12. ~Caspian~

"At least blow it out the window."

Asher swung his head toward me, his smoke wafting even closer. "I was. It's the wind. You know, on account of you driving one-hundred-and-sixty miles an hour?"

"You're just sore that your BMW can't pull this off."

"Sure. We'll go with that," he muttered, before taking another drag of his cigarette. His third in the last forty-five minutes. "You should be used to this from Cal."

"Caleb is much more considerate of those around him."

"You mean stifled with rules and boundaries?"

My hands tightened around the steering wheel. "No," I ground out. "I'm a big advocate for self-expression, being liberated, and embracing your true self. But there do need to be boundaries and limits or absolute chaos will ensue, control will be lost."

"Jeez, the number of times I've heard some variation of that over the years… I've lost fucking count," Damien's voice came from the backseat.

Hell. I'd been doing so well pretending he wasn't here.

He'd been quiet up until now playing a game on his phone. It was actually a callback to old times when he'd been a member of The Jackals and he'd do that on our way to a job to center himself, as he'd called it. To be in the zone to punish and destroy was what I'd called it. Things had really come back around lately, because now I wanted that from him again.

Asher eyed him over his seat. "You're an extreme case, one that enforced this intensely controlled approach for Caspian."

"An extreme case, huh? You flirting with me, hot stuff?"

"You'd know if I was, believe me."

In my rearview mirror, I saw Damien lick his lips at him. "Can't wait."

"Don't hold your breath," Asher said as he tossed the butt of his cigarette out the window, then rolled it back up.

"Yeah? Why's that?"

"You couldn't handle me, sweetheart."

"You'd be surprised."

"I doubt that."

Damien sat forward in his seat. "What—"

"Enough," I growled. "Let's focus."

"We have twenty minutes before we arrive," Damien argued. As per usual.

Asher turned to me. "As I was saying, when it comes to Caleb, I'd relax your boundaries a little. He didn't just leave because of his issues."

"You're accusing me of suffocating him?"

"Oh, damn," Damien commented.

"No. I'm saying that he did it to himself in order to please you. It added a great deal of strain to him."

"I know," I found myself admitting, and I saw Damien's shock mirror my own.

Asher smiled. "Good."

The drive went on in peaceful silence for another ten minutes.

Well, outwardly peaceful.

Inside my own head, it was utter turmoil.

Rage, grief, and pain.

Such intense worry and heartache for Caleb still being in Elijah's clutches.

We had a solid lead now, but it was still no guarantee, and I couldn't shake the feeling that we'd encounter yet another setback.

"If this doesn't pan out, there's another option," I finally spoke.

Asher swung his head toward me. "Of course there is, we'll keep searching, and we won't stop."

"That will take yet more time, something Caleb doesn't have." I sucked in a breath and revealed, "Elijah issued a demand."

"What was it?"

"King."

"Jesus Christ," Damien choked.

Asher raised an eyebrow. "The fact you brought this up indicates you're actually seriously considering it."

"You don't give into threats. Ever. Believe me, I know firsthand there," Damien said, sounding beyond shocked that I was even contemplating it.

"This is different."

"It's not," Asher insisted.

I eyed him across from me. "This is Caleb's life we're talking about."

"You can't give up King. Not only is it your legacy and a mammoth empire that you've spent years cultivating, it's also the source of your power. Without that, it'll be an open game on you and yours for your enemies with you having no way to defend yourself. You've positioned yourself so incredibly well that your power is your protection. You can't give that up. Not for anything."

"All that power and this still happened. My loved ones were still endangered, taken, and abused."

"An anomaly. It certainly won't be a one-off if you hand King over to a madman. Can you imagine what somebody like him will do with all that power and influence? It would be absolutely catastrophic."

