Chapter 23

TWENTY-THREE

ASA

Finally, splashing cold water on his face does the trick. Jinx is ready to burn a hole through his skin. Despite that Wyatt’s now conscious, I think he’s still itching to.

“Wakey, wakey, wild card,” I say as his head rolls back and forth until those narrow green eyes focus on my face.

Glancing around the room, he takes in all of us. The wolf pack stands as a unit, each displaying their weapon of choice. Cass slaps a heavy rusted wrench in one hand. Hoss pulls out a pair of pliers from his back pocket. Dave flashes a knife, so it captures a glint of the fluorescent light in the dim basement, and Jinx lights his cigarette with a blowtorch.

I slide the brass knuckles over my fingers and grip Wyatt’s shirt, then shove my nose into his. “I need some explanations and you’re gonna give them to me.” Despite the crushing feeling in my chest at his betrayal and lies, my cock thumps once from being this close to him. It makes me want to hit him harder. Instead, I stand up between his spread thighs. “What’s your purpose, Barrington? What were you using me for?”

The chains around his arms and legs rattle as he tries to straighten in his chair. He lifts his chin to meet my face with an expression of consternation, his lips forming a solid line. He’s not going to speak.

“Answer the question,” Cass says with a resounding bass to his voice.

Wyatt stares at the door near the back of the room, his eyes taking on a vacant look, and he seems to shut down. The pack looks at me until I find Hoss’s eager expression and nod once. His smile grows broad as he dips behind Wyatt and grabs a finger with his tool, then twists. Wyatt squeezes his eyes shut and tries to contain his scream, but then lets it fly. His chest lunges forward to move away from the pain, but it doesn’t work. Hoss holds on for dear life, then crushes the bones within the little skin he has left around his ring finger.

Some sympathy hits me for his condition, but mainly, I’m angry that he hurt the love of my life. “That was for Arianna. For betraying her, telling her you were going to marry her. Saying you wanted a family with her.”

His sobbing wails quiet as he closes his eyes and sits up, slowing his chest rise with a few deep breaths.

“So, what was your purpose, Barrington? Why?” The pack grins when he doesn’t answer, each dying to get a piece of him. But I need to know something for myself before I turn him over to the wolves. Pressing the brass knuckles under his chin, I lift his face and he opens his eyes, ones that hold all the pain in the world. I try to force back all the love I had for the man I knew, swallowing it down. “Was it all a lie?” I don’t even want to say what in front of everyone else, but Wyatt gets my meaning.

Parting his lips, he gives me a serious stare, unshaken and unmovable. “Yes.”

My heart crumbles like the little shards of his hand. Something in his expression, though, makes me wonder if he’s even telling the truth. But I don’t know if it’s just hope and delusion wanting to hang on. Whispering, I ask directly, “Did you love me?”

He maintains eye contact, but licks his bottom lip, then closes his lids so I can’t see him.

I shuffle back a few paces and nod at the eager Dave, who steps in front of him and slices off his T-shirt. Cass throws his arm over my shoulder and leans closer to me. “Come here, boss.”

When he leads me from the room, I take my thumb and wipe away a tear that escaped the corner of my eye. Arianna stands just outside the door. Cass closes it behind us and pulls my shoulders, so I face him.

“You should get some rest. Let us handle this. If he breaks, I’ll find you.” My wife snuggles up to me and wraps her arm around my waist. Cass nods at her and says, “Ari, best you not go in there. You two should just go upstairs. I’ll get you if something changes.”

I pull him closer for a hug and say, “Thanks, man. Thanks for everything.”

“Of course, boss. You’re my boy. And…I’m sorry for everything. For not being there for you when you needed me. I’m not going anywhere, Ace. You know that.”

With a nod, I try to clamp down on some tears that heat my eyes. Loyalty is hard to beat and, despite everything, despite the arguments and the fights, my pack came through and stuck by me. And now, it seems, they want to take care of this for me.

Leading my wife up to our room, I pause at the end of the hall. She glances up at me and seems to understand something I’m not quite sure how to put into words. “You want to go to the other wing now? Move our room over there?” she asks.

I stare at the doors to the room that was ours, the three of us, as I nod at her. “Yeah. I’m ready.”

She pulls me closer to her soft body and in the opposite direction of where we once slept. When we reach the other half of the mansion and she tosses open my parents’ bedroom doors, I prepare for the panic to hit, but instead my mouth drops with awe.

“When did…when did you do this?” Stumbling, I make my way across the threshold to a new room. Or what looks like a new one. The carpet is gone, replaced with some dark hardwood. All the wallpaper my mother had chosen has been swapped with plain, white-painted walls. A large glass chandelier lights the room with dazzling little sparkles everywhere, the center stage a giant platform bed like the one I had in my loft. Everything is modern, clean, and crisp. I do spot a pink fuzzy chaise lounge by the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the pool, but I like it. Because it’s her.

Arianna stands with her hands clasped in front of her, twisting her fingers repeatedly. “Cass knew the designer and they’ve been working over here for the last week. Do you hate it?”

“Empress, for real?” I take a spin around the room as I rub my chin. “I fucking love it.” Gathering her in my arms, I surround her lips with mine. “I love you. You did this for me. You knew I’d need a change.”

She hugs me and nods. “Yeah. I love you, and I didn’t want us to have bad memories. Not in our house if we stay.”

“You mean…if we don’t have to run away.”

