Chapter 31
Chapter
Thirty-One
NATHANIEL
FIVE WEEKS LATER
“ A re you sure you want to go in there for this? You don’t have to.” Linking our hands together, Savannah looked up at The Triangle .
“No, I want to do this. I need to face my past, not just with Aldo but with my brother as well. Closing the door on all of that is important to me.” Ivan knocked on the window, but I held up my finger to hold him off for a minute.
“I know, but are you really okay with me killing them?”
Savannah chewed her bottom lip and looked down at her hands as she fiddled with the bracelet that Cutter made for her.
“I’m no longer an agent, and my life with you is something that I’m still getting used to. Taking a random life will never be okay with me, but this…these men….” Her eyes found mine, and there was a hardness in them. “They deserve whatever you choose to do. I may not be able to watch it, but I won’t try to stop you either.”
Cupping her cheek and leaning in, I captured her lips and loved the little moan. It had been five weeks since Savannah was released from the hospital, and she’d just been given the all-clear to resume light exercise. I knew exactly what I planned to do tonight to fulfill her daily requirement.
“We better head in before I decide to get you naked in the car instead. I’m already far too tempted.” Savannah smiled against my lips, laying her hand on my leg. I sucked in a ragged breath as she slid her hand up, and the tips of her fingers grazed my hardening cock.
“Have I told you how excited I am to be cleared finally? This baby is turning me into a sex maniac,” Savannah said, making me laugh. We’d found some other very creative ways to get around having sex until she was fully healed, but satisfying her heightened cravings with the pregnancy was going to get a lot more interesting.
“I’m not complaining,” I said, smirking as Savannah’s eyes darkened with insatiable desire. Fuck, I was going to keep her pregnant all the time.
With an adorable groan, she removed her hand. “Alright, we better go before I take you up on the car sex idea.”
“We can come back tomorrow. They aren’t going anywhere,” I said, fully prepared to satisfy her all night.
“No, let’s get this over with. I’m sick of thinking about either one of them. Aldo and Alex take up too much of my mental capacity, and I want to think about our wedding next month, Cutter starting school, and decorating the nursery. It’s time.”
“Okay then.” I tapped on the window, and Ivan opened the door. Savannah was still slow and stiff in her movements despite being cleared as I helped her out of the car. The doctor said it could be a while before she was a hundred percent, but she was determined to have the wedding next month. According to Titus, my father lost his mind when he found out he wasn’t invited.
My guards nodded in respect to Savannah as we walked past, and my pride swelled. Just like Cutter, she’d won over the hearts of my men, which said a lot about her character since they were not naturally trusting.
“Who is that,” Savannah asked as we passed the cell with the McCoy in it. He was currently ranting, ‘ They are always watching .’ Technically, in this case, they were, so it didn’t sound as crazy as it usually would.
“He’s the son of another mafia family. He tried to cross me and earned himself a cozy spot in the Mikhailov spa,” I teased.
“I don’t think I want to end up in this spa on that side of the bars.”
“That would never happen.” I held her hand a little tighter. Aldo and his shooter were already in my fun room, but we stopped at Alex’s cell next. He was sitting on the bed, rocking and mumbling to himself.
Savannah’s hand tightened on mine, but that was the only outward sign she gave that she was affected by seeing her half-brother like this. She didn’t move or say anything for a long time, and eventually, Alex looked over. A rare lucid moment. He blinked and then stood as he walked to the thick, shatterproof glass. I’d always loved the cell that Hannibal Lecter was kept in and modeled my cells after the movie.
Alex laid his hand on the barrier. “Sister, you found me.” He smiled, raising the hair on the back of my neck. “It took you fucking long enough. Are you going to take me home now?”
Savannah let go of my hand and walked toward her brother, who slipped in and out of personalities like watching something shed a skin. I was convinced he had something evil living in him. I’d never been overly religious, but when I looked into his eyes…there was something that just didn’t sit right with me. Something with no explanation.
“No, Alex, I’m not taking you home,” Savannah said, her voice even, and yet I could still feel the tension radiating off her.
Alex’s face darkened. “Why not? You’re the police. You should be getting me out of here.”
