Chapter 13 A Smile l wanted to Kill
Orion’s POV
Just when I finally decide to get some sleep, the call comes. And It is that gray time of morning when the sun hasn't quite coke out through the clouds.
My phone vibrates on the bedside table. The sound is sharp and insistent in the quiet room.
I already know who it is before I even pick it up.
There is a particular kind of dread that only comes from one person in my life.
I answer the phone anyway because I know she won't stop calling until I do.
“What have you done?” my mother screams the moment the line connects.
There is no greeting, no pause for me to speak… It is just pure fury coming through the speaker.
“Do you have any idea what you’ve done? You put my son in a hold. My son.”
I sit up slowly in the bed and I rub a hand down my face to try and wake myself up.
“Good morning to you too, Mother.”
“This is not a joke, Orion,” she snaps. “Why am I hearing that Kade is being treated like a criminal? He is being detained like an animal in a cage.”
“He acted like an animal,” I say. My voice is flat.
Her breath hitches sharply on the other end. “You had no right to do that to him.”
“I had every right,” I say calmly.
This just seems to make her even angrier than if I had yelled back.
“And he deserves whatever is coming for him after what he did to that girl.”
There is a stunned silence on the other end of the line.
“You’ve gone too far this time,” she finally says. Her voice is cold now. “This family name means something…”
“...it does not excuse what he did,” I cut in.
“Not this time. Not ever again.”
I end the call before she can say anything else to defend him.
My hand is steady when I set the phone back down on the table.
But my jaw aches from how tightly it is clenched together. I don't waste any more time in the suite.
The room where Kade is being kept is tucked away from the main areas of the resort.
It is quiet. As I get there, I see two of my security men are stationed outside the door.
They straighten their backs when they see me walking down the hall.
“Open it,” I say.
The lock clicks and the door swings inward.
Kade is seated inside on a wooden chair. His arms are folded over his chest. One leg is stretched out like he owns the whole place.
He looks up when I enter the room and he actually smiles.
There it is.
That smug, unrepentant smile that makes me want to lose my mind.
I close the door behind me so we are alone.
“Do you know why you’re here?” I ask.
He laughs softly.
“I was wondering when you’d finally show up, big brother.”
“Answer the question, Kade.” I prodded.
He tilts his head. He is studying me like I am a puzzle he has already solved.
“At first?” he says. “I came here because my mother wanted you back home. She is tired of you pretending the family business isn’t your responsibility.”
I say nothing.. I just watch him.
“But now?” I inquiy, wanting to be done as soon as fucking possible.
His eyes sharpen until they look like glass.
“Now I am here for her.”
I don't know what it is but something ugly twists in my chest. It feels like a physical knot tightening.l and cutting out my blood supply.
“I don’t care about any bloody business,” he continues. “I just want her. I want what's mine. She's mine and I'll get her back.”
I step closer to him. The air between us is thick with years of hate.
“You don’t get to say her name,” I growl while he just scoffs at me.
“Why not? She didn’t seem to mind letting a man she barely knows share a room with her.” He leans forward as he taunts. “Is that what she does now? Does she just slut her way into your bed to get what she wants?”
The punch lands before I even think about it, my fist connects with his jaw. I feel the impact go all the way up my arm.
The force snaps his head to the side and it sends him sprawling off the chair as he hits the floor… hard.
A sharp, hollow sound echoes in the small room.
I am on him before he can even try to recover. I haul him up by his shirt collar. I drive him back into the wall with all my weight.
“Say another word,” I growl into his face. “And I promise you won’t walk out of here.”
Blood trickles from the corner of his mouth but he laughs anyway.
“Touchy,” he mutters. “I guess I struck a nerve with that one.”
I hit him again and I hit him again. Each blow is controlled and deliberate.
They are driven by a fury I don’t even bother trying to hide anymore.
He swings back once, but his move is weak and clumsy.
It doesn’t stop him from talking though and the words he spews just edge me on.
“She thinks you’re different,” he spits out. “But you’re just like the rest of us. She’ll learn that soon enough.”
I slammed him into the wall one last time. Then I let go of his shirt.
“Get out,” I say. My voice is shaking with rage. He stumbles. He is coughing out blood now.
But the smile is still there on his bloody face. It is crooked and infuriating.
“You can’t keep her away from me forever.”
“I don’t need to,” I reply. “Because if I ever see your face again, you won’t be breathing.”
I open the door.
The men outside move immediately.
They grip Kade by the arms and start dragging him away toward the exit.
He doesn’t even try to fight them. He just looks at me over his shoulder, his eyes burning with something unhinged.
I arranged for him to be taken back home to the city.
I want him far away from here and far away from her.
Then I turn and leave the holding area.
The walk back upstairs feels longer than it should.
Every step I take is filled with one thought.
One name.
Cora.
By the time I reach her door, my anger has cooled down.
It has turned into something tighter and heavier.
Concern, mixed with guilt.
It is the need to make sure she is all right after what happened.
I knock once on the wood.
There is no answer so I knock again and I make it sharper this time.
“Cora?”
Still nothing.
I hesitate for half a second, then I reach for the handle and push the door open.
“Cora, I need to talk to…”
I stop mid-sentence as the air leaves my lungs.
Because not only is she there, she is standing in the middle of the room and she is completely naked.
The world freezes in an instant. My brain does not immediately catch up to what my eyes are seeing.
All I register at first is her skin.
She looks so bare and vulnerable in the light.
I realize with a jolt that I should not be here like this.
“Orion!”