23
Jack
November 21st, 2019
When I got back, it was to shouting.
I pushed through the door to find Zo shaking Rae violently.
It was late, almost 2am, and she was shouting at Rae, shaking her awake. I decided to pick up Max and take him to the cathedral just to get it over with. I expected Rae to still be asleep when I got back, what I hadn’t expected in a million years was for my partner to be violently shaking her.
I pulled out my gun and slowly walked over, my eyes locked on Zo. “I’m on edge, Zo, so you’d better have a good explanation as to why you’re shaking her awake right now.”
Zo straightened, her eyes wide with rage. She released Rae aggressively and stepped back, but Rae continued to thrash. “You’re broken ass fuck toy won’t stop screaming. What else am I supposed to do, Jack? She’s going to wake the entire building. Jesus fuck. You picked a defective one.”
I shot a glare at Zo on my way to Rae, studying her as she kicked and screamed, digging her nails into her skin, dragging them up. She was covered in scratches, all of them bleeding. There was a mark on her face in the shape of a handprint.
My head whipped around on Zo. “What the fuck?”
“She’s tearing herself a part, J, don’t fucking give me that look. You would have slapped her too!”
“Me!” I snarled, setting my gun down. “I would have slapped her. Don’t fucking touch her again.” I grabbed Rae’s hands, wrapping them in one of mine before I slapped the shit out of her.
She jerked awake, her eyes flashing open, such fear in them, it made me want to kill someone. Anyone. Whoever I needed to kill to rip that fear right out of her.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, shaking her head, tears spilling down her cheeks. “I’m sorry, I won’t do it again, I swear. I swear. I won’t do it again, I promise.”
My brows furrowed and I waved my hand in front of her face, snapping my fingers. She flinched back so violently that she ripped her hands out of my grip and curled in on herself. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, it won’t happen again, I swear. It won’t happen again. I’ll be good. I’ll be good.”
Over and over again, she said those words.
“I’ll be good.”
I straightened. “Get the sedatives.”
Zo walked over to the table, digging through my bag.
I sat down a foot or so away from her, studying her. “Rae?”
“I’m Rae, yes, I’m Rae. Rae Bennett. My favorite color is red, I like apples. I like posting on social media, but I have to hide it from Max. Always hide it from Max. I like diamonds and coffee and I hate swimming. I’ll be good. I remember. I’ll be good.”
“What the fuck,” Zo breathed out. “I’ve never seen anything like this. What’s wrong with her?”
I took the vile from her hand and grabbed Rae’s jaw, her wide, terrified eyes finding mine.
“I’ll be good. I won’t break the rules anymore, I promise. I’m good,” she kept saying, her words distorted from how I squeezed her jaw.
I nodded, my heart racing. It was an effort not to squeeze her jaw too hard. “You’re such a good girl, Princess,” I said, placing the vile to her lips. “Drink up.”
Recognition flashed in her eyes just before she swallowed. She pulled away, her brows pulling together. “What the fuck?” she said, looking between us. Rae smacked her lips. “What did you just give me?” she hissed, her eyes falling to her arms and widening as she took in the gouges she had given herself. “What the fuck, Jack?” She lifted her arms to show me. “What did you do, you fucking asshole! I have a goddamn party to go to this weekend,” she snapped, shoving herself to a stand.
I frowned, allowing her to get up. She had about thirty more seconds before she fainted. “What party?”
“The Thanksgiving Party,” she snarled, turning on me, only to grab her head as the dizziness settled in. “I was invited to the Mayor’s Thanksgiving Party at the masquerade. I can’t cover this shit up with makeup, you ruined…” she swayed, closing her eyes, shaking her head. “What’s wrong with me?”
I stood, sliding my hands into my pockets.
Her eyes lifted back to mine, slowly fogging over, and she finally took me in. “Wait, why are you wearing your mask?”
“I had my own party,” I answered evenly. “When were you going to tell me about this party?”
She blinked again, her eyes getting heavy. “What is wrong with me? Did you…did you drug me?” Her legs gave out.
I caught her before she hit the coffee table and swung her up into my arms.
“So what are you going to do then?” Zo asked as I headed for the bedroom. “What was all that shit?”
