Cade

“You going to tell me what that bullshit was that went down in there a few days ago or you still think that whiskey is going to make this all go away? Because it sure sounded like you were pretending to be your brother.” Chaz is angry. Good. That makes two of us. Three if you include Nick who, after days of trying to find out who drugged Ivy is coming up with nothing. Ironic as hell that the one night someone dares to harm her, the security cameras at BURN had been disabled. Every fucking one of them.

I knew I should have gotten out of the chair and had him go in there when she started to stir, and like the torturer I am, I sat there listening to every pain laced word filter out of her mouth. Her words slamming deep into my soul, ripping me apart. Since then, I’ve been stewing in my own misery. All kinds of guilt and anger weighing me down.

I went along with her thinking I was him while listening to the hell he put her through all over again. Nearly jumped out of the chair to let her see me, begging to be her savior when she made a comment about my knife. Her suffering became its own ghost that will plague me the rest of my life.

Guilt cutting me so deep it had my insides spiraling with a crazy out of control need to remind Ivy what we had. The problem is, was, always will be I’m too fucked up. A man full of evil when everything about her is good.

“She’s not ready to see me yet,” I exhale. Been pacing the floor outside my bedroom, refusing the urge to go into my study and watch her yet again on my security cameras while Doctor Hanson’s daughter, Ellie, takes care of an irate Ivy. The woman screaming and hollering my brother's name, asking her if she’s one of his whores all the while mixing it in with demanding answers. Answers I can’t quite give her yet. Not until I rein my shit in.

“I know. You could have at least let me talk to her. Took a big risk by doing that.”

Right, and miss having to hear only what I’m sure was a touch on all the shit Drew did. Can’t choke any of it down.

“Yeah, well, I’ve been taking risks ever since the first bullet I shot off splattered brains all over the place. On top of her not knowing I’m alive, I had to see how brainwashed he has her. She didn’t even move her head when I told her not to look at me. Part of it was due to the fact she hates him; other was she does what he says. Scared to death of the man. I would never have guessed the woman I used to know would surrender that easily. She was feisty, full of life. A willingly submissive woman she was not.” Not my girl. Everything she did was done because she wanted to do it.

I heard and felt the spice she used to shake around whenever she was angry wanting to pour out of her. Pretty sure the remaining drugs, the confusion of where she is, and why, held most of it back. That, plus, she’s frightened.

Hearing her speak the way she did. Expecting to be tortured, made to do things forcefully alienated me. Left me reeling about what needed to be done. Made up my mind the second I walked through that bedroom door closing, her cries behind me, it was time to make a call I never intended to make.

I’ve hardly left that room. Been sitting there the entire time slugging back whiskey and watching her sleep. So beautiful, so not the woman I knew at all, but I saw her in there hiding when she woke up. Saw her wanting to soar and be free. Angers me to no end, her freedom and my vengeance is going to come with a price. A price that’s bound to be my death, because in the end I’m going to have to let her go, and after seeing her, hearing her speak while trying to be strong, I don’t know if I can exist in this world without her. Before, I didn’t give a fuck if I lived or died. Vengeance was all I needed.

Now my mind is focused on her. Intoxicated by her presence. A need to fix her, make her right before I send her away. This whole nightmare has left me struggling to breathe.

My cock stirs, and my chest constricts. Emotions that fuck with my head, coming out of nowhere.

That’s a damn lie. They’ve been hiding in a black space. The pieces of me only she could claim. The only woman I’ve ever loved. The one I wanted but was ruthlessly taken away.

The one I left behind.

“You sure about this, Ivy?”

“Yes, please don’t make me beg,” I chuckled. Loved it when she begged. Especially when she did it by thrusting those sexy as fuck hips farther in my face whenever I was between her legs. Licking and eating every part of her pussy. I was always starving to taste her. Always wanting my tongue in that tight cunt. Couldn’t wait to bury my cock inside her.

“Tell me if it’s too much.” I never wanted to hurt her, not in any way. This girl deserves the world to be laid at her feet. She deserves to be loved, but shit I need inside her. Needed to let her wild side run free all over me.

Slowly I sunk into her warmth. Dick straining as she wrapped me in her tight little body. Stopping when I hit that barrier separating her from forever being mine. I paused long enough for her to catch her breath, pushed forward and gave as good as I took.

After that night. We couldn’t get enough of each other. My dick stirs again thinking how she was the one who mostly initiated sex. Wanting to please me, wanting to take my cock in her mouth and suck me dry.

I clench my teeth and force myself to shove the past where it belongs. Deep into the void where I’ve buried it, only letting it surface when I have the urge to inflict pain on myself.

