“They’re not my boyfriends,” I argue back, not sure why this is the confrontation I choose to have right now. But it drives me crazy that he thinks he knows me.
He throws his head back, a bitter laugh escaping him that makes him sound every bit as evil as I know he is. “You can call it whatever you want, but I know you have a relationship with all three of them. And right about now, you’re missing them more than your little white pills that you can’t live without.”
I shove him in the chest, trying to get some distance between us. “How do you know so much about me?” I demand, the words shaking out of me, my body trembling with frustration.
“I have eyes and ears everywhere in Ravens Hollow, treasure.” He takes my hands in his.
I try to take a step back from him, but my ass hits the table. “Y-you have been watching me?” I stutter, wishing I could be stronger right now, but his proximity is making me lightheaded and stupid, apparently.
He grips me tighter, making it clear that he’s not letting go, even though I’m obviously uncomfortable with his hands on me. “I have been protecting you for years, Sloane. Every time you put yourself in danger, I was there to intercept before something terrible happened to you. How do you think you’re still alive, with such a target on your back?”
What the actual fuck is he going on about? He’s been lurking in the shadows for years watching over me? I can’t imagine it. “I had Onyx as my bodyguard, he was the one protecting me, not you,” I snap back, bitterness dripping off my every word. How dare he claim to be some sort of hero?
His lips twist up at the sides in a knowing smile. He stares back at me for a beat then releases me, my back knocking against thetable at the sudden change. “Onyx has no idea how bad things are. He puts on a good show, driving you around everywhere. Never too far away, is he? But in reality, he has no idea who’s really after you. Why do you think he was trying to lock you up in that safe house of your brothers’ and control your every move? He was losing control, and he knew it.”
“He protected me from you!” I glare at him.
His head drops for just a second, then he backs away from me, pain in his eyes. He shrinks back to his end of the table as if the conversation is over. He can’t even look at me anymore. He takes a seat with his head lowered. “Eat your meal,” he growls.
He recoiled at the sharp, accusatory tone in my voice when I brought up that night. Interesting. I cross one arm over the other, tilting my head up defiantly. Fuck him for talking shit about Onyx. He was doing everything within his power to keep me safe. He has always protected me, and he shot Orlando when I needed him to the most. He saved my life, and I owe him everything for it.
Slowly his eyes rise, making him look every bit the beast I know he is. Dangerous and wild, ready to fly across the room at me. “Sit the fuck down, Sloane, and eat,” his voice booms off the walls.
My legs go from under me, and I sit. Not because he told me to but because I don’t want to waste the beautiful meal his staff have made for me, and also because I’m starving. We eat the rest of our meal in heavy silence, his words swirling around in my head. If it’s not him stalking me, then who was it? He already admitted that he has been watching me for years, but if he wasn’t leaving the gifts for me, then who? He was the one sending me roses on my birthday, I’m sure of it. Why else would there be a dozen left in my room here as well? That’s too much of a coincidence. But maybe all this time, there have been two people watching me, not just one like we thought, and I wonder whatthe boys really knew about it. They knew more than they were telling me, it’s why they took me to that safe house, I’m sure of it.
The silence lingers between us, intense and uncomfortable. But instead of letting it get to me, I pick up my knife and fork and cut into my pasta, eating every last delicious mouthful. This is his idea of me being treated like a princess, him giving me fancy dresses to wear for him and having his cook make me beautiful meals. I could get used to the meals, but as for the rest of it, no fucking way. What am I to him, some plaything he can toy with? That’s why he tells me to be a good girl and play the game. What game, his? With his rules? The thought infuriates me all over again.
When I finish my meal, I place my knife and fork down and stare back at Orlando. He and Romeo really are the spitting image of each other, except for the slight cut above his eyebrow that he now sports thanks to me. Romeo said he hated him. That he was just as evil as their father, and that’s why he didn’t hold a grudge toward Onyx for killing him. But was all that a lie?
