41. Traitor

41

Traitor

Violet

My head is throbbing. It hammers so deep in my skull that I don't just hear it. I feel it. Thoughts fade in and out. Time fades in and out.

I fade in and out.

Whatever drug is circulating through my system has my head spinning and my heart racing. Fear sends my stomach dropping like it did on that roller coaster when I was thirteen.

Mom took the weekend off work so we could spend time together. It was warm—the middle of summer. She hated everything about carnivals—from the long lines to the crowds—but she went for me. She squeezed my hand as she sat beside me on the roller coaster, and I waited with each click as it lifted us .

I waited to fall. To drop back to earth. To feel the rush of being alive, when every day I considered taking a razor to my wrists.

I was numb, and I needed to feel something—anything.

And on that roller coaster, I felt it. Fear and anticipation swelled in my stomach as we climbed, and when we reached the crest, I finally exhaled.

I screamed as the air ripped from my lungs, and I fell with the angels, losing their wings, wondering if that's why they did it. To break free. To claw out of the casket our souls spend our lives in and just let go.

I didn't understand myself then, but I hoped someday, someone would.

Kole did.

Blinking my eyes open, searing pain steals my breath. Something hot licks my skin, but when I try to scream, I choke around a ball gag that's stuffed into my mouth. It clasps around the back of my head and digs into my scalp.

Every part of me burns and aches. My skin feels like it's been raked over coals, and I'm hot but shivering.

"There she is." A familiar voice filters through my pain as a figure looms over me.

Braxton Westwood .

Liam's brother.

He steps closer, and I blink him into focus as my body begins to wake. The burning on my ribs hurts worse as my mind clears, and when I try to reach for my side, my hands can't get there.

They can't move at all .

Blinking again, I look around and recognize the basement at Sigma House. I've been here once, and it didn't feel any more comforting then than it does now. This is where they hold their trials, which likely means no one can hear me, and there's no escape.

I try to move my hands again, only to realize my wrists and ankles are bound. I'm stretched along the full length of a table in the center of the room.

My T-shirt is pulled up, baring my stomach, and a hot ache scalds my ribs.

Brax holds up a knife. It's bright from being held over a heat source. And my heart races faster with the realization of what he's doing with it.

Lowering the knife, he holds up Liam's phone. "Your boyfriend really should have gotten rid of the evidence. At least he made this easy."

Tossing the phone to the side, he brings the knife to my ribs again.

Tears spill from my eyes as I struggle to get away and fail. The burning knife sears my skin as he draws a line down my side. The ball gag muffles my scream. I'm choking on sobs and spit as the smell of burning flesh fills the room.

Brax grins, pulling the knife away and stepping back to admire his handiwork.

Daring to look down, I'm thankful I still have most of my clothes on, even if the look in Brax's eyes tells me what he's done so far isn't the worst that's to come.

I try to mumble through the gag—to reason or beg—but it's no use .

"Shh... No one wants to hear that pretty mouth of yours, Violet. It's only good for two things." Leaning close, Brax taps the ball gag before whispering in my ear. "Telling lies and sucking cock."

It's so crude my stomach sours. I don't know Braxton well, but any image of his innocence strips away as he stands in front of me. He's just as terrible as his brother.

"Don't look so scared." He roughly rubs a tear from my cheek, lifting his thumb to look at the evidence. "Liam said this is what turns you on."

That's nowhere near the truth. Even if I enjoy Kole being rough with me, this isn't the same. I didn't ask Braxton for this.

But I can't argue or fight with the restraints holding me back. All I can do is try to hold in the tears steadily streaming down my cheek.

"Or is this not quite right? Do you prefer it when you can't see behind the mask?" Brax reaches for something on the table, slipping it over his face.

He turns to me, and those familiar neon blue Xs glow in my direction.

"Say hello to the camera, kitten."

I hate that Brax is calling me that. The only one allowed to use that name is Kole.

Kole .

Where is he?

Brax looks to the side, and I follow his line of sight until I spot a camera. He's recording this. Just like Liam was going to the night he died. He's finishing his brother's task, which means he probably knew what Liam's plan was all along.

With my focus on the camera, movement from the ground catches my attention, and my eyes widen when I spot Declan sitting on the tile. He attempts to stand but is stopped by the chains holding him close to the cement floor.

He's still wearing the same thing he was when he let me into the house moments ago.

At least, I think it was moments ago. I have no idea what time it is. What day it is, for that matter.

"Oh good, look who woke up to join the party." Brax peels the mask off and sets it aside, grinning at Declan.

I search the room for Kole to see if he's chained up as well, but he's not there.

"What the fuck?" Declan pulls against the chains, and even when I'm sure it hurts, he doesn't let up. "You're a fucking traitor."

"I'm the traitor?" Brax rolls his shoulders back, his expression darkening. "You're one to talk. I think the reign of the Pierces and Christiansens has come to an end. Don't you?"

