Chapter 1 #2
Dante’s timing had been pretty damn shitty because my plans to get what I needed from Marcus had been in the works for that same night.
I’d been so close to coming face to face with the man I’d been searching for for years, but the meeting had been called off when Marcus had learned of the rescue operation.
I hadn’t even had time to curse Dante and his lover, Magnus DuCane, because the scene I’d walked in on after killing the guard who’d come to find me to tell me that Marcus needed me to get rid of some bodies had been utter chaos, and I’d had only seconds to react.
I’d thrown open the door to the study just in time to see Marcus point his gun at Aleks, who’d looked disoriented as he’d leaned heavily against Marcus’s desk.
It’d taken only a split second for my brain to process the sight of the gold letter opener sticking out of Marcus’s back and I’d pulled the trigger just as Marcus’s own trigger finger had begun to move.
My bullet had rung true and ripped through Marcus’s throat.
Blood had sprayed everywhere as he’d made a gurgling sound and then pitched forward onto the desk, knocking Aleks to the ground in the process.
I hadn’t given in to the immediate need to check on the young man as I’d turned and taken out the two guards in the room.
There’d been two other men in the room, one shot in the arm, the other seemingly unharmed, but I’d ignored them as I’d hurried to Aleks.
He’d let me pull him to his feet and when I’d seen the fresh bruises on his face, I’d felt that last chink in my armor break.
In all the time I’d been working for Parks, he hadn’t once struck Aleks because the young man had been so unfailingly obedient.
But somehow the sight of the punishment Aleks had received for his act of rebellion had shattered that wall that’d had about a million cracks in it, most of which had only started to form when I’d met the young man for the first time.
It’d been wholly unnecessary, but I’d enjoyed putting that final bullet through Marcus’s brain.
I’d managed to get Aleks, Dante, and Magnus out of there, but then I’d been in damage control mode.
I’d had only enough time to grab the notebook where I’d often seen Marcus jotting notes and then I’d torched the mansion, not only to get rid of the evidence that would bring the authorities into a world they were ill-equipped to handle, but to cover my own trail as well.
It’d been my only chance to not blow my cover.
As it was, the whole thing had undone years of hard work, but I wasn’t giving up.
And Aleks was safe… that was all that had mattered.
Well, he had been safe.
Fuck, how had this all gone so wrong?
I glanced at him in the blackness of the car.
He hadn’t moved or spoken in a while… not since I’d told him I couldn’t take him home and he’d let out the tiniest of choked sobs as tears had flowed down his cheeks.
I knew I should have told him everything that was happening then and there, but there was this part of me that just wanted to spare him the truth.
I wanted to pretend that none of this was happening and he was still safely tucked away in his little flower shop and living with his brother.
But to tell him anything meant I needed to know what the fuck I was doing, and I just didn’t.
I had no clue.
And that was so very unlike me.
But I hadn’t really had the time to form a plan, either.
Not only was I dealing with a betrayal I hadn’t seen coming, but things had happened faster than I could have imagined.
And even getting Aleks away from those men didn’t mean he was safe.
Taking him home to his brother wouldn’t mean he’d no longer be hunted.
If anything, that would just put his whole family in danger.
That’s the story you’re trying to sell, you coward?
I ignored the voice in my head and glanced at the clock on the dash.
We’d been driving for nearly an hour. I wanted to put a lot more distance between us and Seattle, but we were far enough away from the bodies I’d left behind to at least cut Aleks loose and try to reassure him again that everything would be okay.
I took a few turns onto various backroads until I was able to find what looked like an unused service road of some kind, then drove far enough down it until I was sure the car couldn’t be seen by passersby from the road.
When I reached a clearing, I drove until I was in the middle of it so that if Aleks did manage to take off on me, I’d be able to see him without too much trouble… and catch up to him.
I turned off the car but turned on the dome light.
I reached into my pocket for the utility knife.
“Aleks, I’m going to cut you free now. I just needed to make sure you didn’t try to come after me while I was getting us out of there,” I began to explain, but when I reached for his hands, he jerked away from me.
His body slammed into the door. He let out a loud wail of pain, but I instinctively knew he hadn’t physically hurt himself.
“Don’t touch me!” he cried as harsh sobs racked his entire body. He tucked his bound hands protectively against his chest. “Please, don’t touch me!” he managed to get out, his throat sounding raw. Then he was reaching for the door handle and part of me actually wanted to let him go.
But I couldn’t.
So I gently grabbed his arm just as he got the door open.
I expected him to fight me or struggle, but he suddenly went completely still.
The tears seemed to dry up on their own and even in the dim light I could see his eyes go blank.
Then his bound hands were reaching for his throat and I automatically knew what he was looking for.
The collar.
The fucking collar Marcus had put around his neck to remind him he was nothing more than a possession…
a pet. It’d been made of heavy chain link, the kind a large dog would wear.
But unlike an animal, Aleks’s collar had been designed so it couldn’t be taken off.
I’d seen the burn marks myself on his thin neck.
He’d never told me as such, but I’d known in my gut they were the scars from when Marcus had had the links in the chain permanently welded together so the only way the collar could ever be removed was if it was cut off.
“Vaughn,” Aleks whispered quietly as he rubbed the absent links that I strongly suspected still existed in his mind. “Do you think he’ll finally do it this time?” he asked so softly I almost didn’t hear it. His empty gaze turned to meet mine and I felt it like a throat punch.
Just like that, Aleks, the young man who loved flowers and smiled whenever he first tasted that rush of buttery, sugary flavor of the hard candies I’d snuck him whenever I could, was gone. The past two years had been wiped away as if they hadn’t existed.
He didn’t give me a chance to respond to him.
“I’ll ask Father to forgive me, but I don’t think he will,” Aleks murmured. His eyes shifted so he was staring out the windshield. “Not this time…”
“Aleks…” I began, but he interrupted me. I doubted he’d actually even heard me say his name.
“It’s okay, Vaughn. You should take me home now. Father is waiting.”