37. Cruel To Be Kind #2
Looking over at Marcus, I can see roughly the same thought process going on in his head, too.
Not that I’m really surprised. Marcus hasn’t exactly been quiet with how deeply he hates both of them.
But there’s a difference between disliking a person for being an overall asshole and understanding a person is evil on such a deep-rooted level that an untimely death is more of a best-case scenario than a worst one.
And I guess if I’m being truthful, I can see where they are coming from.
However, that still leaves the fact that Kingston isn’t Sterling; therefore, the question of him dying tonight isn’t actually on the discussion board at all, despite Cade’s obvious disappointment.
Cade huffs. “Fine, we aren’t going to kill you, unless you give us a reason,” he grins evilly at Kingston as though begging the fucker to give him one.
Kingston tells us off as best he can with the tape over his mouth.
Obviously, there are no discernible words, but the disdain and aggravation speak volumes.
What’s most surprising is that, amidst the open discussion of his life span and being completely at our mercy, he’s in much more control of himself than I think most people would be in this scenario.
Marcus brushes his fingers along my jaw to get my attention. He leans in close to my ear.
“I know this is a lot right now, but our intention with Kingston isn’t actually to hurt him, but he’s such a squirrelly dickhead, I think Cade thought this was the best way to keep him under control until he sees everything happening right now is to his benefit.”
“What is happening right now?” I ask just as quietly while noticing that Tristan is leaning into Qi’s ear, probably having the same conversation.
Cade just rolls his eyes and pokes Kingston in the side of the head just to irritate him. Fucker is getting way too much enjoyment out of this; thank fuck he’s at least on our side.
I’m not exactly sure how I feel towards Kingston. He’s done such absolutely terrible things to me, but I don’t think I wish any harm to come to him. On the few times I’ve derived any satisfaction at him having his ass handed to him, it’s always been on the occasions when he’s instigated it.
However, I think mostly, I don’t wish him ill will; I just wish he’d go somewhere that I could forget he existed. I don’t hate him; I just don’t want him around me or to ever have to see him again.
However, Marcus saying they are helping him in what seems to be the most backhanded way is more than a little suspicious, given the way he wanted to absolutely kill the guy last night at the party.
“You’ll see, but wait until you hear everything first,” he says, motioning his head towards Cade as if to tell him he can proceed.
Cade grabs Kingston by the hair and wrenches his head up.
“You are going to sit here quietly. Listen. And only speak when asked. We have a lot to cover tonight, and the more you cooperate, the more chances you have of walking away from here freer than you’ve ever imagined,” he says before grabbing the tape over Kingston’s mouth and yanking it off.
Kingston growls in pain at having the tape ripped off, then sneers at Cade.
“Free?” he practically spits out the word like it’ll taint him if he tastes it too long. “What the fuck does that even mean?”
“See, you’re breaking rules already,” he tsks at him before pulling a switchknife out of his pocket. “Should we start by removing clothes? I saw what was under your shirt earlier. Do you think everyone else should get a glimpse?”
I frown at that because even with our past, there had never been a time when I had seen Kingston without his shirt on.
Even on the field, when all his football buddies were running around shirtless, he never did.
Not during sex either; he always had a reason to keep it on.
I didn’t really put much thought into it, but now I’m wondering if there wasn’t a deeper reason he never took it off.
“You can’t! STOP!” Kingston shouts, showing a bit more of the panic I was surprised I hadn’t seen in him earlier.
Kingston twists and writhes against Cade, but Tristan reaches out and holds him still. Kingston screams in Tristan’s face, still fighting against the bonds holding him, while Cade does nothing more than cut open one of the sleeves of Kingston’s shirt.
Kingston twists his arm, trying to hide it, despite the bonds holding him firmly in place. With how much he twists his arm, it takes me a minute to see what he’s trying to hide, but when I finally do, my stomach plummets.
Several burn marks are tracking up his arm. Some of them are old, but a couple of them look fresh enough to be no more than a day old. I swallow down the bile creeping up at the sight before meeting Kingston’s panicked eyes
“What is that?” Qi asks quietly, his eyes narrowed down uncomfortably at the painful sores.
“Cigar burns,” Marcus responds almost mechanically.
His voice is too calm to be surprised. Somehow, he already knew what they’d find when Cade cut the sleeve open.
