19. Nazai
CHAPTER 19
NAZAI
Silver Stone, let’s shine light on the shadows. We all know the key to anything around here is money. So it’s no shocker that there’s no one talking about the shooting at Dominic Tavarez’s party the night before. There isn’t even a police report. As you know, there have been rumors of his connections to multiple crime bosses, which isn’t a shocker given how many get away with things in his courtroom. And his son represents them as well, isn’t that a conflict of interest? Not to mention every single member of the family had a gun on hand. What respectable family is armed like that? It makes me wonder if the family pissed off the wrong crime lords they allegedly have allegiances to. For too long the wealthy have gone unpunished, and for too long they’ve been granted privileges just because they have money…
M y jaw clenched as I continued to read the latest blog post by The Shadows of Silver Stone . Whoever they were had commented on the shooting that happened three days ago at my dad’s retirement party. Whoever ran the page was obsessed with exposing how corrupt me and my family were. While many families, legal and illegal, were spoken on, lately whoever it was had been hyper-focused on my family in particular.
“Have you read this shit?” I gritted, lowering my phone and looking at my brother. “Have you been able to find out who’s running this blog?” I asked Emmet while sitting across from him in his office. On top of being a professional hacker, he did freelance PI work, mainly for organized crime members who were looking for people who crossed them. On his desk sat four large monitors with a laptop in the middle. He had a large file cabinet on the wall. The room was decorated in black and red.
“No. I’m working on it, but whoever it is, is almost as good as me.” His brows furrowed and creases formed in his forehead as he typed intently. “They think they’re smarter than me but they’re not. Each time I’m almost in, I hit a block, but I’m gonna figure it out.”
One corner of my mouth lifted. One thing about Emmet was he took pride in his intelligence. I hadn’t met anyone smarter.
“Fuck!” he growled and twisted to another computer. “They’re trying to hack me back. Do they really think it’ll be that easy?”
I had no idea what he was talking about. He started mumbling to himself and his face grew more intense. Emmet might be lethal, but he was a nerd at heart. Not much excited him, but things like this did.
“What about the shooting? Did you find anything?”
He paused and sat up straight. “I’m still working on it. I’m going through all the street cameras and any attached to the surrounding buildings. I’ll have something soon.”
I tapped my finger on my thigh. “One more question.”
Emmet looked annoyed but gave me his attention. “At Dad’s party I saw you give Lucas a folder. He still has you looking into Adrian?” One of my brows rose, referring to a ghost from the past.
Emmet hardly showed emotions. I loved my little brother, but he had one hell of a poker face and it always pissed me off. Out of all of us, Emmet stayed more to himself growing up. He did jobs with us and did his part in getting the information we needed. He had one hell of a kill shot too, especially with a rifle, but his secret keeping was vault tight.
“Why not ask him?”
I stroked my beard. “Because he gets touchy when it comes to her, so I’m asking you.” I sighed. “Look, I’m just worried about him, E. He’s been obsessed with finding her for the past fifteen years, you helping him only enables him.”
“I’m not enabling him. Lucas isn’t gonna let it go until he learns what happened to her. I would think you’d be happy if we could come to a solution and put it to rest.”
I chuckled. “A’right. I can’t argue with that. Just…if he seems like he’s gonna crash out again, let me know. We don’t know who’s coming after us and everyone needs to be focused. If Lucas starts his shit again, that can put us all in jeopardy.”
“You have nothing to worry about. If it gets bad, I’ll tell you.”
I nodded and checked my phone. “Good. Now thanks for this.” I lifted the folder. It was why I’d come here originally and the blog just happened to be posted while I was here. I had Emmet look up everything he could about The Queen Of Hearts, not to mention Cashlynn’s parents. Now, knowing who she was, I wanted a thorough analysis on everything before she broke into my house. Thankfully my brother was efficient and already ahead of the game. Both me and my dad had him investigate Cashlynn so it was no shocker he’d gone deeper and kept what he learned for when it was useful.
Emmet went back to his computers, basically dismissing me. It didn’t bother me. I had more business to tend to once I left here.
____
“What is this? Why are we here? This better not be another sit down,” Cashlynn ranted as we climbed out of the car.
“Just follow me. I’m sure you won’t be upset once we get inside.” The barn in front of us was in the middle of the woods in an abandoned area on the outskirts of town. It was in the back of the family meeting house. The barn had been completely gutted and remodeled. It was where we brought special cases that needed time to be handled.
Cashlynn looked around the area then rested her focus on me. She squinted at me but followed me anyway. Since I’d learned her secret she’d been staying out the way. Things have been hectic for me. With my birthday approaching, and me officially being named the head of the family, not to mention someone coming for us, my plate was full.
