Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16

G age

Profound sadness.

I’d seen it over the years, mostly from a few friends who’d lost a loved one. But seeing Evangeline’s face, the tears in her eyes made the anger that much more dangerous. Not to me or the woman I cared a hell of a lot about, but to the bastards who’d molded and shaped her and an entire community because they thought they deserved such a place of power.

The initial meeting was in a few moments, a slight plan to push forward. I hadn’t expected the jump drive. I moved behind my desk, powering up the system as I envisioned her gorgeous face. I never wanted to see her cry unless it was tears of joy.

That would come, just not as soon as I would like.

I shoved the drive in, hoping that it didn’t get corrupted or that one of us could make sense of what we were seeing. It was hard to tell since she’d gotten everything on the fly. But goddamn, I was proud of her. Who had the nerve to do something like this? She wasn’t a pushover. She was just born into the wrong family.

As the information popped into view, the contents were random, but I began to see something of a pattern. Not only had she gathered names of what appeared to be the people in charge, but also some possible candidates for being allowed to move in. And upcoming likely marriages. She’d even captured a couple of emails, which were pretty interesting themselves. What appeared to be most damning was some odd financial information and other names that I couldn’t make heads or tails of. What she’d collected proved this society did exist. I doubted it would matter to any outside source, but to us, it was golden.

I heard voices and sat back. When Valerio and Braxton walked in, it was like old home week at our wealth management firm, where we used to enjoy having a meeting at least once a week. So many things had changed after Dad had died. While Valerio handled a lion’s share of my father’s corporation, both Braxton and I had certain functions.

Right now, none of that mattered.

“You look terrible, bro.” Valerio never minced words.

“I think you mean enraged,” Braxton added. “What, you’re not drinking?”

“You can make me one,” I told him. They both knew their way around my house and my bar.

“Demanding. I assume you have a guest, or did you stow her away somewhere safe?” Valerio asked. The two of them appeared to be more relaxed than I’d seen in a long time. As one or the other had told me over the last few months, having a good woman in your life would do that to you. Or for you.

“She’s here. It turns out her best friends are just Stepford children.” I ejected the drive and walked around the side of the desk.

“As in the old horror movie?” Braxton added as he pulled three tumblers from one of the shelves.

“Exactly like that. Weathered Heights where a very unusual board of directors decides who moves in and who moves out. In exchange for being allowed into the neighborhood, you basically sell off your children. God help the girls. Even if they are allowed a somewhat normal life, it’s stripped away when the perfect husband has been identified.”

“Shit. And the vicious cycle is perpetuated.” Valerio shook his head.

“I’ll say. And the wives? They’re brainwashed.”

“Why did she leave her kid with her mother? Her parents live in the neighborhood. Right?” Braxton poured scotch for all of us, which would suit me just fine.

“Well, come to find out, her babysitter pulled out at the last minute. Which I think equates with the girl being threatened. I’ve yet to get the name but I will. She is someone we need to have a chat with.”

Braxton added a single ice cube each and brought the glasses closer. “If she isn’t too frightened.”

“Yeah, I thought about that. I think hearing from her is vital to taking these fuckers down.”

Valerio took a glass and lifted his eyebrows. “Do you really think that’s possible?”

“I won’t stop until I do.” I snatched a glass from Braxton’s hand, taking a gulp. And I noticed the look they shared. “What?”

“You really do like this girl. She’s staying in your house. You’re going to spend money to get her kid back. You’re going to put all of us in danger to take down some secret society. Yeah, I’d say you like her.”

Valerio had enjoyed teasing me over the years that I’d become old and still be alone. “At least I am indulging in doing so before I turned into an old man like the two of you.”

“Oh.” Braxton pointed. “Good one.”

“Well, I think what you’re doing is a good thing,” Valerio added, “but don’t think what we’re up against is going to be easy.”

“Isn’t it your sweet mother who used to say that anything worth having is worth trials and tribulations?” I asked. I’d yet to change and right now, needed to take the damn jacket off. I placed the drink on my desk, literally tearing off the jacket. As I tossed it onto the back of the chair, taking the time to unbutton and roll up my sleeves, I realized by being with Evangeline, I’d learned that I wanted more out of life. Not just board meetings and corporate financials. Maybe my brothers had been onto something in finding and enjoying the women they loved.

“Just tell me this. Did you take her to the dungeon?” Braxton laughed because he knew if I’d broken the rules, I was a goner.

“At the club? I did. Even after what she went through, including the bastard of a husband and the elders in the community chasing her in the forest to keep her under control, she was like a budding flower.”

“What did you say?” Valerio asked. “They hunted her like an animal?”

“Now, maybe you see why I want these bastards taken down so badly.”

“Whew,” Braxton huffed. “What do we have?”

