Page 62 of Avenging Azalea (California Made Men #2)

Chapter

Forty-Nine

TITUS

I’d only ever been here once before and had hoped never to return.

Nathaniel had crafted this prison for when he went hunting, but it felt like a tiny piece of hell had sprouted up on earth.

I would’ve preferred to stay in bed with Fawn and make love to her all day, but this needed to be handled. Sooner rather than later.

Nathaniel had nicknamed it The Triangle because once you went inside as a prisoner, you disappeared forever.

Naji pulled the SUV up to the front doors of what looked like a beautiful beach home in one of the ritziest parts of Cali.

It had an immaculate view of the water, was situated on a large piece of land, and surrounded by trees, tall fences, and the best technology money could buy.

Not to mention, he kept enough men here to fend off any invasion.

Naji hopped out and opened the back door for me. I took a moment to look around. It didn’t matter how beautiful it was. There was an essence that lingered on the breeze, like the violence and death never fully left this place when the bodies did.

Nathaniel greeted me with a single nod. Silently, I walked beside him into a room straight out of the Pentagon. The heavily armed guards opened doors until Nathaniel had to scan a random finger and his eyes.

“You’ve added extra features since the last time I was here,” I said as the thick steel door slowly opened.

“You can never be too careful, with those locked up or those who want them back,” Nathaniel said, his tone almost lazy.

“Doesn’t this place ever bother you? What you do here.”

Nathaniel turned and looked at me like I’d sprouted a third eye in the middle of my forehead.

“Brother, I never knew it bothered you to kill.”

I shrugged. “I can, will, and have, but that doesn’t mean it gets my rocks off.”

“Then you haven’t tortured the right people. Maybe Neil will give you the amusement you’ve been missing.”

“Maybe,” I said, as I dialed into what was coming.

The cells held four people per cube. The clear wall we walked past allowed anyone to see inside and gave me the impression of lab rats.

They looked like they’d been here for years rather than a day.

Black eyes, swollen faces, and marks around their wrists.

But it wasn’t their physical appearance that screamed impending death.

It was the defeated and lost look in their stare.

The kind of look that welcomed death to be free of this place.

Nathaniel guided me to a separate, metal box of a room. The door was open, but four armed soldiers stood at attention. As we walked in, they turned and followed us inside, then closed the door behind us.

Death hung heavy in this room. The disinfectant smell mixed with the stale scent of old blood made my nose curl, but any discomfort I had was wiped away when my eyes adjusted to the dim light and landed on the man in the middle of the room.

Neil had been stripped of all clothes and chained with his ankles and wrists spread in a wide X. He was filthy and looked pathetic with his head hung like he’d already given up. But it wouldn’t be that easy.

With a click, a spotlight above Neil turned on, illuminating the display.

I stood outside the bright light. My breath was steady even as my pulse thundered.

I looked at the table beside me, and the tools Nathaniel had organized glinted.

Scalpels, clamps, branding irons, saws, and pliers all at my disposal.

There were even live fire ants twitching and swarming in a clear glass jar.

Neil slowly lifted his head and looked around, squinting to see into the darkness beyond.

“You stole her peace. Her innocence. Her fucking safety. You were supposed to take care of her, and instead, you used her, abused her, and sold her like a common whore.”

My voice was low, nearly a growl.

“I want you to know that you’re never leaving here. No matter how much you beg or try to resist…this is your final resting place.”

Neil shivered, and goosebumps rose on his skin.

“But I’m a reasonable man. If you cooperate, I’ll grant you a peaceful death. If not…then you’ll scream and keep on screaming until I’m satisfied. That could be a day, a month, a year, but you will beg for death,” I said.

“She has you fooled,” Neil said, and then licked his lips. His eyes darted around, still unable to see me even though he knew that I was right in front of him.

“Is that so? Enlighten me,” I said, silently walking around to the table with the wide array of tools.

“Fawn liked it. She begged for it,” he said.

There was nothing else he could’ve said to send me over the edge any faster. Grabbing the pliers, I spun around and snatched Neil’s nipple between my fingers.

“Ahhh, no don’t, please….”