When I went to argue my point further, Asher startled me as he suddenly laid his hand on mine, making our gazes clash briefly, while I also had to keep an eye on the road. "I'm here. I won't let it come to that. If this lead doesn't pan out, we'll find another. It's why you brought me in on this. I won't stop and I know you won't either, until Caleb is back safely with you and yours. Don't allow your desperation and fear of what he's enduring to get the best of you. It absolutely cannot take the lead here or be the basis for any significant decisions you make at this point nor going forward. The moment that doubt starts to lead the way, Elijah has won. You're better than that. Do you hear me, Caspian?"

My first reaction was to pull my hand away.

But I didn't.

More than that, I turned mine to grasp his back.

Intensity passed between us.

"I hear you."

He smiled. "Very good."

His phone rang and he gave my hand a squeeze, before pulling away.

He reached into his tactical vest and retrieved his phone, grunting when he checked the call display.

"My woman's father," he informed us. He pressed his finger to his lips, gesturing for us not to make our presence known, as he put it on speakerphone on his lap and answered, "Lance. To what do I owe this pleasure?"

A gruff voice boomed through the car, "I know what you're really doing down there in the City of Rossun."

"I didn't doubt that you would after the message I put out."

"What about your commitment not to engage in this sort of thing anymore? Does my daughter know? The boys?"

"Of course not. It would only worry them. A friend is counting on me, a brother. End of story."

"Asher—"

"I assume you recall a very fucking unpleasant incident that involved you serving me up on a platter to be tortured by sadists?"

"We're working through that."

"Consider keeping this to yourself part of that."

I could hear Lance "Revenant" Carlyle blowing out a breath of frustration down the line that Asher had him. This was the version of him that I was familiar with. The calculating puppet master. "Fine. At least it's Caspian King we're talking about. One of the very few stable individuals in this sort of line of work. He'll keep things in line."

"Exactly."

"If things go south, I'm here. Do you hear me?"

"You're well heard."

"Good. Be careful."

"Always."

As they hung up, Asher grinned at me. "Good thing he's not aware that the whole stable thing when it comes to you is actually a far cry from the truth right now."

"How come you're not supposed to involve yourself in this sort of thing anymore?" Damien called to him from the backseat.

"It's not good for him," I answered for him, before smiling over at him as I said, "It's why we're fortunate he's made an exception this time for us."

"All right. Well, good," Damien said. "I was worried it was about the danger, because that would be a hell of an issue walking into what we're about to."

"The danger is we don't know precisely what we're walking into," Asher told him. "Our intel was limited, hence proper preparation wasn't possible."

"That means you can't go in like a wrecking ball," I reminded Damien.

"You said, until you give the word."

I nodded. "The moment I do, and only then, can you unleash all over the place."

I eyed him in the rearview mirror to see him rubbing his hands together with undisguised excitement. "It's been way too long."

For once, all that pent-up violence of his was going to come in handy.

I saw him start typing on his phone then, smiling to himself, then even chuckling.

"Texting?" I asked.

"Just looking back over some messages Skylar sent just after we headed out."

"What messages?"

"Her trying to keep things light and all that, then keeping me updated about Seb, making sure I know he's okay. She even sent a couple of pictures and one real sweet one of her holding his hand and smiling at the camera, those eyes of hers sparkling like emeralds in the light of Seb's room."

I tensed. "What's going on there?"

"Going on?"

"I believe he's referring to that sparkling like emeralds line," Asher said.

Absolutely, I was.

"What about it?" he asked, clueless. Or at least playing it that way.

I wasn't in the headspace to dance around it and carefully approach it like I normally would. Instead, I made it clear bluntly and outright, "She's ours, Damien."

"Believe me, I know that through and through. We're just friends."

"Friends?"

"Well, it's more like a big brother-little sister dynamic."

Asher whistled. "Incredible save. You were moments away from being flung from this slick Maserati at one-hundred-and-sixty miles an hour."

I grinned. "He's not wrong."

"Well, shit. After me coming out here to do this with you? Being on my best behavior? Having Skylar's back through all of this, while you've been doing the opposite and pushing her away?"