Valerio didn’t need a file or an iPad. The guy had a photographic memory and one for details. “Okay. I’ve dispatched not only one of the best private investigators in the state of Connecticut to find out what he can about this secret society, but I’ve also hired some mercenaries to do everything in their power to track down Damien. Do we have a recent picture just in case?”

I pulled the picture of the little boy from my jacket pocket, staring down at his angelic face for a few seconds before handing it over. “Adorable kid.”

“Explain the custody situation and why it changed?” Braxton added in.

“Well, the boy’s father became more unhinged, trying to get the kid from preschool when there was a restraining order since Joseph had been stalking her.”

Valerio whistled. “Nice piece of work.”

“Yeah, and I think the main method of intimidation is through the use of threats and likely extortion. What else have you found?”

“Well, without names of people who live there, I could only find out some about this board, which is comprised of long-term residents.”

I held up the drive. “I think I can help. Our little fawn isn’t the pushover you might think. She gathered some extremely damning information over what seems to be a few months, even having the smarts to sew the jump drive the information was copied to into the lining of her purse.”

“Good girl!” Valerio was impressed.

“Now, there are some financial types of information I didn’t have any time to dissect. I’ll leave that to you.”

Valerio laughed. “Our boy who hates the accounting end. What are you going to do?”

“For one thing, find the girl who was likely threatened. First, I need to ensure Evangeline is comfortable. Make no mistake, gentlemen. I want these fuckers brought down and I want her son brought back to her. I don’t care how much money I need to spend or how much effort it takes. Men like this think they are above the law and any reproach. Fucking bullshit. I want to expose them to everyone, including the FBI. They can’t do this to people.”

They looked at each other and I laughed.

“Yeah, she’s worth it. More than you know.”

Braxton couldn’t help but grin. “Our younger brother is in love.”

I held up my middle finger. I did value their help in this. With our resources, I knew we could turn over any rock to find the ugly vermin underneath. I would do this for her. Period.

“Alright. Let me take the drive and continue seeing what I can find. If she has names of people on here, we can then begin to formulate a plan on how to take them down.” Valerio took the drive from my hand.

“Every man has ugly secrets hiding in the darkest part of their closets. Especially those who truly believe they are above the law.” Braxton lifted his glass. “I agree with you. These fuckers need to be taken down.”

“That’s what is going to happen.”

And it was.

After they left, I took a few minutes to think through everything we’d talked about. We didn’t have a solid plan yet but we were getting there. I was exhausted but wanted to share an evening with Evangeline, if she was interested. Neither one of us had eaten and in truth, I doubted if either one of us wanted to go out.

I knew I wasn’t in the mood.

I headed up the stairs, hesitating before knocking on the door. She opened it seconds later and just seeing her brought a smile to my face. She’d changed into a lovely dress Emily had bought. I was grateful for the girl.

“What do you think?” Evangeline asked, almost sheepish in asking.

“I think you look beautiful. How’s the room?”

“What? Are you kidding me? This is a palace in comparison to my room in my house. It’s three small bedrooms, one I use as an office but it’s mine. You know?”

“I understand. So, I was thinking. You have to be hungry. I can’t cook much but…” I paused for a dramatic effect. “I can cook a mean hamburger. With cheese, of course. You game?”

“That sounds perfect. Maybe you have a cold beer?”

She never ceased to surprise me. “I think I can wrangle one up. You feel good enough to leave the room?”

“I might seem helpless given the stupid decisions I’ve made but I assure you, I can handle spending some normal time with a normal guy.”

“I’m normal?”

She laughed when I made a sour face. “More so than most dudes. Think of it that way.”

“Wow. Such a tremendous compliment. Come on, Miss Complimentary. Let’s go find a beer. At least I’ll show you the pool area.”

“I’d like that.”

She seemed exhausted and still so sad but at least her resolve was intact. As we walked down the stairs together, I mentioned when the house was built and that it used to be owned by a famous movie star.

She didn’t seem impressed.

I took her directly out the set of French doors in the living room, leading her to the outdoor kitchen. She stood just outside in the waning sunshine, looking up at the sky before glancing around the pool at the various tropical plants. “You’re a plant enthusiast.”

“I got that from my mother.”

“You mean mother of all three of you.”

“No, sadly Valerio and Braxton’s mother died of cancer. It took their father, my dad a long time to recover but he fell in love again. Honestly, it’s been a great experience for all of us. My mom treats them like her kids.”

“That’s wonderful to hear. Rare. I can’t imagine given the way I was brought up. You stay married to one person for life or you will be struck down by the devil. If the person dies, the thought is basically, tough.” She laughed as we headed out to the pool. “This is just incredible. There was this nice but stilted community pool where I grew up. It felt like guards were surrounding it at all times.”

