There were times, though, I knew Gael and I wanted to kill Vadik and River. They had gotten a taste of her. They’d felt her tight cunt and knew how perfect she was. What did we get? Nothing. A few stolen kisses and the chance to watch. Nothing of any real importance. It pissed me off. Even as we’d taken over from our fathers, we all knew they still held the power and control over Emily’s life. Even if we were to kill everyone we knew associated with them, more would randomly appear. We were fucked no matter which way we worked it.
Emily’s life hung in the balance and none of us were willing to take that risk. Least of all, me.
“I guess you were always too quick. Never savoring anything,” I said, trying to goad Gael.
“Not tonight,” River said, pulling his blade from the man on the floor.
“Don’t even think to tell me what to do.” I swallowed my drink and stared at River, daring him to push me.
Of course, he would. Why not? He knew how angry I was. They all did. Most of my life I’d been lied to. We’d finally found a woman to complete us and what happened? Yeah, she was taken away from us.
I’d tried to find ways around it, but so far, all I’d come up with was nothing. No way of making this right.
I wanted Emily. I craved her. She was in my blood. My need was focused only on her.
“You want to do this again?”
Some of the new scars on my body were the result of fighting River. I’d made him use those blades in our fight. Feeling them hurt my skin gave me such a rush. He looked at me now, bored.
After I threw my empty glass toward him, he stepped out of the way.
Silence filled the air.
Tension mounted.
“Not tonight,” River said.
“I don’t give a flying fuck what you want.”
“You think I don’t know what tonight is?” River asked, shouting back. He’d started to turn his back on me after I’d thrown the glass, but now I had his attention again. “We all know what tonight is.”
“Fuck you.”
“It’s her birthday.”
I shook my head, not wanting to talk about it.
“You want to fight and blame me, go ahead. It doesn’t change the fact we all fucked up.”
“Would she even want us now?” Vadik asked, making us all pause.
I turned toward him. He held a glass between his fingers, staring into his drink. He looked a little lost. His obsession was still in place. I’d seen the haven he’d created. The shrine he devoted to Emily. The pictures he constantly drew to make her memory feel more alive. I’d even seen a couple of drawings of her naked. It made me wonder if they were true to memory.
“What the fuck did you say?” Gael asked.
Vadik laughed, downing his drink. Like the other glass, he threw it onto the floor. We had cleaners to come and take care of our messes. I hadn’t cleaned up a single thing in years. It was beneath me.
“You think she’d want to be here after everything we’ve done?” Vadik looked at all of us. “When we had her, we were small fishes in a shark tank.”
“Now we’re the sharks,” River said.
“No, we’re the pieces of shit that pull the sharks out of the ocean and torture them,” Vadik said. “Look at us. We use women. We kill people for fun. Yet, no matter what we do, we cannot find a way to bring her back. That’s what we’re looking for. We’re trying to find our woman for us all.” He sighed. “Me, I wouldn’t take me back.”
“Fuck this shit!” I turned on my heel, about to walk out of the room, but came to a stop when I saw a man in an expensive suit, looking mightily smug. I recognized him and instantly, I wanted to kill him.
I charged toward him, landing a blow, to which he laughed. We went down and as I straddled him, he grabbed my arms and shoved me back. As I got to my feet, Gael, Vadik, and River surrounded me. All four of us united together against our enemy. I was ready to fuck him up.
“Earl Valentine,” Vadik said, spitting the word out.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Gael asked.
River already had a knife out and was ready to strike. “Just say one more word and I’ll gut you.”
Earl looked at each one of us and laughed.
He was the first person to ever dare laugh at us. I looked at my guys and waited. We’d all be perfectly happy killing this fucker. He’d struck a deal with our fathers, and when we took over, that agreement had been severed.
My hand clenched into a fist. I craved to feel his bones break at my touch. It would be totally satisfying.
He sighed and glanced at the mess we’d made on the floor.
“They weren’t wrong about you. So very uncivilized.” He tutted. “You know, I figured you would take offense to my arrangement with your fathers. Don’t get me wrong, I wanted a virgin pussy, but they tripled my fortune with taking my shipments of product.”
To the outside world, Earl Valentine appeared to be an upstanding citizen. He had multiple empires in shipping and media. However, what people didn’t know was he was also in the trafficking business. He made dirty deals on the sale of human flesh.
Just thinking of what this fucker could have done to our girl made my skin crawl. He wanted a virgin, but that deal had come off the table. Instead, our fathers had used his fleet and reputation to help transport guns and drugs, not to mention embezzling money, cleaning it.
They had all become rich, and with every day that passed, and each dollar earned, we had grown even more hostile.
“We’ve already told you the deal is completely off the table,” I said.
Gael took a step toward the man.
He had the audacity to move toward our whiskey. Our really expensive brand. He poured himself a glass in one of the few remaining glasses we hadn’t smashed. I’d lost count of the number of glasses and bottles we had to replace.
Gael wasn’t a whiskey man. He preferred vodka.
Me, I just wanted to numb every single part of me. It helped me to sleep. A cranky me was not a good image.
Staring at this man, I saw blood. I wanted to sever every single limb I could get my hands on. He was everything I hated and even more. There would be no loss at his death.
“I have an agreement I think you would all be more than willing to be part of,” Earl said.
I folded my arms and burst out laughing. “You think there is something I’d want from you?”
He reached into his pocket, and we all tensed. However, Earl only had his cell phone. It showed a video, which he pressed play to, and we saw Ashley and Emily.
I couldn’t tear my gaze away. They were in a nightclub and it looked like they didn’t have a clue they were being filmed. I didn’t care about Ashley. The only person to hold my interest was the blonde. So beautiful. She’d lost way too much weight and even though she wore a little makeup, I saw the tiredness on her face.
Emily.
She needed us.
The video came to a stop.
“She is such a beautiful woman now. Ripe for the taking.”
“You piece of fucking shit,” River said, about to charge forward. As one, Gael, Vadik, and I stopped him.
Earl stared at us, the silence mounting with every passing second. “I don’t appreciate being attacked.”
“Tell us what you want and then get the fuck out,” Gael said.