44. Maricela
“Little girl, I want you to do something for me. Will you?”
I know this voice. Killian Fierro uses this kind of tone only in the bedroom. The fuck?
“I asked you a question.”
“I’m not alone. I can’t.”
The chuckle that meets me on the other end of the phone has me shaking my head. Only Killian Fierro could not touch me for a whole month because of guilt, but still ask. No. He’ll demand phone sex while I’m captive in the same room with his twin sister and fucking ex-fiancée.
The same ex-fiancée says, “We’ve heard it all already. Go ahead, give the man what he wants. We won’t look, and I think I’m getting used to the blood and gore, even if I can’t actually see it. I’ve seen too many bodies in the last two months.”
“You’ve seen only two,” I chastise.
“Exactly. Two too many.”
I sigh, and Killian says, “Good. If the girls don’t want to hear Franco, take the phone off speaker, and you will do everything I tell you to do. Let the fucker go with the memory of your pleasure and his pain.”
I saw Franco as a monster, as a wolf from children’s bedtime stories meant to be feared. Now, he’s about to pay.
I let the voice of peace enter my brain, leaving out the need for revenge, knowing it’s about to happen.
“No fucking way, Little Brother,” Raven argues.
“If I’m going to watch my best friend masturbate for you, I want to hear my sperm donor die. He has to pay for what he did to Isabella and you. I have the right.”
She turns to me and adds, “Just sit with your back to me. I’m not prepared to be confused sexually. I have too much in my fucking mind, as it is already. Fuck, Julian will never let us live this down. He’s going to have a field day with all of this.”
I burst out in hysterical laughter. I can’t help myself.
“Neither will I, Ugly Bird. Only Killer would think about phone-fucking his woman with his mother in the room.” Liam says the last as if murmuring to himself.
“I’m not sure I even want to hear this,” Maddox cuts in. “The moans in the office are more than I can handle.”
“You have no room to speak.”
“Really, mate? We’ve seen you fuck.”
“Maddox, chert vazmi,” the men say as one, simultaneously with Maddox groaning, probably because someone hit him. Most likely Liam.
We hear some cursing and shuffling, and then Maddox sing-songs,
“Wakey, wakey, sleepyhead. Killian wants to give your dick one last chance to feel something before it goes poof.”
This is a side of Maddox I’ve never heard before. Killian’s brother has always come across as a light-spirited person, full of warmth and mischief. At least around me. Now I see why everyone shortened his name to Madd.
“Franco, your son told you to wake up!”
Now it’s Killian, and he sounds the same as always because he never fakes his emotions. Not with me, not with anyone. With him, what you see is what you get.
The problem is most people choose not to see him for who he is. I have no such compunction. Killian is my man, and he will give me what I need, what we both need. And maybe now he will see how monstrous I can get.
The sounds of someone in pain that follows Killian’s words is pure music to my ears.
I know I could open the camera and watch the play in front of my eyes, but Franco doesn’t deserve it.
“Father Dearest, you awake?”
“Kill me already.”
I will never have the ability to explain what I feel when I hear my own monster, the one who crept into my dreams time and time again for fucking years. The only word that comes to mind is elation, pure, unsolicited elation.
“And he speaks.”
A loud, deliberate smacking of lips accompanies Maddox’s words.
“Did you know that Alec Karlov isn’t dead, Dear Father? Even I know that was a mistake on your part.”
I don’t fully understand what Alec’s role is in this whole crazy game, but from what I gather, he’s part of the alliance.
“But that’s not all,” Maddox continues.
“He’s kidnapped Maricela, Lila and Raven, your daughter. They’re listening on the phone right now. All three women are. And this is her moment to tell you her truth. Raven.”
I give my best friend the phone, hugging her from one side while Lila does the same from the other.
“Franco,” she starts with a hitch to her voice.
I look at her, telling her without words, she can say whatever she needs to. We’re here for her. She nods and continues.
“I never had love for you. Not from the beginning, no matter how gentle you were with me. I knew you were a monster. I will never call you by your designated name. You are nothing to me. My mother, however, is just that to me. She’s my mother, and I have always loved her and always will. Isabella, I love you, Mom.”
I search for a voice, a cry, or anything from the other line but hear nothing.
Raven swallows and says, “I hate you for all the things you made my brother do, but I hate you more for what you did to the family member I chose for myself. Rot in hell, you son of a bitch. And Killian?”