"That's what this is about?" Declan laughs, unamused. "The Westwoods are taking over Sigma House?"

Brax doesn't respond, glaring at Declan instead.

"Why is she here?" Declan asks.

I can't tell if it's curiosity or if he cares because of Kole. But when his gaze meets mine, I get a hint of genuine concern. A soul that might actually exist within the darkness that is Declan Pierce .

"You don't know?" Brax grabs my face hard. His fingers pinch my skin, and my jaw aches from his grip. "I figured since you took my brother from me, it was only fair to make this a family event for you as well. Violet is your sister, after all."

He tosses my chin, and it's enough to swing my head in Declan's direction.

My eyes meet his, and the cocky, cold attitude I'm used to seeing has been replaced with shock.

His sister?

Confusion floods my mind as I try to wrap my head around it. Declan can't be my brother, can he?

Except it makes sense. Ian Pierce fits the mold of a man who wouldn't want anything to do with an illegitimate child. A man who cares about himself above family. A man who would throw money at his problems to make my mom go away.

Blood drains from my face as the pieces click together. The rich man who went through town. The one with the family and the reputation as my mom called it.

He was Declan's father.

Something akin to pain flashes in Declan's eyes for the briefest second, and it's enough to etch the realization into mine.

We're siblings.

"I don't have a sister." Declan's jaw clenches as he looks back at Brax.

"You sure about that? What do you think your daddy does on all his business trips? Do you really think his bed is empty? It isn't. You can ask Violet's mom. "

"You don't know that."

"But I do." Brax grins. "Why do you think Liam chose her? Just to piss Kole off? Kole's obsession with her was icing on the fucking cake, but why stop there when she's the key to destroying Sigma Sin. Liam got lucky when he was digging up dirt on your father. Who knew one buried birth certificate would be the answer to fixing all my family's problems."

"What are you talking about? Violet has nothing to do with this."

"She has everything to do with it," Brax snaps, running his palm down my stomach, pushing his fingers under the band of my jeans and toying with my underwear.

It takes everything in me to swallow the bile rising in my throat.

"Want to watch me fuck your sister, Declan?" Brax shoves his hand in further, grabbing me, and I choke back the desire to vomit as tears start to fall from my eyes. "I hear Kole already let you watch once, but it'll be much more fun now, knowing what she is to you, don't you think?"

Brax grips me tighter, and I try to fight against the restraints again, but all it does is tighten them. He leans in, licking the line of my jaw and laughing when I try to scream.

"Good girl." Brax towers over me. "I want to watch you cry while I fuck you. Scream for your brother. For your boyfriend. For the daddy who didn't want you. I'm going to rip your cunt open like you deserve for what you did to Liam. "

Pulling his hand away, he grabs the knife again from the table and drags it down my ribs, making another mark on my skin. The blade is cooling, but it doesn't make it any more bearable as I choke on my spit and clench my teeth around the gag.

Brax holds up the knife in front of my face. "Maybe when I'm done filling you with my cum, I'll fuck you with this and let your brother watch you bleed out."

He rests his thumb on the blade.

"Kole is going to fucking kill you for touching her." Declan fights against the chains, but there's no use.

Brax turns his attention to Declan. "He can try. But you're all going to get what's coming to you for what you did."

"And what is that?"

Brax leaves me at the table and storms over to Declan, using the blade to lift Declan's chin. "You destroyed my family."

Declan doesn't flinch as the blade digs against his neck. "I don't know what you're talking about. Liam ran off; he's missing. That's not my fault."

"I'm not talking about Liam going missing." Brax is right in Declan's face now. "Especially when we both know he's six feet under."

"I don't—"

"The second trial. You turned on him. You betrayed him to help your fucking father. Her father." Brax points the knife at me.

Declan's eyebrows pinch in confusion, and I believe he's genuinely as lost as I am .

I try to remember what Kole told me about the second trial. How they were locked in a room together. They were starved and tortured. Kole told me he and Declan didn't turn on each other, but I'm not sure what that has to do with Liam.

"You're pissed about a trial?" Declan asks, his tone even and calm while Brax stares at him. "Liam signed up for it. You signed up for it. That's how you're initiated into Sigma House. You know how this works."

"Except it isn't." Brax shakes his head. "They tell us the trials are to test our loyalty. That what's learned in them dies like the secrets of the house. That whatever we say stays between these walls. But it doesn't. You and I both know that. At least, not if it can benefit them . Sigma House is built on the lies of traitors. Your father used my family's secrets to get his position. To steal what my father had earned. Now you, your sister, and your parents are going to get a taste of your own medicine."

Declan's jaw clenches. "I don't know what you're talking about."

A figure steps out of the darkness into the room. At first, all I see is a knife glinting with the light, but then my eyes blink into focus, and Kole's eyes land on me.

"I do."