Chapter 12 #2
His sadistic laughter sends a cold chill down my spine despite my newfound resolve.
“Oh, you’re so brave because you think you have Orion now?
Men like him don’t settle for whores’ daughters.
You'd best remember that, Diana. Soon, he will have no use for you and dump you. Then you won’t have anyone else to beg for help.
And I won’t help you. Maybe life will finally find a way to erase you from this earth.
” A beat passes. “Do as you’re told before I find a way to make you regret acting out.
You know me. I don’t do empty threats.” He hangs up on me before I can say another word.
Taking a deep breath, I grab the towel and pat my face dry.
My magical morning is ruined, but then something rebels inside me at this.
Fuck my father and fuck my brother too. They can both go and burn in hell, for all I care. They shouldn’t have this much power over my mood anyway.
Though his words about Orion linger on my mind while I take a quick shower and change into my summer dress along with the high-heeled sandals.
I check my reflection in the mirror, put on a little makeup, and run a brush through my long hair.
That’s when I spot something on the floor by the door.
A red rose with a note attached to it.
Leaning down, I pick it up, read it, and smile.
Good morning, Wife.
Follow the roses, I have a special surprise for you.
Orion
Pressing the rose to my nose and inhaling the sweet scent, I leave the room and see more roses in the hallway leading right to the stairs. I follow them all, picking up each one, until I reach the main door. My brows draw together in confusion.
That’s when I see Leon, who grins at me and points at Timothy standing by the car. He holds a rose in his hand and a bucket in the other, probably for the ones in my arms. “You have to take a drive to the location, Mrs. Wright, to see the surprise.”
“And you need a jacket, as it might get windy there. It’s fall already.” Matilda’s stern voice comes from behind me as she marches toward me, clenching a brown jacket that matches my dress and putting it on my shoulders. “You look beautiful.”
I must have woken up in some other dimension if Matilda is in a cheerful mood. In fact, they all act like proud parents about to send their kid off to prom.
“What’s going on?”
“Our boy is finally trying to be romantic for once in his life. Let him have this and stop asking questions,” she replies with a pat on my cheek.
“Well done, my girl.” Her face grows serious again as she regards Timothy.
“What are you waiting for? Give her the rose and drive her to the location before it’s too late. ”
With that, Matilda pushes me toward the car. I do as she says, placing the roses in the bucket that Timothy gives to Leon. Once inside the vehicle, I lean back in the seat, laughter spilling from my lips as the sting from my father’s words eases.
This might not be forever, and Orion might get bored and ditch me once he gets what he wants from this marriage.
However, for now, I’m going to enjoy it to the fullest and deal with all the heartbreak later.
And it’s inevitable, isn’t it?
Love never ever played in my favor.
Orion
Removing the headphones from my ears, I get up and press my hand against the window. I study the magnificent view from up high as rage glides through my veins, polluting my mind and filling me with a single thought.
To exterminate.
The minute we got married, and I understood the depths of my obsession, the one I never planned to act on but ended up consuming me nevertheless, I decided to insert wires in all her technology to have my eyes on her life twenty-four seven.
Is that insane and unethical?
Yes.
Do I give a fuck?
No.
I didn’t trust her father for shit and didn’t want him to plot some stupid plans and drag her into them in order to convince me to give their firm another chance.
I’ve made my decision regarding their firm weeks ago after reading all the messages this fucker kept on sending her, disrespecting her time and time again.
One of the reasons I hired special managers and instructed them to sabotage any solutions or ideas Grant might have had that would have played in their favor.
He wasn’t bright to begin with, so it wasn’t a hard task.
Besides, he preferred partying way more than anything else.
But this conversation?
Listening to what that fucker and his son did to my wife?
My protective instincts toward her have already gone beyond rational or healthy. I’ve never in my life wanted anyone as much as her, but after last night, when she became irrevocably mine…they transformed into something maddening and all-consuming.
I’d burn the world for her and destroy anyone who so much as hurt her. In the past, present, or future, it doesn’t matter.
There won’t be a person left on this Earth who hurts my wife and gets away with it, for her pain is worse than my own.
She comes first above anyone and anything, and somehow these feelings…
this possessiveness…this need that knows no bounds and just demands and demands more of me…
awakened back the part of me that stayed dormant for almost eighteen years.
The part of me that I managed to control and converted into something useful, reining in the desires that would have landed me in jail at some point.
However, everything has changed, and I won’t rest until I fulfill those desires.
Taking out my phone, I scroll through my contacts, searching for one specific person.
While I know countless men with questionable morals, only one would keep his mouth shut and give me the necessary resources to do what needs to be done in order to calm the beast raging within me.
He picks up on the second ring, his voice gruff and amused. “Well, this is an unexpected call.”
“Is it?”