We walked up the dirt walkway. The sun was covered by clouds, which brought a nice breeze, offsetting the heat in the air. The sounds of the trees rustling around us along with birds chirping filled my ears.
I pulled the steel doors open and we walked inside. I led her to the room in the back where we set up for Lucas when he needed to do his doctor thing. In the all-white room were both Lucas and Ezra, and in the middle, tied to the hospital bed, was Maddox. Both of his eyes were black and swollen shut. He had knots covering his forehead and his lips were swollen with drips of blood surrounding them. He had bruises all over his chest. Since I’d taken him off his porch five days ago, I’d come here and worked him over. Lucas had him attached to an IV to make sure I could fuck with him and keep him alive. He made sure I didn’t take it too far before the grand finale and used his doctor knowledge to help me torture him near death then bring him back.
“What are you doing here?” I asked Ezra.
“I’m offended! You have someone here, torturing them, and didn’t include me and Wilma.” He brought the hammer to his chest with an offended look on his face.
“This has nothing to do with you, that’s why.” Cashlynn stepped around me and slowly approached the table. The monitors attached to him beeped softly.
Maddox was unconscious but his chest rose and fell slowly. “Wake him up,” she demanded with that same look in her eyes I had grown to recognize when she was serious.
She turned to me. “When did you do this?”
I crossed my arms and nodded at Lucas. “The night of my dad’s retirement party.”
She squinted. “That’s why you were late?” The realization had her words coming out slower. My shoulders rose and my eyes shifted to Maddox.
Lucas walked over to the table and dug into his pocket. Cashlynn pulled the backpack she always wore off. She walked to the chair near the wall and tossed it aside. Her shoulders rolled back and she grabbed the ponytail holder off her wrist, pulling her hair up in a bun.
Maddox’s eyes fluttered open and he groaned. I knew his body had to be sore from the multiple beatings I’d given him.
“Wake up!” Cashlynn walked to the head of the bed and sent her hand across his face.
He grunted as his head whipped to the side.
“Cashlynn,” he coughed out and groaned.
“Shut up!” She hit him again. Her eyes were dark as coal. She leaned down and pulled something out of her sock. My eyes narrowed seeing it was her butterfly knife.
“What the fuck?” Ezra muttered. “You know your wife just walks around with knives hidden on her body?”
“Remind me what vital points I should avoid, to keep him alive, besides the heart,” she said, turning to Lucas.
“There’s a couple of other spots to avoid too.” He stepped closer. He started pointing out areas. Lucas then walked to the table and picked up a pouch, then went to the IV stand and messed with it. “He’s hooked up to an IV drip giving him fluids, so he’ll last awhile.”
“Wa-wai-waiitttt.” Maddox’s words were slurred. I was sure it was from whatever my brother gave him.
“What did you just give him? I don’t want him numb to the pain.”
“The medication will paralyze him but he can feel everything happening. ”
A bone-chilling smile formed on her face. “Good.” She looked around. “Can I get some gloves?”
Already one step ahead, I reached in my pocket and stepped forward with black leather gloves.
“I’m gonna enjoy this.” She slid the gloves on.
“Ay bro, your wife is kind of scary.” Ezra stepped closer to me. My smile widened. I had seen Cashlynn use her gun, but I was anticipating seeing how she was with a knife.
“You know, Maddox. I never really liked you.” She pressed the knife against his neck and slid it down. “My parents were power hungry bastards who forced me to be with you because they wanted more power. Your daddy would have given them that.” She lifted the knife and lodged it into the right muscle between his right pec and shoulder. His eyes widened with pain. “The only reason I came to your house after they died was because I needed a place to lay low and get things in order for me and my brother.” She pulled the knife out and shoved it into another part of his body.
I stood back and watched with my brothers as Cashlynn went to work on Maddox. She was in her element and didn’t slow down.
“Remind me not to get on sis’s bad side,” Ezra commented.
“Considering who her parents are, I’m not surprised she has this in her,” Lucas commented.
While they conversed, I watched Cashlynn in awe. Seeing how she conducted herself without breaking a sweat made my dick grow.
“Do you guys have pliers or anything?” She turned and looked at us. Lifting her arm, she ran it across her forehead.
“Ezra, go grab some pliers,” I said. We had a ton of tools in the other room for things like this.
“And shears!” she called out after him.
Ezra muttered something, but turned and did what I said.
Lucas stepped closer to the body and examined it. “He’s stable, losing a good amount of blood. Heart rate elevated.”
“As long as he doesn’t bleed out before I finish, I don’t care.”
Ezra came back into the room with pliers and shears.
“Thanks.” Cashlynn grabbed them then turned back to the body. She placed the shears over his chest, keeping the pliers in hand. Maddox had tears streaming down his face and blood running from the multiple wounds Cashlynn had inflicted. Hovering over one of the wounds she stabbed it with the pliers and spread the tool open. I grimaced but my chest swelled with pride as she repeated the motion a couple more times.