“I was never police. I was FBI, but I’m neither now. I quit,” she said, and he slammed his hand against the glass. The sudden bang would make anyone jump, but Savannah didn’t flinch.
“What the fuck? Why are you here then, and where is Dad? He should be looking for me.”
Savannah looked back at me, and I shook my head no. I hadn’t told him about his father. It was more entertaining to break someone when they thought there was hope of being rescued.
“I put your father in jail, where he will rot for the rest of his life. He’s not coming for you,” Savannah said.
“What? No! Why did you do that? Dad was going to rescue me. He promised that we’d always look out for one another. It was our little secret.” Alex banged his forehead off the glass three times, repeating ‘ Our little secret’ and then just stood there with his head pressed up against it, distorting his face.
“What happened to you, Alex? I can only remember the funny brother I helped with homework and who told Travis Harding off when he broke my heart. How did you become this?” She held her hands out toward the glass. “How could you do what you did to Elle?”
Savannah’s voice broke as she mentioned their younger sister. Alex had raped and killed her, then made it look like the poor girl drowned. I still didn’t understand how Kaylani had fallen under his spell and chose to send him naked photos of herself. I would probably never understand because when I looked at him, I saw him for what he was…a snake oil salesman who sold you what you wanted to hear.
“I didn’t do anything. I’m innocent. Whatever he told you is a lie,” Alex growled and pointed at me. “He’s evil.”
“I know the truth, Alex. You can drop the act. I looked into everything, including the videos that you and your father made.”
Alex smirked and ran a hand over his chest as he licked his bottom lip. “I miss my videos. Did you like them? Did they turn you on? I bet they did. I bet you watched them and got good and wet.”
“Enough,” I bellowed, and Alex’s eyes darted to mine. “Do not say anything like that again, or I will change who I’m here to see.”
“Just tell me the truth, Alex. Why did you hurt Elle? Why did you hurt any of them?”
Alex placed his hands on the glass and smiled at Savannah, but there was no warmth or humor in the look. It was dark, like a depraved clown.
“Because I could,” he said and started licking the glass.
Savannah shivered, and that was enough. She said she wanted to see him, and I let her, but I wasn’t subjecting her to this anymore, no matter how strong she was. He was the thing of nightmares. Stepping up beside Savannah, I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and tucked her tight into my side.
“Come on, that’s enough,” I said, and Alex made a face as he rolled his eyes.
“Aww, isn’t that sweet? He’s all worried about you, but he doesn’t know that you’re a raging bitch!”
I turned Savannah away from the cell and nudged her to walk away. She seemed frozen to the spot, staring at Alex. I could only imagine what she was thinking. As she turned away, Alex started yelling.
“No, no, don’t go. I’m sorry, big sis, come back and visit with me. Don’t go, please,” he begged and sounded almost childish in his tone. “Fine, fuck you, you whore! I hate you. I should’ve killed you instead!”
Savannah wrapped her arm around my waist but held her head up high and never looked back. “I don’t understand how I never saw that side of him. How could I live with him day in and day out and be so oblivious?”
“You have to stop blaming yourself. You were both young, Savannah. You didn’t see him again for years after your mother divorced his father.”
“I know, but when I look at him now, I can see it as clearly as I can anything else in this room. It just baffles me that he killed my little sister while we lived in the same house, and I never suspected a thing. It genuinely creeps me out, and I don’t get creeped out often.”
“I know the feeling. Trust me, when he wants to, he can portray himself as the perfectly misunderstood guy. He did it more when he first arrived, as if he was trying to convince my soldiers to let him go, but being here brought the darker parts of him to the surface. Do you ever want to come back?”
“No, I saw all I needed to see. I’ve made peace with the brother I envisioned in my mind as a child and who he is now.”
“I’ll take you in so you can show Aldo and his minion that they failed and you’re still alive. But then I’m going to have a couple of the guards escort you out of the cell area, and you can relax in the living room or one of the sleeping quarters until I’m through.” I expected an argument, but instead, Savannah nodded, which told me that she was close to being done and needed to rest. She hated admitting it, but I always knew.
