overwhelming nature of it, sent me to places I couldn’t have imagined possible.
Now I longed for two completely untouchable people. They represented what I lost, what I wanted, and what remained out of reach.
Logic screamed at me to suppress my desires, that I belonged to another man, even if I hated that man’s guts. But my body craved, needed, cried for a touch, a taste, a moment of what it would be just to feel like a woman again.
No matter how much I wished it, the pulsing between my legs never stopped whenever I was around Theo and Xander. The draw they held over me had never waned, even when I wanted to desperately hate them for abandoning me.
Now they’d touch me for the sole purpose of training. An evil torture to remind me of every damn thing I’d lost.
As if sensing my presence, Xander and Theo turned in unison, catching me in their sights. A hum of energy surged among the three of us. My nipples tightened, and my pussy grew slick and wet.
What the hell was I doing?
I released a deep breath, pushing down my arousal, and focused on the end goal.
To leave all of this behind and never look back.
I jumped as the clock on the wall chimed nine, snapping me into motion for my lesson.
I approached Theo, who’d moved onto the padded mat in the center of the room.
“It looks like you’re my first teacher in this endeavor.” Immediately, I cringed, wishing the words had never left my lips. I’d said something similar my first time with him. Hell, it had been my first time ever.
The need coursing through me reignited, and all I wanted to do was run out of the room and hide.
Idiot.
“Forget I said that. I didn’t mean to?—”
“Stop talking,” Theo said through a clenched jaw as undisguised heat and lust lit his gray eyes. “This is fucking hard enough.”
I swallowed, trying to push the desire down. “I’m sorry.”
Instead of acknowledging my apology, he grabbed his shirt and slipped it on. “Get your gear. We aren’t training in here. There’s a better location for what we have planned.”
I frowned. “What do you mean? I thought you were going to teach me all the skills of your soldiers?”
“We are, but you need a more private setting.” Without looking in my direction, he strode to the gym exit and then nodded to Xander. “Let’s go, asshole. The boss wanted us to show his wife the Caves. Let’s make it worth her while.”
Andraius wanted me to see the Caves, did he? I’d grown up running its halls. I could navigate every nook and cranny blindfolded. Another secret kept from the piece of shit I’d married.
“What are you two up to?”
“The Assassin Squad wanted us heavily involved in your training, so you will have to wait to learn all the details,” Theo responded over his shoulder, not bothering to look toward me, so I fixed my gaze on Xander.
Who sighed, shook his head, and picked up his discarded shirt, donning it as he moved in my direction. “It’s been a few years since you went for a visit, Angel. It’s time to make an appearance and show everyone you aren’t a petrified lamb.”
“I know what happens down there. I’m not scared.”
“Oh, I’m well aware of your experience of the Caves.” The smirk on Xander’s lips shouldn’t send the quiver deep into my core the way it just had. “However, not everyone knows the depths of the knowledge Theios Peter passed to his heir.”
I almost said, “Or what you and Theo demonstrated to me,” but kept those thoughts to myself since going down that rabbit hole would only make this mess I lived in bigger and bigger.
But of course, Xander caught the train of my thoughts and whispered, “One day, it will happen again.”
“No, it won’t. No matter how much I may want it, there isn’t a possibility.”
“Not now. But one day when you’re free.”
Free.
The concept of that word made me laugh. Whether Andraius died or I disappeared, I’d remain locked in shackles. No one saw this but me.
The Angelos Angel carried the weight of centuries of tradition, history, and lineage. My death would mean it passed to my sisters, and I’d never allow them to take on such a burden.
“I’ll never have true freedom.” I turned away. “There are only two choices for me, and neither situation allows the scenario you want to happen.”
“Wait and see.”
“I won’t leave fate in anyone else’s hands but mine from now on.”
“You still haven’t forgiven us.”
“When I said I forgave you, I meant it. That doesn’t mean I will sit around letting others make my decisions. Those days are over. I’m going to become the Nerine Papa raised again.”
