Chapter 20 #2
“I know my duties, but I also know my worth. I am strong. I am a prize to any man who is lucky enough to have me. You think I’m going to be too weak for you.
” Her head shook and with one hard jerk, she pulled her wrist free.
“It’s time I reintroduce myself. You keep worrying over a girl who doesn’t exist. As if I’m going to crumble over Bastian.
Over the betrayal of my mother. When you realize who is before you, and you see what I’m capable of, don’t say I didn’t warn you.
You think you’re big and bad because of what you’ve done because of your pain.
” Her hands lifted, her fingers splaying out as she presented them to me.
“I lived a similar pain, and I could snap necks with these hands if I needed. My mother had me trained from the best. Save your pity for yourself.” Her lids narrowed.
“You have no idea the coldhearted bitch you’re lucky enough to marry. ”
Words. Marian’s claims looped in my mind as she looked at the pictures of Bastian’s mistresses on my phone. Empty words. That’s all they had been. Hollow threats to hide her anger and fear. But it was more than that.
Did I doubt her claims of killing men if she needed to?
Absolutely not. She was a woman who worked heavily in a man’s field.
Her parents would have made sure she had special training.
Training… for anything. For any situation.
But had I honestly thought she’d undergone it to that extreme?
To where she’d let her mind linger in that dark realm?
No. Not even close, and that had me looking at her differently.
Maybe she could take what I was going to give her.
Maybe she’d survive and make it to Hollywood.
That didn’t mean she’d make it in my world or our circle, but she had been trained for this.
Hell, she’d been trained for more. Bastian wasn’t just anyone.
He was fucking nobility. Maybe I had underestimated her, but we had so far to go, and she had a lot to prove.
“I can’t believe he did this.”
“He did.”
“I can’t look at these anymore. This makes me sick.
You said barely legal. These look like girls.
Children. He—” She handed back over the phone.
“He’s on his way? You’re sure they saw his SUV leave the hotel?
I haven’t seen a single car pass by in the last hour.
It’s getting dark. Are we ready? I mean…
us, our people? Not that we have enough if what Penny said is true. ”
“We had more people brought in. They’re there. They’re everywhere.”
Marian grew quiet again as I put the phone back in my pocket.
She’d barely said a word as we sat inside the empty store.
The heat had both of us drenched in sweat, and I knew she was processing how not only was the man she’d been going to marry a monster, but that he’d paid off his crimes but couldn’t pay to save her.
Bastian had never come. He’d abandoned her.
I hated that I even gave it thought, but I couldn’t wrap my mind around his actions.
Bastian and I were two separate people and our biggest difference was our feelings for Marian.
Sure, I was going to hurt her. Fucking decimate her.
I would have still annihilated anything in my path if I feared someone hurting her other than me.
“Car.” Marian pointed as lights lit up the road in the distance.
Where she sounded hopeful, I wasn’t so sure it was Bastian.
One of his men, absolutely. But him? No.
The window to see Marian was gone. Anyone could have come to retrieve the ring, and I couldn’t see his detail allowing him to be put at risk.
“That’s them. It’s an SUV, dark. …Fuck. Two SUVS. Three.” I cursed, knowing that this was worse than him not coming. It was him, and it was a clear sign of where he stood, as if she needed any more proof. “You still got that ring with you?”
Marian’s gaze cut over. “You still got that mask with you?”
I lifted it, smiling, even if there was no humor to be found.
She was hurt. Angry as she went back to looking at the vehicles in the distance.
“Of course I have the mask. Now, listen close. We let our guys do their job. Quinn will notify me when they’re ready.
We don’t go out until then, got it? No funny stuff, doll. ”
Her eyes started to roll, but her face quickly lost the anger.
“Please stop calling me that. It’s not real, Dray. We’re not those kids anymore. Just call me Marian or nothing at all. I’m no one to you anyway. This is an arrangement neither of us want. Impersonal is best. Detached is better.”
I watched the vehicles grow closer but glanced back to her.
“I already told you, that’s who you’ll always be. Hate can’t erase that.”
“Odd.” Marian stared ahead, her emotion fading by the second.
“You know what they say, right?” Her head turned, her eyes meeting mine.
