Chapter 88

***~Riley~***

Thomas stood at the door’s entrance, his shoulder pressed up against it and his ankles crossed over the other with his head bent as he typed on his phone. He looked up when Talia and I re-entered the room, showered and covered with identical dresses. Talia’s frame was slenderer than my own and the straps kept falling off her shoulders.

“Let me tie them for you,” I offered, her exasperated sighs triggering my movements. She allowed me access and I knotted the straps to hold firm.

“Thanks,” she muttered. The first word she said since Thomas showed up. I could sense her nerves, my own fingers trembled as I move away from her with a tight smile, giving her a little space.

“We’ll be leaving in a few minutes.” He dug into his pockets to retrieve a pill bottle. I track his movements, Talia stepped closer to gain a better view.

“I’ll have to ask you both to take one of these.” He held the pill bottle out. A few white, biconcave pills shifted inside the container. Talia reached out to take it in her hand.

“Why? What is it?” I arch a brow to reinforce the question.

“It’s an antidote. Cyner is big on not getting his precious hands bloodied and in this circumstance, we can’t afford to risk either of you getting injured, the welcoming party is too large to predict the outcome.”

Talia and I stare at the bottle, uncertainty rushing through our veins, Thomas reached out, taking the bottle in his hands before popping the top. He shook a single pill into the palm of his hand before shoving it into his mouth.

“I don’t blame your scepticism. We will have lots of time to build trust in the future.” He returned the pills to us and we take one each.

“I have a role to play out there and so do you.” He counselled, and Talia and I nodded. It wouldn’t be difficult to be cautious and terrified, not when we were still in the lion’s den and soon I’d be face to face with men that wanted to destroy me for my past actions.

“It would be very unusual for us to walk out there unscathed.” I say, ignoring Talia’s questioning gaze. I hadn’t the heart to explain it to her. That, if it had been an actual representative of a crime family that led us in here, we’d be beaten or assaulted. Most likely both.

“Agreed. It is suspicious,” He nodded along as he hid the pill bottle away.

“Then are you going to hit us or something for believability?” I ask, the curiosity eating me up on the inside. Something had to be done. We were walking out of here without a bruise. My question solicited a wide grin from Thomas, one that didn’t quite reach his eyes. In retrospect, that look might have been him thinking me an utter fool.

“I just found a reason to stay alive, Riley. I’m not about to risk that on Draven’s wrath if I were to strike you.” Thomas didn’t have that natural air of amusement that Austin possessed. Everything he said, regardless of how he softened his tone was intense, real and subliminally harsh. Austin concealed his danger and power and was easily capable of leading one into a false sense of safety in his presence despite his outward appearance. Thomas was the exact opposite. He embodied his power, every word, every movement was geared toward inciting apprehension.

Now that I’ve met both Thomas and Austin, I was perfectly able to discern the impact both men had on Draven. He had the scariest parts of them and then some.

“But, I heartily agree that you cannot leave this room so...” he sucked in a breath while he searched for an appropriate word, “clean,” He shrugged his jacket off and began rolling up the sleeve of one arm. He brought the exposed wrist up to his mouth, his teeth bared like fangs and his intention hitting me like a ton of bricks.

“Wait!” I hiss and he paused, his body going still, eyes blinked back at me with zero emotion. Jeez, he was a bit unsettling.

“I-I uh,” I stammer, “have a knife.” I finish lamely.

“Oh,” his hand went down to his side. “I’d prefer that,” he answered nonchalantly as if I were offering him some dessert. I walk back into the tiny bathroom and fish the knife out of my cleavage very carefully.

I skipped back to where Thomas and Talia were waiting, he took the blade from my hands, slicing his skin far deeper than I would have expected, my eyes widening at the crimson blood seeping from his skin. Talia didn’t flinch and neither did Thomas.

“Keep that safe and hidden.” He handed the knife back to me, a hint of approval in his eyes.

Talia and I made quick work of applying blood to our clothes and I ripped the edge of my dress to tie around Thomas’ wound before he covered the mess with his jacket.

I stare at Talia and then down at myself. We looked like a mess. The blood wasn’t anything dramatic, just a few touches here and there to our clothes. Not a lot, but enough for the assumption.

“Now,” Thomas drew our attention to him. He’d taken a spin around the room, allowing his blood to drop all over in furtherance of the picture we were painting. “I need one of you to make some scratches down my neck.”

***

“I gave strict orders that she was not to be touched by you in private,” My father immediately scanned me, as we make our way into a clearing. There were large pillars framing the room, and a few rusted and decayed furniture scattered around. My jaw locked, eyes hard, not giving anything away as I clung to Talia. As we clung to each other. The room was empty save for my father’s few men lingering about with guns strapped to them.

“Do you think the Declans’ give a fuck about your orders?” Thomas glances back at us, a leering grin on his face. The way he shifted into this role gave me shivers, I would easily think he was a scoundrel and I knew my father thought it too.

“I can take what I want.” He shrugged, “Just be content that we’re even giving you an opportunity to regain your footing.”

My father gritted his teeth but remained silent, turning to walk away with one of his soldiers.

“I’m confused by his reaction. Wasn’t it to be expected?” Talia inched in as close as possible to question me. I swallowed hard, shame and guilt eating away at my insides as I answer.

“He liked to watch.” I noted Thomas’ eyes shifted towards us and I knew he heard, his jaw clenched. I shifted my attention elsewhere, ignoring Talia’s silence and her subsequent squeezing of my arm in silent solidarity.

The night I escaped was a lucky one. He’d had a business meeting at the same time I was in that room with Randall and by the time he saw what happened, I was already gone.

My memories were swayed by the overbearing sound of shoes cluttering against stone.

“Showtime ladies,” Thomas grinned from ear to ear and I immediately realised.

“They’ll know you aren’t—,”

“Oh, I’m counting on it.” He widened his stance, his hands shoved into his trouser pockets as the Declan clan of around ten men filed into the room. My heart sped up, and a trail of sweat ran down my back.