5. Tyran
FIVE
TYRAN
Iopened the door that led to the basement where we tortured information out of our enemies.
It was the first time I’d set foot in the sex club since I got out of prison. There were so many memories with Sienna here, but the strongest one was the day I first spotted her.
I sat in the private office on the second floor, overlooking the entire sex club through its one-way windows. Leaning against the minibar I’d built into the wall, I watched the club through a wide-angle lens, nursing my drink as I took it all in over the rim of my lowball glass.
Each time I took a sip, the alcohol burned down my throat and trickled into my chest, yet did nothing to extinguish the flame of unease flickering there. I was on fucking edge and needed to get laid. The sooner, the better.
I closed my eyes for a brief moment, suddenly aware of the tension knotted across my back. When I opened them, she was the first thing my gaze locked on to.
A fucking sinner that looked like an angel.
How did I know she was a sinner?
Well, you had to be to enter this club. Angels had no business being here and avoided this place like the plague.
I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t looked at her like every other man in the club, all of them seemingly incapable of tearing their eyes away.
And then I looked a third time.
She stared at everything wide-eyed with her mouth parted, her gaze skimming every single person in the club. Almost as if she was searching for someone.
That part didn’t interest me at all. The fact that she looked too innocent to belong in a place like this did. Yet, the green dress she wore confused me. It revealed far too much skin, making her easy to mistake for a fucking stripper.
And then there was her blonde hair.
There was so much of it, falling loosely down her back and framing her face with big brown eyes and a smile that promised heaven and hell at the same time.
It didn’t take long for me to slip away from my office and go in search of her.
I didn’t find her; she found me. In fact, she bumped right into my chest.
“Ouch,” she muttered, her hand on her forehead, rubbing it as she slowly lifted her eyes.
Up, up, and our gazes clashed.
“Oh,” she murmured, her eyes flashing with recognition. “It’s you.”
“Do we know each other?” I didn’t think so, because there was no way I’d forget ever meeting this woman.
“No, we’ve never met.” She smiled, then waved her hand dismissively. “I just saw you entering the club earlier.”
Her gaze roamed the dark space around us where couples were kissing and grinding against each other and I watched the attractive blush creep up her neck.
“Is this like a couples’ club?” She chuckled. “Maybe we should start kissing and grinding so we don’t look out of place.”
The vein in my left temple began to throb.
I lost all sense of reason. In fact, for the first time in my life, my mind blanked.
My body acted on its own as my one hand gently wrapped around her throat and the other tightened in her hair.
How it even got there, I had no fucking idea, but she didn’t seem to mind as she closed her eyes and her lips parted in invitation.
“What’s your name?” I asked, our breaths mingling.
“Hmm… Sienna.”
“Sienna.” I tasted her name, but my mind was immediately fried as she lifted onto her toes, reaching her petite frame toward my lips.
My mouth brushed against hers and she moaned as she pressed herself against me with a wild desperation. It felt as if someone had plugged a hundred watts straight into my chest.
“Ah, you’re finally here.” My oldest brother’s voice washed over me like ice water poured on a hot body, yanking me out of the memory.
“I asked for the man, so of course I’m here,” I said, agitated at myself for thinking about that stupid first kiss with Sienna.
“Who is he?” asked Aiden.
I didn’t have to answer because Kyran did, appearing out of thin air behind us. “It’s one of the men who assisted in Sienna’s kidnapping.”
Aiden’s brows furrowed. “Who the fuck is Sienna?”
“She’s a… friend,” I answered reluctantly. I hated sharing anything about her with my family. If they learned about her betrayal, I worried that our rule of “no hurting women” might not extend to her.
“He’s obsessed with the girl,” Kyran muttered.
Aiden stiffened. “A girl?”
“She’s hardly a girl,” I grumbled. “She’s twenty-five years old now.”
My twin lifted his hands as if in surrender. “Don’t get all defensive. You called her a girl so…”
“That was five fucking years ago, Kyran.”
“Okay, okay. Don’t get all cranky on me.”
“You’re the cranky one,” I retorted wryly. “Don’t be jealous that—”
“Okay, you two, don’t even start your bickering,” Aiden cut in. “Now, explain this kidnapping. When did it happen? How was I not aware?”
“It was five years ago,” I said, entering the basement where a man already awaited his execution.
We wouldn’t do the deed here, though. We had a special, soundproof room for that, equipped with all kinds of torture devices that would make the torturers of the Middle Ages proud. “I’m working on finishing my list.”
Aiden and Kyran entered behind me.
“What list?” Aiden asked.
“Our brother made a list of names that involved every person who had a hand in Sienna’s kidnapping. He obviously had to pause his Dexter vigilante activity for a while, but he’s back at it now even though he doesn’t even know where the girl is.”
“I’ll find her,” I deadpanned.
I stopped in front of the man who stared at me with frantic eyes. He was chained to the heater with handcuffs. His mouth was taped shut so he wouldn’t cause unnecessary noise.
I had no intention of removing his tape. There wasn’t much to talk about at this point.
“Shouldn’t we let the girl’s family handle this?” Aiden asked. “After all, they’ll want to avenge her.”