“Yes, Little Rav?”
“Make it last.”
“Sure will, Big Sis. Lila, do you want to say a few words?” Lila’s tight curls bounce as if reading her emotions.
“I don’t have the right to speak ill about you, Franco. Not for most of it. My bad deeds are mine, but the fact that you used me to rape the girlfriend of your son, yes, for that, I hope you rot in hell.”
“Maricela,” Killian says into the phone.
“I’ve never told you...never given my feelings for you a name when it was needed. But here in front of the man I will ruin in your name, and in the name of the people I love, I tell you, you are my queen, and you hold my life in your hands. You taught me how to be a better person, not for the world, but for you and for two kids. I would never break as Franco broke me.”
He pauses, and I hear an audible swallow. Then he says, “I love you, my fiery girl, my fucking woman, and what I will do to Franco will be an example to everyone for what will be done to anyone who touches what’s mine.”
“Killian...” I whisper, but he hears me.
“Yes?”
“I love you too.”
“Good. Now squeeze those nipples for me and tell me what you want me to do to him. I want to hear you. Be fucking loud for me. Let him know what I do to you, what only I ever could.”
I close my eyes and let my hand travel over my skin, forgetting where I am or with whom, just barely noticing Raven and Lila moving away from me.
“Start by breaking his arm as he did mine and make him see black.”
“His eyes are already gone, but I will make him see a new shade of black, all the shades you want. Touch yourself to a frenzy. Make those nipples stand for me. Make sure you can hear that he didn’t break you.”
I do as he says, rolling my nipple through my shirt, making the little noises I know Killian likes so much.
“Louder, Little Girl. Moan for me.”
I do, flicking the left nub as much as I can, and the sharp snap of bones breaking and a hollow scream of someone who has been through a lot of pain already is heard over the line, followed by moisture between my legs.
I’ve gone an entire month without sex while Killian was right there but without his control over me.
“Louder,” he demands.
“Let this bastard know that you’re going to enjoy life after his death.”
I scream my pleasure for all to hear, not caring who is here or on the other side of the line.
“I want to touch myself. I need to,” I beg, just like Killian likes me to. “Killer.”
“How wet are you?”
“Very. I need to come. Make it hurt. I need him to hurt, just like he hurt me. Just like he did to Isabella. He told me. He bragged about it. He hurt your mother, Killian. Really hurt her. Make me come with your words while you torture him. I hope it hurts you just as much as it hurt me,” I scream into the phone.
“I hope they do to you everything you told me you did to Isabella for years. Everything you did to other girls.”
“You heard my woman. Scream for her, you fucker!”
Franco screams, and I do the same with my hand molding my breast. I’m uncomfortably wet, but the sounds on the other end of the line are like an elixir for my soul.
“That’s a good little girl. Scream your joy for his pain, for your fucking needy cunt, my cunt. Open your pants.”
I hear the words, “Come on, he’s my brother,” and “Kill me now,” from behind me, and I’m mindful enough not to pull my pants all the way down.
I just unzip them and push my hands between the lips of my pussy, finding the nub with my fingers.
Each scream, each beg, each plea for mercy that was not given to me brings me closer and closer to the biggest orgasm I’ll likely ever experience by my own touch.
“My woman is about to come. Did you ever hear a woman come or moan your name to the point that her orgasm matters to you more than your own? You haven’t, have you? The only thing you ever did was take your dick and stick it inside an unwilling hole.”
A chill that doesn’t have anything to do with the throb between my legs goes through my spine. He used me, he harmed me, but I’m safe.
“Moan for me, Little Girl.”
“I’m coming,” I announce, and this time, I don’t wait for permission. I let my body take over, shaking all over, and let him hear the intense pleasure that fills me.
“Perfect. Now let me deal with him.”
I don’t know how long we’ve been listening to Killian’s abuse, and I don’t care. Franco harmed too many people, so I let his son take care of him. The phone shows we’ve been on the line for one hour and fifty-three minutes.
“Franco?” I call out after a long stretch of silence.
I feel the smile on my cheeks, in my eyes, and all the muscles on my face. My whole body is smiling due to the orgasm from his suffering.
“Your time is up. Cut his dick off.”
But Killian doesn’t seem to hear me. On the other side of the line, I hear cursing and thrashing, and I know that Killian is gone, so I address the only one who can control the ax.
