Chapter Nineteen
Torrin hadn’t wanted to shower that morning. He’d liked having Ashley’s scent clinging to him, and part of him feared that it never would again.
She’d fallen asleep there, tied to Liam. Her exhaustion had showed in that even when he’d been able to withdraw, she’d still not woken. Erik and Liam had lain in the bed with her, though he doubted either had slept. Instead, they’d stared at her, as though they could somehow understand where it had gone bad or how it could be resolved.
Could it be fixed?
Torrin, for his part, had left.
He’d sat in the living room, alone with his thoughts, with his ability to go over every place he’d gotten things so terribly wrong, and there was no shortage of them.
Ashley wasn’t incorrect.
Lying to himself was pointless. Power had always been a driving force behind what he’d done.
But…it had also been for her. Could he ever become what she wanted?
He tried to picture a different life, one where he wasn’t so mired in shadows. Could he live without the things that power had afforded him?
He thought back to the times he’d been counted out because of his injury, the times when people had assumed him to be weak. Could he go back to losing the fear and respect he’d cultivated over the years?
He dragged his hands over his face. If he could, it would make her safer. He tried to imagine a life where he didn’t have to worry about enemies. Where he never had to fear law enforcement or retribution. They had enough money to go legit, to turn their backs on the darker sides of their business.
In fact, they could easily sell the businesses they had and start something new, something without the baggage, something far away where none of this would follow them.
But then he wouldn’t be the alpha others feared. He’d be the cripple, the one to be pitied.
It seemed too great a sacrifice.
Which leaves us where?
Torrin sighed, caught in a trap of his own making, and certain there was no way out where he could keep the things he valued most.
And if I have to choose?
He feared making the wrong choice.
* * * *
Ashley enjoyed the silence. The safehouse was a small, two-bedroom place on the outskirts of town. In any other situation, she might really like the place. However, it wasn’t ideal for living in with three alphas she currently couldn’t stand.
Avoiding them had proven impossible. She rarely left her room, choosing to sequester herself there instead of facing them. Not that it worked.
They took turns bringing her meals, water, anything she needed, without her asking. Each time was like another wound to her heart, though, a reminder of what she’d thought they had.
They still had a security detail but had lessened it. The fewer people who knew where they were, the better.
Kara had come over, though she hadn’t tried to talk to Ashley. Instead, she’d sat in the living room with the alphas, no doubt planning.
Which was sadly fitting. Of course they were coming up with a way to deal with the issue, all the while leaving Ashley out. No one cared what she wanted, what she thought.
One of the security guards walked into her room, a not uncommon occurrence. They liked to check all the doors, visually confirm she was there and safe. It was better than when the alphas did it themselves.
“I’m fine,” Ashley said, waving him off. She couldn’t even hear the alphas, and a peek through the open door showed they weren’t in the living room.
Probably moved to the bedroom so I wouldn’t risk overhearing.
The guard shut the door quietly, and that was the first time Ashley got that same feeling she’d had outside the limo. He set his hand on his pistol, but it wasn’t to draw it. Instead, it seemed to be a clear warning to remain silent.
Ashley nodded as she gulped.
The guard pulled a phone from his pocket, then hit a button on the front and handed it off to Ashley.
She knew before lifting it who would be on the other end.
“Gregory,” she said.
“It’s good to hear your voice. We don’t have a lot of time. You’re going to follow the man who gave you this phone, get into a car with him and come to me. Before you ask why, you’re going to do this to save your precious alphas and that thief. Clearly, I know exactly where you are. I would rather you come willingly, or else I’ll have to send men in to get you. There is no way that will happen without death, and while I wouldn’t mind killing them, I’d prefer not to risk you.”
Ashley gripped the phone tightly in her hand, feeling trapped and outmaneuvered again. How was it that Gregory was always a step ahead?
She tried to think about her options, but there weren’t any. Gregory was not a liar, and if he said he had men capable of attacking them, it was the truth. Her alphas were tough, but they weren’t bulletproof.
“And you promise that you won’t hurt them if I come?”
“If you come back to me now, I will not attack the safehouse. You have my word.”
Ashley knew her only choice. It didn’t matter how angry she was with Torrin, with Liam or Erik. It didn’t matter that they’d lied, that they’d hurt her.
She wouldn’t let them get killed if she could stop it, so she handed the phone back and stood, ready to go back to hell just to save the men she still loved.
* * * *
The empty room threatened to set off Torrin’s temper. Ashley was gone, as was one of the men he’d hired for security. Had it only been her, he might have thought she’d run.
