“That’s it. We’re reasonable men, you’ll come to find.” He looked over his shoulder at Anton. “Let’s go.”
They turned their backs to us to leave and I tried to charge after them, but Milli held out an arm to stop me. “Let it go. We’re not prepared right now. We need to do this on our terms.”
My skin was still boilingwith rage, but no matter how I looked at it, that retrieval was just a littletooeasy. Something else was going on and I had a feeling it meant Avion was going to get hurt.
“What are you thinking?” Milli asked.
“The same thing you’re thinking,” I replied. “Why would the Narzands just come and go without harming anyone?” Milli had gone to check after they left and found that none of our guards or staff had been harmed either, just knocked out at the worst, or shoved into a closet. “They had a perfect chance to kill us, two of the largest targets in this world, but instead they just took Avion and left. That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Not unless they reallydocare about her,” Milli surmised. “They did go to all this trouble.”
“No, that still doesn’t make any sense to me.” I stood up and started to pace the room. “You said so yourself, if someone kidnapped your sister, you’d tear the whole city apart. I was ready to charge them just for pointing a gun at you and snatching Avion away. If they really cared about her and thought we kidnapped and hurt her, they would have killed us, or at least me. The dots just aren’t connecting. I’m worried they’re up to something else and that Avion is going to get hurt.” I stopped pacing and looked at him. “I have to go get her.”
Milli shook his head. “Absolutely not. She’s gone, let it go. We’re not starting a turf war with the Narzands right now. We have a lot of power, but so do they. Even if it was a victory, it wouldn’t come without casualties.”
“I’m not afraid of them,” I spat, irritated that Milli would even suggest that I should be. “What if they’re just planning on killing her?”
“Whatever. She was just sex, right? A possible informant on the Narzands, but not much other than that,” he said, but there was a tone to his voice that he knew that wasn’t true as he said it. When I didn’t answer him right away, he let out a long sigh and narrowed his gaze at me. “You went and developed feelings for her when yousworethat you wouldn’t. I told you this was a badfuckingidea.”
“You know what? I don’t have time to defend myself right now. I’m worried about Avion and I’m not just going to leave her to the wolves. Her brothers are up to something. She’s not safe,” I said, and then I stabbed a finger at Milli. “And don’t you act like you didn’t start to like her too.”
Milli’s nostrils flared, a clear sign that he’d been caught. “Fine, can you please give me a little patience and leeway? Nothing good will come from you going full bull and horns. Let me sniff out where they’re keeping Avion. You need to stay here and wait for my word; can you do that?”
“No,” I barked back. “I’m a man of action. Avion needs me. I’m not just gonna sit around here and wait.”
“You have to.” Milli walked up to me and put a hand on my shoulder. “I hate that I have to do this, but in order to get you to stay here, I’ll admit it, you’re right. I do like Avion. She’s not afraid to reign you in a little bit, and I know first-hand how difficult that is. I don’t want her to get hurt, which is why you need to stay. If the Narzand’s big plan is to lure you out because they have Avion, then we need to not give them what they’re looking for. Please, trust me and stay here.”
It was frustrating. There was nothing that I wanted less than to just sit around while Milli went out and did all the work, but he was right. Vincent seemed to pick up on the feelings that I’d developed for Avion, and it could easily have been their plan to try and fish me out that way. It hurt me to do so, but I conceded, “Okay, but hurry.”
Milli gave me a stone serious look. “Yes sir,” and he was off out the door without another word.
There was one thing I could do with Milli gone at least, and that was figure out how the hell my compound was penetrated so easily. I’d invested millions of dollars in making my fortress as secure as possible. From the guards outside to the maze of hallways inside, it should have been borderline impossible for the Narzands to even find out where my fortress was located, let alone figure out how to find exactly where we were. It wasn’t just a random chance.
Someone in my employ was a rat.
I walked to the doorway of Avion’s room, stopping just before I walked out. I turned around and looked at her painting. The stunning depiction of the moon and stars, ruined by the black streak across it caused by my bad attitude. Milli irritated me so badly with his accusations that I lost control of who I was for a moment. Even if Avion and I had established a dom and sub-type relationship in the bedroom, it was wrong of me to try and exert that over her outside of it. In a way, it felt likeshewanted to be in control outside of the bedroom and after her history with her brothers and father, I couldn’t blame her.
I’d never forgive myself if my torrid relationship with the male Narzands ended up getting Avion hurt. If only I’d listened to Milli to begin with and not gotten her mixed up in all of this, then she’d still be safe at least.
Then again, I never would have gotten to meet her.
I shook my head to push the thoughts away and stormed out of her room, shutting and locking the door. That place would remain preserved for her return. I was going to get her back no matter what happened.
Starting from the fourth floor, I did a sweep of all of the levels, rounding up any staff that I could find. Some of them were dazed and confused, while others were just going about their business as if nothing had gone wrong. It didn’t matter the circumstances; I had the exact same interaction with every single staff member.
“Get up to the fifth floor, now. Wait for me there,” I demanded.
Every single one of them gave me the same, terrified look. “The fifth floor? W-why? Did I do something wrong?”
And they all got the same answer. “I’m going to find out.”
The fifth floor of my compound was one anyone who entered hopedneverto visit. It was a sound-proof, totally enclosed chamber with no windows or doors apart from the one way out—the elevator. On top of that, though staff could ride the elevator up and get off on the fifth floor without issue, the elevator doors locked and could only be reopened on that floor by an authorized fingerprint and there were only three in the system, mine, Milli’s, and my father’s.
Upon first entrance, it might appear to be an unfinished basement, with cement slab walls, floors, and ceiling, but it had, in fact, been designed to my exact specifications. The cement on this floor was specially designed to absorb liquids of all types without issue—namely blood. The only furniture to speak of in this massive chamber were some locked metal cabinets along both walls and a handful of chairs. When I got up to the fifth floor, no one was sitting in these chairs.
In short—the fifth floor was where I killed.
It was a wholly untraceable, no-one-can-hear-you-scream type place. I didn’t like dirtying my home with the stains of others’ blood, but sometimes my work called for such atrocities. When that happened, they would be invited up to this chamber, and they would leave in a body bag. Everyone under my employ knew what the fifth floor was for, so being asked to go to the fifth floor left them horrified.
