“I give you Emily, and I’m taking Ashley. I want her indefinitely, which means I won’t have you invading my time with her. She will belong to me. All of me. That is it. Simple.”
“Hold on,” Vadik said. “Let me get this straight. We get Emily, you have Ashley, and so long as we agree to leave you alone, we get our girl. No danger to her life.”
“Exactly.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to accept.
“We need to think about this,” Gael said.
Now that did surprise me. Out of all of us, why would Gael want to think about this? I looked at him.
“Then, gentlemen, my offer lasts until the end of the evening, which is an hour away. I will go find myself something to eat. The kitchen is still this way?”
None of us went to stop him as he left the room.
Chapter Three
Gael
“How did that fucker make it from England to here?” River asked.
“Time-zone difference,” I said. “Plus, he owns a private jet. It’s not like he has to concern himself with canceled flights.”
I ran a hand down my face, trying to clear my mind, which had fogged up from the moment Earl had entered our home. We all shared this place. The other three houses had been torn down and remained as ruins and reminders to all those who attempted to cross us.
I knew the nightmare we’d turned this place into. We’d created our own little playground. To a lot of people, our fathers’ reign was filled with peace, while ours were riddled with terror.
“We are agreeing to this,” Caleb said.
“I don’t see what the deal is,” River said. “We all want this.”
Vadik agreed.
I was the fucked-up one. The mess. The person who struck first and asked questions later. After Emily had been taken from us, I’d been sent to get one of our minions. He was a bookkeeper, but he’d been investigated and found to be stealing from us. I’d stabbed him in the head, carried his body through the street, and when I dumped him in front of our fathers, they’d shouted questions at me. I’d grabbed him and used him as a puppet. It was the last time they had sent me to go find answers.
The pain of losing something so precious to me. It had stuck and I couldn’t help it. Hurting people was my salvation.
I’d even hurt women. I’d lured them into my bed, taken their clothes, seen what dirty shit they wanted to do, filmed them, and destroyed them.
I hadn’t slept with a woman. I hadn’t allowed a woman to go down on me, nor to go anywhere near me. I know Caleb had. But I couldn’t do it. River hadn’t as well. Vadik kissed and teased, but I was the one who didn’t go that far.
Staring at my friends now, my brothers in pain and pleasure, I couldn’t believe I was the voice of reason. “Are you all fucking stupid?” I asked.
“Be careful,” Caleb said.
I laughed. He’d broken my arm a couple of years ago during one of our many spars. The physical pain had been a welcome relief. It hadn’t stopped me from starting fights.
“Emily is our woman and we know who she would protect with her life,” I said. “If we give him Ashley, we will lose our woman.”
“Not if we negotiate her life properly,” River said.
I wanted Emily back, but I didn’t want her to hate us. “If you make this deal with him, we will be fighting for her love.”
“I don’t care,” Vadik said. “I need her back. We’ll deal with the Ashley angle. She’s had our girl for seven years. It’s time we got her back, and if making a deal with that beast is what we’ve got to do, then so be it. We’ll make it right eventually. Besides, Ashley owes us big time. I’m not going to talk about this. As far as I’m concerned, the deal has already been struck!”
He turned on his heel and left, Caleb following right after him, leaving me with River.
“I thought you were willing to do whatever it takes to get her back,” River said.
I looked at him. He had several scars on his face. Some of them self-inflicted, others from fighting.
“I would.”
“Then this is a done deal. Until we can find out a way to make it right, Emily will be ours.”
He didn’t give me chance to respond.
I stared at the man on the ground and tutted. “We’re about to fuck up as badly as you. Hopefully, this time, she won’t kill us.” Whistling to myself, I followed my boys into the kitchen.
Earl had already started to eat his sandwich. “Damn good cheese you have here. I need to know your supplier.”
“Cut the crap. Before we agree, we have a few conditions.”
He burst out laughing. “You think you’re in a position to be giving me conditions?” he asked.