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“Boss. Do you want me to get a cleanup crew?” Marty asked, wincing in pain.
“No time. I have a feeling the cops will be all over this.” While I didn’t like it messy, most of the police force was in my pocket, so there wouldn’t be any pushback. Still, it was obvious I was off my game.
“Come on. We need to get back to the resort. We have some things to deal with.” There was a faraway look in Weston’s eyes as he made the recommendation. I knew the moment I saw him with Maria that he’d been pulled into her sweet lair.
I still found it difficult to believe she was Ava .
A part of me wanted to shove her in a cage, force her to tell us the truth, then kill her. The other wanted to wrap her in my arms. Fuck. This whole thing was a mess.
That we’d created years before. If only we’d kept our dicks inside our jeans.
We jogged to the other side of the road just as the fire reached the gas tank. Flames rushed towards the heavens.
I shook my head, then climbed inside. “You okay, Marty?”
“Just a scratch, sir.”
“Get it checked out back at the resort.” I rubbed my eyes before dialing Brock.
“Boss,” he answered.
“We had an incident. Make certain you get a couple other men on Ms. Sadler, and have others walk the resort inside and out.”
“Uh, boss. We have an issue.”
“What do you mean an issue?”
“It’s Ms. Sadler.”
I sucked in my breath. “What about her?”
“Well, she’s gone. I’ve looked everywhere. She’s nowhere to be found.”
--
Christian
Betrayal was something I was used to. I’d grown up around it, first from childhood friends, then seeing traitors punished by my brutal father. Everyone had a price, a reason or a dollar amount that would allow them to shift from the right side of the law to the other. Or to betray a confidence or even the location of a friend or colleague.
Or lover.
Money and power were excellent motivators, but often the greatest influence on whether someone selected a different moral code was centered around the need for revenge.
Both Weston and I had seen it in Clinton. We’d watched him hone his evil ways until he was certain of what he’d wanted, which was blood for blood given the murder of his brother. He’d suffered and still was suffering, never able to get over the horror. Unfortunately, he’d allowed it to consume his life, shaping his decisions, warping them until he’d become a stalker.
Then everything had changed the moment he’d seen Ava years before. She’d performed magic, her goodness conquering a portion of the demons inside of him. There was no difference in the way he looked at Maria. For a man like Clinton, it was as close to love as he could possibly get. She was the kind of woman who could be our salvation.
Or she was our curse.
Whether or not they were the same person was the question that would eat at the three of us until the truth was discovered.
However, if she was, the ugliness around the truth would eat us alive.
A single question nagged at the back of my mind and would until I looked her in the eyes again. Could a sweet, beautiful girl turn into a calculating monster, determined to destroy the three men who’d dared tempt her dark desires? I forced myself to think about the night from years ago. All three of us had pushed so hard to drive it from our minds, believing that we could let it go. We also were certain the incident would never come back to bite us.
Ava had witnessed us handling Theodore, all three of us enraged that he’d dared attack her, attempt to rape her. We’d done so violently, our rage knowing no bounds. We’d been intent on killing him. That was in our nature. Even Weston hadn’t shied away from hungering to take his life.
Maybe the act had been the final nail in the coffin, our lives spent in private prisons after watching her broken body on the pavement, her mouth trying to form words from a broken jaw before slipping away into unconsciousness. Then we’d gone off the deep end.
Our actions had been what nightmares were made of.
What we hadn’t been certain given the tragedy was whether she’d seen Clinton pulling out his knife. Even if she had, she’d fled prior to Theo managing to jerk out a gun, shooting Clinton before Weston wrestled it away.
I’d been the one to pick up the fallen knife, finishing what Clinton had started. I would rot in Hell for all eternity because of that and dozens of other atrocities I’d committed, but even then, I would have given my life to protect Ava ’s.
Just like I would now. Fuck. How had things gotten so far out of hand?
