Chapter 20

Twenty

LIVIA

Aman with a black outfit and ski mask lifts me into his arms gently. “Max. Get Max.”

“We’re on it already. I need to get you out first, Mrs. Freidenberg.”

It must be his spy, Aries. There’s such comfort in hearing my new name and title, but it’s not enough. My other half is missing. “Help Max…” It’s all I repeat like a mantra. I’m not dying; I just need to get my jacket off and the burning would stop. The blackness overtakes me again as I pass out, no longer wanting to feel the pain.

My shoulder wedges against Aries’s broad chest. We sway together as he walks swiftly to a vehicle awaiting us down another alleyway nearby. “Help Max…” That’s what I say before I faint again, feeling the car jet toward the manor.

Jakob grabs me from the passenger’s side of the car when we get home. Aries murmurs something to him about Max as I grip Jakob’s thick neck tighter. He smells of pine and peppermint, like my grandfather used to. Closing my eyes, I pretend I’m that little girl playing with him again, only to seek some comfort from the agony of losing my mate.

“Egon and Gemini are on it. We’ll get him back, Mrs. Freidenberg.” Realizing Aries is leaving, I suddenly spawn awake, pain be damned.

Before Aries takes off, I yell, “I’m coming with you!” Beating my fists against Jackob’s tight chest, he wrestles me tighter against his body.

Aries shakes his head, still donning the black mask before jumping inside the vehicle and speeding off in a cloud of dust.

My husband… Max could be anywhere. Half my heart is missing. How does a person live without their heart inside? No. There’s no way I’m leaving my partner alone. No matter how much Jakob tries to hold me back. Max needs me and I need him.

I’m going to get him back.

Acquiescing for the moment while Jakob brings me inside, Maggie waits in the small parlor for me with a medical kit.

“It’s fine. I don’t even think it penetrated. Just… hurry,” I say, shucking off my coat and peeking at my shoulder. There’s a lot of blood loss, but the bullet falls out of the sleeve as I rip off my clothes.

Maggie sets to work, quietly stitching where the bullet cut through my skin and some muscle. It hurts, but I was a wuss to lose it in the car. Especially when Max told me to keep my eyes on him. I held on to consciousness as long as I could until they threw him in the back of that car. The man who took him… he had a tattoo like Strauss’s men did who chased me a few months ago.

Once the healer has completed her work, I run upstairs to change into slick leather pants and a fresh jacket before dialing Alpha. Despite her obsession with my brother, she’s taught me everything I know about staying stealthy. Sneaking into and out of places undetected is what she is known for in Gnarled Pine Hollow’s underground channels, and I need her skills now more than ever.

“Please, Alpha. I’m desperate. I will go alone if you don’t go with me.”

A small sigh breaks through the speaker. “Livia… I can’t let you do that! Cal won’t like it.”

“So come with me.”

“Echoes says Aries and Gemini are in the vicinity of Strauss’s place. I think they have it covered. They’ll bring him home.”

“Alpha, you’re in love with my brother. I know it. If he were in trouble…” I bite my lip to prevent a sob from escaping. The torment of even thinking of losing Max is too much for me to bear. I won’t lose him. We have always been. We will always be.

After a moment’s pause, she replies, “Okay, Livia. I’ll take you. Be outside your gates in ten.”

We hang up, but before I step downstairs, Arianna emerges from her room in a hurry, her normally perfectly managed espresso-colored locks disarranged.

“What’s going on? Jakob said⁠—”

Taking a few strides, I grab her hands in mine and squeeze. “Strauss has your brother.”

Arianna’s eyes fill with tears, her thick bottom lip quivering. “This is about me, isn’t it?”

My head tilts in confusion. “What do you mean?” How much does she know?

“He wants me. Strauss wants me. Wyatt told me—he told me that Strauss burned down the building to get me. Said that Strauss sent his men to kill Derichs. Max never tells me anything.”

Pulling her into my body, I tighten an arm around her waist in a hug. “Yes, he does want you, but there’s no way we will let that happen, Ari.”

