“I’ll tell them that I drugged you, flew you to Vegas, and made you my wife.” I reach down and run my hand over her little diamond that she still wears from dipshit.
She pulls her bottom lip between her teeth and nibbles on it.
Leaning forward, I plant a kiss on her forehead. “I’ll be back soon, doll face.” Letting go, I turn around and give her my back and finish getting dressed. I have somewhere to be.
SIXTY-FIVE
CHARLOTTE
I’m lying in Haidyn’s bed, staring up at the ceiling. I feel like I could get sick at any moment worrying about what the Lords will say to him. I just keep reminding myself that I trust him. He wouldn’t have married me knowing he had to turn me over to them…he said it was our only option.
Getting out of bed, I begin to pace the room, needing movement and trying to clear my mind and keep the bile down that burns my throat. My stomach is in knots. Adam’s playlist still blasts in the living room, filtering into the bedroom and echoing through the large house. His song choices are a total contradiction of who I expect him to be. Right now, it’s “Always Remember Us This Way” by Lady Gaga. I go to leave the bedroom to turn it off, but the sound of my phone beeping gets my attention.
I rush over to it, wondering if it’s Haidyn to tell me how it went, and see it’s an incoming email from the Lords. The clock reads 12:10. Why would they send me this afterward? Haidyn is supposed to be there. Hell, I hope he’s already done and on his way home.
Taking a deep breath, I open it up and push play.
A concrete room comes into view and there’s a rectangular metal-like table in the center. Chains hang on the back wall in various lengths and sizes along with rope. It’s Carnage.
The sound of a door opening fills the large space, followed by an altered voice, making my pulse race. “Put him on the table.”
Two guys come into view next, and they’re dragging Haidyn. Each one under an arm. His head hangs forward, and blood drips onto the floor as his combat boots smear it while they haul him to the center of the room. They’ve beaten him unconscious.
My hands begin to shake at the sight of him, and my skin grows hot.Why is he at Carnage?
The thought has crossed my mind that this was a setup, and they wanted him at the cathedral alone tonight. It takes four Lords dressed in cloaks and masks to get his body onto the table.
A groan comes from his busted lips as they begin to strap him down with black leather belts, buckling him in place. The first one goes over his ankles securing his legs together at one end of the table. The second below his knees and the third over his jean-clad thighs.
My throat tightens, making it hard to breathe at the thought of them hurting him in any way. He was trying to save me.
A Lord steps into view and places a towel under a faucet, getting it wet, and Haidyn coughs up blood.
“Wake up.” One slaps the side of his face. His eyes don’t open, but he groans again as if in pain. “Wake up, Spade. Come on. It’s time for your punishment.”
Punishment?What did he do? They’re punishing him for making his whore his wife. It’s all my fault. I jump to my feet. My hands go to my mouth when I feel the bile burning my throat. Rushing to the bathroom, I manage to make it to the toilet on time as I throw up. My stomach tight and shoulders shake.
Falling down onto my ass by the toilet, my eyes drop to my phone on the floor and see that I didn’t pause it. I go to stop it,unable to watch anymore when they rip his shirt off and move his arms down by his sides. And begin to do another belt over his hips, waist, chest and last his neck. His large muscular body takes up most of the narrow table.
I let out a shaky breath when my eyes scan his chest and see his Lords crest, but he doesn’t have the 666 branding or any other tattoos that I can see from here, but he’s covered in bruises. Some look older than others. I place my hand over my mouth to hold in a sob when I realize this video is old. Much older, considering his lack of tattoos as well. But I have a sickening feeling this isn’t his first time with these Lords.
My chest pounds, my heart in my throat as I watch one of the Lords roll a cart to the side of the table. They put sticky pads on his chest and turn the machine on. A beeping sound fills the room, and lines begin to pop up on the screen—they’re monitoring his heart rate. It’s slow and steady at the moment, but I’m guessing that’s because he’s unconscious.
Tears sting my eyes, and I blink rapidly to clear my blurry vision.
“We shouldn’t have beaten him,” one altered voice speaks.
Another laughs. “No way he would have willingly gotten up on this table.”
“He’ll come around. And when he does, we’ll be ready.”
The screen goes black, and I grind my teeth. My watery eyes continue to scan the screen, but nothing is there.
I bring my knees to my chest and try to calm my breathing, wondering why they are sending me this. I lift my shaking hands and wipe the tears from my face. That acid taste is still in my mouth, thinking I’m going to get sick again.
My phone beeps once more, and I pick it up, immediately opening up the new email they sent me, unable to stop myself. I need to know what they do to him and why.
This video is identical to the previous one. Haidyn still lies on the table, but his swollen eyes are open, and he’s looking around aimlessly as if he’s just waking up. He seems unfazed by the sound of his heart rate. How much time passed between the two? Was it hours…minutes? I wish it’d tell me.
