I find Liesel once again and give her a tight smile, trying to reassure her. I don’t know what is about to happen because I didn’t read the cards, but the only thing they could do to me that would truly hurt is attack Liesel or my kids. Since none of them are on the stage, the pain will feel nothing worse than a bee sting.
I wink at her.
Her frown deepens.
I hear the woman speak, but I don’t register the words. My entire world is focused on Liesel, on figuring out how to get her to love me. Not just so we can get the stupid treasure, but because I want her to love me. I was wrong to run from loving her all these years. We can handle the consequences. I’m not even sure if there will be consequences of loving her.
I feel my jacket being ripped from my body. My shirt goes next, and I’m standing shirtless in front of the room.
Liesel’s eyes water.
Why would they water? I’m just shirtless.
Then, I feel it. Not the pain, but the oozing of blood on my back.
I wish there was a way I could tell Liesel not to worry. With her safe in the same room as me, all I feel is her. My eyes plead with her not to worry, but I can see the concern marked on her face all the same.
A woman steps in front of me. I’m shocked when her lips land on mine. All I can think is when Liesel kissed that man. I turned feral as I watched another man touch what is mine, and I see the same look in Liesel’s eyes now.
My eyebrows shoot up and wiggle in her direction. I’m yours, I remind her.
Liesel rolls her eyes at my antics, but then her face turns red. Her eyes almost come out of her head, and it looks like she’s losing her mind as the woman licks her way down my body, groping me like her plaything.
I smirk, not because my body registers anything this woman is doing as remotely sexy, but because Liesel is jealous. I can work with jealous. Jealous can turn into love.
I hate you, I mouth to Liesel.
I hate you, too, she mouths back.
The woman who was licking my chest like her favorite lollipop grabs my chin and looks me in the eye. It’s clear from the gleam in her eye that she’s enjoying herself.
“I’m a sadist. I love this shit,” she says as if there was any need to explain. Literal drool drips down her chin.
Her eyes look up at me as her tongue trails down my chest once again. “You sure you don’t want to quit?”
Her hand rests on the top of my pants. It doesn’t take much speculation on my part to guess what she’s going to do next.
“I won’t quit, no matter what you do to me. I can’t.”
Her eyes widen in realization. “The kid’s yours.”
I frown, my hand grabbing the back of her neck without thinking. “You know where she is?”
“As much as I’d enjoy the pain you want to inflict on me, you better let me go before they throw you out.”
I let her go.
“Where is she?” I ask through gritted teeth.
She shrugs. “She’s being kept as the prize.”
“The prize?”
“Whoever wins gets her…”
They are trying to use my daughter as a prize for winning a fucked up game.
I can’t.
My head snaps to Liesel, trying to let her know how important it is for us to win. We both knew it was important before, but now we know for sure. If we lose, Rose will be given to one of these men.
My heart.
I can’t think about…
I just can’t.
We have to win.
“Who—who are these men?”
“Most work for the Browns. The others are worse.”
And then I feel her gripping my cock. I don’t give a shit what she does. She can rip my cock from my body all I care.
Rose.
Atlas.
Declan.
We can’t fail.
We won’t fail.
If we fail, we have to fight to the death to get them back.
My eyes lock on Liesel, and her jealousy vanishes. She’s no longer concerned that a sadistic woman is doing god knows what to my cock right now. She realizes why there are only men here—sick men who want our daughter.
Phoenix and her family were hurt more than we thought, and she plans on making us pay. All of these men know who we are, and they are going to do everything they can to destroy us, to hurt us. Humiliating us on this flimsy stage is the least of what they plan on doing.
They don’t know who we are, though. There may be doubt about whether Liesel and I truly love each other, but there is no doubt that we love our children. They don’t know the depths we will go to to protect them.
They’re about to find out.
10
Siren
I don’t know how I didn’t realize it before, but in a flash, a flip in my mind switches, and I realize what’s happening.
Why there are only men in the room playing the game.
Why Zeke and I are the only ones completing the bets.
Why it’s us versus them.
Atlas is the prize.
If we fail…no, there is no failing.
I felt that before, but I feel it even stronger now.
We won’t lose. We won’t back down. Even if the game is purposefully rigged against us, it won’t stop us.
Langston may feel like I betrayed him before, but everything I did was out of love for him. He’s like a brother to me, same to Zeke. We will do whatever it takes to keep his child safe.
That’s what keeps me going round after round.
It’s what keeps me walking up on the shady stage that feels like it will collapse under my feet every time I take a step. It’s what keeps me removing clothing item after clothing item until I’m naked in front of a room full of men. Until I’ve bled all I can. Until I no longer feel humiliated from their stares and chuckles. Until I’ve given up all of myself.
It’s a small sacrifice if it means I get to save an innocent child.
I look over at Zeke, who is now seated at the same table as me.
There are only three of us left: Zeke, me, and a man in a suit who miraculously has never lost a single hand. Zeke and I seem to lose every round, and with each one, more blood and clothes.
Zeke stares back at me with a heaviness. He’s calmer than I’ve ever seen him as he sits naked except for dried blood. His blood coats his skin, his beard, his hair. There are gashes all over his body from being whipped, beaten, tortured. Pain should be oozing off his body in waves; it should be all I feel from him. Instead, he feels as calm as the ocean after a storm—my steady hulk of a man.
I smile with newfound determination in my eyes. This man that I chose to spend my life with, that I love with everything in my being, is proving once again that he will fight by my side no matter what atrocities we face. Somehow, Zeke has me falling for him all over again.
I’ve never met a braver man.
A stronger one.
A more selfless one.
I know how hard this is for him, watching me get hurt and not doing anything. Yet, I can see in the tenseness of his muscles that he’s always ready to fight. One move too far from one of these goons, and he’ll spring into action, sacrificing himself to save me.
If we die, we die together. We die protecting an innocent child who is loved by us just as much we love our own child.
I wish we didn’t live in a world filled with so much evil. But I can understand the pain of a woman who lost the love of her life and her children. Just thinking about losing Zeke or Atlas in this game has me spiraling into a place I can’t even think about.