Chapter 37
Xavier
I lunge at Atreus with the knife to catch him off guard, and he leans sideways to cover his face, but Sunny steps in my path to block me.
She grabs my wrist. “No.”
“He hurt you,” I growl.
“And we made him pay,” she says.
“Xavier, stop, you know this isn’t what she wants,” Orion says.
His words run through me like lightning.
He’s right. She’d never approve.
The knife instantly clatters onto the floor.
But what can I do to fix this?
A cop is in her room, ready to detain her. If anyone frees him, it’s over.
“It’s not going to stop,” I say, swallowing what’s left of my pride. “He’s never going to quit until he has you in his claws.”
She stares at me, and I can’t look away either, so I take the opportunity to tell her what I need to say.
“Sunny. Please.” I grab her face. “Let me end his life, and it’ll all go away.”
She places her hand over mine. “No.”
My teeth grind together. “Why?”
But I already know the answer, deep down.
She likes him.
“I need him.”
She glances at Atreus over her shoulder with a type of longing that I recognize in the mirror, and it’s like a gut punch to me. “Okay, what then? He can’t stay here forever. Someone will find him, and when they do, he’ll take you to jail.”
Her nostrils flare. “Then so be it.”
I shake my head. “No. I won’t let him.”
“Then kill me and get it over with,” Atreus barks.
“Shut your ungrateful fucking mouth,” I snap at him.
“You cannot keep me here, and you know that,” Atreus reasons. “My men will look for me, and they’ll eventually find this place.”
He jerks the chains again like he got some of that spitfire back, and I don’t like it one bit.
Maybe we should’ve gone rougher on him.
Sunny grabs my chin, forcing me to look at her instead. “Do not hurt him. Do you understand? Enough blood has been shed.”
Reluctantly, I nod.
“But you are right. He can’t stay here.”
“I know a place,” Orion says, as he’s putting on his pants again. “Tartarus House has a basement that few people visit. It’s the perfect place to hide him while we figure out a plan.”
Everyone looks at him.
“What?” He shrugs. “I’m trying to help. You got a better plan?”
Sunny
My boys brought Atreus to the Tartarus House basement by hauling him out the window right before dawn. It was easy enough after we wrapped him in a blanket and kept his hands and feet secured with chains, then tossed him in one of my many large bags I use to transport bodies.
His sounds were muffled using a bunch of my clothes, which we tied around his head, and Xavier had already parked his car outside, so we only needed to throw him in the trunk and drive off.
It was swift and easy, and no one at the Tartarus House noticed, because they were too busy partying with the present cops. Guess they enjoy liquor as much as anyone else when it’s offered.
The basement is outside, near the rear end of the building, the entrance covered in vines, and I admit, it’s a better hiding place than I initially thought when Orion suggested it.
There are tons and tons of wine barrels stacked up here, along with many bottles of liquor.
Orion steals one from the rack and mutters, “Hand distilled by a parent of one of the Tartarus members. I always knew buying these from him and storing them in the unused cellar would be a good idea.”
He pops open the cap and drinks straight from the bottle.
Xavier makes sure the chains are secured tightly around Atreus’s body so he won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.
“You’re making a mistake. You know that, right? My men will find this place, one way or another.”
“Good luck with that,” Orion says, chuckling between sips.
“You should be happy we put your pants back on,” I muse, tapping his still sensitive package right through the fabric. “I would’ve left you nude and ready to go again if it were up to me.”
“I don’t like staring at his dick,” Xavier complains.
“You like staring at mine, though,” Orion muses.
“You wish.”
“You already took it up your ass. Can’t get any closer than that.” Orion winks.
I roll my eyes at their bickering.
“How long are you going to keep me here?” Atreus asks.
“As long as needed to complete my goal,” I reply.
He tilts his head. “Your next target.”
I smile. “Bingo.”
“Is it really worth risking your life?” he asks.
I smirk as I lean in to grab his chin. “I know you’re digging, hoping to find a clue as to who I’m killing and why … but that’s for me to know.”
I press my lips to his, stealing a kiss, and he doesn’t even lean away despite being able to.
Guess he fell harder than he thought.
When I pull away, he grins. “And for me to find out.”
“Does it make you hard to fantasize about locking me up, Foley?” I get up and push my heels into his balls until he groans in pain. “Go on then, keep dreaming.”
I pull away and walk off to grab all the gear I brought. “Time for my next kill.”
I march up the steps and get out of the cellar, closing the doors shut behind me. But after two seconds, the door already opens up again, and Xavier suddenly grabs my arm. “Sunny. Wait. Let me come with you.”
“I need to do this one on my own,” I reply. “No offense.”