She nods against my shoulder. “You two have always protected me. I love you both.” Letting her go, I take a few steps away, our hands lingering as long as possible.

“Stay with Jakob.” Turning toward the stairs, I pause. “I’m getting him back, Ari. I love you.”

Within eight minutes, Alpha arrives in a blacked-out Maclaren. Sliding into the passenger side, I grip the seat as she takes off like lightning toward the Strauss mansion.

“There’s a back entrance through the crypts. It’s not pretty, and it’s creepy, but you better follow and not make a fucking sound. Got your boots on?”

“Yes. Covert mission outfit engaged. It’s been a while, but I remember everything you taught me. I’m ready. I have to be.” She pulls the car under some trees down the street. Snagging her sleeve, I stop her before she bolts out of her door. “Alpha, he’s mine. He’s my lion, my husband, and I won’t live without him.”

“Desperation can force mistakes. Take your emotions out of this. Now, move.”

Winter has settled in the valley, causing my skin to ache with the sharp cuts of the cold air, but I ignore it. This is the night all my training has led me to. We climb a steep incline, grabbing roots to lift us on the particularly slick parts, the path chosen because there are no cameras in this area.

Spiked iron fencing lines the property. There’s a spot that has just enough space for us to slide under. My jacket gets caught on a rod, but I tug it free and scramble to my feet as Alpha motions with her finger to remain quiet. We’re on Strauss land now. In my mind, I play a twisted game of would you rather. If I got caught, would it be worse to be a sex slave or be tortured for eternity?

Sliding along the edges of the property lines, we make it to the graveyard at the back of his large estate. In the middle is a Gothic mausoleum with thick stone columns in front of two intricately carved dark wood doors leading to the entrance. Once inside, Alpha motions to a back wall. There, she shuffles her foot on the ground and taps out the lines of a trapdoor in the floor with her toes.

She points with a finger for me to kneel, and as I do, I find a metal ring through the ancient dust and tug on it with my full strength. The cover is extremely heavy. But for Max, adrenaline pumps through me, and I give it another pull to get it lifted. Alpha gets underneath and pushes with her weight until the cover is off, revealing a set of stone steps leading down into nothingness.

Alpha grabs me in a hug. We’ve never touched before, but I quickly realize she is doing this in order to speak closely in my ear and not for any show of affection. “You’re on your own from here. I cannot enter, or that’s a declaration of war on West Side. Head down the hall, which will lead to a conservatory near the entrance of his dungeons. Gemini and Aries are here somewhere on the grounds, but I don’t know where.”

And before I can say a word, she deftly vanishes out of the mausoleum, leaving me standing in utter terror and determination in front of the hatch.

There’s only one way to save my husband, and it’s through the dark hole.

Using dancer’s steps, I lithely slip through the crypts beneath Strauss’s estate. My hand trails along the cold stone walls. No light seeps through, but occasionally, I use my phone’s flashlight to see how much farther I have to go. It seems like miles. I can’t rest, though.

On and on, each stone underfoot causes my brain to become confused. Without the light, I can’t see where I’m going and feel like I may be headed in other directions. The sound of my footsteps is so monotonous, it matches the drumming of my pulse until they are one. A person could go crazy down here.

The air is dead, stale. And maybe I have died. Maybe that bullet took me, and this is my hell. Wandering, searching for my lion for all of eternity with half of my heart lying somewhere outside of its rightful place. Its chambers lying deep in the dungeons of this purgatory. Will it ever be able to beat again?

Finally, the atmosphere changes. It’s less dense. Particles are looser and I can breathe easier. Purple light creeps toward my feet as I approach the tunnel’s end. It’s another set of stairs leading to whatever level of damnation awaits above.

Pressing myself against the curving wall of stone, I slide soundlessly up the steps. Loud echoes of water dripping greet me as I alight. Reaching the top, I peer over the edge of a short rail, finding myself in an underground conservatory of sorts.

