Chapter 19 #3
I blink at his mood swings, which give me whiplash.
Then again, I imagine being called a rapist is not something anyone would let slide.
What was I supposed to think? “I won’t apologize for my words.
” His brow rises at this, and he drops the cigarette on the ground, stepping on the bud and twisting his foot.
“Sooner or later, my brothers will find me. They track my every movement.” I’ve never been more grateful for that fact until now.
“I removed their trackers from your phone and car a long time ago. The only person who can track you is me.” He taps on my arm. “Because I injected it right inside you.”
“What?”
That’s when I vaguely remember my doctor’s appointment right after the engagement party. I went to do a health checkup and they injected something into my arm. I assumed it was some sort of medication since I had headaches back then.
“You… You… How could you? Putting something inside me without my consent?” I hiss, rubbing my still sore throat. “You’re crazy.” But even these words don’t seem eloquent enough to describe how I feel right now.
What’s with all these men in my life who want to control me and never let me breathe without their permission?
“No, I’m protective. That evening, you became mine.” I still at the fire blazing in his eyes when he rests his forearm above my head, trapping me between the bars and his hard chest. “And that forever put a target on your head. I won’t apologize for protecting what’s mine.”
“Why would it put a target on my head?” I try to make sense of this reality and just can’t. How could my life turn into a nightmare once again?
A piercing headache hits me, and I sigh.
“Do not answer that. No matter what you say, it won’t justify your actions.
You’re still a killer and a stalker.” I swallow, facing him head-on, and resist the urge to plaster myself more against the bars to create some space between us.
Somehow, I do not wish to show him my fear.
“And I still have no idea what you want from my brothers and why they are on the board.”
According to my very limited psychological knowledge, psychopaths don’t feel any emotions and are excellent manipulators, using every situation to their advantage and acting like chameleons.
Still, he can’t fake his affection for his family, right? He might not give a shit about Rafael, but Aileen loves Rush.
Hurting him would hurt his sister, and he wouldn’t do that, would he?
“You have a perfect family, and you grew up to be a monster? What was the reason?” I know in some cases one is just born with such tendencies. However, more often than not, deviant desires are formed based on experiences as a child.
“It must be your curse, moy cvetochek, to have such a vivid imagination,” he murmurs, and leans closer, his familiar scent enveloping me and creating a haze around us.
If it weren’t for his rigid muscles against me, I would have never noticed his barely controlled anger since his voice stays deep and even.
“If I wanted to harm your brothers, they’d be on the other board.
” My brow furrows, and I look at the boards again.
The one with various bodies is one giant bloodbath, but the one with my brothers…
My picture is right in the middle and all arrows lead to me.
“This specific board is purple and is all about you.”
“All about me?”
“Yes. You’re my first and only obsession that rivals the one that’s been fueling my blood for years.”
A strange warmth flushes through me, which just speaks to how truly fucked in the head I am because, how does this earn such a reaction from me? “You’re a murderer, and you’re sick. These kinds of obsessions usually end badly for women.”
“So when your brothers stalk, blackmail, and kidnap women, that’s love, but when I do it…it’s sick?”
“My brothers and cousin aren’t murderers. They have very questionable methods in dealing with those who stand in their way, but it’s vastly different from killing people left and right just because you don’t like them.”
He chuckles at my speech and takes out a remote from his back pocket, pressing on the button.
“Check it out.” I look at one of the TVs on the right, and my eyes grow wide as shock waves crash into me, seeing Rush and Orion torturing some men.
“They kill them in the end. They have an interesting technique, wouldn’t you say?
” All I can do is stare as my brother picks up a blade right before piercing it into his victim’s abdomen.
“Rush is a bit messy. He likes to leave blood everywhere.” Nausea comes back at this point, and I tear my gaze away, refusing to focus on Orion at all.
“Rafael believes in the law. Trust he will fuck up anyone who he deems worthy of his punishment, but at the end of the day…he’ll twist the law in his favor to achieve what he wants.
I wouldn’t say he’s never killed anyone, but I would say he isn’t like us. ”
The headache becomes unbearable, and I press my fingers into my temples while my voice trembles as the life I knew just crumbled. “You are… How could they… This is…”
He clicks his tongue and lifts my chin, rage glazing over his blue eyes as if my losing my shit over all this is unacceptable. “You’re a smart girl, Lavender. When your brother hunted my dad and brought Aileen to his island, did you think he was a saint or something?”
“Of course not.” I knew he was in the dark place, so to speak, but it’s one thing to suspect and quite another to watch it.
Orion completely blindsided me, though! “My brother is not a saint, but he killed all those men because he was avenging our parents. And they deserved it. They made his life hell!” I’ve heard bits and pieces about his past, and my heart broke every single time.
“So I’m not saying this is right. Still, my brothers had their reasons.
You grew up in a perfect family with perfect parents and a sister in a world designed to cater to your every wish! What was the reason for all this?”
Something crosses his face, and he leans back, taking a few steps away from me. “Interesting how our views change depending on who is on the receiving end of our judgment, isn’t it?”
“Don’t call me a hypocrite. You know I’m right.