“The more you pronounce weakness the more of a bitch you become. Oh wait, sorry, in psychological terms, words of endearment can soften the heart whether you mean them or not. Just saying them tricks your mind into believing it. You say I’m going to pay.
That you can’t wait to make me suffer for ruining your life.
Revenge one-oh-one, Drayton. Don’t get attached.
Avoid intimacy. No terms of endearment.” She turned more in my direction, placing her face mere inches from mine, so close we could have kissed. I almost moved in. I wanted to.
She paused, licking her lips. Her voice softened and she gripped to my shirt pulling me even closer.
“Unless you’ve changed your mind. We could let the past die.
I could be that wife you always wanted. I’ll give you so many heirs.
Think about it.” Her lips did brush mine, and she fisted my shirt for only a moment.
“We’d be a hell of a team. You know we would.
And we could be one big happy family. The one we dreamed of.
The one we talked about. Me. You. So many babies. Our dream. We were happy once.”
Sharp metal sliced into the side of my neck enough to send a pain shooting through my skin. I stiffened, and she crushed her lips into mine, only to pull back as my hand shot to my neck in recognition.
“No.” She waved a knife. “You’re not ready to let go of the past. Besides, my Drayton isn’t here anymore. I get the asshole Mr. Sinn who’s determined to hurt me, so let’s keep this strictly business until the man I fell in love with returns. Marian will do just fine.”
“Give me that.” I took the weapon, trying to ignore the fact that she could have just slit my fucking throat if she would have wanted. Dead. I could have been dead. “Where the hell did you get this?”
Her jaw tightened as she went back to looking at the SUVs pulling in, but I couldn’t stop staring at her. My heart was fluttering in my chest no matter how I kept trying to numb it out.
“My bag; my knife. I’d like it back, please.”
“So you can cut me again?” My head shook as I reached up, swiping my fingers over the small stream of wetness. “I’m the only one who will be drawing blood. You don’t get to until I say.”
“We’ll see.”
Pain branched out through my head. It had me squeezing my eyes shut through the heaviness that seemed to pull my lids down.
I hadn’t been sleeping well, and I was bordering on the edge of a migraine.
It always happened when I didn’t get enough rest. Having Marian…
I didn’t want to sleep. I couldn’t. I didn’t want to miss a thing.
“Get ready.” I pushed to crouch, pulling her up with me to stare out of the side of the aisle, through the glass front doors. The front SUV pulled up to the gas tanks, driving past them to the far end as the middle SUV moved in behind it to become level with the pumps directly in front of us.
When the back door open, my anger wasn’t my own.
Marian’s arm was against mine, and I could feel her shaking with rage as the rest of the men poured out to protect him.
Movement eased in from the shadows. There were twice as many men training guns on them from all sides. I didn’t wait. Elec, he’d come through.
Jerking on the mask, I grabbed Marian, leveling her knife at her throat as I pulled her against me and to the door.
“Do as I say. Now is not the time to disobey.”
“He’s mine.”
“You’re mine,” I growled, shoving the door open.
Men in dark suits turned their guns on me, but their confusion from my men rushing in had them going back and forth. I barely noticed. My eyes were on the bastard who had been scanning the ground around the gas pump.
“Mon amour?”
A deep sound left her as she tried twisting in my hold.
“You didn’t come.”
“I… couldn’t.”
“Sure, you couldn’t.” I moved us in, wrapping around Marian even more as I kept the knife on her tightly. “I believe you’re here for something. A goodbye? Or a ring?”
“I need that ring back.”
No hesitation. The small sound of pain from Marian had me nuzzling against the side of her head.
“You hear that, doll? He wants his ring. That’s all he wants.”
Bastian’s men had their arms raised as mine moved in, taking their guns. The fear from Bastian was real as he watched my team with hesitation.
“Who the hell are you? What is this about?”
“Don’t ask like you don’t know. You know.”
A repeated flexing tightened Bastian’s jaw.
He went back and forth, looking between me and Marian.
I pulled off the mask, smiling with all the evil inside me.
I lifted the blade from Marian’s throat as I wrapped my arm around her neck, slightly choking her with my bicep.
I kissed her cheek, feeling the wetness from her tears and licking it from my lips.
“You’ve met my soon-to-be wife.” My eyes cut up to him. “I do believe you wanted her as your own.”
