12. Caden
Caden
My knife sliced down, the tyre deflating as air instantly rushed out in a long, defeated hiss.
Langdon smirked, leaning against the car. “Thought we weren’t allowed to kill him?”
“We’re not.” I nodded towards the front door, already knowing Lang had disabled the security system. “But Dad never said we couldn’t hurt him a little.”
After wiping the blade clean on my thigh, I sheathed it with a soft click.
“Besides,” I added with a cold smirk, “if he’s dumb enough to drive away on a flat tyre … that’s just natural selection.”
Langdon laughed, his grin edged with unmistakable delight.
Out of our trio he was the most … unhinged.
Which was saying something, considering Sebastian was volatility wrapped in muscle and I’d been called a monster more than once.
Probably because I had a talent of drawing out pain.
I’d learned early on that calm detachment unsettled people far more than frustration ever could.
So I never reacted to aggression, whimpering, or even begging.
I remained composed, patient as I tested the limits of someone’s endurance until they surrendered.
But Lang had a peculiar taste for anarchy and chaos that made him a twisted fucker, even by our standards.
“We set?” I asked as he held a device up to the door. After a moment there was a click, and Langdon pushed the wood open. I let him go first, sweeping the place as I followed through the quiet house with my sledgehammer.
The place was nice, expensive, with dark wood throughout and a masculine design that barely looked lived in.
Langdon met me in the hall, offering a casual shrug before pointing upward.
I jerked my chin towards the stairs, and he swept an exaggerated arm out, inviting me to lead. The carpet was thick beneath my shoes, muffling most of the sound but not all. A faint squeak betrayed each step. Which was fine, because I wanted Kent to be scared, to know we were coming.
Except he wasn’t alone.
Looking over my shoulder at Lang, I raised a brow.
He simply grinned in return, thinking he was getting two for the price of one.
After gesturing with my head he came to my side, and we walked towards the double doors that lead to the master bedroom.
They were slightly open, giving us the perfect view of the room, and of Kent tied to a chair in the centre with none other than the Siren herself, straddling him in white lingerie.
Jesus-fucking-Christ.
I held out my arm, stopping Langdon from bursting the doors open and giving us away.
“What are you doing?” he signed with a frown.
“Seeing what she’s up to,” I signed back.
He blinked at me for a moment before turning back to the scene, finally registering what he was seeing: Aeris casually leaning back and using Kent’s own tie to hold her weight—a tie that was still knotted around his neck, slowly stealing his oxygen.
“Eight minutes,” she said, her husky voice no longer holding such fake amusement. “Let’s try again, shall we?”
She was faced away from us, unable to see or hear the doors open fully.
“You’re dead for this,” Kent managed to grunt, his arms quivering as he tried to free himself from the ropes. They weren’t even tied tightly, yet he couldn’t seem to get free. It was pathetic. Almost as pathetic as the fact he was stark bollock naked.
Aeris flexed, gaining a gargled cry from Kent’s lips.
“Well,” she chuckled, “I may as well go out in style. Now, tell me, who hired you?”
His eyes bulged, mouth gaping like a fish.
Aeris clicked her tongue. “Seven minutes.”
Langdon fidgeted beside me, but I signed for him to wait.
With a sigh Aeris produced a slim knife, pressing it beneath the tie to slice the fabric. Kent immediately gasped, his face red even as Aeris held the blade just under his chin.
“Six minutes.”
Her long hair had been tied high on her head, the ponytail brushing mid back to expose her arse in lace.
“Tell me, do you still have feeling in your dick?” she asked, cocking her head to the side. “Or am I just not your type?”
Kent grunted, a pearl of red appearing at the tip of her blade.
“I’d be more offended, except you’re awfully disappointing in the penis department.”
Langdon silently chuckled beside me, no longer so impatient as he watched the scene like a lion would a gazelle moments before the hunt.
I couldn’t blame him. Aeris was …
Fucking hell.
“Fuck … fuck you!” Kent spat, which turned into a wince when she sliced along his jawline. “What … have yooou done to, to me?” he slurred.
Aeris shook her head, reaching for something between them before holding it up to the light. “You have five minutes before the toxin I put in your champagne kills you, give or take a minute.”
She was holding a vial of … Was that glittery water?
“So, unless you want to die a painful, pathetic death worthy of someone like you, I’d start talking. I already know you were there that night, so there’s no point in lying.”
Kent seemed to slump a little in his chair, his arms no longer fighting the bonds.