Rows and rows of tall, hazy green plants are lined under blacklights. I thought West Side had a grip on the marijuana industry, but Strauss seems to have his own, even growing different strains Cal raises for sale. Instead of focusing on my ire at his thievery, my eyes quickly scan the area to find an exit.

Shuffling to the metal door, I peek out of the glass window. Three halls branch out from a main area outside the door. One to the left leads up another staircase. The one straight appears to dead end with one dark wood door. And the one to the right has several doors, all closed.

Small red lights blink in two corners of the hall. Cameras. Those are a definite problem since I don’t know where I’m going. Sneaking won’t help if Strauss can see my every move.

Frustrated, I turn around and study the room I’m in. It’s dark enough that I’m hopefully unnoticed if there are cameras in here, too. The dripping sound dulls my mind as I try to focus on how to get to Max, where he could be…

A wide ventilation shaft sits high on the wall near the stairs where I entered. If I could get inside, perhaps I could scope out the other rooms without being seen. A wooden work bench stands nearby, and I drag it over to the entrance, the loud scraping sound shattering the atmosphere as it crosses over the uneven stones. As quickly as I can, I leap on top of the table, then unscrew the cover from the hole, the cover easily falling off.

Hoisting up, I’m just able to fit on my belly and squirm down the length, which heads in the direction of the right hallway. As I near a light entering from the next room, screams from a man in agony ring loudly through the shaft, my pulse racing so violently, it makes my vision blur. I’m able to shimmy closer for a better look while holding my breath.

Through the lines of the metal cover, I spot Max’s bare body bound to a stockade. A sharp inhale cuts across my lips when I see the skin of his back peeled opened in several bloody slashes. Vladimir Strauss stands in front of him with a black leather whip in his hand. Obviously used for torture, the walls hold several pieces of bondage equipment, and other devices used to inflict his sadism are set up on a table near the side wall. A man with a red hand tattoo of a bull stands near the tools, flipping a pair of pliers in between his fingers like it’s a Rubik’s cube.

“You can make the call. Get Arianna here for me,” Strauss says in a voice that sounds as if he’s bored.

Max spits on the ground and doesn’t speak, only moans.

Sliding my phone from my pocket, I send a text to Echoes and ask her to get in touch with Max’s hackers. I alert Markus and Jakob as well.

I’m able to scrunch into a ball to position my feet over the ventilation cover. It’s easy then to slide my knife out of my boot and grasp it for my next move.

“We could always just fuck your wife.”

“No!” Max manages to yell, blood flying from his mouth as he does.

Shoving with all my might, the cover flies off, and I explode from the exit of the shaft, dropping to the floor with a thud.

Strauss’s wide eyes take me in with shock, and I bounce to my feet while he’s stunned, then split leap toward him, knife in hand. Max growls like a bear and breaks the wood of the stocks enough that he shakes himself free. His large body stumbles back in a daze, but he grabs a plank before he falls. The man with the hand tattoo spurs into action, grabbing a blade from the table and waltzing toward me.

Max swings with a mighty roar and nails the guy in the back of the head until he slumps forward, eyes rolling into his head. Like a jet stream, blood sprays from the wounds the injury caused, gathering on Max’s face, giving him an even more terrifying appearance. Vlad snatches both of my wrists and holds me at arm’s length while I slash at him by swinging my hand in erratic circles. Max snatches the blade from the downed man and takes two broad steps toward Strauss.

While my eyes move to my husband, Strauss manages to twist my arm and body into a lock, pressing my own knife to my throat. My legs squirm, but he takes a leg and splits mine, trapping one with his own. If I move, the blade will stab me directly in the artery. My eyes meet the darkness settled within Max’s as he realizes the danger we’re in. He crouches into his fighting stance, as if to pounce at any moment.

Strauss lets out a loud laugh in my ear, his hot breath sending tremors of disgust down my spine.

“If I were you, I wouldn’t move one more inch, Freidenberg. Or else…” Strauss takes my elbow and digs the knife point into the skin of my throat. Despite trying to contain it, a whimper escapes my mouth at the sensation as my pulse pounds against the pressure of the knife’s sharp tip. Max’s shoulders raise to his ears.