Though, the moment they’d checked the cameras, the truth had become clear. The one in her bedroom had recorded her side of the conversation, had shown the phone call where she’d agreed to go.
The soft-hearted fool. She should have refused, should have called out. They would have easily dealt with one man, and if there were more?
They’d have dealt with them, too.
“I hate when people are noble,” Kara complained, though her sullen words hid worry and fear. It wasn’t something many would pick up in her voice, but he could. “Now I have to help.”
Torrin stared at the computer screen where they watched Ashley disappear into the darkness of the yard, where she’d slid from the window after the security guard had turned that sensor off. She went for us. She gave up everything to save us.
That kept repeating in his head like a mantra, like a taunt. She’d wanted freedom. Nothing more, just the chance to live her life, and yet she’d turned around and given it all up for Torrin and his cousins. She hadn’t even hesitated.
“What’s the plan?” Kara asked.
“We get her back,” Liam said.
“We kill anyone who tries to stop us,” Erik added.
“I like the simplicity. Anything more specific, though?”
There was only one choice, one way to do things so Torrin could have what he wanted most.
Torrin turned his gaze to Kara. “Call your brother. We’re going to need his help.”
* * * *
Had Gregory always looked so…frail?
She’d found him intimidating before. She’d stayed up at nights in fear of him. His flat, empty eyes had always inspired terror in her, yet she found none of that anymore.
Instead, he seemed weak. He walked through the penthouse she’d been taken to with the arrogant gait of a man who thought he had power, but she could see the mask of it now.
Ashley wondered why she had feared him so.
Sure, he could destroy her, but anything could. People were killed walking down streets. Gregory reminded her of a rat, the sort that would jump forward, hoping prey much larger would run away, startled.
She’d been so afraid as she’d waited for him to arrive at the penthouse she’d been brought to, but when he’d appeared, when she’d finally seen him, none of it remained.
He no longer looked like the monster she’d been sure he was before.
“My dear,” Gregory said as he finally looked her way. “It’s so good to finally have you home.”
“This isn’t home,” she said, her voice stronger than she’d expected it to be. She’d always whimpered when speaking to him, always dropped her gaze. This time she stared him straight in the eye.
He slowed his pace, as if her reaction surprised him. “Well, well, you’ve come into your own, haven’t you? Was it the time away, or I wonder if it was those alphas?” He spat out the word alphas, as though it were distasteful. “No worry, though. Things take time. Just as you had to adjust to them, to life on the run, you will adjust to life here, with me.”
Like hell.
Ashley rose from the couch. “I don’t love you.”
“Not yet, perhaps, but you will.”
She shook her head. “I won’t, not ever. I could never love you.”
“But you love those alphas?” He tilted his head, reminding her of a dog trying to figure something out. “I can smell them all over you. Don’t worry, as I said, I’m not angry, not with you. I don’t blame you.”
Of course he didn’t blame her, because he didn’t respect her. He saw her as a thing to be owned, as a toy with no agency of her own. If others used the toy, he blamed the ones who did it, not the object.
He set a hand on her hip, pulling her against him. It was the first time they’d touched in years, since the time he’d tried to kiss her. His other hand grasped her chin and tilted her face toward his. The touch felt like a cheap, filthy replica of what her alphas had done. “You have such fire inside you. A few times I had updates while you were on the run, and it had seemed as though you’d lost that. It’s nice to see it back.”
He leaned in and brushed his lips to hers, the touch sickening and brief and enough to push Ashley over the edge of good sense. She swung her hand, catching him across the face with a slap. The hit was weak, given her angle, but it was still a victory, no matter how small.
She’d put her foot down. She’d said no to a man who had taken so much from her. Instead of running, instead of cowering, she’d stood up to him.
Gregory pressed his lips together in a thin line, pink blossoming on his pale skin from the strike. He pinched her chin, his fingers rough. “Are you trying to push me, dear? Hoping I will give you a reason to hate me? I won’t hurt you, no matter how much you fight me, how much you struggle or lash out. Breaking people is like breaking animals, and it takes time. Lucky for us both, we have all the time in the world.”
She tried to strike him again, but he caught her wrist. He pressed his lips to her hand, as if forgiving her, as if her fight meant nothing, before he stepped backward. “I’ll give you some time to acquaint yourself with your new life, my dear.”
Ashley stood in the room, trying to hold on to the impotent anger swarming her, because if she didn’t, if she let it, it would transform into despair as his words mocked her.
All the time in the world.