Chapter 23

Theo

Seven hours later.

Poppy doesn ' t know it, but there ' s another man besides my brother who cares for her deeply. Another man who ' s watching her, although watching her in a very different way than Andrew did.

Another man who loves her. Unfortunately, this man ' s heart is soulless because he knows what he did was wrong, and his guilt is eating him alive.

However, whether you are soulless, a perverted beast like Andrew, or a lovesick fool like my brother Julian, love is still love. It ' s binding, sickening, and consuming, and you will do anything to keep it safe. Love is a force to be reckoned with. The question isn ' t whose love is stronger; it ' s whose love has more connections. Who has more friends in low places to preserve that love?

Men in high places often forget to look down; trust me, Andrew and his father haven ' t looked down in a long time. It ' s the men in the dark, deep trenches that continually look up, side to side, and all around. Those are the men you want as your allies.

Men like me.

Sure, Uncle Dan is strong, he has eyes and ears all over the world. That can only get you so far. Eyes see, and ears hear, but actions make or break. Uncle Dan can ' t act because the laws of the government bind him.

I ' m not.

I can act.

I will.

We will.

I can relate to the soulless man whom I now call my brother. I can relate to his pain and suffering, his guilty conscience, but also his stubborn iron will that doesn ' t allow him to know how to extend an olive branch.

You see, when you ' re so far in the depths of your hell, no matter how far you reach that branch up, no one ' s going to be able to grasp it. That ' s why he asked me to do what I did.

Yes, I invaded Poppy ' s life. I made sure that she lived close to me so I could keep an eye on her. The problem was that I lived in a house. Poppy wasn ' t looking for a house, so the next best option was getting her an apartment in one of my brother's buildings. Since Kent doesn ' t know how to keep his dick in his pants, I thought Julian was the safer option.

I was wrong, somewhat.

Julian is safer, but he fell for Poppy hard and fast. I can ' t blame him. She ' s beautiful on the outside but absolutely breathtaking on the inside. Her inner beauty isn ' t just because she is innocent; it ' s because she is broken. Broken things have survived, and that is beautiful.

Once I secured Poppy a place to live under my watch, I made sure she got a job in our company, and then I sent weekly reports back to the soulless man whose black heart still beats to make sure that Poppy was safe.

He wasn ' t happy when I told him about Julian and Poppy's relationship, but he wasn ' t exactly upset.

That ' s all about to change.

Julian has filled me in on Poppy ' s past and all the awful details about what Andrew did.

I can ' t approach the soulless man alone because, like any beast, when he hears what happened to Poppy, he ' s going to lose it; he ' s not going to see red; he ' s going to see black. A void that will consume him. He ' ll lash out, making a stupid decision. He will want to go in for the immediate kill. I can ' t allow that to happen.

Yes, our society has connections that run vastly deeper than government ones, but that doesn ' t mean we can just pull the trigger fast. One action can lead to a domino effect. We have to have the foresight to know how the chips will fall and make sure that when the empire crumbles, it is in our favor.

It's not just about making Andrew pay; it's about making him suffer, too. You don ' t just kill the king; you bring down his entire kingdom. Ensure no one else will rise up and usurp the throne.

I have to make the soulless man understand this. I know it ' s going to be hard, so that ' s why I ' ve called in others. Consider them fearless enough to try and contain the beast we are about to let loose onto the world.

We have thousands of safe houses scattered around the world. Some are less scary than the ones we are in today. It just so happened that this was the closest one to all of us. From the outside, the building looks abandoned, as if it were an old construction site that had lost funding. It ' s the bowels of it that hide a secret chamber, an intel room, an integration room, holding cells, four dozen guards that live here around the clock, and a meeting room where the soulless man is already tucked inside and waiting for me to arrive.

I pause and inhale deeply before taking the final step off the concrete stairs six floors down. There are no elevators, just three stairwells for entering and exiting. Six flights of stairs provided time for me to think and prepare for his outrage.

I take the final step and push open the door that leads to a long hallway. The slight hissing of cameras can be heard as they turn and begin to scan my body. Right before I reach another door, a shadow shifts and steps out from hiding.

" Leon," I greet him. We call him Frenchie because he ' s from France and can ' t seem to shake his accent, no matter how many extensive language classes he has. Therefore, it makes his role as an undercover operative impossible. Now, he ' s the face that scares and intimidates people. The face that announces our society is involved. His handsome face makes grown men piss themselves. I've seen it and smelt it.

Leon lazily scratches his jaw and levels a cold look at me. " Is this the only way?" he asks.

" Did you bring it?" I reply sternly.

He nods.