“Liam, stop him. I want his dick on a platter, but I want him alive when it’s taken from him.”
“Fuck, Rotten One. As you say. Killer, you heard your woman. If you don’t stop, he’s going to die,” Liam says in a bored voice.
It’s as if everything that happened before this bored him, as if he has seen and done worse.
“Cut his cock off already and be done with it. He has no organs left.”
“Maricela, are you still here?”
Killian’s voice is hoarse, as if he’s been shouting for hours even though his threats had been spoken quietly all this time.
“I’m here.”
“Do you want him dead?”
“Yes. Kill him. Be done with it.”
“Mom? Maddox? Boys?” he asks, and I get it.
This revenge was not done just for me, and Isabella is much bigger than me alone.
“Kill him,” I hear Isabella say. “You’ve done enough. Leave the rest of the work to the devil.”
There’s a momentary pause, then, “I don’t know how much you understand of what I’m going to do, Dear Father, but I’m going to cut off your cock, and I’m going to feed it to you. And then I’m going to blow out all the candles you love so much and let you burn so you can start getting used to how it will feel in hell, if it even exists.”
The three of us are huddled together now, our hands joined in comradery as we await that fuckers final moments.
“You named me Killian as a show of power to your Irish enemies. You gave me the name of a little worrier who takes care of his family. You weren’t wrong. I did take care of my family. I’m doing it now, and I’ll continue to do so.”
It doesn’t take long for Killian to do what he said, and after he’s done, Alec walks in as if he knows the tricks of Killian and his friends by heart and knows how long this torture would take them. I have a strong suspicion he witnessed it all just as we did.
“Two and a half hours,” Alec says into the phone after yanking it from my hand.
“That was impressive, and it smells of pussy in here.” The man looks at me with his beautiful eyes as if saying if you let me fuck you, it will be brilliant. I roll my eyes.
“Our game is on,” Alec continues.
“Start looking for us. I’ve given you plenty of time, and if you don’t find us by the deadline, I’ll start playing without you. And Killian? You don’t want that.”
Alec disconnects the line and looks at me once more as if impressed. He then moves to Raven, stepping over the body that is now stiff and cold.
“Is this how you look at the man who will be your husband?”
Raven’s hysterical laughter draws me to her. I’ve never heard or seen her in such a state. She sounds both exhausted and amused. I was sure I knew my best friend, but as it turns out, she’s learned how to hide her secrets even better than I remember.
“Alec, Liam would kill me before he let you marry me. We were kids when I was betrothed to you. You bore me just as much as Liam. You two are so pathetic. Big men with huge egos.”
“Raven,” Alec coos. “Now I understand why Franco insisted on giving you that name.”
“Well, enlighten me then because I’m not sure I know. He didn’t want me.”
“He didn’t want you near him. Franco knew that he would tarnish you by simply being around you, and so did Isabella, who had nowhere to run.”
“You like my mother.”
“Abriana?”
“That woman can go fuck herself. The only thing that ties me to her is my little brother Enzo. I see what you’re doing. Isabella is my mother.”
“Well, Isabella or Franco, whoever chose the name Raven, because the animal doesn’t need anyone to survive in nature. And even when they allow themselves to rely on another, they usually work with wolves. The same wolves they eat as soon as they die or become too weak. Your biological parents wanted to give you strength with your name alone. You, just like your brother, lived up to your name spectacularly, didn’t you? Wise, loyal to the death, ready to dispose of dirt with your teeth if needed. And blonde, just like me. Think about it. Our children would be angels.”
I say, “That was as smooth as southern butter.” I laugh at my stupid joke. I can’t stop myself.
Raven and Lila look at me like I’m crazy.
Fuck, maybe I am.
I was kidnapped by a maniac who looks like a model from Antarctica and fed us the best pizza I’ve ever had. I then listened to the torture and death of my rapist after coming down from an insane orgasm.
My laughter doesn’t stop. I don’t know what it was that made me snap—Alic’s words or something else—but I can’t stop.
“Is she okay? Alec asks. “I haven’t been able to learn much about her. Killian has hidden her well over the years.”
“Mari? Chica?” Raven comes to me.
She speaks gently, a voice I know too well. This is the Raven who cares for everyone, who loves everyone, who I feared would be hurt if she found out the truth about her biological parents, who I was sure would refuse to speak to her twin ever again.