I’d played over the horrific event in my mind so many times I could recite it, but as with all things, in time, certain aspects of what happened had begun to fade. There’s been so many people, the driver trying to flee the scene. Clinton had almost beaten the guy to death.
Then the police.
The estate where we’d lived had been shut down, several of the Elite students expelled. The scandal had rocked the university, but with dozens of lawyers intervening, the fifteen minutes of malevolent fame had eventually faded. Even with everything that had gone on, including a criminal investigation into Theo’s disappearance, we’d been protected. The truth was that we’d been treated as the gods we’d believed we were, not facing one minute of punishment for what we’d started.
Our vicious intentions.
Was I the kind of man who could have remorse or guilt? I’d convinced myself a long time ago that I had no conscience. Hell, my father had nearly beaten it out of me, forcing me to handle aspects of punishment just to dull my senses. It had worked.
Except for when I was with Ava .
She’d been the light to my darkness, the reason I wanted to make changes in my life. It was ridiculous since I didn’t really know her, but that’s how strongly I’d felt. So had Weston and Clinton.
Now, Maria.
A beautiful, intelligent miracle with the voice of an angel.
Who could be behind the acts of revenge. I found it impossible to believe and would argue it to my grave had my mother not betrayed my father long ago, leaving her only child in the hands of a bastard who could care less if I existed. A bitter laugh erupted in my throat.
Weston and I followed Clinton as he stormed down the hallway towards her suite, his anger increasing. When he reached Brock, who stood by her door, I was certain Clinton was going to kill the man. He issued two hard jabs to the man’s throat before pushing him up against the wall. “How the fuck were you stupid enough to allow her to get away?”
Brock didn’t push back, didn’t struggle. He knew what would happen if he did.
“I’m sorry, boss. There was a call about a fire on the floor. Management got everyone out. She managed to leave with the crowd. I tried to stop her, but she ran from me.”
Shit. She’d planned it. What was she trying to do?
Clinton hissed. “She was responsible for calling it in. I don’t need to check. I feel it in my bones.”
“Why? Where the fuck could she go?” Weston demanded.
“Maybe to meet with the people working with her. What else?” Clinton remained adamant, but I heard his voice crack. He didn’t want to believe it any more than I did.
“Get your head out of your ass, Clinton. We don’t know anything for certain. I refuse to allow you to condemn Maria, who could be an innocent player in all of this. If you keep doing that, you’ll need to come through me. Got it?” Weston’s upper lip curled as he fisted one hand and I took a step closer, daring him to try.
“Fine. But we will determine if she’s involved.”
“And if she is?” Weston threw out.
At this point I doubted we had a clue what to say. She’d already managed to crawl under our skin.
“Search her room,” Clinton stated as he pulled his hand away from Brock. “I’m going to hunt down her assistant. Maybe I’ll get some decent answers. I’m also going to have a chat with the detective.”
“I find it interesting that this detective you talked to hasn’t called me,” I told him.
“Me neither.” Weston laughed. “Maybe the man you talked to isn’t a detective after all.”
“Fuck,” Clinton snarled, obviously realizing we were right. “This ends today. Period.”
Mr. Omnipotent was at it again. He’d yet to learn there were some things and people he couldn’t control with violence.
The lovely woman or women was a case in point.
Damn it, my cock twitched just thinking about touching her. An ache had formed in between my eyes.
The game had been well played. And planned. The three of us looked at each other for a few seconds, the tension palpable. We’d been big and bad wolves for years. To think it was possible that we’d almost been taken down by a beautiful woman was disturbing.
Even worse was the fact that the three of us cared for her more than we wanted to admit.
Clinton narrowed his eyes as he looked at Brock. “I will deal with you later.” He moved towards her door, sliding his keycard into the lock.
He didn’t bother going inside, his face remaining twisted as he headed for the elevators.
Weston shook his head. “He’s got it bad for her.”
“Just like we do.”
