Chapter 6 Akio
Akio
My Siren is a little firecracker, I’ll give her that.
As soon as the door locks behind me, there’s a shrill scream followed by a loud crash. Guess she didn’t care for me calling her out for the naughty performance she put on for me earlier this week.
Yeah, I’d watched her solo act with great fucking pleasure and absolutely zero remorse.
Sue me. Fallon Helix is a fucking knockout, and it would have taken someone gouging out my eyes to make me look away from that image.
I couldn’t remember the last time my dick had gotten that hard that fast. The way she’d stared at the camera, like she knew I was watching.
It had tested every bit of restraint I had not to pull out my dick right then and pretend I was the one bringing her to climax, that she was coming on me and not her fingers.
Sighing, I slide the mask off and trudge upstairs.
Matteo and Declan are sprawled out on the couch, eyes fixed on the woman on the massive TV screen who is now slamming a chair against every breakable surface in the room.
“Told you it was a bad idea to cut her loose,” Dec says while sipping on a beer.
“Always the sucker,” Teo adds.
“Fuck you.” I toss my mask on my desk and slide into my chair. “She was having a panic attack. What use is it to have her hands tied when she’s in a locked room, anyway?”
Teo tips his head at the screen. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe then we wouldn’t have to replace hundreds of dollars worth of decor because of a temper tantrum.”
I don’t bother responding. Matteo could replace this entire house and still have enough money in the bank to buy a small country.
Money isn’t the issue here. It’s her. He’s obsessed with getting every bit of information out of her and then using her in order to get closer to her father.
But I’m less and less convinced that she has the information we need.
Her comment about us being in the business of kidnapping innocent women hit too close to home. When we formed Cerberus, we said we would punish the bad and protect the good. But this whole situation? It feels like we’re standing on shaky ground.
I operate on facts, hard proof, and numbers – none of which I’m having any luck conjuring up on Fallon working with her father to traffick people or having any of the information we’re looking for, no matter how hard I dig into her background, search her computer, or read every file downloaded to her Kindle.
Which is a journey in and of itself, by the way.
Fallon Helix is a dirty smut lover with a kink for BDSM and male main characters who are truly psychotic.
Hades, trots into the room, ears perked. Likely he’s as unnerved as I am about our new guest. He nudges my hand for some love and I give it to him because yeah… I’m kind of a sucker.
Dec sets his beer down and places a hand against the bandage on his chest. He was pretty salty when Fallon sliced through his new ink with her knife. But if he takes care of it I’m sure there will only be a faint scar that his artist can cover. “So when do we start?”
“Soon,” Matteo says while running a thumb over his lips.
Pretty sure he hasn’t taken his eyes off the screen since we tossed her unconscious form into the panic room.
“She can act like she doesn’t know why she’s here, but she’s too tied up in Helix to not know what’s been going on under her nose.
We’ll get some answers out of her one way or another. ”
“Right.” I scoff.
“Have something to say, little brother?”
“Why, are you gonna actually listen if I do?”
“We always listen to what you have to say. Doesn’t mean that we always agree with you.”
I shake my head. “I don’t know what it is about Fallon Helix that has you making such rash decisions, but we’ve never operated like this before. I’ve found no evidence of her being involved or having any knowledge of Helix’s involvement. You’re being messy. Cerberus isn’t messy.”
“We barely have evidence on Sebastian Helix. Doesn’t mean that it’s not out there. We just have to look harder.”
“I am looking harder.”
Dec snorts a laugh. “Yeah, you looked real hard when she was fucking her hand the other night.” He grins at my scowl, then gets up to stand in front of the TV.
Fallon is still swinging that chair, though it looks like her energy is flagging.
“Look, even I can admit there’s something about this girl that gets my juices flowing, but I’m with Teo.
We have a job to do. Besides,” he trails a finger over the image of Fallon on the screen, “I have a feeling she’s going to break so prettily. ”
I spend the day split between running updates on our security system, digging into the files I have on Helix Enterprises, and monitoring Fallon. She finally tired herself out after a good hour of trashing the room and has been lying on the bed with her knees curled up to her chest ever since.
Declan stomps down the hall from his office, carrying his black “toy” bag at his side.