“Tell me, Orlando, did you and Romeo set all this up? You got Romeo to distract me, didn’t you? I was so concerned with him taking over my club, I didn’t see the real threat closing in on me—you. Because it’s pretty damn obvious to me you planned my abduction. Sneaking into the club when you knew the boys would be distracted, dressing as your brother and acting like him to trick me. You thought out every little detail, didn’t you. Right down to how you would set up my room back here. I know every item in my room was put there for me because you knew every little detail about me. He was feeding you all the intel he and Reef found out, wasn’t he?”
Amusement dances in his eyes. “Romeo didn’t even know I was alive. And for the last time, I’m not the threat you should be worried about.”
My body stiffens, and anger pulses through me like a sudden jolt of electricity, making my muscles tense and my jaw clench. “Who fucking is then?”
His face hardens, but he doesn’t respond.
I shake my head and stand in a rush. Fuck him for keeping shit from me. I know he said I always have to stay with him as punishment, but fuck that. I can’t stay with him another second. I stalk from the room, the clicking of my heels echoing through the room as I go. Erratic energy pulses through me. He makes me feel crazy and out of control in a way that I can’t explain. I climb the stairs back to my prison. I would prefer to be in there alone than out here being fed more lies and secrets from my enemy.
Chapter 6
Arushofgoosebumpsscatter over my skin as Orlando’s hand grips my waist, stopping me from going any higher up the stairs. Angrily I glare back at him for having the nerve to come after me when I clearly want to be left alone.
“Sydney Stryker,” is all he says. His words are sharp and caustic, and they burn through me like acid seeping into my bones, leaving a trail of stinging pain in their wake.
“But he’s dead…” I whisper, not wanting to imagine the alternative.
With his firm grip on my waist, he presses me against the rough brick wall, forcing me to meet his gaze, eye to eye. A deadly slither slides down my spine, freezing me to the spot. I see the truth in his eyes, and it fills me with more fear than I could ever imagine. “That’s what Jagger wanted you to believe. He sure wanted him dead. But after your mother was killed, things got messy for the Stryker family. Syd got wind of him and your brothers plotting against him. He knew they were about to overthrow him, and like the coward he was, he took off into hiding before Jagger could pull the trigger.”
Sickness fills me. All this time, I thought he was dead. He has to be. My knees buckle, but Orlando is quick and catches me, holding me up, before I crumple to the floor. “I don’t believe you,” I whisper through the cold fear now prickling at my skin. That man hated me. The two years after my mother died, he made my life a living hell. Jagger finally had enough of it and stood up to him. That’s what he made me believe anyway, but this… this can’t be true.
Something flashes in his eyes, sympathy maybe, but it can’t be. This man doesn’t have a compassionate bone in his body. “Really? We both know what that slimy piece of shit is capable of and how much he despised you. The little girl who stole his family from him. What better motive does he need to stalk you and scare the hell out of you? He’s had years to stew on how to get his revenge. You have to remember, he hated you so much he was willing to turn you over to my family when you were just a defenseless teenager. Jagger knew how evil he was, that’s why he turned on his own father. Jagger did that shit to protect you, his little sister, even though he knew you weren’t Stryker blood.”
Orlando’s hand trails up my body, the warmth of his touch sending a jolt of electricity through me as he tilts my head back. Despite the alarm bells ringing in my ears at his touch, I can’t move away from him. With fear or fascination, I’m not sure what, but for the first time since all this shit started, something makes sense. And I know this man holding me isn’t the enemy I believed he was.
“Have a real good think about it, Sloane, and I know you will see it’s him. All the girls being killed are working girls. You know how he felt about them. He was an asshole of a pimp. He used them up and discarded them like trash, pumping whatever dodgy drugs into their systems he could to keep them pliable. You think he wouldn’t have been doing that slimy shit in the shadows now as well? We both know that’s exactly how he’s beensurviving, and now he’s making innocents pay with their lives just to get back at you. He would also know the layout of your club inside and out. You might have renovated over the years, but the general layout is the same. Tell me I’m wrong.” He stares me down arrogantly.
I go to answer him, but I can’t, the words getting stuck in my throat. He’s right, but I can’t say it out loud, not to him.