You expect me to clap my hands and say yay after seeing all this?
” I point at the screens. “You invaded my privacy. Manipulated me into doing what you wanted, and for what? Save this lie about protecting me. I’m about done hearing it from all the men in my life. ”
The fury is back, and I sigh when he replies, possessiveness coating his every word, “I’m the only man in your life, moy cvetochek.”
Ignoring him, I continue. “You can keep me here, but I have a family, and they will be searching for me.”
“Like I said, you have a very vivid imagination, Lavender. You aren’t my prisoner.”
“So what do you call this?” I lift my ankle and wrist. “You’re a psychopath, Levi, and I can’t believe I let you touch me.”
“Well, you can always look at my marks on your body to remind yourself.” I wish glares could kill, so he’d drop dead.
“I’ll come back later when you’re ready to listen.
” He steps out, leaving the cage’s door open.
I can’t fucking reach it anyway, and he knows it, so it’s him mocking my helplessness.
“Oh, and while you’re thinking about what a monster I am…
Didn’t you say people killing evil people is sometimes necessary because that’s the only justice some of the victims get?
” he hisses. “Turns out, when it’s actually happening…
you’re just like everyone else. Afraid and wanting to put people like me behind bars.
Because a crime is a crime, Lavender. I tried to explain that to you once, but you didn’t understand. ” He opens his arms wide. “Now you do.”
My wrist falls to my side while my heartbeat speeds up, and air becomes nonexistent.
Once during my conversation with Lev, I tried defending a woman who killed her uncle. He raped her for years, and she finally snapped on her eighteenth birthday. I couldn’t believe that she was sent to prison and society judged her for it, claiming that she could’ve just run away.
God gives life and takes it away. We can justify some murders, but it doesn’t change the fact that a murder has no gray color in it.
And as such, there could never be any justification for it.
That’s what Lev said. “No.”
“Yes,” he replies, and winks at me before turning around and going upstairs while I crunch down, holding my head as tears stream down my cheeks.
Because the best friend I thought I had?
Was Levi all along. Was it another one of his schemes to stalk me?
What have I done?
Levi
Closing the basement door, I press my splayed palm on it when I hear Lavender crying, my insides in knots at hearing her so upset.
Yet I have no other choice.
She couldn’t live in her bubble forever, and she needs to accept every part of me. There is no going back for either of us.
She’s mine, and I’m hers. The sooner she accepts this fact, the easier our lives will become.
I knew she’d come to me the minute I listened to her conversation with Aunt Phoenix, and the possessive part of me thrived in the knowledge that my woman finally chose me.
All this idiotic sneaking around started to piss me off. My woman spent years in the darkness, so she deserved to be shown around in the light. I wanted everyone to know that she owned me and that she belonged to me.
“I do not approve of this.” I look over my shoulder at Gavin, holding a tray with a glass of water and Lavender’s favorite cookies. “You do not put your future wife in the basement.” His brow furrows. “You are going to marry the girl, aren’t you?”
Usually, no one besides my parents dares to speak to me in that tone, but I let it slide because Gavin proved himself very loyal and has helped me out over the years.
He lost his daughter to a rapist, who I killed, and since the man was on the verge of suicide, I decided to hire him as a butler for this mansion even though I didn’t need one. It gave him enough purpose to live and help me out. “Someday.”
“As long as we are clear, you do not bring a girl home and have a fling with her.”
“Well, thank you, Gavin. I don’t know what I would have done without your permission.” I turn around to face him and tap on the tray. “She won’t eat it. Probably will throw it in your face and ask you how you could help me.”
“Still, I will try. Out of the way, boy.” He rolls his shoulders back and goes in, and I wait for a few seconds before smirking when I hear the tray clank against the floor, and after five seconds, he comes back, his suit wet from the water.
“God knows you’re a match. You'd better fix this and fast, Levi. Gordon won’t wait forever for her, and if she doesn’t show her face tomorrow morning, he will notify the brothers. Do not start a family war for nothing.”
The clash is inevitable anyway.
My phone rings, and taking it out of my pocket, I see the security guard’s number flashing on the screen. “Yes?”
“Hey, boss. There is a drone in the sky. We’d have shot it, but you told us not to. It’s very small and tries to fly under the radar toward the property. My guess is it’s recording. Double-checking if we should still follow your previous order or if we need to get rid of it?”
The thing about vindictive cowards?
They always think they are smarter than you, and while I still can’t locate Robert or his family since all his followers are dead…I know he’s spying on me.
He needs to see for himself how much Lavender means to me, so he can try to take her.
Sometimes a good hunt is not about chasing your prey.
It’s taunting it with a bait so tempting, they can’t resist and come to the hunter themselves.
And while in the past such a notion was acceptable to me because I knew I could protect her…now it is not.
She’s mine.
He doesn’t get to watch her in our home and smear it with dirt that’s impossible to wash away.
“Shoot it, and should anything else come our way, get rid of it too.”
“Got it, boss.”
I’ll find another way to get Robert.
Lavender is precious and sacred to me, and as such, I won’t let him go near her.
Even if she doesn’t want to be with me after she learns the whole truth.