“Why won’t you let me help? I thought we were finally past this.”
My eyes narrow. “You heard Foley. They’re coming after me. I don’t want you to get caught in my web.” I put everything I need in my bag. “I’m going alone. End of story.”
“Are you sure about this?”
I frown as I turn to look at him. “Of course, I’m sure. What kind of question is that? Let go.”
His fingers unfurl from my arm, but I stay put to listen to his answer.
“When is it going to end?” he asks with a genuine voice. “When will it be enough?”
“When I’m finished.” I sigh out loud. “Look, are you on their side or my side? Because if you’re with the cops now, I need to know, so I can cut you from my life as well.”
His eyes widen, and he vehemently shakes his head, as if the mere thought of betraying me wounds him. “No, no, no. Of course not. I would never. I just … want you to stay safe,” he mutters.
My lips part, but I don’t know what to say. He’s been so worried about me despite the fact that I’m a killer. I’ve never had anyone in my life care that much. “What does it matter?”
People like me cannot ever be safe.
I don’t know how he could think of me as anything other than what I am …
A heartless, soulless monster.
“I don’t want you to get caught,” he says, his brows drawing together in a way that makes my heart feel squishy.
Even now, after everything I’ve done, he still … wants me here. But why?
How could anyone want something so treacherous as a siren like me?
“I’m going to finish what I started. No matter the cost. We all knew where this was going to end,” I say, pushing the emotions to the back again, just like I always do. “Now are you on my side or not?”
He nods a few times, but the pain in his eyes still gets to me. “Of course. I will always be on your side. Always.”
My heart throbs like lightning just struck me, and it confuses the fuck out of me.
Why does he invoke these emotions?
I didn’t ever ask for them to be there.
I have no room in my mind, no space in my soul left for anyone else to reside there.
It’s too twisted. Too heinous for a precious soul like his.
“But what if Atreus is right? What if they capture you? What then? I don’t want you to end up in jail.”
I shrug. “Then so be it.”
It doesn’t matter to me.
It never did.
I just want to have what I’m owed.
Vengeance.
When I turn around again, he speaks up. “But I—”
I glance at him over my shoulder, and it makes him hesitate.
Always so goddamn terrified of consequences.
Whatever he has to say can’t be that scary, right?
“If I’m going to die anyway, might as well do everything I always wanted to do. Otherwise, what’s the point in living?” I say, grinning.
A slow but genuine smile forms on his face. “Don’t stop until you have your revenge.”
I wink. “I don’t intend to.”
Xavier
When she’s gone, I keep slamming my head into the concrete wall of the Tartarus House.
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Fucking. Asshole!
“Why couldn’t you just fucking say it? Fucking say the words! And now it’s too late, goddammit!”
“Too late for what?”
Orion casually leans against the same wall I’m bashing my face in, and the mere fact that he’s interrupting my self-flagellation pisses me off to no end.
“Nothing,” I grumble as I step back.
“Is Xavier Caruso enjoying some well-earned feelings?” He raises his brows.
“If you don’t shut the fuck up right now, I will ram something else with my forehead,” I growl, making a fist.
“I’m not your enemy, remember?” he muses, and he throws his arm over my shoulder to pull me close. “Relax, we’re all lovers here.”
I roll my eyes. “Lovers …”
“Which you don’t want to be, because you want her all to yourself,” he says. “But you also know that’s not ever going to happen. She’s not the kind of woman to be bound by one man.”
“Make it stop,” I groan, rubbing my own face.
“Tell you what, why don’t you and I go entertain our lovely new guest until she returns?” He tries to whisk me back inside. “I’m sure he’s got plenty of stories to tell.”
I pull his arm off me and step aside. “No thanks. I don’t want to talk to the fucker who tried to kill her.”
“Oh, c’mon, he wasn’t trying to actually kill her. They were merely having a disagreement.”
“He shanked her,” I grit.
“That’s their love language,” he says, chuckling. “Let’s go have a drink. Lightens the mood.”
I shake my head, turn around, and march off. “I have other things on my mind.”
“Xavier,” Orion calls, but I ignore him. “Don’t be so dramatic. That’s my job. C’mon, have a little fun.”
There’s no time for fun when the love of my life is about to set fire to her freedom just to get back at whoever wronged her.
And I’m done being scared.
Done being terrified of the idea of defying her.
Done fearing the inevitable.
Whatever she may do to me, I can take it.
I will accept whatever consequences she throws my way.
Hell, I’ll even throw my own life away if I must.
If she wants it, it’s hers to take.
I’m ready.
No more masking.
No more hiding.
“Where are you even going?” Orion yells.
“To help my woman kill.”