"And the being-flung-from-the-car option is right back on the table," Asher commented with a roll of his eyes at Damien's lack of sense and self-preservation.

Oftentimes, he really didn't have a filter. It was because he rarely thought properly before he spoke.

Luckily for him, he was saved by my phone ringing from its handsfree setup on the dash.

I eyed the call display and shook my head to myself. Unbelievable. He was actually being saved by Skylar.

I'd taken my focus off him to tend to higher priority matters and now this strange connection had developed between them.

Hell.

I answered the call, "Skylar, everything well?"

"Caspian, hi. How far out are you?"

"Thirty minutes, give or take," Asher answered.

"Good," she breathed with obvious relief. "There's still time."

"Time for what?" I asked.

"Bastian woke up a few minutes ago and told me exactly what happened. Thanks to him I now know where they're holding Caleb. And it's a good thing he was able to tell me because he says it's like a maze out there and the place is incredibly well-hidden. It could've taken you ages to find it."

"What's the location?" Asher asked, readying his phone to take down the details.

She reeled off the address and precise directions Bastian had managed to ascertain. Particularly impressive given the state he'd been in.

"Very good," Asher murmured as he jotted it down, then tried to pull up blueprints for it.

"What else?" I asked down the line.

"There were twenty guys, plus Elijah. But Caleb took out five of them."

I started. "Caleb did? So he was free?"

"They weren't being held together. Bastian was able to break out of the basement of a guesthouse he was being held in. He fashioned a couple of weapons and then broke Caleb out from a bedroom in the mansion where he was being… tormented. It also looked like Elijah was trying to turn him, brainwash him, or something. He was subjecting him to video footage of the people he'd saved with his facilities being abused before they'd been rescued, while he was forced to… uh… find release. He was also being used by the guards to… relieve themselves on in various ways. Bastian warned of Elijah mentioning some girls arrivingsoon to further the torment. And the bastard himself… he's taken him as his pet. Fuck, it's… I can't… just uttering these words is… but you need to know what you're walking into."

My fingers dug into the steering wheel and I was close to shattering my teeth from how hard I was grinding them in a bid to temper my reaction.

I was already aware of Elijah playing with Caleb from that awful photo he'd sent me as proof of life. It was why I'd become so… on edge as Dante and Luke kept calling it.

But this… what she was reporting… it was beyond even that.

I could barely breathe through the pain and rage rolling through me.

"Caspian? Are you still there?" Skylar asked, her concern bleeding into me.

"He's here," Asher answered for me. "Just absorbing your report, sweetheart. We've got it from here. This is very helpful. Thank you."

"Okay, please just… be careful."

"You got it, Bluebell," Damien called from the back.

With that, Asher hung up for me and shoved a hand through his hair, even him being unable to hide his distress. I heard Damien cursing in the back at the sickening news.

"Caspian?" Asher called.

I slammed my fist into the steering wheel. "We bury them. We fucking well bury them all. Elijah is mine. He dies by my hand."

And what a death it was going to be.

What I'd done to Ben would look like absolutely nothing.

There wereno vehicles in the courtyard.

We'd already determined during our recon when we'd arrived, taking it on foot for the last two miles so that we could approach covertly, that there were no hostiles patrolling the grounds either.

As we drew closer, it became clear that the front door of the mansion was open too.

My heart sank.

It wasn't looking good.

Not at all.

Butit could also be a trap.

They could be hidden and lying in wait.

I wouldn't put it past that underhanded piece of shit, Elijah.

"Take the guesthouse," I called to Damien.

"I'll handle the second floor," Asher said.

Exactly the command I'd been about to give.

I nodded and then Damien headed off, gun drawn, toward the guesthouse in the distance, while Asher, clinging to the shadows, approached the east side of the mansion where we'd determined during our recon a side entrance to be.

Once they were out of sight and on-mission, I did something I would never normally risk doing, and approached through the open front door. I was far too anxious—all right, fucking desperate—to lay eyes on Caleb again and get him the hell out of this shitshow to be my usual cautious self. Honestly, with my current frame of mind, if I had to take a hit in order to free him,I would surely do so.