“Confirmation,” I answered. She had been tortured, and everything I was doing to her, the way I was pushing her mind and body, it was shattering the walls they built in her head. It was a double-edged sword, I supposed. I was giving her everything she ever wanted, but it was slowly breaking her. Would I stop?
No. I just needed to keep an eye on her, and I would, from deep within her perfect little cunt.
I looked up from my laptop when the door opened. It was just barely 8am, so why the fuck were Azrael, Poppy, Beckett, and Malachi walking into my girl’s place?
I shut the laptop and leaned over the table, Zo looking up from her files, her coffee steaming. “What the fuck is this?” I asked.
Azrael smiled. “Don’t be such a sour puss, Jack, we’ve come to take our turn with the magical cunt that grabbed you by the dick and gave you a heart.”
Poppy rolled her eyes as Azrael slowly drifted towards Rae’s bedroom door. “Zo sent us a recording of what happened when you got back. Everett and Grey are dealing with their own shit, so this is what you get.”
I picked up my knife from the table and threw it at Azrael’s hand as he reached for Rae’s doorknob. It sunk into his hand with a sickening crunch.
Azrael flinched, but it was all the reaction I would get from him. He got off on pain, which annoyed all of us deeply.
He lifted his hand and pulled it out, blood pouring from his palm. “I see that heart didn’t grow too much.” He licked the blood from the knife and smiled. “Throwing knives, dear brother?” He clicked his tongue.
I leaned back in my chair and turned back to the others, ignoring him. Beckett was years younger than his older brother. They had the same blue eyes, Beckett had several inches in height on his brother, his build was much more fit. He had hair while Malachi didn’t, their styles were similar, but their personalities were far from it. While Malachi was more like Grey, Beckett was more like me. Unforgiving, ruthless, but he did have some mercy when the time was right, and he didn’t speak as often. Silent but deadly, Azrael liked to tell us whenever he deigned to speak about the man who found him.
“She’s not accepted into The Family, so why are you all here?” I didn’t need the calvary, I could do this myself.
“The Alascer’s were well-known in the world,” Malachi explained, taking his gloves and hat off, “so are the Bennett’s. We gave you masks for a reason, you four boys, Marla?” He shook his head, glancing towards Rae’s door. “I don’t know how they did it. We are the best there is, there shouldn’t be anyone better.”
I studied him carefully. I had been wondering the same thing though. How had Marla managed two identities that were well-known and beloved by many? Had she just stayed away from any jobs in this state so she could have a place in America to rest? Only coming here when she needed to take on the Bennett fa?ade? It was the only thing that made even a lick of sense.
“There isn’t,” Zo reminded him. “Marla’s dead—”
“Gone,” I corrected. “No body, no crime.” The blood still hadn’t come back, which was irritating to say the least, but my gut instinct was that it wouldn’t be Marla’s.
“And Rae doesn’t remember who she was. Along with that,” she went on, “you can’t remember a thing about her father. So, either he truly was a one-night stand and Marla lied during those times she might have mentioned him, or he’s the best there is at disappearing, and he doesn’t give a fuck about his daughter.”
My eyes shifted to Azrael. We were all important for various reasons, given nicknames by Beckett based on our specialties. Grey was the Teacher, speaks for itself. Everett was the Heir, most likely the one to truly take over the position Malachi was in, despite us all being on equal grounds. He was a born leader.
I was the Hunter. Computers, cameras, finding the targets of our assignments by means of technology. Azrael was the Ghost. He was the best at disappearing. At making others disappear. I had met no one else in this world better than him. Until now.
It clearly didn’t sit well with him.
“Are we all just going to assume that the little Damsel is telling the truth?” Azrael hummed, uncaring that he was bleeding all over the floor. “She could be lying, playing us all.”
“And how’s that, Az?” Zo asked, rolling her eyes. “Pray tell.”
He shrugged. “Well, a crime was reported, no body, no evidence. A week later, her nanny just so happens to disappear, and then a boy, claiming to be her brother shows up, ‘controlling her life’. After eight months of no problems, no issues, no death threats, her name appears on our doorstep by anonymous, Jack falls in love, suddenly people are trying to kill her, pulling him in like the perfect little damsel she is. I don’t know about you,” he said, walking up to the table, “but it seems to me like she’s got her claws into this little family of ours and she’s not planning on letting go any time soon.”