“If you’re looking for Actaeon, I have no idea where he is. He took off to do whatever.” He yawns. “So if that’s all…”
Levi Scott has already developed the audacity to tell people to fuck off without actually uttering the words. And his dismissing me, of all people, would have been hilarious, except he really deems himself invincible and powerful.
Considering his age, it’s annoying, although I must have been the same back in my early twenties.
And his sister’s impending marriage to Rush is another funny thing, because my cousin isn’t known to be patient.
So I’m not sure how he handles his soon-to-be brother-in-law’s attitude. “I have a favor to ask of you.”
Several beats pass before he replies, and I hear him lighting up his lighter. “Why me?”
“Because I know your secret, and right now, your secret could be helpful to me.”
“Is that so?” I can imagine him smirking while his ocean-blue eyes stay cold as fuck. His warmth is reserved only for his mother and sister, but even they had to work hard to elicit any emotion from him.
Levi used to live on the streets and got abducted by child traffickers who did God knows what to him and countless other children. He was eight when Lachlan Scott and his friends found him during one of their rescue missions.
If what he does can be considered rescuing, since the man operates a whole ring of murderers in his underworld life, and they have their own moral code they have to follow.
Otherwise, he kills them all. They are called dark protégés for a reason, and the man in question kidnapped his own wife once upon a time to punish her father.
His wife seems to love him now, though I’m not sure she would have had a choice either way.
Lachlan might protect the innocent, but he isn’t a saint. Rather a cunning devil who thrives in the hell of his own making.
The Scott family adopted Levi and surrounded him with love, care, and everything a child might need, but the damage had already been done.
He should have gone to acting school for how well he hides his true nature from them. A nature that makes him fit into his father’s world so well, except he has no idea what his son does.
Not that I care either way.
I have enough of my own family drama to last me a lifetime.
“You’re not asking for a favor. You’re trying to blackmail me into doing what you want.
” Levi puffs into the phone, no doubt taking a drag on his cigarette.
“Just so we are clear, I do not react to any kind of force or blackmail well. So I’d be careful if I were you on how you word that favor of yours. ”
A grin pulls at my mouth at his cold yet confident, unbothered tone. His character matches his father’s so well. And that’s why father and son clashing would be a glorious sight to watch once the truth comes to light.
“I need access to your dungeon in Boston. I know you have one since you studied here for a semester. One night. That’s all I ask.”
He chuckles. “I always knew there was a psycho hiding underneath the facade.” I ignore his jab and hear him puffing out more smoke.
“I expected to hear something like this from Actaeon, never from you.” He hisses through his teeth.
“Your brother isn’t one to get involved in murders. Not yet, at least.”
I prefer not to examine my brother’s tendencies. “Consider it your lucky day, then.”
“I can give you access, except what’s in it for me?”
Ah, the Scott family won’t do shit unless it benefits them in some way, and that’s something I respect.
You don’t build an empire like theirs without a spine. Compared to me, Lachlan came from nothing, and his wealth cannot be measured by any financial institution. Many tried over the years and failed.
Such strength and resilience are admirable, as long as the person is not your enemy, because the thing about the Scotts?
They are vicious if you dare to cross them, and they won’t rest until they put you six feet under.
“I won’t tell my cousins why you’re in Boston.” His prolonged pause lets me elaborate on the subject because I know I hit a nerve. “I don’t think Rush and Rafael would take too kindly to you stalking their sister.”
The fact that the sister in question who happens to be my cousin and almost a decade older older than him, is beside the point.
Lavender’s situation is fucked up either way, and for now, Levi isn’t doing anything to jeopardize her life. I know this is the calm before the storm, though, and he’ll strike soon. That’s when I will protect her if she needs it.
Right now, I can use his obsession as my leverage.
His tone drops a few octaves. “Never try to use her to get what you want from me because I would retaliate in ways you cannot imagine.” My brows rise at this.
So he can experience emotions? This should be good.
“You have until tomorrow to do whatever you want. I’ll send the keys and the address, but Orion?
I’m doing this because I’m curious about your true nature.
Remember that the next time you try to blackmail me. ” He hangs up, and I whistle.
The Wright and Scott families’ clash over Lavender would be a violent sight to see. They’ve already threaded on the narrow line when Rush kidnapped Aileen, but it's a different situation altogether because, as unhinged as Rush is…Levi is way worse.
I know he has never truly forgiven our family for what was done to theirs, and when a Scott holds a grudge, one can expect explosions and mayhem wherever they go.
I push those thoughts aside and focus on my own life.
Soon, I will make Grant and Jones pay for what they’ve done to my wife.
Today, I’ll show her that she’s safe and adored by me.
And let’s hope she never finds out what a monster she married.
Because there is no escaping this marriage for her now.
Only death will do us part.