As I stepped inside, my Glock at the ready, I didn't hear a single sound. No voices, no movement. Not even Asher upstairs. Although, I was aware that he could move like a ghost when he really brought it during an operation. It should have added to the creepiness when it came to him, but… it didn't. Not this time.

I made my way through the house, clearing the lobby complete with a winding staircase that had seen better days with many of the steps worn, the railings dented and chipped, then the dozens of rooms—salons, living rooms, a dilapidated kitchen with a couple of cabinet doors hanging off their hinges, an office and a library that were both collecting a great deal of dust. It fit with what Asher had discovered once Skylar had given us the location from Bastian, an estate that had been foreclosed almost a decade ago and been left untouched, until Elijah had used it as a refuge. And a fucking torture chamber for my boys.

I reached the final room, having found nothing and no one—what appeared to be a banquet hall.

And what I found inside had me pulling up short.

After everything I'd seen and done over the years, it took a lot for something to shock me.

But this certainly qualified.

The ugly burgundy round banquet tables and chairs had been parted down the middle to draw attention to the beige wall at the forefront.

And there, written in what appeared to be dripping blood were the scrawled words:

Too slow, King.

If that wasn't enough, there was a long, white rectangular table in front of the wall fitted out with wrist and ankle restraints. Trails and droplets of blood and… other fluids covered the surface. At the far right end were Caleb's army boots, those that he always wore for an op. I drew closer, noticing something on the far left end by the wrist cuffs that I couldn't quite make out from this distance at the far end of the room. As I drew close, I saw tufts of dark hair, the shavings from a beard, or thick stubble. Beside that were a couple of locks of sandy-blond hair.

"Caleb," I choked.

"Bit fucking dramatic with the blood on the wall. Jesus," Damien's voice sounded.

When I didn't respond, I heard his footsteps drawing closer. "King?" he called worriedly.

I still didn't answer.

I couldn't.

All I could do was stare at the pieces of my love all over the table.

"Fuck," I heard Damien curse as he reached me and saw what my body had blocked from his view.

"It's Caleb's. The blood… all of this."

Hearing it voiced out loud, it broke through the horrifically surreal nature of it.

I couldn't stop it.

I couldn't check myself.

I just fucking couldn't.

In the next moment, I was spinning around, hauling one of the chairs from beneath a table, then tossing it through a window. As the sound of the violent crash and decimation, it took me over, until I was doing it again, then slamming my boot into the table over and over again, completely brutalizing it. Then I was pounding my fists against the message, my hands covered in blood within seconds.

But I still didn't stop, I was too far beyond that, and before long I was denting the wall, taking chunks out of the drywall. Over and over and fucking over.

"Argh!" I roared. "Argh! Caleb! Caleb!"

Hands were on me then, fighting to pull me back from the wall and from crushing my knuckles to pieces.

In the throes of all of it, I lashed out, snarling like an animal.

I heard a grunt of pain and then a weight slammed into me, taking me in a brutal football tackle. It drove me down to the ground and I looked up to see Damien straddling me, trying to restrain me.

At the dangerous look in my eyes, he rapidly told me, "Skylar asked me to pull you back if you lost control. She's worried, really worried."

That news cut into my rage.

Slightly.

But it was all that was needed for another set of hands to strengthen the restraining hold.

And then Asher was there, holding me from behind, speaking at my ear, his own emotion catching me off guard and wrapping around mine, serving to bring me up short, "This isn't helping, Caspian. He needs us. He fucking needs us. Stay with me, sweetheart. Get control. You can't fall or he's really done for."

"He might already be," I choked out.

"No. I don't believe that and I know you don't really either. We'll see this through, we'll find him."

I nodded and stopped resisting, their holds loosening a little around me.

"We'll find him."

There was no other option.

I couldn't survive it being any other way.

Caleb. My love.