Alex’s ranting trailed off when we didn’t come back, and I knew he’d moved away from the glass. One of these days, I was going to have to look up the best way to kill him that wouldn’t leave behind a dark stain on this place. All my other prisoners combined didn’t come close to his level of evil.
I nodded to my guard manning the door to the torture area, and he stepped out of the way for me to unlock it.
“This is all very government-level security you have here,” Savannah said, and I gave her a smirk.
“It’s better.” With a heavy thud, the door unlocked, and I pushed it open. “Chad, leave the door open. When I tell you to, I want you to escort Mrs. Mikhailov out to one of the resting rooms and personally guard her.”
“Yes, Boss,” he said and put his back to the door to keep it open for us to step inside.
The room had a dim, reddish hue with a strip of LED lighting that circled the ceiling. Aldo and the man, who I only bothered to know as the shooter, were hanging by their wrists from the ceiling, their toes brushing the floor. They were blindfolded with noise-cancelling headphones on just to fuck with their senses.
I made sure that the men were clothed for Savannah. They already had bruises and scars lining their bodies from the beatings they’d been through since her shooting. I knew she could handle seeing them that way, but I didn’t want to subject her to any more than necessary. She would punch me in the balls if she knew that was what I was doing, but after today, they would go back to Romeo in caskets for him to do what he wanted with their bodies.
Snapping my fingers, the guards off to the sides marched over to remove the headphones and blindfolds. As soon as the two men were touched, they jumped and yelped, which made my inner asshole smile. Aldo looked our way first, and as soon as he saw Savannah holding my hand, his scared expression turned volatile.
“What the fuck? You’re supposed to be dead,” he said.
“Not sorry to disappoint you.” Savannah looked around the small room that housed almost every tool and torture device known to exist. “Have you been enjoying your stay,” she asked casually.
“You fucking cunt. You ruined my business, arrested my best people, and made my brother turn on me.”
“How talented I am to accomplish all of that, and I barely remember your name,” Savannah said dryly. I was unable to stop the corner of my mouth from turning up. Savannah let go of my hand and slowly walked around the two men, their chains jingling as they moved to watch her.
“Actually, I do know your name, Aldo. I know your name because you’re the laughingstock of the Mancini family. You’re the one who got caught. The one who allowed FBI agents into the organization. Broke bread with them, drank wine with them, paid them to bring you down, and for what? You and your men not only didn’t do your job to kill me or my son, but your family turned you over to the one person who wanted you dead.”
“Fuck you, Fed whore.”
Savannah smiled and walked past the shooter giving him a look that had my heart pounding and the rest of me ready to lay her out and fuck her in front of them. Stepping into my side, Savannah ran her hand over my chest.
“I’m only a whore for one man, and he’s going to skin you alive for taking the life of my friend and trying to kill me and our son. I want you to remember my smile. I’m Savannah Mikhailov, and you messed with the wrong family,” she said, the words rolling off of her tongue like her mouth was full of candy.
Yup, I was fucking her tonight. Grabbing Savannah by the back of the neck, I kissed her hard. My tongue invaded her mouth, and I groaned as she willingly handed herself over to me in sweet submission.
“Go with Chad. He’ll keep you safe until I’m done,” I whispered in her ear. Hugging her against my body so she could feel exactly how hard I was as I nipped at her ear. “And when I get you home, I’m going to indulge in your tempting pussy all night long.” Savannah’s cheeks were red with a blush as she stepped back. “Go rest, Kisa.”
I watched her leave, and as soon as the door was closed, I punched Aldo so hard across the jaw that blood and a few teeth went flying and pinged off the floor.
“That will be the last time you insult my wife. Get me the pliers,” I ordered. Grabbing Aldo’s jaw, I made sure he was focused on my face. “I’m going to start by pulling your teeth out one by one before ripping out your tongue. Then I’ll move on to Savannah’s suggestion to skin you alive, one little piece at a time.”
He tried to jerk his head away. “Fuck you, I’m not afraid to die.”
“It’s not the dying you should be afraid of. It’s the slow and excruciating journey there that will be terrifying. It’s no wonder your nephew set you up to die. You’re stupider than a box of rocks.” I held out my hand and smirked as the metal pliers were placed in my palm. “Get ready to scream.”