Carlyle
Staring between the five people currently chained to the wall, I tapped my temple absently as I contemplated the best way to deal with them. Of course, the easy solution would be to just kill them, but I had revenge simmering in my blood. Dying was too quick and frankly not painful enough.
“What to do . . . ” Valerie didn’t even know these men were here, so I had them all to myself to do whatever I wanted, and she’d never see the aftermath. Eachthingwas on its knees, hands bolted to the floor, necks viced, and asses in the air. When I set this up, I waspissed, but my clear-headedness presented me with a problem I hadn’t considered.
Torture wasn’t my style—never had been. I thought I was angry enough to do it, but I guess not.
“Good thing I have a girl on speed dial who enjoys this kind of thing.” My murmur filled the otherwise quiet room, and I glanced over at Vanessa as she glared at the captives with murder glowing in her eyes. “Let me know when you want a break.”
“I won’t.” This was the problem with rape victims— there were far too many, and not enough justice went around. Vanessa was my secretary now, but she had actually been the one to come to me about being more . . . reactive. I had to admit she was scary when she wanted to be, and the husk in her tone told me this was one of those times.
Standing up, I nodded to her on my way out as she tugged her ponytail a little tighter, and a strange, almost alien sensation draped my shoulders. Boredom.
As I closed the heavy door, Vanessa’s gleeful giggle sent a shiver to lodge between my shoulder blades, and I pursed my lips thinly. She went a little nuts in situations like this, but they were so rare that I didn’t mind. Without her, things wouldn’t run nearly as smoothly as they do, and I was content to overlook her more psychopathic tendencies.
“I thought Illya had a tough time following through with shit, but you take the cake, Carlyle.” For the first time since Illya took off her toenails, Theo spoke to me, and I arched a brow quizzically as I passed him. “I thought you wanted to personally sodomize them until they bleed out or whatever fucked up shit you think of.”
“I may have let my anger get the best of me at the time.” My reply earned me silence, and I paused my way to the elevator to turn to Theo and catch his narrowed eye. “What?”
“You say all the time how you’d kill me and blah, blah, fuck all, but I’ve never actually seen you do anything.” Rolling my eyes, I simply turned my back on him to punch the elevator button, and I stuffed my hands in my pockets. Growing up, my father made sure I knew how to fire a gun, and martial arts wereso coolto a twelve-year-old boy, but like anyone else, I mostly used intimidation and fear of whatmighthappen to maintain order.
Like with Pedro . . . that dick. I’d never actually hurt him or even done anything at all to him, but he was still afraid of me. Was it the suit?
“You know, Theo, you deserve a vacation.” Nodding to myself, I ignored the surprised gaze on my back as my brows furrowed deeply. “Take Illya and go somewhere.”
“Why the fuck would I do that?” Tilting my head back, I huffed a sigh at the gruffness in his tone. WhywouldTheo do that?
“I need to rework my Italian plan from scratch, as well as spend some uninterrupted time with Valerie. I’m not leaving this building for a while. You should take advantage of that. Illya would like it, I think.” The elevator pinged shrilly, the doors sliding apart as I spoke, and I stepped into the metal box with mixed feelings in my chest. Some shit was going to happen with Oran, and I honestly didn’t want Illya to get caught up in the middle of it.
The very first night she was here, Oran had broken into Illya’s apartment. I knew about it, of course, but I hadn’t acted on it.
That was going to change.
“Is there something you’re not telling me?” Waving a hand in dismissal as the elevator worked its way up, I shook my head.
“Even if I did have a secret, you’d probably be able to figure it out from the maids. Mainly, I’m going to bring all of Oran’s kittens here, and I’m going to give him a choice. Kill them all and prove his loyalty to me or walk away with them and never come back. If I can’t get rid of him, I’m going to break him. It starts with those whores.” Leaning on the wall, I gazed steadily at Theo as his brows worked over intelligent eyes. “I just needed a valid reason, but I’m not my father— I won’t tolerate his bullshit.”
The box stopped moving, and I moved to step off the elevator to find my brother standing there, waiting. Clenching my jaw hard, I nodded at him to talk but didn’t slow my stride. Oran kept up with me, but I could feel the annoyance at how small and insignificant he thought I thought he was as if nothing he said had any value to me.
“The snake is trying to leave, and also, the girls are here.”Thatmade me pause mid-step, and I arched a brow at Oran as his lips thinned in his effort to stop me seeing how much this hurt him. “She’s outside trying to take the car they came in.”
“Where’s Valerie?”
“Drunk and passed out, at the moment, according to the maid who just went in to clean up after them. Natasha was puking at the time.” Nodding firmly, I rubbed my jaw in irritation. Esmarissa was really grinding down my nerves. She’d overstayed her welcome before she even got here, and I started off towards the stairwell leading to the quad. “Carlyle . . . ”
Oran grabbed my forearm firmly, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up as I slowly cast my gaze on him. He didn’t let go, his face contorting in determination, and a wry smirk stretched my lips.
“Do you honestly expect that anything you say will make me change my mind?” Oran was my brother, sure, but in name only. Both of them, the little shits, just weren’t people I wanted to be around, but he surprised me when he shook his head. “What, then, little brother?”
“I want you to let me kill them. Please. They’re my responsibility, and I let my discipline slack.” In some fucked up way, this was Oran’s way of protecting these girls, and I nodded curtly. He knew how I liked to operate, to play games, and let them squirm and wonder and hope, only to kill it all off at the last second. He took a shuddering, deep inhale, releasing my arm, and I pushed open the exit door to head down the hallway.
“In a way, I am sorry for you, Oran. I think it might be time to reevaluate your relationships. Maybe, try monogamy? It’s easier when there’s only one to keep track of.” There was a deeper, darker reason behind my words— Oran so desperately wanted control, so he created it in a microcosm. I had two choices here, and he clearly intended to stick around a while, which sucked some major ass for me.
But, even cockroaches were useful for some things.
“Give me the damn keys! I’ve fucking had it with this place!” Esmarissa didn’t notice me immediately as she tried to wrest Carl’s keys, but he was much taller than her. She stomped her heel on the asphalt, the breeze of early autumn blasting through the tunnel created by the bridge that served as an exit. “God damnit, you tall bastard.”
“What are you doing?” My words sliced through the mild sunlight and Esmarissa whipped around as I strode across the lot. “Did I tell you that you could leave?”