“What are you doing?” I ask and spin my chair around to watch as he unrolls the bag on the coffee table, revealing blades and saws of all shapes and sizes.
“Just preparing,” he answers while unsheathing a particularly sharp knife I’d last seen him use to pluck off a man’s fingernails. “Gonna need to get those answers from her somehow.” Knots form in my stomach at the thought of him using any of those “toys” on Fallon.
“Put that shit away. We’re not going to cut her up to get the information out of her. We can just have a conversation.”
Dec tosses a glare over his shoulder at me. “Why are you always trying to take away my fun? God, I’m so fucking bored.”
I roll my eyes. “Stop being so dramatic. There are plenty of other people you can play with. Let’s deal with Fallon first and then we’ll get you someone to interrogate.”
To some, okay, most, Dec probably seems unstable. But I don’t judge him. Each of us has our own demons. He just needs a little blood to sate his.
“Time to feed our new pet,” Teo says, appearing with a plate and a bag of clothes. He shoves them into my arms. “You’re up.”
“Me? You’re the one who went to the trouble to make this.” Shit, is this his homemade lasagna? I fucking love his homemade lasagna.
Matteo refuses to hire a personal chef, even though we can afford it. He loves cooking too much to allow anyone else to take over his kitchen, which is just as well. Other than our housekeeper, Ms. Trudy, the fewer people around to suspect who we really are, the better.
“Just take it,” he grumbles. “This is your one chance to get answers your way, or we’ll start putting the pressure on her.”
Declan makes a sound of protest behind him, but I take the opportunity that’s given to me, slipping on my mask and heading down to the basement.
A retina scan has the door unlocking and swinging open for me.
I slink in as quietly as I can, but the click of the lock has her scrambling to sit up on the bed, her eyes wide and glassy as if she’d been asleep.
A mix of fear and anger spreads across her face as she takes in my mask, but then her eyes dip to the plate of food in my hand and her tongue darts out to lick her chapped lips.
I glance at the untouched water bottle lying among the debris from her fit earlier. “You didn’t drink your water.”
Her eyes shutter. “So?”
A smirk pulls at my lips, and I’m thankful for the mask.
“You think we’re going to go to the trouble of kidnapping you just to poison you, Siren?
” When she doesn’t respond, I chuckle, stepping closer.
“We wouldn’t get any use out of you if we did that.
Here.” I hand her the bag of clothes which she reluctantly takes and tosses on the bed like it’s diseased.
“Why do you keep calling me that?”
I set the plate down on her nightstand and take a step back. “What? Siren?” I shrug. “Let’s just say, some interesting reading material inspired me.”
Her eyes widen. “You went through my Kindle library?”
“Among other things.” I pick up the water bottle and wiggle it at her. “Drink. Eat. And then we’ll talk.”
There’s a moment of stubborn hesitation, but she gives in, snatching the water and gulping it down in one go. It’s probably been over twenty-four hours since she’s had anything to eat or drink, and I make a mental note to bring her more water later.
“Before you destroyed the place, did you happen to take a look around?” I nod toward the stall in the corner. “Bathroom’s over there. It used to be out in the open but we installed the walls when we knew you’d be coming to stay.”
“Oh, gee,” she says with false cheer. “Thank you for the show of consideration. I can tell privacy means so much to you.”
The sarcasm is strong with this one.
Fallon picks up the plate and fork and digs into the lasagna.
On her first bite, she slows her chewing, and I can tell she’s trying not to show how much she loves it.
I find myself tracking every bite she takes, watching those luscious lips close around her fork.
Fuck, what is it with this girl that makes my dick think it needs to stand at attention whenever she’s in my line of sight?
When she’s eaten at least half of what’s on the plate, I take it as my cue to get to why I’m really here, but she beats me to it.
“Can you at least tell me what it is you think I’ve done?” she asks.
I stare at her, trying to get a read on if she’s playing dumb. If she is, then she’s got a hell of a poker face. So I fish, “Helix Enterprises. You’re pretty involved in the company.”
“No shit. I’m head of the Public Relations and Communication department. It’s kind of my job to be in the know.”
“And are you?”
“Am I what?”
“In the know. If you’re so up to speed on what’s happening in Helix Enterprises, then you must be aware of the illegal shipments and deals your father has been making lately.”