When she lifts her brown eyes to me, I drift to that faraway place where we connect soul to soul. “I’m ready to go to a private island and raise your children already. But my brother is here. And your pack is here. If we don’t have to leave, then let’s make the best of it.”

Resting my chin on the top of her head, I tell her, “I’m going to do whatever it takes to keep us safe. You’re my person, and I think I fall in love with you more every day, Arianna. I do. You rule my heart, queen. It’s yours.”

She looks at me again, and her little smile makes tears fall down her cheeks. “You’re everything I dreamed of in a husband. Except one thing.”

Tilting my head, I ask the question. “What’s that?”

“You’re better looking than I could imagine.”

“And my cock is bigger, too?”

Shutting her eyes, she shakes her head a little and giggles. “So much bigger.”

For once, all I want is to hold her all night without being inside her. My heart needs healing. When we snuggle under the new sheets and turn out the light, she asks, “Do you think we can save him?”

“I don’t know, empress. But I hope so.”

“Ace,man, you gotta come now. Sorry, sorry, Ari. But Ace. Wake up!”

Snorting awake, I immediately grab the gun on my nightstand and jump off the bed. It’s Cass. As I tug on my jeans, Ari slips on a robe and comes to my side. “What? What is it?” I ask.

“He’s flipping out. I don’t know why. Dash got here and told me something about Strauss, and Wyatt finally started talking. He’s asking for you.” Running down the stairs, he casts his voice over his shoulder. “He just started saying off-the-wall shit. Ari…I don’t think⁠—”

“Save it. I want to see him,” my wife snaps with the air of a queen.

I slide my gun into my holster before we enter where Wyatt is rocking back and forth, trying to loosen his chains. Or what’s left of Wyatt.

His face is bloodied and bruised. Cuts are gashed all over his chest, deeper ones in his arms until his skin is more red than white. Several teeth are missing, and as he spits one onto the floor, a crazed look forms in his eyes that gives him the appearance of a wild animal.

“Ace, please. You have to kill me!You have to, please!” The desperation in his scream is heart wrenching. Especially as I hear Arianna’s sniffles behind me. “You don’t understand. If you kill me, it will all be over. Please, someone. Anyone… Kill me!”

My spy, Dash, stands with his back against a wall, but every man in the room stares at the unhinged creature before us. Placing Arianna behind my back, I slide toward Dash. My wife’s little body shakes as she uses my arms as her shield. Her trembles match my own. “What happened?”

Wyatt lets out a tortured groan and sobs, his body wrangling against his binds. Part of me wants to rush over and release him but, especially in this state, I know we wouldn’t be safe.

Dash says, “I don’t know. I came to tell you that Strauss has taken a bride. Word just got out. She was delivered to him tonight. None of us knew about it. The girl is apparently seventeen, not yet of age, but her guardians gave consent for the marriage. The paperwork is signed, and that’s what alerted us.”

“Please, Ace, kill me! It will all be over!”

Confused, my brow furrows, and I turn my head toward my spy. “And you told Cass this?”

Dash nods. “And then this one overheard and freaked out.”

When I glance at Wyatt, he rocks himself and pleads at me with tears in his eyes. If I can just figure out what’s going on, maybe we can save him. The desperate look on his face rips the last of my heart to shreds. Pain surges through my chest and the only comfort is my wife’s long nails digging into my skin as she peers around me with tears staining her cheeks to question, “Wyatt?”

“Who’s the girl?” I ask.

“No one could get her name, but the code word used was stars. They said they delivered a box of stars to the consort. Gemini and I both witnessed the delivery.” He leans forward and almost whispers to me, “She came inside a crate, Ace.”

THIS IS A VIOLENT SUICIDE SCENE. SKIP TO THE NEXT CHAPTER IF YOU WANT TO AVOID.

Another weeping scream rips out from Wyatt’s chest. “Can you talk with me, please? Please, Ace. I need you to listen. Arianna…please.”

Arianna makes a move, but I block her, letting her know to stay in one spot.

Wandering near to him, he beckons me with his head. “I don’t want them to hear me. Please.”

He smells like piss and iron, sweat, and sorrow when I lean over him. “What is it?”

Tears run like rivers down his face as he tries to hold back a choked gasp. “I was wrong about everything. My plans were wrong. I see that now. Someone should have killed me a long time ago. So, I’m begging you. Please, end my life. It’s the only way to save yourselves. Take our wife out of this room and do it.”

Shaking my head, I breathe slowly to try to contain the pain that wars within me. Despite everything, I want to save him. Keep him with me and safe. It seems like he’s finally willing to talk. “No. Just tell us what you need.”

He drops his shaved head and stares at his lap for a moment. Before I even have a chance to understand what’s happened, he’s out of his chains, his broken hand having slipped through his bindings, and he snatches the gun from my waist.

Arianna lets out a shrieking scream as he presses the end against my forehead, but I slowly raise my arms. My entire instinct is to become armor for Arianna. Wyatt flashes the gun to each man in the room until everyone holds up their hands in the air. With the utmost care, I back up two paces until I feel my wife at my back while he’s distracted with the others.

“Wyatt! Don’t!” she yells, the sound muffled by my back as she grips onto me.

Just as I open my mouth to tell him to put it away or to tell the others to jump him, he points the barrel directly at my chest. My only wish was that I got to live long enough to see my child born and make more with my wife.

But instead of shooting me, he gazes into my eyes, then hers, and says, “I love you. Both. It was all true. Everything I felt was real. I’m sorry.”

Then he aims the gun at his temple and pulls the trigger.