I shook my head. “The Baldwins aren’t into getting their hands dirty.”
“Kristoff Baldwin?” Aiden asked. “The one who owns the Baldwin Enterprise?”
“One and the same.”
“His daughter was kidnapped?” I nodded. “I thought he steered clear of criminal organizations.”
“He does,” I answered.
I often wondered what put Sienna on the Marabella traffickers’ radar. It wasn’t until I was behind bars that I learned it was tied to Kristoff’s cousin. Sophie Baldwin had some fucked-up love triangle going on.
That had gotten resolved while I was behind bars. Sophie married Kian Cortes, the head of the Albanian mafia, who eliminated the threat.
However, he didn’t eliminate every single executor of Sienna’s kidnapping. I would do that, despite the little wench’s betrayal.
“Don’t bother asking Tyran anything about Sienna, her family, or these assholes, Aiden,” Kyran chimed in. “Our brother is very secretive about it all.”
Aiden’s eyes dipped to the man with a cold look. Much like my twin and me, he also detested men who hurt women. You wanted to fuck with us, fine. But you left the women and children alone.
This man had violated that rule.
Ignoring them both, I closed the distance to the chained man and unfastened the handcuffs. Grabbing him by one wrist, I dragged him after me. He struggled like a madman, letting out whimpers and cries.
I relished in them. The more he suffered, the better.
I could only imagine how terrified Sienna was when she was taken. She didn’t grow up in our world and was far removed from the crime and terror that we lived and breathed.
I wrenched his crumpled heap and dragged him toward the soundproof room before hoisting him onto a chair.
The man fought and let out grunting noises behind his taped mouth. I stepped close and ripped the tape off. Not because I wanted to talk, but because I wanted him to feel pain on every inch of his skin.
The man spat against my chest. “You got the wrong man.”
“Oh, I got the right one.” I grabbed his throat, releasing the tension I’d been holding ever since I got out of prison. There were only two things that took off the edge: sex and violence. “What did you do to her?”
The man looked at me grimly. “There were so many.”
I pulled out my knife and sliced the flesh by his collarbone. Then his face.
“Please… please…” he cried, his eyes rolling into the back of his head.
I shook him hard. “What did you guys do to her?”
He’d lost a lot of blood already and was losing more with every passing second. He knew there was no way in hell he would leave this place alive.
“I didn’t… I didn’t do anything.”
Rage boiled in me and my hands balled into fists while my ears rang.
“That wasn’t what I asked.” I yanked on him. “Answer. Now.”
“I don’t know who you’re talking about,” he cried. “There were so many.”
Static rushed in my ears. I threw myself at him, raining punches down on his face, his chest, his stomach. I beat every inch of him.
My brothers let me have it, sensing I needed to get my rage out.
And all I could feel was the fury that consumed every fiber of me, remembering that girl I’d met with a soft smile and innocent brown eyes and the woman with pain behind her gaze who betrayed me.
Why?
I didn’t know. Maybe she hated all criminals and decided that we should all pay for what was done to her. Or maybe she just hated my guts.
Fuck… fuck, fuck, fuuuck!
After a minute, or maybe five, Aiden’s hand came to my shoulder.
“Tyran. You have to stop now, or you won’t get any answers.”
I shoved him away and continued beating this fucker while images of Sienna—from our first encounter to the last—rotated through my mind.
Fuck, that last time I saw her, when the FBI agent was thanking her for her service… An animalistic roar slipped between my lips.
My fists burned with every new punch. I hit flesh and bone, even the floor beneath us, in my blind rage.
I punched and punched until I couldn’t breathe anymore, until my knuckles throbbed with pain, until my rib cage ached under an invisible weight.
Shoving away from the corpse, I sank down against the wall, chest heaving.
My knuckles were split from impact with the stone floor.
I gasped for breath and closed my eyes.
When I opened them again, I was calm and the man in front of me was a bloody mess.
And very dead.
My brothers sat across from me, eyeing me warily.
“You all right?”
I regarded the bloody mess on the floor, then stretched out my blood-covered arms. My clothes were drenched. My fingers ached. And my chest constricted painfully.
Lifting my head, I met my twin’s gaze.
I smiled wryly. “Yeah, I’m great.”
Kyran got up and stepped over the corpse, almost slipping on the blood that oozed off the dead body. He stopped in front of me and held out his hand.
“Whatever is going on, we’re with you.”
I took my twin’s hand and let him pull me up, ignoring the sharp pain slicing through my fingers.
“Always,” Aiden echoed. “We Callahans stick together.”
I leaned back against the wall, my breathing was ragged.
“Tyran, what is your obsession with that girl? You kissed her once,” Kyran remarked, concern lacing his voice.
Sienna’s image lingered in my mind.
“Or did something more happen?”
I didn’t answer. Instead, I focused on regulating my breathing.
“Brother, please let us help you.” My twin squeezed my shoulder, his voice imploring.
Aiden clutched my other shoulder more tightly. “Whatever is going on, just tell us how to help and we’ll do whatever you need.”
I closed my eyes, aware I looked like a madman about to lose his shit, and gritted, “I need to find Sienna.”