“Imagine my surprise when I discovered there was a market for boarding kidnapped children.” She sounded disgusted. “You were told to hold us until the ransom was paid. So, who hired you?”
Langdon signed frantically in my peripheral, but I only caught every other word. I couldn’t drag my eyes away from her.
“She’ll … she’ll kill you,” Kent garbled, as if his tongue was heavy in his mouth.
“Hmm, that’s four minutes.”
“O-okay, okay!”
Fingers on my arm, and Langdon tugged me slightly so I was forced to face him.
“Stop silencing me,” he signed quickly, angry. “Do you think she’s actually poisoned him? Because he’s not supposed to die.”
Shit.
But Kent was starting to spill, so I held up my arm for Lang to wait just a little longer. We needed to know what Aeris wanted, if only to use it against her later.
“I … I wasn’t hired by her,” he managed to say. “I was … it was …” His words became inaudible, his eyes rolling into the back of his head.
Aeris slapped him across the face, which seemed to wake him a little. His head rolled loosely on his shoulders, and Aeris shifted to the side as she climbed off his lap. He caught my eye from across the room, his breathing laboured.
Aeris held the vial above his head, still facing away from us. “Give me the name, or I’ll smash the antidote.”
Kent’s eyes darted back to me, and Aeris finally turned, only to find me casually leaning against the doorjamb with my arms crossed.
Langdon whistled, nodding at Aeris with … Was that respect? He moved to stand to her left, while I remained where I was. Kent gasped, white foam appearing at his lips.
Aeris pressed the knife to his throat. “The name!”
Kent muttered something incoherent before his body began to convulse.
“Shit,” she whispered, withdrawing the blade just in time, preventing it from biting too deep.
“Fucking hell, that was hot,” Lang signed with a crooked smirk. “Five stars. No notes.”
“Caden,” Aeris said—half warning, half acknowledgment—as I stepped closer.
She stood her ground, arm steady, the knife held firm between us. Kent had gone slack behind her, head tipped back towards the ceiling.
I stopped when the blade hovered a mere centimetre from my chest.
“Check if he’s dead,” I said to Lang, switching to French.
Lang pressed two fingers to Kent’s wrist before nodding.
Great.
I returned my attention to Aeris, who, without her heels, had to crane her neck to hold my eyes.
“Oops.”
She didn’t sound particularly sorry.
“Seems you’ve become a problem.” Irritation churned, but I didn’t express it. Instead, I kept my face cold, impassive. “Put the knife down.”
Aeris held her ground. “No, I don’t think I will.”
Not giving her any warning, my hand snapped out, grabbing her arm and forcing her wrist back until the knife was pressed against her own throat. I held her there as she struggled, completely calm so she understood the gravity of the situation.
I forced her back, the knife still precariously close to breaking her skin, until her shoulders hit the wall.
“Well,” she said evenly, her breath only slightly quickened. “Isn’t this a familiar position.”
“What are you doing with a partner from my father’s firm, sweetheart?”
“Having sex, clearly.” She rolled her eyes, and I pressed the knife a little harder. “Not everyone’s into missionary.”
“Did you know who he was?”
“Did you?” Aeris licked along her bottom lip, almost a nervous gesture rather than a seductive one. “I wonder if your father knew about Kent’s extracurricular activities.”
I didn’t react, and I saw the flicker of frustration in her eyes. She couldn’t play me if I wasn’t willing to be played.
An acrid, familiar stench. Giving her one last bit of pressure I stepped back, turning to find Langdon burning Kent’s fingertips with his lighter.
“Get dressed,” I ordered before switching to French so she couldn’t follow. “Fingerprints and teeth,” I said to Langdon. “Make sure everything incriminating has been destroyed, then toss him in the Thames.”
Lang nodded his understanding, the skin of Kent’s finger splitting as it blackened. Stepping back, he shot Aeris a wink as if he wasn’t just playing with a corpse, then wandered out of the bedroom to search the house.
Pulling out my phone, Dad answered after a few rings. “Caden?”
“Kent’s been terminated,” I said flatly, my gaze never leaving Aeris in case she tried something. “Clean up your end. Erase everything.”
“I told you not to—”
I hung up before he could finish and slipped the phone back into my pocket.
Aeris stood with her arms crossed, fully dressed, her eyes dropping pointedly to the knife still in my hand.
“Come with me,” I said, tossing her blade onto Kent’s lap for Langdon to deal with.
“No thanks.”
This fucking woman.
“I wasn’t asking.”