Kingston shakes his head. “Not what it looks like. Just had a wild time–” he rushes out, the lie already on the tip of his tongue.
“Save it, stud. We already know your dad did this,” Tristan says, not making room for Kingston to try and cover up for his father.
Kingston shakes his head harder, trying emphatically to deny it when Cade kneels to meet his panicked eyes.
“Right,” he says, as if he completely understands Kingston’s response right now. "Because if anyone found out, he’d beat you harder,” he breathes out.
Kingston’s eyes meet his in despair, and the expression on Cade’s face tells me Cade has seen this kind of abuse before.
“Is that why you kept quiet about the little children he was raping?” he asks point-blank.
Kingston’s mouth drops. “I, no–” he chokes out, more panic setting in his face at the question.
“Were you a part of it?” Cade follows up, the two of them locked in a gaze, one steady and sure, the other terrified.
“No, never. I could never–” he starts to stutter out.
Cade’s eyes harden as they observe him. “But you didn’t protect them either,” he says plainly, more of an accusation than a question.
“I couldn’t–” Kingston struggles to say before shaking his head and swallowing hard. “I don’t know, I–” he tries again, and even I can see the anguish that’s buried deep in his eyes.
Marcus squats down until he’s at eye level with Kingston, drawing Kingston’s attention from Cade to him.
“What if he could never hurt you again? Would you talk then?”
The anguish in his eyes gets swallowed whole by derision. “You have no idea what you’re talking about,” he hisses angrily. “If he even finds out this much…” he trails off before shaking his head.
Tristan sighs while looking over at Cade. “How much longer?”
Cade grabs a tablet off a rickety table that’s set up in a corner of the room. “Less than a minute. We timed this perfectly.”
“How much longer until what? You need to either make your point or let me the fuck go. You don’t understand–he’s waiting for me, and he really doesn’t like to be kept–,” Kingston starts protesting again.
“Be quiet and watch, or I’ll slap the tape back over your mouth until it’s over,” Cade says, holding the tablet up so everyone can see it.
Kingston glares at Cade while everyone leans in to focus on the live stream that pops up. Marcus reaches out and turns Kingston’s head towards the tablet, and there’s a silent battle between them before Kingston huffs and looks at what Cade’s showing us.
The live-stream is set in a hotel room, showing Sterling standing at the door and shouting at someone on the other side. Kingston’s brow furrows in confusion before his eyes widen as the room is flooded by a SWAT team.
There’s a lot of chaos while Sterling fights to get away. He wrenches out a gun and fires at one of the officers before another shot is fired, hitting him in the leg and taking him down. Between the charges and the shot fired, it looks as if Sterling just sealed his doom.
I hear Qi’s sharp intake of breath and the flicker of movement when he leans into Tristan. I’m still not convinced that Qi ever needed to know about the conversation that passed between Sterling and me so many years ago.
As much as he swears he’s fine, that it all came to nothing, and it’s just a massively wrong layer of gross, I can’t help but wonder if it isn’t a bit heavier with the way he curls into Tristan for support, like he needs that now.
Not that he didn’t use Tristan for support before, so maybe I’m reading more into it.
A shaky breath rattles deep in my chest at the knowledge that Sterling has been captured.
However, as much as I wish this were real, the knowledge of what men like Sterling are capable of has my back bristling with unease.
If he has any inkling as to how he got arrested tonight, Marcus and Tristan are gonna be in so much trouble when he gets out.
“This is bad, this is so very bad. Do you have any idea how bad you guys just fucked up?” Kingston chokes out, his eyes wide as saucers.
“Trust me, the only one who fucked up was Sterling. And now that he’s going to pay for it, you are left with a choice,” Marcus says, ignoring Kingston’s panicked mutterings.
“You can walk away from here tonight a free man. You can start anew, away from his path and his place, and walk your own. You can take the illegal dealings your father has dealt with and turn them around into legitimate ones.”
Kingston snorts in derision. “You obviously have no idea what you’re doing. He’ll be out in less than a night,” he sneers, repeating the thoughts that play in my head every time Marcus talks about going after Sterling.
Tristan turns to face Kingston. “If you truly think that, then you don’t get how money talks,” he says simply.
Kingston rolls his eyes and looks away, not even entertaining the notion that his father is done for good.