" Yes, it ' s the only way," I answer. I asked him to bring a sedative. It ' s not our usual answer to problems like this, but I know the soulless man will need to be sedated; his mind will wake foggy, giving him time to think. Giving us all time to plan.

" You can ' t give me a hint?" Leon grunts.

I reach for the door but pause and look Leon in the eye. "I don ' t know how you ' ll react," I warn him.

Just because he hasn ' t personally met Poppy doesn ' t mean she is a stranger to him. In a way, we all view that beautifully broken woman as part of our family.

The saddest part is Poppy thinks she has lost her family; she has no idea angels are watching over her. We may have lost our wings, but we ' re still here, lingering in the shadows, watching and waiting to strike.

I wish she had us there during that party. If she did, Andrew would have died that night instead of her brother Peter.

Leon cocks his head. " It involves blood, then?" He replies, his jaw clenching.

" Yes," I reply. When it comes to our families, we all have no lines we won ' t cross. It ' s an understanding we live by. If we don ' t avenge our own, then there is no stopping men from trying to pick us off one by one.

"He's going to lose his mind," Leon whispers, rolling his neck in an attempt to relieve the tension that's about to engulf us all.

"Thus the sedative."

" Fuck the sedative. That ' s not going to slow him down. Poppy is the only person that grounds him. Do you know the shit I had to put up with when you told him your brother was dating her? I just got him civilized again." Leon grabs my shoulder, " You and I won ' t be enough to hold him back, sedative or not."

" I know. That ' s why Kade and Ivan are already inside."

Leon raises his eyebrows. " You called in the big guns, then. Good. You ' re not as dumb as I thought you were." Leon grins and drops his hand, tucking it into his pocket where the sedative must be.

Kade and Ivan recruited Leon and me. If you think Leon is scary, those who meet Kade and Ivan usually don ' t live to tell the tale.

I turn the latch, and the steel door swings open. Kade, Ivan, and the soulless man sit around the table laughing about something. I wish I could keep them laughing, but what I ' m about to share with them will only feed our beasts.

My new brothers are vastly different from Julian and Kent, each one more animal than man, but even beasts can be tamed, and that ' s exactly what happened to us when we joined our society; they tamed us, taught us how to survive in a world filled with cages, taught us how to slip free and then lock ourselves back inside and act civilized.

Leon closes the door, ensuring it ' s locked before he approaches the table. The thud rattles my bones as I lock eyes with every single one of them. Then, all of the eyes turn to him, the most soulless brother in the room. The man whose heart still struggles to beat and remain on the path of righteousness.

He ' s sitting down at the head of the table and has no idea why we called him here, but he can tell by the shift of the air that it pertains to him.

I swallow, feeling like I ingested a boulder as it slowly wedges and wiggles down my raw throat. " You ' re not going to like what I have to tell you," I begin as I remain standing, keeping the table separating us.

Kade straightens his spine.

None of them knew what I was going to say, but they didn ' t need to know to show their faces. We have each other ' s backs. If one calls, we all come.

" You ' re not going to be able to think clearly," I warn him.

His fingers grip the arms of his chair. The beast is waking up.

" You ' re not going to be able to think at all, but I need you to think because I know the one thing you ' re going to want when I ' m finished confessing this to you is to seek revenge." He doesn ' t exhale as he waits for what I have to say next. " The best revenge is served cold; It needs time to sit and stew, to let the boil of the anger settle into a frigid frost. I need you to promise me you ' re not going to do something stupid. I need you to do something smart so we can get away with this."

Leon walks to the side and leans against the wall. His position is strategic because when the monster roars and rages, Leon can act immediately. Easier than Kade or Ivan, who are sitting, could.

I confess to my brothers the information I have and what Andrew has done and continues to do. As soon as I say the words ‘ rape, ' he loses it. Ivan tries to calm him as Leon shoves the needle into his thigh.

Kade doesn ' t try and stop him at first.

I knew this story would be too personal for him. I should have had Leon bring a second needle just in case we need to trap Kade as well. Luckily, Kade comes to his senses and acts, holding down our soulless brother as he tries to fight his way to the door; Kade whispers words that feed his beast as his eyes fight to remain open and attentive. Words that promise vengeance and a slow death.

His body slumps into Kade ' s open arms. Kade ' s own demons are stirring in his eyes as he looks at our brother.

Now, we have to sit and wait until he wakes; we have to keep him trapped in this room until he ' s able to see clearly. Only then will we allow him to start to plot. Only then will we start to move the pawns on the chessboard. Andrew and his father have no idea how much of their world is controlled by ours; they have no idea they have provoked The Obsidian Order.