“I’m going to enjoy tearing you limb from limb.” Max’s voice is hoarse, but he gets the point across, despite being an idle threat. My man is naked, beaten, and operating only on the last of his adrenaline reserves. His knees shake as much as the wooden board he’s holding in his hands, and from the ashen pallor of his normally olive skin, I know he’s barely holding on. Strauss has him bested with me in his arms. I cannot move. It’s hopeless.

A triple knock, followed by two, then one sounds through the solid wood door to the hall. One of the security guards who greeted us when we first came to the Strauss mansion enters in a hurry. “Sir, there’s a woman here to see you.”

“Why the fuck would I care about a woman coming to see me? I’m a little busy.” Strauss nods to my husband.

The man enters the room as Max stumbles backward, almost falling over, dropping his weapon. Out of his holster, the guard pulls a gun and points it at Max’s slumped body.

“This one says she’s Arianna Freidenberg.”

I feel the smile that creeps onto Vlad’s face, pressed firmly next to my own. The nefarious grin can be heard in his voice when he says, “Oh? Well, this is someone I definitely want to see. Bring her down. And tell her to hurry. I get impatient sometimes and may kill these two for their insubordination.”

Max lifts his head. “Baby, I won’t let him touch you. He’ll lose his hands if he does.”

Strauss tightens his grip on me, and I try to hold in my scared cry, but I can’t. My tears fall freely as Max continues to gaze into my eyes. It feels like years before there’s shuffling outside the door and the guard returns. Behind him are Arianna and Jakob. And then three more of Strauss’s guards enter, each holding a gun toward Max, Jakob, and me.

Small fasciculations in Strauss’s muscles make his hold relax slightly when he sees the beautiful Ari. Innocence radiates off her, dressed in a white frilly dress, accentuated with dewy makeup and soft curls in her hair. If he slips again, I could twist out of his grasp.

“Max!” She runs to her brother first, after surveying the situation. Kneeling in front of him, she strokes a hand against his face while he tries to hide his body from her. Jakob takes off his coat and throws it over him, but Max grimaces from the pain on his back. “Please, sir. Please, let them go,” Ari cries, lifting her head toward the man still holding my life in his hands.

“Miss Arianna… It is such a pleasure. These were not the circumstances I had planned for our first meeting. But your brother and Miss Von Dovish have disobeyed my orders. The businesses were to be kept clean. Neither asked for my blessing for their clandestine marriage, either. So… my beautiful darling. I need you to choose which one will live and which one will die.”

“No! Please, don’t hurt them.” Large droplets fall from her big brown eyes as she pleads with Strauss. Her fingers reach out to touch him, as if to stop him from hurting us.

“What would you have me do, my pure-hearted darling? They deserve punishment.”

Sucking in a thick bottom lip, she swallows, then slowly answers. “I’ll marry you.”

“No!” Max yells, the volume causing a screwdriver to fall off the table nearby.

I gasp, and my blood freezes in my veins. My tears stop flowing.

She knows.

Arianna knows.

She must have read the will, about our parents’ wishes. She’s not nearly as innocent as Max thinks…

Briefly, I sort out if she has spoken with Ace yet or not. He would only agree to marry her if he wants revenge on Max for killing his sister, for us killing his necro.

Arianna is choosing the lesser of two evils. It’s not ideal, but we will have a much easier time controlling Ace than the bull. Now, if I can just get Max to calm down, we can get out of here without Strauss getting suspicious.

“Lion—” I yelp as Strauss tightens his grip on me. “Lion. I think she’s right. This is the only way.”

Arianna bends to brush her brother’s face with a gentle palm, then walks over to us. Her fingers glide over Strauss hand, and I feel his heart rapidly accelerate through his ribs pressed into my side.

“Please, sir. I will marry you. Is-is that what you want?” With a slight flutter of her eyelashes, she produces a pink flush to her cheeks as she asks. Damn, she’s good.