“Do you have any idea how this cult-like community got started?” I led her to the tiki bar, crossing my fingers there were a few beers. I should have known. My amazing employees had stocked up and they’d been kind enough to cut a bag full of limes. I didn’t pay them enough.

The Coronas’ light bottles seemed to have her eyes lighting up. I enjoyed playing fake bartender, popping the tops and adding a lime to each. As I slid one across the bar, she grinned.

“Now, how did you know I preferred my beer in a bottle?”

“I don’t know. There’s just something about you that is entirely different than the women I’m used to dating, seeing, knowing, and pretty much everything else.” I backed up, heading toward the stereo. When I turned it on, she shook her head.

“That sounds like yacht rock.”

“Is there anything wrong with that?”

“Not a little thing. You’ll need to tell me why I’m so different and how you would know since we’ve only just really started to get to know each other. Other than my sorrowful woes. But to answer your question, all I remember is that house I grew up in. I did find a beautiful picture of what appeared to be a small farm tucked away in a drawer. When I asked my mother about it, she just blew it off, saying it was our former life. Our. Not my parents’. However, when you are so young, nothing seems out of place. At first, I went to a nice but traditional public school. I had a couple little girlfriends I used to bring home or go to birthday parties. Then something changed.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning, I was brought to a community party and introduced to what I’ve considered my best friends. Yes, we hit it off easily. They were the same age. Our families lived in the same community. It all made sense. However, I was pulled out of the school I did enjoy, and shoved into this private one. There things started to get a little weird. And no, still as a kid, you can’t quite put your finger on why or how but over the years, it was like everyone was living a fake life. Always waving at people driving by. Always acting like we were happy to see people. But my father used to grumble we could never allow venom into our society. It was weird and I didn’t get what he meant.”

“Wow. Sounds a little bit like a nightmare.”

“It was. I didn’t really get it at the time, but it was. Anyway, by the time I went to college, able to get away, it was like an entirely new world. Hell, I had real New York-style pizza for the first time. I’d never known what I was missing.”

“Well,” I told her and leaned over the bar, lifting her chin. “No pizza tonight, although even in Southern California, we have one of the best New York-style pizza joints in the entire United States, I kid you not.”

“No way.” Her eyes were still glistening.

“I’ll bet you. We’ll go there for dinner and you might be shocked. But tonight, we are having gourmet burgers.”

“Gourmet, huh. You’re a chef?”

“Hardly, but as I told you, I do a mean burger on the grill.”

She feigned shock. “You know how to use a grill?”

“Very funny. Them is fighting words.”

After taking another long pull on her beer and heavily placing it on the bar, she backed away and at the same time yanked off her dress. She tossed it onto one of the chairs, still backing away and beckoning me with her hands. “Come on, big boy. Come get it.”

I was shocked to see her relaxing a little bit. What that meant to me was that she truly had placed all her trust in me to perform a miracle. A heavy weight was placed on me but in truth, nothing was going to stop me from saving that little boy, and protecting the woman I was… Oh, no. I wasn’t going there just yet. But I would destroy the closest thing to a dangerous cult I’d ever come into contact with.

So help me God.

Thank God the pool was clearly marked with depths. Seeing her jump off the edge, lifting her body high into the air before arching and coming down in a graceful dive was stunning. But it could have been detrimental.

The splash was light but when she rocketed back up, her glistening wet body made my cock rock hard.

“Are you coming or are you going to be scared?”

“I don’t have a bathing suit on,” I teased, although I didn’t. What the heck? At least I had boxer shorts on and they weren’t tightie whities either. I started to strip off my clothes and I’d be damned if the heated way she was looking at me didn’t just about turn me into molten lava.

Boy, oh boy, even distraught, the girl knew how to kick up the heat. When I was almost down to my boxers, she backed away toward the waterfall area. The things I wanted to do to her were as sinful as humanly possible. I threw a glance at the various sets of French doors and sighed. The girls who worked for me were well over age. And the water would hide everything I planned on doing to Evangeline at this point.

Later was a different story.

“Big boy, I think you’re scared.”

“Careful, woman. I am your master, you know.”

“Ha.”

I didn’t dive into the pool as it wouldn’t have been elegant. I jumped, curling into a cannonball, something I hadn’t done since I was a kid.

You bet she did her best trying to get away from me, but she should always know better. If she appreciated a hunt even a tiny bit, she’d learn I could be a dangerous predator. I caught her easily enough, pushing her under the waterfall to a slightly private little area where anything we did would become distorted.

She laughed as I intertwined our fingers, pushing her arms against the rock wall. “What are you doing?”

“Taking what I want. Period.”

“Here?” She wasn’t horrified. She was excited.

“Oh, yeah. Here. Get used to it. Anywhere I want. Got it?”