I studied him carefully. Many coincidences, sure, but—
“Why would she do that?” Beckett asked, finishing my thoughts. “What would be the point? She’s a smart girl, I assume,” he nods towards me, “she should have known she would get caught.”
“Marla’s smart, but sometimes the apples, they do fall,” Azrael smiled, his eyes glinting in a sick light. “Don’t they, Jack?”
My eyes shifted to Malachi’s. “Marla spoke often of her.”
“Mothers always speak highly of their daughters, even in the midst of battle,” Malachi sighed, taking a seat across from me. “You Claimed her, Jack, it’s up to you to figure out if she’s being truthful or if you’ve released a mole in our home.”
Azrael hummed a creepy little tune under his breath and I ignored him. It grated against my nerves when he did shit like that.
“So why are you here then?” I bit. “To berate me for choosing someone this broken?”
“The video was concerning.”
I grinded my teeth together and turned to Zo. “You took a page out of Azrael’s fucked up book?”
She frowned. “I started recording before you came back. I didn’t need you putting a bullet between my eyes for slapping your girl.”
“Kinky,” Azrael purred.
I was going to fucking kill him.
“Jack,” Malachi said, pulling my attention to focus. “She was tortured, that much is clear, do you have any leads as to who did it and why?”
I worked my jaw. “She mentioned a name, Nora Delcott. She and Max are currently tied up in the cathedral. The club Daylight.”
Azrael smiled. “Well, look how the tables have turned,” he sang.
I rolled my eyes. “It’s a building, Az, get over it.”
“Nobody gets over the depth of which that institution has dug its barbed claws, Jack, nobody.”
I turned back to Malachi dryly, finding my father gazing at Azrael with concern before he finally found my eyes again. “Nora received a letter telling her to wear a white mask, to avoid Rae, signed ‘Gage’ she claimed.”
“Claimed,” Poppy said, standing behind Azrael as if she worried he would disappear again. “You don’t believe her.”
“There is always something more. She named two others. Carrie James and Benji Kerse. They were the only other two wearing a white mask, unfortunately for me, there were no cameras pointed at the bar, just the entrance.”
“Benji Kerse was my mom’s best friend,” I heard a hoarse voice say.
We all turned save for Azrael, whose smile only grew as if he had been waiting his entire life for this moment.
Rae was standing in the doorway, her hair brushed and braided into two French braids, wearing leggings and an oversized blue sweater that had a wide, dip neck, revealing her collar and her scar. I had told her over and over again how good she looked in dark blue, and she was proving over and over again how much she wanted to make sure she had heard that. I appreciated that about her.
Her eyes remained locked on mine as she walked out, her steps unsteady, her body clearly sore. “Carrie James worked at the storage unit where my mom put all of my gifts. They talked often.”
She walked up to me, behind me, slid her hands over my shoulders, pressing into the back of the chair as if I brought her a bit of comfort in this place filled with strangers.
“Hello, daffodil,” Azrael greeted.
I gave him a warning look. If he even leaned towards her, I’d rip his arm off and shove it up his fucking ass.
“How are you feeling, Charlotte?” Malachi asked.
“Rae,” she corrected, her voice holding a bit of edge. “My name is Rae. As for your question? It’s a little complicated to answer, but I mean no disrespect. I haven’t slept in a very long time, so I truly don’t have the strength to pretend like any of this is normal.”
“Jack,” Azrael pouted. “You haven’t let the poor girl rest? That’s a bit cruel, don’t you think?”
Coming from the man who loved to steal sleep from the women he fucked.
“He’s the only reason I’ve gotten the rest that I have,” Rae put in, her voice hard.
Azrael’s smile widened, his mask shifting under the strain. “My, my, you’ve got yourself one with teeth. How…tempting.”
The warning bells rang in my head, forcing me to slide my hand over hers. “She starts training this evening, so I’d watch my step if I were you.”
Azrael chuckled. “No amount of training can prepare her for me, dear brother.”
He was right, but I’d do my very best.
“Training?” Beckett asked, stepping up to the table. “You want her to go through the Program? That’s a year of dedication, Jack—”
“No,” I interjected. “My training. I will be training her. She won’t be allowed out of mine or Zo’s sight, not until we figure this out.”
Malachi nodded, his eyes shifting to Rae’s. “We’ll get to the bottom of this, Rae, as for now, stay by his side, do as he says.” Malachi still wasn’t sure which side she was on, but I appreciated his candor.