Max’s eyes squint with agony, but I catch his attention and give him a sly wink, hoping the gunmen don’t catch on. Remember the plan, I try to say to him with my mind. His face falters for a moment, but I sense a change in him. He understands me.

“Yes, my darling. I have such glorious plans for our future.”

“Then, please, Mr. Strauss, let my brother and sister-in-law go.”

Strauss’s grip loosens. As I contemplate darting away, I stop myself; he could still hurt me if I make too sudden of a move. His men are still aiming their guns at each of us.

“Get the minister and the certificates.”

Arianna slides closer to Vlad, grasping his hand off my arms. He allows her to take him in her grasp, and I feel his body tremble, as if her touch was what he was waiting for all along. As she inches her way next to his body, I move out of his reach and toward my husband. Two steps and I kneel to hold him in my arms.

His sweat and woody scent envelop me as I wrap around him. A hiss clips out of his mouth as I accidentally rub against a wound, but I can’t not touch him. Instead, I run my fingers through his hair and let his head drop to my shoulder.

Arianna gets quite close to Vlad. “I will marry you, but you have to let them go first. And-and I’d like to plan a wedding. I-I want a wedding, please. It will be my only one.”

Vlad seems taken aback, but schools his expression quickly. “Yes, my darling. We shall have a wedding. As big as you want. We’ll invite the entire town.”

“But my brother and sister, you need to let them leave.”

Strauss clasps her hands in his and sniffs them for a long time. Peering into her eyes, he says, “I swear to you, I will let them go.” As he places his lips on the back of one of her hands, none of us move. My nerves are on edge. Of course, he’ll try something crafty, and I won’t rest until we’re all safely back at our manor. Jakob helps Max to rise from the floor, holding him up under a shoulder, and I stand beneath the other.

The cold, gray eyes of Vlad scan the room before landing back on Arianna’s. “But, my darling. You must stay here as payment.”

“No!” Max and I shout at the same time.

Arianna’s thick lips curve into a sly smile. “Sir, I understand. I’m offering myself, and I know the consequences of disobeying your orders. But I am…” She glances around the room, then drops her voice lower. “I’m a virgin. And it wouldn’t be right for me to be here during our engagement. I would feel safer with my own people until then.” Lowering her eyelids, she peers up at him through her long, black lashes. “Please, let me go home with my family, and I’ll return for our wedding.”

“Or I’ll just kill everyone in Freidenberg Manor to get you if you don’t come. You understand that, my darling? I will slaughter everyone you love to bring you here to be with me.”

Arianna inhales quickly, and my pulse races. She nods. “Yes, sir. I understand. I will return for our wedding.”

“Give me one kiss, and I’ll allow you to leave.”

Keeping calm, Arianna’s brown hair falls over one shoulder as she peers up into Strauss’s cold, gray eyes. “And my brother and sister?”

The corners of his lips lift into a small grin. “And your brother and sister, yes.”

Max cringes and buries his face into my neck. I run my fingers through his hair, letting my nails scratch his scalp, trying to soothe his discomfort. For him, I know this will be just as painful as the lashes on his back to watch. He grips my shoulder tighter with his large hand.

Arianna snakes her arms around Vlad and presses her lips to his. As if he had been using all his restraint, he releases his hold on his discipline and envelopes her, kissing her back desperately, his head dipping to capture as much of the youngest Freidenberg as he can. Ari eventually peels back to take a breath, then steps back. Vlad’s eyelids are half closed as he stares at her with hunger. He wants more of her, and she just left him wanting… taking control.

“May we leave, please?” she asks, barely above a whisper.

Vlad nods, and my fingers reach out, waving for Arianna to move closer to me. I want to make sure she gets through the door first. The hem of her white dress swishes as she hurries out as Jakob and I try to lug Max with us. My lion stumbles, but is able to shuffle his feet.

Before we turn as a unit toward the door, Vlad strolls to his guard and grabs the gun from his hip holster, then shoots Jakob directly in the head, blood spraying across my face like a warm spritz of salt water from the ocean. My ears ring from hearing myself scream “No!” even after it happens.