“You smacked my brother that day. I heard it.” Dropping the pliers on the floor she grabbed the shears with a chilling expression on her face. She picked up one of his hands and placed a finger between the shears. “You should have kept your hands to yourself.” She closed the shears, slicing his finger straight off. Maddox’s eyes widened. He attempted to speak, but only indistinguishable sounds came out.
“Oh shit.” Ezra laughed.
“Do you regret putting your hands on my brother?” She went to another finger and closed the shears around it.
Cashlynn was just as ruthless as I thought. I had to adjust myself as I watched. My stomach fluttered along with my heart. Pride swelled in my chest. All I wanted to do right now was take her in the other room and fuck her roughly. She looked beautiful with a serious look on her face. She barely blinked this whole time, never asked for assistance. It was like she was working on autopilot.
“Now, I’m not a doctor, but I’m still sure my good ol’ knife can do the final act.” She grabbed his sweatpants. He had been wearing the same ones since I’d taken him. He had dried pee stains and a fresh wet mark on the front of them.
“What the hell?” Ezra grumbled and spun around.
I kept my eyes locked on Cashlynn’s face.
“Your dad put a bounty on my head because I stabbed you, but you didn’t die. Which, at the time, I would have said you were lucky because I never miss. But then again, if I would have killed you then, we wouldn’t be having this moment now.” She dragged her knife up his dick. “But did your daddy know you were a fucking pedophile. That you tried to force my ten year old brother to suck your little ass dick!”
Lucas’s eyes widened while Ezra made a choked sound next to me.
I watched her grab his dick. For a second I clenched my jaw, not enjoying seeing her handle anyone’s but mine. Seeing another man’s dick in my wife’s hand caused my body to go rigid.
“You should have never fucked with my brother or me. Maybe you would have had a chance in life, but now!” I winced when she replaced the knife with the shears, placing them at his dick and closing them.
Blood gushed from his wound.
“Did you just shit yourself?” Cashlynn laughed, grabbing his dick and moving to the top of his body. It took a struggle, but she pried his mouth open and shoved his dick inside, deep. He made a choking, gurgling sound.
“He’s starting to stink. Can we finish this?” Ezra complained.
Maddox was barely hanging on. His heart rate was deadly low.
Finally Cashlynn grabbed her knife again and dragged it across Maddox’s neck. Blood flooded out, covering the area.
She glared at him with tightly pressed lips. “Rest in hell, you sick fuck!”
Her eyes lifted, still with that lifeless expression.
“Big bro. I hope you never get on her bad side. You and your dick might be in danger.” Ezra laughed.
Cashlynn’s body was stiff. She seemed to dissociate.
I ignored him and stepped closer. Cashlynn watched me as I approached. I stopped in front of her and reached up, grabbing her by the hair and yanking her forward, slamming my mouth down on hers. Passion gushed up my spine. Seeing her work like that had me horny as hell.
“Fuck, that was sexy as hell. I knew you were lethal, but damn.” I kissed her again, this time more heatedly. She moaned and I swallowed it up.
“Before you two decide to give us a show, we need to take care of his body and she needs to get cleaned up,” Lucas commented.
I pulled back and stared into Cashlynn’s now dilated eyes. Her breathing was heavy.
“You guys get started. I’ma show her the showers,” I told them.
I grabbed Cashlynn’s wrist and pulled her after me. We walked down the hall and upstairs to the shower room.
“We need to get you cleaned up.” I released her then grabbed the bottom of her shirt, lifting it over her head.
I moved in and kissed right under her collar. My dick grew harder. Reaching behind her, I undid her bra and slid it down her arms.
“I’ve never been so turned on watching someone take a life, but right now I feel like my dick could burst,” I rasped against her skin, grabbing her breast and messaging her nipple. “Did it feel good to finally make him pay?”
Pulling back, I stared into her eyes. They were burning with need but I could still see the darkness looming in them.
She swallowed hard and nodded. “Did it make your heart race when you were stabbing him?” I squeezed her nipple.
“Yes,” she moaned.
Grinning, I moved around her to turn the shower on then grabbed my shirt and pulled it off.
“My brothers are gonna think you’re a badass now.”
“They should have been known that. I told you I wasn’t the one to be fuck with.”
Turning to face her, I saw she had stripped out of the rest of her clothes, causing me to follow suit. She stepped to me and sank her teeth into her bottom lip.
I reached up and grabbed her by the hair. “The Queen of Hearts is a force to be reckoned with. I had heard the rumors, even saw it the other night, but seeing it today was a completely different thing.” I wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close to me. Her body slammed into mine.
“I wasn’t The Queen of Hearts tonight.”