“Fine. Let’s go.” Xander gestured toward the elevators as if I didn’t know where they were.
I glared at him and stepped into position next to Theo.
“Want to explain the details of this field trip the boss ordered?” I asked the moment the elevator doors closed, leaving the three of us the only ones in the cab.
Theo angled his head toward the camera in the corner and then stated, “The boss wanted you to see the inner workings of the family operations. You are an Angelos. You need to understand how he runs the business.”
“Oh, I see.” I lifted my eyes to the camera and stared directly into the lens. “If Andraius wants to frighten me, why is he hiding behind his men? Shouldn’t he have the balls to put the fear of God in me?”
If I wasn’t mistaken, I might have heard one or both of the men behind me grind their teeth at the taunt I’d thrown at my husband.
“We only follow orders. First, we will go through the halls toward the holding cells and then the interrogation rooms. Last, we will visit the training facilities where we teach soldiers all the techniques used for advanced extractions.” Theo kept his tone neutral, but how he gripped the back of his neck told me the last place he wanted to go was that room.
“This was a fucking bad idea,” Xander muttered under his breath, sending butterflies into my stomach as images of both Theo and Xander sandwiching me, fucking me engulfed my mind.
We’d been so young and stupid, trying not to get caught by our fathers when we were supposed to prepare for an interrogation. The incident had started as a punishment for going to a party on my college campus without informing my security. It hadn’t helped that when they found me, some idiot from my study group was hitting on me and insisting I go out with him.
They’d taken me into that room, stripped me, bound my hands to a chain above my head, and then mercilessly teased me before fucking me until I was within seconds of passing out.
They’d barely managed to get me into my bed and wipe the camera system before our fathers had arrived with the suspect they planned to torture for information.
“It won’t happen again. Our history is our history,” I whispered, ensuring the cameras couldn’t pick up my words.
“You call it history. I call it torture.” Theo stalked from the elevator the second the doors slid open.
“I didn’t choose this, Xander.”
“It doesn’t hurt any less.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and read something on the display, frowning. “Let’s go. My workday just got busier.”
He strode toward Theo, leaving me to follow behind him.
After a few centering breaths, I exited the cab with my head up. It wasn’t fair of them to put guilt on my shoulders, but then again, I’d made it very clear that I had no plans to wait for them.
No matter what I felt for them, there was no point in them waiting for me when a future together wasn’t possible for us.
I’d rather them be with other people than in this limbo with me.
God, I was such a fucking liar. Seeing them with other people would kill me, but they deserved better than this.
“Are you coming?” Theo paused, shooting a scowl in my direction. “Let’s get this over with.”
Cocking a hand on my hip, I matched his glare with one of my own. “I don’t need an escort. I’m familiar with the layout of the underground facilities.”
“Wrong.” Theo’s cool tone grated on my nerves. “We’ve put in a few renovations, and the last thing we’d want to happen is for the boss’s wife to get lost. Considering where we are, the fewer problems you cause us, the better.”
Problems?
“I’m causing you problems? You’re the one who wanted me to see the Caves.” I clenched my fists and, from my periphery, noticed Xander take a step in my direction. “If I’m such a problem, as you stated, I can turn my ass around and go back up the elevator.”
“You’re not going anywhere. The boss gave us orders, and we will follow them.”
If he said boss one more time, I’d punch him in the mouth.
His gray eyes narrowed as if reading my thoughts, and a smirk touched his lips. “If you punch me, it will only hurt you. I’m faster, and my hard jaw will break your fingers.”
“It would be worth it to damage your pretty face.”
“Oh, the Angelos Angel thinks I’m pretty. Though my preference leans toward handsome.”
“What the hell is wrong with you?” I folded my arms across my body. “You haven’t acted this level of dickhead since we were kids.”
“Maybe it’s your sunny disposition.”
Xander stepped between us, blocking my view of Theo, his dark eyes holding mine, narrowing briefly. “Time to table the ire and finish the tasks ahead.”
Oh, we’d finish the tasks ahead, all right.
