Cavalier (Crimson Elite 1)

The knife which is in his hands drops to the counter before him as the man tied to the chair looks to me for help. He starts making grunting noises through the tape covering his mouth.

“You should go upstairs and stay there until I come up.”

My hands are covering my mouth. I’m unable to move, my feet stuck in the one place.

“Elicea.”

My eyes snap up to his at the sound of his voice. He sees the horror in them and makes his way over to me. When he’s standing in front of me, his hand reaches out to touch me. And that’s when I realize it’s completely covered in blood and I fall back. Quickly righting myself, I run up the stairs, but slip, my back somehow slamming down onto the stairs.

“Elicea, I want you to listen carefully. Nod if you’re hearing me.”

Somehow, someway, I manage to nod my head.

“Good. Good girl. Elicea, there are two things I want you to do. First, stand up, and second, I want you to walk your fine ass to my living room sofa and sit down. Nod if you understand me.”

My head nods and I push off up the stairs. He watches me as I go. I no longer hear my heart pounding—maybe it’s disappeared from my chest and found a new home.

What the fuck have I gotten myself into?19CreedHe screams as I tear another tooth from his mouth. Then cries when I place a sock in his mouth to shut him up. Looking up the stairs, I hear no sound from Elicea. But that doesn’t mean she isn’t there. She better be.

“Why?” His voice is muffled through the sock, but I can make out what he’s saying. Usually, I have no time for conversation, but this guy has pushed my last button.

“You were warned. Did you think it was a joke?”

His head shakes fast. Darby and I paid him a visit last time, the great councilman who likes to run his mouth. Now he’s missing fingers and most of his teeth. I extracted them one by one, and the sound of the heavy rock music and his screams kept me complicit all night.

“I didn’t.” I smile at his words then pause the music, a television with his blood splatter sits in front of me. Pressing play, his eyes focus on the television as he comes into view. And the man who he was speaking to leans in close as if to tell him a secret. The words that leave his mouth on the video make him go white as he watches it. Did he think that with just a warning we wouldn’t be watching him? That’s a joke. We have well-established staff that do the things we ask at a mere phone call.

“You should have known we’d be following you, councilman, but now we know that our threats fall on deaf ears with you. Do you know what that means?”

He shakes his head, tears streaming down his face. He knows exactly what that means. Turning the music back up, I leave him where he is and walk the stairs, shutting the door behind me and locking it.

Cloth in hand, wiping the blood as I quickly change clothes, I pause when I reach the living room and she isn’t there. She didn’t listen to what I said.

Stalking to the bedroom, all her stuff is gone and there’s no sign of her.

Fuck.She isn’t answering my calls! Fuck! She isn’t even answering her door. I could push my way in, but I won’t. For the sole fact that I don’t want to kill her, no, I want the exact opposite, I want to keep her forever. As my own personal trophy, if only she would comply.

“Go away,” I hear her voice yell through the door.

“Open the door.”

“No.” She pauses. “Go away before I call the police.”

“Call them,” I taunt her, to which she pulls the door open. She’s dressed in that same shirt I’ve seen her in before. She doesn’t bother covering her legs as she stands there watching me.

“I saw you, that night. I saw you. It was you, wasn’t it? You killed that man on the street. You were watching me?”

I smirk at her, finally working it out. “What street?” I ask, trying to sound dumbfounded as she goes to slam the door in my face, but my foot gets in the way.

“If lying is all you want to do—go. Go and annoy someone else.” She thinks her words taunt me. But they don’t, they make me angry.

“I don’t do games, Elicea, it’s the last thing I do. The last person that thought I did, well, let’s just say it didn’t end well for him.”

“Are you threatening me?” she asks, shocked.

My head starts to shake, that’s the last thing I would do. “No, never. I would never hurt you.”