I leaned down, kissing her shoulder. “Who were you?”
“A sister getting justice for her brother.” I sank my teeth into her skin. My dick grew harder. I stepped back until we were under the water. It beat down on us as I moved my head lower to take one of her nipples into my mouth.
Spinning us around, I slammed her back against the shower wall and lifted her. The tip of my dick dripped of precum, aching for relief.
The beast inside me slammed against my chest cavity, begging to come to the surface and I was about to grant his request. I made sure to keep the look of blissfulness on her face as she worked in my memory to draw later. My sketchbook had become nothing but versions of Cashlynn without me realizing it.
I had been itching to take her since she’d first pulled her blade out, wanting to dominate and overpower her body, wreck her and leave my seeds dripping from her pussy while she cried out my name. I never knew a woman killing someone could turn me on like this, but Cashlynn seemed to be the exception.
____
My brothers weren’t happy that they’d handled the majority of the cleanup but it got done. We ended up mailing the fingers Cashlynn chopped off to his dad then burning the body in the furnace in the back of the barn.
Now that we were home, Cashlynn went to her room while I went down the hall into my game room. Just like I expected, Carson was here. I noticed he spent most of his time in here or on his computer. We had yet to have a real conversation, but after learning what I had, I wanted to touch bases with him.
I stepped in the room and closed the door behind me. Carson was playing the latest 2K game. He was sitting in one of the beanbag chairs. When he noticed he wasn’t alone, I noticed his body tensed. I went to the TV stand that held the controllers and picked one up.
“Let’s run a game.” Video games weren’t my specialty but Cashlynn had bought Carson a bunch of games for my system when she went crazy spending to “punish me”. The large, eighty-inch TV was set up on one side of the room, while the other had a foosball table, air hockey table, and a couple of arcade games.
He side eyed me with hesitancy on his face, but didn’t protest. I turned the controller on and waited for him to get the game set up.
We selected our teams and the game started.
At first we didn’t speak. I didn’t know what I was doing, but Carson was a pro, easily scoring and taking the ball when my team had it.
I finally spoke. “Your sister told me why you guys were on the run.” I noticed him flinch and blink hard a couple times, but he stayed quiet. He didn’t talk much, unless it was to his sister. I paused the game for a second then turned to face him. “I want you to know you don’t have to worry about Maddox anymore. He’s been handled.”
At first Carson didn’t say anything. He twisted his body and stared at me. It was comical how much he looked like his sister when he had an emotionless expression on his face. He broke eye contact and looked down at the ground.
“You killed him?” he finally asked.
I smirked. Carson might be quiet and introverted but he wasn’t dumb. He knew what went on around him. In a lot of ways, he reminded me of Emmet; he just lacked confidence.
“Nah, your sister did.” He snapped his head up and his eyes lit up. How much he looked up to his sister was clear.
When he didn’t speak again, I went to start the game but his voice stopped me. “Cashlynn is always protecting me. It’s because of me so much bad stuff happens to us.” He laid the controller on his lap. I didn’t speak, not wanting him to stop talking. “I’m too weak to protect myself. My parents knew it and Maddox knew it. I hate it.” He clenched his hands into fists. Carson lifted his head and looked me in the eye. “I don’t want to be weak anymore,” he voiced tightly.
“Then stop being weak,” I commented. He looked at me confused. “Carson, in this world you have to demand respect to get respect. If people know they can fuck with you, then they will.”
“My parents told me I was too weak to be in the family business and they wanted to—” He snapped his mouth shut and shifted his eyes away. My brows furrowed. Curiosity filled me at what he was about to say. “And Maddox told me I was a pussy so he was gonna treat me like one.” His lips pressed into a straight line and hands clenched again.
“So what are you telling me this for, Carson? Tell me what you want.”
“I want you to teach me to be tough. I want you to train me so no one ever picks on me again. I don’t want to keep having my sister defend me. Cashlynn is so strong and she does everything for me, but I’m her brother. I should be the tough one standing up for her.”
I didn’t point out that he was years younger than Cashlynn, and that regardless, if I taught him anything, his sister would never stop defending him.
“A’right.” I nodded. “You want to be toughened up. We can do that.”
His eyes lit up. “Really?”
I shrugged. “Yeah, why not. We’ll teach you some self-defense, get you out to the shooting range. It’s not hard.”
“Thanks.”
A silent understanding passed between us. We turned to start the game again, but Carson paused it again.
“Nazai, I think my sister really likes you,” he expressed. “She’s never had anyone to look out for her and have her back before. I think it’s different with you.”
He didn’t wait for me to comment back before he started the game again. I smirked and faced the TV. I too noticed the difference slowly happening in Cashlynn from when I first met her until now. She was still a hard ass and guarded, but each day I was around, it seemed that guard slowly lowered.