“When was the last time you took a risk with your heart, man? Your loyalty to vengeance means everything, and I get that. Fuck all knows I do. Vengeance isn’t going to have your back for the rest of your life. That woman in there will. What about loyalty to yourself, or finding happiness at the end of it all? If you think you aren’t capable of giving Ivy what she needs, then you didn’t hear the same thing coming out of her mouth that I did. In a drugged up haze, that woman was calling out to you. A man she thinks is dead. Stew on that shit for a while. See how rotten and bitter it’s going to taste, because I’m here to tell you, Ivy might want to beat your ass at first, but she’s a woman who would seek vengeance by your side all the while showing you what you’d be missing if you let her go.”

His brows shoot up, head tilts, studying me. Sure as shit wasn’t expecting him to say all that.

I’m not in the mood to have a heart to heart. Fucker knows mine’s dead. “I need to make a call. You do know this changes things, right? I won’t leave her alone.” Not that I’m worried Drew will find her. It’s for my own piece of mind.

“Go ahead and sit in denial all by yourself, you stubborn fuck. We got your back, Cade. Ivy’s too. One of us will be with her at all times. Far as getting vengeance, think you’ve waited long enough that you could finish it off in your sleep. Nothing needs to change there. You have your work cut out for you. I’m gonna call it a night, get some sleep. When I wake, I’ll move on finalizing things for your next kill. Don’t wait long to tell her, Cade. She deserves to know. Once she realizes you’re alive, you're bound to see an entirely different woman. Pull your head out of your ass. Never know, with some luck, you’ll see I’m right.” For shit’s sake, it’s going to take him ten minutes just to catch his breath after spewing shit out he knows nothing about.

Luck ain’t ever been on my motherfucking side. If it was, her dreams, her life wouldn’t have been destroyed, and she’d be mine.

I grit my teeth. Grind them until my jaw clenches.

“Need a few days with her. Give me that, and I’ll be ready.”

Killing is what I need right now. Not sitting here letting something that will never happen eat up space in my head.

My guts twist. What he said nor the need to kill isn’t what has a hitch rising furiously into the cavity of my chest. It’s what I’m about to do that does.

Moving from my spot after he shuts the door to one of my spare bedrooms, I take a quick shower, check on Ivy, who is sound asleep. So damn gorgeous, so irresistible lying there in my bed. The spot next to her calling my name. Fuck, how I want to crawl into bed with her, take her in my arms and tell her I’ll keep her safe. The thing about that, I haven’t slept in a bed all night with a woman since her. I fucked them down and dirty, got what I needed and sent them on their way. It wasn’t that a scent of a woman on my sheets didn’t calm me, it did. They just weren’t her. Now here she is, taking up a huge part of that space I only let vengeance take.

I’ve had plenty of women try their best to wind me into their clutches. The fantasy of a bad boy. A man with the mystery behind his face. None of them are real. All as fake as their tits. All out for a good time. Ain’t a one of them a keeper. Not by standards. Ivy set that bar high years ago, and there isn’t anyone who could jump high enough to touch it.

She’s a wet dream in a middle of a goddamn nightmare.

Looking at her gives me the calmness I need to make this call. Silence meets me on the other end of my phone as I take a seat on my couch. Fucks me up just a little more when both our breathing increases. I can feel the hatred at both ends of the line.

“Been waiting a long time for you to call me, little brother. How’s life in hell? I see you aren’t all that little anymore. All muscle, no brain.”

A smile quirks my lips. He knew I was alive all along. Good for him. Asshole sure didn’t share his knowledge with Clay. Has me wondering if he did with the others.

I hesitate before draping my arm over the back of the couch and flexing. Kind of funny how the man decked out in an Armani suit that’s price tag could have fed our entire family for months notices my muscle.

He’s intimidated. Pussy should be.

“You fucked my woman with my knife.” It was more a statement than a question. Bastard inhales, then lets out a demonic laugh that burns my ears.

“That’s the first thing you say after all these years. I’m disappointed. Wish I could break it to you gently all the different ways I fucked Ivy, just don’t have it in me. Sure you know already that wasn’t the only thing I fucked her tight little pussy with. I don’t know how she still has the tightest pussy I’ve ever felt after I’ve pounded it thousands of times. So tight she milks every drop out of my dick. Shot more cum in her tight little hole than you’ve dreamed of. Balls fucking deep. Fucked that ass, mouth. Goddamn her mouth, brother, it might be my favorite hole in her body.”

Bile collects in my throat, and every muscle in my body stiffens. Tightening with resentment that fumes from the bottom of my gut. Figured he was going to goad me, push those buttons. I guess for a man who thought he’d prepared himself for the day I’d hear his voice again; I didn’t prepare myself fully because the vile man is crazier than I thought.

