Luke shrugs. “She was loyal to him. But he’s fucking dead, right? So what strings are there for him to pull now? What are we punishing her for now?”
“It’s going to be punishment,” I say. “But the purpose is to let her know that she is loved and controlled. She needs to feel like someone with a firm hand is in control. And if the three of us are going to handle her, she needs that from all of us. If even one of us can be manipulated, it’s over.”
“Don’t look at me,” Luke says. “I can’t be manipulated.”
Leo snorts.
Luke throws a punch at him.
They’re squabbling, and this isn’t the energy we need.
“Enough!” I snap. “We need to present a united front. We are all different people, and we have different methods, but she needs to know there aren’t any cracks to exploit.”
Leo
“You expect me to forgive her?”
“Yes,” Aiden says. “Because what she did to you was objectively funny.”
I snort, surprised by Aiden’s response. I didn’t think he had it in him to be amused by something that could easily have killed me.
“You’re not used to anyone getting the better of you,” Aiden says. “She did that. And that’s going to keep annoying you until you realize what’s really upsetting you.”
“And what’s that?”
“She got your respect. And that means she’s an equal. And that means it’s going to be so much harder for you to do the things you usually do. She’s a real person to you now.”
“She did worse to me, and I’m not so hung up on it as you are,” Luke points out.
“That’s because you’re a…” I stop myself from insulting him, but it’s already too late.
“I’m a what? An addict? So I don’t care if I get knocked out and carried off to a death meeting? The fuck, my guy. I fucking cared. I knew they killed Teddy. I knew they might kill me at any time. All you had to do was wait to sober up and then get yourself out of your own restraints. Let it fucking go.”
“Let it go?” I growl. “Let the greatest disrespect of my life go?”
“She did something nobody else has ever done. She was your prey, but she bested you. You’re not angry at her. If anything, you’re pissed off at yourself. But you shouldn’t be. She’s exceptional.”
My expression tightens as I consider that perspective.
“Maybe she is,” I admit.
“Of course she is. She’s survived a hell worse than the one the three of us have known,” Luke says.
I hate it when they’re right. I hate it even more when the point they are making is obvious and yet has escaped me for reason of ego.
“I want to go and spend some time with her,” I tell the other two. “When I’ve done that, I will tell you what I think.”
I go back upstairs, where the dog has woken from its nap, and screams at the top of its canine lungs, waking Ella up too. The door of the cage is open now, but she’s claimed this room as her bedroom and she sleeps in here willingly. I will give Aiden his due; he is a mastermind at conditioning others.
“Why does she make so much noise?” I ask the question as Ella soothes the creature.
“Ethel doesn’t like you,” Ella says. “And neither do I.”
“Oh? What makes me so objectionable, compared to the other two brothers?”
“You’re mean,” she says. “You say meaner things and you do meaner things.”
“And you fucking love it,” I say. “I bet if I pulled your panties to the side right now, I’d see a soaked pussy slit ready for a good, hard fucking.”