Neil screamed and tried to pull away, to no avail, as I clamped the pliers around the stretched skin. With a tight squeeze and twist, it tore easily off his body. He cried out as he stared at the bleeding wound where his nipple had been.

I stepped into the light so he could see my face and what was coming for him.

“You mistake me for a man that can be manipulated by your bullshit. Say that again…I dare you,” I growled.

He whimpered, eyes wide like he had just realized how fucked he really was.

When Neil remained quiet, I stepped out of the light and set the pliers down. He jumped at the sound of the metal hitting the tray.

“Now that we understand one another. I want to know how you found Fawn?”

I didn’t think Neil’s eyes could get any wider, but they did when I turned on the small portable forge. It hissed and whooshed as it lit and began to glow.

“What are you doing?” His eyes were trained on what must have looked like a glowing mouth in the darkness.

“Don’t worry about what I’m doing. Worry about how you answer the question and if it pleases me,” I drawled, while perusing the different options of branding irons.

Thief. Liar. Rat. Coward. They were lined up in a neat row. Coward seemed the best choice, and I put the brand in the forge to heat up.

“Okay, okay. It was your father.”

I turned around and glared at Neil while Nathaniel made a disgusted noise behind me.

“Explain. All of it.”

“I was down on my luck and owed the 696 money. Somehow, Dimitri knew about it and called me. He said he’d make my debt right, and I could have Fawn back.

The only thing was that I needed to tell him everything about her and that I had to take her and make her disappear when he gave me the order.

He sent me the address of that clinic she works and told me to scope it out and then sit tight.

He settled my debt right away and offered more to hang around Cali.

Few days ago I get the call to take her, so I waited until she was alone and took my chance.

The 696 offered to sell her for me so they helped grab her. ”

My hand curled into a fist, the rage making my body shake.

“When did my father first contact you,” I asked, figuring it would be after I agreed to marry Vera.

“Few months back.”

Yup that lined up, the sneaky fucker was always looking for an insurance policy. A way to force our hands if we didn’t comply to his demands. Unbelievable.

“And then he said move in a few days ago?”

“Yeah.”

Father called this fucker right after I canceled the contract at Nathaniel’s wedding. I glanced at Nathaniel who slowly shook his head, disgust and hatred brewing in his eyes.

“You’ve been following her for months,” I asked, pissed off that I hadn’t noticed anything suspicious and neither had my guards. Naji and I were going to have a chat.

He swallowed hard. “Yeah, but like I said, I was just following orders.”

I roared and grabbed the handle of the branding iron. Yanking it out, the head glowed bright.

“No, please. I told you what you wanted to know,” he begged, but it fell on deaf ears. I stamped the end against his skin over his heart.

“Ahhh!” Neil screamed, trying to pull away as his skin sizzled. The smell of burning flesh rose in the air with the smoke.

Pulling the iron away, a red and black Coward was now on display over his left peck. Neil slumped in the chains, bawling like a baby.

“You asshole,” he panted. “Your father is to blame. I hadn’t even thought about contacting Fawn.”

Tossing the iron down, I swiped the knife off the tray and lunged at Neil.

He screamed as I grabbed his jaw and squeezed hard enough that his mouth opened.

Holding the cold steel between his lips, I got close to the pathetic worm and stared him directly in the eyes.

All the things that Fawn told me as we had lain quietly in bed stormed to the surface.

“Really? And is that the excuse you’re going to use for all the times you forced yourself on her?

Is that your excuse for the fact that you made a fourteen-year-old kid go on birth control and take day-after pills like candy?

Or how about all the times you sold her to men to pay off your debts?

Or all the times she had to visit doctors and have tests run because she was terrified about catching a disease? Was that you following orders, too?”

Fear danced in his eyes, but there was still a hint of defiance, and I planned on wiping that all away.

“Answer the question, Neil.”

“No…no, that was me, but…” I pressed the blade into the corners of his mouth, threatening to give him a Joker smile.

He stopped talking, but I knew he still believed that Fawn wanted him.

She told me about the shame she felt because she hadn’t fought back.

She had accepted her fate to keep her family safe and from worse.

There was nothing about the situation that suggested she wanted anything to do with him, but it was obvious he took her reluctant compliance as more.

“How many times,” I asked, not sure I wanted to know. “How many times did you use her?”