The car came to a stop, and Ashley looked nervous.
“Are you sure you can handle this?” I asked.
“Yes. I want to see Emily. I bet she’s so happy.”
I couldn’t give two shits if that woman was happy or not.
Climbing out of the car, I held my hand out for Ashley to take. She did, and we approached the door, which opened.
There they were, Caleb, Gael, Vadik, and River. All four men, looking like they wanted to kill me.
Emily broke the tension as she rushed forward, hugging Ashley as if her life depended on it.
Before Emily could have a chance to fire off questions, Ashley started her accusations at the men. I was proud of her. She wasn’t frightened. Emily kept glaring at me, but I ignored her.
All too soon, Ashley was taken away. One of my men was with her, and I was alone, dealing business with the main assholes who had put us all in this mess in the first place, in the library, of all places.
“You betrayed us, and now you think you can come into our domain and bark orders?” Caleb asked.
I should have known it would be him to start making demands. Pissy fucker. “The only part of our arrangement I didn’t keep was staying too close to you. You think I didn’t know there would be consequences of staying close? That woman has all four of you by the balls. One snap of her fingers, and I’d be dead and Ashley would be free. I’m not that desperate, and I’m certainly not an idiot.”
“What about dealing with our fathers’ prior arrangement to have Emily killed?” Gael asked. “What do you have to say about that?”
“I told you, I broke one part of our agreement. The other, I took care of. There wasn’t a threat to Emily’s life. All of the prior negotiations and bounty are over. I know how your fathers handled that mess, so I knew how to get rid of it.” I didn’t like any of this. It would be so much easier to kill them all, but I didn’t want the Monsters’ business. I was more than happy with my own.
“You knew how to erase it because you put it in place,” Gael said.
This, I couldn’t help but smile at. Gael was right. “Well, well, well, I had to wonder who would figure it out eventually. The fact it was you, I’m rather impressed.” It was why I could make the bounty go away, and why I knew how to do it, the favors to call in, and how to make it stop. Taking a bounty contract away always had certain clauses attached. It was far easier to create a bounty than to take one away.
“Cut the crap. You did this to start with. Did you give them the ammo they needed to take Emily from us?” Caleb asked.
“I need a drink.” I stepped toward the drinks table, pouring myself a large shot of brandy. “Do you want one?”
I got glares as a response.
“That’s our booze, asshole,” River said.
“I know.” I smacked my lips together after taking a sip. “Your fathers, they came to me with so many … options and concerns. They truly felt this girl, Emily, my intended, was a problem. Of course, she was supposed to be my sweet virgin, but we’ll call that water under the bridge. So good. They first wanted to kill Emily. To get one of their MC contacts. Make it look like a complete accident.”
“Let me guess, you decided against that out of the goodness of your heart?”
I laughed. “I’m not that stupid. I’m a man who has built his empire from the ground up. I know you all have had this handed to you on a silver platter. It was so easy for you all, and you merely took it. But for those of us who came from nothing, we had to bleed. You know nothing about me, and anything you do find out, well, it’s not exactly the truth.” I inherited this from my grandfather, but the truth was, I had to bleed to get it. Nothing was given to me. I had to fight for everything I possessed. I played dirty. I’d stopped playing by the rules a long time ago.
“Why don’t you cut the crap and get to the part where we don’t want to kill you? Right now, I’m feeling mighty ready to kill you,” Gael said.
“Patience. Your fathers are not going to take a hit out tonight. They’ve lost one of their own. Congratulations for taking care of him. Ace had been more for me killing Emily.”
“You weren’t down in that basement,” River said. “You don’t know what went on.”
“I do know what they intended, and I was the one who played out what would happen if you guys ever found out what they did. With their own personal sense of loss, they saw my reasoning was sound. They weren’t exactly the sanest people around now, were they?” I finished my shot. “So, I got them to make a deal. If you arrived, I would do as was negotiated. I’d put a hit out on Emily in the case of you following her. I was the one who set it up. Your fathers funded it. If you didn’t arrive, they were going to handle Emily their own way.”
“You think this is your helping your cause right now?” Caleb asked.
“Yes.”
Vadik charged toward me, and I heard my guard draw his gun. Gael pulled out a gun. Caleb and River did the same.
I chuckled. I would be a rich man now. I made a little gamble in my head just how long it would be before they started shooting, and I wasn’t wrong. Assholes.
“Seven years. We’ve been in control for a lot longer than a couple of months. You had the power to bring us what we wanted. Why didn’t you?” Vadik asked.
They really thought I would willingly give them what they want? Did they not live in the same world as me? Nothing was granted without a reason. “You think I’m just going to hand you what you want? I knew you were all time bombs waiting to go off. Your fathers believed with Emily out of the way, they could control you. Week after week, month after month, I heard the damage you all were responsible for. At first, I had to make sure you had taken real power. Your fathers have a lot of friends, which I’m sure you’re more than aware of. Then, I had to go see Emily for myself, to see that she was still alive, and that she’d even work to fit into my plans.”
“Where does Ashley fit into all of this?” River asked.
“She’s my reward.”
“Do you hurt her?” Caleb asked.
“You’ve seen her for yourself. Does she look hurt?” They haven’t checked out her ass, which was a good thing.
“I know there are a great deal of bruises that don’t show up.”
“I don’t hit my women.” Lies were so easy. I didn’t hit, I spanked.
“Don’t treat us like fools. We know what you’re capable of. The bodies that mount up from women you can’t control,” Gael said.
“Actually, that is business, and I have nothing to do with their deaths. To put your minds at rest, I can order Ashley in here to strip and you can see every single inch of her if you’d like, and while you’re checking over my woman, I’ll go to a room, and let’s see what would happen if I was left alone with your woman for as long as you check mine.”
Vadik charged forward, and I was done playing passive. I grabbed my blade and held it ready to strike. These boys didn’t scare me.
“I take my protection seriously. You think I won’t protect what is mine? Ashley is mine. Try to take her from me, and I will make you all suffer in ways you’ve only ever imagined.”