“Bad boy.”

“You’re slow if you just figured that out.” I captured her mouth as I’d done a few times before. Maybe I was blowing things out of proportion but tasting her this time was entirely different. It was as if every taste was more delightful, full of additional flavor. As if the explosive heat of our bodies could set the world on fire.

And as if a horrible, repulsive situation had brought us closer.

At this point, I knew we both wanted to shove the ugliness behind us even for just a little while. The kiss was just a starting point, a reminder that we were very much alive and that everything happened for a reason.

Even if often those situations disgusted the normal man.

Maybe I wasn’t such a bad guy after all.

I swept my tongue inside, taking my time enjoying the hint of Mexican beer and what I could swear were sweet cherries. I would refrain from feasting on her pussy until later, but exploring every little recess of her mouth was almost good enough.

I freed her arms and she immediately wrapped them around my neck, even tangling her fingers in my wet hair. Within seconds, I couldn’t help myself, feeling mighty wicked. I slipped my hand further into the water, tugging on her bikini bottoms.

She moaned into the kiss, wiggling as if she was going to try to stop me. I took that moment to break the kiss, sucking on her lower lip for a few seconds as I continued my task. “You’re not going anywhere.”

“But someone could see.”

“Would that be so bad?”

Her laugh sparkled with a hint of joy, another surprise. “Not in the least.”

“Good, cause I’m not stopping for anything or anyone.” I used my thumb to push her head back, savoring the time I could take dragging my tongue from one side of her jaw to the other, even raking my teeth down the side of her neck. When I bit down on her soft skin, she yelped and laughed, obviously startled.

“Bad boy. Oh, such a bad boy.” Her whisper was throaty and seductive.

I finally had her bathing suit bottom off, struggling to pitch it to the side of the pool. She used that as an impetus, now fighting with my boxers. I didn’t fight her and when she threw them behind her onto the wet rocks, neither one of us were able to hold back any longer.

With no thought of hesitating or anything else, I drove my cock deep inside her hot pussy. I was shocked it could be like fire while in water. Maybe nothing about her should shock me in the least.

She threw her head back and gasped, the feel of her pussy muscles clamping down on my shaft one of the best feelings in the world. In the water, the sensations were somehow exaggerated. “So big. So… tight.”

“Yeah, baby.” I pulled almost all the way out, driving into her again. The force I used kicked up the water, splashing wavelike formations all around us.

There was something so sinful about being under the waterfall and I couldn’t help myself, shifting us under the stream of water.

She laughed and gurgled, daring enough to lift back her head. The vision of water cascading over her heated body was like something out of a photo shoot. She was that beautiful. One day, I’d take pictures of her just like this.

For my private collection only.

I drove into her again, shuddering when she wrapped her legs around me. I spun her around as much as the friction of the water would allow. The power of having her in my arms was special. And sweet.

And not to be taken lightly.

However, I found myself fucking her just like an animal would, praying to God I wasn’t reminding her of anything horrible from her past. Visions of the beautiful woman being chased by some lowlife assholes disguised as reputable men made me angrier than I’d been in my entire life.

She squeezed her knees against me, pulling away enough to shift her eyes back and forth. They were truly a gorgeous shade just like the rest of her. With her slickened hair and slightly running makeup, she appeared more dazzling than ever before.

We spun around together, alternating in and out of the water. My cock was throbbing to the point of continued pain, my balls already swelling. She could easily tell the condition I was in, squeezing and releasing her pussy muscles on purpose.

“Be careful, little girl,” I had to say louder than normal. “I’ll cover your body in my cum.”

“Go ahead.”

Over the course of the new few seconds, it was as if we were struggling for control, the power of her thighs stronger than I’d realized. But I won out in the end when she threw her head back with a strangled moan, her body convulsing slightly.

“Come for me, angel. Come.”

I didn’t need to give a command but it seemed she followed, even ripping her arms over her head and biting back a scream as an electrified orgasm seemed to shatter her system. I’d seen women react before, none like this. She was letting everything go, the enjoyment more than she was used to.

One climax morphed into a beautiful wave and I was mesmerized by every little facial tic. But as soon as she started to come down from the rafters, the self-control no longer existed.

I thrust long and hard for a few seconds, knocking the wind out of both of us. When I erupted deep inside, filling her with my seed, she kept her glassy eyes on me. And I could swear we’d just entered another phase of what might just turn out to be a relationship.

Part of me was scared to death. The other? Happier than I’d ever been.

But this happiness would be short lived. I could feel it in my bones. I was ready. My brothers were ready. And we were lucky we had a few men working for us I’d call enforcer types.

Things might get ugly but the greedy group from Weathered Heights wouldn’t know what hit them.

Now, I grinned.