Of course, how the hell can a man prepare himself for the ambush of unspeakable things he’d seen with his own eyes. He can’t. Just like I wasn’t prepared to find out my brother, my flesh, and blood. The man I talked to more than anyone about how much I wanted to give that girl everything. How she deserved the whole fucking world and every good thing in it could rape and hurt her.

Maybe that’s why I took her from BURN because I could feel she was holding in something bottomless and shameful. A dark existence that no one else could see. The same as me. Searching for freedom and the only way to get it is for something to set it free.

“What’s the matter, little brother, did her pussy catch your tongue already. Did you taste me, cause I marked her good for you? Knew there’d come a day you’d be back. Knew you were alive. Did a lot more than that to her, Cade.”

I can hear him cracking a manic grin. One I’m going to carve off his face.

“I’m not going to go all in with the game you’re playing, Drew. Ivy is in my bed where she should have been all along. You went after her to get back at me. You knew I’d be coming for you. Should have shot you when I had the chance. Believe me; I’ve had plenty of them. When I do kill you, it’ll be face to face. Brother versus brother. We’ll see just how much of a man you aren’t when I’ve strung you up by your balls, drain all the blood from your body and watch you die. I mean, I think it’s only fair I watch the last member of my family die, don’t you?”

My trigger finger twitches. Gonna have to tame it down. Killing might be in my blood, but so is Ivy and her well-being, safety, and healing are what’s important right now.

“Let’s get one thing straight before I take back what’s mine. You left her behind. As far as I’m concerned that made her free to be with whoever she wanted. She chose me. She isn’t your woman anymore, she’s my wife, and if she isn’t home within twenty-four hours, I’m filing a missing person report. Cops will be crawling all over your war-zone ass.”

Christ, that pinches my ink covered skin hearing him call her his wife. Thousands of pokes draining the air right out of me.

I close my eyes, trying not to shout out like I want to. Not about to take my chances on waking Ivy. Not sure what Ellie told her to convince her to keep the IV in for a few more days. Doesn’t really matter, all that does is in an instant the drugs leave her sleeping for hours. She needs to rest. Regardless, when I let her see me, Drew won’t be a part of it. He’s taken too much already. Not about to let him steal the little bit of good I’m going to have with her.

“She’s a woman who would seek vengeance by your side all the while showing you what you’d be missing if you let her go.”

“You won’t file shit, Drew. You know why and so do I. Keep searching brother. While you’re spending money trying to find her, the money you wouldn’t have if you hadn’t killed to get it, you might want to think about how my war-zone ass is going to find you when you least expect it. You didn’t expect me to be in your club the other night where you left Ivy out in the open, on fucking drugs. Did you give her the enhancer so she’d sleep with you willingly? She isn’t coming back to you. Not fucking ever. I’m going to kill you, Drew. Slice you right down the middle. Starting from that brain you used to concoct the death of our family, to those balls you claim to have, and when I’m done, I’m taking Ivy anywhere she wants to go. Gonna set her free from you. You get what I’m saying, brother?”

A sharp hiss flies from his mouth. I can feel the sting from the whip of my words slicing him open. Goddamn, revenge is a beautiful thing. Fucked up knowing it came with the price of torture inflicted on Ivy.

“Someone else gave her whatever the hell she was on. Whoever it was, paid one of my employees who no longer has arms to work with to cut my security feed. You're putting my wife in danger by not bringing her home. I’d re-think what you're doing, Cade. Not sure what you’ve been doing since you got out of the military. You sure as shit haven’t been making connections in this town. I’d know if you did.” He hasn’t a clue about the connections I have. One call and I could have his head blown off. No questions asked. Besides, my connections think he’s a piece of scum they’d scrape off the bottom if I asked them to.

I toss my head back and laugh. Might be the first real one in years. Danger, my goddamn ass. She’s safer with me than anyone.

“If you didn’t drug her, then one of your connections did. I’m going to find them. Just have to decide which one of you I want to kill first. Let’s talk about the night you let someone rape our sister, torched the house, and murdered our family. On second thought, I’d rather do that face to face. Brother to motherfucking brother. Vengeance, Drew, it’s coming for you. I’m coming for you. There isn’t a connection in this whole city who will stop me from getting it. Mom, Dad, Rachel, Ivy. I’m going to take a piece of you for every one of them. It’s my turn to tell you to get something straight. You killed my family. Innocent people who loved you. You placed your hands on a woman in a way no woman should be touched. You're going to pay for that, Drew.”

Hanging up, I scrub my hands down my face, pull my hair back and squeeze the sides of my head. I’m better off placing the barrel of my gun to my temple and pulling the trigger than I am to swallow down anything when it comes to what my brother will do to find her. He’ll tear this town apart, and I know better than anyone how nothing will get in your way once you want something.

Vengeance comes with a price.

A price that not only cost Ivy years of abuse. If he finds her, I’ve no doubt it’ll cost her with her life.