“Why are you here?” she asked instead, causing Malachi’s eyes to harden. “Any of you,” she went on, uncaring for her safety, apparently. “They haven’t told me much, but from what I’ve deduced, you don’t do ‘family assignments’. What’s so important about this?”
She was only half wrong. We didn’t do family assignments, but sometimes Everett, Evelyn, Malachi, and some woman he got to play his wife did. The rest of us, not so much. My good little observer.
“She was my friend—”
“She was a lot of people’s friends,” Rae countered. “She wasn’t your friend enough to know what happened to her. Scotland Yard had to call you eight months after her…” she struggled for the word. “Disappearance.”
Malachi lifted a brow, his eyes no less hard. “You’ve shifted perspectives.”
“I’ve been forced to do a lot of things since meeting Jack Ashrin.” She stepped around me, pulling her phone out of her pocket, and placed it on the table in front of me. “I’ve deleted everything. No social media, no posting, no geo-tagging. There are no pictures on that phone before my mom disappeared.” She leaned over until her head was beside mine. “Something you and Zo both missed.”
The anger boiled under my skin, and I snatched her neck before she could move away. “I cloned your phone, Rae, I always knew.”
Her hard eyes met mine. “You never mentioned it.”
“I don’t have to mention anything to you, you’re my toy.”
Her eyes were challenging. “A toy who needs a new phone. If you want to be so in control, Master, get me one.”
I laughed and forced her to her knees. “If you want to act like a bitch, I’ll treat you like one. Suck my cock while I finish this little meeting, Princess.” I couldn’t allow her to treat me like this in front of them. She could fight all she wanted, but in the end, she’ll always be the one on her hands and knees for me.
Her eyes flashed in humiliation before they filled with rage. “Whatever my Master wants,” she seethed.
Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today. Fine, good for me, not so much for her.
She crawled under the table and reached for my buckle, my eyes lifting back to Malachi’s. He looked more or less proud of me for controlling her but irritated at her blatant disrespect. “You didn’t tell me about the photos,” he said as I adjusted myself.
It wasn’t the first time any of us had done something like this, but I did have to admit that it would take Rae a little extra effort this time around. With the rage I felt at Azrael getting a free show, I wasn’t sure if I had it in me to ge—
Her warm lips wrapped around my cock, my entire body shuddering as it hardened instantly in her mouth.
Fuck me.
“I didn’t feel the need,” I answered as she wrapped a hand around the base of it, stroking up to meet her lips and sliding her head down.
Zo walked up to Malachi and whispered something in his ear before he could respond.
His eyes lifted to mine, studying them. “Well, I understand it’s sensitive, but you can’t keep it forever.”
Her being tortured. I’d have to tell her eventually, I knew that, but not yet, not until I had more information.
“She can do a little better than that, can’t she?” Azrael chided.
I sneered, ignoring him, and slid a hand into the hair at the crown of her head. “Captain Bard had a cyanide capsule in his teeth,” I reminded him. “As did Nora and Max. Whoever was controlling them didn’t want us getting any information out of them.”
“Have you captured Carrie and Benji yet?”
I shook my head. “I came here to see my girl first and things happened. I know their location, I’ll grab them soon, but for now, perhaps Nora’s disappearance will lead them to misstep.”
Rae’s teeth scrapped up the underside of my cock, causing me to bite my bottom lip to keep the moan back. Fuck, she was good at that. The way her tongue moved, the way she sucked, I didn’t even mind that she was trying to keep it quiet by not swallowing me whole, the teasing was enough for now.
“I have a few more connections I can look into in regards to her father—”
Rae froze.
“—so I will talk to them,” Malachi went on. “Perhaps he can give us the pieces of this puzzle we’re missing.”
I shoved her head down, forcing her to resume. I’d talk to her about it after she sucked me dry.
Malachi released a breath and stood. “Keep me informed.”
I nodded, eyes flicking to Azrael as he stood, Poppy chained to his side like white on rice. “It’s sad to think you couldn’t make her gag.”
My expression dried and I shoved her head down, thrusting my hips up, grunting between my teeth as Rae’s gagging filled the room.
Azrael smiled wide. “Wow, look at you, a little puppet, hmm? Am I your puppeteer, Jack?” he clicked his tongue. “You shouldn’t let anyone control you like that, let alone someone like me.”
