Third a Kiss

But I didn’t need to ask as Drake had always loved to gloat.

“You’ve been a naughty boy, haven’t you, Sullivan? Buying women and farming them out as whores? A little birdie told me that you’ve somehow concocted a drug that makes them beg for it. That they’ll take it up the ass or down the throat as many times as a guy wants and even more besides.” He laughed coldly. “Here you are spouting bullshit about doing something good in this world and look at you…Sullivan Sinclair, the goddamn king of skin and sin.”

I pursed my lips.

I would not respond.

I would not give my reasoning.

“The thing is, little Sully, I rather like your new business. More so than I do at the thought of geeky scientists and boring lab work. Sure, drugs are lucrative, but if you’ve bottled lust, then that’s fucking unstoppable.” He cleared his throat. “So…here’s my ultimatum. You sitting down? ’Cause you might want to.”

I rolled my eyes and stayed quiet. Let him think I’d abandoned the call and wasn’t listening. It would piss him the fuck off.

His temper darkened his tone as he snapped, “I’ve taken away your animal sanctuary, just as I took away the strays you rescued in our past. But that wasn’t my end goal. Call that a little warm-up. Because…this birdie also told me you’ve finally stopped being an animal lover and turned your eye to someone with two legs instead of four.” He laughed. “What’s better, Sully? Fucking a girl or something with fur?”

Not waiting for me to reply, he continued, “This girl of yours…it’s taken you long enough to dabble in the commitment pool, so I’m guessing she means quite a lot to you. I might even go as far to say you love her. And if you love her…fuck, I’m going to enjoy this all the more.”

I clamped my mouth together.

He’s fishing.

He doesn’t know.

He can’t know.

If he did, that meant I had a traitor in my midst.

Just like always. Just like forever.

Goddammit, could I trust no one? Not even the people I paid such substantial funds to? Was loyalty so fucking destitute these days?

“You have four hours, little brother. Four hours to send through the recipe of your elixir, the deed to your islands, and that fucking whore who’s keeping your bed warm at night. I will spare your life if you do that, but I won’t spare hers. I’m going to kill her. Not right away, of course, I want to taste what you’ve tasted. I want to see what makes her pussy so much better than all the rest you ignored. I will make you watch. I will set you free from your ideologies that you are better than me. If you show some grovelling on your part, we could even run your side enterprise together. Brothers in blood and business. But if you lift one finger against me. If you try to save her from her fate, then I will fucking hurt you. I will hurt you until you beg for death, but I will never grant it. I will happily watch you break apart for the rest of your tortured days.”

Silence fell between us.

My heart stopped. My body swayed. I didn’t believe he could touch me, but…there was a spy in my midst.

A spy who’d gone behind my back and ensured the deaths of so many animals I’d tried to save.

And Eleanor was currently on my island with that spy.

She was at risk. Worse than with traffickers or guests or me.

She was the leash around my throat that could ensure I bowed to my heinous brother. A leash that would choke me if I ever had to watch her suffer.

Before, I hadn’t responded to him out of power.

Now, I stayed silent because I couldn’t speak.

My mind raced.

My heart hammered.

What the fuck do I do?

It came down to trust again.

Did I trust what he said?

Did I trust he was lying?

Shit!

Drake chuckled. “I’m taking by your quietness that I’ve finally struck a nerve. I almost feel sorry for you. You finally know what it feels like to love and now you have to watch me kill her. That’s the price you pay for picking a war with me, baby bro.”

My hand curled around my phone as I leaped from the wooden pile, tripping over destruction to the helicopter in the distance. “I’m calling your bluff, Drake. You can just fuck right off. I’m going home to have a shower. You probably have an hour at the most before I fly my ass to wherever you are to shove a bomb down your throat.”

“Oh, yeah? Calling my bluff, huh? I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

Fuck, I hated this cunt.

“Oh, no? Why not?”

“I wouldn’t test me because I’m currently sitting in your sea with a fucking army ready to blow your Goddess Isles apart. I have my finger on the trigger, Sully. I have the name of your girl. Four hours just became three. Tick-tock.”

I broke into a run, waving at the pilots to drop their sack of animal parts and climb into the chopper. They leapt into the fuselage, running a pre-flight check as I bolted up the steps. “One question and then I’ll believe you.”

“Sure. One question seems fair.”

I did my best to keep fear from my tone, masking it with hissing rage. “Her name. The girl you think I’m—”

“Eleanor Grace, of course. The goddess you’re in love with. Now, run along, little bro. Three hours and then it’s party time.”

He hung up.

I threw my phone at the expensive upholstery opposite me. “FUCK!”

Cal shot inside the helicopter, just as the pilots added speed to the rotor blades, warping the laws of gravity.

I didn’t look at him, sinking deep into my thoughts, planning warfare, plotting strategy, mulling over every option from all angles.

Only problems was…if what Drake said was true…I had no options, no angles, no strategy.

I was in love with Eleanor.

She was my greatest treasure and my biggest weakness.

And I’d just handed over my empire to Drake because I would do fucking anything to keep her safe. I would fight any battle. I would bow to any threat.

Promise pain to her and I was a useless son of a bitch.

All I wanted to do was go rogue. To attack and shred—to use everything at my disposal to rip out his entrails.

But…she could get hurt in the crossfires.

She could be raped, mutilated, murdered.

Because of ME.

And I would be too fucking weak to stop him.

Drake had once again won.

He’d used my shortcomings; he’d sniffed out my fragility.

He’d trapped me with the very same person I’d found such freedom with.

I was fucked.

My future was once again unknown.

The one girl I would’ve given everything to now had to get as far away from me as possible.

I would not watch her be hurt. I would not be the reason she ended up a charred carcass because of my screw-ups.

She was everything to me.

Therefore, she had to become nothing.

I would happily die if it meant I could protect her.

But I’d be damned if I’d let Eleanor die with me.