“She’s still mine. What you’ve done has broken laws. Marian isn’t yours. Not after what you did.”
“Oh, yes. I raped her, right?” I laughed.
“I took her virginity against her will? I didn’t, you know.
Not all those years ago. I can’t say I haven’t come close to raping her now.
It’s a very thin line with the way I made her want it.
Then again, I don’t hold a candle to you.
Very interesting photos of your mistresses. I showed her what you did…”
Bastian took a step forward but jerked to a stop as I slashed the knife to point right at his face.
“Careful, you’ll get to say your goodbye to Marian soon enough.”
“It’s not true.” Bastian lowered his gaze to her. “You can’t believe anything this man tells you.” His attention came back to me. “You want money for her, fine. How much?”
My head shook, and once again I rubbed my face along Marian’s.
“My wife’s not for sale. All the money in the world couldn’t tempt me.
She and I have unfinished business. Tell me,” I turned to face him.
“Did you ever feel anything for her but lust? Anything at all?” At the silence I continued.
“Smart to keep your mouth shut. What about my family? What do you think of them?”
Bastian’s breaths were coming heavier as his anger rose.
“What’s wrong? You’re not brave enough to talk shit about them to my face? You didn’t mind stating your opinion to Marian. Why don’t you tell me what you told her?”
More silence. I lifted my head, spotting Quinn in the distance.
I waved him over, forcing me and Marian closer to Bastian until we were only feet apart.
Quinn was in all black gear. Even with the black smears of face paint, there was no mistaking his Pennington size.
I could have chosen him from a lineup just from his body alone.
“Dray?”
I looked between the men as Quinn stopped beside us. His gaze was shooting daggers at Bastian as he glanced over.
“I got the impression the Pennington bloodline is looked down upon. Quinn, you heard what I did. Did you get that impression?”
“Let me see. I believe he called us cowards. Oh, and lowlifes.”
“That’s right. And how Marian was a conquest, and once I took what I wanted, I wasn’t interested anymore. That we, Penningtons, were all the same. That’s what you said, right?”
“Listen.” Bastian’s hand lifted. “You loved her, I get it.”
“Wrong!” I exploded. “I love her. I hate her.” My arm tightened even more, and Marian’s nails dug into my skin as she fought to breathe.
“I’m going to kill for her, but first I’m going to make her kill you.
You’re going to be her reminder on what happens when my love is overshadowed.
When it’s forgotten. You’re going to help Marian see how no one will ever take my place. ”
Bastian’s head shook, but I continued, loosening my hold as I let my fingers travel over her neck and to the column of her throat. “Marian’s going to discover firsthand the consequences of crossing me, and it’ll start with you.”
Movement blurred as Bastian spun for the driver’s door.
One minute I was gripping harder to the knife, the next it was gone.
Marian lunged forward, grabbing Bastian’s shirt, and at the same time, burying the blade in one of the guards who surged towards them.
The man crumbled as Marian threw her weight into Bastian, slamming him into the door of the SUV and pointing the knife right at his throat.
“You never felt anything for me. You were going to let me rot so long as you got your precious ring back. I thought there might be something. I thought you might save me or at least try. God!”
“Mon amour—”
A deep sound left him, and blood trailed from the puncture wound where the tip of her knife was embedded. I glanced to Quinn whose eyes were round in surprise.
“I can’t stand that fucking name. When we get where we’re going, and Drayton has me kill you, I want you to know I’m not doing it for him. I’m doing it for me. For those mistresses you got pleasure in hurting. Raping. How could you?”
“Marian, I—”
“I recognized one. I remember seeing her at our engagement party. I hadn’t known who she was then, but Elliot showed me pictures weeks later and confirmed my suspicions. It’s true. You did those things you’re accused of.”
“But I…I never hurt you.”
“Never hurt me? You make me sick. Those poor girls. Their build… so small. So—I can’t even look at you.”
She pushed against him, turning and thrusting the handle of the knife towards me.
I wanted to be angry. I wanted to set an example of her in front of everyone.
I didn’t. I couldn’t. She deserved closure, and I would give her that.
But only right now. Once we got to our new place, all of her wants no longer existed.
Marian’s strength would only get her so far.
I’d push her past her limits and maybe even my own.
There were no restrictions to revenge, only an oblivion of possibilities.
I planned to discover them all.