He lied! Max trips as the body crashes to the cold stones in front of us.

Arianna’s shrill shriek echoes around the room as she covers her face with both hands, her brown eyes filled with terror.

“I said you three could leave. Not him.” Vlad tosses the gun back to his guard and wipes his hands together before straightening his sleeves. It is just another day for him. Another day and another dead body. “You’re excused.”

Max’s muscles tense under my shoulder like he’s ready for retaliation. “No, lion,” I growl at him. “Move.” We’re in grave danger. He can’t try to get vengeance now. Arianna sobs as she takes up Jakob’s position underneath her brother’s shoulder. The three of us step over the tank’s body before reaching the hall, stunned silence running between me and my husband.

“Oh, wait.” We freeze at Vlad’s instruction. He lopes to the body and digs in his pockets for a key fob, tossing it to me. “Here. You’ll need this to leave.”

We make it outside and dump Max into the back of the SUV Jakob drove to bring Ari here. None of us speak as I punch the gas and almost barrel down the gates blocking the entrance of Strauss’s estate. They open at the last moment, enough for me to squeeze the vehicle through.

Once we reach town, I pick up two cars following us, but by the time we arrive at the manor, one splits off, and the other continues inside the gates with us. The lanterns from the fenceposts illuminate the same car Aries had earlier. As soon as we pull in front of the house, Markus stands, ready to help us, his arms at his sides, tugging lightly on his shirt. When I park, I leave Max for him to gather up and jump out, on a mission to get answers from our wayward spy.

“What the fuck? Are you a fucking mole? Where were you? Your master was almost killed, and I saved him.” Pummeling my fists into his chest one after the other as rapidly as I can, Aries takes it without moving, his sternum feeling like granite beneath my hands. He’s still wearing a black mask, but breaks my fight by using his hand to take it off. The skin on his right cheek has several deep slashed scars running through it, almost as if claws have shredded his skin. Other than those, he has no descriptive features. He could be anyone with light brown hair and eyes.

“I made the deal with Ace personally. If he agreed to marry Arianna, we could get Max back. She came up with the plan herself, and I came back here for her, to make sure Ace didn’t touch her.” As if I weren’t seething with fury, he answers me with a calm, still voice.

“Why did he agree?”

Finally, a small movement of his eyes to the side shows a bit of vulnerability in his answer. “We promised we would tell him who killed his sister.”

And he probably wants to abuse poor Ari if he thinks the Freidenbergs did it. “But it wasn’t us.”

“No… but your brother knows who it was.” His lips flatten into a grimace.

“What? Cal? He does?” This is knowledge to me. Of course, my brother seems to know everything and keeps many secrets. I shouldn’t be so surprised, but how could he hide something that big from me for all these years.

Aries nods. “I-I think he wants to torture Max… by marrying her.”

Sucking in a large gulp of air makes me relax as I say, “Yeah. I figured.” My shoulders shrug with a loss of any ideas on how to fix that problem. “We’ll have to deal with that later. She needs to marry him before Strauss starts putting pressure on her.” Turning on a heel, I sprint toward the house. A little glance over my shoulder shows the spy has already disappeared, leaving the car sitting in the drive.

Racing upstairs, I make it to our new bedroom where Maggie and the other healer I met last week, Charles, have my husband laid on his stomach on a massage table. There is sage burning in the room, and Charles takes his time soaking each wound carefully with something that smells of a strong astringent. Maggie works on setting up supplies on our dresser for suturing.

Kneeling, I crawl over to my husband and slide under the head hole to see him.

The corners of his eyes crinkle, pupils tiny. His voice comes out sluggishly slow, and a bit slurred, heavy with the drugs they’ve given him. “Baby, I’m okay. I love you. You saved me.”

“You’ve saved me tons, Max. I love you.” Reaching up, I tilt my head back so I can capture his lips with mine. My kiss is desperate, his soothing. And we exchange that energy until we pull back and stare at each other for a long moment.

“We saved each other, foxy.”