“She’s having an anxiety attack,” Lila explains. “The adrenaline has started to drop. She’ll soon come back to herself.”
But I don’t come back to myself. I keep laughing, but the faint sound of my breathing becomes loud, and suddenly, the hysterical laughter turns into deep tears and ugly crying.
I cry, groan, and scream about everything that happened to me. About the rape, about my sister who betrayed me when I needed her most, about Raven, who changed the second she was kidnapped, and about a kidnapper I’m starting to like for reasons I don’t understand.
Maybe it’s some weird-ass new syndrome due to fucked up realities. That has to be it.
Lila nods and rubs soothing circles over my back. “Good, get it out. That’s the only way you can go on. He no longer exists. He’s no longer here. Do you hear me? He’s not here.”
Lila hugs me, and I drown in a luxurious and affectionate perfume I didn’t expect from her. I’ve been kidnapped and am being held by a lunatic. I don’t know what’s going on with the children. The children. The children.
Isabella told me she would take care of it, but...fuck.
My crying stops immediately when my thoughts turn to Connie’s and Amado’s fears that I won’t be there to pick them up from school, and I wasn’t.
“You, Ice King.” I point to Alec, who smiles as if I just complimented him, and maybe that’s what I did. “Bring me the phone. I need to call Killian. You gave him seventy-two hours, right?”
“Right,” he says, with a hint of panic in his voice. Good, because he should be panicked.
“Great. I need to call him and ask who picked up our kids from school.”
“The children belong to you and Killer?”
“You said you researched me. Don’t play coy now. What kind of research was it if you don’t know what was all over the news?” I try to sound as bored and lifeless as Raven, but instead,
I’m sure I sound crazy. Maybe I have gone crazy. Perhaps I’ve lost my mind completely, and I’ve actually been in an insane asylum since Franco raped me, and my whole life from that moment on has been a bad hallucination.
“The phone, now.”
Alec pulls my phone from another pocket in his jeans and hands it over. Killian answers on the second ring.
“Alec, you gave me time,” Killian says, and I hear Amado’s voice and smile.
“It’s me. Are the kids with you? Are they okay?”
“He let you call? Again?”
“I think I scared him. Are the kids all right? Who picked them up?”
“Marlina got a phone call and picked them up. They’re here with me now. I’m leaving them with Mom and Maddox and on my way to you.”
I smile when I hear Amado trying to say Killian’s name without success. Hopefully, I’ll be back to hear and see all his firsts.
“You know you’re everything to me, right?”
I know that Alec hears us, and I understand that this game is crucial for him, yet Killian shows his cards when it comes to me—his vulnerability. I have often heard people talk about others as a weakness of theirs, a strength above them. I didn’t want to be anyone’s weakness, but if I had to, I’m glad I’m Killian’s.
“I know, and I also know that no matter what happens, you will take care of the children. They belong to you. They see you as their father.”
“Don’t start. I’ll find you, and I’ll put a bullet in that fucker’s head, friend or not.”
“Oh, Killer,” Alec joins in the conversation with a chuckle.
“Do you still see me as a friend? How heartwarming.” Alec claps his hands and bounces on the balls of his feet like a toddler who has just stolen the extra cookie that will make him cranky later on.
“You could have done this another way. You know that?”
“I wouldn’t have gotten Raven any other way. You let her move in with him.”
“We thought you were dead, and Raven belongs to Liam now. Remember who you’re really going against here, Alec.”
I detect real pain in Killian’s voice that possibly only I can recognize because the fool standing next to me is not looking at me at all. Those brown eyes of his are staring at Raven. He expects her to do something as if this entire game is in her hands.
“It doesn’t matter. Give me Raven, and I’ll free your women. If you choose not to, you will have to play. Your clock has already started ticking.”
Alec takes the phone from me and hangs up. All his movements in this game are aimed at Raven as if she were the only one in the room. Raven, for her part, does not look at him.
“I don’t know your end goal with this game of yours,” I say, “but you won’t get Raven. She’s the sister of the most powerful man in this rotten world you’ve chosen to create for yourself. He won’t give her up, no matter what you do.”
Finally, this frozen ghost looks my way, and I don’t like what I see there. Hatred. It’s as bright as the sun.
When I heard the pain in Killian’s voice about a potential friend he thought he had lost, I saw intense hatred for the man I love. And I will do anything to protect him and his sister.