“So, I took your sister, knowing you’d return to the US to look for her.” Rhett leans back in his throne, and his eyes gleam with dark intent. “I had to keep her untainted in case things didn’t go my way. She was bait and my Plan B if I needed it to reel you in. I knew if she was sold or abused I would lose her as insurance. If I’d known I wouldn’t need it, I’d have let all those sick pricks defile her from the start.”
“Ares,” I hiss in warning, wishing I could sit on him to keep him in place.
He’s fuming. I feel it exuding from his pores like a tangible thing. He breathes in and out, nostrils flaring, and all the veins stand out in his neck as I silently beg him to hold still.
Someone up there must be helping because he doesn’t react. He holds his composure, offering words Carter expects to hear. “You’re fucking dead,” Ares seethes. “I am going to kill you with my bare hands and then piss on your grave.”
Rhett chuckles. “It’s a shame I must kill you. Such arrogance is worthy of the Pride & Wrath title.”
“Why must we die if we’ve helped you to achieve your goals?” I ask, wanting to divert the conversation before Ares does something reckless and ends up dead.
“Because you’re not trustworthy. None of you are, and you three are all far too immature and inexperienced. You were always only placeholders, and you must die so you aren’t a threat to the new Luminaries. I already have four successors lined up. People who will gladly do my bidding in exchange for such a powerful title and role. They have already agreed to my appointment as Lord of The Luminaries, and they are fully in support of my plan. We will rid the world of all sinners, starting with you.” My bio dad eyeballs me. “You shall go first, my dear. I’d make it quick, only I like the idea of your lovers watching you suffering and bleeding out as I torture them by slowly killing each of their loved ones.”
Rhett calls Vincent forward with a flick of his hand just as I pull my hands fully free of the rope. Jase and Chad exchange looks with Ares, and that’s how I know they are free too. As Vincent draws nearer, I hold my head up high, waiting for the guys to give the signal or make a move.
The second Vincent withdraws his gun, Ares, Chad, and Jase swing into action. Ares throws himself at Vincent as Chad and Jase lunge for Rhett. I’m frozen for a few seconds, watching my guys wrestle with the enemy as fear charges through my veins. Ares has overpowered Vincent, lying on top of him on the ground with his hand wrapped around Vincent’s wrist as they battle for control of the gun.
Rhett is on his feet, swinging punches at Chad and Jase now they have disarmed him. They seem to have it in control, so I snap out of it and move over to Bree, helping to untie her wrists.
“No!” she roars, and I whip my head around in time to see Vincent lift a knife and raise it over Ares, ready to plunge it into his back. My heart stops beating, and I scream the same time Victor Fox moves, grabbing his brother’s elbow. Ares rolls off Vincent as the knife clangs to the floor. I can only watch in horror as Vincent turns over on his side and shoots his brother in the stomach at close range. Ares grabs the knife and brings it down on Vincent’s back, driving it into his spine and dragging it down, instantly severing his spinal cord.
Vincent slumps to the ground as Chad and Jase get the better of Rhett, overpowering him and pulling him into a headlock.
A creaking sound from behind has me spinning around in fear. Confusion is my initial reaction when my mother emerges from the ancestor’s room, running toward me, sobbing, and shaking with her arms outstretched.
I walk slowly toward her in a bit of a daze.
“Ashley, no!” Jase yells, but it’s too late.
Mom grabs me, spinning me around so my back is to her chest and I’m facing the horror-struck expressions on my lovers’ faces as she presses a gun to my temple and says, “Release Rhett, or I’ll kill her.”
ChapterFifty-Three
Ashley
“Don’t do it,” I yell. “Don’t you dare let him go.” I’m in a kind of dazed numbed state at this latest development, but there is no uncertainty when it comes to that man. A messy ball of emotion clogs my throat as I contemplate the situation. My mother is holding me hostage and threatening to kill me to protect a man she says raped and abused her as a young woman. Did that happen? Has he continued abusing her? Is this some type of Stockholm syndrome behavior, or has everything been a lie?
Chad has his arm under Rhett’s chin, and Jase is jabbing Rhett’s own gun into the side of his skull.
Mom digs the muzzle of her gun into my temple, and I bite the inside of my cheek to stop from crying out. One false move, and my guys will let Rhett go. That cannot happen.
“What the fuck is going on?” Ares points Victor’s gun at Mom’s head. “Why the fuck are you holding a gun to your daughter’s head?”
I bark out a harsh laugh. “Because she doesn’t care about me. She has clearly been working with him all along.” Whatever the reason behind how it happened, there is no denying that truth.
I’m such an idiot. We’re such idiots. It was staring us in the face all this time.
Mom scoffs as she digs the muzzle in again. “Pot. Kettle. Black. Darling. Rhett told you my life was at stake if you didn’t cooperate, yet you still took risks knowing what it could mean. Let’s not pretend you care about me either.”
I’m not sure I can refute that except I would never want her to die. “If you had tried, I would have met you halfway. It’s hard to care about someone when they give you nothing.”
“You were always such a needy, whiny little bitch. I told Rhett he was lucky he didn’t have to suffer through you growing up.”
“You’ve been working with him from the very start?” Jase asks. Shock splays across his face.
“My love is everything I ever wanted in a partner. Pamela is my soul mate. She understands the concept of personal sacrifice for the greater good.”
“The rape never happened,” I say. “You lied to us.”