As soon as we left here, I’d message Nyx and tell her the plan to train with these two was off. I couldn’t do it. We had too much history. Being this close to them hurt too fucking much.
One minute it was behave and make it easy. We want to unseat your asshole husband and put you on the throne. Then the next was this bullshit.
I couldn’t understand this head trip. I needed a hard run to get my mind clear.
It wasn’t as if I intended for the circumstances of our lives. They had no clue as to how much I hurt inside. They knew nothing of what I’d suffered.
Hell with it. I refused to fall back into self-pity.
Step one: finish this tour. Step two: a mind-clearing run through the streets of Boston. Step three?—
At that moment, I caught movement in the periphery.
Focusing, I realized Andraius’s head of security stood in the corner, watching us and listening to everything we said.
All the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.
They were acting like assholes on purpose. The way Xander cocked his head to the side and lifted a brow told me he wasn’t happy with the direction my thoughts had drifted.
“Why don’t you clarify this list we need to tackle so I can let you get back to your real work since babysitting me isn’t technically part of the role of those at such a high level in the organization.”
“Cut the attitude, Nerine.” Theo maneuvered around Xander. “We are only doing as the boss tells us. He makes the decisions. We carry them out. You have an issue, go talk to him.”
“This boss shit is getting old. Get out of my way. I’ll give myself a tour of this place and then go for a run. I don’t need you two fuckers as my escorts. As of tomorrow, I want my old security team back. You’re fired.”
I stalked in their direction, ready to shove Theo to the side. I had no doubt Andraius lurked somewhere in the shadows, ready to pounce on me.
This would have been the perfect time to practice some of the moves I’d started to learn from the Assassin Squad, as Xander and Theo like to call them, but I hadn’t mastered any of them yet.
Just as I reached Theo, a hand grabbed my upper arm, hurling me to the side. “Nerine, you will not speak to my men with such disrespect.”
So fucking predictable.
“Would you rather I direct my venom at you?” I glared up at him.
Pain shot through my muscles as Andraius’s fingers gripped harder. Still, I refused to give him the satisfaction of hearing my whimper.
“Your father indulged you too much. It’s time you learned the Angelos way of handling business in the Caves.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at the stupidity of that statement. “Then you have nothing to teach me since you aren’t a true Angelos.”
Andraius’s lack of initiative to learn how Peter Angelos ran things before he arrived on the scene made him an idiot. Even a little research would have told him I’d seen Papa do many interrogations down here.
Rage built in his eyes, along with a deep-seated desire to backhand me. I’d seen that look often over the years. However, if he acted impulsively, he’d lose the unquestioned loyalty of the people surrounding us. I was the Angelos Angel and therefore untouchable, especially in the Caves.
Smiling, I lifted my chin. I waited, taunted. I wanted him to hit me.
Do it, fucker. Please, do it. Let everyone see the monster I married.
His eyes narrowed, knowing I’d won this round. He then shoved me away, throwing me onto Theo.
Theo steadied me and then pushed me behind Xander as if that would shield me from whatever Andraius planned for me.
“Take her to the extraction room. I want her to watch Xander do his magic with our prisoner.”
I knew I should have kept my mouth shut but couldn’t help myself. “If you wanted to show me the Angelos way, why aren’t you doing it? Papa never let others take on the hard work when he had the chance to roll up his sleeves.”
“You want a front-row seat as I wield a knife. Is that what you’re saying?”
“I’ve already experienced this. I rather watch an interrogation.”
“Shut up, Nerine,” Theo muttered so only I could hear. “Stop agitating him.”
I glanced to my side and then at Andraius, not giving a fuck.
Theo knew nothing about what this monster had done to me with his blade.
I’d lived as someone’s pawn for way too long. This man planned to hurt me whether or not I played by his rules.
Lifting a brow, I held Andraius’s gaze and then smirked before I used the words from the night he couldn’t get it up. “Are we doing this or not?”
He shifted as if he planned to lunge at me before he got himself under control. “Gentlemen, let’s give her what she wants.”