I released her head, allowing her a moment of gasping for air before I pushed her to resume. “I control her, and, unlike you, I want her to last more than a couple of weeks before I toss her out with the rest of them.”
“If that’s what you’d like to believe.”
I glared after them, watching as they all filed out of the suite only for Malachi to stop in the doorway. “Perhaps this is more trouble than she’s worth.”
“I’ll decide her worth,” I bit, hoping she wouldn’t let that get to her. She was stronger than that comment, even I knew that.
He looked apathetic as he nodded and left, Zo following after him, shutting the door behind her.
I looked down, Rae’s eyes finding mine, tears filled them, but hatred did too. “You don’t disrespect me in front of my family,” I snarled and shoved her head down again, groaning when my cock hit the back of her throat. “Now be a good girl and finish me off, Princess,” I ordered, spreading my legs a little more.
She gagged, her hand tightening around my cock, pulling a groan from my lips.
I let my head fall back, my eyes fall shut, as I drowned in the feeling, the sound, of her sucking me off. Fuck, she felt so good. Her teeth teasing me, her tongue caressing me, the suction, the grip.
I wasn’t embarrassed to admit that it took no time at all to find my end at the back of her throat.
She sucked me clean before finally leaning back on her heels and looking up at me through her tear-stained lashes, refusing to wipe the drool from her chin as she licked her lips, that anger still there.
I took her chin between my thumb and finger, gazing down at the beautiful mess she was. “Such a good little Princess, hmm?”
She frowned and pulled herself out of my grip. She crawled out from under the table and stood, straightening her sweater. “I need a new phone,” she said bitterly, heading for the kitchen.
“Don’t make me ask, Rae,” I stated, shoving myself away.
She washed her face, grabbed a mug and filled it a quarter way with creamer before pouring herself some coffee. She didn’t speak until she turned around, her eyes cold. “You said the answers were in my nightmares, I remember that, but the thing is, I can’t remember them, Jack. I’ve never been able to remember them. I can’t remember my nightmares, I have no pictures on my phone before the night my mom supposedly died, Viv probably drugged me, the Captain was shady, Max has been fucking around this whole time, Donna is gone, my name isn’t my name, and everything I know is most likely a lie, but I don’t know why, what, or how.
“I’m fucking angry, Jack. I’m angry at everyone and everything, and I have always prided myself in not being bitter. In taking what life throws at me and just moving on because truly, nobody is ever in control of anything, but what the fuck,” she went on, gesturing to her phone. “I’m not real. That’s what everyone is saying, right? I’m not real. Everything about me is a fucking lie. People that I don’t even know or have faces for have been in control of my life for God knows how long, and I don’t fucking understand why I can remember this whole fucking life of mine, but also know that none of it is real. I’m angry. I’m allowed to be angry.”
I watched her carefully. She was allowed to be angry, she just wasn’t allowed to take it out on me.
“And now I find out that Malachi is out there searching for my father? Why was that something that was held from me?”
I stood. “Because you don’t need to know it. You don’t need to know anything.”
“It’s my fucking life,” she snapped. “It’s my life!”
I shrugged. “It’s my assignment. I’ll tell you what you need to know when I think it’s necessary for you to know it, for now, let’s go buy you a new phone. You need to change. We’re not making any more stops before we start training.”
She glared at me. “Why do you want me to learn how to fight? I’m not going to magically turn into a psychopath like you.”
“I don’t need you to be a psychopath, Princess, I need you to be able to fight back if we’re gone.” I grabbed my jacket. “We can’t watch you every second of every day. You have potential, I’m going to force it to grow.”
She laughed. “Because I killed a man in my drugged up, on the verge of death state of mind I was in?”
“Yes,” I answered, turning to her. “Go change. Something breathable.”
She glared death at me as she straightened and set her coffee down. “Fine but fuck you.”
My lip curled. “You will. Over and over and over again, and you’ll do it even when I push you to the brink of death during training.”
She rolled her eyes as if I were joking. If only she knew how far I would push her. Maybe it wasn’t the Program, but it didn’t need to be. I had lived through it, lived my life in this darkness, it wouldn’t be too hard to mimic it for her. I wouldn’t shatter her, but I’d make her wish she were dead.